Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics

The aim of this article is to study the processes of social development of the Kuzbass coal quarry workers since the opening of the first career in 1948 up to the beginning of 1965 in connection with the mental health of the workers that had been changing due to the changes in their social and economic environment. Task and objectives of this research are: to find out the main factors of social development, to understand how they were changing during that period and to answer the question, how the mental health of quarry workers was changing due to the changes in their social development. The methodological base of this research was the system analyses, history-genetic method, method of historical periodization as well as the mental health theory. The author used the wide range of studies to reach his goal. Some of them are the articles of Russian and Siberian historians who wrote about the Siberian working class in the Soviet time, its social and economic development and problems (A. Okladnikov, S. Bukin, M. Efimkin, V. Alekseev, N. Kuksanova). In addition, the author studied the materials of Kemerovo State Archive (funds of different manufacturing groups, documents of the Communist Party etc.), statistical books and the articles of local newspapers. Also the articles of the theorists in mental health were used. We can make the following conclusions. In the Kuzbass open coal mining there was a situation, which we believe affected the mental health of employees positively. Although the problems of the housing sector remained very sharp, however, the living conditions of these 17 years improved significantly, creating a kind of "base effect" - people understood that they lived not too good, but also understood that their living conditions were improving, and the quality of life increased. Together with other conditions (improved supply of workers, better working conditions, mortality fall of production factors, increase of the educational level) housing development helped employees to believe in progressive improvement of life. The memory of the war and the belief in soon coming of the long-awaited communism during this period also were creating a positive emotional state. However, by the end of the period the mental health of cuts workers again has been threatened since the beginning of the period of high expectations gradually ceased to be justified.

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