Hiring of Hearty Eaters in Russia

[Six, Irina Anatolyevna]

I guess this is a common Russian belief that those who are heavy eaters
are also hard workers.  My immediate association was the line from
Pushkin's 

SKAZKA O POPE I O RABOTNIKE EGO BALDE 

Zhivet Balda v popovom dome,
Spit sebe na solome,
Est za chetverykh,
Rabotaet za semerykh;

I would advise to search in folklore for the prove of this traditional
belief. 

Thanks,
Irina Six

Dr. Irina Fediunina Six
Lecturer 
Slavic Languages and Literatures
Wescoe Hall
1445 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 2135
Lawrence, KS 66045-7590
(785) 864-1230
fax (785) 864 4298
irinasix at ku.edu
www.ku.edu/~slavic


-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Charles Byrd
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 8:48 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Hiring of Hearty Eaters in Russia


In the 1981 blockbuster movie, "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears,"
Tonya's father tells 
his future son-in-law how in the old days (1920s? 1930s?) potential
factory workers were 
supplied with a meal, and only those who ate the most were hired.  Can
anyone point me to 
a source explaining the history and logic of this policy?  Was it that
the hungriest were most 
deserving of jobs in a strictly moral sense?  Or that high caloric
intake would enhance 
productivity, a hearty appetite being presumably a sign of good health?
Was this a strictly 
Bolshevik policy or one with pre-revolutionary origins?  One of my
students is captivated by 
the parallelism of this moment from "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears"
and a similar 
reference in the 2007 American movie "Wristcutters" which includes
Russian characters.  
Here the grandmother says: "We have a saying in  Russia, 'How much you
eat, that's how 
worthy you are.' My grandpa, before he'd hire anybody, he'd feed them a
free meal. Those 
who ate the most - that's the ones he hired..." (All at table, in
unison) "Cause those were 
the best workers."

Thanks,

Charles Byrd
University of Georgia

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