Labor and Discipline: A Worker's Notes
Ivan Rybakov, 1985
Why are some people always late, while others arrive early? The lathe operator Ivan Rybakov worked for twenty years in one workshop and for ten years led a brigade in which, in nine years out of ten, there was not a single breach of discipline. In his notes he tells where disorganization comes from, how a good mentor teaches, and why order leaves time for life.
Who it is for
For those who want to become more organized without forcing themselves. And for anyone who teaches newcomers or is responsible for a team.
Getting ahead is no achievement in itself. Now try pulling others along behind you and bringing them up to your level.
Nine years without a single breach
Morning. Ivan Rybakov walks to the factory. The walk takes ten or fifteen minutes, and that is enough for the worries of home to let go of him and for a plan for the day to take shape in his head. At the factory gate he meets his guys: they always arrive at the same time. Someone behind them grumbles in mock complaint: “Here they go again, Rybakov's lot, all in a bunch.” The brigade's joker, Sasha Kramarenko, once answered this with a joke: “Our numbers we divide among ourselves, but our success we share with everyone.”
Rybakov worked as a lathe operator for twenty years in one workshop of the Cryogenmash association in Balashikha, a town near Moscow. For ten of those years he led a brigade, that is, a group of workers with a shared assignment. Over time it grew to seventeen people. The author writes that in nine years out of ten, there was not a single breach of discipline in the brigade. If he had asked the guys whether anyone was late today, they would only have been surprised at such a silly question.
His notes came out in 1985 from a trade union publishing house. They are full of the big words of their time: about plans, decrees and socialist competition. In this retelling we have set those aside. What remains is what is still useful today: where disorganization comes from, how a good mentor teaches, how a team welcomes a newcomer, and why order can give you freedom instead of taking it away.
Let's begin with the smallest breach, the one many people think is harmless.
Being late starts with unwashed dishes
Being late for work seems like a trifle to many people. A person thinks: “So I was ten minutes late, I'll catch up later.” Rybakov suggests first understanding where it comes from. In his view, it begins with a lack of respect for yourself.
At first it is just small things. The dishes are not washed on time: “I'll wash them later.” The shoes are not cleaned: “There's snow outside anyway.” A promise is not kept, a date does not happen. Trifles, but little by little a person gets used to not keeping their word. Disorganization stops bothering them, and one day they leave the house at the last minute.
Then the author paints a familiar picture. A person runs, cursing themselves and the late bus. They arrive in a sweat, give the foreman a muddled explanation and burn with shame. A few more minutes go into pulling themselves together. So being late takes more time than it seems.
The author does not make a tragedy of it, but he does not excuse the latecomer either. In his opinion, a latecomer should be told off, and sometimes punished, so that they notice their own disorganization and find a way to change.
There is another form of the same illness. A person arrives on time but is in no hurry to get down to work: they wander around the workshop and often go out for a smoke. Rybakov notes that this kind of slackness grows fast when no one stops it. Fixing it later is harder. But in his experience, a team can bring anyone into line. Only the team can find the one right approach to a person.
The author also shows that you need to look for the cause, not just for someone to blame. In one section of the factory, workers were finishing their shift earlier than they were supposed to. A check found out why: the company bus left the gate a few minutes after the end of the shift. To have time to change and get on it, people left their places a little early. This was reported to the management, the bus schedule was changed, and the workers stopped leaving early.
There are two conclusions to take from this chapter. If you are late yourself, start with the small things at home. And if many people break the rules, first look at what gets in their way.
About the author
Ivan Vasilyevich Rybakov is a lathe operator at the Cryogenmash association near Moscow, a brigade leader and a mentor to young workers, and a winner of the USSR State Prize.
All books by this author: Ivan Rybakov
Terms from the book
- Kramarenko: Alexander Kramarenko, a lathe operator in the author's brigade, its poet and joker.
- Cryogenmash: A research and production association in Balashikha, a town near Moscow. It makes equipment for extremely low temperatures, for example for producing liquid nitrogen and oxygen.
- Balashikha: A town in the Moscow region, east of Moscow.
- Brigade: A group of workers with a shared assignment. It is headed by a brigade leader.
- Vocational school: A vocational and technical school: a place where people learn a working trade.
- Lathe operator: A worker who shapes parts on a lathe. The lathe spins the blank, and a cutting tool takes the extra metal off it.
- Cutting tool: The cutter a lathe operator works with. It is sharpened to the angle the job needs.
- Lisogor: Pavel Yakovlevich Lisogor, an experienced lathe operator, the author's first mentor at the factory.
- Grinder: Here: a sharpening machine with an abrasive wheel, used to sharpen cutting tools.
- Sukhomlinsky: Vasily Alexandrovich Sukhomlinsky, a Soviet educator and author of books on raising children.
- Comrades' court: In the USSR, a meeting of workers that looked into the misconduct of one of their colleagues and could hand down a public punishment.
- Alenichev: The surname of two brothers in the author's brigade. The elder, Viktor, is a mentor and one of the first masters of CNC machines. The younger, Sasha, joined the brigade after him.
- CNC: Computer numerical control: the machine works by a program written in advance.
- Kuleshov: Ivan Tikhonovich Kuleshov, a lathe operator and a mentor of the author's brigade in its first years.
- Single work order: One shared assignment for the whole brigade. Pay is for the finished result of the whole brigade, not for each person's parts.
- Labor participation coefficient: A number the brigade uses to rate each person's contribution. A person's share of the total pay depends on it.
- Yugov: Alexei Kuzmich Yugov, a writer, author of the book “Thoughts on the Russian Word”.
All terms
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