Stakhanovism (stäkä'nəvĭzm, stə-), movement begun (1935) in the Soviet Union aimed at increasing industrial production by the use of efficient working techniques. It was named for Aleksey Grigorevich Stakhanov, a coal miner in the Donets Basin, whose team increased its daily output sevenfold by organizing a more efficient division of labor. The Soviet government, eager to ensure the success of the Five-Year Plan, encouraged the Stakhanov movement by offering higher pay and other privileges. In many cases the emphasis on speed resulted in poor quality. Stakhanovism was widely criticized outside the Soviet Union as another form of the speed-up system and was fought by labor unions in other countries. After World War II the Stakhanov movement gradually lapsed.
