Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comment. In my archive research I look at recently declassified statistics and reports on the development of the Soviet labour market, especially in relation to the abrogation of the labour law of June 1940, in year 1956. The more moderate labour laws which were introduced after Stalin died allowed for a larger mobility and flexibility, as earlier, workers could not easily leave their workplace "on their own accord". Also, tardiness by more than 20 minutes, which had earlier been suppressed, was no longer a crime. These shifts, which I am able to show hopefully, created new contradictions in the economy; as urbanization continued to grow, with turnover and tardiness exploding in certain sectors on the one hand, and lay-offs becoming more widespread, on the other hand. With the new data, we can see branch and region wise, who left for what reasons, and where to over a longer period of time (1950-1970). It is also possible to look at the quantities of tardiness and spoilage at sector and ministry level. Other variables show age and gender strucutre. However, considering the outstanding growth numbers in the very same years, the picture is further complicated, and I believe it tells us a lot about how labour markets are developed in general, when a multitude of social processes are intertwined. My hope is to cover the whole period 1930-1980, but that might not be possible, at least not in very great detail.
This research will, according to plan goal estimates, hopefully debouch into a PhD-thesis which will then be defended in late 2009. But apart from my economic historical research, I also look into the life and work of the Russian economist and historian I.I. Rubin. When time allows, I would like to use declassified files to write an article on him, his work at the MEL-institute (in the 1920s) together with D. Razyanov, and how he was targeted by Stalin in the Menshevik processes (1930), which would in the end lead to his early death in the Great Terror. I restrain myself to say to much before any conclusive evidence can be presented.
Kind regards
Martin
Från: OPE-L genom Dave Zachariah
Skickat: fr 2008-02-01 20:04
Till: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU
Ämne: Re: [OPE-L] RGASPI Russian archive
on 2008-01-29 22:47 Martin Kragh wrote:
> A while ago, I posted a thread on the Russian State Archive of Social
> and Political History, RGASPI.
>
> http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/ope/archive/0701/0061.html
> <http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/%7Ecottrell/ope/archive/0701/0061.html>
>
> I follow up this thread with a picture of the building that might be
> of interest. This is the front of the building facing the street. On
> the other side of the street are some luxury shops, because the
> archive is located in central Moscow. You get an idea of the size of
> the Marx, Engels and Lenin constructions if you look at the cars. The
> house was built by German POW:s in the late 1940s. It contains all the
> files from the former MEL-institute which was closed in 1991, but to
> my knowledge it doesn't have any exmployees working on the available
> material. Researchers have unlimited access to the majority of
> these files however, for no fee. Archivists there are very kind and
> helpful, and they often know many details about the materials.
>
> This is a gold mine for researchers in political economy and labour
> history, because there are hundreds of files on European labour
> history and the social sciences made available since the beginning of
> the Russian archival revolution in 1993.
>
> Kind regards
> Martin
Hi Martin,
What is the topic of your research and when are you planning its
publication?
//Dave Z