Labor productivity and material incentives in the Soviet metallurgy industry during the NEP years (based on materials from the "Serp i Molot" factory and the Moscow Machine Trust)

• Published in: Исторический журнал: научные исследования no. 3; pp. 30 - 44
• Main Author: Chudinov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.03.2025
• ISSN: 2454-0609; 2454-0609
• DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2025.3.74375

The disclosure of the human potential of the Soviet worker was one of the most important tasks of the government in the 1920s, the solution to which was seen in increasing labor productivity. The main goal of our research is a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the dynamics of labor productivity and wages during the period of the New Economic Policy, examined through the example of the "Sickle and Hammer" factory and other industrial enterprises that were part of the Machine Trust. Throughout the work, monthly data on these indicators for the years 1924-1926 were collected and systematized, which allowed for a thorough analysis of the differences in their growth rates and the identification of factors that had a significant impact on these differences. This period was chosen as it allows for the characterization of the trends existing during the peak of the New Economic Policy. In this work, a microanalysis method was used, which allowed for the examination of the interaction between labor productivity and wages based on specific enterprises. Additionally, methods of systematic analysis, as well as problem-chronological and dialectical methods, were employed in the article. The conducted research demonstrated that the management of the "Sickle and Hammer" factory failed during this historical period to align the growth of nominal wages with the indicators of labor productivity of industrial workers. It should be emphasized that the rates of growth in real wages and labor productivity had only slight discrepancies. A significant result of this research was not only the introduction of new statistical data and materials into scientific circulation but also the systematization of the factors influencing the dynamics of labor productivity and wages in the context of the New Economic Policy. The following factors were identified as influencing labor productivity at a specific enterprise: the size of the industrial enterprise, the nomenclature and assortment of produced goods, the strategic position of the enterprise in the production chain, time loss, and the reasons determining those losses. At the same time, a number of other factors complicated the solution of the crucial task of halting the pace of wage growth. The management of the enterprise had to make managerial decisions under extremely difficult conditions of acute shortages of skilled labor, the presence of influential trade unions, and the necessity of meeting production targets.