Today, probably, no one needs to explain what a subbotnik is. This word, which has been firmly used since the days of the Soviet Union, is now mainly associated with the improvement of the territory, putting things in order at the adjoining plots, streets, and industrial premises. Initially, subbotniks were understood as unpaid labor shifts when people, driven by noble outbursts and communist enthusiasm, performed their usual work.
When did the very first subbotnik take place
The date of birth of the event, the main purpose of which was voluntary gratuitous work for the benefit of society, is considered April 12, 1919. Having completed the Friday shift, fifteen employees of the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot decided to stay at their workplaces in order to finish the repair of three steam locomotives by morning. The initiative came from members of the labor collective who were members of the CPSU (B.). The task set for the railway workers was successfully completed, and productivity reached as much as 270%. Since the after-hours work shift occurred on the night of Friday to Saturday, this form of gratuitous labor enthusiasm was called the “Saturday clean-up”.
Further development of the movement
Conducting the cleanup did not go unnoticed. Within a month, the initiative was taken up by employees of other railway depots. Soon they were joined by workers from factories and plants across the country. V.I. Lenin said that the subbotnik is a great folk initiative, fully consistent with communist ideology.
A year later, on May 1, 1920, the First All-Union Subbotnik took place, in which members of the highest echelon of power took part along with ordinary workers. On this day, throughout the country, people cleaned up not only in their workplaces, but also in the streets and in the yards - they sorted out rubble, planted trees, painted fences, and whitewashed the facades of buildings.
According to eyewitnesses, the leader of the world proletariat managed to participate in the improvement of the Kremlin territory. In all likelihood, the contribution to the public affairs of a fifty-year-old man who had suffered a serious wound two years before was not so significant. But Lenin really helped carry heavy logs, which found reflection in the visual arts and campaign posters of those years.
Military and post-war subbotniks
During the Great Patriotic War, the demand for subbotniks increased even more. On rare weekends, workers at factories and plants stood up for their machines to produce over-planned products. Gratuitous work in the name of victory brought together the hearts of millions of people.
The significance of subbotniks did not decrease during the post-war reconstruction of the national economy. United by a single labor impulse, the citizens of a huge country built houses, planted trees, repaired bridges and roads destroyed by the war, without requiring material compensation. It was believed that the subbotnik was a holiday of voluntary labor, and not a compulsory duty.
School Subbotniks
People whose childhood passed under the banner of a pioneer organization probably remember school cleanups. Most educational institutions in those days, as today, worked on a six-day system. But on the eve of the day when the children's subbotnik was supposed to be held, the students were announced that the next day they should come in working clothes, taking with them the tools.
Lessons on this day were reduced to 35–40 minutes, and upon their completion, schoolchildren engaged in general cleaning of classrooms, washed the walls in the corridors, and scrubbed the stairs. In spring and autumn, during subbotniks, it was supposed to look after the green spaces, to clean the school yard from garbage.
Although it was believed that the subbotnik was strictly voluntary, the appearance at such events was strictly controlled. Those who were swinging away from socially useful work were waited for by “debriefing” at meetings of pioneer assets and a flap from class teachers.
Are subbotniks needed today?
Public works outside school hours have not lost their relevance in our days. From Soviet times, there remained such a thing as a citywide community work day, when residents are involved in cleaning up the squares and streets of their village in the spring after snow melt or in the fall during leaf fall.
However, today one can often hear calls for the abolition of such events as being inconsistent with the constitutional provision on the prohibition of forced labor. Many citizens explain their unwillingness to go to the citywide community work day because they already pay taxes, which means that cleaning the yards and streets should be carried out by the employees of the corresponding communal services.
It is worth noting that the traditions of landscaping by the forces of the public would be incorrect to consider the invention of Soviet power. It is known that in the old days, residents of villages and cities voluntarily took to the streets of their native settlements with brooms and brooms in order to clean up the great church holidays.
