Alexej Stakhanov was the leader of a team of coal-cutters.
His team recorded 102 tons of coal in their
six-hour shift whereas an average was 14 tons per six-hour shift. Stakhanov achieved this by reorganizing the working processes to be performed by his team of
miners.
The Stalin-led Soviet government gave Stakhanov's system a great deal of publicity and his new labour-saving methods became known as Stakhanovism. These worker heroes were given special privileges and paid higher wages. Others didn't like them very much because they set new, higher standards for the Gosplan to be fulfilled. Thus attacks on Stakhanovites were reported.