Chapter 123 Donetsk Soap Disturbance

In the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Donetsk, the capital of Donetsk Oblast, is a few days away from the New Year holiday. This period of time is the time when workers in the city are shopping frantically for the upcoming New Year-Christmas holiday.

Donetsk is a famous coal city in the Soviet Union, and Donetsk Oblast is the steel center of the Soviet Union. Located nearby, it forms a complete steel production base.

Most of the residents of Donetsk are workers, especially coal workers and steel workers. There are many families where both father and son work in the same factory. In the Soviet Union, the social status of workers is still good. Although it is not as good as intellectuals and cadres, it is still much better than those living in collective farms. In Donetsk, the most enviable thing is the workers who work in the coal mines. Especially last year, local coal was successfully exported to the UK, earning a lot of foreign exchange for the country, and even improving the welfare of the workers.

On the first Friday of every month, coal miners in Donetsk have a special treat. That's the soap that coal miners can't live without every day. Because coal miners work underground, when they finish working every day, their bodies are stained black by coal. Therefore, since the time of Khrushchev, soap has become the most practical welfare for coal miners. The Ministry of Coal Industry distributes soap to the workers on a monthly basis through the tertiary production companies below.

But this month's soap seems to have gone wrong. The soap that should have been distributed to the workers according to the past practice has been delayed for half a month. This makes many front-line coal miners feel a little dissatisfied. After work, everyone couldn't help talking about it.

"Have you heard that the worker's new city over there in Moscow has been stopped!"

"I heard that it seems that because of Secretary Ligachev's reform measures, the "Komsomolskaya Pravda" said that it did not ask the opinions of the residents of the Workers' New Town..."

"Damn it, there's nothing good about these officials."

...

A group of workers grumbled over smoked fish and mashed potatoes in the unit's cafeteria. At this moment, a guy pushed open the door, and the cold wind outside immediately made the people in the room feel very uncomfortable.

"Close the door quickly, do you want to freeze us all to death?" A worker closest to the door turned around and reprimanded dissatisfied.

"Why are you still eating here? Hurry up and follow me to the mine! Just now the mine party committee issued a notice to cancel our soap, and now the workers are quitting. I want to ask the mine for an explanation..." Barged in The man said out of breath.

"The officials,

If we workers are vegetarians, see if I don’t punch out his intestines..."

"MD, with such a small salary, and expecting to exchange some soap and the commune in the country for some beets and potatoes, it's all right now, even this hope is gone..."

"I think Secretary Andropov is dead, these bastards are itching again"

The few coal miners present became more and more excited as they talked. They didn't care about continuing to eat, so they picked up their coats and ran outside.

When they walked out of the cafeteria, they saw workers coming from all directions walking in the direction of the party committee of the mining area. One might ask what's the matter with a few bars of soap, but if you ask any coal miner in Donetsk, it's a serious problem.

Every coal miner has to use soap to remove the coal stains on his body after returning to the ground from the underground, but the amount of soap each worker can receive each month far exceeds their actual use. What to do with the leftover soap, of course, go to the black market and replace it with other useful things. In the current Soviet Union, due to the deformed industrial layout, light industry is far from meeting the needs of ordinary people. Daily necessities such as soap are in short supply on the black market. If you don’t like anyone, you can even use a few bars of soap Get back a Tokarev from the gun dealer.

...

The party committee of the Donetsk mining area is in a mess now. Since they received the rectification notice from the Ministry of Coal Industry, they immediately announced it. They did not expect to cause such a big trouble. Countless workers ran in and questioned why they did this.

"This is a decision made by the higher authorities. The Ministry informed that it must cooperate with the central government's economic reform..."

"Isn't it that you need a few pieces of soap like us to carry out reforms?"

"Even if we don't let go of these few pieces of soap, we can't live..."

"Do you know what the price of soap is on the black market now? We can't even eat meat if we buy soap with that little salary..." The person who said this is not talking nonsense. Most of the workers have several children in their families. The goods in the state-run stores are all put on display, and if you want to buy things, you have to go to the black market, where the prices are terribly expensive.

The workers didn't know that it was not Ligachev's idea to stop the soap, but Seryozha's. Seryozha has also been at the bottom of society, and knows what these seemingly insignificant things mean to the workers below. The soap from the Ministry of Coal Industry is just the beginning.

At the same time, at the Volgograd electrolytic aluminum plant, thousands of miles away from Donetsk, the workers were arguing with the plant managers over whether or not to issue kvass to the blast furnace workers to prevent heatstroke and cool down at the end of the year. The electrolytic aluminum plant is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry. They also received Sergey's secret instructions to cancel some workers' benefits.

Seryozha was on vacation at this moment, and he took Yulia to the holiday villa in Sochi in advance, avoiding the hustle and bustle of Moscow. However, Seryozha did not really stop working, but secretly instigated the emotions of the workers.

"Yulia, call the reporters of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" and ask them to go to Donetsk and Volgograd to interview the workers there." Seryozha soaked in the warm water naked, Holding a cigar, he held the remote control in one hand and quickly searched for programs of interest.

At this moment, Yulia, who was wearing pajamas, walked into the bathroom and asked, "Are you telling me to call now?"

"No, just wait for a while!" Seryozha finished speaking, and dragged Yulia into the bathtub at once.

"Minister, it turns out that you have bad intentions for letting me go on vacation together!" Yulia did not reject Seryozha, because she liked such a powerful and powerful person as Seryozha. Power is the best aphrodisiac for this woman.

"You can call me, Seryozha!" After finishing speaking, Seryozha kissed Yulia's sweet lips heavily.