Visualising labour: The problem and a case study, USSR in construction 1931

Dell, Simon (2019) Visualising labour: The problem and a case study, USSR in construction 1931. Labour History Review, 84 (2). pp. 115-148. ISSN 0961-5652

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Abstract

This essay examines the twofold problem of ‘visualizing labour’. A first part of the problem is the status of ‘labour’ and its relationship with ‘work’. A second issue is the status of ‘visualization’, which, as the process of conceiving images, is distinct from the process of representing given entities. These issues are rather entangled; here they are addressed in the context of Soviet Russia. I argue that from the inception of the first Five-Year Plan in April 1929, there was a need to visualize labour: this was integral to Josef Stalin’s project of socialist construction. One result was the presentation of the worker as a very particular kind of hero. Such was the case for Viktor Kalmikov in U.S.S.R. in Construction.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Art History and World Art Studies Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Centres > Centre for African Art and Archaeology Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Centre for European and American Art History
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	08 Mar 2019 13:30
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2025 00:53
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/70188
DOI:	10.3828/lhr.2019.7

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