Lenin with a log on a subbotnik: description of the event, photo, interesting facts

Those citizens who studied during the Soviet Union, well remember the picture of V. Ivanov "VI. Lenin at a subbotnik with a log in the Kremlin. " On this subject, not one thousand school essays were written expressing approval to the wise grandfather Ilyich - the friend of all children and working people, who, by his own example, argued that he was not afraid of physical labor. However, many of these children, becoming adults, never wondered where and where Lenin was dragging the log, and why he was doing it. In this article we will try to highlight this issue.

Lenin with a log

The picture of V. Ivanov is not the only one in which Vladimir Ilyich, the leader of the world proletariat and friend of all nations, is doing hard work. In total, several paintings were written, depicting Lenin with a log (photo), or performing heavy physical work as a simple worker:

1. D. Borovsky and M. Klonsky "May 1, 1920 (Lenin at the subbotnik)."
2. M. Sokolov "V.I. Lenin at the All-Russian Subbotnik on May 1, 1920 ".
3. N. Sysoev "Lenin at the subbotnik in the Kremlin."
4. E. Shatov "Lenin and the Bolsheviks on the construction of slalom channels."

Perhaps there were many more unknown authors who portrayed Ilyich as a worker. We listed the most famous works about which many Soviet schoolchildren knew. What did the paintings on which Lenin depicted with the log for that time meant? We will try to understand further.

Where are the logs from in the Kremlin?

The first question that immediately comes to mind when you see pictures on which Lenin is depicted with a log, where did the logs from the Kremlin come from?

Various garbage and building materials remained on Red Square after the devastation of the revolution. They were scattered by cadets, who built barricades just from logs. In addition, there were mud everywhere, garbage, traces of fires and ashes. All this is a natural consequence of armed confrontations. Therefore, there was a need to clean not only on Red Square, but also throughout the country.

Political PR-action

Many researchers are convinced that Lenin with a log was portrayed not just to show his diligence - it was a real political PR-action, which pursued its goal is quite another.

The fact is that the "industrious" Ilyich walked with a log across the territory of the Moscow Kremlin from the Armory Chamber to Tsar Cannon - a distance of only a few hundred meters. After this, the leader of the world proletariat was never seen after physical labor. However, the pictures from this historic event were accumulated for each school, factory and factory. What was this done for? We will express one of the points of view later in the article.

Three locomotives per night

When our state no longer knows what else to think up for our people, so that, as they say in one winged phrase, "life does not seem to honey," then the citizens themselves come to their aid, suggesting the right decision.

In the spring of 1919 , Soviet Russia was in a difficult economic situation, which was caused by the consequence of the revolution and the Civil War. One of the serious problems of that time was the poor performance of the railways, in particular the severe shortage of locomotives.

Then the workers of the Moscow-Sortirovochnaya depot of the Moscow-Kazan railway made a voluntary decision on additional free work after the shift. This event occurred on the night of 11 to 12 April 1919 on Saturday. Overnight, 15 workers repaired 3 locomotives.

Voluntary slavery

Naturally, this desire of the working people should be encouraged. After that, the whole plant decided to voluntarily conduct weekly such actions until the complete victory over Kolchak. It was this event that gave birth to such a notion of socialist achievement as "subbotnik" - that is, Free voluntary work for the benefit of a "bright future".

The wide initiative of people who were not indifferent immediately attracted the attention of the state apparatus. On a similar action on May 10, 1919, there were already 205 people. Naturally, such an event could not pass state journalists and politicians. Mass propaganda of voluntary free labor began.

"Great initiative"

It would seem, what relation do the above-mentioned events have to the pictures on which Lenin bears a log? In fact - direct.

After the subbotnik on May 10, 1919, the leader of the world proletariat wrote his article "The Great Initiative." In it he ideologically substantiated a new movement of voluntary free labor. So, a sincere desire to help the revolution of ordinary workers, and perhaps the usual desire to curry favor with the new government, created a historical precedent that the authorities subsequently used to introduce universal and universal "voluntary" free labor on Saturdays. History is somewhat reminiscent of the famous "Stakhanov movement", when many workers performed "labor feats", increasing the output of several times higher than the norm.

The problem for the rest was that their exploits became the norm for everyone else in the future, so the "Stakhanovites" were treated as enemies of the common people. Something similar was observed here: the initiative of 15 workers turned into mass propaganda of free labor throughout the country. And such actions were voluntary only on paper. Many subsequently were even fired from their jobs for absenteeism only because they refused to "voluntarily" participate in subbotniks.

When moving to a six-day working week in 1940, a new term appeared - "Sundays", as the usual subbotniks lost their relevance. This continued until the 22nd Congress of the CPSU (March 29 - March 8, 1966), at which it was decided to restore a five-day working week. At the same time, the concept of "subbotniks" is again part of the usual vocabulary of Soviet citizens.

Lenin with a log as propaganda of universal free labor

The state naturally liked the "initiative from below" with free mass labor. Now it was necessary to introduce this idea throughout the country. The usual initiative of even the whole plant is not the argument that could make all the rest abandon their own day off and go on a free job. We needed a political PR-action. That is why on May 1, 1920, Lenin took a log, carried it a few meters, and then many artists painted it in their works.

Further copies of these paintings scattered throughout the corners of our country. The meaning, we think, is understandable to everyone: the great leader himself goes to subbotniks in order to make our world better. And the better each of us, that does not go to free work in the name of a bright future? Thus, Lenin with a log became a call for free mass labor throughout the country. Something similar can be observed in modern news reports, for example, some governor planted a tree or went to the subbotnik to clean the territory, or some celebrity refused to travel by car to save the environment, etc.

From this time on mass free compulsory labor was presented not as "cruel exploitation", but as "transition to a new labor discipline". For what they fought, as they say, they ran into it.

Pictures as a means of mass propaganda

The Bolsheviks for the first time used the works of artists for agitation. The advantages are clear: newspapers and news on the radio are quickly forgotten. Nobody cuts out pictures from newspapers and does not paste them on the walls. With the pictures, the situation is different: they are hung in dining rooms at enterprises, they are written school essays, they hang in the most prominent places. Lenin with a log calling for free mass labor can be seen at every Soviet enterprise.

The phrase "obsolete news" can not be applied to the picture, since it is a work of art, not news reports, so free work on Saturdays was always relevant.