Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Russia’s City of Steel
In Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Russia’s City of Steel, John Scott narrates how he lived in Russian among the Russian people during a massive expansion of the steel industry. He left the University of Wisconsin in 1931, appalled by United States’ depression and attracted by Russia’s attempts to create a new society. He obtained training as a welder in the United States then left for Russian to join the great crusade in creating a new society. He got a job in Magnitogorsk as an electric welder. He later graduated to the foreman position in charge of coke and a chemical by-products plant. He lived among the Russians as any other Russian worker for five years, and just like them, married a Russian girl. John Scott might have lived with his Russian colleagues, got their acceptance and a position at work, but he was an American, with different experiences from and different expectations. John Scott’s narration and views are affected a lot by the experiences he had in Russia. He identifies himself with Russia and feels like he belongs. He explores the theme of education, socialism, treatment of women, poverty and change.
John Scott’s narration is not different from what a Russian narrator could have narrated. The United States of America is a capitalist country, while Russia is a communist country. Democracy in the United States was far much developed and enjoyed than in Russia, which was suffering under the non-existent separation of power among the arms of the government and dictators like Stalin. John Scott understood that Russia had to sacrifice a lot to get to where it needed to be, like require workers to work for longer periods. One of the things Scott had to understand was the significance of implementation of the GPU, which took private farms and gave it to the new collective farms. GPU officials could even ship a whole family, and if someone dares to refuse, they were killed.
The theme of change is rampant in the memoir. John Scott starts his narration in Russia when the country is embarking on a long and challenging journey. Many sacrifices and hardships strained the workers before Magnitogorsk was built. The city was located in an unsuitable place and getting the building materials there was such a strain. Transporting the tools needed for work, labourers and food was a challenge since the city was located very far away from the other cities. The weather was extremely cold, yet the workers didn’t have coal that could produce heat and save them from the cold spells. The lack of food caused malnutrition, which in turn slowed down the construction work. The directors at the plant were constantly stressing the workers by pressuring them to speed up their activities and get things done. Russia was surrounded by capitalistic nations, which forced the workers to prove to their neighbours that communism was just as effective. Magnitogorsk was the biggest city of steel in Russia, which implied that the rest of the country was counting on the workers in Magnitogorsk to produce enough steel for the whole country. The government had invested in Magnitogorsk by getting workers from all over the world, so Magnitogorsk had to produce what the country needed from them.
The Russian revolution left the country with many untrained, uneducated and inexperienced workers who couldn’t operate or maintain equipment appropriately. The untrained people couldn’t organise labour forces or run industries, processes that had already been mastered in the United States and Western Europe. The workforce didn’t have enough clothing because the clothing industry wasn’t as good at the time. The industries lacked safety standards and workers were susceptible to exposure to harmful chemicals. There were many accidents in the industries, accidents that couldn’t be controlled easily. For instance, the untrained workers didn’t know how to handle most of the machinery. They had a very limited understanding of danger, which exposed them to more danger. The industries lacked effective ladders and railings, which increased accidents. Many Russians lost their lives in the industries because of a lack of education or a trained director. Additionally, there was dishonesty in plant elections, which made many workers ignore them since they didn’t help them in any way. Only one person vied for election positions, which discouraged the workers from taking them seriously.
The lack of education and training was approached in the wrong way. Trained foreigners were given more recognition than the common workers who were sacrificing to rebuild a new country. Instead of protecting the Russian workers, the system favoured the foreigners and gave the trained one’s privileges that were not enjoyed by the common man. The common people in Russia were also dying while trying to help their country change. If it wasn’t from the harsh environmental conditions, it was from the unending accidents in the industries.
The government’s attempts to provide education for all were right, but they didn’t provide the needed workforce to enable all the people to access education. Most of the teachers were engineers, who came to teach after work. They were often exhausted unprepared to teach. At first, there was a deprivation of higher education. Later, this deprivation was cast aside when Moscow declared equal education rights to all Russians. The health sector was worse than the education sector. The hospitals were crowded all the time. They were understaffed, with untrained nurses who lacked the needed experience. The facilities were far from clean, despite the numerous infections in dirty health facilities that workers could contact. The government tried to cur this by establishing various first aid stations in the important departments. The shortage made doctors work for 2-3 shifts, which as illegal but needed.
The living conditions at the plants were horrible. The food conditions were extremely poor and were a common discussion among the people. They had a queue for long before getting the food. The higher ranking people got the best foods available while those on the lower ranks got the worst foods. Foreign specialist got better clothing, foodstuff and shelter. GPU officers, engineers, foremen and technician got cards that enabled them to purchase the best things in technician stores while the other people got their purchases from worker’s stores. The workers store didn’t have many things, although it always had breads. The population was divided into categories which were determined the people’s social status. Most of the workers in the city of steel were men. Shortage of women meant that most of them were unmarried. The hardships at the construction area discouraged women from going there. They also slept in overcrowded rooms, denying any privacy they would desire to have with their women. They also worked a lot, which drained their energy, depriving them any motivation to make love to their women.
Due to the slow pace of construction, millions of men and women starved, froze and died from the merciless living conditions. The first project for Magnitogorsk Metallurgical combine of 1928 was a serious failure because it had inadequate labour; it lacked trained labour and machines. Propaganda rose after that, urging Soviet workers to learn from the German and American foreigners and their techniques.
Women in Russia had very few opportunities when compared to men. Even though the men were leaving in worse conditions, women did not have it easy. Through Masha, we can conclude that life in Russia was hard from the start. She describes the conditions as if she didn’t see any major change. Without education, Masha and the other women couldn’t escape the harsh living conditions. For them, getting educated was the only hope from the poverty, harsh living conditions and poverty. From John Scott and Masha’s lives, it’s clear that the only way that Russians could be happy was through getting an education and getting a job to keep you busy. The main motivation from the learned was studying and working. Masha shows that women could only break free if they went to school and got a job. The uneducated women couldn’t escape the harsh living conditions or even the York of poverty and poor health care. Women could only fight by getting educated. Otherwise, they would be under poorly paid husbands. There is a strong interrelationship between food, work and education that the people couldn’t ignore.
Workers tried to give their all no matter the price it cost them. The “Battle of Iron and Steel” showed how inexperience and carelessness affected the workforce negatively. Despite the challenges, the workers in Magnitogorsk produced more iron than all the mills in Poland, Italy and Czechoslovakia. The workers in Magnitogorsk were divided according to their level of education, and they could request to be upgraded as long as they passed the exam designed for each level. As Magnitogorsk workers improved their production the quality of life improved. Food, clothing, shelter and the other necessities were availed to them. The technicians and leaders began appreciating human life and taking care of their people, by ensuring that the accidents went down. Stalin’s address on the importance of taking care of the workers if Russia wanted improved productivity encouraged industrial management to better the workers’ lives. The workers didn’t get a perfect working environment because most of the leaders in the industries were not as enlightened. Despite the challenges, Magnitogorsk continued to produce high-quality goods. By 1939, some departments were producing expensive and high-quality steel. A five-year plan that commenced from 1937-1942 made real progress in production.
Education was availed in a better way during the thirties. The economic, social and political changes prompted the government to create “Soviet Intelligentsia.” The plants went to the government, and the people became paranoid about spies politics. Stalin dominated the country from all the fronts, which came to cost the country a lot. Propagandas saw many foreigners sent back to their countries. After a short while, foreigners who had been imprisoned were pardoned. John Scott’s vacation in America made him see the differences between capitalistic America and the communist Soviet Union. Capitalistic countries were struggling with unemployment and a surplus budget while communistic Russia was thriving with a deficit economy. He realised that Americans had the wrong image of Russia. However, when he went back, he found that all the positions occupied by foreigners had been taken back by young, educated Russians. All the foreigners were not needed in Russia any more. Though the foreigners had helped, the Soviet people had suffered a great deal to make the Soviet Union a superpower.
The issue of consumer goods, food and shelter and Stalinism are different from my initial understanding of Stalinism. From John Scott’s narration, the availability of the goods depended on the people’s buying power. Many workers were poor and couldn’t afford these necessities. Later on, when they improve the quality of the goods they produce, they get better necessities. To me, this seems logical, since the government couldn’t afford to feed all the workers in the start. Stalin’s speech saw them get better working conditions. Stalin might be a dictator, but for Russians, I don’t think he was a dictator or as bad as the other countries see him. They suffered under him, yet they emerged as a superpower. The Soviet Union under Stalin caught up with all the other nations in Europe. John Scott says that the American understanding of Stalin and the Russian was different from what he understood. If John Scott didn’t see Stalin as a dictator and Scott was American then maybe Russians didn’t see him as a dictator because he restored their relevance in Europe. Improvement of Russian economy improved the worker’s standards of living. Therefore, judging Stalin’s actions might result in a dilemma, since he helped the people get better lives after their tremendous sacrifices.
In summation, John Scott’s narration was heavily affected by his life in Russia and the acceptance he received in the industries. His marriage to a Russian girl shows how he fits in the Russian society and his attempts to belong. He thinks the Russians had to sacrifice if they wanted a better life. Behind the Urals describes a five-year plan and the effects it had on the Russian people, the positive and the negative impact. It describes the dedication, the lack of food, housing and equipment. It describes the endurance and the hope for a better Russia. The difference in payment, the affluent suburbs for specialists and foreigners while the common Russian man froze to death in the tents. The book describes the rising tempo and the desire to build and the desperation in the workers as they build the socialist city. It describes the betrayal the few foreigners who helped felt from Stalin and his propaganda. Scott carries himself as one of the workers and identifies himself as one of them. Though he got a chance to escape with his family, he gives his readers an understanding of how workers felt in Russia during the time. The book gives the author an understanding of Russia and its people, and how Stalin built the steel city. The book doesn’t solve the dilemma of how Russians should see Stalin. He might have helped the country gain recognition through the steel city, but he was a ruthless dictator who caused many workers deaths while at it. Is he the hero or another dictator?