April 27, 2019

Lights, camera, shovels!


Lights, camera, shovels!
The classic painting of Lenin with the canonical log, by Soviet artist Viktor Ivanov

The acting governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov has not been in office a year, but has already gotten a reputation as a master of public relations stunts. One of his recent gubernatorial activities was to head up a city-wide subbotnik.

Subbotnik, derived from subbota or Saturday, was a Soviet tradition when workers gathered outside of their working hours – usually on Saturday – to work some more, usually on menial tasks having to do nothing with their profession, such as cleaning their offices or the yard around the premises. According to legend, the tradition was started by Moscow railroad workers in 1919, who voluntarily started to gather on Saturday evenings to fix locomotive engines. The initiative was eventually described by Vladimir Lenin as a “victory over sluggishness, indolence, petty bourgeois egotism, and all the habits that the damned capitalism passed down to the worker and peasant.”

In one of the key Soviet propaganda stories, Lenin participated in a subbotnik in the Kremlin, where he carried a log. The incident eventually became the subject of many jokes. One is that so many people through history have claimed to carry the log with Lenin, that the log must have been about a kilometer long.

Watch Lenin leap onto stage with a log in this excerpt of the ballet Falcons of the Revolution, by Kazakh choreographer Bulat Ayukhanov.

In the end, what may have started as a grassroots drive to rebuild a country became a formality for millions of people who grudgingly gave up a weekend day for what was essentially unpaid physical labor, with many pretending to work while chatting or quietly getting drunk. Like other traditions, which included many parades, subbotniks received the tag добровольно-принудительный, or voluntary-coercive. Often they would be held in late April, some time between the thawing of the snow, that revealed mountains of garbage, and the May holidays.

A typical group photo of subbotnik participants. 

Returning to the twenty-first century, Beglov, like many Russian officials, has resurrected the Soviet ghost of subbotnik's past. Yet in modern Russia, the practice seems to serve a solely PR purpose and often delivers a destructive rather than improvement effect.

Count the cameras covering the event of the day: Governor Beglov fixing a board (but not a log)

Before Beglov arrived in the neighborhood in Kupchino, the streets were thoroughly cleaned for the cameras, according to Fontanka newspaper, making the entire idea of the subbotnik irrelevant. The governor brought along an opera singer and footballer, with whom he ceremoniously fixed a fresh board to a bench and adjusted another board on a playground with an electric screwdriver his team had prepared for him. One observer came to the conclusion that the bench was broken for the occasion, in order to give the governor the chance to triumph before the media.

In my Moscow neighborhood, authorities announced a subbotnik on a local boulevard. The next day, I happened to walk through to see the ground scraped of last year's leaves, which were neatly packed into plastic bags, while the garbage had simply been left lying around. The subbotnik apparently took place over a very small area, where the head of the district and his subordinates quickly raked leaves before the cameras, while ignoring the garbage lying beyond the media perimeter.

Ecologists have lamented that such subbotniks actually rob the earth of nutrients. Leaves also keep dust from flying around, while the birds feed on bugs that hide beneath them. Which means that pitched battles are now being waged between publicity-hungry politicians raking leaves into piles and environmentalists trying to prevent it.

In our day and age, returning the subbotnik its usefulness as well as its grassroots essence would take an effort of truly revolutionary proportions.

You Might Also Like

The Subbotnik is Born
  • March 01, 2014

The Subbotnik is Born

A look back at the odd history of "Communist Saturdays" – or how working on non-workdays was not such a big deal.
Sprouting Spring Celebrations
  • March 01, 2015

Sprouting Spring Celebrations

There has been a proliferation of professional holidays in Russia, and those falling in the spring have a peculiar "bent" toward the military and law enforcement bodies...
Subbotniks: Soviet
  • April 10, 2014

Subbotniks: Soviet "Days of Service"

Once, a group of factory workers decided to work without pay for the war effort. Somehow their voluntary sacrifice became the entire Soviet Union's mandatory labor - all "for the greater good."
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

At the Circus

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955