Miory Regional Executive Committee

Do you know one of the first achievements of the current leadership of Belarus? After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it did not throw the country into extremes. While building our independence, we managed to preserve the best traditions of the past. A vivid example is the student team movement. With the collapse of the USSR, young people in the post-Soviet space scattered in all directions. Belarusians were the only ones who continued their path. Student teams, although not in such numbers as in Soviet times, continued to travel to fraternal republics and contribute to their formation and development. Over time, the authorities endowed student teams with new powers and opened the way for the guys to iconic facilities throughout the country.

In the new issue of the BELTA YouTube project "As a Matter of Fact: The First's Decisions," we tell how the student team movement originated in Belarus, what Belarusian youth is proud of, and how they ended up building a nuclear power plant and the Vostochny Cosmodrome. And, of course, we will listen to the President. Why did Alexander Lukashenko leave his first student team and decide to assemble a separate construction brigade, what did he spend his first earned money on? It will be very interesting.

When did student construction teams appear in Belarus

The year 1963 is officially considered the date of the origin of the student team movement in Belarus. At that time, the Central Committee of the Komsomol decided to send student teams to Kazakhstan to participate in rural construction. A headquarters was immediately established under the Belarusian Komsomol, and 16 universities of the republic sent their student teams to Kazakhstan.

A consolidated team from Belarus participated in the construction of 362 housing and cultural and service facilities in 41 farms in the West Kazakhstan region. In the barren steppe, Belarusian students built 100 residential buildings, 18 dormitories, 34 cultural and service facilities, workshops, schools, bathhouses, and warehouses.

However, the student squad movement in Belarus began much earlier. Nadezhda Shakhovskaya, commander of the Republican Staff of Student Squads of the BRSM, knows the history of its formation in the smallest details.

"When young people – participants of student squads or just youth – come to our museum, I tell them about this photograph: what the city of Minsk was like after the Great Patriotic War. I believe that the student squad movement partially originated from these subbotniks and volunteer workdays for the restoration of our country. Because then, after the war, after all the hardships endured, the people were so inspired and eager to restore and quickly get their lives back on track that they were ready to work around the clock," she noted.

The student squad movement immediately began to gain momentum. Every year, an increasing number of young people worked on construction sites, in collective and state farms of their country and in other republics. The year 1974 became truly significant for student squads: in April, the first All-Union shock squad set off to build the Baikal-Amur Mainline railway. It included Komsomol members from all union republics. In those years, the participation of Belarusians in the construction of the settlement of Kichera became particularly important. From the very first days, Belarusian students went to the most difficult section as loggers and fellers. They went first. Behind them, a clearing was made for power lines and the bed of the future highway. The labor feats of Belarusians were captured in a photo report on the squad's work, a kind of Instagram of that time.

"What is interesting about this album? When students come, they see the conditions in which guys, their peers, lived and worked then. And they see the scope of work they performed when they were deployed in the steppe, when they cleared this forest, when they built residential settlements there. In heat and cold, and snow. Here is a kindergarten – 22 native BAM residents from Belarus were born there, if I can put it that way," Nadezhda Shakhovskaya immerses us in history.

What Alexander Lukashenko did in student squads

Friendship, romance, the first job in life… The student squad movement continued to develop in the subsequent decades. Tens of thousands of Belarusian students participated in the construction of major enterprises. They erected memorial complexes, repaired schools, worked on land reclamation, and built housing for displaced persons from the Chernobyl regions. There is probably no facility that student squad members have not been involved in. And this work did not stop even with the collapse of the Soviet Union – a unique case for the post-Soviet space. Although the scale was no longer as large, Belarusian students continued to travel in an organized manner to various regions of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, the Czech Republic, and even Germany.

The President of Belarus was also a member of a student squad, like probably most people of that generation. In 2020, meeting with the employees of the Atlant plant and student squad members participating in the Atlant-2020 project, Alexander Lukashenko spoke about his experience and what he spent his earned money on.

The Head of State admitted that he had both positive and negative experiences participating in student squads. "My first student squad was after my first year. We went to a construction site and were building a school in a village. I worked there for some time, but the organization was such that we weren't paid, and there was no organization at all. I spat and left," the President said. "I went home to work and created a squad of schoolchildren. I gathered children from the 9th-10th grade (it was a ten-year school system) at a local agricultural enterprise, and we were concreting floors in the grain storage facilities of one of the farms."

Alexander Lukashenko noted that it was a good experience for him to communicate with the guys as a future teacher, and the teenagers (and there were about two dozen of them in the squad) were happy. But he especially remembered working in a land reclamation student squad, and he still remembers the entire technology. "A colossal experience. Even from that first student squad, I learned the main thing – how to lay bricks, and evenly, by plumb line. But from the land reclamation squad, I remember everything in detail… We earned a lot then," the Belarusian leader admitted.

With this money, Alexander Lukashenko was able to buy himself the necessary clothes and shoes for the start of the new academic year. He explained that since his mother worked as a milkmaid, there were never large sums of money in the family, and therefore he tried to earn as much money as possible in student construction brigades to support himself. "So that on September 1, I will honestly say, I could come to the lecture hall and not look different from the children of wealthy parents," the head of state shared his memories.

How student construction brigades were revived in Belarus

In 2003, the active revival of the student construction brigade movement began. The state provided them with a number of opportunities and preferences. The first projects entrusted to the youth were the reconstruction of "Khatyn" and the Mound of Glory. For their work, the student brigades were awarded the Gratitude of the President of Belarus. Then, the reconstruction of the Augustów Canal was declared a youth construction project. But the most significant project for the guys was the construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

"If a young person goes through student construction brigades, works hard, they will turn out to be a good person, because they have gone through this school – the school of a young, novice worker, the school of mentorship, the school of collective labor. This is important for us today. It is no secret that the culture of individuality, detachment from common problems, and some kind of personal brand is often promoted, especially in Western countries. This is probably good somewhere. But if it's in moderation. We, however, are inclined towards collective labor, mutual collective assistance," noted the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the BRSM, Alexander Lukyanov.

Since 2003, about 750,000 students and pupils have passed through student construction brigades. Young people who are under preventive supervision and are in a socially dangerous situation are also involved in the work.

"We have raised the issue of student work crews more than once, and you know my position on this matter. I will always support this direction, because student work crews are not only a good school for young people, but also a serious personnel reserve. It is clear that accepting student work crews in the region is a troublesome business, possibly an unnecessary headache and concern for local authorities. We must pay tribute to the BRSM, the governors, and the employers for helping young people, providing opportunities to earn money, and enhancing the prestige of working professions," said the head of state, speaking in 2015 at a regular congress of the BRSM.

The student work crew movement allows one to earn good money, but its members admit: the main thing is not the earnings at all, but new acquaintances and meetings, educational trips, cultural exchange, festivals, and tourist gatherings.

"The experience of our country is very interesting to colleagues from Uzbekistan. And we expect our crews to interact with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Of course, these are primarily post-Soviet countries. But we should not forget about such strategic friends as the People's Republic of China. There are similar directions there. We are ready to work on the issue so that we have joint projects. There are no borders here. It is important to set a goal and move towards it. Joint work is always for the benefit, especially for the sake of peace and creation," is convinced the leader of Belarusian youth.

Where student work crews work

About 40,000 people will be involved in student work crews this year. Moreover, contrary to the established image, they are attracted to work in completely different areas. The most in-demand and highly paid are construction and industrial profiles. Members of student work crews participate in the construction of various facilities - from kindergartens to a nuclear power plant and even a cosmodrome. "Industrial workers" are gladly accepted at the Minsk "Atlant" plant, where refrigerators of the same name are assembled, at "Horizont", and at automobile and tractor plants.

"You know that we are working today. We are not at war, thank God. God forbid! But we lack manpower, there are places where you can apply your efforts. Create work brigades. You will be welcomed at our new plant "BELGEE", at BELAZ, at sewing and other enterprises. This will be your contribution to strengthening the country's economy. Take patronage over the construction of a large facility. Name it a youth project, so as to also leave your BAM in the history of modern Belarus. Each of you must understand: nothing in the world is achieved without the hardest, exhausting labor and trials, there is no easy bread," - emphasized Alexander Lukashenko in 2018 at a meeting with youth.

Agricultural detachments are involved in sowing and harvesting campaigns. Some work in the service sector: as hairdressers, waiters, merchandisers, conductors. There are pedagogical detachments - these are counselors in children's health resorts. Future medical professionals are helped to get jobs in healthcare institutions as junior and middle medical staff. As in the pedagogical detachment, only students of the relevant profile are accepted here. Ecological student detachments are engaged in landscaping urban areas.

How a Girl from Siberia Met Her Love in a Belarusian Student Detachment

"Atlant" was the first major enterprise to host student detachments. In the first year, about three hundred members worked there, and the next time their number increased to nine hundred. In addition to wages, "Atlant" provided them with accommodation and meals. Today, this enterprise is the most popular place for summer earnings among young people. To get there, you need to pass a selection. The competition is almost two people per place. And some even manage to find their love there. For example, a Russian woman, Kristina Hubulova. Today she is the commander of the youth production labor project "Atlant-2023" - a representative of the Republican Staff of Student Detachments. Kristina ended up in Belarus thanks to student detachments.

The girl was born and raised in the Altai Krai of Russia. The first detachment she joined was called "Snowy Landing," and they helped elderly people and children. Then Kristina joined a student detachment working on the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome. After that, she participated in labor projects in Moscow, where she was noticed and invited to join the student detachment movement in Belarus. "In 2019, I was selected for Belarus. It was my crazy childhood dream to visit Belarus, to see what kind of country it is, what its cities are like," she said. "I went to my first construction site, VMS 'City of Youth'."

In 2020, she was invited to the production project "Atlant," which involved 13 student detachments from all over Belarus. At that time, Kristina was delighted with our country but didn't think about staying here yet. But a year later, everything changed. Feelings intervened in the story. "In 2021, I started thinking that it was time to stay. After the project, I went to Omsk for a month and decided that I would still return here and continue working for the student detachment movement to develop it further. Plus, I found my love in the detachment," the girl admitted shyly.

Why Youth Join Student Detachments

"My friends and I joined a construction detachment to have some activity during the summer and earn some money during the holidays," says Maxim Tsyrinsky, a student at BIP - University of Law and Socio-Information Technologies. "There are many benefits. We don't pay income tax. Also, the university promises a discount on tuition."

Maxim is involved in the construction of a dormitory. The guys are employed here as auxiliary workers. Recently, for example, they were preparing the elevator shaft, and now they are cleaning the building and the surrounding area.

And Yan Rudakovskiy, another student at BIP, became a controller on public transport for a month. This is his first experience working in a student detachment. "I decided to work to help my parents and earn money myself. And for the experience too. The university provided such an opportunity, and I thought, why not? I like it," the guy said.

For her colleague Valeria Gorlacheva, this is also her first experience. The girl studies at the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after M. Tank. According to her, she wanted to work as a controller last year, but due to high competition, she did not get into the student squad. This year, she was luckier. "We were very well received here. We had a four-day internship. And now we are already working as full-fledged controllers ourselves," shared Valeria.

How the student squad commander addressed Lukashenko

Thanks to the President's support for student initiatives, objects important for the country have received the status of All-Belarusian Youth Construction Projects. In 2014, it was assigned to the facilities of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, and since 2019, to social infrastructure facilities in Ostrovets. Last year, the reconstruction of the Khatyn memorial complex received the same status. And recently, one of the student squad members suggested to the head of state to declare the Republican Center for Patriotic Education in the Brest Fortress an All-Belarusian Youth Construction Project.

"We will study this proposal of yours. Moreover, you are not strangers to me, you are dear people," Alexander Lukashenko replied. "If the youth, the BRSM, get involved in this, I will be very glad to declare this construction a youth project. Especially since you did not let us down in Khatyn."

This initiative was then put forward by Semyon Lyulkovich, a student at the Brest State Technical University and commander of the "Spadchyna" student construction squad. The guy admitted that he was very nervous when asking the President a question. But he did not expect any other answer from the head of state.

"Now, in June, we will be building a kindergarten - this is a regional construction project. And after the work begins at the Republican Youth Patriotic Center, we will go to work there," said Semyon.

What Belarusian students built at the Vostochny Cosmodrome

The Head of State's decisions have opened up opportunities for students not only at major domestic facilities. In April 2022, Alexander Lukashenko, during his visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome with Vladimir Putin, agreed to involve Belarusian specialists in the construction of facilities at this giant construction site. The President did not forget about the youth either. The best student construction team in Belarus, "Eureka," was sent to participate in the construction of the cosmodrome.

"We were involved in the construction of housing for cosmodrome workers and a weather station. There were 11 teams on the project - one Belarusian and ten Russian. We worked in pairs with qualified specialists. We performed the same work as they did," shared Vadim Lozhechnik, former commander of the "Eureka" student construction team, delving into the details.

Now he is the commander of the All-Belarusian Youth Construction Project "City of Youth - 2023." In previous years, Vadim's team repeatedly participated in the construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant.

What is the main value of student construction teams?

Today, the student construction team movement in Belarus, in its scope, has surpassed the experience of the Soviet period. And you know what its main value is? It not only instills a work ethic in young people but also teaches them to appreciate what has been created by their hands, which is practically the entire country. As we have already mentioned, from a planted tree and a new kindergarten to an entire nuclear power plant. This is invaluable. And, of course, student construction teams help young people discover themselves and become true leaders.

"It's a family. It's such a close-knit family, dear people who are on the same wavelength as you, who understand you instantly," says Nadezhda Shakhovskaya, trying to hold back her emotions. "When you go on stage and say that this is very important, when commissars ignite the hearts of the fighters, when commanders lead the guys to the main goal. After all, the main thing for a commander is to correspond and act. These are two stimuli, two postulates that we teach our commanders."

To correspond and act are indeed important qualities. The Head of State also teaches this to the youth. He teaches by his own example.

The project was funded by a targeted collection for the production of national content.

Source: belta.by