Alexei Stakhanov

Alexei Stakhanov was a Soviet coal miner whose reported 1935 record output became a model for campaigns urging workers to exceed production norms.

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Stakhanovite movement: A Soviet campaign that celebrated workers who exceeded production norms and promoted higher labor productivity. Stakhanov’s reported shift gave the movement its name and its defining example.
Coal mining: The extraction of coal from underground or surface deposits. Stakhanov’s reported achievement was a coal-production record.
Production quota: A required or targeted quantity of goods or work to be produced within a specified period. Stakhanovite campaigns urged workers to surpass established production targets.
Stakhanov record controversy: Disputes about the circumstances, measurement, and publicity surrounding Stakhanov’s reported coal-mining record. The official account of an individual feat has been challenged by scrutiny of teamwork and reporting.
Soviet industrialization: The rapid expansion of Soviet industry, especially during the first Five-Year Plans of the 1930s. The drive to industrialize created demand for celebrated increases in worker output.
Longwall mining: An underground mining method that extracts coal along a long, continuous face. The record was reported from a longwall face where coordinated work supported high output.
Socialist competition: A Soviet practice of encouraging workers and workplaces to compete in meeting or exceeding production goals. Stakhanov’s example became a model for organized contests over output.
Alexei Stakhanov's 1935 record: The reported production of 102 tonnes of coal by Alexei Stakhanov during a shift in August 1935. This specific shift was the event that made Stakhanov nationally famous.
First Five-Year Plan: The Soviet Union’s 1928–1932 economic plan for rapid industrial growth and collectivization. Its emphasis on production targets preceded the campaign that made Stakhanov famous.
Division of labor: The organization of production by assigning different tasks to different workers. Other workers reportedly prepared the face and removed coal while Stakhanov cut it.