“This is a Matter of Numbers, Not of Heart”. Re-signing Shock Labor in 1970s film

Sažetak

The 1970s mark a turning point in the representation of “exemplary workers”, shock workers and work heroes, who had for years been part of the enterprise to increase (mainly) industrial production in state socialist countries and beyond. From its very beginnings, shock labor was inseparable from its representation in the mass media, mainly documentaries and propaganda films. In contrast, in the early 1970s, post-war work successes turn into a caput mortuum, a worthless residue of early “official” socialism. Accordingly, the image of the shock labor movement and of shock workers-as-innovators turns out to be interesting material for artists and filmmakers, who resurrect and rediscover this long-forgotten idea, turning it into an instrument of criticism of the system that advocated it, without criticizing the movement’s most prominent actors. Yugoslav, Polish and Italian directors Bahrudin Bata Čengić, Andrzej Wajda and Elio Petri in their films Slike iz života udarnika (Images from the Life of a Shock Worker, 1972), Człowiek z marmuru (Man of Marble, 1976) and La classe operaia va in paradiso (Lulù the Tool, 1972) respectively, re-sign the essence of work heroism. The problem of increasing production quotas, a “good and happy family life” accompanied by indispensable cultural education and the inclusion of workers in political life are some of the prevailing topics these directors use to build their own eclectic, critical as well as apologetic vision of the shock labor past or present.

Key words:

shock labor, Stakhanovism, film, Alija Sirotanović, socialism, Slike iz života udarnika