I, the best worker from shaft no. 9,
do solemnly swear that by the end of the year...
I will have extracted 28.000 tons over the work norm!
I, the best worker from shaft no. 9,
do solemnly swear that by the end of the year...
I will have extracted 28.000 tons over the work norm!
5 Portraits of Work in the 21st Century
HEROES
The difference between coal and rock?
Do you see this chunk?
I'm going to put it to the test now.
You see, it's rock.
This rust-colored lump is coal, see?
Coal.
And then you've also got these pieces,
they're dark brown and look like coal, little pieces like this.
I check each shovelful for coal and keep every piece,
no matter how small it is.
There's definitely coal here.
If you dig deeper into this hole,
there's definitely coal, back there, good coal,
great big chunks.
Now everything's frozen so it's not as good.
This time of year I can fill one sack a day.
But in the summertime I'll get 2 to 3 sacks.
Honest, 2 to 3 sacks.
Alexei Stakhanov
August 31, 1935
A Historic Night
Donbass, Soviet Union
102 tons of coal in one shift.
Long live the Stakhanovite movement!
This land and age has grown great through work,
across the vast and open country...
the nation of Stakhanov heroes marches onward,
and miners wage the fight for coal,
the nation of Stakhanov heroes marches onward,
and miners wage the fight for coal.
In times of peace as well as war...
miners always love their country.
the nation of Stakhanov heroes marches onward,
prepared to fight the enemy.
You can't compare us with Stakhanov, that was something completely different.
We're not driven by enthusiasm.
We're not being pushed: dig more, dig faster.
That was all just a show.
Yeah, just a show, nothing but a big show.
No, Stakhanovism wasn't a show,
it was a movement to stimulate the coal industry.
No, Wolodja, we don't need enthusiasm.
Sure, but we're motivated by something else.
Our enthusiasm comes from the will to survive.
We work to survive.
If you don't work, you'll freeze to death.
And that's that.
When Petrowitsch enters the mine he says:
"Hello, mine."
It's a kind of substitute prayer.
You come in and say, "Hello, mine,"
go in further and say, "Hello, place," and so on.
Or: "Tremble, mine!
"Here comes the drunken coal digger!"
We slaughtered the cow today. We have meat again.
This son of a bitch is driving me crazy. Come here, Witja.
Pickax? - You don't need it.
Okay, buddy, here we go!
We used to work in government mines,
but they're all shut down now.
We had to find new jobs, but there weren't any.
How we found this place? They used to work this mine ages ago.
The pits were already here.
We went in, saw there was still coal in there,
and that's how we started excavating here.
It was as simple as that.
Not just sometimes, we're scared the whole time.
It just has to cave in 10cm and that's the end of us.
There'd be no way to get us out of here.
Is there still some in there? - Yes.
Our grandfathers used to call veins like these "mousetraps."
C'mon, slow down a little. - Don't have a heart attack.
Just keep pushing and we'll be done soon.
My daughter told me her school is all damp and clammy.
There's water seeping in from above.
Everyone keeps their coats on in class.
Shit, all they do is take off their scarves and mittens.
Those fuckin' idiots.
The dumplings are good, just a little cold already.
Ah, they were cooked in oil, that's why they cool down faster.
We should have taken a break earlier.
We should have worked faster.
Is your goat doing better?
Yes, she's better. the doctor prescribed her some vitamins.
Tanja feeds her with a syringe. She's healthy and eating again.
One of mine died.
What, a kid? - Yeah.
What happened? - No idea. It wasn't eating.
Borislawa fed and fed it, then it kicked the bucket.
We're doing it right. My wife says, "I'm not feeding them like before.
"I'm following the book. Even if they're scrawny.
"Let them be scrawny. I'll feed them when they get bigger."
Who knows, maybe it's the right way.
Don't get stuck.
Stop! Easy does it!
Wait till he's on his feet.
Here we go!
How our life together has been up until now?
It's been good, right? - Yes, very good.
Life itself is full of happiness.
Especially when we were young, it was wonderful.
During vacations we'd drive all over, everywhere.
Yes, we had a car and could drive to the seaside.
We always went some place. We had everything then.
Even now, we take outdoor trips with the boys. We celebrate every holiday.
And our celebrations are usually happy rollicking parties.
But - we've lived together for 21 years...
and have never celebrated our anniversary.
In fact, we never really celebrated our wedding.
I used to come here on my breaks, I was studying at Perm University in the Urals.
I was in my third year and afterwards I was supposed to stay there to work.
He asked me, "Do you really want to stay there?"
We were celebrating New Year's with friends.
On January 2, he woke up in the morning and said to me:
"You know what, we should get married. Then I'll know you're coming back."
I captured her.
Hi.
Who do we have here? - This is our little Knopochka.
Why are you carrying her? Did you just feed her?
She's so little, our Knopochka!
Say: "How do you do?"
Is she doing alright now? Is she okay?
Yes, she's all better now.
Is there anything to eat?
Yes, I made pelmeni. Shall I run a bath for you?
Yes, run me a bath.
Are you tired?
I'm exhausted.
Do you want to lie down?
I just want to sleep.
You've been lying on your back all day anyway.
I'm hungry.
Your dinner is coming right up.
Meanwhile you can run my bath.
In a second.
Of course our pit is illegal according to the law.
But we see things differently.
The state doesn't give us work or wages.
But we have to survive somehow.
Yes, and feed our families, our children.
I'm not getting rich. I'm not making a profit.
I'm doing this to survive, no more and no less.
At least you could work the next eight months.
I'm not complaining, but I think I'm sick.
In any case I'm staying home tomorrow.
Do you like this job?
I think it's great.
To warm us up I brought a little something to drink.
Otherwise...
Sure we'd rather have a good job,
a job where we weren't always so dirty,
where we could wear clean clothes.
But we don't have that.
We should have gone to college.
And what good would that have done us?
Knowledge is power. - But what good would it have done?
No good. You finish your studies...
and then none of the companies will hire you.
Everything's closing, everything's falling apart.
That's the way it is.
As a girl, I wanted to become a dancer, I loved to dance, didn't I?
I loved to dance.
Now I dance with sacks of coal in the mine.
That looks terrific.
You haul 1.5 to 2 tons a day and you're all danced out.
What do you want to do tonight?
I can't wait to take a bath. - Want to come over to our place?
I don't know yet, I'm tired.
We could watch TV together.
It's too far for me, I have to get up early tomorrow.
On "The Word of Life" they always say:
"You commit a sin when you work in the mines.
"Stay home and pray and God will provide."
Yeah right, God will provide...
A loaf of bread will fall from the sky, or what?
Alexei Stakhanov
Now it's burning.
Okay, Slawa, here's to you, don't forget us...
and may you enjoy your hard-earned retirement.
Let your things burn so you'll never have to wear them again!
Come, drink!
Here, Sergej, here. After all, we're celebrating your retirement.
Yes, congratulations and enjoy retired life! - Thank you.
GHOSTS
Kawah Ijen, INDONESIA
A friend of mine dreamt...
that a goat head had to be sacrificed every year.
The goat head has to be taken up and buried in the sulfur.
If this sacrifice, which is to be made once a year, is neglected,
an accident is sure to happen.
Once a woman fell into the volcano.
No one knows exactly how it happened.
What is certain is that she fell down it and died.
I can tell you exactly how it happened with a friend.
He was working in Sari Enam.
While he was breaking off chunks of sulfur,
he suddenly slipped...
and fell into the boiling sulfur and was burned to death.
What do you drink when you drink?
It varies. Sometimes Johnnie Walker, sometimes something else.
What's important is that it gets you all fired up...
and then you go into a bar where there are fist fights.
Sometimes your own body is all bruised and swollen.
Why do you have to get drunk first?
So that you are calm and feel no fear.
I used to be able to take on 4 men.
Even 6 of them was no problem for me.
I beat up the biggest one...
and the other ones ran away.
I do the same thing when I take on 4 men.
I throw the one I beat up outside in the grass and leave him lying there.
Then I go home.
Is he dead then?
No, just unconscious - after that I leave him alone.
Don't they come after you for beating people unconscious?
Of course they come after you so you hide.
Is that why you came here?
Yes, I fled straight here to Banyuwangi.
I heard there was sulfur work on Kawah Ijen.
I came here...
because it's better than getting mixed up in brawls somewhere else.
Are you one of Ijo's regular customers? Or Enti's? Is she good?
She's fantastic! She's so slender.
But what's the fat one's name? Tagiri?
Yes, Tagiri.
She's real fat.
I like the way she moves, though.
But moves aren't everything.
What counts is the satisfaction.
Oh yes, the satisfaction.
Yes exactly, what counts is the satisfaction.
Yeah, instead of going to Tagiri, or whatever her name is,
I go down to Banyuwangi after weighing in.
There you pay 150 thousand, 200 thousand at the most.
A room costs 50-75 thousand extra,
you have a little fun, you come back up here,
climb the mountain, go back down and have your load weighed.
What else have they given you? - Cookies.
Cookies? Is that all, never a kiss?
What? - A kiss?
Yes, sure, once.
It happened to me once before too.
Three months ago I saw a woman and said to her: "Morning."
"You come from?" She said: "France."
And I asked her:
"What is name?" Aha, your name is Nofia.
What language is that? - We shook hands. English.
Can you speak English? - A little.
Enough for a short conversation.
After we shook hands, I said:
"I want to kiss you."
"Please." Then I kissed her and felt elation.
My nose was still dirty from the sulfur kitchen.
But I was allowed to kiss her. That was very pleasurable.
Show him a ten.
Ten? Do we want to buy it?
Yeah, for 10 it's OK. - We don't have a 10.
Do you see the vapors over there?
How many kilos are you carrying? - 115 kilograms.
Really? That's a lot.
Yes, of course.
If we let our emotions get the better of us...
and let the teasing that turns our ears red get to us,
we will quit our jobs and in doing so harm ourselves.
How much can you carry?
70kg, and you?
Me too.
But we manage those 70kg pretty well.
One shouldn't overdo things.
Forget what the others say about us.
And who knows, one day we'll get away from this place.
We're climbing up the mountain, we're climbing up the mountain,
climbing up, up, up, high up to the mountain top.
Do you like to listen to dangdut?
No.
Me either, I prefer western music.
What's that?
Bon Jovi, Scorpions, that kind of stuff.
What kind of name is Bon Jovi?
That's the name of the band. One of the members is named Bon Jovi.
He's the singer, songwriter, and director.
And do you understand them?
Yes, I understand them. But I can't afford their CDs, they're too expensive.
The band is made up of four people:
Nicolas, Brian,
Adam, and Bon Jovi.
That many? And only one is Bon Jovi?
Yeah, like dangdut. He plays the guitar.
That means the group is called Bon Jovi?
Yes, they made the name of the band out of his name.
LIONS
Innards! Skin! Head!
Skin! Innards!
Innards! Skin! Head! Innards! Skin! Head!
Mallam!
Hey, boy! Hold this goat for me for a sec.
Mallam!
Be right there.
I come.
You got it lying down already?
You got it lying down?
Watch your foot!
That will be 40 naira.
Who does this one belong to? Bayo, pay please.
I have the money.
You have to pay immediately.
Don't ask me, I can pay you.
I've always paid.
Sometimes you make problems.
My name is Ishaq Mohammed.
My workday begins between 6 and 7 a.m.
Usually I get up at 5 in order to be at work on time.
Killing goats doesn't bother me.
Before I slaughter a goat, I utter God's name.
Normally we slaughter 350 goats a day.
Sometimes it's only 300.
Other days it's only 150.
But there are times when goats are in short supply -
and then we might have no more than 10 or 15.
And sometimes we even have no goats at all.
Now. You roast skin and I roast goats, all our folk can be one.
This one he roasts heads. - What about him?
He roasts skin too.
You roast skin?
And you? What do you roast?
I roast everything.
Everything? Humans too? - Everything but human beings.
Any animal, I can roast it.
See, look. I roasted this. I did a good job.
Let me see.
Soak it and it'll turn white... - It's black like you!
Nobody wants that.
Where are the customers? C'mon! I roast goats! I'm available!
I don't tire, I don't tire, I want always to go back to my fire.
We pray to God to give our...
governors and heads of states the wisdom...
to keep our borders open...
so that we can continue to export meat.
This is the only way we can eat.
We kill it and roast it. We the poor people can just work.
Roasting is very important.
The butcher's trade would be no good without roasting.
Not everybody likes skinned meat.
Roasted meat is much more delicious than skinned meat.
Listen up!
What do you want to say?
I'm roasting a goat for Mr. Chinedu.
He don't want to pay me better money.
And the government?
The government? I am the government! - Oh yeah?
Yeah. The government belongs to me! And my fire is the best!
How do you like this job?
This job wears me out.
It makes me happy, it feeds me.
And it's much more honorable to work than to steal.
Stealing is a disgrace. But this one, I am very proud of it.
Yes, that's exactly right. If you steal,
they cut off your head.
They slit your throat, and they roast you.
Clean water for sale!
I don't worry about tomorrow, A-Boy is my name...
Where is the head butcher in this slaughterhouse of Port Harcourt?
I, the son of a lion, come to your doorstep.
May God protect you, head butcher!
Of all the famous slaughterers you are the king.
You are blessed with rich customers.
The poor benefit from your generosity.
The government pays tribute to your slaughterhouse.
Everyone in the River State buys his meat from you.
May almighty Allah bless you.
Of all the famous slaughterers you are the king.
God bless all of you!
Of all slaughterers you are king.
You are the rich man whose abundance overflows to the poor.
Skin! Innards! Head!
Isn't 4,500 enough for you?!
Skin is expensive at the moment.
The neck skin is good, but there's nothing on the legs.
That's ridiculous.
I'm telling you the neck is good, the legs aren't.
Ask Mallam, but I think the skin is good.
Okay, I'll give you another 100 naira, because it's you.
100 naira, what do you say?
Tell him I'll pay 4,600. But that's it.
Come here, feel the skin.
Skin! Innards! Head!
Make way! Make way!
Usually we work three hours a day.
Depending on the workload we'll wash up to 70 goats a day.
I don't know if I'm the best and the fastest here,
but I thank God for my skills.
Other people have other skills, but I thank God for mine.
I believe this job makes me special.
You know why we mark the cow heads?
We do this so we can tell them apart.
Lots of cow heads are taken to be roasted.
Here you can see clearly. The marking: EA.
The other head says the same thing: EA.
Everyone here has his own marking.
If you use someone else's mark,
you're stigmatized as a thief and bring all sorts of problems upon yourself.
God will punish you!
In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.
Praise be to God, Owner of the Day of Judgment.
Thee alone we worship; Thee alone we ask for help.
Show us the straight path. Amen.
When the cow heads come to us,
we cut the horns. After the cutting of the horns,
we throw them on the fire.
When the hair is all singed,
we bring them down off the fire and clean them.
Then we roast them a second time.
Now you have to check the heads,
when this side's done, turn 'em over.
When the second side's done, put 'em on the face, then on the cut-side...
When that side is all done, you take 'em out, drop 'em on the ground.
Then you wash 'em up good.
Then after they wash 'em, the owner comes and carries them away.
Where they take 'em - is not our business anymore.
Then the owners come back to give us our money.
They pay us 100 naira for washing one cow head.
Depending on the workday...
each of us earns a little over 1000 naira a day.
And after work I earn some money on the side with my motorcycle taxi.
That's how it is.
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ten thousand naira.
11, 12, 13 dollars... Give me 14 dollars.
Don't have it. - Don't tell me that.
Don't tell me! Give me, give me! I don't like that now!
Alhaja, come!
You know how much you owe me?!
I'll tell you!
Go back and get your own! There's enough back there.
No, these are the last two. - Stop it!
Hey man, sit down and cool it!
This is mine! Let go!
Why are you pulling? Stop it!
Go get a new piece! - There's no more left.
Make way! Make way!
Make way!
He who was born with and through blood...
will pass through all forms of suffering.
Especially if he began life in a place...
that has yet to learn the meaning of civilization.
We are born into suffering...
because in this country nothing is as it should be.
So everyone here does his job patiently.
And if God in His infinite mercy should...
bestow us with success,
so be it.
Skin! Innards! Head! Skin! Innards! Head!
BROTHERS
My village is a beautiful garden where flowers of every kind grow,
but being separated from you causes me great pain.
As my wayfaring friend breathed his last breath,
he turned his face toward the village...
so he could take leave of life more easily.
Many travelers have come,
but you were never among them.
O my beloved,
in this place full of scrap metal and filth...
I yearn for you so dearly.
I beseeched the British government,
to stop sending ships so that I can return to you.
I come from far away, let me lie beside you.
A garden without flowers is no garden at all.
Here I am a stateless person,
with empty hands.
You have hurt me, I am so distraught.
Most of the workers here are Pashtuns.
The Pashtuns are a poor people.
That's why they are here.
As for me, I've been working here 14 years,
but only because I have no other options.
I wouldn't be able to find any other work.
I came here when I was 16.
I worked for two years and became a master.
Then I went home.
I came back in 1991...
and now it's already 2004.
In all these years nothing has changed,
everything is exactly the same.
The pay has never really been enough.
Neither back then, nor today either.
Work, work, work.
For my entire adult life this work is all I've ever known.
We're like brothers to each other.
And we have to trust each other.
After all, we're all we've got.
If one of our fellow workers has a problem,
we all get together and see what we can do...
and whether we can solve the problem.
There is never quarreling among the workers.
Fighting would only sap our energy,
which is something we can't afford.
Of course this is a shitty job,
but even so, we all get along well.
God gave us this task,
we're glad to be able to do this at least.
This job is death itself.
One false step and it's an 80-meter drop.
Or a hunk of steel falls on your head.
Or the residual oil and gases could ignite.
Death is always with us.
We have to defeat our fear or we can't do this work.
But what choice does one have?
We stay here a whole year.
Then maybe we get to go home for a month or 45 days.
Then we have to come back. There's no way out.
The time spent at home always seems much too short.
We tell our families our jobs are very good.
That we enjoy working on the ships.
But you only get work here if you agree to anything.
Have the workers step back!
Jalabe! Jalabe, you too!
Do you want tea?
No, thanks.
This cap is as good as new, look.
Let me see, what does it say?
Friend.
It says: My Friend.
So how are we going to cut the next piece?
Straight, right?
It doesn't matter. From back there, straight down.
Why don't you cut a bigger hole?
You barely fit through.
Greetings, my friends. How are you?
How much for a photo? - 20 rupees.
Isn't that expensive?
That's the normal price.
We pay in advance, right?
Of course. 10 rupees now...
and 10 tomorrow when you get the photo.
Take off your cap.
Excellent.
What is good and what is bad...
is for Allah to know.
We do our work and the rest is in God's hands.
If we are injured, we are actually glad,
or we don't mind, because good and bad come from God.
We fear neither injuries nor death.
We are born to die.
Hurry up!
You've been down there for three hours!
Here live the foreman Nani Mrachman and the torch cutter Omar Khan.
No trespassing without their express permission.
"When I think of you, your name comes to my lips.
"You're far away from me.
"You are a traveler, like myself.
"Now our paths go separate ways,
"but my heart is with you."
Omar Khan says: There are good people all over the world.
FUTURE
Hard work is like a load placed before us,
challenging us to shoulder it.
Some loads are light, some heavy.
If a man wants to succeed in his work,
that is, to achieve the anticipated results,
he must bring his ideas...
into correspondence with the laws of...
the objective external world.
Otherwise he will fail in his practice.
The masses have boundless creative power.
They can organize themselves in places and branches of work...
where they can give full play to their energy.
They can concentrate on production in breadth and depth and create...
more and more undertakings for their own well being.
The world is yours, as well as ours,
but in the last analysis, it is yours.
You young people, full of vigor and vitality,
are in the bloom of life, like the sun...
at eight or nine in the morning.
Our hope is placed on you.
The world belongs to you.
China's future belongs to you.
Mao Tse-tung
You can't compare the present with the past.
Technology has advanced enormously.
Today you don't need as much muscle power.
Today, strength alone is not enough,
you need know-how, too.
I don't believe we should just toil mindlessly as we did in the past.
Yes, but one still has to work.
Of course we still have to work.
But intelligently and systematically -
and at the same time we must improve ease and efficiency.
The work must be done in any event...
Yes, no way around that.
Today we are confronted with strong competition...
because these days technology counts more than the work process...
and we are always modernizing our machines.
I still hope the old furnaces...
will be preserved as museum pieces.
After all, they represent Angang history.
The first row of blast furnaces was left here by the Japanese.
Half a century has gone by since then.
They bear testimony of our past.
This makes it possible for a nation to demonstrate...
whether or not it has made progress.
China has shifted from a planned to a market economy...
and the present situation can no longer be compared with the old one.
We are the older generation of Angang workers...
and of course we want our children...
to follow in our footsteps.
We are willing to sacrifice ourselves as the worker heroes of the past...
in the name of the steel industry.
But times have changed and we have to adapt.
We cannot decide whether our children will do the same.
We can't force...
our children to take up our professions.
Furnaces no. 2 and 3 are currently under construction.
Progress is continuing steadily.
We are competitive in the international market.
Looking back over the past few years,
one can say that the situation has improved steadily.
All around us, the area has grown into a modern city...
just this place here...
still looks the same.
Here one can still feel the past...
and one's own childhood.
Sometimes my classmates and I come here to take pictures.
We imitate the figures...
and pose like the soldiers and our ancestors up there.
We think these poses look really funny and avant-garde.
EPILOGUE
Duisburg-Nord Country Park, Germany
once the Duisburg-Meiderich Steelworks
Here molten iron flowed,
here thousands of fires burned in the night.
At the Duisburg-Meiderich smelting works the blast furnaces ran 24 hours a day,
365 days a year.
Here iron ore surrendered the raw material...
without which modern life would be unthinkable.
37 million tons in more than 80 years.
From 1903 till 1985.
Then came the last shift.
But not the end; rather a new beginning.
The smelting plant was transformed into a unique leisure park.
When night falls in Duisburg, the blast furnaces flare up.
In neon green and fantastic colors.
ARTificial light in the truest sense.
The British light artist Jonathan Park...
guides Duisburgians home with this spectacular installation.
Experience the glowing furnaces live and in color -
on weekends and holidays.
And let yourself be guided through the blue-green-red night.
Have we left anyone sitting in the dark?
Translation: Kimi Lum