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Dissertation Information for Rebecca Woodward Wendelken

NAME:
- Rebecca Woodward Wendelken

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (2000)

ADVISORS:
- Kermit E. McKenzie

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Margot C Finn
- Matthew J Payne

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Red metal on the steppes: The Spassky Copper Mines, Ltd., 1904 to 1919

Abstract: The Spassky Copper Mines, Ltd., a British-owned company, operated in Russia\'s remote Kazak Steppes from 1904 to 1919. It continued to produce copper for Russian industry through three revolutions, a World War, a native uprising and a Civil War. Spassky\'s managers overcame enormous logistic and operational obstacles, while employing a workforce composed of Russian peasants and Kazak nomads. As a case study, Spassky shows that government incentives to attract foreign investment may actually have stifled native entrepreneurship. Additionally, Spassky shows that the periphery was not controlled by the center. Worker movements and strike activities were generated locally, but still exhibited the same types of consciousness development as urban areas. However, both Russians and Kazaks retained strong ties to their traditional, and separate, lifestyles. These cultural differences, combined with artificial divisions in the work environment such as job types, living quarters, and social activities, proved far stronger than needs for united action. Therefore each group developed its own exclusive consciousness as workers, but each could also shift from worker to traditional deferential modes and vice-versa. Kazak workers were found to have organizational abilities far in excess of what was previously believed, and they were responsible for numerous strikes conducted without help from Russians. They also show a much more intensive practice of Islam than was formerly thought.

As an example of the process of modernization and the limits of modern technology in a third world setting, Spassky shows that where new processes were introduced slowly and when traditional work patterns were retained, there was a minimum of resistance. Like the workers, managers and supervisors also showed a mixed consciousness, fluctuating between paternalism and scientific management, often in response to the workers\' modes of behavior.

Until W.W.I., supervisory and skilled jobs were held by Russians, reflecting beliefs of Kazaks\' lack of capability. During W.W.I, labor shortages allowed Kazaks to enter more skilled positions. Kazaks proved eager and able, but their advances were severely affected by the Kazak Revolt of 1916. The inter-ethnic brutality served to further divide workers. Events after the October Revolution show that Spassky\'s workers were eager to take control of the workplace, even without Bolshevik involvement. Like their fellow workers elsewhere, they moved from supervision of the workplace to actually controlling the production.

MPACT Scores for Rebecca Woodward Wendelken

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-03-16 14:11:14

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Students under Rebecca Woodward Wendelken

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None