Even before the revolutions of 1917, Lenin had been interested in the doctrine of the scientific organization of labor, condemning it and then making it one of the pillars of the new economy. He wrote this astonishing equation: "socialism = the power of the Soviets + the order of the Prussian railroads + the technique and organization of the American trusts + American public education." Other Bolshevik leaders such as Nikolai Bukharin and Trotsky also embraced Taylorism, their rhetoric ranging from the lyrical to the militaristic.
The development of the scientific organization of work - NOT in Russian - was the work of scientists and engineers, but also of the poet Alexei Gastev, founder of the Central Labor Institute. In the theatrical sphere, Vsevolod Meyerhod imagined rebasing acting on "biomechanics" inspired by Frank Gilbreth's movement studies, and recruited artists like Lyubov Popova to design veritable stage machines.
