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Fac<strong>to</strong>ry No. 22<br />
lem on a his<strong>to</strong>rical scale. In the aircraft industry’s upper echelons of power, managerial<br />
staffs were rearranged. All aircraft fac<strong>to</strong>ries were subordinated <strong>to</strong><br />
Ordzhonikidze. He started off by convincing first Voroshilov and then Stalin <strong>to</strong><br />
release Baranov from the Red Army Air Force command and make him head of<br />
the First Main Direc<strong>to</strong>rate of the All-Russian Council of the National Economy<br />
(VSNKh), which managed the aircraft industry, and at the same time appoint him<br />
First Deputy People’s Commissar for Heavy Industry. Baranov’s deputy, Alksnis,<br />
<strong>to</strong>ok his place as head of the Air Force in 1931.<br />
The strengthening of the upper management structures did not eliminate the<br />
main problem: the rate of development in the aircraft industry was being held up<br />
by an acute shortage of personnel.There were not enough workers, skilled workers,<br />
designers, and engineers. An unusual situation developed at our fac<strong>to</strong>ry:<br />
construction workers built new, turnkey shops earmarked for the production of<br />
TB-3s, but there was no one <strong>to</strong> work in them.The personnel department hired<br />
dozens of new workers everyday.These were primarily young people who had fled<br />
the hard life of the villages and had absolutely no clue what fac<strong>to</strong>ry work or work<br />
discipline was, much less aviation technology.Two-month courses were set up <strong>to</strong><br />
provide them with accelerated training.After this they were distributed among the<br />
job <strong>open</strong>ings.The low skill level of the new workers caused a sharp reduction in<br />
quality and a drop in productivity, directly threatening a breakdown in the<br />
projected rates of TB-3 series production.<br />
Having received a green, poorly trained bunch of workers, the shop chiefs<br />
demanded skilled workers, production engineers, designers, technicians, and engineers.<br />
It was not possible <strong>to</strong> train such leaders over the course of two or three<br />
months right in the shops.The personnel training problem needed <strong>to</strong> be solved at<br />
here<strong>to</strong>fore unprecedented rates. Baranov promised <strong>to</strong> assist Gorbunov in every way<br />
possible with the placement of specialists who were graduates of the Air Force<br />
Academy, the new aviation institute, and technical institutes. But this <strong>to</strong>ok time and<br />
more time! Having become head of the fac<strong>to</strong>ry, Gorbunov turned <strong>to</strong> the Party and<br />
Komsomol committees, demanding that all means at their disposal be used <strong>to</strong> help<br />
educate the young workers. He also demanded that they set up their own system<br />
for training managerial personnel.<br />
That same August 1931, the new secretary of the fac<strong>to</strong>ry Komsomol committee,<br />
Petya Petukhov, approached me. He was a man who was quick <strong>to</strong> start up unexpected<br />
initiatives and ardent about the reorganization of personnel. Behind his<br />
back they called him Petushok. 21 Petushok was overflowing with new ideas. His<br />
predecessor, the intelligent and serene Sasha Vasilyev, was promoted <strong>to</strong> the post of<br />
secretary of the Frunze district committee of the Komsomol; he was destined for<br />
the Moscow committee.Vasilyev frequently came <strong>to</strong> the fac<strong>to</strong>ry and did not always<br />
support Petushok’s intrepid actions.<br />
21. Russian word for young rooster.<br />
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