Once a miner, always a miner?

Employment issues in the Russian coal industry: past and present

Annette Robertson,

Centre for Comparative Labour Studies,

Department of Sociology,

Warwick University,

Coventry,

CV4 7AL

… Soviet miners are a renowned people, from a manly profession, one of the most honoured in our country …(USSR Coal Ministry: 1977)

For almost half a century, Soviet mineworkers were hailed in Soviet literature as the heroes of socialist labour. In recognition of their supremacy in the sphere of industrial production - the most prized in the Soviet economy - mineworkers were rewarded by the regime with high relative wages and advantageous pension rights, in addition to other non-monetary rewards. Such official acknowledgement of mineworkers’ status served to create the notion of a special breed of workers - the industrial elite - not only among the general population, which paid its respects, but among the mineworkers themselves, who were proud of the position they held in society.

However, while the glorification of coal-mining and mineworkers dates back to the late 1940s, the history of the coal industry in Russia is anything but glorious. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, hundreds of thousands of peasants were drafted to work in the Donbass coal mines of eastern Ukraine, as the country embarked upon its first five-year plan. These conscripts were paid little, endured atrocious living and working conditions, and were subject to heavy penalties for desertion (The Duchess of Atholl (1932:38). The 1930s also witnessed the development of the GULAG,[1] Stalin’s corrective camps which absorbed millions of victims into an extensive system of forced labour. One of the major camp systems was located in the Soviet Arctic, where camp inmates worked as forced labourers in the Pechora coal basin, helping to exploit the significant mineral wealth of this area.[2]

A similar situation developed in Siberia, which had long been used as a place of exile for the punishment of criminals and political offenders. Under Soviet rule, the region was earmarked for significant economic growth through the development of its mineral resources and industrial potential, for which the camp system and the forced relocation of million of others provided low cost labour. As a result, the development of the coal industry during the 1930s and 40s relied upon the slave labour of deportees and victims of the GULAG. Many mineworkers - indeed most families in Siberia - have deeply personal and moving stories to tell of how their parents or grandparents came to be in Siberia, and the appalling conditions in which they lived and worked. Most had to cover vast distances, often on foot, to be met if they survived by chronic housing shortages and a complete lack of any social and economic infrastructure. Equally as difficult to bear were the region’s notoriously harsh climatic conditions, which have long hindered the development of Siberia, and which continue to render much of the region a difficult environment for human existence.[3]

Despite such an horrific background of forced labour in the mines, the children and grandchildren of those exiled or forcibly relocated to the region faced an entirely different situation when they in turn had to decide whether or not to work in the coal industry:

- My father worked in the coal industry for some time - he had no choice. He had to support the family. He was deported from Saratov Oblast, where he worked with cattle…I first went down the mine on my 18th birthday - you aren’t allowed to go down before that… (and) … I thought, this is me… Since then, I’ve known no other profession and I haven’t wanted to either. Before the Revolution, mining was not a prestigious occupation. It was said that women married neither actors nor miners because they liked to drink too much. Both were considered very non-prestigious. Of course in this town mining is more prestigious.

(Alexander,[4] aged 43)

By the time Alexander decided to join the coal industry, the image of mining had changed from one which relied upon forced labour, to one which appealed to workers’ better instincts by emphasising the economic importance of the industry and consequently of those who worked in it. The industry was made more attractive to workers through the introduction of a system of privileges for its employees, which included the payment of relative high wages, advantageous pension provisions, and promises of priority access to housing and scarce consumer goods. These material incentives were complemented by more symbolic gestures, such as the creation of an annual holiday for coal industry workers - Miners’ Day - which reinforced the prestigious nature of the industry and those who worked in it.

It is argued here, however, that many of the changes made to the industry were theoretical in nature and had little real effect on the daily lives of Soviet mineworkers. Interviews with mineworkers reveal that the conditions in which they and their families lived and worked hardly changed over decades, remaining to this day harsh and dangerous. In addition, many of the material and symbolic privileges that served to distinguish mineworkers as a breed apart have been seriously eroded over the past decade. So where does this leave Russian mineworkers? How do they reconcile their relatively prestigious past, in terms of their status in the industrial hierarchy and the privileges this afforded them, with the reality of the present? What do they think of the changes that have occurred, and how will these changes influence their employment choices in the future?

This paper is based on ESRC-funded research carried out in the town of Osinniki (population 70,000) in southern Kuzbass, one of Russia’s principal coal basins. As the town developed around the coal field, mining comprises its predominant industry. The town and its outlying settlements serve four mining enterprises - one of which was the Soviet Union’s second largest, Kapital’naya. All of those interviewed are either currently employed, or have worked at Kapital’naya at some time during the last three decades, in one capacity or another. Their ages range from 26 to 56, the latter now being the average life expectancy of a Russian male. While no claim may be made to the universal nature of the respondents’ experiences of living and working within the Russian coal industry, visits to other coal communities and material from other sources reveal a certain homogeneity in the general life and work experiences of mineworkers throughout the country.

The Soviet coal industry

The foundations for the system of special provisions - both financial and non-financial - to coal industry workers were laid in the 1930s, a time of great upheaval in the Soviet Union, as Stalin launched his programme of intense industrialisation. While special provisions had previously been made to peasants drafted to the Donbass mines during the early 1930s, these had not proved sufficient to stop workers from deserting their posts.[5] As a result, labour turnover, although high throughout the newly prioritised industries, proved to be especially problematic in the coal industry,[6] which necessitated a shift towards such symbolic and material incentives, all of which provided miners with a sense of their own much hyped importance, status and prestige.

Material incentives

The miners are entitled to an extra leave of 12 - 24 work days and their wages are higher than in other industries. (USSR Coal Ministry: 1977)

The role of financial incentives to industrial workers achieved prominence when the supremacy of the mineworker was established and immortalised by the work of a Donbass coal miner, who in 1935 fulfilled his target production norm 14 times over. The subsequent creation of the Stakhanovite movement encouraged industrial workers to attempt ever-increasing heroic levels of production, the validity of which was not always assured. In return, significant rewards were on offer, both financial and non-financial,[7] although the main incentive was the former (Filtzer: 186). As a result, the incentive to produce was put firmly on a material basis.[8] Stalin emphasised his conception of the nature of the Stakhanovite movement in a speech to a 1936 Stakhanovite conference as ‘the basis for the radical improvement in the material welfare of the workers’ (Stalin: 1936).

Higher wages alone, however, did not guarantee the material welfare of the workers, given the scarcity of consumer goods that was a feature not only of the early 1930s, but of Soviet life through the decades to the early 1990s. Delegates from the Donbass coal fields[9] to the 1936 conference drew attention to this problem and called for the allocation of more consumer goods to the region to satisfy the ‘growing demands of the miners and their families’ (Petrov:1936) and to help them lead a more prosperous life (Dyukanov: 1936). Those workers at the forefront of the Stakhanovite movement received not only privileged access to consumer goods, but also to housing, which was in extremely short supply. As the coal industry and Soviet state developed, the privileges awarded to mineworkers were increased to include the provision of advantageous pension provisions, in terms of both financial rewards and early retirement, depending on workers’ service records in the collieries.

Benefits are also due to miners as they retire on pension. Those with at least a ten-year seniority of underground work and a twenty year total working experience become entitled to an old age pension at the age of 50. (USSR Coal Ministry: 1977)

More recently, mineworkers’ preferential pension rights were extended, making mineworkers with a 20-year underground service record eligible for immediate retirement, irrespective of age, which was an important symbolic acknowledgement of mineworkers’ labour.

Symbolic incentives

While financial incentives were important for obvious reasons, the significance of more symbolic incentives - such as belonging to a prestigious industry and enjoying the respect of the general public - are more difficult to quantify. It is apparent, however, that some incentives considered to be of symbolic importance were also influential as a result of a financial element. The celebration of Miners’ Day, for example, which appears to be a purely symbolic recognition of coal industry workers’ labour, included the payment of financial bonuses to selected workers. In general terms, however, for many mineworkers the significance of the holiday was unequivocally symbolic.

Every year on the last Sunday in August, the coal miners mark their traditional holiday - the Miners’ Day. (USSR Coal Ministry: 1977)

Miners’ Day was instigated as a professional holiday by Joseph Stalin in 1947. The first Miners’ Day was celebrated on 29 August 1948 and declared the National Holiday of Soviet Miners. Newspaper headlines proclaimed, ‘Long live the Soviet miners!’ and, ‘Long live the miners’ best friend - the great Stalin!’[10] The media lead- up to this first Miners' Day lasted for several weeks, with exhaustive daily news reports from Soviet coal fields on targets and production figures highlighting one of the regime’s main motives for the creation of the holiday: socialist competition.

To many rank and file mineworkers, however, their professional holiday served as an annual state and public acknowledgement of the dangerous work they carried out on a daily basis. Miners’ Day symbolised and expressed the public’s respect for the mineworkers, and their valuable contribution to the country’s economy:

- (Miners’ Day) … our professional holiday. We were proud to be miners and people in other professions respected the miners because of the work we did. Miners died at work and still do. It’s a dangerous profession to have and we were proud to do the job.

(Nikolai, aged 46)

While the introduction of an annual professional holiday for coal industry workers was nothing particularly out of the ordinary,[11] there was doubtless an added imperative for the creation of a mineworkers’ holiday, given the historical connotations of work in the industry and the overwhelming need to recruit more workers to ensure that targets and plans were successfully met.[12] The holiday thus helped to bestow a certain credibility and a much needed sense of respect on the work of the mineworkers. It was also an excellent opportunity to publicise the perks of the profession and remind the mineworkers of the honoured position they held in the industrial hierarchy, encouraging loyalty to the trade and preventing potential disillusionment:

- (Miners’ Day…) That was the miners' safety valve (otdushina) - we always looked forward to that day for a long time and marked it with pleasure… There were awards and bonuses and a special meal for management, but not only for them. The director would gather together the mine section chiefs and select some workers to attend with their wives. We'd all get together in the dining room, where there would be a band … music, and drinks. The director or his deputy would give a short speech and then we'd all have a good time.

(Volodya, aged 57)

The added attraction of national celebrities visiting even the smallest mining settlement further served to reinforce the idea that the miners constituted a distinguished group of workers, deserving of special treatment:

- We always invited musicians to the town - the most popular musicians around that year … the sort who seldom came here, but on Miners' Day! The holiday was celebrated each year at the sports stadium, where a huge dance floor was set out. Everything was paid for by the mine.

(Volodya, aged 57)

Financial problems at both national and local level have had an adverse effect on the importance of Miners’ Day, although it is still celebrated - on a much smaller scale - on the last Sunday of August in even the smallest of mining communities. However, one of the former attractions of Miners’ Day - the presentation of labour awards and financial bonuses to workers with exemplary production and service records - is no longer a feature of the holiday.

Honours for the miners’ labour

Coal miners enjoy universal respect and honour in the USSR (which) awards the best mineworkers with orders and medals.

For many years’ faultless labour in the coal industry, mine workers, engineers and technicians are awarded the sign ‘Miners’ Glory’ 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree, or else given the title of Honorary Miner.

Diplomas of merit and money bonuses are paid ‘on the strength of their yearly production results’. (USSR Coal Ministry: 1977)

The presentation of labour awards to mineworkers played an important symbolic role as mineworkers were seen to be rewarded publicly for their loyalty to the industry and for any outstanding contributions they had made during the course of the year, or over the period of their working lives. The allocation of awards and bonuses was an official mark of recognition of their work in the industry, regardless of grade and position in the work force, which added to mineworkers’ sense of status and pride. Although Miners’ Day is now in decline, past celebrations are remembered with great nostalgia:

- Even then there were people who worked well and others who didn’t work as well. Those who worked harder were rewarded, perhaps with a financial bonus or an award from the government… When someone used to receive such an award, it was very pleasant - a sign of excellence. Because this is a mining town, all sorts of people were given labour awards, and it was pleasant just to watch them receive their awards - they used to be respected.

(Nikolai, aged 46)

Taken together, the introduction of a system of symbolic and material incentives to mineworkers played a significant role in changing the image of the coal industry: it helped to demonstrate the government’s support of the industry, thus enhancing the status of mineworkers not only as valued, but even as favoured members of society, worthy of admiration and respect. It is not surprising, therefore, that these incentives are widely quoted by mineworkers to explain why they were initially attracted to the coal industry.

Becoming a miner

Mineworkers of all ages agree that in the past they were part of an industry that enjoyed public respect, of which many were proud. The pride and prestige associated with the profession, and the respect they believed they would earn as a result of becoming coal industry workers were cited by many to explain their initial attraction to the coal industry.

- Miners were always treated with respect - their work was highly valued. They used to have uniforms - and they were proud to wear them, it was like being part of an army.

(Viktor, aged 26)

Although respect and prestige were important factors, their symbolic significance also stemmed from the fact that they were consolidated by the financial and non-financial rewards previously outlined which, given the nature of life and work in the industry, were an important palliative. It is apparent from interviews that the high relative wages paid to mineworkers as members of one of the country’s key industries played a crucial role in attracting them, and subsequently maintaining their loyalty to the coal industry, as well as giving them a sense of their own status.[13]