Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2017 number

The article’s objective is to determine the specifics of constructing a negative image of economic management at various (local, regional, central) levels on pages of magazine “Krokodil” in 1953-1964. The presented negative images of a leader were combined in specific groups: 1) practices that are detrimental to the state; 2) the selfish use of official position; 3) the negative manifestations in relation to subordinates; 4) negative personal and professional characteristics. The analysis based on use of statistical methods allows concluding that the negative image of economic managers was more accentuated on activities detrimental to the state (mismanagement, bureaucracy, overstatement of reported numbers). The abusive practices were actively criticized. To a lesser extent a negative image of the leader was associated with personal deviant manifestations (incompetence, drunkenness, etc.) and negative management practices (rudeness, negligence). The negative image of managers “constructed” on “Krokodil” pages had more accented features, which adjustment was of great interest to for the official discourse. The negative image of a “manager” was a reflection of political situation trends in the “Khrushchev” period. The policy of glasnost declared after the 20th Congress provoked the criticism intensification, and its collapse in the late 1950s led to a lesser severity of managers’ criticism. Elements of negative images of business managers had features of the “Khrushchev” campaigns of 1950-60s (struggle against mismanagement and theft, campaign for vigilance). Active reforms in agricultural sector in 1950s led to the growing criticism of rural leadership. Throughout the period images of local economic managers, became more negative, as they were more “responsible” for economic costs and “Khrushchev” period deviations.