How the Miners Became „Aristocrats". Social Effects of Coal mining in the USSR and Poland (1945-1970s)

One of the most remarkable processes in social sphere of the planned economy of the USSR and Poland was impressive growth of the miner's standard of living. The purpose of this article is to analyze the social effects of coal mining's development in the Soviet Union and Poland during 1945-1970s. The study is conducted on archive's materials (the Russian State Archives of Economics, the Russian State Archive of Modern History, the United State Archive of the Chelyabinsk Region, the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk region, the State Archive of Perm Region) and published statistical data. Special attention is paid to the similarity of the labor attraction models in selected countries. The authors identify three stages of development of social sphere of coal mining based on production growth rates, employee turnover and the real incomes of miners. The research provides data that both countries in the early post-war period widely used forced labor in coal mining. But the decrease of productivity led to transition from using of forced labor to use of civilian labor. The authors show that since the second half of the 1950s the improvement of incentives for miners in the USSR and Poland proceeded simultaneously. Remarkably that not only material, but also moral incentives were used (such as special honors and insignia for miners). The documents indicate that one of the reasons of the authorities' attention to the level of miner's standard of living at this period was the fear of social protests. The authors also draw attention to significant difference in the profitability of coal production of the USSR and Poland in late the 1960s and 1970s. Statistical data presents that after the increase in expenditures for wages, housing and social benefits for miners Polish mines remained profitable, whereas Soviet mines became unprofitable. The authors conclude that increase of the standard living of Polish miners was maintained due to compact mines location and lobbying abilities of industry management. But in the USSR, the miners kept a high standard of living due to subsidies provided by the "oil rent". Because the value of coal production fell due to rising production costs of coal and transition of the energy sector to the use of oil and gas. The authors draw a conclusion that in the 1970s the high status of the miners becomes an important social marker in the planned economies of the USSR and Poland, but this status based on the inflated incomes. As a result, extremely high standard of living of miners was a reason of social dissatisfaction to the economic problems of the next decade.

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