FOREST INDUSTRY AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET NORTH DURING THE FIRST FIVE-YEAR PLANS

Abstract

The purpose of the article aims at studying the timber industry in the conditions of the formation of regional administrative-territorial and economic structures in the north of the Soviet Union during the first five-year plans. The forestry industry had to ensure the export of forest resources and materials to obtain foreign exchange funds and meet the domestic needs of the country. Plans for the development of the industry and their implementation turned out to be closely related to the administrative and territorial transformations in the 1920s and 1930s, the creation and functioning of economic organizations. In the poorly developed northern and eastern regions of the country, they became a significant trump card in the actions of party-state and economic figures. This led to a number of contradictions and conflicts, which is shown by the examples of Northern Krai and the Igarka district. The potential of the decisions taken turned out to be short-lived — to achieve specific, narrow goals, but at the same time affected large territories. The result of the regional and economic — in relation to the forest industry — policy of the Soviet government was, in addition to the unbundling of the regions, the gradual reorientation of the industry to meet domestic needs. This process was based on the production and transport infrastructure created in the late 1920s — early 1930s for the export of wood. The projects of enterprises designed for meeting the domestic needs of the country, for the most part, have not been implemented. The research funding from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Ural Federal University Program of Development within the Priority-2030 Program) is gratefully acknowledged. © 2023 Institute of History and Archeology of the Ural Branch of RAS. All rights reserved.