Every time I help my mom, I meet these people. She lives on the outskirts of Kyiv, next to an industrial zone. During Soviet times, the area was predominantly populated by workers who headed to the factories daily. I know these people and their views from my days in military factories making missiles and in a coal mine where I worked as a walking excavator operator.
I go to the nearest ATB with a list of groceries for my mother. At the entrance and around me I am greeted by groups of poorly dressed, long unshaven, not very sober people. Most are men, but some are women. They always gathered here, even under Sovka. But then they did it after the end of the work shift and on weekends. They got drunk so that at least in the morning they could get up and go to the workshops.
Then a change occurred and they began to gather here throughout the day. There were more people on the streets, loitering around and looking for where to get money for drinks. In such areas, all poles and fences are plastered with advertisements offering to fix something or make repairs. They are trained and know how to do things with their hands, but their skills are not in demand and their services are not needed.
These people do not know how to organize their own lives, so they are usually “henpecked”, who are caught under the shops of their wives, on whom their families are supported. These people need someone who will drive them into the narrow tunnel of daily responsibilities: from 9 to 18.00 - at the machine, then - a bottle with a neighbor, then - a scandal with an eternally dissatisfied wife, then - sleep and in the morning - to their own checkpoint, to machine
When Sovok collapsed, the industries where these thousands of workers worked also collapsed. Today there are offices, warehouses, car washes... They are staffed mainly by representatives of the smoothie generation. They don't know how to produce, but they know how to sell.
The war has begun, the “partners” are cutting back assistance, and the question of our own production has arisen. The revelations of the big government gentlemen who are responsible for this are full of pessimism. It is painful to read the words of the Minister of Strategic Industry, who admits that it was not possible to start production because they did not find a single operator for a CNC milling machine. For the understanding of those who have not encountered the process of producing anything. A CNC machine operator is a proletarian elite, a highly qualified specialist. Not everyone can master such a machine. And you can’t bet just anyone on it. The machines are expensive, they are piece goods, and generally only representatives of the manufacturer can repair them. But our country does not produce them. A beginner will push for defects, will not comply with tolerances and will certainly turn a precious machine into a pile of rubbish.
Unfortunately, there are also shortages of other working specialties. Even in peacetime, finding a qualified turner, milling machine, welder, or roofer was not an easy task. And now many of them are in the trenches.
A bunch of smoothie-dilettantes began to generate life-saving schemes for launching military production: we recruit people from the street, train them in a month to use a screwdriver - voila!
They don’t understand that large-scale mass production of something requires many specialists: those who organize everything, who will deliver equipment, make molds, develop technological maps... We need standardizers, technologists, production foremen, labor protection engineers, quality inspectors and product acceptance, logistics...
And also: without intelligent heads of workshops, supply departments, transport, and a plant director who knows all this perfectly, there will be no business. There will be a crazy number of injuries, there will be production stoppages due to the lack of some cheap washer. The cutters will break every minute, because the grade of steel is wrong, because the machine operator is poorly qualified, because the suspension suddenly disappeared, or because they didn’t bring in a basic rag to wipe your hands when processing the part.
This cannot be taught in a month or two. And there is no one to teach, because those who know are looking for drinks under ATB. There is only one way out: to involve in the organization and production those who know how and who can teach newcomers in the production process.
This means that we should put an end to these cool businessmen who only know how to buy and resell, “solve issues,” speculate on the stock exchange and withdraw money into crypto. The skills of young and talented command line writers from Deputy Prime Minister Fedorov’s cohort also do not play a decisive role.
All I would advise the great gentlemen from the Cabinet of Ministers is to go to the outskirts of cities, to the “sleeping rooms” around industrial zones and turn for help to those declassed ex-machine operators, craftsmen, technologists, production managers who were thrown out onto the street 30 years ago. Encourage them, agitate them, create conditions, pay money. Don't expect them to switch from beer and vodka to smoothies. They drank what they drink now 30 and 40 years ago. But they also knew how to work. You only know how to drink smoothies. So go to them - they will teach you.
Where are your recruitment calls for factories, where are the outreach desks of HR departments in residential areas, where is the nationwide propaganda calling on ordinary people: “Ukraine is in danger, everyone – go to production!” Search, agitate, teach... Mentors, specialists of high categories and levels receive bonuses. Enough chatting already!
Otherwise, teachers will come to you from across the curb. They will restore abandoned factories, organize the production of missiles and tanks, in which they will send your children to fight. Because, as you know, “Russia has no borders!”
