In the article the 1st Regional Congress of Stakhanovites of the East Siberian region is considered not only from the point of view of its ideology, but rather in the context of cultural and educational background of its delegates. The authors deal with poorly studied problem of the way Stakhanovites saw the so-called «cultural life», and what attitude they had toward visual arts. This attitude is clearly seen at the exhibition of portraits of foremost workers organized by the Irkutsk artists, who were members of the East-Siberian Regional Union of Soviet Artists, to the opening of the congress.