“Andropov round-ups”: how forty years ago truants-violators were caught by violators-violators

On Sunday, August 7, 1983, a surprise awaited Soviet citizens. Central and regional newspapers on the front pages published the material “In the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions”, which described the consideration of the issue “on strengthening the work to strengthen socialist labor discipline” and the adoption of appropriate measures.

A few days before that, decisions had appeared “above” that toughened the attitude to the liberties that workers, employees and students sometimes allowed themselves. Moskovsky Komsomolets informed readers about the signing of such documents in the issue of July 30: “The Politburo approved additional measures developed by the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions to strengthen labor discipline, … to improve order in enterprises, collective farms, organizations and institutions . The statement of resolutions on this issue will be published in the central and local press.

The announced publication took place on 7 August. Among other things, citizens could read about some specific “gifts”:

“… In order to strengthen the fight against truants and other malicious violators of labor discipline, it is necessary to recognize that: for workers and employees who have taken absenteeism without good reason, the next vacation is reduced by the number of days of absenteeism; to workers and employees who are absent from work for more than 3 hours during a working day without good reason, the same measures of responsibility are applied as established for absenteeism; workers and employees who allow violations of labor discipline, absenteeism without a valid reason or appearing at work in a state of intoxication, can be transferred to another lower-paid job for up to three months … Recognize unjustified distraction of workers and employees during working hours for holding all kinds of meetings as unacceptable , rallies and seminars, sports competitions, amateur art activities, organization of tourist trips … “

One of the paragraphs in the text was highlighted in bold: “Taking into account the proposals of the workers … The Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions adopted a resolution “On additional measures to strengthen labor discipline.”

In the said document, dated July 28, there was a clause: “Bodies of the prosecutor’s office, justice, state arbitration, internal affairs and courts should work to strengthen the rule of law at enterprises, organizations, institutions; strengthen communication with the administration, legal services, as well as public organizations, groups and posts of people’s control in order to prevent violations of state and labor discipline … “

Based on this point, they began to implement a large-scale campaign, which the people called the “Andropov raids.” In the morning, in the afternoon, that is, during working hours, groups of police officers and combatants began to walk around cities and towns, who checked the people they met, why they were not at the moment at work or school. The “controllers” were also interested in shoppers, cinemas… If a citizen could not convincingly prove that he was not a truant, he was in serious trouble. The patrol recorded all the data of the offender, and the corresponding “cart” left for the enterprise or educational institution. The appearance of such a paper threatened with public “flagellation” at a meeting of the labor collective, and even with the analysis of a personal case in a comrades’ court. So-called “discipline screens” appeared at the enterprises, where leaflets with the names of truants were hung out for public viewing. Well, in the “load” they also applied the administrative and financial measures provided for by the new resolution.

“Andropov raids” – that’s another epic! Even, using today’s fashionable term – a quest. Catchers of truants and parasites tried to “cover” them in the most unexpected places, and these potential victims tried dozens of ways to get out, “shed off”. The memories of the participants preserved many strange, sometimes even piquant situations that arose at that time.

For example, one of the Muscovites told about the daily police “cleansing” in the bath. “Why aren’t you at work?” – ask a completely naked person. “I’m on my second shift today.” “What’s your job? Submit your documents! And the man in Adam’s suit only has a gang and a washcloth with him …

The inspectors caught another poor fellow on a fine summer day on a park bench. He tried to explain that he was on sick leave and went out for some fresh air. “Where is your sick leave?” “Lies at home.” “Since you do not have a document with you, this cannot serve as an excuse. And in general, if you are on sick leave, you need to stay at home! As a result, they sent a “denunciation” to the “imaginary patient” at his place of service.

There was also an anecdotal case when an obviously malicious violator was caught in the net of labor discipline defenders: a man of decent appearance, in a suit, slowly walks down the street during the day, from time to time stops at a stand with a newspaper (reads), then opposite a beautiful old at home (admiring) … “Citizen! Why not at work? “Don’t interfere!” “Citizen!!.” “You are disturbing me!!” “Citizen! Submit your documents! Presented. It turned out that this is an operative of the criminal investigation department, who is spying on the suspect. Due to an overzealous patrol, while the bickering was going on, the “client” of the opera managed to hide somewhere.

Sometimes creative fighters for discipline even came up with exclusive measures for admonishing and punishing truants caught in their net. I have heard about the situation with a Muscovite who was caught in the cinema during the daytime session (this was a common practice: right at the height of the film screening, a patrol enters the hall, the policemen ask the projectionist to stop the projector for 10 minutes and turn on the light in the hall, after which they begin to check the audience present in audience hall). This film fan, who failed to prove that he was not a truant, was taken outside, loaded onto a bus and, together with a dozen other similar violators, was sent to “forced educational work” – sorting stale potatoes at a vegetable base.

Two colleagues of this man in the hobby of cinema – high school students – once had to spend almost an hour in a siege, locked in a toilet cubicle. There they managed to hide, noticing the appearance of inspectors in the lobby of the cinema. As for evil, the policemen turned out to be persistent: realizing that the girls were most likely “illegal”, the law enforcement officers decided to wait for them to appear from the ladies’ room. However, the truant young ladies turned out to have more patience: the law enforcement officers in the end could not stand it and went in search of other victims.

A very successful way to “fend off” the “checkers” was found by a citizen who carefully read the mentioned newspaper editorial published on August 7th. This comrade was stopped by a patrol consisting of a policeman with several vigilantes at the height of the working day in the middle of the trading floor of a department store. Hearing the then traditional phrase: “Why are you not at work?”, The man did not go into explanations. Instead, he asked the combatants a counter question: “Why aren’t you at work?”

Indeed, according to the existing provision on Voluntary People’s Teams, a person can participate in patrolling only in his free time. And in the August resolution, the inadmissibility of “unjustified distraction of workers and employees during working hours” was emphasized. It’s funny that in this case, the combatants were sent to the “raid” precisely during their working hours: apparently the management of their enterprise was so diligently engaged in the fight against truants that, without thinking about the legal side of the issue, they singled out combatants from among those employees at the request of the police who were supposed to work at that time. Being exposed by a resourceful citizen, these members of the DND were confused, their senior, a policeman, also shied away from surprise. As a result, the meticulous truant buyer was released on all four sides.

According to official data, the efforts of the authorities aimed at tightening labor discipline were not in vain. During the period when Yuri Vladimirovich ruled the country, labor productivity on average in the Union increased by 6%.

As for the total number of those caught during the “Andropov raids”, it cannot be counted. Knowing that at that time the army of vigilantes in the USSR numbered about 300 thousand voluntary people’s squads, and from each of them a group went on a raid almost daily, we can assume that even if 4-5 truants became the “catch” of one such group during patrolling, the score already going into the millions.

However, the revelry of such severe measures of forced accustoming to labor discipline did not last long in the Land of Soviets. Within a few months, the main inspirer, Yuri Andropov, was gone. And after the death of this general secretary, the street round-ups of “his name” quickly faded away. But the “disciplinary” resolution itself, signed in the summer of 1983, formally remained in force until the spring of 2017, when it was canceled along with several other archaisms of the Soviet era.