State v. Danila Kuz′mich: Soviet Desertion Laws and Industrial Child Labor during World War II

Abstract

During the Second World War, teenage labor was an economic necessity in the Soviet Union. Though the Stalinist government attempted to protect teenagers’ rights, the coercive labor policies it enacted and the general systemic deficiencies indirectly resulted in the abuse and exploitation of young workers. Although life was hard for all Soviet workers during the war, factory apprentices usually led a far more precarious existence than their adult colleagues. The inability of the state to realize its welfare objectives and to live up to its promises bred low morale and work inefficiency among many teenage workers. Instilled with a sense of entitlement and self‐efficacy, they resisted by leaving their trade schools and factories. The regime proclaimed such actions unpatriotic and criminal, at the same time refusing to take responsibility for widespread abuse. This essay looks at the institutional interaction and the actual experience of teenage workers on the factory floor and within the penal system. It argues that Soviet wartime labor policies were a failure; Stalinist humanitarian pretensions—a sham; and the regime's claims of being in full control of its labor force—at best optimistic.

The Pedagogical Process in Educational Institutions within the USSR’s State Labor Reserves System during Ukraine’s Economic Recovery in the Period 1943–1950

“…Among the contemporary Western European scholars interested in the subject, worthy of particular mention are D. Filtzer, L. Coumel, and M. Kragh (Filtzer, 2002;Coumel, 2006;Kragh, 2011). Certain aspects of the labor exploitation of students in the factory training (FZO) schools have been explored by O. Kucherenko, a member of the Russian diaspora in the UK (Kucherenko, 2012).…”

Leisure Management at the Educational Institutions of the Labour Reserves System During the Post-War Recovery of Ukraine (1945-1950)

“…O. Kucherenko (2012), a British of Slavic origin, in her work addresses the history of the state labor reserves system in the context of the Soviet children life investigation during World War II. The scientist emphasizes that labor reserves became a means of mass use of youth work and socialization under the requirements of the totalitarian system.…”