Alexei Grigoryevich Stakhanov (Russian: Алексе́й Григо́рьевич Стаха́нов, IPA: [stɐˈxanəf], Alekséy Grigór'yevich Stakhánov; 3 January 1906 – 5 November 1977) was a Soviet miner, Hero of Socialist Labour (1970), and a member of the CPSU (1936).

He became a celebrity in 1935 as part of what became known as the Stakhanovite movement—a campaign intended to increase worker productivity and to demonstrate the superiority of the socialist economic system.

[1] Alexei Stakhanov was born in Lugovaya (now in Izmalkovsky District), a village in the Livensky Uezd of the Orel Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1906.

At some point Stakhanov developed problems with alcohol and came to lose his Order of Lenin and party card during a drunken brawl.

In the final analysis, it was not the individual face-worker who determined whether the attempt to break the record would succeed, but the new system of coal extraction.

Still, according to the newspaper, Stakhanov's approach had eventually led to increased productivity by means of better work organization, including specialization and task sequencing.

Rather than admit such a high-profile mistake, authorities decided to replace his passport and other official documents, changing his name to Alexei.