Building communism: student construction detachments in the Soviet Union, 1950-80s

maximum 220 words, a single paragraph)For three decades, from the late 1950s onwards, ever-growing numbers of Soviet students were mobilised to participate in construction work during the summer holidays.Student Construction Detachments laboured on myriad projects, from erecting and refurbishing schools and sports facilities through to building giant hydroelectric dams.In doing so, participants' labour served a variety of social and political purposes, beyond simply building.Initially framed in strictly ideological terms -as a means of moulding young participants through exposure to labour in the common good -in time, this became a sphere in which economic, rather political, impacts came to be prioritised by those in charge.Nonetheless, many who participated found real meaning in their work, even if this was not necessarily rooted in ideological considerations.