Tverdyukova, Elena Dmitrievna. People and motorcycles: Java as phenomenon of the Soviet motor-culture

Created Date

Section: Commentarii / Articles

Written on . Posted in Commentarii / Articles

For citation: Tverdyukova, Elena Dmitrievna. People and motorcycles: Java as phenomenon of the Soviet motor-culture, in Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2019. № 1. Pp. 53-64. DOI https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu19.2019.104.

Title of the article People and motorcycles: Java as phenomenon of the Soviet motor-culture
Authors Tverdyukova, Elena Dmitrievna – Doctor in History, Professor, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; OrcID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4415-2279; Scopus ID 57188751180; SPIN-код 3731-5808; AuthorID 449164
In the section  Commentarii / Article
Year 2019 Issue  1 Pages  53-64
Type of article RAR Index UDK; BBk UDK 94(47).084.9; BBK 63.3(2)6–7   Index DOI  https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu19.2019.104
Abstract Article is devoted to history of the Java motorcycle as thing, cult for Soviet motor-fans.The author allocates two stages in development of the domestic post-war motor-movement. In 1950–1970 in the conditions of deficiency of cars in the USSR motorcycles became the popular vehicle suitable for distant travel and for family departures to the dacha. During this period motorcycles of Czechoslovak production won popularity among the population as favourably differed from products of the domestic motorcycle industry both on appearance, and on technical characteristics. The popularity of the Java model was promoted by the simplified purchase conditions (without making an appointment) and service (the network of guarantee workshops was created, and spare parts could be ordered by post). At the same time in article difficulties which the Soviet motor-fans met are noted: deficiency of both motorcycles, and their accessories, the shortage of the equipped places for the parking. By the beginning of the 1980th in the Soviet cities Java became not only the main vehicle for youth, but also fashionable attribute. In the years of «perestroika» the motorcycle was for the younger generation a symbol of freedom, changes and new opportunities that led to emergence of the movement of «rockers». The author shows that this movement had the main signs of subculture (symbols, rituals, folklore). To be «rocker» in the USSR meant to be «nonconformist», but the movement in general had no openly illegal character. The protest of most of its participants was shown in the aspiration to break a social framework, to tear with the narrow-minded environment, to overcome the formal bans. Java, being allocated with high-speed characteristics, maneuverability and sports appearance, was suitable for this role as any other motorcycle from available to the Soviet youth.
Keywords thing in history, motorcycle, Java, Soviet motor-culture, subculture, «rockers» 
Full text version of the article. Article language Russian
Bibliography
  • Brandon, Prenger; Etter, Gregg. Psychological and cultural aspects of outlaw motorcycle gang members, in Journal of Gang Research. 2011. Vol. 19(1). Pp. 21–36.

    Chertilin, Vladimir Ivanovich. Avtomototuristy Leningrada pereshagnuli poluvekovoy jubiley [Automotor-tourists of Leningrad stepped over semicentennial anniversary], in Vestnik nacional’noy akademii turizma. 2010. No. 2. Pp. 45–47. (in Russian).

    Fava, Valentina. The elusive people’s car: Imagined automobilityand productive practices along the «Czechoslovak Road to socialism» (1945–1968), in The Socialist Car: Automobility in the Eastern Bloc. L. H. Siegelbaum (Ed.). New York: Cornell Univ. Press, 2011. Pp. 17–29.

    Hess, Daniel Baldwin. Transport in mikrorayons: Accessibility and proximity to centrally planned residential districts during the socialist era, 1957–1989, in Journal of Planning History. 2018. Vol. 17(3). Рp. 184–204.

    Hoynber, Thomas. Vyzov neprikayannyh: Modnye volny i molodezhnyie techeniya – tedy, hippi, panki, rokery – v zapadnom mire [Call of restless: Fashionable waves and youth currents – thetas, hippie, punks, rockers – in the Western world]. Moscow: Young Guard Publ., 1990. 301 p. (in Russian).

    Luchinkina, Anna Leonidovna. Samoorganizaciya molodezhi v sovetskiy i postsovetskiy periody v protestnyie molodezhnyie subkul’tury [Self-organization of youth during the Soviet and Post-Soviet periods in protest youth subcultures], in Monitoring obshhestvennogo mneniya: ekonomicheskiye i social’nyie izmeneniya. 2013. No. 2. Pp. 99–107. (in Russian).

    Quinn, James; Forsyth, Craig. Leathers and rolexs: The symbolism and values of the motorcycle club, in Deviant Behavior. 2009. Vol. 30(3). Pp. 235–265.

    Quinn, James; Forsyth, Craig. The Tools, Tactics, and Mentality of Outlaw Biker Wars, in American Journal of Criminal Justice. 2011. Vol. 36(3). Pp. 216–230.

    Singh, Dhan Zunino. Cities, practices, and representations in motion: Notes for a cultural analysis of mobility as an urban experience, in Tempo Social. 2018. Vol. 30(2). Pp. 35–54.

    Sovkov, Valentin Anatolyevich. Motocikly «Java» [Java motorcycles]. Moscow: Mechanical engineering Publ., 1969. 246 p. (in Russian).

    Thompson, William. Pseudo-deviance and the “new biker” subculture: Hogs, blogs, leathers, and lattes, in Deviant Behavior. 2009. Vol. 30(1). Pp. 89–114.

    Urry, John; Sheller, Mimi. The City and the Car, in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 2000. Vol. 24(4). Pp. 737–757.

 

Tags: COMMENTARII / ARTICLES, thing in history, TVERDYUKOVA E.D., motorcycle, rockers, Soviet motor-culture, subculture

Print