heroes of labour gleb kosorukov
irudia
sons of stakhanov

The Heroes of Labour project is an attempt to question radical changes in the very notion of Labour in contemporary, post-industrial society.

The global balance of power, which once helped support a certain level of social justice in capitalist society as each side battled for the moral high ground, shifted with the end of Soviet Socialist System. Brute capitalism was then unleashed on an unsuspecting global stage. Whole industries are being moved to parts of the world where the workforce is cheap and plentiful, countries where workers can be hired and fired will. The proletariat, as defined by a Marxist political economics, is gradually disappearing and being replaced by a new class - the precariat (a precarious, temporary and ever changeable workforce). Labour itself is losing its value in this era of capitalist globalisation. Whilst working on the project I appealed to the past, to an almost mythological history when the value of labour was at its zenith.

On 31 August 1935 Alexej Stakhanov, a jackhammer operator at Central-Irmino coal mine, mined a record 102 tonnes of coal in 5 hours and 45 minutes (14 times his daily quota). The launch of an unprecedented staterun campaign for popularising extraordinary labour achievements made Stakhanov a Soviet hero par excellence. Soon after, his portrait appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. For the first time ever a worker was elevated to worldwide fame for his performance at work. Since then the term “Stakhanovism” has defined ecstatic labour and over-accomplishment at work as a form of heroism.

On the 74th anniversary of Stakhanov’s achievement, I began a photographic research project on the identity of modern miners as an archetype of the working class, affected by the changing value of material labour and decline of social justice. I took 100 portraits of miners during shift changes at the biggest mine in Europe, located in Eastern Ukraine, which bears the name of Stakhanov. Due to the neoliberal pressure of global capitalism and the radical changes in the nature of the labour market, Ukrainian mines are closing apace, more than 100.000 miners stand to loose their jobs within the next five years. My work was an attempt to examine what is left of the miner-myth in the image of the worker-heroes of today.

As of now these same people are in the war zone, deprived of the right to choose there future or even to live. Ukrainian army invaded Donetsk and Lugansk region bombing and shelling extensively cities and villages with thousands of casualties among Donbass citizens. Faced by anti-russian nationalism and rise of the extreme right to unprecedented power and influence in post-maidan Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk regions voted for federalisation if not for independence in May. Ukraine did not acknowledge results of the referendum and soon after Donetsk and Lugansk republics declared independence. Ukraine sent troops to punish and disarm the rebel regions, planning to disperse local population to different regions of Ukraine and inhabit South East with nationalists from the west of Ukraine.


The work by Gleb Kosorukov will be exposed, among others in the GETXOPHOTO festival.