HISTORY OF EVERYDAY LIFE
Reference:
Sidorchuk I.V. —
Between a Joke and Hooliganism: a Campaign to Combat the "Semenovshchina" in the Factories of Leningrad in 1928
// History magazine - researches.
– 2018. – ¹ 4.
– P. 145 - 154.
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2018.4.26490 URL: https://en. nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=26490
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Review:
This article is focused on the causes and the course of the 1920s campaign on combating hooliganism, named in honor of the Leningrad "Electrosila" factory worker Alexey Semenov. His failed joke led to the tragic death of another factory worker and became the reason for an attack on various kinds of petty hooliganism, which was a traditional form of deviant leisure in factories. This topic has never been made the object of a focused historical study. Through the reconstruction of the events and the description of the particularities of the propaganda campaign launched after the tragedy, the author adds significantly to the notions of the scale and types of hooliganism that took place in the 1920s, as well as to the understanding of the causes for its spread in the working environment. The examination of this behavior was conducted on the basis of the methodology of the "new cultural history", which includes the history of leisure. Additionally, the author applied the methods of historical anthropology, including the history of everyday life, which focuses on the everyday discourses and practices. As a result of the conducted research, the conclusion of a number of researchers was confirmed, namely, that one of the goals of combating hooliganism was the politicization of this type of crime. Behind the task of combating "Semenovshchina" was also the desire to break the pre-revolutionary traditions of factory culture, of which "jokes" were part, and to stop the involvement of young workers in it. The campaign did not receive significant government support due to the presence of more serious problems in the eyes of the authorities: absenteeism, staff turnover, drunkenness, change in the policy on specials, and others. In this regard, the campaign did not achieve its goals and various kinds of hooliganism remained a common form of leisure for Soviet workers.
Keywords:
New economic policy, labor discipline, working history, deviant leisure, history of everyday life, hooliganism, history of leisure, Chubarovshhina, Semenovshhina, Elektrosila
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