Scientific Organization of Labor (NOT)

Origins and Background

The intellectual roots of NOT were twofold. One was Frederick Taylor's Principles of Scientific Management (1911), which Lenin himself called a "progressive" system while denouncing it as a capitalist tool of exploitation. The other was Alexander Bogdanov's Tektology: Universal Organizational Science (1913–1922), which sought common principles in all organized systems. These two currents fused uniquely in the Soviet transitional period of the early 1920s.

Key Figures and Institutions

Aleksei Gastev (1882–1939): A revolutionary-turned-poet and metalworker who founded the Central Institute of Labour (CIT) under the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in 1920 and led it until his arrest in 1938. His method centered on the concept of 'labor attitudes' (трудовые установки): scientifically analyzing and drilling elementary operations like hammering and filing. The CIT trained over 500,000 workers; at the 1931 Soviet-American bricklaying contest, the CIT method achieved 907 bricks per hour, dwarfing both the Gilbreth method (452) and the traditional Russian method (327).

Platon Kerzhentsev (1881–1940): His July 1923 Pravda front-page article 'Time Builds Airplanes' (arguing that 7,000 labor-hours wasted waiting for meetings to start could have built one or two airplanes) launched the League 'Time' (Лига «Время»), a voluntary society that hunted down time-waste in production and daily life.

Osip Yermansky (1866–1941): A Menshevik-turned-economist who introduced the very term 'NOT' into scientific discourse and laid the theoretical groundwork with The Taylor System (1918) and the five-edition Scientific Organization of Labor and Production and the Taylor System (1922–1925).

The Theoretical Split: 'Group of 17' vs. 'Group of 4'

The Second All-Union NOT Conference in 1924 marked a watershed. The 'Group of 17' (Kerzhentsev, Burdyansky, Rudakov, and others) advocated a macro, theoretical, national-economy approach, while Gastev's 'Group of 4' insisted on micro-rationalization at the individual workbench. Valerian Kuibyshev's arbitration in favor of the practical line settled the debate — but also curtailed NOT's theoretical ambitions.

Decline and Revival

During the Great Purge, Gastev was arrested in 1938 and executed the following year; the CIT was dissolved and converted into an aviation-industry organization (Orgaviaprom). The very term NOT became politically suspect. Under the Khrushchev Thaw, the Scientific Research Institute of Labour (NII Truda) was established in 1955, and in 1963 the Uralkhimmash plant reintroduced NOT methods, marking a second revival. Japan had already been subscribing to all CIT publications since the 1930s, absorbing its ideas as precursors to the Toyota Production System.

Legacy

NOT was not merely an import of Taylorism but an original experiment in social engineering that sought to reshape workers' 'cultural attitudes' and bodily rhythms. Gastev's concept of social engineering spread nationwide through Pravda's 'Labor Organization' section and the CIT's dozens of regional branches, leaving its mark on both Japanese management science and Soviet industrial practice.