The Evolution of the Image of Labor Activity of the Population in “Pravda” (1946– 1953)

Abstract

This article deals with the reconstruction of the content and specificity of the image of standard labor activity in the USSR as constructed in the newspaper Pravda from 1946 to 1953. The use of quantitative and qualitative methods (content analysis and discourse analysis) reveals explicit and implicit dynamics of this formal image of labor. The first and fifteenth editions from each month were sampled for a total of 192 issues. The analysis concludes that “correct” employment strategy of the population, as it was developing in the USSR in the 1930s and was preserved during the 1940s, included selfless and joyful labor for the good of the Motherland. The welfare of private citizens was shaped by its close dependence on the country’s welfare, which was paramount in relation to personal benefits. Changes in the political situation and trajectory of policies in 1953 led to shifts in labor policy, including a decrease labor complexity, heroism, and labor of joy experienced in the labor process. One result of (but not motive for) the normalization of labor was a rise in personal incomes, and income was not determined by the capabilities of the state or the worker’s overall labor contribution. Concern for improving the welfare of the population was increasingly interpreted as the country’s primary task.