A Cultural History of Work in the Late Soviet Union, 1960s - 1980s

Research project by A. Oberländer
 

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Although the last decades of the Soviet Union are generally interpreted as an era of stagnation, this project argues for an understanding of the Brezhnev Era (1964-1982) as an era of normalcy. Eventually, the Soviet people came to terms with the Soviet Union, while the party itself also made tentative adjustments. By analyzing work ethics, work practices, and their transformation between 1960 and 1985, I will contribute to our understanding of the late Soviet period. The project would thus try to understand the late years of the Soviet Union through a cultural history of work. I hypothesize a transformation of attitudes towards work that started in the 1960s with the public prominence of “parasites” and ended with the relatively laissez-faire labor policy of the party towards work. Thus, a potential point of departure will be the trial against the poet Joseph Brodsky, sentenced to forced labor in 1964 and eventually expatriated in 1972. My analysis would end in the 1980s, when an informal social network evolved in Leningrad and Moscow known as so-called “boiler rooms.” These jobs provided poets, musicians and artists with a great amount of leisure in return for the minimum wage.