Stakhanovitism Defenders and Foes

While trolling though the blogosphere I came accross this poster, and others. It is a satire of those productivity posters that adorn the walls of many low level offices. These "motivation" posters posit that there are no external factors on the success of the individual. That people will get ahead if they are above average, as if everybody can be above average. To me these posters always remind of soviet propaganda of the Stakhanovite movement. This campign was based on the example of Aleksei Stakhanov, a miner. The Soviet idea was living standards would improve if people worked harder. Soviet living standards were bad but the main problem was that the government kept killing people. In the context where these posters normally so up most people's lives would improve with unionization. A few could do better by joining management. The success of the few keeps the hopes many alive.