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- the organized management of human material resources, goods and services.
- the social institutions concerned with the management, production and distribution of human resources.
(1) The aggregate of production relations, or the economic basis of society. The scientific definition of the economy and of its place in the development of society was first given by K. Marx: “The aggregate . . . of production relations constitutes the economic structure of society, the actual base upon which the legal and political superstructure is erected and which has its particular corresponding forms of social consciousness” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 13, pp. 6–7). The economy forms the basis of all other social relations and plays the decisive role in the development of society.
The economy is the system of production relations in any mode of production. The determining relations in this system are those pertaining to the ownership of the means of production and the character and social means of linkage between the direct producers and the means of production. The aggregate of production relations of a given mode of production is expressed in the corresponding system of economic laws and categories of political economy. Each mode of production has its own characteristic economy with its own distinct type of ownership, objectives, and forms and methods of management—as in the case of the primitive communal system, slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and communism. Economics directly interacts with politics, a component of which is economic policy.
(2) The national economy of a given country or a given part of the economy including the corresponding branches and types of production. The national economy reflects not only the characteristic features of a given mode of production but also the distinguishing features of a given country stemming from such specific historical conditions as its geographic location, the part it plays in the international division of labor, its historical traditions, and the level of development of its productive forces.
The economy includes the branches of material production (such as industry, agriculture, construction, transport, and trade) and the nonproduction sphere (including education, health care, and culture). Social production is subdivided into (1) production of the means of production and (2) production of consumer goods. The relationship between the two subdivisions is influenced by various factors, with the first subdivision playing the decisive role as the basis of technological progress.
The economy of the USSR is a single national economic aggregate that encompasses all the elements of social production, distribution, and exchange throughout the country. It is based on large-scale mechanized production in all branches of the national economy and is developed on a planned basis for the benefit of the people’s increasing well-being. The USSR has built an advanced socialist society. In its present stage, socialism is already developing on its own basis, and the full creative powers of the new system are increasingly revealed. The greater division of labor and more proportional development of the various branches and regions are creating the necessary conditions for consistent growth in the efficiency of all social production and for fuller utilization of natural and labor resources.
The entry of socialism into the world arena led to the emergence of the economy of the world socialist system. The chief trends in the development of this system are the growing extent of socialist economic integration, the increasing convergence of the national economies of the various socialist countries, and the establishment of far-reaching and stable bonds linking together the main branches of the economy and of science and technology.
REFERENCESSee references under ECONOMICS.
Socialist ownership of the means of production, the basis of the economic system of the USSR, came into being with the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 and was consolidated by the construction of socialism in the USSR. The working class, in alliance with the toiling peasantry and under the leadership of the Communist Party, abolished the political power of the bourgeoisie and the landowners; by nationalizing and transforming into social property the basic means of production in the most important branches of the economy, it attained a position of dominance in the country.
Having established socialist ownership in the key areas of the economy, the working class, through cooperation and under the leadership of the Communist Party, proceeded to transform small-scale commodity-based peasant farms into large-scale socialist collective farms. Small-scale private peasant ownership was replaced by large-scale kolkhoz-cooperative ownership. As a result, socialist ownership in two forms—state and kolkhozcooperative—had become completely dominant in the national economy by the mid-1930’s (see Table 1).
|Table 1. Share of the socialist economy in economy of the USSR (percent)|
|11ncluding the personal subsidiary agriculture of kolkhoz members, industrial workers, and nonindustrial workers|
|National income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||44.0||99.1||100.0|
|Industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||82.4||99.8||100.0|
|Gross agricultural output1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.3||98.5||100.0|
|Retail sales, including food service Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||76.4||100.0||100.0|
The shift to socialist ownership brought about a radical change in the goal of production, which came to be defined by the fundamental economic law of socialism. According to the fundamental law, a socialist economy shall provide for the welfare and all-around development of all members of society by meeting in the fullest possible way their constantly growing material and cultural needs, through a continuous increase and improvement in social production, on the basis of scientific and technological progress. The law expresses the basic advantages of the soviet socialist economy over a capitalist economy, whose goal is to pursue the maximum possible profits.
Socialist ownership of the means of production affords scope to the development of productive forces, since the attendant socialist production relations fully correspond to the nature of those forces. Unlike a capitalist economy, a socialist economy develops in a planned fashion, without crises and recessions; consequently, high and steady growth rates are ensured for the entire national economy. In a socialist economy, the potential for concentrating production and increasing the division of social labor through specialization and cooperation is not limited by private ownership; as a result, a more favorable climate is created for the growth of the productivity of social labor—the primary condition for the victory of the new social system over the old.
Owing to socialist ownership and the economic law ensuring the planned development of the national economy so that proper proportions are maintained between the various branches, it became possible, for the first time in the history of society, to develop an entire national economy on the basis of a unified state plan. A centralized, planned economy provides such advantages as the concentration of resources in key areas of social production and the proportional development of the national economy. Planning makes possible a better, fuller, and more efficient use of society’s material, monetary, and labor resources, above all for the purpose of solving problems of importance to the entire nation. The Soviet state seeks to maintain a consistent proportionality in the scale of the entire national economy, taking strict account of the needs of society and the resources at society’s disposal; in this effort, it applies its knowledge of the laws of social development and is guided by Marxist-Leninist theory. By making use of scientific prediction in planning, the Soviet state is improving the structure of social production.
The management of the national economy is based on democratic centralism, which presupposes that the working masses will take part in management through, for example, state elective bodies; public organizations; production conferences, which exist at every enterprise; and nationwide discussions of national economic plans. All this activity makes it possible to uncover and use production reserves. Another form of mass participation that allows the working people to play a role in the planning and management of the national economy is the counterplan, which fosters the development of the people’s creative potential and energy.
Mass socialist competition has become a motive force in the country’s economic development. Unlike capitalist competition, which divides people from each other and which reflects the anarchy and spontaneous nature of capitalist production, socialist competition raises the consciousness and patriotism of the working people in the interests of the further rapid development of the economy, the growth of production efficiency, and increased labor productivity.
Inherent in the Soviet economy is the socialist principle of distribution according to labor (in accordance with its quantity and its quality—that is, the skills involved). Personal and collective material interest in the results of labor stimulates growth in the productivity of labor and increased production output at every work site and enterprise.
The planned development of the economy assures a rational location of production forces throughout the country. Under Soviet power, radical changes have occurred in the location of productive forces as industrial production in the Union republics has grown and as production has moved forward in the country’s eastern regions, which have abundant reserves of ferrous and nonferrous metals, coal, petroleum, natural gas, timber, and hydroelectric power.
Before the October Revolution of 1917, Russia lagged considerably behind the industrially developed capitalist states. It ranked fifth in the world and fourth in Europe in industrial output.
During the prewar five-year plans (1929–40) substantial growth was achieved in industry and agriculture. Socialist industrialization, the collectivization of agriculture, and the cultural revolution led to the economic victory of socialism and made the USSR second in the world and first in Europe in industrial output. Industrialization resulted in the creation of a modern industry, thereby strengthening state ownership—the basis of socialist ownership. The collectivization of agriculture resulted in millions of small-scale individual peasant farms being consolidated into large-scale socialist farms; the victory of socialism in the countryside was assured by the elimination of the last exploitative class, the kulaks. Kolkhozes and sovkhozes became the producers of the bulk of agricultural output.
The needs of agriculture and the rural population became an important stimulus to economic development. Between 1913 and 1940, as a result of the transition to large-scale socialist production on an expanding technological base, gross agricultural output increased by a factor of 1.4, and the motive power available to agriculture doubled. By the late 1930’s the USSR had entered a new stage of development: the consolidation of victorious socialism and the gradual transition to communism. The outbreak of World War II, however, required that the economy be put on a wartime footing and that a well-organized military economy be created to supply the Soviet Army with modern weaponry. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 the Soviet people achieved an economic victory over fascist Germany; the economy of the USSR proved to be incomparably more viable than that of the capitalist states.
As a result of the fascist aggression, the country lost about 30 percent of its national wealth, but the strength and vitality of the Soviet economy was such that the devastation was repaired during the fourth five-year plan (1946–50). The prewar level of industrial production was regained and surpassed at the end of 1948. In 1950 the national income produced reached 164 percent of the 1940 level, industrial production reached 172 percent, and freight carried on all types of transport reached 144 percent; agricultural output as a whole amounted to 99 percent of the 1940 level, and the output of livestock raising, to 104 percent. By 1952 gross agricultural output had surpassed the prewar level. The national economy was rebuilt through domestic resources; at the same time, the USSR rendered considerable aid to the peoples of the liberated countries of Eastern Europe, thereby laying the economic foundation of the future socialist community.
The qualitative indexes of economic development also improved. The electric power-labor ratio in industry increased by a factor of 1.5 between 1940 and 1950, and labor productivity increased by 145 percent; the growth in labor productivity was particularly striking in machine building and metalworking (174 percent), in the chemical and petrochemical industry (195 percent),
|Table 2. National economic development from 1945 to 1960|
|Gross social product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||1. 9||5.0|
|National income produced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||2||5.2|
|Fixed production assets of all branches of national economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||1.4||3.7|
|Total industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||1.9||5.7|
|Gross agricultural output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||1.6||2.7|
|Capital investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||2.1||7.0|
|Productivity of labor industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||1.3||2.6|
and in the building-materials industry (132 percent). The increases were facilitated by the acceleration of technological progress and by the production, and use in the national economy, of new types of machinery and equipment. In 1950 some 650 new types of important machines and equipment were developed; in 1960, 3,099 new types were developed, including 341 models of new metalcutting machine tools and forge-pressing machines. By the end of the 1950’s the material and technical basis for socialism had been expanded and strengthened; major successes had been achieved in the development and improvement of socialist production relations. The triumph of socialism was complete.
The development of the economy between 1946 and 1960 led to a considerable growth in the country’s economic potential, which between 1967 and 1976 doubled in comparison with the period from 1917 to 1966.
The most important achievement of the Soviet people’s selfless labor has been the construction of a socialist society marked by an advanced state of development of the entire system of social relations, which are gradually taking on a communist character. In the structure of the economy the leading role is played by industry, notably those branches in which the principal producer goods are manufactured.
The creation in the USSR of a developed socialist society has been based on repeated increases in the scale of production (see Tables 2 and 3).
|Table 3. Economic development of the USSR in the 1970’s (in comparable prices)|
|Billion rubles (total for the plan)||1980 (as percentage of 1970)|
|Gross social product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||637||1,061||167|
|National income used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
|for consumption and accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||282||437||155|
|for consumption and nonindustrial construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||219||354||162|
|All industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||352||627||178|
|Gross agricultural output (annual average) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||100.4||123.7||123|
|Capital investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||80.6||133.5||166|
|Fixed capital formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||531||1,149||216|
|Freight turnover for all means of transport (billion tons/km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3,829||6,165||161|
|Retail commodity turnover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||158.1||268.5||170|
|Public consumption fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||63.9||116.5||182|
In the economy of a developed socialist society, the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution are combined with the advantages of a socialist economic system, with a decisive shift to intensive methods of economic development, and with a quantitatively new level and scale of production, which make it possible to carry out directly the tasks of establishing a material and technical basis for communism, of ensuring continuous growth in the welfare of the working people, and of attaining important successes in economic competition with capitalism. These tasks are dealt with by making social production intensive: new equipment and technology are introduced, production undergoes further concentration and specialization, and the planned management of the national economy is improved. Primary attention is focused on qualitative factors of economic growth, on the expansion and modernization of production assets, and on assuring the steady, balanced growth of heavy industry—the foundation of the economy.
At the beginning of 1977 the total value of fixed capital stock—production assets, including livestock, and nonproduction assets—had reached 1.345 billion rubles. The number of new types of machines, equipment, apparatus, and devices increased from 17,200 for the period 1951–60 to 64,500 for the period 1961–75; in 1961–75 the number of models of new equipment per year was greater by a factor of 2.5 than the figure for 1951–60. The country’s economy developed rapidly during the eighth, ninth, and tenth five-year plans (see Table 4). Improved equipment and production technology led to increases in the power-labor ratio, electric power-labor ratio, and the productivity of labor; during the ninth five-year plan improved labor productivity accounted for four-fifths of the increase in national income.
The system of economic planning makes it possible to carry out a unified policy regarding science and technology, a policy that ensures the integrated development of the principal areas of science, which increasingly is becoming a productive force, and technology; in particular, attention is focused on the development and introduction of new implements of labor, the improvement of production processes, the use of new energy sources (for example, atomic power), and the use of new materials (for example, synthetics with specified properties).
|Table 4. Economic development of the USSR from 1976 to 1980|
|Tenth five-year plan, percentage of|
|Tenth five-year plan (1976-80)||Growth compared to ninth five-year plan||Eighth five-year plan (1966-70)||Ninth five-year plan (1971-75)|
|Gross social product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4,944||1,099||178||129|
|National income used for consumption and accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,045||400||166||124|
|Total industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,904||717||192||133|
|Group A (producer goods) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,120||551||197||135|
|Group B (consumer goods) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||784||166||180||127|
|Total agricultural output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||619||50||123||109|
|Freight carried by transport (ton/km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||29.2||6.1||172||126|
|Capital investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||634||141||182||129|
|Fixed capital formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||588||127||184||128|
The achievement of production efficiency is closely linked with the problem of improving the quality of output and of economic performance generally. With these goals in mind, the state sector, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, implemented various measures to further concentrate production and to improve management: production associations were formed, and national and republic-level industrial associations were established, in accordance with overall plans for each branch of the economy. Large territorial-production complexes are being formed in Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Middle Asia, as well as in such regions as Western Siberia, Bratsk-Ust’-Ilimsk, and the Saians. In the kolkhoz-cooperative sector, ownership is being concentrated by enlarging the kolkhozes and by forming interkolkhoz production associations, sovkhoz-kolkhoz production enterprises, and state-kolkhoz production enterprises.
|Table 5. Major types of industrial output by COMECON countries (1975)|
|COMECON countries||USSR||USSR (percentage)|
|Electric energy (billion kW-hr) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,545||1,150||74.4|
|Salable coal (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,353||663||49.0|
|Pig iron (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||141||107||76.0|
|Steel (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||205||147||71.7|
|Iron ore (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2431||2391||98.31|
|Tractors (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||759||569||75.0|
|Cement (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||197||127||64.6|
|Chemical fiber and yarn (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,069||1,088||52.6|
|Cotton fabrics (billion sq m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||10.6||6.8||64.0|
|Leather footwear (million pairs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,239||736||59.3|
|Granulated sugar from domestic raw material (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||19.3||8.2||42.4|
|Butter (factory production, thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,151||1,408||65.5|
|Meat (factory production, million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||16.0||9.1||56.7|
|Milk (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||131||94.7||72.3|
The economy of the USSR is a unified national economic complex that encompasses all units of social production, distribution, and exchange in the country. Material production (the production sphere) rests on industry, which in 1977 produced 554 billion rubles worth of output, in current enterprise wholesale prices; on agriculture, which produced 124.9 billion rubles worth of output; and on capital construction, with total capital investment of 122.3 billion rubles. At the end of 1977, nonproduction fixed assets totaled 504 billion rubles, or 35 percent of the country’s entire fixed capital stock. Fixed housing stock accounted for 294 billion rubles; fixed capital stock in such areas as health care, education, and science accounted for 146 billion rubles; and fixed capital stock of municipal services and consumer services accounted for 64 billion rubles. The economy of the USSR depends on a well-developed financial system.
The economy of the USSR unites the economies of all the Union republics and economic regions of the country; it develops as a unified whole in the interests of the USSR in its entirety and each Union republic individually. The country’s unified economic complex has been formed through the specialization of the economies of the Union republics and through cooperation between them. On the basis of the national economic plan, industries and plants are distributed throughout the republics according to natural wealth, climatic conditions for the cultivation of crops, and the presence of natural resources and minerals; also taken into account are labor resources and the need to reduce distances over which raw materials, fuel, and finished products must be transported. Owing to the implementation of a consistent policy aimed at the socialist industrialization of the formerly backward peripheral areas of Russia, the Union republics at the stage of mature socialism have heavy industries (both extraction and manufacturing), transportation systems, and communications lines. As a result, the comprehensive development and economic growth of the Union republics is ensured.
Under Soviet power, industry has developed more rapidly in some Union republics than in the country as a whole (see). As the Union republics underwent rapid economic development, the problem of equalizing their economic levels and of strengthening the unified national economic complex was solved. As a result, it has been possible to achieve full employment throughout the country for all persons fit to work and to establish uniform working conditions and wages. In addition, the levels of skill, the productivity of labor, and the population’s income and consumption have been made more or less equal throughout the country, and genuine equality of all nations (natsii, nations in the historical sense) and nationalities in all areas of social life has been achieved.
These successes reflect the internationalist nature of the CPSU’s Leninist policy toward the country’s various peoples, which promotes the general flourishing of the socialist nations and is designed to bring them closer together. The policy has strengthened friendship among peoples and bolstered the unity and might of the multinational state, thereby contributing to the further prospering of the economy and culture and to increasingly close cooperation among the various peoples of the Soviet Union (which enjoy equal rights), in state, economic, and cultural construction and in the achievement of a common goal: the building of communism.
The economy of the USSR develops in close cooperation with the economies of the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), on the basis of friendship, fraternal mutual aid, sovereignty, and mutual advantage. In 1977 the member countries of COMECON together produced about one-third of the world’s industrial output and one-fourth of its national income, although they account for only 10.4 percent of the earth’s population. Figures on the relation between the industrial output of the USSR and of the member countries of COMECON are given in Table 5.
The USSR’s multivarious economic ties with the member countries of COMECON include foreign trade, cooperation in science and technology, and international specialization and cooperation of production, based on the coordination of five-year and yearly national economic plans; such coordination constitutes a principal means of joint economic activity.
Since 1971 the economies of the USSR and other member countries of COMECON have developed on the basis of the long-term Comprehensive Program for the Further Extension and Promotion of Cooperation and Development of Socialist Economic Integration.
In 1975 the socialist countries taken together produced more than 40 percent of the world industrial output. Between 1951 and 1975 their share in world industrial production doubled: in 1950 it amounted to about 20 percent. In the same period, the share of the industrially developed capitalist countries fell from 80 percent to slightly more than 50 percent. The shift resulted from the more rapid economic development of the countries with a socialist economic system. The USSR’s share in world industrial production rose from 1 percent in 1922 to 10 percent in 1937 and 20 percent in 1975.
The principal element in the economic competition between the two opposing sociopolitical systems—socialist and capitalist—is the competition between the USSR and the USA. In 1922 the USSR’s industrial output was less than 3 percent of the USA’s. By the late 1930’s, as a result of the accelerated industrialization of the USSR and the economic stagnation of the USA after the crisis of 1929–33, production of the most important types of output by the USSR amounted to 25–30 percent of the figures for the USA.
|Table 6. Average annual growth rate of the USSR and the USA by principal indicators of economic development (1951–80, percent)|
|National income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7.4||3.5|
|Industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.7||4.0|
|Agricultural output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.0||1.6|
|Freight turnover of transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7.5||2.4|
|Capital investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.2||2.7|
|Social labor productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.3||2.1|
|Industrial labor productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5.7||3.1|
During the postwar years the USSR’s economy showed more rapid rates of growth than the USA’s, and the economic disparity between the USSR and the USA was consequently reduced (see Table 6). By the 1960’s the USSR had become the world’s leading producer of, for example, iron, manganese and chromium ores, coal and coke, cement, potash, tractors, diesel and electrical locomotives, cotton, and flax. By 1975, pig iron, steel, petroleum, and mineral fertilizers had been added to the list. Figures on the growth of the USSR’s economy in relation to the USA’s are given in Table 7.
|Table 7. Economic development of the USSR with respect to the USA (US level = 100 percent)|
|3Calculated on the basis of 100 percent of nutritive substance|
|National income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||31||651||67|
|Industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||302||651||801|
|Total electric energy produced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||22||43||52|
|Petroleum extracted, including gas condensate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||14||74||140|
|Steel smelted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||30||95||143|
|Production of mineral fertilizers3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||31||88||111|
|Production of cotton fabrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||32||98||180|
|Productivity of labor in industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||302||534||551|
|Capital investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||30||1004||1004|
|Freight turnover of all types of transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||31||102||129|
|railroad transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||66||218||255|
The USSR’s annual average agricultural output for the period 1971–75 amounted to nearly 85 percent of the USA’s. A change has occurred in the relative size of the economies of the USSR and the industrially developed countries of Western Europe: in the mid-1930’s the USSR’s industrial output was less than that of Germany, Great Britain, or France; in the mid-1970’s it was considerably greater than that of the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, and France together. Economic competition, under conditions of economic cooperation and decreasing international tension, is mutually advantageous to peoples of the socialist and capitalist countries.
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Monopolii i inostrannyi kapital v Rossii. Moscow-Leningrad, 1962.
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The tenth five-year plan was an important stage in the creation of a material and technical basis for communism, the improvement of social relations, the formation of a new man, and the development of a socialist way of life. Its principal task was to carry out consistently the Communist Party’s policy of raising the people’s material and cultural standard of living through the dynamic and proportional development of social production, through increases in the efficiency of social production, through the acceleration of scientific and technological progress, through the achievement of greater labor productivity, and through improvement in the quality of work in all areas of the national economy.
At the heart of the party’s strategy in the five-year plan and for the long term was the further increase of economic might and the expansion and modernization of production assets. To achieve these goals, both the consumption fund and the accumulation fund within the national income were to grow. Total capital investment was set at 621 billion rubles in comparable prices. In addition, the plan called for a substantial increase in the efficiency of capital investment. As a result of greater efficiency of social production, growth rates of national income exceeded those of capital investment. A large share of resources was allocated to retooling and modernizing existing enterprises, and the construction time of new facilities was shortened. At the same time, the tenth five-year plan outlined a large-scale construction program to ensure the rapid growth of production potential.
Industry played the principal role in completing the main tasks of the tenth five-year plan. It developed at accelerated rates in order to meet as fully as possible the needs of the national economy and of the population for high-quality output, as well as to make possible the retooling and intensification of production in all branches of the economy. Industrial output was to grow by 36 percent; the absolute increase was to reach 183.5 billion rubles in 1980 (in prices as of Jan. 1,1975). The development of heavy industry and its most important subdivision—machine building—made possible accelerated mechanization and automation of production processes, especially labor-intensive manual operations in all branches of the national economy. The growth of industrial production proceeded in tandem with an improvement in its structure. Provisions were made to develop more rapidly those branches of industry that determine the extent of scientific and technological progress in the economy—machine building, the chemical and petrochemical industries, and the energy industry.
Efforts were focused on making agriculture consistently more intensive through the increased use of machinery and chemical fertilizers in agricultural production, through land reclamation, through the application of the achievements of science and of practical testing, and through more extensive specialization and concentration of production. The average annual agricultural output for the period 1976–80 was expected to be 16 percent greater than that for the previous five-year period. The entire increase in output was to come from social production. The average annual gross output of public-sector agriculture for the period 1976–80 was expected to be 24 percent greater than that for the previous five-year period. In 1980 public-sector agriculture was to account for 79 percent of output, as compared with 72 percent in the ninth five-year plan. Specialization and concentration of agricultural production underwent further development on the basis of interfarm cooperation and agroindustrial integration.
The material and technical basis for agriculture was strengthened. About 170 billion rubles were invested in the entire complex of operations designed to develop agriculture. Large-scale land reclamation projects were carried out. All these measures contributed to the further industrialization of agriculture. The production of mineral fertilizers, whose quality improved, increased by a factor of 1.6. By 1980 the use of chemical feed additives was to be more than 100 percent greater than the figure for 1975. Deliveries of farm machinery and equipment increased. The integrated mechanization of the production of grain, sugar beets, and certain other crops was essentially completed. It was expected that by the end of 1980 about 3 million tractors would be used in agriculture, as compared with 2.334 million in 1975; the power of the tractors produced also was to be increased. The plowing quota per tractor was set at 83 hectares (ha) for 1980, as compared with 94 ha in 1975. About 800,000 grain-harvesting combines were to be in use in 1980, as compared with 680,000 in 1975; the quota per combine was set at 160 ha for 1980, as compared with 184 ha in 1975.
The electric power available to agriculture was to increase considerably, from 457 million hp in 1975 (1 hp = 0.736 kilowatt-hour) to 685 million hp in 1980. The further electrification of agricultural production was expected to increase the electric power-labor ratio on kolkhozes and sovkhozes by a factor of 2.5. The development of agroindustrial integration and broad interfarm cooperation was to be accompanied by a considerable increase in the output of food products, particularly certain previously underrepresented products. The output of consumer goods was expected to increase by 32 percent, an absolute increase of 46 billion rubles.
The amount of freight carried on all types of transportation increased substantially. New and specialized transport equipment was introduced, the freight-carrying capacity of rolling stock and the merchant fleet rose, and there was an increase in the amount of rolling stock and the size of the merchant fleet. An accelerated rate of technological progress was expected to play a major role in meeting the goals of the five-year plan. Of particular importance would be the development and production of high-power machinery, robots, mechanized and automated equipment, and new types of chemicals with specified properties.
In order to make fuller use of the advantages and potential of a developed socialist economy, provisions were made to improve economic administration and planning. In industry, production associations were created; in construction, a transition to two-link and three-link management was made. In agriculture, the system of agricultural-industrial production associations became widespread.
Greater coordination was achieved within the unified system of plans: long-term, five-year, and one-year. The branch and territorial principles of planning were to be more closely combined, and the target program method was to be used. Comprehensive programs to deal with the most important scientific, technological, economic, and social problems were developed. Special attention was paid to increasing the efficiency and quality of scientific research, to improving communication between science and industry, and to shortening the time required to introduce scientific achievements into the economy.
The five-year plan called for the adoption, at all levels, of a comprehensive approach to the development of the economy and to the distribution of productive forces; in addition, economic agencies were called upon to draw up comprehensive development plans for branches of the national economy and for the economies of the republics and regions, to establish greater rationality in economic ties, and to create territorial-production complexes. Large amounts of capital were invested in measures for the integrated, rational use and protection of water and timber resources.
Increased labor productivity was to account for 85–90 percent of the entire increase in national income, about 90 percent of the increase in industrial output, the entire increase in agricultural output and in construction and installation work, and at least 95 percent of the increase in the amount of freight carried on railroad transport.
The five-year plan’s program for social development and raising the standard of living was distinguished by its broad scope and comprehensiveness. National income was expected to rise by 26 percent (93.5 billion rubles), but the consumption fund’s share in the total was to grow to 75 percent. Real per capita income was to increase by 21 percent, the average monthly wage of industrial and nonindustrial workers was to increase by about 17 percent, to 170 rubles, and the income of kolkhoz members from work in the socialized sector was to increase by 26 percent, to 116 rubles. The tenth five-year plan continued the policy of overcoming, in a consistent fashion, the basic socioeconomic and cultural differences between the city and the countryside. The minimum amounts for old-age pensions for industrial workers, nonindustrial workers, and kolkhoz members were raised, and the total number of persons receiving state pensions and benefits was increased. Pensions for persons disabled since childhood were increased. Efforts to make social insurance equal for kolkhoz peasants, industrial workers, and nonindustrial workers continued. Pension benefits for mothers with many children were made more extensive.
Commodity turnover and paid services were to increase at a more rapid rate than the population’s real income. Genuine security of the working people’s real income was to be provided by maintaining stable prices for basic consumer goods and by lowering the price for certain types of goods, as commodity resources accumulated. Much attention was devoted to housing construction.
The Union republics played a greater role in solving problems of production and sociocultural construction, of increasing the production of consumer goods, of expanding trade and services to the population (local and national characteristics being taken into account), and of making the fullest possible use of natural, labor, and other resources. The plan called for an increase in industrial output of 36 percent in the RSFSR, 33 percent in the Ukrainian SSR, 43 percent in the Byelorussian SSR, 36 percent in the Uzbek SSR, 40 percent in the Kazakh SSR, 41 percent in the Georgian SSR, 39 percent in the Azerbaijan SSR, 32 percent in the Lithuanian SSR, 47 percent in the Moldavian SSR, 27 percent in the Latvian SSR, 37 percent in the Kirghiz SSR, 39 percent in the Tadzhik SSR, 46 percent in the Armenian SSR, 30 percent in the Turkmen SSR, and 26 percent in the Estonian SSR.
The rapid, steady growth of the Soviet economy and improved output quality are making it possible for the USSR to expand the export trade and to play a multifaceted role in the international division of labor. The plan called for a growth in foreign trade, which was expected to exceed the growth of national income, thereby making it possible to increase imports of consumer goods and raw materials that cannot be produced in the USSR for climatic reasons. Most of the USSR’s foreign trade is with the countries of the socialist community.
The plan also called for the development of economic ties with all capitalist states; in addition to trade, the plan provided for expanded cooperation in science and technology and in production. As before, economic ties with developing countries were fostered in every possible way.
The tenth five-year plan was drafted at the same time that planners were looking ahead to 1990, and it entered into their determination of long-term planning trends. As a result, planners were better able to define the targets and main points of the tenth five-year plan with respect to long-term economic strategy and to take into account conditions expected in the 1980’s; among the factors considered were the natural increase of labor resources, the long-term potential for technological progress, and the long-term outlook for natural resources and their distribution.
Long-term calculations indicated that for the period 1976–90 the USSR would have at its disposal nearly double the material and financial resources of the period 1961–75. Using the genuinely realizable material and financial resources as a guideline, planners established for the upcoming period the trends of economic development and the expected increases in the Soviet people’s material and cultural standard of living.
The social program for the period ending in 1990 offers a broad complex of interrelated and compatible measures designed to establish, develop, and more fully meet the material and spiritual needs of the people and to shift the emphasis of economic development to the qualitative aspects of the socialist way of life of Soviet people.
F. I. KOTOV
1917–45. Although tsarist Russia had some well-equipped and well-organized industries, industry as a whole operated at a low technological level. The structure of industry was primitive: electric power production accounted for 0.3 percent of total industrial output, machine building and metalworking for 9 percent, and the chemical industry for 3 percent. Disproportions, particularly the insufficient development of the electric power, machine-building, and chemical industries, made the economy dependent on foreign capital, as did the generally low level of production of producer goods.
In 1913, the USA’s industrial output was eight times greater than Russia’s, Germany’s was 3.5 times greater, Great Britain’s was three times greater, and France’s was 1.5 times greater. In that year, Russia accounted for only 4 percent of world industrial output. In 1917–18 industry was essentially nationalized. The devastation wrought by the Civil War and Military Intervention of 1918–20 caused the country’s industrial potential to drop substantially: in 1920 the output of large-scale industry was one-seventh that of 1913. After the Civil War ended, the rebuilding of industry began. By 1926 industry had nearly recovered, and by 1927 total industrial output had surpassed that of 1913. By 1929 more than 2,000 large state industrial enterprises had been restored or recently built.
In order to build socialism, however, and to strengthen the country’s economic independence and defense capabilities, it was necessary to create a powerful heavy industry and to develop the production of producer goods. In 1928–29 the industrialization of the country began in accordance with five-year plans.
Fulfillment of the first, second, and part of the third five-year plans (1929–40) and construction of new industrial enterprises caused industrial production in 1940 to exceed that of 1913 by a factor of 7.7. The various branches of industry assumed proportional relations characteristic of a highly developed industrial economy. Production of producer goods (group A goods) came to dominate industrial production in 1940; the share of consumer goods (group B goods) in industrial output showed a corresponding decline (see Table 1). The more rapid rates of growth for the production of group A was dictated by a need to create, within a brief period of time, a powerful material and technical basis for the national economy, a basis in which heavy industry predominated.
During the prewar five-year plans, new industries emerged, notably the automotive industry, the tractor industry, heavy machine building, large-scale power engineering machine building, the machine tool industry, the aviation industry, and subdivisions of the chemical industry; in addition, the metallurgical industry was thoroughly modernized. Changes occurred in production methods and technology, production processes were increasingly mechanized and electrified, specialization, cooperation, and integration in industry underwent development, and production became more concentrated.
The geographic distribution of industry changed. In prerevolutionary Russia, three-fourths of industrial output was produced in three main industrial regions of European Russia, corresponding to what are now the Central, Northwestern, and Southern economic regions. In the 1930’s large metallurgical enterprises
|Table 1. Industrial development in the USSR|
|Gross industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
|1913 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||7.7||13.3||40.3||91.5||163.0|
|1940 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1||1.7||5.2||11.8||18.8|
|Percentage of total industrial production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
|Production of producer goods (group A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||35.1||61.0||68.8||72.5||73.4||73.8|
|Production of consumer goods (group B) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||64.9||39.0||31.2||27.5||26.6||26.2|
|Fixed production assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
|1913 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||6.9||9.7||29.3||74.9||163.0|
|1940 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1||1.4||4.2||10.9||19|
|Average yearly number of industrial and production personnel (millions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.1||13.1||15.3||22.6||31.6||36.9|
|Labor productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
|1913 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||3.8||5.5||11.1||18.5||28.9|
|1940 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1||1.5||3.0||4.9||7.1|
|Power-labor ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
|1913 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||5.2||7.4||13.6||25.9||37.7|
|1940 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1||1.4||2.6||5||6.7|
|Electric-power-labor ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
|1913 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||8.1||12.3||23.7||42.1||58.6|
|1941 = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1||1.5||2.9||5.2||6.9|
went into operation in the east: the Kuznetsk and Magnitogorsk metallurgical combines and the Cheliabinsk Ferroalloy Plant. In the Urals and Siberia large machine-building and chemical enterprises were built, such as the Urals Heavy Machine-building Plant, the Ural Railroad Car Plant, the Cheliabinsk Tractor Works, and the Berezniki Potassium Combine. New ferrous metallurgy enterprises included the Sredneural’sk Plant and the Balkhash Combine, both of which are copper smelters; the Severonikel’ Combine; and the Volkhov, Dnepropetrovsk, and Ural aluminum plants.
The provision of an adequate supply of energy and the establishment of a substantial metallurgical industry made it possible to construct in the European part of the country several large machine-building plants, including the New Kramatorsk Machine-building Plant, the Kharkov Turbine Plant, and numerous automotive plants: the Gorky Automotive Plant, the Likhachev Moscow Automotive Plant, the Lenin Komsomol Moscow Compact Car Plant, and the First State Bearing Plant, in Moscow. Also constructed were ferrous metallurgy enterprises, such as Azovstal’, Zaporozhstal’, and the Krivoi Rog, New Lipetsk, New Tula, and Nizhnii Tagil metallurgical plants.
The implementation of socialist industrialization, which stressed heavy industry and relied on domestic resources, ensured the victory of socialist over capitalist production relations. The socialist industrialization of the country served as the foundation for the socialist transformation of agriculture. The USSR, previously an importer of machinery and equipment, now became a producer. The task of achieving economic independence was accomplished.
The USSR also began the mass production of military equipment required by the army, as well as strategic raw materials and supplies, a step that was in large part responsible for the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. In short order, industry in the USSR was put on a wartime footing and supplied the front with all necessary articles. Thousands of industrial enterprises were relocated to the eastern regions and quickly resumed production. As early as December 1941 the decline in production was halted, and in March 1942 defense production began expanding rapidly.
The Urals became the country’s main arsenal; the older enterprises of the region, as well as enterprises that were evacuated and rebuilt, accounted for about 40 percent of all military production. The Urals and the Kuznetsk Coal Basin were the principal sources of metal, especially quality metal. A military industry quickly took shape in Kazakhstan and Middle Asia as well. In 1943 the production of war matériel reached the level necessary to meet fully the needs of the front. The massive scale of the relocation and rebuilding of old industries and the construction of new enterprises is reflected in production figures: the eastern regions—the Volga Region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Middle Asia—produced 2.9 times more output in 1943 than in 1940.
The war inflicted enormous damage on the national economy: some 32,000 industrial enterprises were destroyed; the southern metallurgical enterprises, which had smelted about 60 percent of the country’s steel, were put out of commission; and mines that had produced more than 60 percent of the country’s coal were rendered inoperable. In 1945 gross industrial output was 91 percent, and the production of consumer goods 59 percent, of the 1940 level. The production of electricity had dropped by 11 percent, petroleum extraction by 38 percent, the production of all types of fabrics by 59 percent, and the production of leather footwear by 70 percent.
1946–60. The principal task of the fourth five-year plan (1946–50) was to bring industry and agriculture back up to the prewar level and to further develop them. By 1948 the output of industry as a whole had exceeded the 1940 level by 17 percent, and the production of consumer goods had nearly regained the 1940 level. In 1950 industrial production exceeded the 1940 level by 72 percent. During the fourth five-year plan 6,200 large industrial enterprises, either rebuilt or newly constructed, went into operation.
In the 1950’s industry developed at a rapid, steady rate, thereby making possible the retooling of the entire economy, an increase in the people’s standard of living, and the strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities. The production of jet airplanes, jet engines, and helicopters began. The rocket construction industry, the radio electronics industry, and instrument-making were responsible for such achievements as the launching of the first artificial earth satellite; the completion of a flight around the moon, during which the moon’s dark side was photographed; and the launching into orbit of spacecraft with living creatures aboard, which paved the way for the first manned space flight in 1961. The production of equipment for atomic power engineering began, and a start was made toward the practical use of semiconductor materials and ultrasound. Automatic transfer machines and machine tools were developed for the electrophysical and electrochemical processing of metals. The first Soviet electronic computers were built. It became possible to produce materials whose properties were specified in advance.
Machinery with higher power ratings was produced. In the energy industry, turbogenerators rated at 100 and 200 megawatts (MW), with corresponding steam boilers and transformers, went into production. In the construction of state regional electric power plants, a transition to large units, combining a boiler, turbine, and generator, was effected. In ferrous metallurgy, blast furnaces with a capacity of about 2,000 cu m, open-hearth furnaces with a capacity of about 500 tons, oxygen converters, and machines for continuous casting were put into operation. Rolled stock inventory was broadened: there was an increased output of roll-formed sections, high-precision structural shapes, and rolled stock hardened through heat treating and coated with anticorrosives.
During the fifth five-year plan (1951–55) and sixth five-year plan (1956–60) important structural changes took place in industry. About 8,070 large industrial enterprises were built. In 1954 the world’s first atomic power plant went into operation in the city of Obninsk. The Pridneprovsk, Cherepet’, Southern Kuzbas, Serov, luzhno-Ural’sk, Tom’-Usa, and Verkhnii Tagil regional fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants began producing electricity. New hydroelectric power plants began operating on such rivers as the Volga, Dnieper, and Don; they included the Kama, Gorky, V. I. Lenin Volga, Tsimliansk, Kakhovka, Mingechaur, Irkutsk, and Novosibirsk plants. The production of electric energy rose from 91.2 billion kilowatt-hours (kW-hr) in 1950 to 292.3 billion kW-hr in 1960, an increase of 320 percent.
In ferrous metallurgy, the Orsk-Khalilovo and Karaganda metallurgical combines and the Cherepovets and Rustavi metallurgical plants opened, and the capacities of existing enterprises were expanded. Numerous other plants began production: ore-dressing combines, nonferrous metallurgy plants, machine-building and petroleum-refining enterprises, combines and plants for the manufacture of mineral fertilizers and other chemical products, and enterprises for the production of such goods as pulp and paper, building materials, fabrics, footwear, sugar, butter, and preserved foods.
Pig iron output rose from 8.8 million tons in 1945 to 46.8 million tons in 1960; steel output rose from 12.3 million tons to 65.3 million tons, an increase by a factor of 5.3. The production of rolled stock increased by a factor of nearly 6. The amount of coal mined rose by a factor of 3.4; petroleum production increased by a factor of 7.6 and natural-gas production by a factor of nearly 14. Machine-building and metalworking output increased by a factor of 7, and the output of the chemical and petrochemical industry rose by a factor of 8.3.
The substantial industrial growth, which provided a basis for the growth of the entire national economy, made possible the transition of the USSR to a new stage: the stage of developed socialism.
Developed socialism. In the period of developed socialism, the economy of the USSR has been characterized by structural changes, by a rise in the technological level of production as a result of the scientific and technological revolution, by the accelerated development of industries that contribute to technological progress, by the increasing production and use of high-power machinery, and by the emergence of such new industries as the aerospace industry, the laser industry, the production of synthetic diamonds, and the production of highly pure metals.
Of great importance for industrial development has been the improvement of administration and planning and the increased use of economic incentives to stimulate industrial production. Resolutions adopted at the September plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1965 and ratified by the Twenty-third Congress of the CPSU in 1966 promoted the accelerated growth of industrial output, an increase in the profitability of production, and an improvement in such indexes as labor productivity and production efficiency. The total volume of industrial production increased by 220 percent between 1965 and 1975; moreover, the production of producer goods developed at relatively faster rates than did that of other goods (see Table 1).
Capital investment in industry between 1918 and 1975 totaled some 529 billion rubles in comparable prices, or 36 percent of total capital investment in the national economy. The figure for the period from 1961 to 1975 was 386 billion rubles, or nearly 73 percent of all capital investment in industry under Soviet power. Such a large volume of capital investment at the stage of developed socialism helped trigger a substantial rise in industrial output and tremendous subsequent increases during the seventh, eighth, and ninth five-year plans.
During these three five-year plans, more than 7,000 large industrial enterprises were built, including the Belovo, Nazarovo, Konakovo, and Kostroma state regional electric power plants; the Krivoi Rog State Regional Electric Power Plant No. 2; the Novovoronezhskii, Beloiarsk, Kola, and Leningrad atomic power plants; the Krasnoiarsk, Bratsk, Kiev, and Dneprodzerzhinsk hydroelectric power plants; and the Bratsk, Irkutsk, and Krasnoiarsk aluminum plants. Also constructed in this period were the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, the Western Siberian Metallurgical Works, the Volga Automobile Works, the Volga Pipe Plant, the Kachkanar Ore-dressing Combine, and the Ust’-Kamenogorsk Titanium-Magnesium Combine.
The chemical and petrochemical industry underwent considerable development in these years: overall output increased by a factor of 5.7, the production of mineral fertilizers rose by a factor of 6.5, and the production of chemical fibers and yarns increased by a factor of 4.5. Production began of new consumer goods, notably color televisions and transistor tape recorders. In 1975 the USSR had nearly 47,000 industrial enterprises that maintained their own balance sheets; the value of fixed production assets in industry amounted to 385 billion rubles.
The industry of the USSR is characterized by high concentration of production. At the beginning of 1976, those enterprises employing more than 3,000 workers (3.4 percent of the total number of enterprises) produced 41 percent of all industrial output; they employed 40 percent of all workers and accounted for more than half of the industrial-production fixed assets.
|Table 2. Introduction of new industrial equipment (1966–77, thousand units)|
|Total||Yearly average||Total||Yearly average||Total||Yearly average|
|New models of machinery, equipment, apparatus, and devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||21.3||4.3||20.0||4.0||18.5||3.7|
|Production technology mastered and lot production begun for new types of industrial output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||84||1.7||165||3.3||17.5||3.5|
|Obsolete machinery, equipment, apparatus, and devices taken out of production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.5||0.5||7.4||1.5||9.1||1.81|
|Production equipment modernized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||675.0||135.0||732.0||146.0||812||162|
|Automated control systems created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.4||0.08||2.3||0.46||2.4||0.48|
The foundation for the growth of production capacity lies in scientific and technological progress, the introduction of new equipment and technology, and the mechanization and automation of production processes. Industrial development at the stage of developed socialism is marked by the electrification and chemicalization of production and the integrated mechanization and automation of production processes (see Table 2). The acceleration of production progress in a developed socialist economy is also manifested in the increased number of mechanized production lines and automatic transfer machines installed in industrial enterprises (see Table 3).
|Table 3. Introduction of new production processes and facilities (as of July 1, thousands)|
|Mechanized production lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||42.9||125.8|
|Automatic transfer machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.0||20.6|
|Fully mechanized and automated sections, shops, and plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||22.4||74.4|
|Fully mechanized and automated enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.9||5.9|
The introduction of new technology has brought about changes in the educational background of industrial production personnel. In 1940 there were 310,000 specialists with a higher or specialized secondary education employed at industrial enterprises, 152,000 of whom had a higher education; the respective figures were 5,460,000 and 1,659,000 in 1975 and 6,291,000 and 1,983,000 in 1977.
Technological progress, improved capital-labor and energy-labor ratios, and a higher cultural and technical level of workers, engineers, and technicians have led to a marked improvement in labor productivity, which is crucial to increased industrial production. The exploitation of the natural wealth of the country’s eastern regions, which began before the war, continued intensively in the postwar decades.
Figures providing a picture of the branch structure of the industry of the USSR are given in Table 4.
|Table 4. Individual branches in relation to the total industry of the USSR (percent)|
|Total output in wholesale prices of enterprises as of Jan. 1, 19751||Average yearly number of industrial production personnel||Fixed industrial-production assets2|
|1According to methodology for 1976|
|2Accordlng to replacement value for enterprises that maintain their own balance sheet|
|All industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||100.0||100.0||100.0|
|Electric power production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.0||2.0||16.4|
|Fuel Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5.9||4.4||12.8|
|Chemical and petrochemical in dustries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.9||5.1||9.3|
|Machine building and metalworking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||25.9||41.3||22.5|
|Lumber, wood-products and pulp and paper Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.4||7.8||4.6|
|Building-materials industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.9||6.3||5.7|
|Light Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||16.3||14.7||4.4|
|Food-processing industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||19.1||8.7||7.8|
Through an improved use of fuel resources and raw materials, manufacturing industry has grown at a faster rate than other branches of the economy. The production of producer goods rose by a factor of 2.2 between 1965 and 1975.
The most important result of the Leninist policy on nationalities is that the peoples of the USSR, who enjoy equal rights, have cooperated closely in industrial development (see Table 5). All the Union republics have been industrialized. During the years of socialist construction they were transformed into highly developed industrial regions that take part in the national division of labor. The growth of industry in the Union republics fostered the integrated development of their economies and a higher material and cultural standard of living for the population; it also led to an increase in the number of persons employed in this key area of the economy.
Industrial production grew at an average annual rate of more than 9 percent; if the war years and the years in which the devastated economy was rebuilt are excluded, the rate is about 13 percent, a much higher growth rate than that of most developed capitalist countries. The rapid development of the USSR’s industry offers striking evidence of the superiority of a planned socialist economic system. The ratio of total industrial production of the USSR and the capitalist countries has changed in favor of the Soviet Union.
Industry plays a crucial role in the assimilation of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution in all areas of the national economy. By developing highly efficient implements of labor, objects of labor, and power equipment and by introducing advanced technological processes and organizational systems, it makes possible accelerated growth of the productivity of social labor and the fullest possible satisfaction of the people’s needs through domestic production.
The development of Soviet industry constitutes the basis of the economic integration of the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), of the planned development of multilateral and bilateral cooperation, and of the USSR’s technical aid in the construction of enterprises and other facilities. A great deal of economic assistance is being rendered to the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America to help them create their own industries.
Main branches. ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY. In prerevolutionary tionary Russia the electric power industry was based on small fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants. Virtually no use was made of rivers as an energy source. In 1913, 2 billion kW-hr of electric energy were produced. The development of the electric power industry has been of enormous importance at all stages of socialist construction. In December 1920, at the Eighth All-Russian Congress of Soviets, a plan worked out by the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO) was adopted; it called for the construction of 30 regional electric power plants, with a total capacity of 1.75 gigawatts (GW). The successful implementation of the plan served as the basis for rebuilding and developing the entire national economy. The production of electric energy reached 8.4 billion kW-hr in 1930 and 48.6 billion kW-hr in 1940.
The Soviet energy industry is based primarily on steam power plants (including atomic power plants), which accounted for 87 percent of the electricity produced in 1977. More than 50 percent of the country’s electricity is supplied by electric power plants with a capacity of more than 1 GW. In 1977 the Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant, the world’s largest, had a capacity of 6 GW; the Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Plant had a capacity of 4.4 GW; and the Krivoi Rog State Regional Electric Power Plant No. 2, the largest fossil-fuel-fired steam power plant in Europe, had a capacity of 3 GW. The increase in electricity production comes primarily from the introduction of high-capacity units. At the Slaviansk State Regional Electric Power Plant an 800-MW power unit with a two-shaft turbine went into operation in 1968, and an 800-MW power unit with a single-shaft turbine in 1971. Units with a capacity of 800 MW are also in operation at the Uglegorsk and Zaporozh’e state regional electric power plants. Large atomic power plants have been constructed, and others are under construction.
|Table 5. Growth rates of total industrial output in the Union republics (1913 = 1)|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7. 7||40||163|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.7||43||161|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7.3||27||104|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.1||34||235|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.7||20||77|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7.8||57||246|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||10.0||40||166|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5.9||17||72|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.6||27||151|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5.8||52||298|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.9||10||42|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||9.9||61||362|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.8||38||156|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.7||68||390|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.7||22||78|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.3||15||61|
The Soviet energy industry is characterized by highly centralized production of electricity; general-purpose electric power plants and the power plants of enterprises produce 97 percent of the country’s electricity. Extensive construction of power transmission lines made it possible to create the Integrated Electric Power Grid of the European USSR and the Integrated Electric Power Grid of the USSR. In 1977 the latter included more than 70 of the country’s 93 regional electric power systems and provided power for the economies of European Russia, Transcaucasia, the Urals, northern Kazakhstan, and regions of Western Siberia. In 1977 the USSR had 670,000 km of overhead power lines that operated at 35 kilovolts (kV) or more; this figure represents a 3,300-percent increase over the figure for 1940. In 1977 there were 538,000 km of lines operating at 35–110 kV and 24,100 km at 400–800 kV. The largest power transmission lines are Donbas-Dnieper-Vinnitsa-Western Ukraine and Leningrad-Moscow. Networks operating at 220 kV, 330 kV, and 500 kV play a major role in energy systems. The problem of transmitting enormous amounts of electric power over high-voltage lines for long distances has been solved.
There has been a substantial increase in the technological level at which power engineering installations operate. By the beginning of 1977 power engineering installations at fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants with steam pressures of 130 atmospheres or more accounted for 75 percent of the total capacity of the country’s fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants; boiler units in which the combustion process is controlled automatically accounted for 90 percent of the total steam-producing capacity of boiler units. All hydroelectric power plants have been supplied with remote-control equipment and have been automated.
In 1975 power systems controlled from dispatcher points and equipped with remote-control systems accounted for more than 97 percent of the total capacity of the country’s power sytems. Electric power plants have become technologically sophisticated and economically more efficient. In 1977, 334 g of standard fuel were required to produce 1 kW-hr of electric energy at fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants, a more favorable ratio than that achieved in the USA. Figures on the capacity of electric power plants and the production of electricity are given in Table 6.
|Table 6. Capacity of electric power plants and production of electric energy|
|All electric power plants|
|capacity (GW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.1||11.2||66.7||37.8|
|production of electric energy (billion kW-hr) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.0||48.6||292.3||1,150.1|
|Hydroelectric power plants|
|capacity (GW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.02||1.6||14.8||45.2|
|production of electric energy (billion kW-hr) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.04||5.3||50.9||147.0|
The increased production of electric energy is the basis for the electrification of all branches of the national economy; 63 percent of electric energy is consumed by industry. In 1977 electric motors and electrical equipment accounted for 84 percent of the total rated capacity of machinery and equipment involved in production processes; as a result, it has been possible to carry out extensive automation and mechanization of production processes. About 30 percent of the electricity consumed by industry is accounted for by technological needs. The production of electric power is growing rapidly in the Union republics (see Table 7).
|Table 7. Production of electric energy by Union republics (billion kW-hr)|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||49||292||1,150|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||30.8||197||708|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||12.4||54||216|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.5||3.6||30.1|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.5||5.9||34.9|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.6||10.5||58.3|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.7||3.7||12.0|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.8||6.6||15.8|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.08||1.1||10.7|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.02||0.7||13.6|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.25||1.7||3.3|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.05||0.9||4.9|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.06||1.3||7.3|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.4||2.7||10.9|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.08||0.8||5.7|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.2||1.9||19.0|
FUEL INDUSTRY. The amount of fuel produced, expressed in standard fuel, was 48.2 million tons in 1913, 237.9 million tons in 1940, 1,222 million tons in 1970, and 1,726 million tons in 1977. The country’s fuel industry is based on domestic deposits of coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The structure of fuel consumption has changed considerably: the electric power industry now accounts for a greater share of fuel consumption. The fuel balance and the techniques and technology of fuel production have improved. The most advanced types of fuel-petroleum and natural gas—accounted for 69 percent of all fuel in 1977. Peat and firewood are used locally (see Table 8).
|Table 8. Production of individual types of fuel in relation to the total fuel production of the USSR (calculated as standard fuel, percent)|
|1Including gas condensate|
|2Including casing head gas|
|Coal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||48.0||59.1||53.9||35.4||28.2|
|Petroleum1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||30.5||18.7||30.5||41.1||45.2|
|Natural gas2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1.8||7.9||19.1||23.7|
|Peat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.4||5.7||2.9||1.5||0.8|
|Shale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||0.3||0.7||0.7||0.7|
|Firewood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||20.1||14.4||4.1||2.2||1.4|
COAL INDUSTRY The total amount of coal extracted increased by a factor of 25 between 1913 and 1977 (see Table 9). In 1977, 186 million tons of coking coal were extracted. Coal washing and the production of coals of specific types has undergone considerable development. In 1977 washeries processed 346 million tons of coal, or 48 percent of all coal extracted. A marked change has occurred in the distribution of coal-mining operations. In 1913 most coal was mined in the Donbas. During the years of Soviet power, large coal-producing centers—the Kuznetsk and Karaganda coalfields—have been opened up, and coal mining has undergone development in Siberia, Middle Asia, and the Far East.
|Table 9. Increase in coal mined by types and methods|
|Total (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||29.2||165.9||624.1||722.1|
|hard coal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||28.0||140.0||476.4||555.1|
|brown coal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.2||25.9||147.7||167.0|
|Share of total obtained by opencut mining (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.2||6.3||166.6||244.1|
|(percent of total extracted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.6||3.8||26.7||33.8|
Labor-intensive processes—cutting the coal, hauling it from the working face, and transporting it to, and loading it into, railroad cars—have been mechanized. In the 1960’s the first complexes with narrow-web cutter loaders and powered supports were produced; excavators with a bucket capacity of 25 cu m were developed for opencut mining. Between 1971 and 1977 the capacity of rotary and single-bucket excavators for use in opencut mines was increased considerably. Tippers and coal cars with 40-ton and 65-ton carrying capacities were introduced in the early 1970’s. Equipment has been introduced for the mechanized mining and hauling of coal and for reinforcing and controlling roofs in shafts with inclined seams.
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY. The amount of petroleum extracted, including gas condensate, increased from 10.3 million tons in 1913, to 31.1 million tons in 1940, to 546 million tons in 1977. The distribution of petroleum-extraction operations throughout the country has changed markedly. In prerevolutionary Russia, all petroleum was extracted in the Baku region; today, new areas opened up under Soviet power are also being exploited, notably the Volga-Ural Oil-Gas Region, which encompasses the Tatar ASSR, the Bashkir ASSR, and Kuibyshev, Volgograd, and Perm’ oblasts. Between 1966 and 1977 large petroleum-extraction centers were established in Western Siberia and in western Kazakhstan, on the Mangyshlak Peninsula; in 1977 they accounted for about 43 percent of the country’s petroleum production. Western Siberia ranked first in the country, producing 218 millions tons in 1977. Before 1917, petroleum was extracted by bailing, a backward method; today, it is obtained through the flowing well method or with pumps. New methods for the exploitation of deposits have been adopted, and new techniques and technology have been introduced into the petroleum-refining and petrochemical industry.
GAS INDUSTRY. The gas industry took shape under Soviet power, primarily in the 1950’s and 1960’s. At that time the principal gas-producing regions were Saratov Oblast, the Northern Caucasus, the Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Today, large new deposits are being exploited in Orenburg and Tiumen’ oblasts, the Komi ASSR, and the Turkmen SSR. The amount of natural gas extracted in the USSR increased from 3.2 billion cu m in 1940, to 45.3 billion cu m in 1960, to 346 billion cu m in 1977. Natural gas is used as a fuel at electric power plants and in such industries as ferrous metallurgy; it is used as a raw material in the chemical industry. Cities and rural population centers have been equipped to use natural gas on a wide scale. High-power drilling rigs, turbodrills, pumps, and petroleum equipment have been produced for the petroleum-extraction, gas, and petroleum-refining industries.
FERROUS AND NONFERROUS METALLURGY. The ferrous metallurgy of the USSR is based on an abundant supply of minerals and raw materials. At the beginning of 1977, proved reserves of iron ore amounted to more than 69 billion tons, as compared with 800 million tons in 1913. The main iron-ore deposits now being worked are the deposits of the Urals, the Krivoi Rog Iron-ore Basin, the Kerch’ Iron-ore Basin, the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, and the Sokolovskaia-Sarbai deposit. Figures on the output of ferrous metallurgy are given in Table 10.
|Table 10. Metallurgical output (million tons)|
|Pig iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.2||14.9||46.8||85.9||107.4|
|Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.3||18.3||65.3||115.9||146.7|
|Rolled ferrous metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.6||13.1||51.0||92.5||118.3|
|Steel pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||1.0||5.8||12.4||17.0|
Soviet metallurgy is highly concentrated. The average plant produces more than 3 million tons of pig iron annually. Blast furnaces use advanced smelting techniques, such as oxygen blasting, natural-gas blasting, and the use of high gas pressure. Between 1913 and 1977 the volumetric efficiency of blast furnaces improved fourfold. Steel production has made use of continuous casting and the smelting of steel in oxygen converters, some with a capacity of 300–350 tons. In 1977, 65 percent of open-hearth steel was smelted using oxygen. High-alloy, high-temperature, stainless, acid-resistant, and other steels and alloys are produced for power engineering machine building, aviation machine building, and space technology.
The rolled stock inventory has been broadened. Between 1971 and 1975 equipment was introduced for the thermal and thermo-mechanical hardening of rolled stock and for the improvement of rolled stock quality. Pipe production developed at accelerated growth rates, particularly the production of large-diameter pipes for gas pipelines. Various techniques that make it possible to produce metals with specified properties have come into wide use: vacuum processing outside the furnace, the treating of steel with synthetic slags and inert gases, and electroslag and vacuum remelting.
In nonferrous metallurgy, major successes have been achieved in ore extraction and the production of nonferrous, precious, and rare metals and of semiconductor materials. The USSR is able to draw on highly developed industries for the production of such nonferrous metals as aluminum, copper, nickel, titanium, and magnesium, of metal alloys, and of highly pure and special materials for such industries as electronics and electrical engineering. The raw-materials base has been broadened, the main labor-intensive processes have been mechanized, the opencut extraction of ores has undergone development, and greater emphasis has been placed on the recovery of metals from ores and on the multipurpose use of raw materials.
CHEMICAL AND PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES. In prerevolutionary Russia, the chemical and petrochemical industries were based primarily on plants of modest size, which used semicottage methods for the production of the simplest chemicals. As early as the prewar five-year plans, the USSR had created a diversified chemical industry; large chemical plants and combines had been built in regions with abundant raw materials and energy resources. The chemical and petrochemical industries have developed with great rapidity since the late 1950’s. In the 1960’s and 1970’s they grew at a faster rate than other branches of the economy. Figures on the growth in output of the chemical and petrochemical industries are given in Table 11.
New subdivisions within the industries were created, such as the production of synthetic rubber, synthetic ammonia, synthetic dyes, chemical fibers and yarns, plastics and synthetic resin, casings for motor vehicle tires, and mineral fertilizers. Of great importance for agriculture has been the production of chemical agents for plant protection and mineral fertilizers, as well as synthetic proteins, vitamins, and antibiotics required to increase livestock-raising productivity. In 1972 the USSR became the world’s leading producer of mineral fertilizers, calculated on the basis of 100-percent nutrient content. In the production of sulfuric acid, soda ash, and synthetic ammonia it is surpassed only by the USA. An extensive raw-materials base has been created for the chemical industry: for example, Khibiny apatites and potash deposits are worked in the Solikamsk area and in Byelorussia, phosphorite deposits in Karatau (Kazakh SSR), and pyrite deposits in the Urals.
Between 1966 and 1977 the growth rate of basic chemistry increased markedly; for example, the output of mineral fertilizers increased by a factor of 3.1, the output of synthetic ammonia by a factor of 3.4, the output of synthetic resins and plastics by a factor of 4.1, and the output of synthetic fibers and yarns by a factor of 5.9. Production methods, technology, structure, and quality of output were improved. New types of output were put into production, and large-capacity units were introduced. At several chemical combines, between 1971 and 1975, new units were put into operation for the production of synthetic ammonium; the new units can produce 1,360 tons in a 24-hour period using a single production line, as compared with the 600 tons produced by the old units.
The quality of mineral fertilizers has been improved. In 1977 concentrated and complex mineral fertilizers accounted for 77.4 percent of all mineral fertilizers, and their nutrient content averaged 36.6 percent. From 1971 to 1977 work was carried out to improve the quality of plastics and plastic articles; production methods were introduced for the manufacture of extrahard, heat-resistant, electrical-insulating, corrosion-resistant, and other types of
|Table 11. Output of the chemical and petrochemical industries|
|Gross output (1913 = 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||17.5||134||468||1,021|
|Mineral fertilizers (in standard units, million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.09||3.3||13.9||55.4||103.9|
|Chemical agents for plant protection (in standard units, thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||62.6||299||470|
|Soda ash (100-percent, million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.15||0.51||1.8||3.5||4.8|
|Caustic soda (100-percent, million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.05||0.18||0.7||1.8||2.8|
|Sulfuric acid (monohydrate, million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.14||1.6||5.4||12.1||23.0|
|Synthetic resins and plastics (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||10.9||312||1,673||3,636|
|Synthetic dyes (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||9||34.3||84.1||94.8||—|
|Chemical fibers and yarns (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||11.1||211||623||1,176|
|Casings for motor vehicle tires (million units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||3.0||17.2||34.6||60.1|
polymer materials. The production of new types of high-quality rubber has been expanded. The production structure of fibers and yarns has been improved; in 1977 man-made fibers and yarns accounted for more than 40 percent of total output. The development of the chemical industry on a large scale is the basis for all-around chemicalization of the national economy.
MACHINE BUILDING. Machine building, which contributes to technological progress in all branches of the national economy, is developing rapidly (see Table 12). In prerevolutionary Russia, more than three-fourths of the country’s machine tools were foreign-made. In the USSR machine building is a leading branch of industry and employs nearly two-fifths of all workers. It is supported by extensive research, development, and experimental work.
|Table 12. Output of the machine-building industry|
|1Not including manual machines and manual cutters|
|Turbines (GW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.006||1.2||9.2||16.2||19.0|
|Turbine generators (GW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||0.5||7.9||10.6||17.9|
|Metallurgical equipment (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||24||218.3||314.0||372.0|
|Cutter loader (units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||22||881||1,130||1,162|
|Turbodrills (sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||90||6,222||6,562||9,700|
|Metalcutting machine tools (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.8||58.4||155.9||202.0||238|
|Forging and pressing machinery (thousand units)1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||4.7||29.9||41.3||54.4|
|Main-line diesel locomotives (sections) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||5||1,303||1,485||1,344|
|Main-line electric locomotives (units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||9||396||323||423|
|Main-line railroad freight cars (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||12.9||30.9||36.4||53.8||71.2|
|Motor vehicles (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||145.4||523.6||916.1||2,088|
|Tractors (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||31.6||238.5||458.5||569.1|
|Grain-harvesting combines (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||12.8||59.0||99.2||105.5|
|Looms (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.6||1.8||16.5||19.8||25.4|
|Spinning frames (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1.1||2.7||4.0||5.2|
Virtually no power engineering or electrical engineering equipment was manufactured in prerevolutionary Russia. During the years of industrialization, large enterprises were founded, making possible the production of technologically improved, high-efficiency equipment. By 1940 steam turbines had reached a maximum capacity of 100 MW. In 1975, steam turbines of up to 500-MW and 800-MW capacities were being produced that made highly efficient use of steam; in addition, 100-MW gas turbines were being manufactured. The Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant uses hydraulic turbines of 50-MW capacities. Between 1971 and 1975, lot production of equipment for atomic power plants began. Great successes have been achieved in boiler-making. A single-furnace steam boiler capable of producing 2,650 tons of steam per hour has been developed for the 800-MW turbines. The electrical engineering industry provides the national economy with such equipment as high-quality electric machines of varying capacities, high-voltage and low-voltage equipment, electrothermal equipment, storage batteries, high-power semiconductor converters, and economical sources of light.
Fundamental changes have taken place in the production of metalworking equipment. Before 1917, efforts were focused on producing simple lathes, drilling machines, and planers. In the 1930’s large, unique machine tools and automatic and semiautomatic lathes were being produced. In the 1960’s lot production began of machine tools with programmed control, of which 6,552 units were manufactured in 1977. In 1977, 1,435 machine tools were produced for the electrophysical and electrochemical processing of metals; various types of automatic transfer machine tools, automatic forging and pressing units, and forging machines were manufactured.
Accelerated scientific and technological progress has brought about changes in metalworking technology. Pressure-shaping processes are now widely used in forging. Welding has become a leading production process in the manufacture of metal structural components for machinery and for use in construction. In foundries, molding operations have become highly mechanized, and advanced methods of casting have been introduced.
Chemical machine building has become highly developed. In 1977,768 million rubles’ worth of chemical equipment and equipment for the processing of polymer materials, as well as spare parts for such equipment, were produced.
Instrument-making contributes to the automation of production processes in all branches of the national economy and meets the needs of science and technology. Output increased by a factor of 15 between 1960 and 1977. Between 1971 and 1977 there was also rapid development in the production of electrical measuring instruments and devices for the monitoring and regulation of production processes. Electronic computers with integrated circuits were introduced; a notable achievement was the unified electronic computer system Riad, in which the member countries of COMECON took part.
The technological reequipping of railroad transport during the second half of the 1950’s resulted in the series production of electric and diesel locomotives. In order to replace two-axle mainline freight cars, production was set up for four-axle and eight-axle main-line freight cars, dump cars, and other specialized cars with large freight-carrying capacities.
In 1977, 2,088,000 motor vehicles were manufactured, including 734,000 trucks and 1,280,000 passenger cars. During the ninth five-year plan, the Volga Automobile Works, designed to produce 660,000 passenger cars annually, went into operation. In 1976 production of heavy-duty trucks began at the Kama Truck Plant, which was still under construction. The range of motor vehicle models has expanded, and the design and performance of motor vehicles have been improved, particularly their speed, load capacity, and durability. There has been an increase in the production of specialized motor vehicles and machinery for use in extremely cold or hot temperatures.
In the 1970’s, as part of a planned program of accelerated agricultural development, the production of general-purpose tractors of greater capacity began. The T-150 model, which has a tractive force of 3 tons, is produced with a 165-hp engine in the wheel-type tractor and a 150-hp engine in the crawler tractor. The T-130 model has a tractive force of 6 tons and a 160-hp engine. Lot production was also begun for the 200-hp K-700 tractor and the 270-hp K-701 tractor. Between 1971 and 1975 the high-performance Niva, Kolos, and Sibiriak grain-harvesting combines went into large-scale lot production. Combines for the harvesting of such crops as beets, silage, grass, cotton, flax, potatoes, and tea are being produced. Along with trailer-type machinery, more maneuverable toolbar-mounted equipment and equipment that requires less metal to manufacture is being built, as well as equipment for livestock-raising complexes and farms.
The USSR is manufacturing high-performance earthmoving equipment and continuous excavators that are combined with unloading equipment, spoil dumpers, and belt conveyors. Also being produced are heavy-duty walking excavators with bucket capacities of 35 cu m and 80 cu m and boom lengths of 65 m and 100 m. Heavy-duty cranes have been developed in order to mechanize construction and installation work. The production of construction and road machinery has undergone considerable development (Table 13).
|Table 13. Production of construction and road machinery (thousand units)|
|Excavators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||30.8||41.5|
|Scrapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.1||9.8||12.9|
|Bulldozers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||33.5||52.3|
|Graders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||4.6||6.9|
|Tower cranes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||3.9||4.1|
|Cranes mounted on pneumatic wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||2.0||2.6|
|Cranes mounted on motor vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||15.4||21.2|
Before 1917 most equipment for light industry had to be imported. Textile machine building and the production of equipment for the footwear and other light industries is well developed in the USSR. Between 1966 and 1977 there was a substantial increase in the production of machinery and equipment for the construction of new enterprises of light industry and the food-processing industry and for the modernization of existing enterprises. Modern equipment and new production processes have been introduced. Production of machinery and equipment for the food-processing industry, trade, and the food service industry has been organized: output includes automatic pasteurizing and refrigeration units; bottling lines for such products as milk and vegetable oil; cookers; dishwashers; machinery for the processing of meat and vegetables; and equipment for mills, grain elevators, and granaries.
LUMBER, WOOD-PRODUCTS, AND PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRIES. There has been considerable growth in the lumber, wood-products, and pulp and paper industries (see Table 14). As of Jan. 1,1978, the logging industry, which is mechanized, included 34,100 logging trucks, 68,600 tractors, and 1,700 electric and gasoline knotters. By 1966 the operations of felling the timber, delivering it to warehouses, and shipping it out had essentially been mechanized. Fundamental changes have taken place in the pulp and paper industry. Large enterprises have been built, notably the Balakhna, Solikamsk, Kama, Kondopoga, Segezha, Arkhangelsk, Kotlas, Krasnoiarsk, Solomba, and Syktyvkar pulp and paper mills, as well as the Bratsk Lumber Industry Complex. Of great importance is the systematic relocation of logging operations from regions with little timber to the forested regions of the north and east: in 1977 these timber-rich regions accounted for 74 percent of all roundwood produced, as compared with 28 percent in 1913.
|Table 14. Production of industrial roundwood and output of the wood-products and pulp and paper industries|
|Industrial roundwood removals (million cu m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||30.5||118||262||299||278|
|Sawnwood (million cu m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||14.2||35.4||106||116||98|
|Plywood (thousand cu m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||204||782||1,354||2,045||2,022|
|Fiberboard (million sq m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||4.1||67.6||208||469|
|Particle board (million cu m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||0.16||2.0||5.1|
|Pulp (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||0.6||2.3||5.1||7.1|
|Paper (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||0.8||2.3||4.2||5.3|
|Paperboard (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.04||0.2||0.9||2.5||3.4|
LIGHT INDUSTRY. All branches of light industry in the USSR have exhibited rapid growth rates (see Table 15). Between 1913 and 1977, on a per capita basis, the output of cotton fabrics rose by a factor of 2.3, that of woolen fabrics by a factor of 3.4, that of linen by a factor of 4.1, that of silk by a factor of 29, and that of leather footwear by a factor of 6.7. During this period, new materials were introduced, such as artificial leather, film materials, nonwoven materials, artificial fur, laminated clothing materials, and raincoat fabrics with various types of coatings and impregnating compounds. Production also began of new types of hosiery made of elastic and Kapron, knitted underwear made of artificial and synthetic silk and elastic yarn, knitted outerwear made of high-bulk elastic yarn, coats and jackets made of artificial leather, and shoes with soles of such materials as simulated leather and lightweight porous resin. In 1977 ready-made clothing and knit goods accounted for 84 percent of the total sales of fabrics, clothing, and knit goods.
The raw materials used in light industry have changed in relative importance: in 1977 chemical fibers accounted for 23 percent of all fibers produced, as compared with 0.9 percent in 1940 and 17.5 percent in 1970; the use of brighter and more permanent dyes is becoming widespread. Increased production of chemical raw materials made it possible for the knitwear and silk industry to achieve higher growth rates between 1966 and 1977.
|Table 15. Principal products of light industry|
|Fabrics, all types (million sq m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,194||3,320||6,636||8,852||10,407|
|cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,817||2,715||4,838||6,152||6,811|
|woolen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||138||155||439||643||773|
|linen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||121||272||516||707||817|
|silk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||35||67||675||1,146||1,648|
|Hosiery (million pairs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||489||964||1,338||1,564|
|Knitted underwear and outerwear (million pieces) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||186||583||1,229||1,512|
|Leatder footwear (million pairs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||68||212||419||679||736|
Between 1971 and 1977 the retooling of light industry went forward with particular intensity; as a result, enterprises became more technologically advanced and more efficient. Between 1940 and 1977 the production of cotton yarn per 1,000 spindle-hours increased from 538 kilonomers (a nomer is the ratio of the length of the yarn in meters to its weight in grams) to 775 kilonomers, the production of loom stock per loom-hour increased from 7,258 weft-meters to 11,620 weft-meters, the average production of cotton yarn per man-hour rose from 77.3 kilonomers to 199 kilonomers, and the average production of loom stock per man-hour rose from 20,400 weft-meters to 47,900 weft-meters. The clothing industry has been transformed into a large-scale mechanized producer. In 1977 about 157,000 industrial sewing machines were manufactured, as compared with 20,300 in 1940.
|Table 16. Principal products of the food-processing industry|
|1Including first-category by-products|
|2Including seals, whales, and marine products|
|3Calculated interms of milk|
|Granulated sugar (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.4||2.2||6.4||10.2||12.0|
|Meat (million tons)1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.3||1.5||4.4||7.1||9.1|
|Sausage products (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||403||1,351||2,286||3,013|
|Fish catch (million tons)2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.1||1.4||3.5||7.8||9.7|
|Butter (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||129||252||737||963||1,408|
|Vegetable oil (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.5||0.8||1.6||2.8||2.9|
|Whole milk products (million tons)3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||1.3||8.3||19.7||24.3|
|Preserved foods (billion standard containers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||1.1||4.9||10.7||15.0|
FOOD-PROCESSING INDUSTRY. Between 1913 and 1977 the gross output of the food-processing industry increased by a factor of 21 (see Table 16). In addition, the assortment of food products was broadened, and the distribution of production changed. Production began of such goods as food concentrates, fresh-frozen fruits and vegetables, vitamin-enriched food products, and canned milk, tomatoes, and fruits. The variety of preserved meats, meats with vegetables, and fish products has become substantially greater. Foodstuffs in small packages are becoming more widespread and popular. The production of confectionery rose by a factor of more than 28 between 1913 and 1977. The USSR leads the world in the production of granulated sugar from domestic sources and the production of butter.
|Table 17. Production of consumer goods|
|Clocks and watches (million units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.7||2.8||26||40.2||66.7|
|Radios and radio-phonographs (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||178||4,165||7,815||8,478|
|Television sets (thousand sets) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||0.3||1,726||6,682||7,528|
|color sets (thousand sets) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||—||46||2,262|
|Electric vacuum cleaners (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||501||1,509||3,222|
|Washing machines (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||895||5,243||3,826|
|Refrigerators (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||3.5||529||4,140||5,925|
|Cameras (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||355||1,764||2,045||4,255|
The production of more nutritious foods is proceeding at a faster rate than the rest of the food-processing industry. Between 1966 and 1977 the gross output of the food-processing industry as a whole rose by 76 percent; the output of the meat industry, however, increased by 100 percent, and that of the fishing industry by 87 percent. At the same time, the production of breads, flour, and groats grew at a slower rate, and the average per capita consumption of them declined.
Modern equipment is being introduced into food-processing enterprises, and the average capacity of enterprises, automatic transfer machines, and automated installations is growing. The average meat-packing plant built between 1966 and 1970 could process 30 tons per shift; between 1971 and 1977 meat-packing plants with an average capacity of 70 tons per shift (in some plants, 100 tons) went into operation. The average processing capacity of sugar factories during this period increased from 2,200 tons of sugar beets per 24 hr to 3,000 tons, and certain factories could process 6,000 tons per 24 hr. In the postwar period the USSR built a large oceangoing fishing fleet and developed the capacity to process the ocean catch. The development of the food-processing industry is of great importance in solving the problem of providing the country with a reliable food supply.
CONSUMER GOODS. In the 1950’s and 1960’s the mass production of high-quality consumer goods began (see Table 17). Industry turns out such articles as radios (including transistor radios), radio-phonographs, television sets, tape recorders, refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric floor polishers, electric razors, and still and movie cameras. There have been high growth rates in the production of furniture, graded tableware, porcelain and faïence ware; in addition, the variety of these goods has become more extensive. The production of porcelain and majolica tableware increased from 586 million pieces in 1970 to 1,064 billion pieces in 1977.
MICROBIOLOGICAL AND MIXED-FEED INDUSTRIES. The microbiological and mixed-feed industries underwent extensive development between 1966 and 1977. Through microbiological synthesis, such products as feed proteins, amino acids, vitamins, antibiotics, enzymes, bacterial fertilizers, and microbiological agents for plant protection are manufactured (see Table 18).
|Table 18. Principal types of output of the microbiological industry|
|Nutrient yeast (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||98.0||260.5||900.4|
|Fodder antibiotics (tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||132.7||441.2||1,442|
|Microbiological agents for plant protection (tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||508||7910|
|Enzyme preparations (standard tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||120.5||235.7||2,243|
|Amino acids—lysine (tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||61.5||3,100|
By using nutrient yeasts produced from hydrocarbons (paraffins) of petroleum and plant raw materials, the mixed-feed industry has increased its production of mixed feeds by a factor of 1.8 between 1970 and 1977. Various types of antiobiotics, lysine, vitamins, premixes, and enzyme preparations have been produced in order to enrich concentrated feeds; as a result, it is now possible to make the technology more intensive, to increase output in several areas of the food-processing industry, and to increase livestock-raising productivity.
At state enterprises, the output of mixed feeds rose from 9.3 million tons in 1960 to 42.7 million tons in 1977; the output of protein-vitamin additives rose from 0.1 million tons in 1970 to 2.1 million tons in 1977. As interfarm cooperation and agroindustrial integration develop, and as agriculture is put on an industrial footing, industry assumes increasing importance, especially those branches that provide agriculture with producer goods and those that process agricultural raw materials.
BUILDING-MATERIALS INDUSTRY. The creation of a modern building-materials industry has made it possible to carry on construction work on an enormous scale and to expand further the construction industry.
I. A. POGOSOV
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Agriculture is an extremely important part of the country’s economy. As one of the basic spheres of material production, it greatly influences the standard of living of the working people and the growth rates of the Soviet economy. As of 1980, agricultural products and industrial goods that were derived from agricultural raw materials constituted two-thirds of the retail commodity turnover in state and cooperative trade.
During the Soviet period, socioeconomic changes of substantial scope and great social import have occurred in agriculture. In accordance with Lenin’s cooperative plan, a system of large-scale socialist state and cooperative agricultural enterprises has been created; these enterprises—sovkhozes and kolkhozes—have become the most important agricultural producers. The living conditions of Soviet peasants have changed immeasurably, and Soviet agriculture has been transformed from a backward area of production that was based on manual labor into a large-scale, technically well-equipped sector of the economy. It plays an important role even in the world economy.
The USSR ranks first in the world in the production of wheat, rye, barley, sugar beets, potatoes, sunflowers, cotton, and milk. In sheep raising it ranks second, and it is third in cattle raising, the cultivation of grains, and the total volume of agricultural output. The USSR is a major exporter of many types of agricultural products.
Soviet achievements in agriculture have resulted from the CPSU’s agricultural policy, which has responded to the basic interests of the kolkhoz peasantry and the working class. Creatively developing the Leninist agricultural policy, the party is carrying out plans further to modernize agriculture.
Development. The Soviet state inherited from tsarist Russia a technologically backward agricultural system that was marked by low productivity and small-scale production. In 1913 more than 75 percent of the population was employed in agriculture, and there were a total of 20 million peasant farms, of which 30 percent had no draft animals, 34 percent lacked plowing equipment, and 15 percent had no crops. Impoverished peasants owned 65 percent of the farms, middle peasants owned 20 percent, and kulaks owned 15 percent. Pomeshchiki (large-scale landowners), the crown, and the monasteries held 42 percent of the farmland, or 152.5 million hectares (ha). The peasants owned 58 percent, or 214.7 million ha; of the total amount of peasant-owned land, approximately 37 percent, or more than 80 million ha, was held by the kulaks. More than 88 percent of the sown area was planted to grains, and approximately 72 percent of the market output of grain was produced by pomeshchik- and kulak-owned farms; the peasant farms’ level of output for the market was low.
Prerevolutionary Russia manufactured neither tractors nor motor vehicles. Farm equipment was produced in small craftsmen’s workshops and manufactories. Most farm machinery and equipment was purchased from abroad. The total available power was 23.9 million hp (1 hp = 0.736 kilowatt), of which only 200,000 hp (less than 1 percent) was mechanical power. The power-labor ratio on peasant farms did not exceed 0.5 hp; the power available per 100 ha of cultivated land was 20 hp. Almost all agricultural operations were carried out manually or with the help of draft animals. In 1910 the peasant farms had at their disposal 7.8 million wooden sokhi (including kosuli), 2.2 million wooden plows (plugi), and 4.2 million iron plows, as well as 17.7 million wooden harrows. (In the sokha and its subtype the kosulia, the share is held obliquely; in the plug, or true plow, the share is held horizontally.) No more than 1.6 kg of mineral fertilizers were generally applied to a hectare of plowland, even on farms belonging to pomeshchiki and kulaks; most of the fertilizers were imported.
Since agriculture was based on extensive farming, the productivity of land cultivation and animal husbandry was low; the average grain harvest each year between 1909 and 1913 was approximately 7 quintals (q) per ha, and the average milk yield was about 1,000 kg per cow. Because agriculture was backward and completely dependent on natural conditions, poor harvests and crop failures frequently occurred, and farm animals often died; during years when the crops failed, famine struck millions of peasant farms.
World War I brought a further decline in the situation. According to data of the All-Russian Agricultural Census of 1917, able-bodied manpower in the rural areas had decreased by 47.4 percent since 1914, and the number of horses (the principal draft animals) had decreased from 17.9 million to 12.8 million. The size of herds, areas under cultivation, and harvests all suffered a decline. A food crisis seized the country.
The October Socialist Revolution of 1917 created a new socioeconomic basis for the development of agriculture. The Decree on Land, approved by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on Oct. 26 (Nov. 8), 1917, made land state property (that is, property belonging to the people as a whole) and transferred it free of charge to the toiling masses for their use. The peasants received from the Soviet state more than 150 million ha in excess of the amount of land they had previously owned. Nationalization of the land was the firm foundation on which the socialist development of rural areas proceeded.
Devastated by World War I and the Civil War, agriculture had to be restored rapidly. On V. I. Lenin’s initiative, the Tenth Party Congress, held in 1921, adopted a resolution providing for the initiation of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The NEP aimed to establish a firm link between socialist industry and peasant farms through the extensive use of commodity-money relations, to strengthen the alliance between the working class and the peasantry on an economic basis, and to draw peasants into socialist construction; however, the potential for an upswing in the peasant farm economy was limited by the small scale of production. The development of socialist industry and the growth of cities required increasing amounts of agriculture products, such as grains; thus, the peasant farms’ low level of market output, incapable of satisfying these needs, retarded socialist construction in the country.
The extremely complex theoretical and practical problems involved in the socialist restructuring of agriculture were resolved by Lenin’s cooperative plan. In accordance with the plan, the simplest forms of cooperatives (consumers’, wholesaling, and purchasing cooperatives) served as the basis for effecting a transition to a higher form of production cooperation—the kolkhozes. By 1927 there were already 14,800 kolkhozes, in addition to an extensive network of primary cooperatives. Positive experiences with the sovkhozes (state-owned agricultural enterprises that had been organized immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 on lands confiscated from pomeshchiki) and with the first kolkhozes helped convince peasants of the advantages of large-scale farming and collective labor. In accordance with a resolution passed by the Fifteenth Party Congress, held in 1927, the task of creating the kolkhoz system was undertaken. As a result of the complete collectivization of agriculture during the 1930’s, socialist ownership became the basis of economic relations in the rural areas, and agriculture entered a new, socialist stage of development.
The transition to large-scale, socialized agricultural production signified a revolution in the peasants’ entire way of life. Within a brief period of time, illiteracy was virtually eliminated in the rural areas, and agriculture specialists, including agronomists, zoo-technicians, tractor operators, and truck drivers, were trained. The establishment and strengthening of kolkhozes was facilitated by financial aid from the state and organizational support from the working class. At the call of the Communist Party, more than 25,000 advanced workers went to the kolkhozes in order to perform organizational work, and comradely assistance (shefstvo) was rendered by groups from various factories.
A new technological base was prepared for large-scale socialist agricultural production, and the construction of factories for the mass production of tractors and farm machinery was undertaken. The mechanization of agriculture was facilitated by the organization of a network of state machine-tractor stations (MTS’s).
In 1940 there were 236,900 kolkhozes, 4,200 sovkhozes, and 7,100 MTS’s. Between 1928 and 1940 the total power available to agriculture increased from 21.3 million hp to 47.5 million; calculated per worker, it rose from 0.4 to 1.5 hp; per 100 ha of cultivated land, it increased from 19 to 32 hp. The establishment of socialist forms of agricultural production, the introduction of agricultural machinery, and the increase in the number of skilled workers led to a substantial growth in the most important sectors of agricultural production. In 1940 the gross agricultural output was 41 percent greater than in 1913; there were also increases in the harvests of the most important crops and in the productivity of animal husbandry.
|Table 1. Agricultural output In the USSR (all categories of farms, yearly average; million tons)|
|1Comparable 1973 prices|
|Gross output (billion rubles)1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||49.3||82.8||113.7||123.7|
|Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||95.6||130.3||181.6||205.0|
|Seed cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.24||4.99||7.67||8.93|
|Sugar beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||18.0||59.2||76.0||88.4|
|Sunflowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.64||5.07||5.97||5.32|
|Flax fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.35||0.41||0.46||0.39|
|Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||76.1||81.6||89.8||82.6|
|Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||13.7||16.9||23.0||26.0|
|Meat (slaughtered weight) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.7||9.3||14.0||14.8|
|Milk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||33.6||64.7||87.4||92.6|
|Eggs (billion units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||12.2||28.7||51.4||63.1|
|Wool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.16||0.36||0.44||0.46|
During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, the advantages of the USSR’s socialist organization of agriculture became evident, and the kolkhoz system showed itself to be strong and vibrant. Several major agricultural regions were occupied, machinery was removed, and almost all the able-bodied men (especially the mechanics and machine operators) went to the front; yet the kolkhozes and sovkhozes supplied the Soviet Army and the rest of the population with food and provided industry with raw materials. The fascist German troops inflicted hundreds of billions of rubles’ worth of losses on agriculture. In occupied areas, 98,000 kolkhozes, 2,890 MTS’s, and 1,876 sovkhozes were destroyed; moreover, 17 million head of cattle, 20 million swine, and 27 million sheep were killed. Agricultural production declined sharply.
Toward the end of the war and after the declaration of peace, an accelerated program for the reconstruction of agriculture was begun. In 1950 the volume of agricultural output had essentially been restored to the prewar level, but the country’s food problem had not yet been fully solved. The September 1953 plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU outlined various measures for the further improvement of agriculture, including strengthening its material and technical basis and increasing the material incentive for kolkhozes and their workers to develop socialist production. The plenum held in February and March 1954 adopted a resolution providing for the farming of virgin and long-unused lands, thereby making possible a substantial increase in the production of grain and livestock within a brief period of time. Gross agricultural output increased by 51 percent between 1954 and 1958; however, the output was still not sufficient fully to meet the needs of the population and the demands of industry. The February 1958 plenum of the Central Committee contributed to the further improvement of agricultural production with its resolutions to reorganize the MTS’s and sell the equipment from these stations to the kolkhozes; the plenum also approved measures to increase kolkhoz production by making some efficient use of equipment and manpower and by improving the forms and methods of administration.
The March 1965 plenum of the Central Committee set the basic course of the party’s subsequent agricultural policy. An important element of the policy was to be the creation and perfection of a system of economic relations that would provide strong incentives for the kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and all agricultural workers to increase agricultural output, improve the quality of agricultural products, and increase labor productivity. A second basic element of the policy was to be the intensification of agriculture through mechanization, the use of chemicals, land reclamation, the concentration and specialization of production, and a higher technical level of land cultivation and animal husbandry. A third element was to be the introduction of a system of social measures aimed at gradually raising the rural standard of living to that of urban areas.
The program that was outlined by the March plenum was further developed through resolutions adopted by later plenums of the Central Committee and by the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-fifth Party Congresses, which were held in 1966, 1971, and 1976, respectively. Implementation of the program created the conditions for strengthening the kolkhozes and sovkhozes and made possible the carrying out of social production in a profitable manner.
Major economic measures were introduced. A stable policy for the state purchase of farm products was established, purchase prices were placed on an economically rational foundation, and payments for output sold to the state in excess of the planned norm were increased. Moreover, the economic independence of agricultural enterprises was extended, and the system of advances to the kolkhozes for production expenses was replaced with a system of direct bank credits. Guaranteed wages for the kolkhoz workers were introduced, and a new system for setting kolkhoz income taxes was adopted. In order to accelerate the intensification of farming, the state assumed the costs to agriculture enterprises of reclamation projects, the construction and maintenance of large-scale water-use systems, the liming of acidic soils, the radical improvement of lands, and measures to fight soil erosion.
At the same time, capital investment in agriculture was substantially increased—from 20 percent of total agricultural expenditures between 1961 and 1965 to 26 percent between 1971 and 1975 and 27 percent in 1976 and 1980. This growth was accompanied by an acceleration of technological progress in agriculture, the mechanization and electrification of all aspects of agricultural production, the gradual adoption of industrial production methods, the introduction of chemical fertilizers, and land reclamation.
|Table 2. State purchases of principal agricultural products (all categories of farms, yearly average; million tons)|
|1Calculated as milk|
|Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||36.4||51.6||67.6||77.7|
|Seed cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.24||4.99||7.67||8.93|
|Sugar beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||17.4||55.4||67.9||76.8|
|Sunflowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.5||3.4||4.5||4.0|
|Flax fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.25||0.38||0.43||0.36|
|Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.6||8.4||12.7||14.6|
|Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.0||6.7||13.1||17.2|
|Livestock and poultry (liveweight) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.2||8.6||15.4||16.2|
|Milk and dairy products1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.5||31.2||52.1||58.7|
|Eggs (billion units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.7||8.7||27.5||38.6|
Major improvements resulted from the integrated solution of important agricultural problems. There was an increase in the volume of production and of state purchases of basic types of agricultural products (Tables 1 and 2). In addition, the relative importance of the various branches of agriculture changed for the better. In particular, there was an increase in the output of animal products relative to the total output of agriculture; animal husbandry accounted for 52.6 percent of the gross agricultural output between 1966 and 1970, 51.2 percent between 1971 and 1975, and 67 percent between 1976 and 1980. The gross agricultural output in 1977 was 1.4 times greater than in 1965, 2.5 times greater than in 1940, and 3.5 times greater than in 1913. (For the growth rates of the gross agricultural output of the Union republics, see Table 3.) Labor productivity increased by a factor of 1.7 between 1966 and 1977, and the number of agricultural workers was accordingly reduced from 25.8 million to 23.3 million; by 1977, labor productivity was 4.1 times greater than in 1940 and 6.3 times greater than in 1913 (see Table 4).
The growth of labor productivity and of output, along with the strengthening of economic incentives, led to an increase in the incomes and profitability of kolkhozes and sovkhozes. Between 1966 and 1977 the gross income of kolkhozes increased by a factor of 1.5. Their total net income between 1971 and 1975 averaged more than 6.5 billion rubles annually; that is, it exceeded the figure for 1961 to 1965 by a factor of 1.5. Sovkhozes earned approximately 12.3 billion rubles of profit between 1971 and 1977.
|Table 3. Gross agricultural output in the Union republics (all categories of farms, percent of 1940)|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||180||221||227||248|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||186||232||228||235|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||167||188||196||204|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||148||174||196||186|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||241||304||357||463|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||395||613||547||765|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||219||281||329||406|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||203||258||346||550|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||151||189||208||184|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||244||280||334||354|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||115||135||135||143|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||235||290||335||365|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||239||296||370||440|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||275||347||408||465|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||239||331||414||486|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||132||149||169||184|
The number of skilled workers rose dramatically as the kolkhozes and sovkhozes became economically stronger, their material and economic bases were developed, and agricultural production was mechanized. By 1977 kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and other state agricultural enterprises were employing 1,415,000 specialists with a higher or specialized secondary education—that is, 2.3 times as many as in 1965. In addition, there were 4,316,000 mechanics and machine operators in 1977, or 39 percent more than in 1965.
The forms and methods of managing agricultural production are being improved. For example, the principle of management by branch of agriculture is being more broadly applied in combination with the territorial principle, automated control systems are being introduced, methods of mathematical economics are being applied in planning, and electronic computers and modern means of communication and organization are being used.
In rural areas there have been major socioeconomic changes, showing that the gap between the living standards of the urban and rural populations is being narrowed at an accelerated pace. Between 1966 and 1977 the wages paid to kolkhoz workers doubled, and pension guarantees and social insurance were introduced; in addition, the wages of sovkhoz workers increased by a factor of 1.9. There was also a substantial increase in the payments and benefits received from social consumption funds.
The appearance of villages has changed as the level of culture and living conditions have improved. Electricity has been provided to almost all populated rural areas, and many have gas as well. Approximately 67 out of every 100 rural workers has a higher or secondary (complete or incomplete) education; in 1940 the figure was only one person per 16. A large number of rural
|Table 4. Labor productivity in agriculture (percent of 1940)|
|1Excluding private operations|
|Kolkhozes1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||100||185||218||377||364|
|Sovkhozes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||100||156||162||258||257|
schools have been built or are under construction; moreover, hospitals, motion-picture theaters, clubs, and houses of culture have been built, in addition to stores, cafeterias, kindergartens, and consumer services combines. New apartment buildings, equipped with all utilities, are being constructed. Between 1966 and 1977 some 411.4 million sq m of housing space was made available in rural areas. The social structure of the rural population has changed: the proportion of industrial workers has risen, new occupations and specializations have appeared, the alliance between the working class and the peasantry has been strengthened, and the economic ties between city and village have been deepened.
By consistently implementing a multiple-approach program for improving agriculture, the party and government are resolving the new problems posed by communist construction. In March 1974 the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued the decree On Measures for the Further Agricultural Development of the Nonchernozem Zone of the RSFSR; the decree called for accelerated growth of the nonchernozem area’s productive forces through intensification of agriculture. The tenth five-year plan (1976–80) provided for a total capital investment of 35 billion rubles for this purpose. In order to carry out land reclamation projects, a specialized organization called Glavnechernozemvodstroi has been created; more than 5 billion rubles were allocated to it under the tenth five-year plan.
In 1976 the Twenty-fifth Party Congress set forth the agricultural tasks at hand; chief among them were a further intensification of agricultural production and an increase in efficiency. The congress noted the necessity of accelerating the industrialization of agriculture. The decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU On Furthering the Specialization and Concentration of Agricultural Production Through Cooperation Among Farms and Integration of Agriculture and Industry, which was issued in June 1976, outlined specific systematic approaches to solving the problem.
Of great importance for the further intensification of agriculture, the increased efficiency of capital investment, and the accelerated construction of water-use systems was the decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR On Land Reclamation From 1976 to 1980 and Measures to Improve the Use of Reclaimed Lands; issued in August 1976, the decree earmarked 38.6 billion rubles for land reclamation projects between 1976 and 1980. The decree of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers On Measures Further To Improve the Selection and Seed Growing of Grains, Oil-producing Plants, and Grasses, issued in November 1976, was aimed at ensuring substantial and reliable harvests of the principal crops by accelerating the breeding and production of new varieties of the plants grown.
Efforts are being made further to strengthen agriculture by training greater numbers of skilled workers. In December 1976 the Central Committee of the CPSU issued a decree in which it noted the need to improve the selection, distribution, and skills of mechanics, machine operators, and other workers on kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and interfarm and agroindustrial enterprises and indicated specific ways of achieving these ends. The July 1978 plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU announced important measures to raise the technological level of agricultural production, strengthen the finances of the kolkhozes and sovkhozes, increase rural construction, and improve cooperation among farms.
Socialist agricultural enterprises. Most of the market output of agriculture, as well as the bulk of the gross output, is produced by kolkhozes and sovkhozes. The basic types of socialist farms in the
|Table 5. Number of kolkhozes and sovkhozes (thousands)|
|1The number of kolkhozes has decreased as a result of enlargement and consolidation, as well as a result of the conversion of some of them into sovkhozes (by decision of a general meeting of kolkhoz members)|
|Kolkhozes (including fishing kolkhozes)1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||33.3||236.9||123.7||44.9||33.6||26.3|
|Sovkhozes, all systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.4||4.2||5.0||7.4||15.0||21.1|
USSR, these farms are founded on the socialist principles of state and kolkhoz-cooperative ownership (see Table 5). Part of the agricultural output, however, is produced individually by kolkhoz members and workers (including office workers) on plots of land belonging to the state. To a considerable extent these household plots draw on the resources of the socialist farms; for example, they use fodder, draft power, and vehicles that belong to the kolkhozes and sovkhozes. The output from these plots includes potatoes and other vegetables, meat, milk, and eggs.
The portion of the agricultural output that comes from kolkhozes, interfarm agricultural enterprises, sovkhozes, and other state farms has been steadily increasing. In 1977, for example, they produced 71 percent of the total output of meat, 71 percent of the total milk output, and 65 percent of the total egg output; in
|Table 6. Primary indexes of the development of kolkhozes|
|1Priorto to 1960, including tractors of MTS’s|
|Kolkhoz households . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||13||68||79||169||391||492|
|Collective plantings (thousand ha) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.04||0.4||0.5||1.0||2.7||3.7|
|Livestock cattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5||44||85||224||826||1,844|
|cows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2||13||24||56||285||621|
|swine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2||15||35||98||625||1,085|
|sheep and goats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7||51||177||546||1,654||1,755|
|Tractors1 (units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||0.8||2||4||14||41|
1940 the corresponding percentages were 28, 23, and 6, and in 1965 they were 60, 61, and 33. As of 1977, these farms produced 100 percent of the grain, seed cotton, sugar beets, and sunflowers purchased by the state, as well as 74 percent of the potatoes, 94 percent of the other vegetables, 93 percent of the livestock and poultry, 95 percent of the milk, 97 percent of the eggs, and 84 percent of the wool that the state bought. Moreover, kolkhoz members are deriving an increasing proportion of their income from the kolkhoz rather than their household plots. The products from their plots are primarily for personal consumption; the excess is purchased by the state or sold at kolkhoz markets.
In 1935 the Second All-Union Congress of Kolkhoz Shock Workers adopted the Model Regulations for an Agricultural Artel; thereafter, great changes occurred in the development of kolkhozes. For example, production relations on each farm were improved, production ties with other enterprises and the state were strengthened, and the material and technical basis of agriculture was dramatically expanded. After the reorganization of the MTS’s in 1958, most of their equipment was acquired by the kolkhozes. In 1961, Soiuzsel’khoztekhnika, an all-Union association of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, was formed in order to sell, for example, agricultural equipment, spare parts, and mineral fertilizers and to organize machine repair on kolkhozes and sovkhozes.
In 1969 the Third All-Union Congress of Kolkhoz Workers adopted a new version of the Model Kolkhoz Regulations. The congress stressed the success of the kolkhoz as a socialist farm that is fully responding to the tasks of further developing the productive forces in the countryside; the congress also noted that the kolkhoz system properly combines the personal interests of kolkhoz members with the general interests of the nation as a whole. Moreover, under the system, the kolkhoz members themselves manage production on the basis of kolkhoz democracy. Elected councils play an important role in developing the democratic principle in the management of public affairs; these councils, which were formed in accordance with a resolution of the Third Congress, include in their membership kolkhoz chairmen, specialists, leading mechanics and animal breeders, and masters of high crop yields, as well as employees of scientific research institutes and state organizations and agencies that deal with kolkhoz activities.
In 1977 some 14.4 million persons were engaged in agricultural production on kolkhozes. The area of land under cultivation totaled 96.7 million ha, of which 57.1 million ha were planted to grain crops. The kolkhozes had 47.2 million head of cattle (including 15.7 million cows), 27.5 million swine, and 48.8 million sheep and goats. The indivisible funds of kolkhozes had reached 99.7 billion rubles, and the gross income of the farms was 24.3 billion rubles. The growth of the kolkhozes is reflected in the data in Table 6.
In 1977 the kolkhozes produced 54 percent of the gross output of grain and 71 percent of the output of seed cotton; in addition, the kolkhozes accounted for 55 percent of sunflowers, 27 percent of vegetables, 34 percent of meat, 39 percent of milk, 8 percent of eggs, and 34 percent of wool. In order to increase agricultural output, kolkhozes are implementing various measures to improve the technical level of land cultivation; they are also systematically carrying out measures to improve soil fertility and are creating highly productive cultivated pasturelands. In 1977 the gross kolkhoz output (in comparable 1973 prices) was valued at 46.6 billion rubles—that is, 11.1 billion rubles more than in 1965.
The sovkhozes also play an important role in agricultural production and in raising the general level of agriculture. Since 1918, when the first sovkhozes were organized, these farms have fulfilled their task of serving as a school of socialized, collective agricultural production for the toiling masses of peasants. Supplied with the most modern equipment, sovkhozes have made use of advanced technology; they have specialized in such areas as producing seeds for high-yield varieties of crops and breeding pedigreed livestock.
The portion of the gross agricultural output that comes from sovkhozes has increased as a result of the development, since 1964, of virgin and long-unused lands, the rapid creation of new grain-growing sovkhozes on the steppes of Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Volga Region, and the Urals, and the further expansion of sovkhoz construction. In 1977 the sovkhozes produced 43 percent of the country’s total output of grain, 29 percent of its seed cotton output, 42 percent of its vegetable output, 34 percent of its meat output, 31 percent of its milk output, 56 percent of its egg output, and 46 percent of its wool output.
The network of specialized farms has been extended. In 1977 there were 1,493 grain-growing sovkhozes, 314 beet-growing sovkhozes, 339 cotton-growing sovkhozes, 6,932 dairy and beef-dairy sovkhozes, 1,026 swine-raising sovkhozes, 1,661 sheep-raising sovkhozes, 1,201 poultry-raising sovkhozes, 98 horse-raising sovkhozes, 111 reindeer-raising sovkhozes, 127 fur-farming sovkhozes, and 3,219 sovkhozes for the cultivation of fruits (including grapes) and vegetables (including potatoes). Some 89.5 million persons were employed on the sovkhozes. As of 1977, the area of the land under cultivation totaled 111.8 million ha, of which 70.7 million ha were planted to grain crops. In the same year, sovkhozes had 38.1 million head of cattle (including 13.2 million cows), 21.7 million swine, and 66.1 million sheep and goats. The annual gross output of the sovkhozes (in comparable 1973 rubles) increased from 20.5 billion rubles in 1965 to 43.2 billion rubles in 1977. The growth of the sovkhozes is reflected in the data in Table 7.
The sovkhoz economy is being systematically strengthened. The complete transfer of the sovkhozes of the Ministry of Agriculture to the system of profit-and-loss accounting in 1975 provided vast potential for a further increase in production.
|Table 7. Primary indexes of the development of sovkhozes|
|Number of workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||134||434||330||334||786||553|
|Sown area (thousand ha) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.8||2.4||2.8||2.6||9.0||5.3|
|Livestock cattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||97||648||592||562||1,957||1,906|
|cows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||32||284||229||170||689||645|
|swine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||31||344||459||500||1,715||1,120|
|sheep and goats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||403||1,305||1,420||1,530||4,280||3,281|
|Tractors (units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5||19||18||15||55||57|
Important qualitative changes have taken place in the productive forces of the Soviet countryside. They include the strengthening of the kolkhozes and sovkhozes, the integrated mechanization and automation of production, an increase in the productivity of labor, a rise in the level of land cultivation and animal husbandry, and growth in the number of skilled workers. Owing to these changes, socialization of agricultural production has been intensified, the differences between state and cooperative-kolkhoz ownership have been reduced, and interfarm cooperation and agroindustrial integration have undergone development. As a result, there have emerged (especially since 1965) new organizational forms of social production—interkolkhoz enterprises, interkolkhoz associations, agroindustrial associations, and scientific-industrial associations (see below: Location and specialization of agricultural production).
|Table 8. Tractors, combines, and trucks used in agriculture (end of year)|
|11 hp = 0.736 kW|
|Tractors (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||27||531||1,613||1,977||2,562|
|Total engine power (million hp1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.5||17.6||77.6||111.6||191|
|Grain-harvesting combines (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.002||182.0||520.0||623.0||722|
|Trucks (thousand units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.7||228.0||945.0||1,136.0||1,596|
|Total load capacity of trucks (thousand tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.7||479.0||2,580.0||3,327.0||5,828|
Material and technical basis. During the Soviet period, great efforts have been made to furnish agriculture with fixed capital stock and to replace aging equipment. The quantitative growth in the inventory of motor vehicles and tractors used in agricultural production (see Table 8) has been accompanied by a qualitative improvement in agricultural technology; for example, farms have been supplied with improved self-propelled grain-harvesting combines, and other types of combines (for harvesting maize, sugar beets, and flax) have been developed. Tractors with gasoline engines have been replaced by tractors with diesel engines. Table 9 shows the increase in the number of tractors used in agricultural production in the Union republics.
|Table 9. Tractors used in agriculture in the Union republics (end of year, thousand units)|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||342.2||840.4||1,012.6||1,324.0|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||94.6||257.0||317.1||408.8|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||10.4||55.4||81.6||117.2|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||23.0||89.9||121.3||157.3|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||30.8||194.8||198.6||237.4|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.0||12.9||18.4||24.9|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.1||21.1||25.3||35.3|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.2||28.3||40.3||45.9|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.4||23.1||35.4||50.3|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.3||19.6||29.1||32.9|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5.2||19.3||23.2||26.3|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.9||15.8||22.0||31.7|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.5||7.2||9.4||13.0|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.4||15.5||25.7||37.1|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.8||12.9||17.5||19.4|
Between 1965 and 1975 there was a dramatic increase in capital investment in agriculture and supporting industries, including the production of mineral fertilizers and agricultural machinery, the mixed-feed industry, and the microbiological industry. As a result, there was an acceleration of technological progress in agricultural production. Kolkhozes and sovkhozes were supplied with the high-power K-700, K-701, T-150, and T-150K tractors (along with a range of accessory machines and tools), with various models of the high-capacity Kolos, Niva, and Sibiriak combines, and with machines that carry out several operations while moving along a row of crops. The supply of reclamation equipment was increased, as was the supply of new types of machines and equipment for the integrated mechanization and automation of various branches of agricultural production, especially animal husbandry and the production of fodder.
Between 1966 and 1970 there were 1,475 models of agricultural machines, as compared with 2,343 types of machines and tools between 1971 and 1975 (including 1,290 types of machines for mechanizing various aspects of crop cultivation and 396 for mechanizing various aspects of animal husbandry). The fixed production assets of agriculture increased by a factor of 12.8 between 1941 and 1977; calculated per worker, the increase was by a factor of 13.8, and calculated per 100 ha of farmland, it was by a factor of 11.2. Between 1966 and 1977 the fixed production assets of agriculture grew by a factor of 2.8. As of Jan. 1,1976, the agricultural production assets of kolkhozes, interfarm agricultural enterprises, and sovkhozes and other state farms totaled 184 billion rubles (in comparable prices); calculated per worker, the figure was 7,200 rubles, and calculated per 100 ha of farmland, it was 33,800 rubles.
The principal agricultural tasks that are performed in the fields—that is, plowing, the planting of grains, cotton, and sugar beets, and the harvesting of grains and silage crops—have been totally mechanized. Agricultural tasks that have been almost completely mechanized are the planting of potatoes, the interrow tillage of sugar beets, cotton, and maize, the mowing of hay, the loading of fertilizers, and the cleaning and loading of grain as it is removed from the threshing floor.
In 1977, 93 percent of the potato crop was dug mechanically, 91 percent of straw was stacked by machine, and 89 percent of the sugar beet crop was harvested by machine. Moreover, 87 percent of all cows were milked mechanically, and 91 percent of sheep were shorn with electric shears. The animals were watered mechanically on 93 percent of the swine-raising farms and 85 percent of the cattle-raising farms and were fed mechanically on 61 percent of the swine-raising farms and 36 percent of the cattle-raising farms.
The most important step in the technological development of agriculture has been electrification. Almost all sovkhozes, kolkhozes, and interfarm agricultural enterprises have been electrified and receive electricity from state power systems. Electricity is now commonly used for production purposes in rural areas. In 1977 electric power was being used in 60 production processes, including the cleaning and drying of grain and other crops, the processing of feeds, the milking of cows, the shearing of sheep, the heating and illumination of hotbeds and hothouses, and the processing of vegetables; it is also used in irrigation and the supplying of water. Between 1941 and 1977 the consumption of electric energy in agricultural production increased from 542 million kilowatt-hours (kW-hr) to 88.4 billion kW-hr. During the same period, the power available for agricultural production increased 11-fold to a total of 521.2 million hp; calculated per worker, the figure was 16.8 hp, and calculated per 100 ha of cultivated land, it was 190 hp. Between 1966 and 1977 the power-labor ratio increased by a factor of 2.6.
The introduction of chemical fertilizers and products has played an important role in the development and improvement of agriculture’s material and technical basis. The application of chemical fertilizers greatly increases the yields of crops in a short amount of time, and kolkhozes and sovkhozes are being provided with ever larger quantities of such fertilizers. Supplies of mineral fertilizers without supplements increased from 26.9 million tons (standard units) in 1965 to 77.0 million tons in 1977—that is, from 121.8 to 345.0 kg (standard units) per ha of plowland. Production of concentrated and mixed fertilizers has been expanded; between 1965 and 1977 the concentration of nutrients in fertilizers rose from 26.4 percent to 36.6 percent, and the output of concentrated and mixed fertilizers reached 77.4 percent of the total output. Chemical products are also successfully being applied in animal husbandry; chemical supplements are added to feed in order to compensate for a lack of certain nutrients, and chemicals are given to animals as medicinal preparations and as stimulants to increase reproduction.
In accordance with the resolutions of the May 1966 plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, a long-term program of land reclamation is being implemented. Between 1966 and 1977 the area of irrigated lands increased from 9.9 million ha to 16.0 million, and the area of drained lands increased from 10.6 million ha to 15.1 million. Irrigation projects are under way in the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Kazakh SSR, the Moldavian SSR, and the republics of Middle Asia and Transcaucasia. In addition, measures are being taken to improve lands in the Byelorussian SSR, the Baltic republics, the Soviet Far East, the Ukrainian Poles’e, and the western oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR. Projects to protect soil from water and wind erosion are being carried out in some of the Union republics, including the Kazakh and Ukrainian SSR’s, and in such regions of the RSFSR as Altai and Krasnoiarsk krais and Omsk and Novosibirsk oblasts. Moreover, a number of land reclamation systems have been built and put into operation, including the Krasnoiarsk Reservoir and the Karakum, Saratov, Bol’shoi Stavropol’, and Northern Crimean canals. Irrigated vegetable farming is being expanded in areas near large cities; in 1977 vegetables grown on irrigated lands constituted 60.6 percent of the gross vegetable yield. The importance of land reclamation in the production of grain and feed crops has increased, and some cultivated pasturelands have been irrigated.
Main branches of agricultural production. The diverse types of agricultural production may be grouped into two basic categories—the cultivation of land (including the growing of field crops, fruits, and vegetables) and animal husbandry (including the raising of swine, cattle, sheep, and poultry). The correct balance of these branches ensures the rational use of land, labor, and material resources.
CULTIVATION OF LAND. As of Nov. 1, 1977, kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and state agricultural enterprises had 1,049.3 million ha of land at their disposal; this amount included 552.6 million ha of farmland, of which 226.0 million ha were plowland, 36.2 million ha were natural hayfields, and 281.6 million ha were natural pasturelands. Table 10 shows the distribution of sown areas. The increase in the amount of land under cultivation is one factor that has contributed to the rise in the gross agricultural output of the USSR. Cultivated areas have substantially increased as a result of the better use of plowlands and the large-scale development of virgin and long-unused lands. Between 1954 and 1960, 41.8 million ha of new land were put to use, including 25.5 million ha in the Kazakh SSR and 16.4 million ha in the RSFSR. Between 1940 and 1977 there were qualitative changes in the composition of the total harvest, as greater amounts of land were sown with high-yield crops and strains.
|Table 10. Sown area (million ha)|
|Total sown area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||150.6||209.1||206.7||217.3|
|Grains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||110.7||128.0||119.3||126.6|
|winter wheat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||14.3||19.8||18.5||22.6|
|spring wheat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||26.0||50.4||46.7||38.9|
|winter rye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||23.1||16.0||10.0||8.6|
|seed maize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.7||3.2||3.4||3.0|
|barley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||11.3||19.7||21.3||31.6|
|oats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||20.2||6.6||9.2||11.8|
|millet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.0||3.3||2.7||2.9|
|buckwheat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.0||1.8||1.9||1.7|
|rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.2||0.2||0.4||0.7|
|legumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.2||6.8||5.1||4.7|
|Industrial crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||11.8||15.3||14.5||14.6|
|cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.1||2.4||2.8||3.2|
|sugar beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.2||3.9||3.4||3.7|
|sunflowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.5||4.9||4.8||4.4|
|fiber flax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.1||1.5||1.3||1.1|
|Potatoes and cucurbit vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||10.0||10.6||10.1||9.2|
|potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7.7||8.6||8.1||6.9|
|vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.5||1.4||1.5||1.7|
|Feed crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||18.1||55.2||62.8||66.9|
|True fallow area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||28.9||14.7||18.4||13.8|
As of 1977, 59.9 percent of all cultivated land was sown to grain crops; the RSFSR accounted for 60.1 percent of the total area sown to grains, the Kazakh SSR for 19.5 percent, and the Ukrainian SSR for 13.3 percent. These republics produce a considerable portion of the USSR’s gross yield of grain; in 1975 the RSFSR produced 55.6 percent of the total, the Ukrainian SSR 24.8 percent, and the Kazakh SSR 9.1 percent. In spite of unfavorable weather, an average of 181.6 million tons of grain was harvested annually between 1971 and 1975—that is, 51.3 million tons more than the annual average between 1961 and 1965, and 14 million tons more than the average between 1966 and 1970; the total of 181.6 million tons included 102.9 million tons of grain harvested in the RSFSR, 40 million tons in the Ukrainian SSR, 21.7 million tons in the Kazakh SSR, and 5.5 million tons in the Byelorussian SSR. Large regions have been established for the market production of grain with the help of irrigation; such regions are located in the southern part of the Ukrainian SSR and in Krasnoiarsk and Stavropol’ krais, Rostov Oblast, the Middle and Lower Volga regions, and the area between the Volga and Ural rivers. In 1965, 2.6 million tons of grain were harvested on irrigated lands; in 1977,9.2 million tons came from such areas.
|Table 11. Average annual state purchases of principal crops in the Union republics (1976–80, thousand tons)|
|Grain||Sugar beets||Potatoes||Vegetables||Seed cotton|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||77,655||76,757||14,597||17,244||8,932|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||42,350||22,430||8,279||6,742||—|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||14,030||45,828||2,743||4,890||—|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,297||1,109||1,822||304||—|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||995||—||122||1,435||5,702|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||16,340||2,098||466||722||317|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||176||123||149||298||—|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||352||—||37||616||654|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||304||592||266||99||—|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||972||2,832||22||996||—|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||217||190||232||102||—|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||291||1,403||79||247||210|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||65||—||63||204||906|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||66||152||84||327||—|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||59||—||6||204||1,143|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||141||—||227||58||—|
Engineering systems have been built and put into operation in the rice fields of the Kuban’, the Lower Volga Region, the Soviet Far East, the Ukrainian SSR, the Kazakh SSR, and the Uzbek SSR. Between 1966 and 1977, the area of land planted to rice increased by 329,000 ha—that is, by a factor of 2.5; rice production increased by a factor of 3.8 to a total of 2.2 million tons, including 1,139,000 tons harvested in the RSFSR, 522,000 tons in the Kazakh SSR, 363,000 tons in the Uzbek SSR, and 148,000 tons in the Ukrainian SSR.
Great successes have also been achieved in the cultivation of cotton. In 1977, 8.8 million tons of seed cotton were harvested—that is, 3.9 times more than in 1940 and 1.5 times more than in 1965. The Uzbek SSR accounted for 5.7 million tons of the cotton harvest in 1977, the Turkmen SSR for 1.2 million tons, the Tadzhik SSR for 0.9 million tons, and the Azerbaijan SSR for more than 0.5 million tons. The production of such industrial crops as sugar beets and sunflowers has also developed at a rapid rate, as has production of vegetables (including potatoes), fruits (including grapes), and tea. In 1977 the gross yield of sugar beets was 93.1 million tons, thus surpassing the 1940 level by a factor of 5.2; 55.5 million tons of the total in 1977 were produced in the Ukrainian SSR, and 28.9 million tons in the RSFSR—that is, 60 percent and 31 percent, respectively, of the country’s gross yield. State purchases of the principal land cultivation products in 1977 are shown for each Union republic in Table 11.
Since 1965, land cultivation output has increased primarily as a result of higher crop yields per ha (see Table 12), which are due to intensification of agriculture—in particular, to land reclamation, the use of chemical fertilizers and products, the overall mechanization of production, an improvement in the methods of land cultivation, the production of better seeds, and the introduction of new high-yield strains of crops.
The proportion of seeds that come from improved strains of crops is growing; in 1977, for example, improved varieties constituted 98.1 percent of the grains harvested, 99.7 percent of the seed corn, 100 percent of the sugar beets, 99.6 percent of the sunflowers, 98.8 percent of the fiber flax, and 70.4 percent of the potatoes. Between 1965 and 1977 the grain yield per hectare increased by 5.5 q, the cotton yield by 6.1 q, the sunflower yield by 1.7 q, the potato yield by 15 q, and the yield of other vegetables by 23 q.
Moreover, direct labor costs have been reduced. For example, between 1966 and 1977 the number of man-hours needed to produce 1 q of grain decreased from 4.7 to 1.4 on kolkhozes and from 2.4 to 1.2 on sovkhozes. The decreases for certain other crops were as follows: seed cotton, from 40 to 33 on kolkhozes and from 31 to 25 on sovkhozes; sugar beets, from 2.7 to 1.3 on kolkhozes and from 2.7 to 1.6 on sovkhozes; potatoes, from 5.5 to 2.9 on kolkhozes and from 4.1 to 2.8 on sovkhozes; and other vegetables (in open ground), from 14.8 to 7.9 on kolkhozes and from 7.4 to 4.7 on sovkhozes.
In efforts to increase the productivity of land cultivation an essential role is played by forestry—in particular, agricultural afforestation, which focuses on the cultivation of protective forest growths. Constant attention has been devoted to the problems of afforestation. During the Soviet period, a system of measures has been developed for dealing with unfavorable natural conditions (including droughts, hot dry winds, and wind and water erosion) that hinder the attainment of large and steady harvests. The measures are based on the use of shelterbelts to protect the fields; for example, such belts have been grown on steep slopes, sands, and sandy soils and along the banks of rivers, bodies of water, and the borders of fields where crops are rotated. As a result, the water and nutrient regimes of the soil have improved, climatic and hydrological conditions have improved, water and wind erosion have been prevented, and crop yields have increased.
In accordance with the decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR On Urgent Measures for the Protection of Soils From Wind and Water Erosion (promulgated Mar. 20, 1967), a system of forest belts is being created on kolkhozes and sovkhozes; the system will act in conjunction with other measures to prevent erosion—special methods of cultivation, the sowing of grasses, terracing, soil-protective crop rotation, the use of specialized agricultural technology, and hydraulic engineering measures. Between 1971 and 1977, forestry enterprises created shelterbelts with a total area of 590,000 ha for the protection of fields. In 1977 the total area covered by shelterbelts for fields and orchards on kolkhozes and sovkhozes was approximately 1.6 million ha; of this total, 1.02 million ha were in the RSFSR, 410,000 ha in the Ukraine, 80,000 ha in Kazakhstan, and 20,000 ha in Moldavia.
|Table 12. Crop yields (q per ha)|
|Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.6||10.2||14.7||16.0|
|Cotton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||10.8||20.6||27.3||29.3|
|Sugar beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||146||165||217||237.0|
|Flax fiber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.7||2.6||3.7||3.4|
|Sunflowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7.4||11.2||13.2||11.8|
|Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||99||94||113||117.0|
|Vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||91||116||138||153.0|
The development of land cultivation has also been aided by the State Plant Protection Service, which was established in 1961 ; the service helps control plant pests, farm crop diseases, and weeds. In 1974 a total of more than 34,000 specialists were employed in more than 4,000 plant protection organizations, including 13 central boards, 144 oblast, krai, or republic plant protection stations, 1,547 raion (interraion) plant protection stations, 144 laboratories for diagnosis and forecasting, and numerous quarantine inspectorates. The State Plant Protection Service exercises state supervision over the implementation of measures to combat plant pests, plant diseases, and weeds; it also checks the quality of the plant protection projects carried out by enterprises and organizations (regardless of the agency they are affiliated with), monitors the observance of rules for the use of pesticides, forecasts the appearance and development of swarms of pests and farm plant diseases, guards the territory of the USSR from the entry of new plant pests, plant diseases, and weeds, and implements quarantine measures. When necessary, agricultural airplanes and mechanized teams of specially trained personnel are used to combat plant pests, diseases, and weeds.
Between 1960 and 1974 the area covered by projects for the chemical and biological protection of plants increased nearly fourfold, from 38 million ha to 136 million ha.
The Plant Protection Service of the USSR operates in close collaboration with similar services in many foreign countries. In addition, the USSR has been a member of the International Convention on Plant Protection since 1951, of the European and Mediterranean Organization for Plant Protection since 1957, and of the Organization for Plant Protection of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) since the organization was formed. The USSR cooperates in plant protection efforts with all the member countries of COMECON and also with certain nonmembers, including Afghanistan and Iran.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY. In 1977 the USSR produced 15 million tons of meat (slaughtered weight); the RSFSR accounted for 7.3 million tons (49.7 percent of the total amount), the Ukrainian SSR for 3.5 million tons (23.8 percent), and the Kazakh SSR for 1.0 million tons (6.8 percent). The RSFSR also led in the production of milk; in 1977 it produced 49.7 million tons of milk (52.4 percent of the total), the Ukrainian SSR produced 22.5 million tons (23.7 percent), the Byelorussian SSR produced 6.4 million tons (6.8 percent), and the Kazakh SSR produced 4.3 million tons (4.6 percent). Between 1966 and 1977 the overall output of meat increased 48 percent; for example, beef production increased from 3.9 to 6.9 million tons, and pork production from 4.2 to 5.0 million tons. Moreover, the output of milk increased 31 percent, the output of eggs doubled, and wool production increased 29 percent. State purchases of the principal animal products have increased considerably (see Table 2). The distribution of such purchases throughout the USSR is shown in Table 13. Tables 14 and 15 provide data on the number and productivity of various types of farm animals.
|Table 13. Average annual state purchases of principal animal products in the Union republics (1976–80, thousand tons)|
|Livestock and poultry (slaughtered weight)||Milk and dairy products||Eggs (million units)||Wool (standard weight)|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||16,197||58,709||38,626||517.0|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7,984||31,363||23,679||257.0|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3,523||13,631||7,718||30.2|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,065||3,915||1,346||1.2|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||229||636||776||26.4|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,264||2,186||1,811||117.2|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||139||260||404||5.9|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||114||299||250||11.1|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||578||2,035||473||—|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||282||769||481||2.0|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||328||1,480||501||—|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||208||409||249||40.1|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||86||215||228||5.9|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||96||279||253||4.9|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||58||132||137||15.1|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||243||1,100||320||—|
The present stage of development in socialized animal husbandry is characterized by intensification and by a steady increase in productivity. In 1977 the average annual milk yield per cow on kolkhozes and sovkhozes was 454 kg greater than in 1965 and 1,317 kg greater than in 1940; the average annual wool clip per sheep in 1977 was 0.3 kg greater than in 1965 and 0.7 kg greater than in 1940. Egg production between 1966 and 1977 increased 53 percent—from 132 eggs per hen to 202. The average weight of one head of cattle sold to the state increased from 256 kg to 352 kg.
|Table 14. Livestock and poultry population (as of January 1, all categories of farms; millions)|
|Cattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||54.8||47.6||75.8||93.4||99.2||115.1|
|cows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||28.0||22.9||34.5||39.3||39.8||43.4|
|Swine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||27.6||10.6||58.7||59.6||67.5||73.4|
|Sheep and goats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||91.7||70.0||140.3||135.3||143.4||147.5|
|Poultry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||255.7||131.7||515.6||490.7||652.7||1,032.4|
Animal husbandry is developing through continuous expansion of the feed supply, improvement of the pedigree stock, improvement in the maintenance and care of the stock, extensive construction of livestock barns, further mechanization of production processes, and better organization of labor. Kolkhozes and sovkhozes produce crops that are used to make diverse and highly nutritious feeds. There has been an increase in the output of feed products with a high protein content, including legumes, grass and hay meal, feed yeasts, and animal fodders. In addition, there has been an expansion in the pressing and active ventilation of feeds, the preparation of hay silage and monofeed and the briquetting and granulation of feeds. The production and use of antibiotics and trace elements in animal husbandry has also risen.
|Table 15. Livestock and poultry productivity in kolkhozes, interfarm enterprises, and sovkhozes|
|Average annual milk yield per cow (kg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,124||987||1,938||1,987||2,298||2,222|
|Average annual wool clip per sheep (kg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.5||1.9||2.6||2.9||3.3||3.1|
|Average annual egg production per hen (units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||85||132||166||201|
Improving the pedigree stock of farm animals is the concern of pedigree stock farms, state stations for breeding and artificial insemination, stud farms, and kolkhozes and sovkhozes that practice animal husbandry. On such livestock farms, pedigreed livestock constitute 98 to 100 percent of the total. As a result of intensification, desirable traits of these animals have been exploited, and production time, labor, and costs per unit of output have been reduced. Between 1966 and 1977 the amount of labor needed to effect a weight gain of 1 q in cattle decreased from 86 man-hours to 50 on kolkhozes and from 55 man-hours to 38 on sovkhozes; the corresponding decreases for swine were from 72 man-hours to 34 on kolkhozes and from 34 man-hours to 18 on sovkhozes over the same period the labor needed to produce 1 q of milk decreased from 17 man-hours to 9 on kolkhozes and from 11 man-hours to 7 on sovkhozes, and the labor required for 1 q of wool dropped from 325 man-hours to 259 on kolkhozes and from 212 man-hours to 200 on sovkhozes; the labor needed to produce 1,000 eggs decreased from 63 man-hours to 21 on kolkhozes and from 18 man-hours to 4 on sovkhozes.
During the Soviet period great progress has been made not only in the principal sectors of animal husbandry (the raising of cattle, swine, poultry, and sheep), but also in less important sectors, including fur farming, beekeeping, sericulture, and the raising of horses and reindeer. Three main branches of horse raising may be distinguished: the development of purebreds (themselves used for breeding purposes), the raising of horses to be used in sports, and, in the eastern regions of the USSR, the raising of horses for meat and milk. As of Jan. 1, 1974, purebred horses constituted 98 percent of the total (6.8 million head); at that time, the RSFSR had 3.2 million purebreds, the Ukrainian SSR 1.2 million, and the Kazakh SSR 1.3 million. Each year the USSR exports to many countries horses for meat, breeding, or sports.
The principal products of fur farming—pelts—are also exported. Fur farming is practiced primarily on large, specialized fur-farming sovkhozes, most of which are located in the RSFSR (especially Primor’e Krai and Sakhalin Island), the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Baltic republics. Modest-sized farms are found only in the Far North. In 1977, the output of the fur-farming kolkhozes and sovkhozes of the USSR included 228,000 pelts from true foxes (Vulpes), 465,000 arctic fox pelts, and 7,430,000 mink pelts. Most fur farms are located in the RSFSR, which in 1977 supplied 71 percent of the fox pelts (Vulpes) produced in the USSR, 75 percent of the arctic fox pelts, and 86 percent of the mink pelts.
The most important sector of agriculture in certain regions of the USSR is deer raising—both raising reindeer for meat (in the Far North) and raising deer for antlers in the velvet (in Primor’e and Altai krais, in the southern part of Krasnoiarsk Krai, and in the Kazakh SSR). In 1977 there were 2.3 million head of reindeer in the USSR; the output of reindeer meat totaled 25,000 tons (slaughtered weight). As much as 60 to 65 percent of the antlers in the velvet prepared in the USSR are exported.
Beekeeping is highly developed in practically all regions of the country, except for the tundra and forest tundra zones. Apiaries have been established on kolkhozes, on sovkhozes and other state farms, and on household plots. In 1977 the USSR had 9.4 million bee colonies, of which 4.2 million were on state farms. Large, specialized beekeeping sovkhozes have been established. The annual yield of honey in the USSR ranges between 180,000 and 200,000 tons; state purchases in 1977 totaled more than 57,600 tons.
Sericulture is practiced on large, specialized sovkhozes. In 1977 more than half (61 percent) of the total number of cocoons harvested in the USSR came from the Uzbek SSR. Between 1940 and 1977 the total weight of the cocoons that were gathered increased from 20,500 tons to 43,100 tons; during the same period the output of raw silk increased from 1,816 tons to 3,478 tons.
VETERINARY SERVICE. A large role in the development of animal husbandry has been played by the Veterinary Service of the USSR. During the Soviet period, the most serious diseases that afflict farm animals have been eliminated; these diseases include the plague and pneumonia (affecting cattle), infectious pleurisy and pneumonia (affecting goats), and glanders, epizootic lymphangitis, infectious encephalomyelitis, and infectious anemia (affecting horses). In the Baltic republics, the Byelorussian SSR, the Moldavian SSR, and numerous oblasts of the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR, cases of brucellosis are rarely observed, and a considerable portion of the country is virtually free of tuberculosis among animals. Such diseases as anthrax, rabies, foot-and-mouth disease, hog cholera, Newcastle disease, and pyroplasmosis are found only in isolated instances. Moreover, in spite of the difficulties inherent in transhumant livestock raising, the occurrence of certain animal diseases has been reduced in the Kazakh SSR and the republics of Transcaucasia and Middle Asia.
The Veterinary Service of the USSR concerns itself not only with eliminating animal diseases, but also with warning people about the diseases, protecting the population against diseases that are common to human beings and animals, and planning various types of veterinary-sanitary measures. It maintains close ties with such state bodies as the ministries of the meat and dairy industry, the fishing industry, the timber industry, transportation, and communications, as well as various agencies. The service has at its disposal a network of scientific research institutes, institutions for treatment, prophylaxis, and diagnosis, and veterinary-sanitary institutions, all staffed with veterinary specialists.
As of Jan. 1,1976, the USSR had approximately 35,000 veterinary institutions; together with kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and other organizations they employed some 65,500 veterinarians and more than 130,000 veterinary assistants. Every year veterinary specialists perform more than 5 billion inoculations and give specialized treatment to animals. In addition, they evaluate production on livestock farms from a veterinary-sanitary point of view, help improve the sanitary quality of milk (with state standards in mind), and, with the use of visual aids, spread veterinary knowledge among the public.
Of particular importance are the veterinary-sanitary measures that are taken in converting animal husbandry to an industrial basis. Veterinary specialists have helped develop the rules for building and operating animal-breeding complexes and for maintaining the animals kept in them. Improvement in the veterinary-sanitary conditions of animal husbandry in many republics was facilitated by the establishment in the late 1960’s of veterinary-sanitary units that operate on the basis of profit-and-loss accounting; these units disinfect farms and meat-packing plants, and they exterminate rats and mice found in such places.
The Veterinary Service of the USSR cooperates with the corresponding organizations of numerous foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Italy, Finland, and the member countries of COMECON. The USSR has been a member of the World Veterinary Association since 1928 and of the International Bureau of Epizootics since 1927. The USSR is also a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Location and specialization of agricultural production. Agroclimatic resources, such as warmth, moisture, and solar radiation, are important factors in the location and specialization of agricultural production. Appraisals of these resources have been conducted throughout the country—with respect to individual regions that are important in agricultural production and with respect to oblasts, krais, and republics.
Thermal resources that can be exploited for agricultural purposes are evaluated by adding up the number of degrees by which the average daily air temperatures during the growing season exceed 10°C. In the arctic zone, where the sum of such temperatures is below 400°C, insufficient warmth makes it impossible to cultivate plants except in covered ground. In the subarctic zone, with temperature sums ranging from 400° to 1,000°C, agriculture is practiced in individual areas that have a favorable microclimate; in such areas, winter-hardy vegetables and feed crops are grown, and in particularly favorable areas in the southern part of the zone, winter rye, barley, and oats are cultivated.
The principal agricultural regions of the USSR are located in the country’s temperate zone. In the northern part of the zone, the temperature sums average 1,000°C; they average 3,600°C in the southern section of the European part of the USSR and 5,000°C in the southern part of Middle Asia. The length of the frost-free period increases from a total of two to three months in the northern part of the zone to seven months in Middle Asia, and it reaches nine months in Transcaucasia. In Siberia and Kazakhstan, the temperature sums are as high as in the principal agricultural regions, but because of the continental climate, the frost-free period is one to 1.5 months shorter; thus, the utility of the thermal resources is limited.
Isotherms drawn on agroclimatic maps mark the northern boundaries of the areas where, in 80 to 90 percent of cases (or in eight or nine years out of ten), the principal crops can be assured of receiving the warmth they need to mature. The northern boundary for spring wheat is the isotherm marking a sum of 1,800°C; it runs approximately through the cities of Tartu, Novgorod, Kirov, Tiumen’, and Tomsk. The northern boundary for growing sunflowers and most early-ripening strains of maize is close to the 2,600°C isotherm, which passes through Kiev, Saratov, and Orenburg. The 3,200°C isotherm, which runs through Nikolaev, Rostov-on-Don, and Volgograd, marks the northern boundary for growing most strains of rice and late-ripening maize. In Middle Asia and south of the 3,600°C isotherm, earlyripening strains of cotton are raised, and south of the 4,600°C degree isotherm, fine-fiber cotton may be grown.
Within the temperate zone, winter and perennial crops are distributed according to the severity of the winter. The cultivation of winter crops is limited in the southeastern European part of the USSR and in many regions of Siberia and Kazakhstan because there is little snow cover and the winters are harsh. In regions where the soil temperature at the depth of the tillering node has at least a 50-percent chance of being less than or equal to –20°C, most winter crops are subject to freezing. The boundaries of the regions where various fruit trees may be grown are drawn where the probability of having winters with air temperatures less than the critical temperature for the given tree (or strain) falls below 50 percent. For peach and walnut trees the critical temperature is –20°C, and for the Central Russian strains of apple and pear trees, it is –35°C. In the USSR’s subtropical zone, where the sum of the average daily temperatures during the growing season is 3,600°C, thermal resources assure the successful cultivation of subtropical plants, including citrus trees, tung oil trees, laurel, and tea bushes.
Appraisals of the moisture resources available for agricultural purposes are based on the amount of moisture found in an area. The boundary between the moist and arid zones stretches along the northern part of the forest steppe. Harvests in the arid zone become less reliable toward the southeastern part of the country. Moderate or severe droughts occur in the steppe regions of the Ukraine and northern Kazakhstan in two to four out of ten years; in the Lower Volga Region and south of the imaginary line connecting Orenburg, Tselinograd, and Pavlodar, droughts strike in four to five out of ten years, and in some areas they occur as frequently as six out often years. The summer rains, however, make farming generally profitable in these regions; irrigation makes possible reliable high-yield harvests. In the arid zone (the desert and semidesert) it is not possible to farm without irrigation; with irrigation, however, the high levels of heat and solar radiation assure high-yield harvests of valuable, cold-sensitive crops, including cotton and rice.
In the Soviet Far East, where the summer monsoons bring considerable precipitation, humidity, and cloud cover, the vegetative conditions differ from those existing in the remaining territory of the USSR. Climatic conditions dictate the types of crops that can be grown in such areas (for example, soybeans are widely cultivated) and determine the techniques and equipment that must be used.
On the basis of an overall evaluation of thermal and moisture resources, it has been determined that optimal climatic conditions for the cultivation of grains are found along a certain geographic line. North of the line, insufficient warmth prevents the cultivation of late-ripening, higher-yield crops (or strains of crops); south of the line, insufficient moisture limits productivity. North of the line, however, and extending as far as the 1,800°C isotherm (that is, primarily the Nonchernozem Zone of the European part of the USSR), there is sufficient warmth and moisture for winter grains, spring grains, and feed crops, as well as potatoes and other vegetables.
Evaluations of solar radiation resources are based on the amount of light needed to assure normal levels of photosynthesis. During the growing season (the period when the average daily air temperature is above 10°C), the northern agricultural regions receive 2 billion kilocalories (kcal) of radiant energy per ha (1 kcal = 4.19 kilojoules); the Northern Caucasus and the southern parts of the Ukrainian SSR receive 4 billion kcal per ha, and the southern section of Middle Asia receives 6 billion kcal per ha. These variations are taken into account in the zonal distribution of crops.
Specific types of agricultural output are produced in the regions that have the most favorable natural and economic conditions for them. A mix of products comes from each region. The proper combination of leading and secondary agricultural sectors assures the overall development of agriculture.
The agricultural output of the RSFSR is highly diverse. In the Nonchernozem Zone of the European part of the RSFSR, dairy farming and swine raising are combined with the cultivation of flax, vegetables, and potatoes. In the Central Chernozem Region, the Northern Caucasus, the Volga Region, and the Southern Urals, grain is grown on a large scale. In the Central Chernozem Region and the Northern Caucasus, the cultivation of grain is combined with highly developed viticulture and the cultivation of sugar beets, fruits, tobacco, and plants that yield vegetable oil; in the Volga Region both grains and oil-bearing crops are cultivated. Also common in these regions is the raising of cattle (for meat and dairy purposes), as well as the raising of swine, sheep, and poultry.
The development of the virgin and long-unused lands in the southern oblasts of Western and Eastern Siberia has resulted in a dramatic change in the agricultural output of these regions; their contribution to the country’s gross output of cereal has grown and cattle raising (for meat and dairy purposes) has assumed increasing importance, along with sheep raising. In the Soviet Far East, dairy farming, swine raising, and poultry farming are rapidly developing, together with the cultivation of rice and vegetables, including potatoes and soybeans.
In 1977 the Ukrainian SSR produced 25 percent of the USSR’s gross yield of grain, approximately 60 percent of state purchases of sugar beets, and a considerable percentage of the country’s sunflowers, tobacco, fiber flax, vegetables, and fruits, including grapes. Its agricultural output also included animal products from cattle, swine, and poultry.
In the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian SSR’s, animal husbandry is highly developed, as is the production of fiber flax and vegetables, including potatoes. The same sectors of agricultural production are highly developed in the Byelorussian SSR. In the Moldavian SSR fruit growing, including viticulture, is of considerable importance, along with the raising of cattle, swine, and poultry.
The Kazakh SSR is a large-scale producer of grains, mutton, wool, and pelts from Karakul sheep. The Uzbek, Tadzhik, and Turkmen SSR’s specialize in the production of cotton, and in 1977 they produced approximately 90 percent of the USSR’s gross yield of seed cotton; other well-developed sectors of agriculture are the cultivation of rice, fruit trees, and grapes. In the Kirghiz SSR cotton growing is combined with the cultivation of sugar beets and tobacco; cattle raising and fine-wool sheep raising are also widespread.
The Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijan SSR’s produce industrial crops, such as tobacco; they also cultivate grapes and other fruits. In Georgia the production of tea has increased at a rapid rate, and in Azerbaijan the output of cotton has grown markedly. The principal branches of animal husbandry in these republics are cattle raising and sheep raising.
At present, agricultural production is undergoing further concentration and specialization. Although most agricultural enterprises raise grain, the bulk of the market output is produced by large-scale, highly mechanized grain kolkhozes and sovkhozes located in the Northern Caucasus, the Volga Region, the Urals, the Ukraine, Siberia, and Kazakhstan. Kolkhozes and sovkhozes for the cultivation of rice have been created in the Ukrainian SSR, Krasnodar and Primor’e krais, and Rostov and Astrakhan oblasts, as well as a number of oblasts in Kazakhstan. Moreover, specialized farms for the cultivation of potatoes and other vegetables have been established near major cities and industrial centers. The production of vegetables is undergoing further specialization; for example, the production of early-ripening vegetables is becoming an independent sector, and large-scale hothouse complexes have been created.
The various sectors of animal husbandry are also becoming increasingly specialized and are gradually being converted to an industrial basis. There has been an increase in the number of specialized kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and interfarm enterprises for feeding cattle and swine for reproductive purposes. Industrial methods of production in poultry farming are undergoing rapid development; the bulk of the market output of poultry products is supplied by the large-scale industrial enterprises of the Ptitseprom (Poultry Industry) administration of the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR. As of 1975, the Ptitseprom system included 667 poultry farms, 437 poultry-raising sovkhozes, 171 poultry-breeding sovkhozes and plants, 757 hatcheries, and a network of scientific research institutes. Between 1966 and 1975 egg production at the Ptitseprom enterprises increased from 3.2 billion to 25.5 billion units. The introduction of industrial technology in poultry farming has transformed production; all processes have been mechanized and automated, both purebred and hybrid poultry are being raised, and progressive methods of maintaining and feeding the fowl are being applied (including the use of specially created microclimates and lighting schedules).
Industrial technology at contemporary swine-raising enterprises ensures a steady, cyclic flow of production, based on the mechanization and automation of all operations. Between 1971 and 1975 numerous swine-raising complexes were established in various oblasts of the RSFSR (including Moscow, Leningrad, Kuibyshev, Belgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, and Kemerovo oblasts) and in the Ukrainian SSR (including Kiev and Kharkov oblasts). Industrialized swine farming is developing in various oblasts of the RSFSR (including Penza, Tambov, Lipetsk, and Voronezh oblasts), the Byelorussian SSR, and other Union republics. Industrial methods of production and modern technology are being applied in such sectors of animal husbandry as sheep raising and beef and dairy farming; large-scale complexes for the production of beef, milk, and sheep products have been established.
Interfarm cooperation and agroindustrial integration are important factors in the development of agriculture. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, the first interfarm enterprises and associations of various production types were established; between 1966 and 1977 they increased in number from 3,355 to 7,706, and the value of the fixed capital stock of the interfarm system reached 11.696 billion rubles. In 1977 there were 3,119 interfarm enterprises and associations in the RSFSR, 2,897 in the Ukrainian SSR, 341 in the Byelorussian SSR, 199 in the Uzbek SSR, 275 in the Georgian SSR, 246 in the Moldavian SSR, 104 in the Lithuanian SSR, 124 in the Azerbaijan SSR, 70 in the Kazakh SSR, 67 in the Turkmen SSR, 64 in the Tadzhik SSR, 72 in the Kirghiz SSR, 45 in the Latvian SSR, 50 in the Armenian SSR, and 33 in the Estonian SSR.
The best-developed area of interfarm cooperation is construction. By the end of 1977 the USSR had 3,615 interkolkhoz construction organizations, which were responsible for more than half of the construction on kolkhozes. Among the agricultural entities in the USSR that operate on the principles of interfarm cooperation are 912 enterprises for animal husbandry, 517 poultry farms, 246 stations for the artificial insemination of farm animals, and 448 mixed-feed plants. Interkolkhoz associations for the cultivation of fruits are operating in the Moldavian SSR and in Krasnodar and Stavropol krais and various oblasts of the RSFSR, including Rostov Oblast; in the same areas, interkolkhoz orchards have been created, and large, interkolkhoz fruit storage facilities are being built, along with industrial enterprises for processing and storing vegetables and fruits (including berries). By 1977,490 interfarm state forestry establishments had been organized in the RSFSR.
During the 1970’s, scientific industrial and industrial scientific associations became popular new forms for combining science and production. The Agropribor and Efirmaslo scientific industrial associations belong to the system of the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR. Also operating on the principles of scientific industrial associations are the R. I. Shreder Uzbek Scientific Research Institute of Fruit Growing, Viticulture, and Wine-making, the Estonian Scientific Research Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, the Byelorussian Scientific Research Institute of Animal Husbandry, and the Lithuanian Scientific Research Institute of Land Cultivation. In addition, a number of industrial scientific associations on the republic level—including Zveroprom and Plodoprom—have been created in the RSFSR. The grouping of scientific research institutes and agricultural enterprises in an association makes possible unified management, which allows the efforts of scientists, production workers, designers, and other specialists to be concentrated on solving scientific and technical problems and accelerating the introduction of scientific developments into agricultural production.
Cooperation has also developed in such areas as seed production, breeding, the use of electric power, and agrochemical services. Interfarm cooperation has been demonstrated to provide a convenient and effective framework for transforming diversified production on kolkhozes and sovkhozes into large-scale, specialized production that is based on industrial methods and modern technology. Such cooperation signifies a further reduction of the differences between state and cooperative-kolkhoz forms of ownership, and it testifies to the Communist Party’s creative development of Lenin’s cooperative plan as applied to the present stage of communist construction.
Interfarm cooperation and the integration of agriculture and industry have given rise to higher forms of production concentration—specifically, agroindustrial complexes, enterprises, and associations. In 1977 the USSR had approximately 800 of these enterprises and associations with various specializations. Agroindustrial production associations for fruit growing, including viticulture, have been created in the Ukrainian SSR. Such associations in the Moldavian SSR are Moldvinprom, Moldplodovoshchprom, Moldefirmasloprom, and Molokoprom. Notable examples in the RSFSR include the republic-level association Rosglavvino and the territorial associations Kuban’vino (Krasnodar Krai), Donvino and Donkonservtrest (Rostov Oblast), and Dagvino (Dagestan ASSR). Agroindustrial associations of the wine-making and food-preserves industries have also been organized in the republics located in Middle Asia and Transcaucasia.
Agroindustrial cooperation makes it possible to locate factories closer to their sources of raw materials, to maintain a steady supply of raw materials for industry, and to assure that the processing of the raw materials and the sale of the finished products take place without interruption. These factors are of primary importance for the intensification of agricultural production and the increase of its efficiency.
L. IA. FLORENTEV
BibliographyPlenum TsK KPSS 24–26 marta 1965 g.: Stenograficheskii otchet. Moscow, 1965.
Torzhestvo leninskogo kooperativnogo plana: Material y Tret’ego Vsesoiuznogo s”ezda kolkhoznikov, Noiabr’ 1969. Moscow, 1969.
Brezhnev, L. I. Leninskim kursom: Rechi i stat’i, vol. 1. Moscow, 1970.
Brezhnev, L. I. Voprosy agrarnoi politiki KPSS i osvoenie tselinnykh zemel’ Kazakhstana. Moscow, 1974.
Kursom martovskogoplenuma. Moscow, 1975.
Problemy agrarnoi politiki KPSS na sovremennom étape: Materialy Vsesoiuznoi nauchno-teoreticheskoi konferentsii, posviashchennoi 10-letiiu martovskogo plenuma TsK KPSS (24–26 marta 1975), vol. 1. Moscow, 1975.
Novyi etap v razvitii sel’skogo khoziaistva SSSR. Moscow, 1975.
Sel’skoe khoziaistvo SSSR: Statisticheskii sb. Moscow, 1971.
Brezhnev, L. I. O dal’neishem razvitii sel’skogo khoziaistva SSSR: Doklad na Plenume TsK KPSS 3 iulia 1978 g. Moscow, 1978.
In the USSR, general-purpose transportation—which involves transport by railroad, river, ship, air, motor vehicle, and pipeline—and industrial transport are component parts of an integrated transportation system and constitute state socialist property. Some transportation equipment belongs to kolkhozes, and some—for example, boats and passenger cars—to individuals. Socialist ownership of the means of production and the planned nature of the Soviet economy determine the overall development of both general-purpose transportation, which caters primarily to the sphere of commodity circulation, and industrial transport. Industrial transport serves the production process directly; it makes use of transportation equipment, mechanisms, structures, and railroad track and involves motor vehicle transport, water transport, and such special types of transport as conveyor, cableway, monorail, and pipeline.
The development of transportation is closely related to that of other branches of the national economy. On the one hand, production growth, structural changes, and territorial shifts in the location of production have a decisive influence on transport operations, their scale, and the distribution of traffic among the various forms of transport. On the other hand, transportation affects the rate and scale of the development of the national economy and the efficiency of socialist production. Between 1913 and 1980, the freight turnover of general-purpose transportation increased nearly 50-fold, and passenger traffic 27-fold. In 1977, transportation accounted for more than 10 percent of all capital investment in the national economy, 9 percent of all industrial and nonindustrial workers, and 13.6 percent of the fixed production assets.
In prerevolutionary Russia, the principal types of traffic were transport by rail, river, and wagon. The construction of railroads was begun earlier in Russia than in many countries. The first long-distance railroad was the St. Petersburg-Moscow line, built in 1851. Railroad construction on a large scale, however, did not begin until the mid-1860’s. Although Russia’s railroad system—with 71,700 km of track—was the second largest in the world in 1913, behind the USA’s, it was too small for such a large country.
As a result of the efforts of Russian scientists and engineers, the country’s rail transport was, in some aspects, second to none. Steam locomotives and passenger cars were of a particularly high quality, and, for the first time, railroads were successfully built in terrain such as the quicksands of Middle Asia and the permafrost of Siberia. The freight turnover of railroad transport in 1913 was 76.4 billion ton-km, with 157.6 million tons of freight moved. The carrying capacity of a freight car was 16.5–18 tons, and the average speed of delivery of goods was approximately 72 km a day, that is, 3 km/hr.
The development of water transport was slow. Of the 500,000 km of rivers suitable for navigation and timber flotation, approximately 65,000 km were navigated on a regular basis. Ship traffic was comparatively heavy only along the Volga and the Kama. In 1914, the country’s mechanically powered oceangoing vessels (with a combined maximum cargo weight of 908,000 tons) and sailing vessels (with a combined maximum cargo weight of 427,000 tons) numbered 1,103. The total maximum cargo weight was 1.3 million tons, which represented 1–2 percent of world tonnage.
Pipeline transportation in 1914 was in its infancy. Of the 1,100 km of trunk pipelines, the largest was the Baku-Batumi kerosine pipeline. The total length of the system of roads for animal-drawn transport was 1,311,000 km, of which only slightly more than 24,000 km were hard-surfaced, primarily with cobblestone. Most motor vehicles were imported. Approximately 70 percent of the railroads were state owned.
|Table 1. Freight traffic (percent)|
|Railroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||60.6||78.2||85.1||84.4||79.8||65.1||55.8|
|Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||16.1||7.8||4.9||5.6||7.0||17.1||13.8|
|River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||22.9||13.3||7.4||6.5||5.3||4.5||4.4|
|Petroleum and petroleum-product pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||0.5||0.8||0.7||2.7||7.4||19.5|
|Motor vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||0.2||1.8||2.8||5.2||5.8||7.0|
|Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||—||—||0.0||0.1||0.1|
World War I devastated the country’s transportation system. In September 1917, V. I. Lenin wrote: “Unavoidable war is threatening. The railways are incredibly disorganised and the disorganisation is progressing. The railways will come to a standstill. The delivery of raw materials and coal to the factories will cease. The delivery of grain will cease” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 34, p. 155).
During the Civil War and Military Intervention of 1918–20, approximately 4,000 bridges and a great many stations, train sheds, and communications lines were destroyed. In December 1921, 61 percent of the country’s steam locomotives were in disrepair, as were more than 28 percent of its railroad cars. With an eye to rebuilding the country’s war-ravaged economy, the Communist Party, the Soviet government, and Lenin himself devoted a great deal of energy to setting transportation to rights. The maritime and river fleets were nationalized on Jan. 26, 1918, and privately owned railroads on June 28. The principal directions to be taken in rebuilding transportation were outlined in 1920 in a plan worked out by the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO plan). The plan envisaged railroad construction, electrification of railroad routes, modernization of river transport, expansion of the capacity of seaports, and a considerable increase in freight turnover.
Transportation was modernized during the country’s period of industrialization. The first five-year plan (1929–32) saw the completion of the Turkestan-Siberian Railroad, the line between Akmolinsk (now Tselinograd) and Karaganda, and the line between Kartaly and Magnitogorsk. Construction was begun on the Baltic-White Sea Canal. The second line of the Baku-Batumi pipeline was laid, as was the Armavir-Trudovaia petroleum-product pipeline. The manufacture of motor vehicles, ships, and aircraft expanded.
During the second and third five-year plans (from 1933 to the first half of 1941), a number of projects were completed: the Baltic-White Sea Canal (1933), the Moscow Canal (1937), the Moscow-Minsk highway, the Malgobek-Groznyi petroleum pipeline, and the Goragorskii-Groznyi petroleum pipeline. The development of the Northern Sea Route was begun. Motor vehicle, pipeline, and air transportation systems were, in essence, created.
During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, transportation was used to resolve the extremely complex problems of transferring productive forces to the country’s eastern regions and of reliably supplying the front and rear lines. At the same time, damaged transportation facilities were rebuilt, and new transportation facilities were constructed. During the war, 65,000 km of railroad track were destroyed, and 13,000 railroad bridges spanning a total of approximately 300 km were blow up. Partially or completely destroyed were 4,100 railroad stations, 317 roundhouses, 129 locomotive- and car-repair plants and workshops, approximately 16,000 locomotives, and 428,000 railroad cars.
In the western regions of the European USSR, almost the entire river fleet was put out of operation, many wharves, docks, and airports were destroyed, and a great many highway bridges were blown up. Between 1946 and 1950 railroads and highways were repaired, inland waterways and shipping lanes were cleared, and the river fleet’s vessels were repaired or replaced. In the decade that followed, a great deal of effort was devoted to improving all types of transportation.
The development of an integrated transportation system and the efficient distribution of traffic among the various types of freight transport are based on the technical and economic characteristics of each type of transport (see Table 1). Railroads move large amounts of goods and provide versatile, scheduled, fast, and cheap transportation. Shipping is used for most of the country’s foreign trade as well as for coastal traffic. River transport is used primarily in regions whose overland transportation routes are still poorly developed. It also serves enterprises near rivers and aids railroad transport in areas where its operations may be seasonal.
Motor vehicle transport, which is highly versatile, provides conveyance of freight to and from rail and water transport terminals and obviates expensive reloading operations. Air transport is used for the long-distance transfer of mail and of goods that are valuable, in short supply, or highly perishable. The percentage of goods moved by pipeline and motor vehicle transport is growing. Despite a decrease in the percentage of goods moved by rail, railroad transport continues to have the highest figures for domestic freight turnover.
|Table 2. Conveyance of freight by railroad|
|Total freight transported (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||156.2||605.1||834.3||1,884.9||2,896.0||3,728.2|
|Total freight turnover (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||93.4||420.7||602.3||1,504.3||2,494.7||3,439.9|
|Hard coal and coke (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||18.7||107.0||178.2||333.8||448.1||628.8|
|Petroleum (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.3||36.6||52.0||205.4||353.9||460.8|
|Ferrous metals (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4.5||22.7||38.7||92.5||192.1||279.3|
|Timber (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||15.1||52.4||76.8||229.7||294.5||251.8|
|Grain (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||14.7||34.5||34.6||93.8||111.3||137.1|
|Ores (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.8||21.5||27.8||70.1||169.5||236.6|
|Mineral building materials (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||29.0||46.7||157.1||300.0||456.5|
|Mineral fertilizers (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||6.6||7.6||24.2||70.9||124.9|
|Other freight (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||110.4||139.9||297.7||554.4||864.1|
Marked qualitative changes have occurred in passenger transport. Between 1950 and 1980, the percentage of passenger traffic accounted for by motor vehicles grew to 43.7 percent from 5.3 percent. Passenger traffic carried by aircraft grew to 18 percent from 1.2 percent. The figure for railroad transport decreased from 89.5 percent in 1950 to 37.3 percent in 1980.
Locational shifts of productive forces, increased specialization of economic regions, and expansion of the country’s foreign-trade ties have raised the efficiency of social production. This rise has been accompanied in a number of instances by an increase in the average distance that freight is moved, especially freight transported by pipeline, sea, and railroad. Technological progress and improvements in the organization of transportation, however, are reducing transportation costs.
Railroad transport. Between 1913 and 1980, freight turnover increased by a factor of 45 (see Table 2), so that it exceeded the freight turnover of the USA’s railroads by a factor of 2.5. Passenger traffic increased by a factor of 11 (see Table 3). Commuter passenger traffic, which accounted for approximately 29 percent of all passenger traffic in 1980, increased by a factor of 3.4 between 1951 and 1980. In the same period, long-distance passenger traffic increased by a factor of 1.7. One reason for the lag in the growth of passenger traffic on long-distance runs is the increasing importance of air transport in long-distance travel.
Considerable effort has been devoted to modernizing the existing railroad network, especially the principal trunk lines. New railroad construction is making possible the development of the
|Table 3. Conveyance of passengers by railroad|
|Passengers carried (million persons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||248.5||291.1||1,377||1,163.8||1,949.7||2,930.4||3,559.0|
|Passenger traffic (billion passenger-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||30.3||24.5||100.4||88.0||170.8||265.4||332.1|
|Average trip per passenger (km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||122||84||73||76||88||91||93|
economy in regions that have been serviced by an insufficient number of railroad lines. Also being built are lines to ease the burden on overcrowded trunk lines. The size of the country’s railroad system has grown from 71,700 km of track in 1913 to 141,800 km in 1980.
|Table 4. Railroad lines served by advanced types of traction|
|1With respect to net ton-km in commercial traffic|
|Length of electrified lines (thousand km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.9||3.0||13.8||33.9||43.7|
|Length of lines served by diesel locomotives (thousand km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||3.1||17.7||76.2||97.3|
|Freight turnover1 (percent) electrified lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.0||32||21.8||48.7||54.9|
|lines served by diesel locomotives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||02||2.2||21.4||47.8||45.1|
|lines served by steam locomotives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||97.8||94.6||56.8||3.5||—|
Between 1952 and 1977, construction of the following important lines was completed: the Mointy-Chu line, which is a new transportation link between the central regions of Kazakhstan and the Middle Asian republics; sections of the South Siberian trunk line, linking Novokuznetsk and Abakan, Artyshta and Altaiskaia, Tselinograd and Pavlodar, and Kulunda and Barnaul; the main section of the Central Siberian trunk line, connecting Srednesibirskaia, Irtyshskoe, and Karbyshevo; the Abakan-Taishet line, which provides a direct link between the Kuznetsk Coal Basin and Eastern Siberia; the Gur’ev-Astrakhan line, which is a through route between the Caucasus and the Urals; the Taishet-Lena line; and the Chardzhou-Kungrad-Beineu line, which forms a large part of what will be a second trunk line between Middle Asia and the Central Zone. Also completed were the Makat-Beineu-Shevchenko and Tiumen’-Tobol’sk lines, which provide links with the oil-bearing regions of the Mangyshlak Peninsula and Western Siberia; several timber-carrying lines (Achinsk-Abalakovo, Asino-Belyi lar, Ivdel’-Ob’, and Tavda-Sotnik); and the Khrebtovaia-Ust’-Ilimskaia line, which was needed for the construction of the Ust’-Ilimsk Hydroelectric Power Plant and the development of the territorial-production complex based on it. Several lines began operation in 1976 and 1977, including the Beloretsk-Karlaman line and the line connecting Tynda with the Baikal-Amur Main Line (BAM).
The electrification of railroads has been of crucial importance in the technological development of railroad transport and has resulted in substantial savings. With steam traction, the average coefficient of use of energy sources was approximately 5 percent. As a result of the virtually complete replacement of steam traction by electric and diesel traction (see Table 4), the figure in 1973 was roughly 25 percent; moreover, the amount of energy sources used to power trains remained at the 1950 level, and transportation costs were 25–30 percent lower, in comparable prices, than they were in 1950. Steam traction is also being eliminated in switching operations; by 1977, 92.9 percent of the traction used in such operations was of a more advanced type.
One important trend associated with the technological improvement of railroad transport is the increase in locomotive power. The VL-80 series-production electric freight locomotives have a tractive effort of 48.5 tons and a power rating of 8,600 hp (1 hp = 0.736 kilowatt). The corresponding figures for the 2TE-10 diesel locomotives are 54 tons and 6,000 hp. Two-unit locomotives with a power rating of 8,000 hp have been developed for series production. Eight-axle gondola cars with a freight-carrying capacity of 125 tons and eight-axle tank cars with a capacity of 120 tons are being introduced, and plain bearings are being replaced by rolling-contact bearings.
The quality of the equipment used in the railroad system, whose operation is centrally controlled, has permitted extensive use of production assets in the country’s planned socialist economy. The system’s freight-traffic density in 1977 was 24.0 million ton-km, which was six times that of the USA.
The USSR’s railroads, which constitute more than 12 percent of the length of the world’s railroads, account for more than 50 percent of the world’s freight turnover. The level of use of the country’s rolling stock is high (see Table 5); the cost of transporting 10 tons of freight 1 km dropped from 3.06 kopeks in 1961 to 2.93 kopeks in 1977. Labor productivity for the same period increased by a factor of 2.1. Railroad transport’s profitability in 1980 was 7.1 percent.
|Table 5. Railroad rolling stock and labor productivity|
|1Including transfer and pickup trains|
|2All types of traction, including pickuptrains|
|Average daily run of a freight locomotive1 (km)|
|steam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||256.8||245.5||367.2||457.8||491.2|
|electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||36.70||301.7||557.0||502.1||533.0|
|diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||356.7||300.0||486.1||415.3||456.2|
|Average speed of freight trains2 (km-hr)|
|schedule speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||20.3||20.1||28.3||33.5||32.3|
|speed between stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||33.1||33.8||40.4||46.4||45.8|
|Average daily run of a freight car(km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||139.9||146.4||227.0||255.5||234.5|
|Average weight of a freight car (gross tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,301||1,430||2,099||2,574||2,758|
|Labor productivity perworker employed in conveyance (thousand ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||367||403||833||1.382||1.742|
River transport. River transport plays a leading role in the shipment of goods in the northeastern part of the USSR, in northern and central Siberia, and in the northern part of the European
|Table 6. General-purpose river transport|
|Freight transported (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||35.1||18.3||73.9||91.8||210.3||357.8||568.1|
|Freight turnover (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||28.9||15.9||36.1||46.2||99.6||174.0||244.9|
|Freight-traffic density (thousand ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||447||222||340||364||752||1,260||—|
|Average distance per ton of freight (km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||823||867||489||503||474||486||431|
|Passengers carried (million persons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||11.5||17.8||73.0||53.6||118.6||145.2||138.2|
|Passenger traffic (billion passenger-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.4||2.1||3.8||2.7||4.3||5.4||6.1|
|Average trip per passenger (km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||125||117||52||50||36||37||44|
|Table 7. Inland waterways in USSR (thousand km)|
|Length of inland waterwaysin use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||64.6||71.6||108.9||130.2||137.9||144.5||142.0|
|Waterways with channel markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||39.9||52.1||101.3||112.2||123.8||131.2||132.3|
|Waterways with illuminated or light-reflecting markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||35.9||29.3||69.6||66.6||70.6||83.8||88.5|
|Waterways with guaranteed depths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||—||57.0||64.2||78.6||83.1|
|Man-made waterways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.0||—||4.2||5.5||13.3||18.6||20.5|
USSR. It accounts for 70–80 percent of the freight turnover in these regions. In the river valleys of the European part of the country, river transport accounts for only 20–30 percent of the total transport operations. Between 1913 and 1980, the freight turnover of river transport increased by a factor of 8.5, and the freight-traffic density of waterways rose by a factor of 3.6. The number of passengers using river transport increased 12-fold. Passenger traffic, however, increased by a factor of only 3.9, primarily owing to the development of suburban and intracity service, in which the average distance of a trip is short (see Table 6).
Mineral building materials, timber, and petroleum account for the greater part of river transport’s freight turnover (75 percent). Coal and ores are also hauled. Between 1956 and 1977, the transfer of freight from railroad transport to river transport—which takes place primarily in the summer months—increased by a factor of 2.8; in 1977, 31.8 million tons were transferred.
Inland waterways are used unequally for transporting freight. In 1977,55.4 percent of the freight turnover was accounted for by the central basins of the RSFSR-the Volga-Kama, Moskva, and Don basins. The basins of the Northwestern Economic Region accounted for 13.9 percent, and the Dnieper basin for 5.1 percent. The country’s eastern basins increased their percentage to 23.9 percent in 1977 from 16 percent in 1960.
The shipment of freight along small rivers, especially those in the remote regions of Siberia and the Far East, constitutes a large part of the country’s river-transport operations. Approximately 400 small rivers, with a total length of about 60,000 km, are used. It is frequently more economical in such areas to transport freight on watercraft with low maximum cargo capacities than to transport it on long-haul motor vehicles or to build new railroads. More freight can be hauled during freshets, since the rivers become navigable by large ships, which can complete their trips on main-route inland waterways.
Passenger service has expanded, and the inland waterway system has been transformed. Consideration is given to the interests of river transport in the country’s manifold use of water resources, which includes the construction of hydroelectric power plants on navigable rivers and the building of reservoirs and irrigation and water-supply canals. In 1977, there were 143,100 km of waterways in use, 20,800 km of which were man-made: rivers on which locks have been built, canals, and reservoirs. In 1977, 57.5 percent of the waterways had guaranteed depths, and 62.5 percent of the rivers in use had illuminated shoreline markers and illuminated floating markers (see Table 7).
The Volga has been turned into a first-class, deepwater main through route. Even before the war, hydroengineering complexes—that is, complexes consisting of power plants, reservoirs, canals, and the like—had been built on its upper course (the Ivan’kovo complex in 1937 and the Rybinsk and Uglich complexes in 1941). Subsequently, the Gorky and Kuibyshev complexes were put into operation (1955), as were the Volgograd complex (1957) and the Saratov complex (1972); all four were equipped with large locks. Begun in 1968, construction is proceeding on the Cheboksary complex.
Over a stretch of approximately 3,000 km, from its mouth to the city of Kalinin, the Volga is being transformed into a chain of reservoirs with a channel depth of 4 m; before the extensive hydraulic-engineering construction, the depth ranged from 1.6 m to 2.5 m. Navigational conditions on the Kama have been improved. The Kama Hydroengineering Complex was built in 1954, and the Votkinsk complex, in 1962. After the Nizhniaia Kama Hydroengineering Complex, whose construction was begun in 1963, is finished, navigational conditions on the lower Kama will be as good as those on the Volga. Development of the Great Dnieper is nearing completion; the river will become a waterway with a channel depth of 3.65 m over its entire length, which is approximately 1,000 km.
A great deal of effort is being devoted to the creation of large-scale, interbasin arteries and, above all, to the radical redesign of the existing system of canals of the White Sea-Baltic and Volga-Baltic waterways. With the completion of construction of the first stage of the United Deepwater System of Inland Waterways of the European part of the country in 1975, conditions suitable for large-tonnage vessels with a draft of 3.5 m were created over a stretch of more than 6,500 km. Dredging operations have considerably improved the navigational conditions of waterways in Siberia and the Far East.
The types, sizes, and maximum cargo weights of vessels have changed, and the carrying capacity and productivity of the country’s river fleet have increased. Vessels built since the war account for more than 90 percent of the total maximum cargo weight of the river fleet and as much as 70 percent of the total power of tugboats and push boats.
The fleet consists primarily of self-propelled vessels as well as dumb barges that are grouped into assemblies with large maximum cargo weights. Since the early 1960’s, the fleet has used large, self-propelled vessels (dry-cargo diesel-powered vessels of the Volga-Don class, with a maximum cargo weight of 5,300 tons) and river tankers of the Volgoneft’ class (with a maximum cargo weight of 5,000 tons). Dry-cargo assemblies consisting of two barges with a combined maximum cargo weight of 7,500 tons are used on the Volga and the Kama. Since 1957, push boats of the Zelenodol’sk class (powered by 1,340-hp diesel engines) have been used to drive them.
Series production has begun of barges that can be grouped into assemblies with a total maximum cargo weight of 18,000 tons. The USSR’s most powerful push boats (powered by 4,000-hp diesel engines) will be used to move them. Four-barge assemblies with a total maximum cargo weight of 12,000 tons and propelled by 2,000-hp push boats are being used in Siberia and the Far
|Table 8. Maritime transport operations of the Ministry of the Merchant Marine of the USSR1|
|1All types of service, excluding the Middle Asian Steamship Line|
|Freight turnover (billion ton-miles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||11.0||5.0||13.4||21.4||71.0||354.3||458.0|
|Freight transported (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||15.1||8.0||32.9||33.7||75.9||161.9||228.0|
|Average distance per ton of freight (miles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||726||627||409||636||935||2,188||2,007|
|Passenger traffic (million passenger-miles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||550||167||480||671||719||859||1,346|
|Passengers carried (million persons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.7||1.2||9.7||7.9||26.7||38.5||51.7|
|Average trip per passenger (miles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||149||135||50||85||27||22||26|
East. Increasingly, application is being found for ocean-river vessels. Such vessels include diesel-powered dry-cargo vessels with a maximum cargo weight of 2,700 tons, tankers with a maximum cargo weight of 5,000 tons, and diesel-powered dry- and liquid-cargo vessels with a maximum cargo weight of 2,150 tons. All combine a relatively small draft with good oceangoing qualities and can haul cargoes from river ports to seaports, thereby obviating the need for freight handling at river mouths, including those located at international borders.
The country’s passenger fleet has been supplemented and renovated, and Raketa- and Meteor-type high-speed hydrofoils are being used. In 1964, the Burevestnik—a hydrofoil powered by gas-turbine engines with a combined power rating of 5,400 hp—was put into service. Carrying 150 passengers, it can reach a speed of 150 km/hr. On long-distance routes comfortable double-and triple-deck diesel-powered vessels are used. Construction has been under way since 1974 on large diesel-powered tourist vessels that have a greater number of single-berth and double-berth cabins and are more comfortable.
Between 1966 and 1980, some 25,900 linear m of docks were built in such cities as Tomsk, Kuibyshev, Yakutsk, Balakovo, Syzran’, Tol’iatti, Perm’, Moscow, Kremenchug, Kiev, Pavlodar, and Ust’-Kamenogorsk. The reconstruction of river transport’s material and technical basis has laid the foundation for increasing the economic effectiveness of cargo hauling. Between 1960 and 1980, the labor productivity of river transport increased by a factor of 2.3. River transport showed a profitability in 1980 of 10 percent.
Shipping. In terms of total tonnage, the Soviet merchant fleet ranked sixth in the world in 1975. Its freight turnover increased 42-fold between 1913 and 1980 (see Table 8). Shipping plays an important role in the USSR’s foreign trade. More than 90 percent of the country’s freight turnover is accounted for by foreign trade traffic; in 1980, liquid cargoes made up 48 percent of such traffic. Most of the transport operations take place in the seas bordering the European USSR. The role played by the Far East basin is increasing, with more than 60 percent of foreign trade timber cargoes shipped through its ports.
Coastal shipping, which is also increasing, includes the hauling of petroleum cargoes in the Caspian basin; ores in the basin of the Sea of Azov and in the Black Sea, Arctic, and Far East basins; and timber, building materials, and finished products in the Arctic and Far East basins.
Maritime vessels are becoming faster and more specialized, and their cargo-carrying capacities are increasing. Figures associated with the use of transport vessels are given in Table 9.
Intensive quantitative and qualitative development of the country’s maritime fleet began in 1960. The merchant fleet was in poor condition: 36 percent of the dry-cargo vessels were more than 25 years old, as were 25 percent of the liquid-cargo vessels and more than 50 percent of the passenger ships. Six percent of the vessels of the world fleet were of a comparable age. Uneconomical, coal-fired steam engines were used to power more than half of the country’s vessels, which traveled at speeds 30–40 percent slower than those of the ships of the world fleet.
Between 1960 and 1975, there were built such general-purpose dry-cargo vessels as Leninskii komsomol (1959), Poltava (1962), Bezhitsa (1963), Murom (1963), Kapitan Kushnarenko (1967), and Novgorod (1967); the vessels had deadweights of as much as 16,000 tons. Also built were timber carriers of the Nikolai Novikov (1973) class (with deadweights of up to 14,000 tons), bulk carriers of the Zoia Kosmodem’ianskaia (1973) class (with deadweights of up to 50,000 tons), and tankers with deadweights of up to 50,000 tons. In 1974, the country’s first large-tonnage tanker, Krym (deadweight, 150,000 tons), was launched, as was the bulk carrier-tanker Marshal Budennyi (deadweight, 100,000 tons). The fleet has been supplemented by advanced types of vessels, such as container ships, trailer ships, and lighter carriers. The parameters of the new vessels—including speed—are comparable to those of the ships of the world fleet. The new vessels are powered by highly economical diesel and steam-turbine engines.
Also in operation are the dry-cargo ship Parizhskaia Kom-muna (1968), which has an experimental gas-turbine engine; the 40,000-hp nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin (1959); and the 75,000-hp icebreaker Arktika (1974). For travel along the Northern Sea Route and in the antarctic, the following were built: diesel-electric icebreaker transport vessels of the Amguema (1962) class, 26,000-hp diesel-electric icebreakers of the Moskva (I960) class, and 36,000-hp diesel-electric icebreakers of the Ermak (1974) class.
|Table 9. Maritime cargo ships1|
|1All types of service, excluding the Middle Asian Steamship Line|
|Productivity per ton of cargo capacity (ton-miles)|
|dry-cargo vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||25.2||44.0||66.1||91.1||78.6|
|tankers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||70.7||68.6||117.1||149.8||124.5|
|Speed (miles per day)|
|dry-cargo vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||175||188||241||315||311|
|tankers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||211||213||272||333||325|
|Cargo-carrying capacity (percent)|
|dry-cargo vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||50.4||58.9||60.3||65.3||55.0|
|tankers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||49.3||51.3||57.4||59.4||57.0|
The passenger fleet has added luxury liners of the Mikhail Kalinin (1958) class and the large-tonnage ocean liners of the Ivan Franko (1964) and Mikhail Lermontov (1972) classes. Operating on local lines are hydrofoils of the Kometa (1962) class.
Ports are being expanded to handle the intensive growth in their freight turnover. Such growth is a result, for the most part, of foreign-trade activity, as well as an increase in the volume of freight being moved. Specialized ports and port loading complexes have been built to receive and to handle expeditiously specialized large-tonnage ships. Port facilities are being developed in such cities as Leningrad, Ventspils, Klaipeda, Riga, Murmansk, Arkhangel’sk, Odessa, Novorossiisk, Zhdanov, and Vladivostok. New ports have been built in such cities as Nakhodka, Nagaevo, and Il’ichevsk. Ferries have been established as transportation links between the Transcaucasian republics and the southern regions of the European USSR, on the one hand, and the economic regions of Middle Asia, on the other (Baku-Krasnovodsk, 1963). Ferry service was also established in the Far East, between Vanino and Kholmsk, in 1973.
Between 1971 and 1975, construction was begun on deepwater ports in the Far East (the port of Vostochnyi) and on the Black Sea. New docks have been built, and existing ones reequipped, for transferring large freight containers and for accommodating roll-on/roll-off ships in such ports as Arkhangel’sk, Murmansk,
|Table 10. Motor vehicle transport|
|Freight transported (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||10.0||20.0||858.6||1,859.2||8,492.7||14,622.8||22,152.4|
|Freight turnover (billionton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.1||0.2||8.9||20.1||98.5||220.8||373.0|
|Average distance per ton of freight (km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||10.0||10.0||10.4||10.8||11.6||15.1||16.8|
|Passengers carried (million persons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||66||590||1,053||11,316||27,344||39,230|
|Passenger traffic (billion passenger-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||0.2||3.4||5.2||61.0||202.5||344.5|
|Average trip per passenger (km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||3.0||5.7||4.9||5.4||7.4||8.8|
|Length of general-purpose highways (thousand km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,450.0||1,452.1||1,531.2||1,550.4||1,365.6||1,363.9||1,405.4|
|hard-surface roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||37.3||32.0||143.4||177.3||270.8||511.6||713.1|
|improved hard-surface roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||—||—||7.1||19.2||77.1||207.0||328.1|
Il’ichevsk, Vladivostok, Nagaevo, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski!. Ports are being provided with freight-handling equipment and gear that will serve to mechanize a wide range of loading and unloading operations. By 1980, more than 94 percent of such operations were mechanized. Cargo is being hauled on pallets, in packages, in containers, and in trailers, and ships and railroad cars are being loaded and unloaded according to a schedule that coordinates the operations of various forms of transportation, such as maritime and railroad transport. The labor productivity of personnel employed in shipping increased by a factor of 2.8 between 1960 and 1980. Profitability in 1980 was 17.4 percent.
Motor vehicle transport. As of 1980, motor vehicle transport in industry alone accounted for the annual transfer of 4.5 billion tons of freight, which is more than the amount carried annually by all other forms of transport taken together.
The development of motor vehicle transport (see Table 10) has been accompanied by the construction of a network of highways, and a system of all-Union and republic trunk roads—superhighways of high quality—is being created. Excellent multilane highways have been built on routes that have large flows of traffic. Such highways include those connecting Moscow, Minsk, and Brest; Moscow, Kharkov, and Simferopol’; Kharkov, Rostov, and Novorossiisk; Moscow and Leningrad; Kiev and L’vov; Moscow and Gorky; Moscow, Voronezh, and Rostov; and Leningrad and Odessa.
The development of motor vehicle transport is based on the USSR’s large automotive industry, which in 1980 produced 787,000 trucks and approximately 1.3 million passenger cars. The country’s truck fleet comprises vehicles of various load-carrying capacities: small vans built on the Moskvich passenger-car frame, with a load-carrying capacity of 250 kg; motor vehicles with load-carrying capacities of 0.8 ton, 3 tons, 5 tons, 8 tons, and 12 tons; and the BelAZ quarry dump trucks, with load-carrying capacities of 30 tons, 47 tons, and 75 tons. Trucks may be classified according to type of freight, as, for example, vans, tank trucks, and dump trucks. Tractor-trailer combinations are used to carry such freight as panels, girders, metal, and containers. Trucks with a fifth wheel are used on intercity highways to pull semitrailers; trucks and semitrailers make the most efficient combinations for long-distance hauls. All-wheel-drive off-the-road vehicles are used to haul freight in areas where there are no roads, where dirt roads are seasonally muddy, or where roads are snow covered.
Motor vehicle transport is being centralized through the expansion and specialization of motor transportation enterprises. Most of the country’s fleet is based at large general-purpose enterprises or at specialized enterprises that serve specific branches of the national economy. Increasing the size of these enterprises makes possible centralized control of transport, thereby raising the efficiency of motor vehicle use (see Table 11).
|Table 11. Truck fleet|
|Utilization factor of truck fleet (percent) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||39.0||48.0||62.6||63.3||62.3|
|Average length of truck operation per day (hr) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||11.1||9.5||9.0||9.3||9.4|
The modernization of motor vehicle transport has helped raise the level of its economic efficiency considerably. The transportation costs associated with general-purpose motor vehicle transport have declined, and labor productivity has increased.
Pipeline transportation. In 1980, more than 95 percent of the petroleum extracted was delivered by means of pipeline. The growth of pipeline transportation’s role in moving petroleum and petroleum products is apparent from Table 1. The increase in the overall length of the network of petroleum and petroleum-product pipelines is characterized by the data given in Table 12.
Between 1950 and 1960, high-capacity petroleum pipelines were built between Tuimazy and Omsk, Tuimazy and Irkutsk, and Al’met’evsk and Gorky (the first line). Petroleum-product pipelines were laid between Ufa and Omsk and between Ufa and Petropavlovsk. Pipeline construction continued between 1961 and 1970, and the overall length of the pipeline network grew to more than twice that in 1960. The Druzhba (Friendship) petroleum pipeline began operation, as did the second and third petroleum pipelines between Al’met’evsk and Gorky, the Gorky-Yaroslavl-Kirishi, Gorky-Riazan’-Moscow, Ust’-Baly k-Omsk, Uzen’-Gur’ev-Kuibyshev petroleum pipelines, and the Omsk-Novosibirsk and Kuibyshev-Penza-Briansk petroleum-product pipelines.
|Table 12. Length of the pipeline network used for transporting petroleum and petroleum products (at end of year, thousand km)|
|Total pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.11||1.6||4.1||5.4||17.3||37.4||61.9|
|petroleum pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.25||0.7||3.2||3.9||13.0||30.7||50.7|
|petroleum-product pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.86||0.9||0.9||1.5||4.3||67||11.2|
Between 1971 and 1980, the overall length of the network of pipelines for conveying petroleum and petroleum products increased by 32,300 km. One of the principal improvements associated with pipeline engineering is the use of larger-diameter pipe. Before 1956, most of the pipe used had a diameter of 219–377 mm. After 1956, it had a diameter of 530 mm or more. In 1964, the first petroleum pipeline with a diameter of 1,020 mm (the Druzhba Pipeline) began operation.
Automation and remote control are used to regulate transmission in the pipelines, making storage tanks at intermediate pumping stations unnecessary. Table 13 provides data on the existing capacities of petroleum and petroleum-product pipelines.
|Table 13. Freight turnover and freight-traffic density in petroleum and petroleum-product trunk pipelines|
|Freight turnover (billion ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.8||4.9||51.2||281.7||922.4|
|petroleum pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.8||2.9||40.4||259.8||890.6|
|petroleum-product pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.0||2.0||10.8||21.9||31.8|
|System freight-traffic density (million ton-km) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.94||0.90||2.95||7.52||14.9|
|petroleum pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.88||1.9||3.11||8.5||17.6|
|petroleum-product pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.14||1.31||2.52||3.27||2.8|
The construction of natural-gas pipelines is also under way. Gas pipelines laid between 1950 and 1960 include the following: Dashava-Kiev-Briansk-Moscow, Tuimazy-Ufa, Kohtla-Järve-Leningrad, Stavropol’-Moscow (a three-line system), and Shebelinka-Kharkov. By 1970, the overall length of the gas-pipeline network was more than triple that of 1960. The trunk gas pipelines in operation include Middle Asia-Central Zone (a two-line system), Bukhara-Urals, Ukhta-Torzhok, Vuktyl-Ukhta, and Dashava-Minsk-Vilnius-Riga. Kiev is linked with the western regions of the Ukraine by a trunk pipeline. Between 1971 and 1980, the network of gas pipelines increased by 64,100 km, and the following gas pipelines were completed: Medvezh’e-Nadym (a two-line system), Nadym-Punga (a three-line system), Torzhok-Ivatsevichi, Punga-Nizhniaia Tura (a three-line system), Nizhniaia Tura-Perm’ (a two-line system), Perm’-Kazan-Gorky, Gorky-Central Zone, and Middle Asia-Central Zone (a three and four-line system). In 1976 and 1977 the following gas pipelines were put into operation: Punga-Vuktyl-Ukhta, Ukhta-Torzhok (a three-line system), and Nady-Punga (a four-line system).
One of the principal trends in gas-pipeline engineering is the use of larger-diameter pipe and higher pressures. During the tenth five-year plan (1976–80), the diameter of gas pipe being laid increased to 1,620 mm, and the working pressure in the pipe, to 100 atmospheres (atm). A diameter of 1,420 mm and a working pressure of 75 atm characterize the new pipelines: Urengoi-Nadym (a two-line system), Komsomorskoe-Surgut-Cheliabinsk, and Nadym-Punga-Nizhniaia Tura.
The equipment used between 1961 and 1975 reduced the cost of transporting petroleum from 1.2 kopeks per 10 ton-km to 0.8 kopek; for gas, the cost was lowered from 4.7 kopeks per 10 tonkm to 2.9 kopeks. Labor productivity increased by a factor of 5 for the pipeline transport of petroleum and 10 for the pipeline transport of gas. The profitability of pipeline transportation was 7.8 percent in 1977.
Air transport. The air routes of the USSR link more than 3,500 of the country’s cities and settlements. The country’s first air route—between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod (now Gorky)—was established in 1923. Before 1930, the USSR’s flight equipment was predominantly foreign-made. By 1935, however, virtually the entire fleet consisted of Soviet-made aircraft. The country’s domestic air routes covered 144,000 km in 1940, 295,400 km in 1950, 360,000 km in 1960, 596,000 km in 1970, and 780,000 km in 1980. (If the international air routes flown by Soviet air transport are included, the 1980 figure rises to 996,000 km.)
As of 1977, Aeroflot’s airplanes were flying to 81 countries along trunk routes across Siberia (from Tokyo via Moscow to Paris, London, Copenhagen, Frankfurt am Main, Lisbon, and Havana), the Atlantic (from Moscow to New York and Washington, D.C.), and Asia (from Moscow to Bangkok, Singapore, and Delhi) and from Moscow to the capitals of all the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). International flights also originate in Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Vilnius, Yerevan, Tashkent, Irkutsk, and Khabarovsk.
Air transport’s high growth rates during the postwar period were due to the introduction of jet aircraft with large load-carrying capacities. The Tu-104—the world’s first passenger jet airplane—began regularly scheduled flights in 1956. The 11–18 and An-10 turboprop airplanes, which seat 80–100 persons and cruise at speeds of about 600 km/hr, began operation in the 1950’s. The 170-seat Tu-114 aircraft, with a nonstop range of more than 7,000 km and a speed of 800 km/hr, began operation in 1961. Since 1962, jet aircraft have also been used on interoblast and intrarepublic air routes 500–1,000 km in length.
Between 1971 and 1975, many air routes began using the II-62M, which seats up to 200 persons, cruises at approximately 900 km/hr, and has a maximum flight range of more than 10,000 km. The Tu-154, which seats 152–164 passengers, cruises at 900 km/-hr, and has a maximum flight range of approximately 4,000 km, also went into service, as did the Tu-134A, which seats 76 passengers, cruises at 890 km/hr, and has a maximum flight range of 2,900 km. Local air routes are served by the Yak-40 jet aircraft, which seats 24–27 passengers, has a speed of 510 km/hr, and has a maximum flight range of approximately 1,500 km. The Tu-144, a supersonic passenger plane capable of a speed of 2,500 km/hr, began commercial service in 1975. Tests are being conducted on the 120-seat Yak-42 aircraft, for operation on medium-range air routes (1,000–1,300 km), and on the 350-passenger 11–86 airbus, for use on routes with the heaviest passenger traffic.
Runways have been built or modernized at airports at such cities as Anapa, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Brest, Vologda, Izhevsk, Kazan, and Orenburg. Air-terminal complexes have been put into operation at Leningrad, Riga, Alma-Ata, Tbilisi, Voronezh, Volgograd, Dnepropetrovsk, Tashkent, Kishinev, Bykovo (serving Moscow), Palanga, Mirnyi, and Surgut.
In 1980, Aeroflot carried 104 million passengers and 2.3 million tons of freight and mail. The freight included equipment, spare parts, and consumer goods for the workers of the petroleum and gas industry of Tiumen’ Oblast, for the gold- and diamond-mining industries of the northeastern part of the USSR, and for numerous geological-prospecting parties.
Civil aviation airplanes and helicopters are used in various branches of the economy. In 1980, aerial-spraying operations were conducted over 100 million hectares of agricultural and timber areas. Air transport’s economic indicators have improved: between 1961 and 1977, shipping costs dropped from 276 kopeks per 10 ton-km to 158 kopeks.
International organizations. The Soviet Union is a member of various international transportation organizations: the Standing Commission on Transportation of COMECON (since 1958), the Inland Transport Committee of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (since 1954), the Committee on Shipping, Transport, and Communications of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (since 1953), the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (since 1958), and the Organization for Railroad Cooperation (since 1956).
B. S. KOZIN
BibliographyTransport SSSR: Itogi za 50 let i perspektivy razvitiia. Moscow, 1967.
50 let grazhdanskoi aviatsii SSSR: Dokumenty i materialy. Moscow, 1973.
50 let morskomu transporta SSSR: Dokumenty i materialy. Moscow, 1975.
Geografiia transporta. Moscow, 1973.
Stanislaviuk, V. I. Perspektivy razvitiia transportnoi seti SSSR. Moscow, 1973.
Biriukov, V. E. “Transportnaia sistema strany.” Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 1.
The means of communication constitute a powerful tool for the dissemination of mass information. They serve to satisfy personal and social needs and are an important factor contributing to the standard of living of the working people. As a branch of the national economy, communications provide for the transmission of information at all levels of government administration and for data transmission between the various elements of automated control systems. In the stage of the scientific and technological revolution, communications have become an important factor in raising the social productivity of labor.
The means of communication are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Communications of the USSR and the ministries of communications of the Union republics. The ministries have an extensive network of communications offices: post offices, communication centers, main post offices, local and long-distance telephone offices, and telegraph offices. In addition to the communication systems for general use, other systems also exist. These include intraagency systems in ministries and departments and local intercommunication systems in industry, for example, at mines, factories, sovkhozes, and kolkhozes. The organization of the systems used in industry takes into account production processes and the structural characteristics of production.
In prerevolutionary Russia, communications were poorly developed and had no unified organization. The postal and telegraph services were under the jurisdiction of the state. In addition to the state postal service, 53 percent of all districts (uezdy) had a local postal service with its own regulations, rates, and stamps. The telegraph network was owned mainly by concessionaires and partly by the zemstvos (bodies of local self-government). The manufacturing base for communications was controlled by foreign capital. For the most part, the state postal service covered the cities. Postal institutions operated at railroad stations and at the administrative centers of volosts (small rural districts). In 1913 only three percent of the population centers had home delivery of mail.
Telecommunications were first developed in the mid-19th century. Initially, telegraph lines were constructed only for military purposes. In 1855 the telegraph service was declared a state “regale,” that is, an income-receiving state monopoly, and the government granted private individuals the right to use telegraph communication. The following telegraph lines were constructed: St. Petersburg-Moscow (1854), St. Petersburg-Warsaw (1854), St. Petersburg-Vyborg-Helsingfors (1860), Nikolaev-Perekop-Simferopol’-Sevastopol’ (1860), and St. Petersburg-Moscow-Vladivostok (1871). Telegraph equipment for communications agencies was acquired from foreign firms. The German firm of Siemens and Halske constructed virtually all the telegraph lines. In 1913 there were more than 8,000 telegraphs, mostly Morse telegraphs. Hughes letter-printing telegraphs were used on some lines. Telegraph traffic was light: only 42.3 million telegrams were sent in 1913.
In Russia, telephone communication was begun in the 1880’s. City telephone networks were constructed by foreign firms. The first city telephone exchanges were set up in 1882 in St. Petersburg (128 subscribers), Moscow (61 subscribers), Odessa (66 subscribers), and Riga (57 subscribers). By 1914 city telephone exchanges provided service to 187,000 subscribers. The first longdistance telephone line, between St. Petersburg and Gatchina, was constructed in 1882. In 1898 a long-distance line between St. Petersburg and Moscow was put into operation; it was constructed with state treasury funds. Between 1910 and 1912, the private joint-stock company Telefon constructed various telephone lines, including lines between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod (now Gorky), Moscow and Ivanovo, and Kharkov and Ekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). By 1916, 194 long-distance telephone lines with a total length of more than 16,000 km were in use.
In 1895, after the invention of radio by A. S. Popov, radio communication was first developed (see).
By the beginning of World War I, the main forms of communications were the postal and telegraph services, which provided service to the population through 11,000 offices, of which 80 percent were located in the European part of the country. In Siberia, the Caucasus, and Middle Asia, post and telegraph offices were found only in large cities.
After the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government took a number of measures that laid the foundations for the socialist organization of communications. In 1917 and 1918 the means of communication were nationalized and were placed under the jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariat for Posts and Telegraphs. On Apr. 16, 1918, the Council of People’s Commissars adopted a decree, signed by V. I. Lenin, that established the basis for the organization of the postal and telegraph department. In addition to the transmission of letters, the distribution of Soviet periodicals was made the responsibility of post offices by a decree adopted by the Council of People’s Commissars on Nov. 21,1918.
In January 1921, in accordance with a proposal by Lenin, the Council of People’s Commissars adopted a resolution on the construction of radiotelephone offices. In 1922 the Electrotechnical Trust for Weak-current Plants was formed under the auspices of the Supreme Council on the National Economy. The trust directed the operation of enterprises that manufactured communication equipment. Also in 1922, the world’s first radio broadcast station, which had a power of 12 kilowatts (kW), went on the air in Moscow; regular broadcasts were begun in 1924. In 1925 radio broadcast stations went on the air in Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Nizhny Novgorod, and other cities.
In 1924 a mobile postal service was established to provide service to rural localities. In 1925 home delivery of mail covered an area inhabited by 68 percent of the country’s population (27 percent of the population centers). In the early 1920’s, airplanes were first used to transport mail. By 1929 the telegraph networks that had been destroyed during the Civil War of 1918–20 were reconstructed and telegraph traffic reached the pre-World War I level.
During the pre-World War II five-year plans (1929–40), the communication industry rapidly developed. For the first time, high-frequency equipment was used to set up long-distance communication. Such equipment transmits three, four, or 12 telephone calls over a pair of wires or 16 telegrams over a single telephone channel. In 1939 a high-frequency three-channel line between Moscow and Khabarovsk (8,600 km) was constructed to provide for reliable communication between the country’s central regions and the Far East. In 1941 a 12-channel line between Moscow and Leningrad was constructed that made possible the simultaneous transmission of 12 telephone calls over a single pair of wires.
In telegraph communication, a conversion to letter-printing telegraphs was begun. The first facsimile communications line was opened in 1929. By late 1940 the Moscow Central Telegraph Office had 22 facsimile lines.
In 1929 an automatic switching system was put into operation for 6,000 numbers in Rostov-on-Don. In 1930 two regional automatic switching systems were put into operation in Moscow. During the 1930’s, the rural (intraraion) telephone service was first developed. In 1940 telephone communication covered 70 percent of the areas under the jurisdiction of rural soviets, 76.3 percent of the sovkhozes, and 9.2 percent of the kolkhozes.
The radio broadcasting network was expanded considerably. In the early 1930’s, the Comintern Radio Station, with a power of 500 kW, was built along with a number of other stations with a power of 100 kW each. The receiving network was enlarged, and a system for wired broadcasting via rebroadcasting centers was developed. In 1939 regular television programming was begun.
During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, communication was carried out between the General Headquarters of the Supreme Command and the fronts. Billions of letters were sent via the postal network and the military postal units of the army in the field. During the war, almost half the telephone offices were rendered inoperative. However, by 1948 the prewar level had been surpassed both in system capacity and in the number of telephone sets installed.
By the early 1960’s, telephone service had been provided to all except the most remote sovkhozes, kolkhozes, and areas under the jurisdiction of rural soviets. The radio and television network was enlarged. By early 1966 ultrashort-wave radio broadcasting was being carried out in 146 cities. Television centers were built in Kiev, Riga, Sverdlovsk, Tallinn, Minsk, Tashkent, Tbilisi, and a number of other cities.
Between 1966 and 1970, the Integrated Automatic Communications System (IACS) was developed and first introduced. For this purpose, cable and radio-relay lines—the bases of present-day trunk-line communications—were constructed on a large scale. In addition to balanced cables, which make it possible to set up 60 telephone channels over two pairs of wires, coaxial cables have been used. In a coaxial cable, a pair of coaxial tubes is used to transmit either 1,920 telephone calls or one television program and 300 telephone calls. Radio-relay communications lines provide for the transmission of 600 or more telephone calls or one television program.
Between 1971 and 1975, work on the development of the IACS was continued. As a result of the construction of new lines and the better utilization of existing lines, the country acquired 2.7 times more long-distance telephone channels in the period from 1966 to 1975 than in the period from 1946 to 1965. Between 1966 and 1977, the capacity of the urban and rural telephone network increased by a factor of 3.3. Long-distance telephone communication has been further automated. By 1976, 58.2 percent of the long-distance telephone channels had been converted to semiautomatic and automatic methods of setting up connections.
Telegraph communication has developed rapidly. In the telegraph networks, the introduction of an automated system for setting up direct connections has made it possible to achieve considerable improvements in the quantitative and qualitative indicators of telegraph communication. Between 1966 and 1977, outgoing telegraph traffic increased by 75 percent. Moreover, a substantial number of the telegrams sent were transmitted through the teletypewriter exchange network. As of 1978, the network totalled about 51,000 exchanges and was being used to an increasing extent in automated control systems for the national economy. Great progress has been achieved in facsimile, which is used, in particular, to transmit images of newspaper pages. In 1975 facsimile was used to transmit 241,000 newspaper pages, from which 9 billion copies were printed.
In 1967, on the basis of the Molniia 1 and Molniia 2 satellites, the Orbita system was established. The system is used for the transmission of telephone calls, telegrams, facsimile signals, and television programs. In the same year, the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution Television Technical Center in Moscow, together with a 533-m-high television tower, was put into operation and regular color television broadcasts were begun. By 1976 the radiofication of the country was essentially completed; 530 cities had multiple-program broadcasting. In rural areas, 97 percent of the population centers received wired-broadcast programs.
|Table 1. Principal indicators of the development of communications|
|Number of post, telegraph, and telephone offices (end of year thousands) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||51||63||90.6|
|Communications revenues (billion rubles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.6||1.3||6.5|
|Items mailed or sent letters (billions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.6||4.2||9.5|
|newspapers and magazines (billions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||6.7||14.4||43.8|
|parcels (millions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||45||91||247|
|telegrams (millions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||141||241||531|
|Number of telephones in the general telephone system (end of year millions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.7||4.3||23.7|
The material and technical base of the postal service has been strengthened. Between 1971 and 1977, 41 large automated post offices and more than 6,000 other post offices were built. Between 1966 and 1975, the volume of mail increased by a factor of 1.8; in 1977 it amounted to more than 52 billion pieces of mail.
The IACS is being further developed by using the newest equipment. The range of long-distance telephone channels is being extended through the increased and improved use of the network of cable and radio-relay lines. The number of telephone sets in cities and rural areas is increasing, and the level of automation in long-distance telephone communication is rising. New radio and television stations are being built; color television is being developed. Services are expanding with respect to the transmission of messages by all types of communications. The quality and standards of the service provided to the public are improving.
Communications has become an integral part of the automated control system for the national economy, providing for the transmission and computer processing of increasing streams of data. Work is being carried out on the development of the National Data Transmission System, which is provided with switching centers for channels and messages. The system, which is intended to provide data transmission services to all ministries and departments, will make it possible to accelerate the collection and dissemination of information. Subscribers having inexpensive terminal equipment will be able to use the services of computer centers equipped with high-capacity systems.
|Table 2. Number of post, telegraph, and telephone offices in the USSR and the Union republics|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||51,353||62,868||90,563|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||32,278||38,598||49,183|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8,370||9,655||16,618|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,163||2,863||4,540|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||752||1,362||3,833|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2,252||3,389||5,419|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||663||1,012||1,735|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||524||733||1,846|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||716||1,134||1,091|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||293||764||1,362|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1,566||1,137||1,159|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||352||523||998|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||263||348||778|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||242||359||819|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||247||325||544|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||672||666||638|
The wider use of artificial earth satellites is envisaged, primarily for providing television broadcasting to regions of Western and Eastern Siberia, for providing telephone and telegraph communication with remote regions, and for the facsimile transmission of images of newspaper pages.
Many new post offices with modern postal-processing equipment, including automated and mechanized equipment, have been or are being built.
The principal indicators of the development of communications are presented in Table 1. The growth of communications offices in the Union republics is shown by the data given in Table 2.
Main trends in technological development. Three main trends may be distinguished in the technological development of telecommunications. The first is the development of organizational and technical integration, that is, the establishment of an integrated network of means of communication and the proportional development of the network’s individual sectors, thus making possible the most efficient use of the means of telecommunication. The second main trend is the automation of those operational procedures and control systems that raise the labor productivity of telecommunication workers and that improve the quality of service. The third is the introduction of scientific and technological advances in the development of new equipment or in the improvement of existing equipment. The introduction of such advances provides for reliable transmission and switching systems with high technological and economic indicators and makes possible the provision of new types of communication services to users.
The “primary” network of standard IACS channels is being constructed on the basis of various transmission systems, that is, cable, radio-relay, satellite communications, wave-guide, and optical systems. Such transmission systems are general-purpose systems from the standpoint of the transmission of different types of information. On the basis of the “primary” network, “secondary” networks that organize all types of telecommunications are being developed. For this purpose, multichannel communication systems are used, including the K-1920P system and pulse-code modulation (PCM) systems. In PCM systems, all information is coded and is transmitted in digital form. The K-3600 and K-10800 frequency-shift systems, which are used to set up 3,600 or 10,800 channels, respectively, over a coaxial cable, are being developed, as is a set of standardized radio-relay lines with various transmission capacities.
Operations for the connection of channels in the communication network are being automated by means of channel and message switching systems. Work is in progress on the development of quasi-electronic and electronic automatic switching systems controlled by special-purpose computers. Automated amplifying stations with a remote power supply and radio stations with automatic equipment are being developed.
Scientific and technological advances are being widely used in the development of various types of communication equipment, such as semiconductor, integrated-circuit, and laser equipment. As a result, the reliability and service life of communication systems are increasing and the power consumption and overall dimensions of communication equipment are decreasing. Equipment components are becoming less expensive. The transmission capacity of communication channels and the speed of various switching devices have been increased. The conversion of information transmission systems and switching equipment to computerized components is characteristic. Computers are becoming an integral part of communication equipment.
One of the most important trends in the evolution of the postal service is the development of automated systems for the processing of written correspondence and parcels. Such systems provide for the total elimination of manual labor in the sorting of letters and parcels and in the transportation of mail between operations. Motorized mail delivery using standard containers is being developed. Research is being conducted on the mechanization and automation of the distribution of newspapers and magazines among standard containers at communication offices. Computers are being introduced to control operations at large postal centers.
The USSR is a member of such international communication organizations as the International Telecommunication Union and the Universal Postal Union. It is also a member of the Organization for Cooperation Between Socialist Countries in Telecommunication and Postal Communication and the Standing Commission on Telecommunication and Postal Communication of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), which is known as Intersputnik.
G. B. DAVYDOV
BibliographyPsurtsev, N. D. Sviaz’ v deviatoi piatiletke. Moscow, 1972.
Razvitie sviazi v SSSR, 1917–1967. Moscow, 1967.
Ekonomika sviazi, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1974.
Davydov, G. B., and O. N. Ivanova. Osnovnye napravleniia nauchno-tekhnicheskogo progressa telefonnoi sviazi. Moscow, 1974.
Lamm, I. A. Nauchno-tekhnicheskii progress v pochtovoi sviazi. Moscow, 1974.
Dobrovol’skii, E. E. Osnovnye napravleniia nauchno-tekhnicheskogo progressa radiosviazi, radioveshchaniia i televideniia. Moscow, 1974.
Elektricheskaia sviaz’: Sb. statei. Kiev, 1975.
Osnovy radiosviazi, radioveshchaniia i radioreleinykh linii. Moscow, 1976.
Pashkeev, S. D. Mashinnye melody optimizatsii v tekhnike sviazi. Moscow, 1976.
Sviaz’ SSSR za 50 let: Stat. sbornik. Moscow, 1968.
Burliand, V. A., and V. E. Volodarskaia. Sovetskie radiotekhnika i elektrosviaz’ v datakh. Moscow, 1975.
Construction is a major branch of the economy. In 1977 it accounted for 10.2 percent of the gross social product and employed 10.9 million persons, or almost 14 percent of the total number of industrial and nonindustrial workers employed in production. At the end of 1977 there were 2,900 contracting construction trusts and 25,000 state primary contracting construction organizations that had access to the country’s inventory of construction vehicles and machinery and made use of construction crews. The fixed capital stock of the state contracting construction organizations was 51 billion rubles in early 1978.
The importance of construction to the national economy and the key role construction plays in the growth of productive forces are rooted in a number of factors. For example, construction has a part in applying the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution to the planned development and modernization of all branches of the economy. It contributes to the improvement of the branch structure of the economy and to the broadening of the geographic distribution of enterprises. Construction helps to incorporate newly discovered natural resources into production and to bolster the overall economic development of the Union republics and the country’s economic regions. It has a role in the implementation of long-term urban-planning programs, the development of villages, and the protection and reclamation of the environment. Construction aids in the creation of a basis for further raising the people’s material and cultural standard of living.
The development of construction during the years of Soviet power has been characterized by a rapid rate of introduction of fixed capital stock and by a growth of capital investment and of volume of construction work (see Table 1). Approximately one-fifth of the country’s national income was channeled into capital investment in 1977. Between 1918 and 1977 capital investment amounted to 1.704 trillion rubles; it continues to grow. Between 1951 and 1977, the capital-investment growth rate in the USSR was three times higher than the growth rate in the USA.
Between 1918 and 1977 more than 44,000 large industrial enterprises were built or modernized. Plants and factories were expanded and retooled, and some 43,000 km of railroad track were laid (39,000 km of which were electrified). More than 110,000 km of gas pipelines and branch lines were laid, as were 68,000 km of petroleum and petroleum-product pipelines. Some 11.4 million hectares (ha) of irrigated land and 16.4 million ha of drained land were put under cultivation between 1946 and 1977; a great many agricultural facilities were built, including grain elevators, granaries, mills, and mixed-feed plants. Floor space for the dwellings built between 1946 and 1977 totaled 3.2 billion sq m. Numerous cultural and consumer-service facilities were constructed. By the end of 1977 the country’s fixed production assets totaled 934 billion rubles, an amount 13 times greater than the figure for 1940 and 34 times greater than the figure for 1913.
1918–45. Measures taken in the earliest years of the Soviet state’s existence to organize construction were based on socialist principles, that is, state direction, planned allocation of resources, and the creation of a system of agencies for the administration of the construction industry. In 1918 the Committee of State Construction was established under the Supreme Council on the National Economy. At the time, most of the projects under way involved the renovation and overhaul of buildings and structures. As early as 1918 and 1919, however, facilities such as small rural electric power plants were built. After the approval in December 1920 of a plan worked out by the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO), large-scale projects were begun, including the construction of 30 regional electric power plants, as well as of new enterprises and railroads. Under the decree of Feb. 21,1921, On a Unified Construction Plan for the Republic, the Council of People’s Commissars was to approve a construction plan each year.
Between 1918 and 1928, electric power plants with a combined capacity of more than 700 gigawatts (GW) were built and commissioned, and more than 2,000 large state industrial enterprises and a number of irrigation canals were built or modernized. Railroad trackage increased by 6,400 km. The total usable floor space of dwellings built during this period was 203 million sq m. Facilities such as schools and hospitals were erected. Construction was funded primarily by the enterprises themselves. In 1928 some 749,000 persons were employed in construction work, as compared with 78,000 in 1922.
Socialist industrialization, the development of agricultural production, and the high volume of housing and civil construction necessitated the creation of a large construction industry, as well as improved management of construction. A decree approved in February 1936 by the Council of People’s Commissars and the Central Committee of the ACP(B) defined the course to be followed in improving construction and lowering costs. It was decided that construction work would be performed by permanent contracting organizations that had their own equipment and their own permanent crews and that would rely on the large-scale industrial manufacture of structural members, semifinished products, and structures.
The growth of contract construction was facilitated by improvements made in design and cost-estimate procedures and by the standardization of construction financing, measures that were carried out in accordance with a decree issued by the Council of People’s Commissars on Feb. 26,1938. The Committee on Construction Affairs, which was established in 1938 under the Council of People’s Commissars, was entrusted with the task of overseeing design and construction work, establishing production and cost-estimate norms, and classifying and standardizing construction
|Table 1. Development of the construction industry in the USSR (in comparable prices, billion rubles)|
|Total fixed capital stock committed by state and cooperative enterprises and organizations, kolkhozes, and private citizens||Total capital investment by state and cooperative enterprises and organizations, kolkhoze and private citizens||Volume of construction work1|
|1Including kolkhozes but excluding private houses|
|1918–28 (not including fourth quarter of 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.9||4.4||1.6||0.2|
|First five-year plan (1929–32, including fourth quarter of 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||9.3||8.8||7.2||2.5|
|Second five-year plan (1933–37) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||17.2||19.7||15.7||4.8|
|3½ years of third five-year plan (1938-first half of 1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||18.3||20.4||15.6||7.9|
|4½ years from July 1,1941 to Jan. 1,1946 (including years of Great Patriotic War) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||18.9||20.5||15.1||7.9|
|Fourth five-year plan (1946–50) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||42.2||47.4||30.0||19.7|
|Fifth five-year plan (1951–55) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||79.9||89.8||57.6||42.1|
|Sixth five-year plan (1956–60) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||155.8||168.0||104.0||79.4|
|Seventh five-year plan (1961–65) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||228.4||243.5||148.9||122.2|
|Eighth five-year plan (1966–70) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||319.0||347.9||209.9||179.4|
|Ninth five-year plan (1971–75) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||460.8||493.0||291.0||257.6|
|1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||107.1||118.0||65.3||58.5|
|1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||110.7||122.3||66.7||58.8|
In May 1939 the All-Union People’s Commissariat for Construction (Narkomstroi) was formed. The commissariat was charged with carrying out industrial construction and the construction of housing and of cultural and consumer-service facilities, as well with developing and approving construction codes, technical specifications, standards, and standard designs.
Refining the organization of the construction industry and strengthening the industry’s material and technical basis prepared the ground for a more successful performance of the national economic tasks associated with the development of heavy industry. During the prewar five-year plans (1929 to first half of 1941), capital investment in the national economy amounted to 48.9 billion rubles. The construction of Dneproges, a hydroelectric power plant on the Dnieper River, laid the foundation for extensive development of water resources. Some 9,000 new large state industrial enterprises began operating in key branches of industry. The collectivization of agriculture engendered large-scale construction projects at kolkhozes and sovkhozes, and machine-tractor stations, grain elevators, mixed-feed plants, and irrigation canals were built.
Some 13,400 km of railroad track were laid during the period. The Baltic-White Sea Canal and the Moscow Canal were opened, as were the first and second lines of Moscow’s subway, the Moscow Metro. Usable floor space of the dwellings built during the period totaled 206 million sq m. More than 37,000 general-education schools were established. Hospitals with a total of 60,000 beds were opened, as were sanatoriums and houses of rest with a total of 318,000 beds. The preschool institutions that were established could accommodate a total of 459,000 children. Theaters (including motion-picture theaters), polyclinics, and other facilities serving the public were also opened.
Construction did not cease during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. Production capacities were created to meet the needs of the front. Personnel and machinery were reallocated for the construction of munitions factories and affiliated plants. Capital investment during this period totaled 20.5 billion rubles; such a sizable volume of construction work was made possible by the labor feats of builders in disassembling and evacuating plants and in building blast furnaces, open-hearth furnaces, and defense plants in the rear. During the war years, 3,500 major industrial enterprises were built and put into operation, as was the third line of the Moscow Metro. Reconstruction projects were begun in newly liberated regions. Some 7,500 industrial enterprises were rebuilt before the end of the war.
1946–60. During the early postwar years, construction organizations restored existing production facilities rather than build new ones. Devastated cities were rebuilt according to comprehensive long-range plans aimed at developing the urban economy. The reconstruction of plants and factories, however, proceeded according to plans that involved their modernization and the eventual construction of new facilities. The large volume of construction work, including the retooling of existing plants for new types of production, led to the expansion and consolidation of the network of construction organizations, including those in the Urals, Siberia, and Middle Asia.
The construction industry grew at an increasing rate over the fourth, fifth, and sixth five-year plans (1946–60). For example, the volume of construction during the fourth five-year plan was greater by a factor of 1.4 than the figure for the first and second five-year plans combined. The volume during the fifth five-year plan was 1.9 times greater than that during the fourth five-year plan, and the figure for the sixth five-year plan was 1.8 times greater than that for the fifth. Between 1946 and 1960, a total of 14,270 large industrial enterprises were restored, built, and put into operation.
A great deal of effort was devoted during this period to the development of energy-production facilities. The world’s first atomic power plant began operation in 1954. New state regional electric power plants were commissioned, as were such high-capacity installations as the V. I. Lenin Volga Hydroelectric Power Plant, the Volga Twenty-second Congress of the CPSU Hydroelectric Power Plant, and the Gorky Hydroelectric Power Plant (also on the Volga). Virtually all branches of industry added large enterprises. New livestock farms were set up, and granaries and irrigation systems built at sovkhozes and kolkhozes. New oil and gas deposits were developed, and petroleum and gas trunk pipelines were laid. Railroad trackage increased by 12,950 km, and 11,800 km were electrified. The Volga-Don Ship Canal was opened, as were subways in Leningrad and Kiev and the fourth line of the Moscow Metro. Housing with a total of 915.5 million sq m of usable floor space was readied for occupancy, and the amount of housing available in cities and urban-type settlements increased by a factor of 2.3. Also built were some 53,400 schools and a large number of preschool institutions, hospitals, sanatoriums, stores, clubs, theaters, and other institutions serving the public.
The implementation of such an immense program was made possible by the creation of a large construction industry that was equipped with highly efficient vehicles and machinery and that had skilled construction crews. In 1960, a total of 11,868 construction organizations were operating. Of great importance for the development of industrial methods of construction and for the creation of the industry’s material and technical basis was a decree issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Aug. 19,1954. The decree, On the Development of the Production of Precast Reinforced-concrete Structural Members and Components for Construction, laid the foundation for a major branch of production—the precast reinforced-concrete industry. Held in late 1954, the All-Union Conference on Construction made important decisions regarding the industrialization of construction and an increase in the efficiency of construction. These issues were reflected in the decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of Aug. 23, 1955, Measures for the Further Industrialization, Quality Improvement, and Cost Reduction of Construction.
Large-scale factory production of building structures and members brought about substantial changes in construction work, and assembly-line methods were adopted. Construction work became more mechanized, and the relative volume of on-site assembly operations increased. The growth and diversification of the country’s construction-machinery inventory made possible a transition from the mechanization of individual tasks to the overall mechanization of labor-intensive operations. This facilitated an increase in labor productivity—which between 1940 and 1960 grew by a factor of almost 2.9—and a reduction in the amount of time required to complete construction projects. The profitability of the construction industry was increased.
The transition made by construction to the use of industrial methods was accompanied by a standardization of building structures, by an expansion of the number of standardized designs available, and by an increase in the volume of construction. In a number of cases, new enterprises were established as parts of industrial centers (promuzly), sharing facilities and auxiliary production, administrative, and engineering structures and supply systems. This resulted in substantial savings. In housing and civil construction, building designs became more efficient, and the prefabrication of large-panel housing began increasing. In accordance with a decree issued in 1957 by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR (On the Development of Housing Construction in the USSR), a transition was made throughout the country to the construction of residential buildings with inexpensive single-family apartments.
1961–77. Capital construction experienced continued accelerated growth between 1961 and 1977, in the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth five-year plans. Capital investment during this period amounted to 1.325 trillion rubles, exceeding by a factor of 4.3 the capital invested in the national economy over the preceding 15 years. The volume of capital investment grew rapidly in all the Union republics (see Table 2). Measures were taken to raise the economic efficiency of the investment, to shorten the periods required for construction, and to lower construction costs. Some 7,600 large industrial enterprises were opened.
Capital investment for the modernization and expansion of existing enterprises grew between 1971 and 1977. The main capital investments were concentrated on start-up operations and on the construction of key buildings and facilities.
A number of large hydroelectric power plants were built in the European part of the country, in Siberia, and in Middle Asia. Among them was the Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant, which, with a capacity of 6 GW, is the country’s largest hydroelectric power plant in operation. An even larger plant—the Saian-Shushenskaia Hydroelectric Power Plant, which will have a capacity of 6.4 GW—is being built on the Enisei.
A great many machine-building and machine tool plants were constructed. The 50th Anniversary of the USSR Volga Automobile Works was opened, and construction began on the Kama complex, which will produce large trucks. The world’s largest high-capacity blast furnace, with a volume of 5,000 cu m, was built at Krivoi Rog.
Construction in the chemical industry proceeded at an increasingly rapid rate. A large number of underground and surface coal mines were opened, as well as coal washeries, pulp and paper mills, and logging complexes. As a result, output in the corresponding industries increased. Many factories were built for the production of cotton and silk fabrics, suiting, knitwear, and stockings, as well as garment and footwear factories.
|Table 2. Growth rates of capital investment in the Union republics (1960 = 100 percent)|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||135||195||295|
|RSFSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||129||186||293|
|Ukrainian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||132||183||260|
|Byelorussian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||159||281||435|
|Uzbek SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||182||274||430|
|Kazakh SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||147||190||260|
|Georgian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||141||205||289|
|Azerbaijan SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||130||186||259|
|Lithuanian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||192||325||455|
|Moldavian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||157||252||400|
|Latvian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||167||243||348|
|Kirghiz SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||161||241||313|
|Tadzhik SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||174||217||324|
|Armenian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||182||284||349|
|Turkmen SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||153||230||343|
|Estonian SSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||147||214||268|
Between 1961 and 1977 some 13,900 km of new railroad track were laid, and 26,700 km of railroad track were electrified. Subways were put into operation in Tbilisi, Baku, and Kharkov, and construction of the Baikal-Amur Main Line was under way.
Builders made a large contribution to the improvement of agricultural production. After 1960, interkolkhoz contracting construction organizations were set up to help promote a further upsurge of agriculture. High-capacity irrigation systems, such as the Saratov Impounding and Irrigation Canal and the Krasnoiarsk Reservoir, were placed in operation. In accordance with a resolution of the July (1970) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, construction began on large, specialized livestock-raising complexes that would use automated production processes and advanced technology for maintaining the livestock. Mechanized poultry farms were also built.
A large-scale program of housing and civil construction was implemented. Planning was systematized, and efforts were made to improve the architectural quality of construction in cities and urban-type settlements. New, well-laid-out residential districts were created, and apartment planning was improved. The system of cultural, consumer communal, and trade services continued to grow. Between 1961 and 1977 residential construction accounted for a total of 1.768 billion sq m of new, usable floor space; a large number of buildings designed to provide cultural and consumer services were also built.
Large quantitative and qualitative changes occurred in construction methods. Contracting organizations became larger and more specialized. In 1977 the contract method accounted for 88 percent of construction operations, as compared with 79 percent in 1961. The average annual number of workers employed in construction organizations increased during this period by 70 percent. The crew composition of the organizations was improved, and the proportion of engineers and technicians among the total number of workers engaged in construction operations increased to 14 percent in 1977 from 8 percent in 1961.
The increased level of industrialization of construction and the mechanization of labor-intensive operations brought about great changes in the technology, organization, and administration of construction work. Construction with large-panel, prefabricated components shortened considerably the time required to build large residential standard buildings and reduced labor. It made use of materials and structures that were lighter than those used in buildings with brick walls. Reductions were also achieved in the time and labor required to build industrial facilities. Of particular importance to the development and further improvement of capital construction and to the creation of conditions favorable to its successful implementation were three decrees issued in 1969 by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR: On Improving Planning and Cost Estimates, On Measures to Improve the Quality of Housing and Civil Construction, and On Improving the Planning of Capital Construction and on Stepping up Economic Incentives for Construction Work.
Construction management. The system of construction management is based on what may be called the territorial-branch principle; that is, construction organizations are directed by all-Union, Union republic, and republic construction ministries, as well as by the principal territorial construction organizations of the ministries, such as central boards, combines, and associations. Industrial, housing, and civil construction is carried out by the Ministry of Construction for Heavy Industrial Enterprises of the USSR, the Ministry of Industrial Construction of the USSR, and the Ministry of Construction of the USSR. The organizations of these ministries build facilities in the corresponding branches of industry, in designated regions. The construction of transportation facilities, such as railroads, highways, bridges, tunnels, subways, and maritime- and river-transport structures, is managed by organizations of the Ministry of Transportation Construction. The construction of agricultural facilities falls primarily under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rural Construction of the USSR. In addition, a network of 3,950 interkolkhoz construction organizations has been created in the Union republics to aid kolkhozes and sovkhozes in building, for example, production and housing facilities. In 1977 the network accounted for more than 5 billion rubles’ worth of projects.
The construction and use of water-management structures are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Use Management of the USSR. A special role is played by the organizations of the Ministry of Installation and Specialized Construction Work of the USSR. They serve as subcontractors to the construction organizations of other ministries in the installation of industrial equipment, electrical equipment, sanitary-engineering facilities, instrumentation, and automatic devices and in the assembly of complex structures. The building of gas and petroleum pipelines is the responsibility of the Ministry of Construction for Oil and Gas Industrial Enterprises of the USSR. The construction organizations of the Ministry of Energy Resources and Electrification of the USSR build electric power plants, lay power transmission lines, and construct other energy-related facilities. Construction in the coal industry, including the excavation of underground mines, is handled by the Ministry of the Coal Industry of the USSR.
Construction in the country’s largest cities—Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Tashkent, and Baku—is directed primarily by construction central boards that are subordinate to the city executive committees of the local soviets. A unified technical policy for construction is being pursued by an agency formed in 1950—the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Construction (Gosstroi of the USSR). Analogous committees have been formed in the Union republics under the councils of ministers of the Union republics and Gosstroi of the USSR.
In order to provide uninterrupted growth in the volume of construction work and to raise the quality and economic efficiency of construction, the system of construction management must be improved with respect to specialization, cooperation, and integration in production. In housing construction, buildings are erected by prefabricated-housing combines, which manufacture the structures and parts of a residential building and then assemble the building at the site. This efficient method is being used in rural construction, where rural construction combines are being organized, as well as in industrial construction, for which factory-construction combines are being created. In 1977 specialized operations accounted for 62 percent of the total volume of construction work performed.
New possibilities for improving management are appearing with the introduction of automated systems and the use of methods of mathematical economics and computer technology. The automated control system devised for use in construction is finding ever increasing application in the all-Union and republic construction ministries and in large construction organizations.
Material and technical basis. Rapid expansion and improvement of the material and technical basis of construction are needed to accommodate the immense scale and further industrialization of capital construction and the introduction of new, advanced designs. Capital construction, a branch of the national economy that uses considerable amounts of materials, draws on the output of more than 70 industries. Its material and technical basis, a system that is growing in a planned manner, comprises enterprises of the construction industry and the building-materials industry, machinery and motor vehicles, construction-machinery repair plants, various workshops and stationary and mobile production installations, construction organizations, and service facilities and plants.
The USSR has outstripped the industrially developed capitalist countries in the growth rate and absolute volume of the output of a number of types of building materials and structures. It ranks first in the world in the production of precast reinforced concrete, cement, and window glass. Data on the growth of production of certain types of building materials and precast reinforced-concrete structures are given in Table 3.
The production of some building materials and structures has considerably expanded since the war. The production of mineral wool, for example, and of materials made from it, increased from 0.7 million cu m in 1950 to 20.3 million cu m in 1977. Over the same period, the production of asbestos-cement piping increased to 66,000 km of standard pipe from 3,500 km, and the figure for ceramic floor tiles jumped to 24 million sq m from an original figure of 1.5 million sq m. Some 80 million sq m of linoleum was produced in 1977, as opposed to 1.5 million sq m in 1950.
The quality of building materials is constantly increasing. Cements are of greater variety and higher quality, and large asbestos-cement sheets are now being produced. Production volumes have risen for building structures made of lightweight concretes, such as cellular concrete, as well as for structures made of pre-stressed materials.
|Table 3. Production of certain types of building structures and building materials|
|Precast reinforced-concrete building structures (million eu m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.3||1.2||30.2||84.6||121|
|Cement (million tons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||5.8||10.2||45.5||95.2||127.1|
|Bricks (billions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||7.6||10.2||35.5||43.2||45.4|
|Soft roofing and insulation materials (million sq m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||130||286||750||1,334||1,838|
|Window glass (million sq m) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||45.7||76.9||147.2||231.4||268.7|
|Asbestos-cement slate (million standard tiles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||212||546||2,991||5,840||7,340|
The achievements of scientific and technological progress have led to the development of production of lightweight, man-made aggregates used in concrete: keramzit, slag pumice, porous agglomerate gravel, and expanded perlite. The production and use of steel building structures have increased. The ninth five-year plan witnessed the construction and commissioning of highly mechanized plants for the manufacture of aluminum building structures, as well as shops and enterprises for the production of plywood building components and asbestos-cement enclosing structures. Also built were the country’s first plants for the production of heat-insulation materials based on expanded perlite such as perlite phosphate tiles and perlitoplastbeton, a Soviet-made perlite concrete containing synthetic resins.
Plants producing building structures and members are being equipped with special production lines that enable the overall mechanization of production and the partial automation of a number of production processes.
Increasingly, building materials are processed at the factory and arrive at the construction site as, for example, large elements or wooden, steel, or precast reinforced-concrete structures, panels, assemblies, or semifinished products. The production of polymer building materials and their use in construction are growing. Such products include synthetic carpeting, sealing materials, plastic pipes, and paints and varnishes with a synthetic-resin base.
The use of advanced structures and materials improves the quality of construction and reduces the time needed to complete construction projects and the amount of labor required at the construction site. In addition, it reduces the amount of materials used, as is evidenced by the lower consumption of basic materials per comparable unit of physical volume of construction and by the decrease in material resources used per million rubles of construction operations.
The inventory of equipment used in mechanized construction operations is increasing rapidly. By the end of 1977 the fixed capital stock of contracting organizations included machinery and equipment valued at some 12 billion rubles. Construction organizations have a large inventory of construction machinery (see Table 4).
|Table 4. Machinery used in construction (end of year; thousand units)|
|Excavators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2.1||5.9||36.8||103.3||153.1|
|Scrapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.1||3.0||12.2||29.2||43.9|
|Bulldozers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||0.8||3.0||40.5||101.7||158.2|
|Mobile cranes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.1||5.6||5.5||118.8||190.0|
The mechanization available per worker, or machine-labor ratio, in construction in 1977 was almost 17 times greater than the figure for 1940. The level of integrated mechanization in 1977 was high: 98.1 percent in earth-moving operations, 97.2 percent in the assembly of concrete and reinforced-concrete structures, 87.6 percent in the mixing of concrete, 72.8 percent in the mixing of mortar, and 93.0 percent in concrete and reinforced-concrete work. For plastering work the figure was 74.1 percent, and for painting work it was 77.3 percent.
Between 1971 and 1975 capital investment for the development of the construction industry totaled 18.2 billion rubles, as compared with 11.5 billion rubles between 1966 and 1970. In 1976 and 1977, the figure was 9.6 billion rubles. Development of a material and technical basis has been one of the most important factors in the reduction of the number of workers employed in construction per million rubles of construction work (from 179 persons in 1960 to 78 in 1977).
The technological and economic level of construction has risen. Technological progress in construction has led to qualitative changes in the buildings and structures erected, as well as in the methods of their construction. Industrial construction makes extensive use of standardized and flexible methods for planning the use of space and designing structures. In the construction of multiple-unit housing, contemporary styles are being used that better correspond to climatic conditions and that represent improved architectural, planning, and engineering work. New types of public buildings are being used for cultural and consumer-service facilities. Such buildings combine facilities used for different purposes and have enhanced aesthetic qualities.
Soviet scientists have made considerable advances in construction theory and in the creation of new structural components. A number of economic and social problems have been tackled, among them the economic efficiency of capital investment and technological progress in construction. Improvements have been made in planning, in the provision of economic incentives for construction, and in construction management. Cost-estimate norms and price formation have been refined. Construction practices in foreign countries have been studied and, in some cases, adapted to Soviet conditions. A great deal of work is being done with regard to technical norms and standardization. New, advanced norms are being systematically developed, and existing norms—including State Standards (GOST’s) for building materials—are being refined.
International cooperation. The USSR is cooperating with the other socialist countries in the sphere of construction. With the technical assistance of the USSR, many plants and other facilities are being built in a number of developing countries. Mutually advantageous ties are being expanded with certain industrially developed capitalist countries.
I. T. NOVIKOV
BibliographyStroitel’stvo v SSSR: 1917–1967 gg. Moscow, 1967. Soveshchanie po voprosam stroitel’stva v TsK VKP(b). Moscow, 1936.
Vsesoiuznoe soveshchanie stroitelei, arkhitektorov, rabotnikov promyshlennosti stroitel’nykh materialov: Sokrashchennyi stenograficheskii otchet. Moscow, 1955.
Vsesoiuznoe soveshchanie po stroitel’stvu 10–12 aprelia 1958 g.: Sokrashchennyi stenograficheskii otchet. Moscow, 1958.
Sokrashchennyi stenograficheskii otchet Vsesoiuznogo soveshchaniia rabotnikov proektnykh i izyskatel’skikh organizatsii, Moscow, 1974. Moscow, 1974.
General and specific features. The victory of the October Revolution of 1917 and the consolidation of socialist production relations brought about a radical change in the general features of labor in the USSR. The elimination of the classes and social groups that had profited from the labor of others and enriched themselves at others’ expense played a decisive role in the development of the Soviet people’s new attitude toward labor. Members of a socialist society, as collective owners of the means of production and the real masters of the country, display an interest in the results of their own labor, as well as in the economic activity of the enterprise in which they work and in the national economy. Their labor becomes truly socially-oriented. V. I. Lenin drew attention to this extremely important feature of socialist labor. In 1919 he wrote, “In Russia, labour is united communistically insofar as, first, private ownership of the means of production has been abolished, and, secondly, the proletarian state power is organising large-scale production on state-owned land and in state-owned enterprises on a national scale” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 39, p. 273).
One of the specific features of labor under the conditions of socialism is its universality. The universality of labor is manifested in a fundamentally new form of the hiring of a labor force and in the unifying of working people in cooperative enterprises. Hiring essentially consists in the planned inclusion of industrial and non-industrial workers in the process of social labor at state enterprises. It thus combines manpower with the means of production within the process of labor. The establishment of public, socialist ownership makes it impossible to transform manpower into a commodity.
In the USSR, labor is an honorable duty and an inalienable right of every able-bodied member of society. The socialist state grants every citizen the right to work, that is, the right to receive guaranteed employment with remuneration in accordance with the quantity and quality of his work. The individual has the right to select his occupation and his work duties in accordance with his vocation, capabilities, experience, and training; society’s needs are also taken into consideration. The planned nature of labor organization is the most important feature of socialist labor and its greatest advantage over capitalist labor.
By late 1930, as a result of radical socioeconomic changes, unemployment had been completely eliminated in the USSR. Confidence
|Table 1. Number of industrial and nonindustrial workers in the national economy (millions)|
|1913 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||12.9|
|1928 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||11.4|
|1940 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||33.9|
|1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||40.4|
|1960 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||62.0|
|1970 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||90.2|
|1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||106.4|
|1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||112.5|
in tomorrow, the most important feature of the Soviet people’s way of life, took firm root in society.
The socialist economic system makes it possible to use collective labor in the most rational manner and engage new labor resources in production. The rapid development of all branches of the national economy has been accompanied by an increase in the number of employed industrial and nonindustrial workers (see Table 1).
|Table 2. Distribution of the population employed in the national economy1 (percent by branch)|
|1Not counting students|
|2Including prívate farming|
|Total employed in national economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||100||100||100||100||100|
|Industry and construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||9||23||36||38||39|
|Agriculture and lumbering2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||75||54||31||25||20|
|Transportation and communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||2||5||8||8||9|
|Trade, food services, material and technical supply and marketing, and purchasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||9||5||6||7||8|
|Health care, physical culture and social insurance, education, culture and the arts, and science and scientific services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1||6||14||16||17|
|State administrative bodies, administrative bodies of cooperative and public organizations, and credit and state insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4||3||2||2||2|
|Other branches of national economy (housing and community services, etc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||4||3||4||5|
The collectivization of agriculture and the supplying of high-efficiency equipment to kolkhozes and sovkhozes has made possible the gradual elimination of heavy manual labor and the release of agricultural workers to positions in other branches of the national economy (see Table 2). Great changes have occurred in the employment structure of the nonindustrial sphere. The proportion of workers employed in health care, education, and science grew at a particularly rapid pace, increasing by a factor of 17 between 1913 and 1977 and almost tripling between 1940 and 1977. Community and domestic services, trade, public food services, sports, and tourism have developed rapidly. There has been a continual increase in the proportion of individuals employed in nonindustrial branches of the economy and a corresponding decrease in branches of material production (see Table 3).
|Table 3. Distribution of the population employed in the national economy (percent)|
|Total employed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||100||100||100||100||100|
|Material production branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||88.3||86.2||83.0||77.1||739|
|Nonindustrial branches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||11.7||13.8||17.0||22.9||26.1|
Substantial changes have occurred in the distribution of employees within the branches of the national economy. The number of industrial workers has increased at a rapid rate, as has the relative size of the group. Such growth has been evident particularly in machine building and metalworking, which play a dominant role in technological progress throughout the national economy. The number employed in these two industries increased by a factor of 4.2 between 1941 and 1977 and accounted for 41.3 percent of the total number of industrial workers in 1977. The number of workers in the chemical, petrochemical, and electric-power industries more than quadrupled during these years, and the number of workers in the building-materials industry increased sixfold. The number of workers in the fuel, lumber, and wood-products industries grew more slowly. While the absolute number of workers in light industry and food processing increased, the relative size of the group declined.
As a result of scientific and technological progress the structure of the labor force has markedly changed, and the level of workers’ skills has risen considerably. For example, from 1925 through 1972 the proportion of skilled and highly skilled workers in the working class grew from 18.5 percent to 72.2 percent. Workers’ skills continued to improve rapidly during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
The scientific and technological revolution has helped raise the importance of engineers and technicians in social production. Between 1961 and 1970 the proportion of engineers and technicians in the work force increased from 8.9 percent to 11.7 percent, and their absolute number increased by a factor of 1.8. There was an especially rapid increase in the number of engineers and technicians in branches of industry that play a leading role in the scientific and technological revolution. The growth factor was 2.5 in the electric power industry, almost 2.4 in the chemical and petrochemical industries, and 2.1 in machine building and metal-working.
The unusually rapid development of the socialist economy has brought with it the problems of providing enterprises of material production and services with sufficient employees and of training, distributing, and rationally using a skilled labor force. The principal means of increasing the labor force for many years consisted in encouraging population growth and releasing workers from agriculture, self-employment, and housework. During the 1970’s the situation changed. The influx of manpower from agriculture decreased, since the source had become largely exhausted, as was the case with persons engaged in housework and self-employed workers. As a result of the introduction of compulsory secondary education and the general growth of culture among the population at the stage of developed socialism, the number of young people enrolled in general-education schools, technicums, and higher educational institutions increased sharply. As population growth slowed markedly between 1961 and 1975, the rational use of the country’s labor force became especially important.
New and rapidly developing branches of industry and growing regions of the country are meeting their manpower needs mainly through the use of improved equipment, which has released a certain number of industrial and nonindustrial workers into the labor market, and through the growth of labor productivity.
During the years of socialist construction a scientifically grounded system of material incentives for labor was created. Between 1972 and 1975, blue- and white-collar workers in industrial branches of the national economy (more than 55 million persons) were granted new wage conditions. A minimum wage of 70 rubles a month was established, and basic wage rates and official salaries of the middle-income categories were raised. Between 1950 and 1975, the minimum wage was increased by factors ranging from 3.2 to 3.5, and the average wage went up by a factor of 2.3.
In 1977 the minimum wage for all industrial and nonindustrial workers in all branches of the economy was raised to 70 rubles a month. Basic wage rates and official salaries were also established for middle-income categories of workers in nonindustrial branches of the economy in the Far North and other remote areas, in the European north, the Far East, Siberia, the Urals, Kazakhstan, Middle Asia, the Volga Region, and the Volga-Viatka region. Between 1976 and 1978, wages for certain other categories of workers were also raised.
Social consumption funds have become increasingly important in the lives of all members of society.
Along with material incentives, a considerable role in the organization of labor has been played by the various forms and methods of moral encouragement of the best employees, that is, those who show a communist attitude toward labor. Special awards include orders, medals, and certificates. Outstanding workers are also granted honorary titles and are registered in the Book of Honor or on the honor roll. During the building of communism material and moral incentives have been constantly improved.
Labor productivity. The prevalence of socialist production relations has made possible a rapid rise in labor productivity, which is both a key indicator of the national economy’s development and an extremely important factor in the improvement of the people’s prosperity. Lenin emphasized that “communism is the higher productivity of labour—compared with that existing under capitalism—of voluntary, class-conscious, and united workers employing advanced techniques” (ibid., p. 22).
The USSR has achieved great successes in increasing labor productivity. From 1913 through 1977, productivity rose by a factor of 26.5 in industry and 6.3 in agriculture. In its growth rate of labor productivity the USSR has outstripped several capitalist countries, including the USA (see Table 4).
|Table 4. Average annual rate of increase in labor productivity in the industries of the USSR and the USA (percent per worker)|
|USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||8.2||6.5||4.6||5.8||6.0|
|USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||3.6||2.7||4.9||2.3||2.7|
An increase in labor productivity depends on a number of factors, including machine-labor ratio for production, the organization of production and labor, improvements in working conditions, workers’ skills, and the development of socialist competition.
Machine-labor ratio for production is determined by scientific and technological progress. One of the most important indicators of its growth is the increase of the electric power-labor ratio. Despite a significant improvement in the ratio, the USSR still lags behind certain highly developed capitalist countries. In agriculture the USSR increased its electric power consumption by a factor of 57 between 1950 and 1977. Between 1971 and 1977, the electric power-labor ratio on kolkhozes and sovkhozes increased by a factor of 2.6, compared to a figure of 1.3 in industry. This increase helped raise the level of labor productivity in livestock raising, vegetable and fruit cultivation, and other branches of agriculture.
The electrification of processes in various branches of production has made possible the acceleration of the processes, the introduction of automated equipment and of new, high-quality materials, the improvement of working conditions, and an increase in labor efficiency. Electronic equipment is especially important in raising labor productivity, since it is used in automation and in quality control of finished products. Electronic devices are used for remote control of power systems and manufacturing processes.
The greater availability of high-efficiency machinery in various branches of the national economy, as well as the mechanization of specific processes and the overall mechanization and automation of production, has resulted in a constant growth of the capital-labor ratio. However, the proportion of manual workers in the national economy still remains large. The chemicalization of production (that is, the introduction of chemical materials and chemical engineering methods into production), by intensifying the effectiveness of production processes, has expanded the pool of raw materials available to industry and helped economize social labor substantially.
The efficiency of social labor has increased to a great degree as a result of the organization of production, including the rational distribution of production forces, considerable specialization and cooperation among enterprises and branches of the national economy, the organization of smoothly flowing operations at enterprises, improvement of material and technical supply, and reduction of equipment downtime. For example, at many specialized enterprises the expenditures of social labor are approximately two or three times lower than at those where production is not specialized.
Lenin ascribed great importance to problems of labor organization: “For the Soviet government . . . it is the organisation of labour in any particular large enterprises, in any particular village communes that is the chief, fundamental and urgent question of all social life” (ibid., vol. 36, p. 147). Socialism provides all the conditions for the scientific organization of labor. Making use of all possible methods of placing personnel, formulating labor rates, improving working conditions, and ensuring labor protection, the scientific organization of labor allows each employee to make the most economical use of his work time and to achieve maximum labor productivity.
Increase in labor productivity is also linked with worker discipline, which is determined by the organization of labor, wages, and work in political education conducted by party, Komsomol, and trade union organizations.
At the present stage of development, one factor of growing importance in the increase of labor productivity is the improvement of working conditions, especially the elimination of monotonous operations and the encouragement of creativity and an active interest in work on the part of employees. In this way, labor becomes a vital human need.
The Basic Principles of Labor Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics state that no enterprise, and no unit thereof, may be approved and allowed to operate if it does not guarantee healthful and safe working conditions. Every year the Soviet state allocates large sums of money for the purchase of safety equipment and the improvement of working conditions. During the ninth five-year plan, 43 percent more was spent on labor protection, including special clothing and footwear and means of individual safety, than during the eighth five-year plan. There has been an increase in the production of equipment for ensuring labor safety. In 1976 and 1977 an annual average of more than 3 million workers benefited from measures undertaken to improve working conditions. Approximately one-third of all expenditures for the improvement of working conditions was allocated for the implementation of plans for the scientific organization of labor.
Expenditures by enterprises for the implementation of the scientific organization of labor in industry are recovered within 0.5–0.8 year, as contrasted with four to five years for expenditures on the construction of new enterprises and three years for expenditures on the introduction of new equipment. In 1976 and 1977 measures implemented for the scientific organization of labor resulted in an increase of labor productivity in industry of 30 percent. The improvement of working conditions and the organization of labor facilitates the maintenance of health, increases the production capacity of workers in socialist society, and contributes to their overall development as individuals.
The increase of labor productivity is linked with the quality of training provided to workers, both industrial and nonindustrial. In the USSR a system has been created for training young industrial workers, engineers, technicians, and office employees, as well as for increasing the skills of the working members of society. As a result of the expansion of vocational guidance programs, many young people decide upon their future occupation as early as secondary school. Some graduates of eight-year schools enroll at technicums, vocational-technical schools, or factory-plant schools, where they receive a secondary education and vocational training. Some graduates of ten-year schools enter technical schools.
|Table 5. Training and raising skills of industrial and nonindustrial workers at enterprises, institutions, and organizations (million persons)|
|Total industrial and nonindustrial workers trained in new occupations and specializations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.9||3.7||5.0||5.9|
|industrial workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.6||3.4||4.8||5.8|
|Total industrial and nonindustrial workers with advanced training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.7||9.4||12.1||32.7|
|industrial workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||1.5||7.2||9.0||23.2|
Between 1941 and 1977, schools in the system of the State Committee for Vocational-Technical Education of the USSR provided training for 37 million persons. However, the most widespread form of teaching workers is through on-the-job training at enterprises on the individual or brigade level or in courses (see Tables 5 and 6).
A great deal of attention has been paid to training highly skilled specialists within the system of higher and specialized secondary education. Between 1918 and 1977, higher educational institutions and technicums trained 36.8 million specialists. Approximately 14.1 million received a higher education, and 22.7 million obtained a specialized secondary education. In 1976, a total of 78 percent of the population employed in the national economy had a higher or a secondary (complete or incomplete) education.
Socialist competition has become one of the most important factors in raising labor productivity. It involves the creative initiative of the working people in the struggle to fulfill the national economic plans, improve product quality, increase the rate of scientific and technological progress, and reduce material and labor expenditures per unit of output.
|Table 6. Training of equipment operators and mechanics in agriculture (thousand persons)|
|Total trained equipment operators and mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||513||773||808||1,488|
|Tractor mechanics and operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||329||550||559||806|
|Combine mechanics, operators, and assistants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||70||84||63||164|
|Motor vehicle drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .||21||63||95||210|
Under the conditions of developed socialism, competition became an intrinsic part of the Soviet way of life. It evolved from shock-worker groups and the first communist subbotniki (voluntary workdays) during the early years of Soviet power, to the shock-brigade movement in the first five-year plan, to the counterplan movement in the early 1930’s, to the Stakhanovite movement of the mid-1930’s. In the late 1950’s socialist competition achieved its highest form—the movement for a communist attitude toward labor.
Soviet trade unions play an important role in resolving questions of wage regulation, advanced personnel training, the use of work time, and the organization of socialist competition. At its present stage of development, socialist competition provides a powerful stimulus to the mobilization of workers in their struggle for a universal increase in labor productivity, efficiency of social production, reduction of labor expenditures, rational use and saving of raw materials and money, and improvement of product quality.
Workday and workweek. The Basic Principles of Labor Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics provide that the normal workweek for industrial workers and nonindustrial workers at enterprises, institutions, and organizations may not exceed 41 hours. A reduced workweek is established for industrial and non-industrial workers between the ages of 16 and 18 (36 hours) or 15 and 16 (24 hours) and for those employed on jobs with harmful working conditions (not more than 36 hours). Reduced work time is also established for teachers, physicians, and certain other workers. A six-day workweek or five-day workweek with two days off normally consists of 41 hours of work time. For work performed at night (from 10 P.M. to 6 A.M.) the workday (shift) is one hour shorter than the corresponding day shift. The average established length of the workweek for adult industrial workers amounted to 40.6 hours in 1977, as compared with 47.8 hours in 1955 and 58.5 hours in 1913. Overtime is permitted only under exceptional circumstances and only with the permission of the appropriate trade union committee. Overtime must not exceed four hours in the course of two successive days or 120 hours per year for any industrial or nonindustrial worker.
All industrial and nonindustrial workers are granted annual paid vacations of not less than 15 workdays. Additional leave is granted to those who are employed in jobs with dangerous working conditions or without a fixed workday, to workers in the Far North or other remote locations, and to workers who have been employed for a certain amount of time in the same enterprise or organization.
E. L. MANEVICH
BibliographyLenin, V. I. O proizvoditel’nosti truda (collection). Moscow, 1969.
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Strumilin, S. G. Problemy ekonomiki truda. Moscow, 1957.
Kasimovskii, E. V. Obshchestvennaia proizvoditel’nost’ truda i ee izmerenie. [Moscow] 1965.
Nauchnaia organizatsiia truda i upravlenie, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1966.
Manevich, E. L. Problemy obshchestvennogo truda v SSSR. Moscow, 1966.
Manevich, E. L. V. I. Lenin o trude pri sotsializme i kommunizme. Moscow, 1969.
Cherkasov, G. Nauchnaia organizatsiia truda [Moscow] 1967.
Osnovnye problemy ratsional’nogo ispol’zovaniia trudovykh resursov v SSSR. Moscow, 1971.
Karpukhin, D. N. Proizvoditel’nost’ obshchestvennogo truda i narodno-khoziaistvennye proportsii. Moscow, 1972.
Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskie voprosy organizatsii truda. Moscow, 1974.
Baranenkova, T. A. Vysvobozhdenie rabochei sily i uluchshenie ee ispol’zovaniia pri sotsializme. Moscow, 1974.
Kostin, L. A. Proizvoditel’nost’ truda i tekhnicheskii progress. Moscow, 1974.
Domestic trade. Domestic trade plays an important role in the growth of the standard of living in the USSR. The development of domestic trade has been characterized by high and steady growth rates and a corresponding increase in incomes and the effective monetary demand of the population. In 1975 approximately four-fifths of all material goods sold for personal consumption were sold through domestic trade. Trade and the food service industry account for approximately 7 percent of all industrial and nonindustrial workers employed in the national economy.
In prerevolutionary Russia, private trade predominated. In 1913 the cities accounted for almost three-fourths of the country’s total commodity turnover, although only 18 percent of the population lived in cities. Commodity production was curtailed during World War I. Between 1913 and 1917, prices of industrial commodities increased by a factor of 4.3, and prices of clothing and footwear underwent a fivefold increase. In the same period, prices of food products rose by a factor of 5.6. In March 1917 the bourgeois Provisional Government introduced a rationing system. Speculation and profiteering developed, and a food crisis ensued.
The problem of organizing food supplies for the working people was particularly acute during the early years of Soviet power. One of the first measures taken by the Soviet state was the introduction of workers’ control over production and distribution. In addition, on Oct. 26 (Nov. 8), 1917, the People’s Commissariat for Foodstuffs was established to bring about centralization in the supply of commodities to the population and organization in the procurement of agricultural products.
The increasing difficulty of supplying food to the population led, in May and June 1918, to the enactment of extreme measures. The government issued a decree establishing a dictatorship over foodstuffs. The decree gave the people’s commissar for foodstuffs extraordinary powers with which to combat the rural bourgeoisie, who were hiding grain and selling it on the black market. Other decrees restructured the People’s Commissariat for Foodstuffs and its local agencies and set up committees of the poor (kombedy) in the countryside. A great deal of emphasis was placed on the consumers’ cooperatives, which helped provide commercial services for the entire population. In 1918 a state monopoly was established over trade in such consumer goods as grain, salt, sugar, and cloth. Private trade was prohibited. The trade network, including wholesale warehouses, was placed under the jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariat for Foodstuffs and its local agencies. All these measures undermined the economic position of the capitalist elements. The struggle against speculation and profiteering was intensified. It became possible to improve the supply of goods to the working people.
During the Civil War and foreign intervention (1918–20), a rationing system was used to provide centralized distribution of consumer goods. The surplus appropriation system, introduced in 1919, became the principal form of procurement of agricultural products; it enabled the state to obtain the resources necessary for providing food to workers in the industrial centers and to the army.
With the adoption of the New Economic Policy in 1921, the surplus appropriation system was replaced by a tax in kind, small-scale private trade was permitted under state control, and rationing was abolished. In 1924 the private sector accounted for 88 percent of the retail trade enterprises, and its share of the retail commodity turnover amounted to 53 percent.
It was in the area of wholesale trade that the Soviet state began the organization of domestic trade and the regulation of market relations on the scale of the entire national economy. The administrative bodies of wholesale trade engaged in the sale of products of large-scale industry. In 1922 a special organizational system was created that consisted of syndicates, each of which was associated with a branch of the economy, and other state organizations, such as commodity exchanges and fairs. Cooperative trade played a large role in wholesale trade during this period.
As socialist forms in the country’s economy became more entrenched and state and cooperative trade became more developed, private middlemen were crowded out, first from wholesale trade and then from retail trade. Various economic measures taken by the state contributed to the elimination of private middlemen; they included the state’s regulation of taxes, tariff rates, and credit, the lowering of prices, and the rendering of financial aid to cooperatives.
The gradual consolidation of the position of socialized trade allowed a transition as early as 1925 and 1926 to a system whereby the more important consumer goods were delivered to the country’s principal economic regions on a planned basis. It also became possible in these years to strengthen the role of planning in market relationships. At the same time the private sector’s role in the purchase of agricultural output declined. As a result, by the end of 1927 the socialized sector of domestic trade accounted for more than 65 percent of the commodity turnover. In this sphere of the economy the question “Who will win?” was decided in favor of socialism.
The procurement of agricultural products through contracting underwent considerable development. In 1931 private trade ceased to exist; in 1932 it was prohibited by law. Large-scale, wholesale trade was concentrated in the hands of state organizations; the predominant role in retail trade came to be played by consumers’ cooperatives, which replaced private middlemen.
The transition to industrialization, the growth of the urban population, and the rise in monetary incomes considerably increased the demand for goods. Small-scale commercial agriculture, however, could not provide a rapid increase in the output of foodstuffs and industrial raw materials. As a result, it was necessary in 1928 to resort to the rationing of basic commodities. As state commodity resources increased, “commercial” trade at higher prices was introduced.
The development of cooperative trade was accompanied by the growth of state retail trade. In 1928 closed systems of distribution were created that supplied goods to industrial and nonindustrial workers in the enterprises associated with the systems; in 1932 they were replaced by departments of workers’ supply (ORS’s). Model department stores were established, as well as food shops of a superior type (gastronomy) and a number of specialized stores, including those selling products of the food-processing industry and of light industry. A system of wholesale industrial supply bases was created. Kolkhoz trade not subject to state planning was permitted, with prices being governed by supply and demand.
As a result of an increase in commodity resources and the development of trade, rationing was abolished in 1935, and free, open trade was established. Between 1935 and 1941 standardized state retail prices were introduced, and the trade system underwent organizational restructuring. Enterprises of the ORS’s and the cooperative trade network in the cities were transferred to state trade organizations. The activity of the consumers’ cooperatives was confined primarily to rural trade.
Between 1928 and 1940, the volume of retail commodity turnover increased by a factor of 2.3, and the number of retail trade enterprises and enterprises of the food service industry rose from 170,000 to 495,000. In 1940 the turnover of food service enterprises accounted for 13 percent of the entire turnover of state and cooperative trade. There was an increase in the proportion of socialized forms of trade within the total volume of retail trade (see Table 1).
|Table 1. Share of individual forms of trade1 in total volume of commodity turnover (percent)|
|1In actual prices|
|State trade ...............||30.1||62.7|
|Cooperative trade ...............||53.4||23.0|
|Kolkhoz market ...............||16.5||14.3|
During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, the state rationing system encompassed as many as 77 million persons. The food service industry’s share in retail commodity turnover almost doubled. ORS’s were again organized at industrial enterprises. Throughout the war years the prices of rationed basic food products and industrial commodities were maintained at the prewar level.
Retail commodity turnover, whose level was considerably lower in 1942 than in 1940, began a period of continuous growth in 1943; by 1945 it was twice as great as in 1942.
Despite the enormous difficulties caused by the war, the rationing system that had been introduced in 1941 was abolished at the end of 1947, and open trade was established. In 1950 the trade network was restored, and the prewar level of retail commodity trade had been surpassed. In 1950 the volume of retail commodity trade was 107 percent of the 1940 level.
|Table 2. Retail commodity turnover of state and cooperative trade|
|Total volume of turnover|
|billion rubles ...............||15.7||31.2||71.5||140.2||209.3|
|State trade turnover|
|billion rubles ...............||11.2||22.3||49.3||97.1||147.0|
|Consumer cooperative turnover|
|billion rubles ...............||4.5||8.9||22.2||43.1||62.3|
The principal form of Soviet trade is state trade, which is based on the ownership of material wealth by the entire people. State trade accounts for most sales of commodities on the domestic market. It serves primarily the urban population; state trade organizations, however, also purchase a considerable part of the vegetables and fruits, including potatoes and melons, produced by kolkhozes and sovkhozes.
Cooperative trade serves primarily the rural population. Consumers’ cooperatives also make purchases of agricultural products from kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and the rural population. Purchases include eggs, certain types of raw material (such as wool and furs), and vegetables and fruits (including potatoes and melons). Consumers’ cooperatives also engage in consignment marketing of agricultural products, primarily in the cities, at prices that are generally lower than prices on the kolkhoz market.
Kolkhoz trade, which exists alongside state and cooperative trade, comprises the sale by kolkhozes, kolkhoz members, and other citizens of surplus agricultural products at kolkhoz markets. State and cooperative retail trade affect the kolkhoz market: the better and more completely demand is satisfied by state and cooperative trade, the less demand there is for the products of the kolkhoz market and the lower is the level of kolkhoz market prices. The ratios between the various forms of trade in consumer goods reveal a definite trend: state trade is growing, and the role of the kolkhoz market is diminishing; the share of cooperative trade in the country’s total commodity turnover has stabilized (see Table 3).
The development of domestic trade results from the expansion of commodity production and the increase in the population’s monetary income; it is characterized by the dynamics of retail commodity turnover, a high growth rate for which is to be expected. Thus, between 1940 and 1977, retail commodity turnover increased by a factor of 9.3; calculated on a per capita basis, it increased from 92 rubles to 891 rubles (1940 and 1977 prices, respectively).
Retail commodity turnover is characterized by progressive qualitative changes in the commodity structure that reflect the growth of the population’s standard of living and cultural level (see). The foremost of these changes is the increased share of nonfood products in the total volume of commodity turnover (see Table 3); a notable development within this group is the increased share of such durable consumer goods as radios, electric appliances, sports goods, furniture, and dishes. Within the food product group, the share of the nutritionally more valuable foods (meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, vegetables, and fruits) has increased and the share of cereal products and potatoes has decreased.
|Table 3. Share of food and nonfood products in total volume of commodity turnover in state and cooperative trade, including the food service industry (percent)|
|Food products ...............||63.0||58.4||54.4||55.5||50.8|
|Nonfood products ...............||37.0||41.6||45.6||44.5||49.2|
The development of commodity turnover is characterized by a higher per capita growth rate in rural localities than in cities. This disparity in rates contributes to the gradual elimination of the difference in standard of living between urban and rural areas. The per capita commodity turnover in urban areas was five times greater than in rural areas in 1940, 3.2 times greater in 1960, and 2.3 times greater in 1980. The rapid development of the economies and cultures of the Union republics has made for higher growth rates of commodity turnover in these republics (see Table 4).
The food service industry is a major branch of domestic trade. It has played an extremely significant role in the socialist reconstruction of daily life. The food service industry lightens women’s housework and facilitates their increased participation in social production. The turnover of the food service industry is constantly increasing (see Table 5).
|Table 4. Retail commodity turnover in state and cooperative trade, including food service industry, by Union republics (billion rubles)|
|Ukrainian SSR ...............||3.2||46.7|
|Byelorussian SSR ...............||0.5||9.9|
|Uzbek SSR ...............||0.5||10.3|
|Kazakh SSR ...............||0.4||13.3|
|Georgian SSR ...............||0.3||4.3|
|Azerbaijan SSR ...............||0.3||3.7|
|Uthuanian SSR ...............||0.2||4.1|
|Moldavian SSR ...............||0.1||3.5|
|Latvian SSR ...............||0.2||3.7|
|Kirghiz SSR ...............||0.1||2.6|
|Tadzhik SSR ...............||0.1||2.3|
|Armenian SSR ...............||0.1||2.6|
|Turkmen SSR ...............||0.1||2.0|
|Estonian SSR ...............||0.1||2.3|
An important economic indicator of the efficiency of domestic trade is provided by distribution costs, or expenditures for delivering goods from the place of production to the place of consumption (see Table 6). The share of distribution costs in the total volume of retail commodity turnover, including the turnover of the food service industry, declined from 11 percent in 1940 to 9.4 percent in 1980.
|Table 5. Development of the food service industry|
|Commodity turnover (million rubles) ...............||2,347||4,743||7,023||15,033||24,003|
|Output (million rubles) ...............||1,312||1,268||3,364||8,846||15,447|
|Number of enterprises (thousands) ...............||87.6||95.4||147.2||237.3||302.9|
|Number of seats in enterprises (thousands) ...............||2,200||2,400||4,459||10,026||17,200|
The material and technical basis of retail trade includes an extensive network of stores, cafeterias, cafés, restaurants, and snack bars. Since the end of the 1950’s the material and technical basis of domestic trade has been expanded and strengthened. More efficient types of commercial equipment have been introduced, as well as new production processes and new marketing methods.
Retail trade has seen the creation of supermarkets, department stores, and specialty shops, such as Goods for Men, Goods for Women, and Everything for the Home. Specialized stores have also been established that feature a diverse assortment of wares and make use of advanced merchandising and service techniques. Such stores, which include self-service stores and stores that use demonstration models to sell goods, are provided with up-to-date commercial equipment that permits goods to be delivered to the store and sold with a minimum of handling by store employees. Such stores may also have refrigeration equipment, cash-register equipment, and mechanized equipment for moving goods at all stages of the commercial process.
|Table 6. Distribution costs in trade (percent of commodity turnover)|
|Wholesale trade ...............||1.77||1.64||1.00||1.25||1.10|
|Retail trade ...............||8.21||6.78||5.74||6.94||6.73|
|Food service industry ...............||19.63||13.35||16.29||21.20||23.55|
During the 1960’s and 1970’s, an up-to-date trade network and a modern food service industry network were established. The period also saw the construction of large warehouse complexes, cold-storage facilities, and other storage facilities, including storehouses for fruit and for potatoes and other vegetables. Large-scale shopping centers, both urban and rural, were built, and specialized commercial firms were established. Electronic equipment was introduced. Between 1960 and 1980 the floor space of stores more than doubled (see Table 7), the public’s access to the trade network (calculated per 1,000 inhabitants) grew by 99 percent, and the general indicators for the development of domestic trade showed increases.
As of Jan. 1,1978, the commodity turnover of stores using advanced merchandizing techniques amounted to 62 percent of the total commodity turnover; 58 percent of the total was accounted for by self-service stores. Other forms of trade used include advance order sales, sales on credit, home delivery, and mail order sales.
Large storage facilities are being constructed for wholesale trade: large-scale mechanized warehouses with high storage capacities, distributive cold-storage facilities, and vegetable and fruit storehouses, including potato storehouses, that are equipped for active and general-exchange ventilation. Extensive use is being made of integrated mechanization and automation of the basic processes of transporting, storing, and processing commodities. Wholesale trade also uses packaged and containerized hauling. Methods have been introduced for the centralized delivery of goods to retail trade enterprises in accordance with rational schemes of commodity traffic; also, automatic control systems have been created.
The food service industry has adopted industrial operating methods that use semifinished products. At the same time the industry is characterized by a progressive technology that processes raw material and prepares foods on the basis of the mechanization and intensification of all labor processes. Production has intensified through the use of high-efficiency conveyor equipment, the development of which, along with such innovations as ultra-high-frequency heating and infrared heating, must be numbered among the achievements of science and technology in the field of food processing.
Enterprises of the food service industry are making the transition to serving table d’hôte meals. They have sectional, modular equipment and modern heating and processing devices. These enterprises use standardized, functional packaging and serving machines of the Effekt, Slavianka, and Progress types, which increase labor productivity by a factor of 1.5–2.
|Table 7. Development of the trade and warehouse network|
|Number of stores (end of year, thousands) ...............||413.0||500.0||532.4|
|Floor space of stores (million sq m) ...............||17.6||31.5||46.1|
|Number of booths and kiosks (thousands) ...............||154.3||182.0||162.8|
|Number of general-purpose warehouses (thousands) ...............||66.1||75.3||82.6|
|Area of general-purpose warehouses (thousand sqm) ...............||15,087||24,143||38,779|
|Number of specialized warehouses (thousands) ...............||59.0||76.1||53.9|
|Capacity of specialized warehouses (thousand tons) ...............||5,775||9,640||14,393|
Commercial advertising has been extremely important in the development of domestic trade. Advertising services have been established in state and cooperative trade, as well as in such bodies as the Ministry of Consumer Services and industrial ministries and agencies whose enterprises produce consumer goods. Within the system of state trade there are specialized advertising organizations. The Interdepartmental Council on Advertising under the Ministry of Trade of the USSR coordinates the advertising activities of various agencies and organizations in the country.
ORGANIZATION. The highest unit of state administration of domestic trade and the center of the entire commercial system is the Ministry of Trade of the USSR. Through its central boards, the ministries of trade of the Union and autonomous republics, and the administrative bodies for trade and the food service industry of the executive committees of local soviets, it coordinates the development of wholesale trade, retail trade, and the food service industry and regulates the trade activities of other ministries and agencies. Some trade systems have their own central bodies of administration, such as the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR (Tsentrosoiuz), the central boards of workers’ supply of the industrial ministries, and the Central Board for the Book Trade.
Wholesale trade is concentrated in the republic ministries of trade, which have specialized enterprises and associations for the wholesale trade of individual commodity groups, including Miasorybtorg, Bakaleia, Tekstil’torg, Torgodezhda, Obuv’torg, Galantereia, Kul’ttorg, and Khoztorg. Wholesale trade has a network of supply depots, cold-storage facilities, and cold-storage combines located in regions where goods are produced and consumed.
Wholesale trade by consumers’ cooperatives is directed by the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR and is intradepartmental in nature. The majority of wholesale operations in consumers’ cooperatives are carried out by general, interregional centers of oblast, krai, and republic unions of consumers’ societies and by warehouses of regional consumers’ unions.
Wholesale trade in certain consumer goods is also conducted by a number of other ministries and agencies of the USSR, such as the Ministry of Farm-produce Purchases of the USSR (grain products), the Ministry of the Food-processing Industry of the USSR (meat and fat products), the Ministry of the Fishing Industry of the USSR (fish products), and the State Committee for Material and Technical Supply (Gossnab) of the USSR. In addition to trade in consumer goods, there are wholesale organizations for the procurement, purchase, and market sale of agricultural products and raw materials and for material and technical supply.
A. I. STRUEV
Consumer services. Consumer services carry out important socioeconomic functions. Directed at the replacement of domestic labor by social forms of labor, consumer services contribute to the saving of social labor, free important material resources, and help the working people make rational use of their leisure time. Consumer service enterprises include repair shops, combines, personal services centers, workshops, and salons. Among the services provided by such enterprises are apartment repair and custom building of housing at the client’s expense, laundering, dry cleaning, clothes dyeing, custom sewing, and the repair of shoes, clothing, furs, and knitted goods. Another group of services offered comprises motor vehicle maintenance and repair and the repair of household appliances, televisions, radios, and musical instruments. Other consumer services provided include apartment cleaning, the rental of articles for artistic, sports, or domestic use, photographic services, barbering, and hairdressing.
In prerevolutionary Russia consumer services were rendered by private entrepreneurs, handicraftsmen, and artisans. In the 50 provinces of the European part of the country approximately 3.4 million persons (more than 10 percent of the economically independent population) were engaged in private service as servants or workers hired by the day.
During the period of Soviet power consumer services have essentially been created anew. Between 1917 and 1921 the Soviet government issued its first decrees aimed at the development of consumer services. Until the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, handicraftsmen and artisans were for the most part organized in industrial cooperatives for the production of goods and the provision of consumer services. The first years after the war saw an increase in the role played by state local industry and trade in offering consumer services to the population.
In the late 1950’s and 1970’s a number of decrees were issued whose purpose was the improvement of consumer services; among them was the decree On Further Improving Consumer Services to the Population, issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Aug. 10, 1962. Since 1965 consumer services have developed as a large-scale, mechanized branch of the national economy: the network of enterprises with up-to-date equipment has been expanded, scientific and technological advances have been incorporated into consumer services, more efficient use is being made of production capacities, and the social status of workers in consumer services has risen.
In order to organize and improve consumer services in the Union and autonomous republics, ministries of consumer services were formed in 1965. In 1980 their enterprises accounted for more than 76 percent of the total amount of consumer services. Krai, oblast, and municipal administrations of consumer services were established to act under the supervision of the local soviets. Table 8 gives the principal indicators of the development of consumer services.
|Table 8. Principal indicators of consumer services|
|Number of enterprises (end of year, thousands) ...............||192.9||270.7|
|enterprises in rural areas (end of year, thousands) ...............||80.2||112.8|
|Number of reception points (end of year, thousands) ...............||28.6||75.2|
|reception points in rural areas (end of year, thousands) ...............||11.4||43.9|
|Volume of consumer services (in comparable prices, million rubles) ...............||1,773||7,805.5|
|consumer services in rural areas (in comparable prices, million rubles) ...............||311||2,094.8|
|Average yearly number of employees in enterprises and at reception points (thousands) ...............||1,321||2,627.7|
From 1966 to 1980 the growth rate for the volume of consumer services considerably outstripped the growth rates for all other types of services, whether those for which a fee was charged or those paid for with public funds. The average yearly growth rate for consumer services was 13.25 percent, as opposed to 7.7 percent for communications, 7.3 percent for all types of passenger transport, and 8.2 percent for communal services.
State capital investment in consumer services between 1971 and 1975 totaled about 2 billion rubles, or 1.4 times more than between 1966 and 1970; in 1976 and 1977 state capital investment totaled 0.8 billion rubles. Between 1971 and 1977, 1,243 laundries and bath and laundry combines were established (capacity, 780 tons of washables), as well as 295 dry-cleaning enterprises (capacity, 164 tons of clothes). Other consumer service enterprises set up in this period included 509 service stations for passenger cars (capacity, 5,700 cars). Table 9 provides figures on the number of consumer service enterprises for various types of service.
|Table 9. Number of enterprises providing consumer services (end of year, thousands)|
|Total enterprises ...............||192.9||270.7|
|Repair and individual sewing of shoes ...............||30.4||27.6|
|Repair and individual sewing of clothing ...............||33.1||41.6|
|Repair, individual sewing, and making of knitted goods ...............||2.0||2.6|
|Repair of radios and television sets, household appliances and tools, and means of transportation; repair and manufacture of metal articles ...............||20.9||34.6|
|Repair and making of furniture ...............||3.1||3.6|
|Dry cleaning and dyeing ...............||0.8||2.2|
|Baths and showers ...............||23.2||32.8|
|Barbers and hairdressers ...............||35.3||47.9|
|Rental centers ...............||7.1||12.6|
|Photo centers ...............||10.2||15.1|
|Construction and repair of apartments ...............||4.2||12|
Consumer services have received 1.5 million units of specialized equipment. Machinery, mechanisms, and tools for consumer service enterprises are manufactured by more than 130 plants. Between 1966 and 1980 the average yearly number of employees at consumer service enterprises increased nearly twice, while the overall growth in the number of industrial and nonindustrial workers in the entire national economy was 46 percent.
In the USSR consumer service personnel are trained at five technological institutes (located in Moscow Oblast, Vladivostok, Shakhty, Omsk, and Khmel’nitskii) and 25 specialized technicums. A system of educational institutions has been created to train lower level personnel for consumer services; as of 1980,182 vocational-technical schools had been established.
As a result of the increase in the standard of living and cultural level of the working people, as well as the increase in the production of such goods as household appliances, passenger cars, and other goods, the structure of consumer services has changed. In 1980 the principal types of services accounted for the following percentages of the total volume of consumer services (percentages for 1965 are given in parentheses): sewing and repair of clothing, 21.3 (32.6); repair of household appliances, 7.7 (5.1); services by barbers and hairdressers, 8.8 (14.1); making and repair of shoes, 8.9 (10.6); repair and construction of housing, 8.1 (1.5); laundering, 5.0 (4.5); repair and maintenance of means of transportation, 2.7 (0.1); dry cleaning and dyeing of clothes, 2.6 (2.3); and services of rental centers, 1.7 (0.8).
One of the principal trends in the development of consumer services has been the enlargement of enterprises and the specialization of production activity. The administration of consumer services is undergoing reorganization, with specialized, consumer service production associations being created. In 1975 more than 3,000 specialized enterprises and associations accounted for 60 percent of consumer services. Cooperation in production activity is developing between specialized enterprises and enterprises associated with more than one branch of the economy. Such cooperation improves the quality of service, decreases the time required for filling orders, makes possible savings in labor outlays, and leads to a more complete use of production capacity.
Particular attention is being paid to improvement of services for the rural population and to bridging the gap between the cities and rural areas. Between 1966 and 1977 the average annual growth rate of consumer services was 17.5 percent in rural localities and 10.8 percent in the cities. The average rural inhabitant received services worth 2.57 rubles in 1965 and 16.18 rubles in 1977.
Consumer service enterprises in rural localities provide such services as dry cleaning, laundering, the repair of household appliances, and the repair and construction of housing. By 1977, consumer service combines had been established in the administrative centers of most raions, and personal services centers and complex reception points had been set up in the central areas of more than 75 percent of the kolkhozes and sovkhozes. The inhabitants of remote settlements were serviced by more than 12,000 mobile workshops and reception points.
Progressive forms of service by consumer service firms and by special bureaus for kind services (biuro dobrykh uslug), which provide helpers for household tasks, are developing. Such forms of service include the acceptance of orders at home and over the telephone, home delivery of orders, home repair of household appliances by skilled workers, the filling of orders while the customer waits, the renting of equipment for artistic, sports, or domestic purposes, and the provision of services at places of employment.
Consumer services have developed at rapid rates in all the Union republics (see Table 10).
|Table 10. Volume of consumer services by Union republics (in comparable prices)|
|1965 (million rubles)||1980|
|Total (million rubles)||Per capita (rubles)|
|Ukrainian SSR ...............||312||1,525.6||29.85|
|Byelorussian SSR ...............||55||310.2||31.62|
|Uzbek SSR ...............||45||310.8||19.31|
|Kazakh SSR ...............||75||384.1||25.36|
|Georgian SSR ...............||30||154.9||30.30|
|Azerbaijan SSR ...............||21||108.6||17.84|
|Lithuanian SSR ...............||27||125.6||36.02|
|Moldavian SSR ...............||25||119.0||29.60|
|Latvian SSR ...............||39||128.3||49.78|
|Kirghiz SSR ...............||15||82.6||22.60|
|Tadzhik SSR ...............||12||81.1||20.35|
|Armenian SSR ...............||14||77.2||24.65|
|Turkmen SSR ...............||9||55.9||19.39|
|Estonian SSR ...............||19||67.8||45.12|
In order to satisfy more fully the needs of the Soviet people for consumer services and to improve the quality of such services, the Central Committee of the CPSU issued in February 1977 the decree On the Work of the Ministry of Consumer Services for the Population of the RSFSR in Improving the Fulfillment of Orders and in Raising the Standards of Service to the Working People.
A. A. MESHCHANKIN
BibliographyLenin, V. I. O tovarnom proizvodstve i torgovle v period stroitel’stva sotsializma (collection). Moscow, 1958.
Rubinshtein, G. L. Razvitie vnutrennei torgovli v SSSR. Leningrad, 1964.
Tiukov, V. S., and R. A. Lokshin. Sovetskaia torgovlia v period perekhoda k kommunizmu. Moscow, 1964.
Dikhtiar, G. A. Sovetskaia torgovlia v period sotsializma i razvernutogo stroitel’stva kommunizma. Moscow, 1965.
Voprosy razvitiia ekonomiki torgovli SSSR. Moscow, 1965.
Struev, A. I. Torgovlia v novoi piatiletke 1966–1970. Moscow, 1967.
Zhelezov, V. A., and S. M. Polotskii. Otrosí’ v novykh usloviiakh. Moscow, 1968.
Grigor’ian, G. S. V. I. Lenin o torgovle. Moscow, 1969.
Ekonomicheskaia reforma i sovershenstvovanie torgovli. Moscow, 1969.
Korovkin, G. N. Narodnoe potreblenie: Netkotorye problemy razvitiia i planirovaniia. Moscow, 1969.
Abaturov, A. I. Gosudarstvennaia roznichnaia torgovlia. Leningrad, 1971.
Sovershenstvovanie material’no-tekhnicheskoi bazy roznichnoi torgovli. Moscow, 1972.
Levin, A. I., and A. P. Iarkin. Ekonomicheskie problemy funktsionirovaniia vnutrennei torgovli. Moscow, 1973.
Ivanitskii, V. I. Effektivnost’ ispol’zovaniia osnovnykh fondov torgovli. Moscow, 1974.
Kanevskii, E. T., and L. G. Margolin. U istokov sovetskoi torgovli. Moscow, 1975.
“Postanovlenie TsK KPSS i Soveta Ministrov SSSR ot 6 marta 1959 goda ‘O merakh po uluchsheniiu bytovogo obsluzhivaniia naseleniia.’” In Sobranie postanovlenii pravitel’stva SSSR, 1959, no. 5.
“Postanovlenie Soveta Ministrov SSSR ot 15 maia 1965 goda ‘O merakh po uluchsheniiu raboty predpriiatii bytovogo obsluzhivaniia naseleniia.’” Ibid., 1965, no. 13.
Sluzhba byta v novykh ekonomicheskikh usloviiakh. Moscow, 1970.
Bobrov, L. A., N. V. Gukov, and K. S. Gudevich. Ekonomika bytovogo obsluzhivaniia naseleniia. Moscow, 1971.
Voprosy sovershenstvovaniia, organizatsii i planirovaniia sfery uslug. Moscow, 1975.
Essence and purpose of public finance. Public finance in the USSR is a system of economic relations through which the planned formation, distribution, and use of monetary resources are carried out for the purpose of expanding reproduction, raising the people’s standard of living, and satisfying other needs of a socialist society. The essence of public finance is determined by the operation of the economic laws of socialism, by the socialist economic system, which is based on public ownership of the means of production, and by the nature and functions of the Soviet state and the patterns of its development.
Public finance in the USSR has two principal functions. One is the distribution and redistribution of the social product and the national income in such a way as to promote the planned development of social production. The other is economic control of society’s material, labor, and financial resources and encouragement of the efficient use of those resources. Public finance also serves as an important economic instrument for furthering socialist economic integration, strengthening friendly ties with developing countries, and expanding mutually advantageous economic, scientific, technical, and cultural ties with capitalist countries. Public finance has played an important part in the development of productive forces and the establishment and refinement of socialist production relations at all stages of socialist construction as well as in mature socialism.
Origin and development of Soviet public finance. Public finance in prerevolutionary Russia reflected the contradictions in the country’s economic system and served as an additional means of exploitation of the working people by pomeshchiki (large-scale landowners) and big bourgeoisie. The financial policy of the tsarist autocracy—and later, that of the bourgeois Provisional Government—retarded the development of Russia’s productive forces, intensified the country’s technological and economic backwardness and its dependence on foreign capital, and exerted a destructive influence on the economy.
World War I exacerbated the contradictions in Russia’s foreign relations and social order and demonstrated the weakness of its financial system. In 1916 the budget deficit made up more than 75 percent of the budget and was financed, for the most part, by the issuance of paper money. The national debt grew precipitously, from 8.8 billion rubles on Jan. 1,1914, to 60 billion rubles by the end of 1917. The country’s system of money circulation was in poor condition. By the end of 1917 the purchasing power of the ruble had fallen to 7 kopeks.
The formation of the Soviet system of public finance began with the victory of the October Revolution of 1917. The financial measures taken by the dictatorship of the proletariat were aimed at undermining the economic strength of the overthrown exploiter classes, at scrapping the old state machinery and creating a Soviet state apparatus, and at freeing the country from financial
|Table 1. Distribution of the profits of enterprises and economic organizations|
|billion rubles||percent||billion rubles||percent||billion rubles||percent|
|Total profits ...............||27.7||100||87.4||100||112.1||100|
|Accounted for in the state budget ...............||17.8||64.4||51.0||58||63.3||56.4|
|payment for fixed production assets and circulating capital ...............||—||—||13.7||16||23.8||21.2|
|fixed (rent) payments ...............||—||—||2.6||3||2.3||2.1|
|contributions from residual profit balance ...............||—||—||24.1||28||30.3||27.0|
|deductions from profits ...............||17.2||62.1||10.0||11||5.6||5.0|
|Amount remaining at the disposal of enterprises and economic organizations ...............||9.9||35.6||36.4||42||48.8||43.6|
|allocated for capital investment and the formation of the basic herd on sovkhozes ...............||3.3||11.9||11.4||13||10.2||9.1|
|allocated for incentive funds ...............||1.5||5.5||12.7||15||19.5||17.4|
|allocated for circulating capital ...............||3.5||12.6||4.2||5||4.4||3.9|
and economic dependence. The banks were nationalized in December 1917, prerevolutionary loans were annulled, state social insurance was introduced for the working people, and a state insurance monopoly was established.
The financial program developed by the Communist Party provided for centralization of public finance; regularly collected taxes, such as the income and property tax, with highly progressive rate scales; monetary reform (replacement of the old currency with a new one); elimination of the budget deficit: and organization of an accounting and control system for the production and distribution of goods. A new financial and credit apparatus was established; it comprised the People’s Commissariat of Finance, the People’s Bank of the RSFSR, and finance sections of local soviets.
The implementation of many measures of the party’s program was interrupted by the Civil War and Military Intervention of 1918–20. During these years, state revenues were curtailed, the money supply grew markedly, and a surplus appropriation system was introduced. The war and the disruption it brought required that the country’s resources be concentrated in the hands of the state and that their distribution be in the form of payments in kind; this sharply reduced the sphere of operation of public finance.
With the transition to the New Economic Policy (NEP), the problem of strengthening public finance assumed primary importance. By a decision of the Tenth Congress of the RCP(B), held in 1921, the surplus appropriation system was replaced by a tax in kind. Between 1922 and 1924 a monetary reform was effected. A stable Soviet currency, backed by gold, was created, and the budget was balanced. Regulated in a planned manner by the state, commodity-money relations underwent development.
Of great importance in strengthening public finance was the conversion of industry—and subsequently other branches of the national economy—to profit-and-loss accounting. A tax reform was enacted in 1930. The numerous existing taxes and charges were replaced as the chief sources of state revenue by a turnover tax and profit deductions. These payments became the principal form of budget revenues. In 1934 they comprised 70 percent of budget receipts, no more than 6 percent of which consisted of taxes collected from the population. An important source of state budget revenues during the early five-year plans was funds provided to the state by the working people in the form of mass domestic loans.
During the transition from capitalism to socialism, public finance, particularly the state budget, was used as one of the principal means of restricting and excluding capitalist elements in the cities and the rural areas, consolidating the positions of the socialist state and cooperative enterprises, developing productive forces, and strengthening socialist production relations. Public finance—especially its principal component, the USSR state budget—played a valuable role in restoring the national economy, accomplishing the socialist industrialization of the country, collectivizing agriculture, carrying out the cultural revolution, and implementing the Leninist nationalities policy.
The building of socialism changed the social nature of the state budget’s revenues and expenditures. Revenues came to be drawn primarily from the socialist economy’s profits, and expenditures were channeled into national economic development, science, education, job training, and health care. During the prewar five-year plans (1929–40), 41 billion rubles (almost 45 percent of the budgetary expenditures) were earmarked from the budget funds for national economic development, 22.7 billion rubles (25 percent) were allocated for social and cultural measures, and 17.1 billion rubles (approximately 19 percent) were appropriated for defense.
The Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 required the all-out mobilization of material, human, and monetary resources. The structure of budgetary expenditures changed radically: 58.2 billion rubles, or 51 percent of budgetary expenditures, were earmarked for defense during the war. Peacetime budget reserves and the uncommitted resources of state enterprises and economic organizations were used with current budget revenues to finance outlays connected with military expenditures and to compensate for the losses suffered by the national economy.
During the war years the budget had revenues of 111.7 billion rubles, 84.7 billion of which came from the socialist economy. Revenues from a war tax that was introduced in 1942 amounted to 7.2 billion rubles. A considerable amount of capital was obtained from loans and from contributions that were made to the Defense Fund and the Red Army Fund, which had been set up on the initiative of the working people.
After the war the country’s financial system was faced with the task of putting the national economy back on a peacetime footing, rebuilding it, and expanding it. In December 1947 a monetary reform was effected, and rationing was abolished. The purchasing power of the ruble climbed, and money circulation was strengthened. The role of economic accountability, profitability, and prime cost as cost factors in the national economy grew. Between 1948 and 1950 industry wholesale prices were reformed, and government subsidies were eliminated. In March 1950 the Soviet ruble was converted to a gold base, with a pure-gold content of 0.222168 g.
With public finance in a stronger position, the practice of floating loans by public subscription was abandoned in 1958. In order to strengthen the Soviet ruble, the price scale was changed in 1961, and old notes were exchanged for new ones at the ratio of 10:1. At the same time, the pure-gold content of the Soviet ruble was raised to 0.987412 g, and its parity in relation to foreign currencies was altered.
Beginning in 1965, the role of economic management techniques at the national level was enhanced by the transition of the national economy to a new system of planning and economic incentives. Changes were introduced in the system of state budget revenue formation. Deductions from profits were replaced by payment for fixed production assets and normative circulating capital, fixed (rent) payments, and contributions from the residual profit balance. Deductions from profits were retained, however, for enterprises that were not converted to the new system. The turnover tax continued to be levied. Material incentive funds, sociocultural and housing funds, and funds for the expansion of production were established at enterprises and associations.
Under developed socialism, public finance has played a greater role in forming a rational structure of social production and increasing the efficiency of the use of labor, material, and monetary resources and natural wealth in order to accelerate the rate of communist construction, to facilitate the growth of the people’s standard of living, and to strengthen the country’s defense capabilities.
Public finance in the USSR has at its disposal the finances of socialist enterprises (associations), the finances of economic sectors, and national finances.
The finances of socialist enterprises (associations) and economic sectors are the basic elements of the financial system, since they are directly associated with material production, where the gross social product and national income—the sources of a socialist society’s financial resources—are created.
The functioning of enterprise (association) finances is linked with economic performance through profit-and-loss accounting. The financial relations of enterprises are regulated by the Statute on the Socialist State Production Enterprise, ratified by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Oct. 4,1965.
|Table 2. Share of the revenues of the USSR state budget in the national income produced|
|Revenues of USSR state budget (billion rubles) ...............||77.1||102.3||156.7||247.8|
|Revenues’ share in national income produced (percent) ...............||53.2||52.9||54.1||61.5|
When production associations and all-Union and republic industrial associations were instituted in 1974, they were authorized to form various centralized funds and reserves. Such funds and reserves include centralized economic incentive funds, funds for scientific research and for the introduction of new technology, reserves for rendering financial aid to enterprises and economic organizations, and reserves for amortization of deductions that have been earmarked for capital repairs. They have facilitated the channeled flow of monetary resources in certain principal directions and a strengthening of the ties between science and production.
From their profits, enterprises and organizations make fixed (rent) payments and payments for production assets to the budget. They also pay interest to the bank for loans they have made, they cover shortages in their circulating capital, they surrender deductions to be placed in economic incentive funds, and they finance capital investments, the growth of their circulating capital, and other planned outlays. The remaining residual profit balance becomes a part of the state budget revenue. The distribution of the profits of state enterprises and economic organizations is reflected in Table 1.
The profits of the USSR’s national economy (not including the net income of kolkhozes) quadrupled between 1960 and 1976, whereas the total profits remaining at the economy’s disposal grew almost fivefold. This facilitated the strengthening of the financial base of the country’s enterprises. The increase in depreciation deductions that occurred is due to the rapid growth and reevaluation of fixed production assets and to the introduction of new rates for such deductions.
There has been a considerable increase in the financial resources that enterprises and organizations use to expand production and to provide economic incentives.
The financial resources of the cooperative-kolkhoz sector represent the property of the individual collectives. Kolkhozes and cooperative organizations cover outlays for expanded reproduction primarily with their own capital. At the same time, the state renders kolkhozes and cooperative organizations a great deal of material, technical, and financial aid. The March 1965 plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, as well as subsequent plenums, expanded the scope of the aid considerably. State purchase prices for agricultural products were raised substantially; capital investment for overall mechanization, electrification, and chemicalization of agricultural production and for land reclamation was increased; and bank lending for the fixed capital stock and circulating productive capital of kolkhozes grew.
National finances include the funds of the state budget, state social insurance, state property and personal insurance, and state credit. The chief purpose of national finances is to form centralized monetary funds through the distribution and redistribution of national income. These funds serve to meet the needs of expanded reproduction and the development of the nonproduction sphere and to create national reserves. The centralization of monetary funds that are directly available to the state is achieved primarily through the state budget; as a result, integration of the socialist state’s financial policy is facilitated.
USSR STATE BUDGET. The USSR state budget is the basic financial plan for forming and using the national monetary fund of the Soviet state. It is drawn up in accordance with the plan for developing the economy of the USSR as a whole and of the Union republics.
The state budget plays a coordinating role in the unified system of Soviet public finance. As the socialist economy develops, as its planned character is strengthened, and as the state’s economic, organizational, cultural, and educational activity grows, the. state budget plays a greater part in expanded socialist reproduction (see Table 2).
The state budget is inseparably linked with the national economic plan and other financial plans and is approved as law by the highest bodies of state authority. Through the state budget the state effects the planned distribution and redistribution of resources between productive and nonproductive spheres, among the various sectors of the national economy, and among the country’s republics and economic regions. This type of distribution makes it possible to concentrate resources in key areas of social production.
The budget functions as an effective instrument for monitoring
|Table 3. Revenues of the USSR state budget|
|Eighth five-year plan (1966–70)||1970||Ninth five-year plan (1971–75)||1975||Eighth five-year plan (1966–70)||1970||Ninth five-year plan (1971–75)||1975|
|Total revenues ...............||651.0||156.7||948.9||218.8||100.0||100.0||100.0||100.0|
|Proceeds from socialist economy ...............||593.8||142.9||863.5||199.1||91.2||91.2||91.0||91.0|
|turnover tax ...............||214.1||49.4||299.3||66.6||32.9||31.5||31.5||30.4|
|payments from profits ...............||227.7||54.2||309.8||69.7||35.0||34.6||32.6||31.9|
|state social insurance funds ...............||35.5||8.2||49.8||11.3||5.5||5.2||5.2||5.2|
|income tax from cooperatives, kolkhozes, and enterprises of public organizations ...............||5.9||1.2||7.2||1.5||0.9||0.8||0.8||0.7|
|Proceeds from population ...............||57.2||13.8||85.4||19.7||8.8||8.8||9.0||9.0|
|state taxes ...............||52.6||12.7||79.8||18.4||8.1||8.1||8.4||8.4|
|Table 4. Expenditures of the USSR state budget|
|Eighth five-year plan (1966–70)||1970||Ninth five-year plan (1971–75)||1975||Eighth five-year plan (1971–75)||1970||Ninth live-year plan (1971–75)||1975|
|Total expenditures ...............||642.5||154.6||933.2||214.5||100.0||100.0||100.0||100.0|
|For the national economy ...............||293.6||74.5||467.1||110.7||45.7||48.3||50.0||51.6|
|industry and construction ...............||123.9||30.5||190.6||47.0||19.3||19.7||20.4||21.9|
|For sociocultural measures and science ...............||240.4||55.9||338.6||77.0||37.4||36.2||36.3||35.9|
|For defense ...............||80.2||17.9||88.7||17.4||12.5||11.5||9.5||8.1|
the economic and financial activity of enterprises (associations) and sectors of the economy. Systematic checks and reviews are used when financial plans are being formulated and implemented, when payments are collected, and when budgetary funds are paid out.
The socialist state receives the financial resources it needs from the socialist economy’s revenues and savings; between 1960 and 1977 these sources accounted for more than nine-tenths of the total budget revenues. State enterprises and organizations contribute turnover taxes to the budget, as well as payments from profits, payments for social insurance, and certain nontax revenues whose source is the net income produced. Kolkhozes and cooperative organizations pay an income tax to the budget. The population participates in the formation of state budget revenues, primarily through the payment of taxes. Table 3 contains data on the composition and structure of the revenues of the USSR state budget.
The major portion of resources accumulated by the state budget goes to finance the national economy and sociocultural measures. Data on the composition and structure of the expenditures of the USSR state budget are cited in Table 4.
The state budget of the USSR is an integrated budget system. The basic principles of the budget apparatus were established by the Constitution of the USSR, the constitutions of the Union and autonomous republics, and the Law on the Budget Powers of the USSR and the Union Republics (1959). The USSR state budget combines the all-Union budget and the state budgets of the Union republics. The Union republic budget combines the republic budget with local budgets, that is, the budgets of the autonomous soviet socialist republics, krais, oblasts, raions, cities, settlements, and villages. In all, the USSR state budget comprises approximately 50,000 types of budgets.
The USSR’s budget system is based on a general system of revenues. It has a coherent expenditures policy and is built upon principles of democratic centralism and Leninist nationalities policy. Data on the structure of the USSR’s budget system are cited in Table 5.
The all-Union budget provides the monetary funds needed to finance measures that have country-wide significance in economic and cultural construction and in defense. It is also used to redistribute a portion of the country’s financial resources among the Union republics in order to ensure the comprehensive development of their economies and the growth of the standard of living and culture of the peoples of the Union republics. The revenues of the Union budget include the turnover tax, payments from profits by state enterprises and by economic organizations under Union jurisdiction, customs duties, and other revenues and taxes provided for by law.
The state budgets of the Union republics provide the monetary funds needed to finance the economic and cultural construction that is carried out by the bodies of state authority and administration of the Union republics. The revenues of the state budgets of the Union republics include payments from profits by enterprises and economic organizations that are under the jurisdiction of the ministries and agencies of Union and autonomous republics and of the executive committees of local soviets, income from timbering, income taxes collected from kolkhozes and cooperative organizations, agricultural taxes, deductions from the income tax collected from the population, state duties, and local taxes. Moreover, the state budgets of the Union republics receive monetary funds from state social insurance, in order to pay out pensions. In addition to deductions from turnover taxes, the state budgets of the Union republics receive other all-Union state revenues in amounts provided for by the USSR state budget.
STATE SOCIAL INSURANCE. State social insurance guarantees the security of industrial workers, nonindustrial workers, and kolkhoz workers in old age or in the event of illness or a loss of ability to work. The budget for social insurance is financed from payments made by enterprises, organizations, and institutions and from funds provided by the USSR state budget. It is drawn up and executed by bodies of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. The working people do not pay into the social insurance fund. The budget for social insurance provides working and nonworking pensioners with old-age and disability pensions, as well as pensions associated with loss of a breadwinner. It also provides temporary-disability benefits and pays for treatment at sanatoriums and health resorts. The budget for state social insurance has been included in the total revenues and expenditures of the USSR state budget since 1938. Pensions for kolkhoz workers are paid out of a centralized Union social-security fund that is based on monetary contributions made by kolkhozes and the state. In 1977, the state social insurance budget amounted to 29.5 billion rubles.
|Table 5. Expenditures of the USSR state budget by type of budget|
|Total expenditures (billion rubles) ...............||73.1||101.6||154.6||242.8|
|All-Union budget (billion rubles) ...............||30.1||43.2||80.6||126.2|
|All-Union budget (percent) ...............||41.2||42.5||52.1||52.0|
|Union republics’ budgets (billion rubles) ...............||43.0||58.4||74.0||116.6|
|Union republics’ budgets (percent) ...............||58.8||57.5||47.9||48.0|
|republic budgets (billion rubles) ...............||28.6||37.3||45.2||74.2|
|local budgets (billion rubles) ...............||14.4||21.1||28.8||42.4|
STATE PROPERTY AND PERSONAL INSURANCE. State property and personal insurance is based on the principles of a state monopoly of insurance matters; that is, an insurance fund has been established to make compensation for damage done to cooperative and kolkhoz facilities and to the personal property of citizens as a result of accident or natural disaster. The insurance fund provided by the Central Administration of State Insurance (Gos-strakh) is formed from premiums paid by cooperative and kolkhoz enterprises, public organizations, and the population. It is a component part of the national economic reserves that make possible continuity of socialist production. Money from the state insurance fund is used to mitigate the effects of natural disasters as well as to implement measures to avert such disasters. It also serves as supplementary material security for the working people and protects their property interests.
In accordance with the edict issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on Aug. 28, 1967, On Mandatory State Insurance of Kolkhoz Property, all production losses incurred by a kolkhoz as a result of such adverse natural phenomena as droughts and earthquakes are reimbursed within established limits. Voluntary personal insurance (primarily, mixed life insurance) has become widely accepted. Mandatory state insurance of the property of sovkhozes and other state agricultural enterprises of the Ministry of Agriculture has been in effect since Jan. 1, 1979.
A special branch of the insurance system, foreign insurance, extends primarily to foreign trade and other activities involving economic ties with foreign states.
V. F. GARBUZOV
Essence and function of credit. Under socialism, credit is a system of economic relations that express the accumulation and use of monetary funds, on condition of repayment, in planned and expanded socialist reproduction. In the USSR, credit is a state monopoly. Credit is extended to sectors of the national economy by state credit institutions, which are banks that operate according to government-approved credit plans.
Credit has as one of its principal functions the accumulation and planned distribution of monetary funds of the national economy, the budget, and private savings for the purpose of developing production and commodity circulation systematically. The other principal function of credit is the replacement of money both in cash and noncash turnover. This function plays an important part in the planned regulation of money circulation and in the strengthening of the Soviet ruble.
In prerevolutionary Russia, the credit system was multifarious. It included the State Bank, joint-stock commercial banks, mortgage banks, banking offices, mutual credit societies, city banks, city and provincial credit societies, and credit unions (which included credit associations and savings and loan associations).
The credit system of the USSR was developed during the period of socialist construction on the basis of the Leninist principles for organizing banking under socialism. The Leninist principles included the nationalization of the banks; the introduction of a state banking monopoly, the merging of the nationalized banks into one state bank; the concentration in the state bank of all money circulation, short-term credit, and clearing and cash service for sectors of the national economy; the development of noncash transactions; and the institution of monitoring of the production and distribution of the social product.
The transformation of the credit system began with the seizure of the State Bank on Oct. 25 (Nov. 7), 1917. The joint-stock commercial banks were nationalized in December of the same year. In January 1918 the State Bank was renamed the People’s Bank of the RSFSR. All mortgage banks, mutual credit societies, and city banks were abolished in 1918. The credit-union system was retained, and its center—the Moscow People’s Bank—was transformed into the cooperative division of the People’s Bank (which was subsequently abolished, in 1920). Banking operations that were retained—for example, money issue, distribution of paper money and coins, management of international accounts, and credit provision to producers’ cooperatives—were transferred to the People’s Commissariat of Finance. With the transition to the NEP, the Soviet banking system was created, and its development began.
The organizational principles of the socialist credit system were defined by the resolutions of the Tenth and Eleventh Party Congresses, held in 1921 and 1922, respectively. A decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in 1921 established the State Bank of the RSFSR, which at first performed only credit and clearing operations. In late 1922, it became a bank of issue. In 1923, the bank was reorganized into the State Bank of the USSR (Gosbank), which has played an important role in building the socialist economy and in introducing the basic principles of economic accountability in state and cooperative enterprises and organizations.
Specialized credit institutions—that is, cooperative banks and banks servicing particular economic sectors—were created between 1922 and 1924. Such institutions included a trade-industrial bank (Prombank), a bank for financing electrification (Elektro-bank), the Bank for Foreign Trade (Vneshtorgbank), the Central Agriculture Bank, the Central Bank for Financing Municipal Services and Housing Construction (Tsekombank), and municipal banks. Under the direct supervision of Gosbank, banks servicing particular sectors of the economy were charged with providing long-term credit. During the period of reconstruction, short-term credit constituted 75–80 percent of all bank lending.
With the transition to socialist industrialization, the credit system was restructured. The credit reform of 1930–32 put an end to commercial credit and introduced direct bank credit. Gosbank became the only bank providing short-term credit for the production and circulation of commodities, as well as the country’s clearing and cash center. The USSR’s other banks became specialized, long-term investment banks.
In 1959 the country’s system of long-term investment banks was reorganized, and the Agriculture Bank (Sel’khozbank), Tsekombank, and the municipal banks were abolished. The Trade Bank (Torgbank) had already been done away with in 1956. The functions of the banks were transferred to Gosbank and to Prombank, which was transformed into the All-Union Bank for Financing Capital Investments (Stroibank). Stroibank was assigned the functions of financing capital investment and providing credit in all sectors of the national economy. Agriculture, forestry, and water use management were excepted, as were consumers’ cooperatives. Credit and financing in these areas were provided by Gosbank. In 1963 savings banks were transferred to the jurisdiction of Gosbank.
Credit is extended to the various sectors of the national economy within the framework of a credit plan; that is, loans are issued in accordance with planned targets and depend upon the fulfillment of national economic plans. Direct credit is used, with the banks issuing loans directly to enterprises, associations, or organizations. Credit guarantees are required in the form of objects of value or appropriate accounting documents. The purpose of the credit is taken into account; loans are provided for objectives specified in the credit plan and are directed at needs associated with the fulfillment of production plans and the sale of goods. Time schedules for repayment are established.
A distinction is made between short-term credit and long-term credit with regard to terms and purpose. Short-term credit services the turnover of circulating capital and is made available, as a rule, for a one-year period. Long-term credit is used to create, expand, and renew the fixed capital stock of various branches of the national economy and to build individual dwellings and cooperative housing. It is granted for periods ranging from two to 20 years.
Depending on the part they play in the turnover of circulating capital, investments financed by short-term credit in, for example, industry cover the following: production inventories, which include raw materials, stock, fuel, and containers; production outlays for work in progress and for the manufacture of semifinished products; finished products and commodities; and shipped commodities. Long-term credit is used to cover outlays for the construction of production facilities as well as buildings that have nonproduction purposes (motion-picture theaters, for example). Long-term credit is also extended to finance the introduction of new technology and equipment and the construction of cooperative housing and individual dwellings in cities and industrial communities.
With its role in the reproduction of fixed capital stock and circulating productive capital growing under developed socialism, credit has expanded in scope. Gosbank has begun to grant loans for the acquisition of above-norm production reserves to be used for manufacturing new types of products and for improving product quality. It has also extended credit to cover outlays for phasing in new plants and new shops, for setting up equipment and developing systems for the automated control of production processes, and for developing, mastering, and producing new types of machinery and equipment. In addition to its role in financing, long-term credit is also used to cover capital investment made for the modernization and expansion of existing plants and to cover part of the capital investment committed for new industrial construction (with repayment over a five-year period). In agriculture, long-term credit is granted for the construction of livestock-raising complexes, poultry farms, and auxiliary facilities and for the acquisition of farm equipment.
Greater effectiveness of credit is one of the principal improvements that have taken place in credit relations in the national economy in terms of the intensification of social production and the increase of qualitative economic growth.
In early 1977 credit accounted for 46.1 percent of the circulating capital in the national economy as a whole. It accounted for 48.2 percent of the circulating capital in industry, 54.4 percent of that in agriculture, and 60.1 percent of that in trade. An indication of the amount of credit extended is the debt accounted for by short-term and long-term loans made to sectors of the national economy, which amounted to 254 billion rubles in early 1978. Of that figure, 88 percent consisted of short-term credit extended by Gosbank. Table 6 provides data on the growth of bank credit in the USSR.
|Table 6. Credit provided by banks to sectors of the national economy and to the population (debt as of January 1, million rubles)|
|Total short-term credit ...............||42,100||66,690||104,739||194,245|
|Transportation and communications ...............||302||480||1,043||1,832|
|Supply and marketing ...............||3,339||4,314||8,469||12,998|
|Procurement of agricultural products ...............||3,272||5,238||8,326||9,447|
|Other sectors ...............||177||372||869||901|
|Total long-term credit ...............||4,435||7,340||21,495||59,792|
|State and cooperative enterprises and organizations ...............||1,030||2,641||10,553||35,668|
|sovkhozes and other state agricultural enterprises ...............||—||—||469||6,405|
|housing-construction cooperatives ...............||—||627||2,069||3,255|
|interfarm enterprises and organizations ...............||—||107||962||5,152|
Interest rates on loans are governed by a schedule established by the state and vary according to the sector of the national economy repaying the loan, the type of loan, and the length of the loan. In 1975, the average interest rate for all the loans made by Gosbank was 2.22 percent.
The USSR’s banking system is unified and highly concentrated. It includes Gosbank, the state labor savings banks of the USSR (Gostrudsberkassy), Stroibank, and Vneshtorgbank.
In addition to being the sole bank of issue in the USSR, Gosbank is the sole credit, clearing, and cash center and the country’s principal credit institution. It is one of the world’s largest banks, with a branch network that in 1977 comprised more than 4,400 banking offices. Gosbank has the exclusive right to issue for circulation in the USSR bank notes, treasury notes, and coins.
On the basis of a state-approved national economic plan, Gosbank performs a number of functions. It administers and regulates the country’s money circulation and draws up and implements a cash plan that reflects the movement of cash flow. It manages the country’s savings banks and extends short-term and long-term credit to sectors of the national economy and to the public. Gosbank formulates and implements credit plans that determine the size and orientation of credit resources, and it arranges and clears the noncash payments made by enterprises, organizations, and institutions to banks and the state budget for goods and services. Gosbank finances the capital investments made by consumer cooperatives and by state enterprises and organizations associated with agriculture, forestry, and water use management; in addition, it finances major repairs of fixed capital stock. (It finances more than 50 percent of all capital outlays in the national economy, including those associated with operations commissioned by Stroibank.) Gosbank also handles the cash transactions of the USSR State Budget, arranges and makes international payments, extends credit for foreign trade, and manages operations involving foreign currency, gold, and other valuable metals.
As the country’s payment center, Gosbank arranges and clears noncash payments between enterprises for goods provided, work performed, and services rendered. It also clears noncommercial payments that are associated with, for example, financial (redistributive) operations conducted by enterprises and that are made to higher-level units of the economy and to elements of the financial and banking system. Noncash payments constitute the non-cash payment turnover, which is a component of integrated money circulation. Such payments are made by transferring money entries from one account to another or by honoring offsetting claims, that is, by clearing. According to accounting data, noncash payments, which must pass through Gosbank, totaled 2.24 trillion rubles in 1977, an increase of 51 percent over the payments made in 1970.
Gosbank provides general direction to the administrative board of Vneshtorgbank and the administrative board of the Gostrudsberkassy.
The Gostrudsberkassy (established 1922) conduct operations to encourage the public to deposit money in savings. They also dispense state loans and manage lotteries involving cash as well as other prizes. The Gostrudsberkassy provide payment and cash services to the public and to enterprises on an increasingly wider scale. Table 7 presents data on the growth of deposits and of the country’s network of savings banks.
Stroibank handles funds earmarked by the state budget, by enterprises, and by economic organizations to be used for financing capital investment. It provides financing and long-term credit for capital investment and short-term credit and accounting services for construction organizations. Stroibank also extends long-term credit for the construction of individual dwellings and cooperative housing in cities and industrial communities. The role of Stroibank has increased as a result of expansion of the sphere of long-term credit in the national economy. Between 1960 and 1977 the number of Stroibank authorized centers grew from 746 to 1,710.
Vneshtorgbank handles international accounts deriving from the USSR’s economic ties with other countries, including accounts associated with the import and export of commodities. The bank’s activity is based on the state’s foreign-exchange monopoly and foreign-trade monopoly. It conducts all operations associated with the provision of credit for foreign trade. As of Jan. 1,1976, the total credit extended by the bank for the operations of Soviet foreign-trade organizations was double the figure for Jan. 1, 1971.
|Table 7. Network of savings banks and savings accounts maintained by the public (end of each year)|
|Savings banks (thousands) ...............||66.5||73.6||78.3||80.4|
|Savings accounts (millions) ...............||52.2||57.4||80.1||120.0|
|Total savings (billion rubles) ...............||10.9||18.7||46.6||116.7|
Vneshtorgbank has facilitated the growth of the USSR’s foreign trade and, as of 1976, was a correspondent of more than 1,600 national and commercial banks in more than 110 countries. It is the USSR’s authorized representative in the International Bank for Economic Cooperation and the International Investment Bank.
Banks that have been established abroad with the aid of Soviet funding are of great importance to the organization and management of international accounts, to the provision of credit for foreign trade, and to the development of the USSR’s economic ties with other countries. Such banks include the Moscow Narodny Bank in London, with branches in Beirut and Singapore; the Bank for Northern Europe (Eurobank), in Paris; the Wozchod Handelsbank, in Zürich; the Ost-West Handelsbank, in Frankfurt am Main; the Donau-Bank, in Vienna; the East-West United Bank, in Luxembourg; and the Bank Russo-Iran, in Tehran, with a branch in the city of Isfahan. Major foreign banks representing France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the USA, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan have offices in Moscow.
M. N. SVESHNIKOV
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50 let sovetskikh finansov. Moscow, 1967.
Kreditno-denezhnaia sistema SSSR. Moscow, 1967.
Allakhverdian, D. A. Finonsy sotsialisticheskogo gosudarstva. Moscow, 1961.
Zverev, A. G. Natsional’nyi dokhod i finansy SSSR. Moscow, 1961.
Sitarian, S. A. Chistyi dokhod i biudzhet. Moscow, 1964.
Vinokur, R. D. Vzaimootnosheniia biudzheta s khoziaistvom. Moscow, 1967.
Denezhnoe obrashchenie i kredit SSSR, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1970.
Finansy SSSR, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1971.
Finansy i kredit SSSR. Moscow, 1972.
Gosudarstvennye dokhody, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1972.
Finansy predpriiatii i otraslei narodnogo khoziaistva, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1973.
Aleksandrov, A. M., and E. A. Voznesenskii. Finansy sotsializma. Moscow, 1974.
Nalogi i sbory s naseleniia. Moscow, 1974.
D’iachenko, V. P. Tovarno-denezhnye otnosheniia i finansy pri sotsializme. Moscow, 1974.
Gosudarstvennyi biudzhet SSSR, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1975.
Birman, A. M. Ocherki teorii sovetskikh finansov, fascs. 1–3. Moscow, 1968–75.
Finansirovanie i kreditovanie kapital’nykh vlozhenii. Moscow, 1975.
Finansy, den’gi i kredit SSSR: Bibliograficheskii ukazatei: 1946–1966. Moscow, 1967.
Development. Russia’s foreign trade reflected the nature of its economy. The chief role in exports was played by food products and raw materials for their production, which together accounted for 54.7 percent of all exports in 1913. In imports, raw materials (48.6 percent) and finished goods (32.8 percent) predominated. Machinery, nonferrous metals, cotton, and wool were the main imports; in addition, considerable quantities of luxury goods were imported for the bourgeoisie and landowners. World War I, which threw foreign trade into disarray, clearly demonstrated the country’s economic backwardness and dependence on imports, especially of machinery and equipment.
The October Revolution of 1917 set before foreign trade the task of fostering the development of a socialist economy. Soviet foreign trade has been conducted on the basis of a state monopoly, introduced by a decree of the Council of People’s Commissars dated Apr. 22, 1918. The agencies of the state monopoly are the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR and, within specified limits, the State Committee of the USSR on Foreign Economic Relations. Abroad, the USSR’s foreign-trade monopoly rights are exercised by its trade representatives. Foreign trade operations are conducted by all-Union associations and by the Central Cooperative Alliance (Tsentrosoiuz).
The planned nature of the USSR’s socialist economy accounts for the planned nature of its foreign trade. The volume and structure of foreign trade have been determined by the needs and the potential of the socialist economy at each stage of its history; an overriding requirement is that the national economy be developed in a planned manner and in such a way that a proper proportion is maintained among the various branches of the economy. The objective economic and political conditions associated with each stage in the USSR’s development led to changes in the structure and volume of foreign trade. For example, during the first years of Soviet power, as a result of the economic blockade imposed by the imperialists, foreign trade was negligible and there was an unfavorable balance of trade.
When the economy was being rebuilt, from 1921 to 1926, it was necessary to develop light industry; consequently, imports were dominated by raw materials—cotton, wool, and leather. The structure of exports changed little from the prerevolutionary period: in 1924 grain accounted for 37.8 percent of exports, timber and lumber for 13 percent, petroleum and petroleum products for 11 percent, and furs for 5 percent. Economic relations with the capitalist countries became more extensive. The USSR broke through the credit barrier: such states as Germany and Austria guaranteed the credits granted to the Soviet Union by their firms.
The development of foreign trade during the prewar five-year plans was shaped by the historic tasks associated with socialist industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture. During this period, the principal task of foreign trade was to import producer goods.
During the first five-year plan (1929–32) foreign trade underwent considerable growth. Machinery and equipment accounted for 55.7 percent of imports in 1932, as compared with 20.6 percent in 1925–26 and 30.1 percent in 1929. Ferrous and nonferrous metals accounted for 20.1 percent, as compared with 7.6 percent in 1925–26 and 12.8 percent in 1929. The achievements of Soviet cotton growing caused cotton’s share in imports to decline from 13.3 percent in 1929 to 2.5 percent in 1932. During the first five-year plan, imports of machinery and equipment accounted for 57 percent of the total value of machinery and equipment imported between 1918 and 1937.
From 1933 until 1938 the volume of foreign trade declined: the increased output of Soviet machine building during the first five-year plan led to a decrease in imports of machinery and equipment. At the same time, it became possible to curtail exports and to increase deliveries to the domestic market of several types of foodstuffs, notably grain, butter, and eggs, that had previously played a major role in Soviet exports. The development of foreign trade during these years was retarded also by economic decline in the capitalist countries. The prolonged depression that followed the crisis of 1929–33 in the capitalist world brought about a decrease in exports from the USSR. From 1933 to 1937 the USSR used its favorable balance of payments to liquidate the credits it had received from firms in the capitalist countries.
Important changes took place in the structure of foreign trade. In 1937–38 imports of machinery totaled less than 1 percent of the Soviet production of equipment. Before the October Revolution of 1917, Russia’s industrial exports accounted for 30 percent of all exports, and agricultural exports for 70 percent; in 1938 industrial exports accounted for 63.6 percent of all Soviet exports, and agricultural exports for 36.4 percent. Goods that had not been exported in prerevolutionary Russia came to play a role in exports; examples are chemicals, machinery, steam locomotives, railroad cars, and motor vehicles. There was an increase in the export of processed and semiprocessed raw materials. At the same time, foodstuffs needed to raise the level of domestic consumption were excluded from exports.
During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 foreign trade was directed at satisfying military needs. On Aug. 16, 1941, an agreement was concluded between the USSR and Great Britain on reciprocal shipments, credit, and a schedule of payments. In October 1941 representatives of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain signed in Moscow an initial protocol, effective until July 1, 1942, on the shipment of arms and other goods to the Soviet Union. Deliveries were quite limited in 1941 and 1942, however. On June 11, 1942, the USSR and the USA signed a protocol on mutual assistance in waging war against the fascist aggressors; on the basis of the agreement, the USA pledged to grant the USSR aid in accordance with the Lend-Lease Act of Mar. 11, 1941. During the war the USSR considerably expanded its trade with Mongolia and Iran; beginning in 1944, trade with Sweden increased substantially.
After the war, the USSR conducted its foreign trade in an international economic setting characterized by the expansion of socialism beyond the boundaries of a single country. There emerged two world economic systems, socialist and capitalist, each with its own market. The economic growth of the USSR and other socialist countries and the development of a new world socialist market led to a considerable increase in the Soviet Union’s foreign trade with the socialist countries, which tripled between 1946 and 1950. Between 1951 and 1977 foreign trade developed at an especially rapid rate, its total volume increasing by a factor of 21.7.
During the 1970’s foreign trade was beneficially influenced by détente, which was made possible by the implementation of a Leninist foreign policy. Soviet foreign trade policy is aimed at increasing the country’s productive forces and raising the standard of living of the Soviet people, at increasing the USSR’s contribution to the unity and solidarity of the world system of socialism, and at strengthening the independence of the developing states and the economic foundations of the policy of peaceful coexistence. The development of foreign trade serves in every respect the interests of peace and security among nations.
In 1980 the USSR maintained trade and economic relations with 139 countries; between 1966 and 1980, Soviet foreign trade with all three groups of countries underwent rapid expansion. In addition, between 1971 and 1980 foreign trade entered a qualitatively
|Table 1. Foreign trade of the USSR from 1938 to 1980 (in prices of the corresponding year, billion rubles)|
new period of development, as the Comprehensive Program for the Further Extension and Promotion of Cooperation and Development of Socialist Economic Integration Among the Members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON; adopted 1971) went into effect and as a new era began in economic relations with the industrially developed capitalist countries. As international relations have left the cold war behind and moved toward détente, new possibilities have arisen for the expansion of economic relations with the industrially developed capitalist countries.
Between 1971 and 1980 the USSR’s foreign trade grew at an average annual rate of 15.6 percent. Between 1938 and 1980 it increased in volume by a factor of more than 36, in comparable prices; figures for this period are given in Table 1. The growth of Soviet foreign trade may also be expressed in tonnage: the USSR’s foreign trade cargoes increased from 10.7 million tons in 1938 to 428 million tons in 1980. The leading role in the foreign trade of the USSR is played by the socialist countries, which accounted for 53.7 percent of the total in 1980. Figures on the distribution of foreign trade, by groups of countries, are given in Table 2.
|Table 2. Foreign trade of the USSR, by groups of countries (million rubles)|
|Socialist countries ...............||2.4||7.4||10.1||14.4||50.6|
|Industrially developed capitalist countries ...............||0.4||1.9||2.8||4.7||31.5|
|Developing countries ...............||0.1||0.8||1.7||3.0||12.0|
Exports. In the 35 postwar years great changes took place in the structure of Soviet exports, owing to the high level of development of science, technology, and machine-building and to greater international specialization and cooperation; Soviet exports were increasingly dominated by industrial goods. At the same time, there has been a considerable growth in the export of many types of raw materials, semifinished goods, and products whose sale on the foreign market ensures a high rate of currency return; in particular, the fuel and energy industry made a major contribution to the development of exports in the 1970’s. The sale of licenses and know-how is constantly increasing. Ranking high on the list of exports, as before, are ores, metals, metal articles, lumber, and pulp and paper goods. The proportion of food products and raw materials for their manufacture is decreasing. Figures on changes in the make-up of the USSR’s exports are given in Table 3.
In 1980 the USSR exported 7.8 billion rubles’ worth of machinery and equipment, as compared with 1 billion rubles’ worth in 1960. Because of the rapid growth of exports in several other commodity groups, however, exports of machinery and equipment in 1980 accounted for a smaller share of the total than in 1960. The Soviet Union is a large-scale exporter of metallurgical, power engineering, chemical, and other industrial equipment. Machine tools rank high among exports of the machine-building industry. The USSR exports not only separate pieces of equipment but complete factories and installations for various industries. The export of tractors, trucks, and, especially, passenger cars has taken on great importance, as has the export of ships, helicopters, and airplanes, Television sets, clocks and watches, optical goods, instruments, radioactive isotopes, complex medical equipment, and pharmaceuticals are exported in large quantities.
The USSR exported 18.1 billion rubles’ worth of petroleum and petroleum products in 1980, as compared with 1.3 billion rubles’ worth in 1970. Natural gas became a major export in the early 1970’s. The USSR increased exports of fuel and electric energy from 1.3 billion rubles in 1965 to 23.3 billion rubles in 1980. The increase was made possible by the USSR’s possession of extensive fuel and energy resources and by the high demand for fuel and energy, and the increasing price of petroleum and other types of fuel, on the world market in the 1970’s. As a result, fuel and electric energy account for about 50 percent of total exports and occupy first place among the commodity groups recognized by trade statistics.
|Table 3. Exports by the USSR (percent)|
|Machinery and equipment ...............||5.0||11.8||20.5||21.5||15.8|
|Fuel and electric energy ...............||8.9||3.9||16.2||15.6||46.9|
|Ores and concentrates, metals and metal products, and cable and wire ...............||3.9||11.3||20.4||19.6||8.8|
|Chemical products, fertilizers, and rubber ...............||4.0||4.3||3.5||3.5||3.3|
|Lumber and pulp and paper products ...............||20.3||3.1||5.5||6.5||4.1|
|Food products and raw materials for food products ...............||29.5||20.6||13.1||8.4||1.9|
|Industrial consumer goods ...............||7.9||4.9||2.9||2.7||2.5|
Imports. Equipment has traditionally been the USSR’s leading import. Although the Soviet Union has a highly developed machine-building industry and exports a large amount of equipment, imports of machinery and equipment account for more than one-third of total imports. In addition to equipment, the USSR imports raw materials for various branches of industry, food products, and industrial consumer goods. Figures on imports are given in Table 4.
|Table 4. Imports by the USSR (percent)|
|Machinery and equipment ...............||34.5||21.5||29.8||35.5||33.9|
|Fuel and electric energy ...............||1.2||11.8||4.2||2.0||3.0|
|Ores, metals and metal products ...............||29.8||15.0||16.8||9.6||10.8|
|Chemical products, fertilizers, and rubber ...............||5.2||6.9||6.0||5.7||5.3|
|Lumber and pulp and paper products ...............||0.8||3.8||1.9||2.1||2.0|
|Textile raw materials and semifinished goods ...............||10.0||7.7||6.5||4.8||2.2|
|Food products and raw materials for food products ...............||12.7||17.5||12.1||15.8||24.2|
|Industrial consumer goods ...............||1.0||7.4||17.2||18.3||12.1|
Imports of machinery and equipment have characteristically shown a sharp absolute increase: the national economy was provided with 15 billion rubles’ worth of imports of the latest machinery and equipment between 1966 and 1970 and 95 billion rubles’ worth between 1971 and 1980. The largest share in purchases of equipment is accounted for by industrial equipment for the metalworking, automotive, chemical, petrochemical, pulp and paper, and metallurgical industries, as well as for light industry and the food-processing industry.
Imports of equipment have made it possible to solve more quickly several important problems, such as bringing the Soviet automotive industry up to a qualitatively new level: the output of motor vehicles increased by a factor of 3.6 between 1966 and 1980, and the output of passenger cars rose by a factor of 6.6. Other problems include the need to manufacture on a large scale many chemical products, notably polyethylene, the polyester fiber Lavsan, high-strength cord, ammonia, and urea and other fertilizers, and the need to expand and reequip the textile industry and various branches of the food-processing industry, such as the dairy and confectionery industries.
The growth of the country’s economic and export potential makes it possible to use foreign trade more extensively to bring about steady increases in the Soviet people’s standard of living. About two-fifths of all imports go to achieve this goal. Commodity imports help solve the problem of improving the national diet, particularly by increasing the consumption of products that are not produced in the USSR or are produced in insufficient quantities. Imports of citrus fruits increased from 192,000 tons in 1965 to 505,000 tons in 1980; imports of coffee beans rose from 31,000 tons to 48,000 tons. Imports of industrial consumer goods and raw materials for their production have also grown, as is evidenced by the increases registered for the following classes of goods between 1970 and 1980: clothing (including underwear) rose from 699 million rubles to 1.67 billion rubles, knit goods from 203 million rubles to 454 million rubles, furniture from 179 million rubles to 420 million rubles, medicines from 166 million rubles to 543 million rubles, and goods contributing to sanitation and hygiene from 25 million rubles to 82 million rubles. Also serving to raise the people’s standard of living are imports of machinery and equipment for many enterprises of light industry and the food-processing industry that are under construction.
Socialist countries. Most of the USSR’s foreign trade is with the socialist countries, and the Soviet Union is in turn the most important trading partner of most socialist countries, accounting for
|Table 5. USSR’s trade with socialist countries (in prices of corresponding years, million rubles)|
more than 80 percent of Mongolia’s foreign trade, more than 53 percent of Bulgaria’s, and about one-third of the foreign trade of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Between 1965 and 1980 the USSR’s trade with the socialist countries increased (see Table 5).
The USSR’s most important trading partners among the socialist countries are five member countries of COMECON: the GDR, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. In 1980 the USSR’s foreign trade totaled 9.2 billion rubles with the GDR, 8.002 billion rubles with Poland, 7.099 billion rubles with Bulgaria, 7.184 billion rubles with Czechoslovakia, and 5.738 billion rubles with Hungary. The USSR’s trade with Rumania, Cuba, and Mongolia has also reached a substantial volume. In 1980 trade with Yugoslavia amounted to 3.85 billion rubles.
In 1980 the USSR’s foreign trade amounted to 572 million rubles with the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK), 612 million rubles with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (on July 2, 1976, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of South Vietnam were joined to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam), and 317 million rubles with the People’s Republic of China.
The Soviet Union is the main supplier to the socialist countries of the various types of modern machinery and equipment. Soviet shipments, which meet about one-third of the import requirements of the COMECON countries for machinery and equipment, allow the fraternal countries to develop important branches of their national economies, such as the energy industry, metallurgy, the chemical industry, and transportation. Shipments from the USSR allow these countries to meet, to a large extent, their import needs for such vital commodities as petroleum, gas, electric power, rolled ferrous and nonferrous metals, copper, and fertilizers. In turn, the Soviet Union is the main purchaser of machine-building products from the COMECON countries, notably machinery and equipment for the chemical industry, metallurgy, light industry, and the food-processing industry, as well as the merchant fleet and railroad transport. The member countries of COMECON provide the Soviet Union with considerable amounts of food products and industrial consumer goods. From certain countries the USSR purchases large amounts of important raw materials, notably coal, zinc, and chemicals.
Developing countries. The USSR’s most important trading partners among the developing countries are India, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Algeria, Brazil, and Argentina. Trade with such countries as Afghanistan, Morocco, and Nigeria has also reached a considerable level. The USSR’s trade with developing countries is steadily growing (see Table 6).
|Table 6. USSR’s trade with developing countries (in prices of corresponding years, million rubles)|
The Soviet Union supplies a wide variety of goods to the developing countries, notably machinery and equipment for various branches of industry, such as equipment systems, instruments, tools, road-construction machinery, tractors, agricultural machinery, and means of transportation. The developing countries account for 18 percent of all machinery and equipment exported by the USSR, which also supplies large quantities of industrial raw materials, petroleum and petroleum products, ferrous and nonferrous metals, pipe, cement, food products, and industrial consumer goods.
Imports by the Soviet Union from the developing countries are based on its needs for a number of goods traditionally exported by them and for goods produced by growing national industries, especially those produced by enterprises built with the technical and economic assistance of the USSR; such commodities include rolled ferrous metals, motor vehicle and tractor components, steel, aluminum wire, soda, bauxites, and aluminum oxide. Mineral raw materials used as a source of fuel, together with metals, account for 21 percent of the USSR’s imports from the developing countries; in 1980 such imports totaled 1.076 billion rubles. An important role in the USSR’s imports from the developing countries is played by food products and the raw materials for their manufacture: coffee beans, cocoa beans, citrus fruits, tea, preserved meat and fish, and fruit juices. Imports of finished articles—such as fabrics, clothing, and footwear—from the developing countries are growing.
Industrially developed capitalist countries. Trade with the industrially developed capitalist countries in the postwar period has passed through several stages. Soon after the end of World War II the USA, followed by the other capitalist countries, switched
|Table 7. USSR’s trade with industrially developed capitalist countries (in prices of corresponding years, million rubles)|
to a cold war policy and imposed restrictions on trade with the USSR and the other socialist countries. By the mid-1950’s, however, it had become clear to many in the West that such a policy could not stem the continuous growth of the USSR’s economy and the economies of the other socialist countries and that it only harmed the economic interests of the capitalist countries. As a result, in the second half of the 1950’s, there began a slow normalization of foreign trade and foreign relations, primarily credit relations, between the USSR and several capitalist countries.
The process of normalization subsequently gathered momentum, especially in the first half of the 1970’s. Trade with France, Italy, Japan, and Great Britain increased markedly. Between 1971 and 1977 trade relations with the Federal Republic of Germany and other countries were normalized (see Table 8). New forms of cooperation were developed, primarily owing to further changes in the world balance of power in favor of the socialist countries; to the steady policy of the USSR, aimed at developing in every possible way the international division of labor and at strengthening friendly relations with other states; to the transition from confrontation to détente; and to the shift by most of the developed capitalist countries to a policy of expanding trade with the USSR and the other socialist countries. As a result, the Soviet Union’s trade with the developed capitalist countries has already entered or is about to enter a new stage of development, a stage that reflects the principles of peaceful coexistence and equal, mutually advantageous cooperation. This stage has been characterized primarily by rapid growth of trade (see Table 7).
|Table 8. USSR’s trade with selected industrially developed capitalist countries (in prices of corresponding years, million rubles)|
|Federal Republic of Germany ...............||286||249||544||5,780|
|Great Britain ...............||271||399||641||1,812|
|United States ...............||76||89||161||1,503|
The USSR’s trade with the industrially developed capitalist countries reached 31.6 billion rubles in 1980, an 11-fold increase over the figure for 1965. The share of these countries in the USSR’s trade increased to 34 percent.
The Soviet Union exports to the industrially developed capitalist countries many types of unfinished goods and raw materials: petroleum and petroleum products, raw materials for the metallurgical industry, metals, pulp, paper, and various types of lumber and textiles. Machinery and equipment constitute a negligible share of the USSR’s exports to these countries, although the range of exports in this category is rather broad, including metal-cutting machine tools, forging and pressing equipment, power engineering and electrical engineering equipment, mining and metallurgical equipment, clocks and watches, instruments, television sets, tools, and motor vehicles. From these countries the Soviet Union imports machinery and equipment, various raw materials for heavy industry, and consumer goods and the raw materials for their manufacture.
The rapid growth of the USSR’s trade with the developed capitalist countries strengthens peaceful coexistence among countries with different socioeconomic systems. At the same time, not all problems faced by the USSR in its trade relations with this group of countries have been resolved. Specifically, certain artificial barriers to trade that were imposed by the West during the cold-war era have yet to be lifted fully. This problem affects primarily trade between the USSR and the USA. During the 1970’s, Soviet-American meetings at the highest level brought about changes of a progressive nature in trade relations between the USSR and USA. Under pressure from the most reactionary circles of the USA, however, the American Congress passed a resolution in December 1974 under which most-favored nation status and state export credits—that is, the prerequisites for successful reciprocal trade generally accepted in international practice—would be granted to the Soviet Union only if it accepted a number of conditions having no bearing whatever on trade and economics. Rather than weakening, the interest of a considerable section of the American business community in developing trade relations with the USSR has continued to grow.
Of crucial importance to the further development of equal and mutually advantageous cooperation among states with different social systems is the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Helsinki from July 30 to Aug. 1, 1975. The document heralds a qualitatively new era in international relations and sums up the experience accumulated in the area of international trade. At the same time, it introduces substantially new elements that will affect the future development of bilateral and multilateral trade relations. The Final Act gives concrete expression, for the first time on a broad international basis, to the notion of general European cooperation in creating more favorable conditions for the development of international trade and in improving business contacts. The principles of such cooperation, accepted by all countries, have opened up new possibilities for a substantial expansion of trade between the USSR and the developed capitalist countries.
The tenth five-year plan (1976–80) called for a considerable increase in foreign trade, including trade with the industrially developed capitalist countries. Soviet foreign-trade organizations were presented the task of further increasing efficiency and improving the structure and balance of foreign trade. Raw materials were to remain the leading Soviet export; the most profitable raw materials, however, were to account for a greater share of exports, and the raw materials sold were to be at a more advanced stage of processing. The plan envisioned that manufactured goods would account for a greater share of exports. Import policy was to contribute to the solution of the main problems confronting the Soviet economy and was to help increase economic efficiency.
V. S. ALKHIMOV
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The USSR’s economic and technical cooperation with foreign countries, which is based on the Leninist principles of international relations, is an important tool of the peace-loving foreign policy of the CPSU and the Soviet government and a major resource for increasing the efficiency of the USSR’s national economy. Cooperation proceeds in accordance with the general foreign policy of the CPSU, as reflected in the Program of the CPSU and in the resolutions of the party congresses. At the Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU (1976) it was noted that in foreign economic relations there is an intertwining of politics and economics, diplomacy and commerce, and industrial production and trade. In the postwar years the formation of the world socialist system, the upsurge in the national liberation struggle of the colonial and dependent countries, and the emergence of new, independent states were the political preconditions for the development of economic and technical cooperation.
Economic and technical cooperation consists above all in the rendering of aid, on mutually advantageous terms, for the construction of industrial, power engineering, agricultural, transportation, and other facilities. Such aid includes the performance of a variety of basic tasks, such as carrying out planning, surveying, and scientific research work, delivering equipment systems and materials, recruiting specialists to render technical aid in construction and in the installation and adjustment of equipment, providing expert advice, and sharing information gained from experience.
As early as the 1920’s the USSR helped the Mongolian People’s Republic build several plants for the initial processing of animal products; in the 1930’s an industrial combine, an electric power plant, and several other plants were constructed. In the 1930’s, textile mills were built in Turkey, and cotton-ginning mills in Afghanistan. For the first time in the history of international relations, a more developed country rendered aid to economically underdeveloped countries.
By helping the developing countries build and consolidate their national economies, the USSR lends support to their just struggle for social progress and independence.
Until the mid-1950’s, economic and technical cooperation with foreign countries was handled by the Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 1957, in a move designed to provide a comprehensive solution to all problems connected with economic and technical cooperation, the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Foreign Economic Relations was created, and separate specialized foreign-trade associations were formed: Tekhnoeksport, Tiazhpromeksport, Tekhnopromeksport, and Prommash-eksport. Later, other associations were formed: Nefttekhimpro-meksport, Tsvetmetpromeksport, Sel’khozpromeksport, and Atomenergoeksport.
As a rule, economic and technical cooperation is carried out on the basis of bilateral, long-term agreements. The increasing economic integration of the socialist countries in the 1970’s was accompanied by a growth in the importance of multilateral agreements in relations among the countries. In certain cases the USSR grants state credits to foreign countries, which are used to pay for equipment and materials bought for technical services received. Because facilities built with the help of the USSR are highly efficient, the countries are able to obtain funds sufficient to pay off the credits on schedule. Ordinary commercial cooperation is also expanding—that is, cooperation on a cash-account or clearing basis, in the form of reciprocal shipments of goods, or cooperation on the basis of short-term or long-term commercial credit.
In 1977 the USSR had agreements with 78 countries on economic and technical aid in the construction of industrial and other facilities. As of Jan. 1, 1978, the Soviet Union had built, was building, or planned to build 3,678 industrial plants and other facilities, of which 2,220 had begun producing. The volume of the USSR’s economic and technical assistance to foreign countries has grown steadily; exports of equipment and materials for complete plants alone increased by a factor of nearly 7.3 between 1955 and 1977.
The USSR’s economic and technical cooperation with foreign countries has entered a new stage of development. Delivering the summary report of the Central Committee of the CPSU at the Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU, L. I. Brezhnev stated, “One of the characteristics of our age is the growing use of the international division of labor in order to develop every country, regardless of its wealth or the economic level it has achieved. We, like other states, are striving to use the advantages presented by foreign economic relations in order to mobilize additional resources for the successful resolution of economic problems and to gain the time needed to increase production efficiency and accelerate the progress of science and technology.”
Socialist countries. The socialist countries account for the greatest share of economic and technical aid extended by the USSR. In solving problems of socialist construction, cooperation in the building of facilities used in the economy plays an important role; such cooperation has resulted in the creation of new, and the modernization of old, industries, specifically those industries that are the basis of the industrial complex of a modern, developed state. In Bulgaria, such industries are machine building, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, and the chemical industry; in Hungary, the chemical industry, the machine tool industry, metallurgy, and construction; in Poland, ferrous metallurgy, shipbuilding, petroleum refining, and the radio-engineering and electronics industry; and in Rumania, petroleum machine building, the chemical industry, and ferrous metallurgy. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the production of energy has been raised to a qualitatively new level through Soviet aid, which has also stimulated the development of such industries as ferrous metallurgy, shipbuilding, and machine building.
With the help of the USSR, 1,627 industrial and other facilities had gone into operation in the socialist countries as of Jan. 1, 1978. Fuel and energy problems have received considerable attention: by the end of 1975, electric power plants with a total capacity of more than 25 million kilowatts (kW) had begun operating. Among them were the Pervaia Komsomol’skaia, Maritsa-Vostok-2, Varna, and Bobov Dol fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants, with a total capacity of 2.3 million kW, in Bulgaria; the Tirbach Steam Power Plant and two units of the Boxberg Steam Power Plant, with a total capacity of 3.4 million kW, in the GDR; the Skawina, Turów, Pontnów, and Jaworzno plants, with a total capacity of about 3.2 million kW, in Poland; the Puchang Fossil-fuel-fired Steam Power Plant (1.2 million kW), in the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK); the Renté and Mariel fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants, with a total capacity of 300,000 kW, in Cuba; the Deva and Brazi-Ploiesti plants, with a total capacity of about 1 million kW, in Rumania; and a hydroelectric and navigational system (2 million kW) in the Iron Gate region, along the Danube River, in Rumania and Yugoslavia.
Work has begun on the construction and expansion of a new series of fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants, some of which are being equipped with 500,000-kW turbine units.
Cooperation in the construction of atomic power plants is assuming major importance. Between 1971 and 1975 the first units, each with a capacity of 880,000 kW, went into operation at the Nord Atomic Power Plant in the GDR and at the Kozlodui Atomic Power Plant in Bulgaria. Atomic power plants are also under construction in other socialist countries, such as the Paks Plant (1.7 million kW) in Hungary and the Bohunice Plant (880,000 kW) in Czechoslovakia.
Agreements signed with Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia on cooperation in the production of equipment for atomic power plants will make it possible to accelerate the development of the countries’ atomic power industries. Power transmission lines have been built in Cuba and Mongolia, and natural gas pipelines have been laid in Bulgaria and Hungary. Technical aid is being rendered for the construction and expansion of underground and surface coal mines in the PDRK, Mongolia, and Vietnam.
Aid from the USSR has made possible the construction of large metallurgical works: the Lenin Metallurgical Combine in Poland, the Kremikovtsi Metallurgical Combine in Bulgaria, the Danube Metallurgical Combine in Hungary, and a complex for the production of cold-rolled sheet steel at the Ost Metallurgical Combine in the GDR.
In ferrous metallurgy, plants for the production of alumina have been built in Hungary and Rumania, and several lead-zinc plants have been constructed in Bulgaria. Work has begun on the construction or expansion of several other plants, notably the Katowice Metallurgical Combine in Poland, the first production unit of which went into operation in December 1976, the Zenica and Smederovo metallurgical combines in Yugoslavia, the Jose Marti Metallurgical Plant and the Punta Gorda Mining and Metallurgical Complex in Cuba, and the Galaji Metallurgical Combine in Rumania.
The USSR has rendered assistance in developing the socialist countries’ petroleum-refining, petrochemical, and chemical industries. It has helped build petrochemical combines in Bulgaria (Burgas and Pleven), Poland (Plock), Hungary (Százhalombatta), and the PDRK (Unggi). The USSR has assisted in the construction of a mineral nitrogenous fertilizer plant in Leninvaros, Hungary, a soda ash plant in Devno, Bulgaria, a chemical combine for the production of staple fiber and viscose rayon in Svishtov, Bulgaria, a nitrogenous fertilizer plant in Nuevitas, Cuba, and a nitrogenous fertilizer plant in Hungnan, PDRK.
The USSR has helped several socialist countries develop their machine-building industries. In Bulgaria, an iron foundry is under construction in Ikhtiman, a forging and sheet-metal plant in Stara Zagora began producing in 1976, a forging and pressing plant is nearing completion in Shumen, and enterprises for the production of electric and engine-powered trucks have been expanded in Sofia and Lorn. A plant for the production of sugarcane-harvesting combines is being built in Cuba, a plant for the production of low-power electric motors and motor vehicle batteries is under construction in the PDRK, a diesel motor plant is being built in Vietnam, and a plant for the repair of construction machinery and mechanisms opened in Mongolia in 1975.
Cooperation in the construction and building-materials industries has expanded considerably. Between 1971 and 1975 numerous plants were built with the help of the USSR. For example, prefabricated-housing combines, each with an average annual capacity of 100,000 sq m of floor space, were built and went into operation in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, and Cuba; also, a sheet-glass factory was constructed in Hungary.
Positive results have been attained in cooperation in geology and geological exploration. With the assistance of Soviet specialists, natural gas deposits have been discovered and are being exploited in the GDR; in Mongolia, major deposits of coking coal have been discovered, as well as deposits of such minerals as copper-molybdenum ores and phosphorites. In Cuba, a geological service has been established, with a complex of laboratories, workshops, and scientific stations; a scientific basis for organizing geological exploration in the future has been created. Geological exploration of deposits of petroleum, natural gas, and solid minerals is continuing in Bulgaria, the GDR, Poland, Mongolia, Hungary, Vietnam, and Cuba.
Of great importance is cooperation in the construction of agricultural and food-processing facilities in such countries as Mongolia, Vietnam, and Cuba. In Mongolia, a new branch of agricultural production—land cultivation—has undergone rapid development. With the assistance of the USSR, work is being carried out to discover arable land and to organize large livestock-raising farms, farms for the production of grain, and dairy farms. Numerous facilities have been built, such as feed stations, seed-cleaning centers, veterinary-bacteriological laboratories, and warehouses for storage of feed and grain reserves. Also, a wide variety of farm machinery has been supplied to Mongolia.
Vietnam has received aid to build tea and macaroni factories, construct repair shops for agricultural machinery, and equip state farms and agricultural cooperatives. In Cuba, the USSR is helping modernize factories of the sugar industry and is providing assistance in the operation of irrigation and drainage systems.
The Soviet Union is also extending aid to develop transportation and communications. For example, it has helped build a subway system in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and has assisted in the modernization of the railroad trunk line connecting Havana and Santiago de Cuba, in Cuba. Other projects in which it has taken part are the building of the Salkhit-Erdenetiin-Obo railroad trunk line in Mongolia, the construction and modernization of wharves in the port of Haiphong, Vietnam, and the construction of ground receiving and transmitting stations for Intersputnik, a long-range space communications system, in the GDR, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.
Mutual advantage is a basic principle of economic and technical cooperation. Many of the goods purchased by the USSR are produced at plants built with its help. Such goods include batteries, electric trucks, telphers, planters, sheet steel, soda ash, rolled ferrous metals, pipes, dyes, and synthetic rubber.
Cooperation in the form of barter agreements is becoming more important. In Yugoslavia a combine is being built for the extraction of bauxites and the production of alumina out of raw materials from the Vlasenica deposit. As reimbursement for its aid, the USSR will receive bauxites and alumina from the combine. As repayment for equipment supplied to the soda ash plant in Devno, Bulgaria, the USSR will receive output from the plant. A soda plant has been built in Rumania under a similar arrangement.
Cooperation with the USSR has made it possible for the other socialist countries to create their own powerful production bases; as a result, they are able to take part in the international socialist division of labor and to help implement the Comprehensive Program for the Further Extension and Promotion of Cooperation and Development of Socialist Economic Integration of the Members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), adopted in 1971. On the basis of the program, a new form of cooperation has emerged: joint efforts by interested states to create or develop a number of industries in one of the participating countries in order to meet as rapidly as possible the growing needs of the countries for certain types of raw materials or goods.
Such cooperation is being practiced in the exploitation of the Orenburg gas-condensate deposit and in the laying of a naturalgas trunk pipeline from Orenburg to the western border of the USSR. Other examples of joint cooperation are the construction of the Ust’-Ilimsk Logging and Timber Distribution Combine, the Kiimbai Asbestos Mining and Ore-dressing Combine, and a 750-kW power transmission line linking Vinnitsa, the Western Ukraine, and Albertirsa (Hungary); the development of the production of ore-containing raw materials and some types of ferroalloys in the USSR; the exploitation of nickel deposits in Cuba; and the expansion of copper and zinc extraction in Poland.
Joint efforts by the member countries of COMECON resulted in the construction of the Druzhba Petroleum Pipeline in 1964 and the Mir Integrated Power Grid in 1963. Soviet and Mongolian specialists are combining their efforts to create a joint enterprise—the Erdenet Copper-Molybdenum Mining and Ore-dressing Combine in Mongolia. Increasing specialization and cooperation among COMECON members in order to create efficient plants has been reflected in the construction of an alumina plant in Hungary, whose output is shipped to the USSR; Soviet enterprises, in turn, produce aluminum from the alumina and ship it to Hungary.
By specializing in the production of various types of industrial equipment, the COMECON countries are able to operate jointly in foreign markets. For example, the USSR is helping Turkey build the country’s largest metallurgical plant, with a full production cycle, in Iskenderun. The GDR and Czechoslovakia cooperated in the construction of the first production unit, the former supplying small-section mills and rod mills and the latter supplying a billet mill. As part of a program to increase the plant’s annual capacity from 1 million to 2 million tons, Czechoslovakia will provide a medium-beam mill. Similar cooperation with the socialist countries is taking place in the construction of metallurgical plants in Iran, Algeria, and Pakistan.
The USSR helps the socialist countries train indigenous personnel on joint construction projects and at educational institutions in the countries, as well as at Soviet enterprises and higher educational institutions. In 1976 the USSR had helped or was helping establish 79 educational institutions, including five higher educational institutions, eight secondary educational institutions, and 66 training centers.
Assistance from the USSR in training personnel is of special importance for Vietnam, Cuba, and Mongolia. The USSR has supplied Vietnam with equipment for a university and for an institute of agriculture and forestry in Hanoi; in 1976 it continued construction of a scientific research institute for geological, biological, and geophysical problems, as well as four vocational-technical schools, each with an enrollment of about 1,000.
In Cuba centers for the training of agricultural machine operators and of skilled workers for the mining, machine-building, and metalworking industries opened their doors. At the beginning of 1976, more than 50 training centers and vocational-technical schools were being established.
In Mongolia, assistance from the USSR made it possible to build educational-production centers and vocational-technical schools for the training of skilled workers for agriculture, light industry, the food-processing industry, and construction, as well as a classroom building for the agricultural technicum in Altan Bulak. In addition, the USSR has helped construct schools with dormitories and apartment buildings and has supplied equipment for a polytechnic institute in Ulan Bator.
Developing countries. The economic and technical aid rendered by the USSR to the developing countries to help them build their economies, expand and strengthen the state sector, and create an indigenous industry is becoming an increasingly important factor in accelerating their rate of economic development, strengthening their economic position in the struggle with the capitalist monopolies, and consolidating progressive forces. The USSR’s assistance has been aimed primarily at developing the production sphere of the economy, thereby making it possible for newly independent states to increase their level of production and rate of employment, to establish domestic sources of capital accumulation, and to strengthen their economic independence. The purposeful nature of the USSR’s policy in economic cooperation with the developing countries is reflected in the type of assistance rendered: industry accounted for about 75 percent of the USSR’s total commitments to the developing countries. Considerable aid is rendered in agriculture, geological exploration, and the creation of an infrastructure.
With the economic and technical aid of the USSR, 583 enterprises and facilities had gone into operation as of Jan. 1, 1978; the developing countries had received more than 37 percent of the USSR’s total foreign economic and technical aid. The USSR is taking part in the construction or expansion of 21 ferrous metallurgy plants, 12 of which have already begun producing. When they reach their planned capacities, the plants will be able to turn out about 16 million tons of pig iron annually, more than 18 million tons of steel, and more than 15 million tons of rolled stock.
Among the ferrous metallurgy plants built with Soviet aid are major Soviet-Indian projects. The Bhilai Metallurgical Combine, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons of steel, is the most profitable metallurgical enterprise in India, smelting one-third of the country’s steel. The first production unit of the metallurgical combine in Bokaro has an annual capacity of 1.7 million tons. Each of these metallurgical giants will soon reach an annual capacity of 4 million tons.
The first large Iranian metallurgical plant, located in Isfahan, was built with the help of the USSR; it smelts 500,000–600,000 tons of steel annually. In the future, the plant’s capacity will be increased initially to 1.9 million tons annually and subsequently to some 4 million tons. The most important Soviet-Egyptian industrial project is the Hulwan Metallurgical Combine, whose planned capacity is 1.5 million tons of steel per year. The combine’s first production unit, with an annual capacity of 60,000 tons of steel, was put into operation in August 1974. In cooperation with the USSR, Algeria has built a steel-smelting shop, designed to smelt 410,000 tons of steel annually, at a metallurgical plant in El Hadjar. Work is under way on expanding the annual capacity of the plant to 2 million tons of steel. In Turkey, construction has been completed en the first production unit (1 million tons of steel annually) of the metallurgical plant in Iskenderun. The plant’s annual capacity will eventually reach 4 million tons. With the USSR’s cooperation, ferrous metallurgy plants are being built in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria.
Large nonferrous metallurgy facilities are under construction. In 1974 a bauxite-mining complex in Kindia, Guinea, went into operation; of the facilities built with the help of the USSR, it is the largest in tropical Africa. After industrial operations began at the Ismail Mining and Metallurgical Plant in 1972, Algeria became the world’s leading exporter of mercury. Construction is nearing completion on an aluminum plant in Naj Hammadi, Egypt; the plant will produce 100,000 tons of aluminum annually, and its capacity is scheduled to increase to 166,000 tons. In 1974 the Seydiçehir Aluminum Plant provided Turkey with the country’s first domestically produced aluminum. When it reaches full capacity, the plant will produce 200,000 tons of alumina annually, 60,000 tons of aluminum, and 25,000 tons of rolled stock. An aluminum plant being built in Korba, India, is designed to smelt 100,000 tons of aluminum annually; it will increase the country’s aluminum output by 50 percent.
The Soviet Union has provided technical assistance to India in the construction of several machine-building enterprises. The largest is a heavy machine-building plant in Ranchi, whose output of metallurgical equipment alone is sufficient for an entire plant with a capacity of 1 million tons of steel annually. Major contributions to the Indian machine-building industry are also being made by a mining equipment plant in Durgapur and a heavy-duty electrical equipment plant in Hardwar, both built with the economic and technical aid of the USSR. The machine-building industries of several other countries have also benefited greatly from Soviet economic and technical aid; a machine-tool plant has been built in Hulwan, Egypt, a machine-building plant in Arak, Iran, an electrical engineering plant in Baghdad, Iraq, and a plant for the production of agricultural machinery in al-Iskandariya, Iraq. As of Jan. 1, 1978, the USSR had helped the countries of Asia and Africa build and put into operation 42 machine-building and metalworking plants.
The USSR helped construct the Aswan Hydroelectric Power Plant in Egypt and is helping build the Euphrates Hydropower Complex in Syria; the complex will have an 800,000-kW hydroelectric power plant. The first five power units of the plant, with a total capacity of 500,000 kW, have already begun supplying electric power to Syria’s power grid. Both the Egyptian and Syrian facilities serve multiple purposes: they meet the growing needs of industry for electric power, they make it possible to implement a program of rural electrification, and they open up prospects for the development of agriculture in these countries.
With the USSR’s assistance, a substantial energy industry has been created in India, and electric power plants have been built in such countries as Afghanistan, Iran, Algeria, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Large electric power plants are under construction in Iraq: the 400,000-kW Dukan Hydroelectric Power Plant and a 750,000-kW fossil-fuel-fired steam power plant in al-Nasiriyah. Of 88 power engineering facilities scheduled to be constructed with the help of the USSR under intergovernmental agreements in effect in 1977, 49 have begun operating.
Of great importance for the newly independent states is cooperation with the USSR in developing the fuel and raw-materials industries. Petroleum-extraction, coal, and natural-gas enterprises that have been built or are being built with the help of the USSR make it possible for these countries to extract more than 50 million tons of petroleum, 20 million tons of coal, and billions of cubic meters of natural gas annually. With the USSR’s aid, a petroleum industry has been created in Syria; in Iraq, the North Rumaylah oil field has become the most important producer in the state sector of the petroleum-extraction industry.
Large facilities for the extraction of natural gas have been established in Afghanistan, and petroleum extraction facilities have been built in such countries as India. Cooperation with the USSR in this field has helped the developing countries to make fuller use of their raw materials and to create a production base that will allow them to exploit their natural resources without outside help. These tasks have been addressed by Soviet geologists, who have carried out exploration, research, and other work pertaining to the extraction of petroleum and natural gas in Algeria, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Soviet geologists have also explored deposits of solid minerals in such countries as the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Morocco and deposits of metallurgical raw materials in Nigeria.
The USSR’s technical aid in agriculture is of great importance to the developing countries. The Aswan Hydropower Complex in Egypt and the Euphrates Reservoir, which has a system of irrigation canals, in Syria make is possible for each of these countries to irrigate an additional 600,000 hectares and to harvest two or more crops annually on the lands thus opened up to agriculture. The Jalalabad Irrigation Complex in Afghanistan has made it possible to harvest crops on thousands of hectares previously unfit for agricultural production. Irrigation projects have also been carried out in such countries as Iraq, Algeria, Burma, and Somalia. Large mechanized multipurpose and specialized farms run by the state have been established on irrigated lands and on other lands rendered suitable for agricultural use. They have become bases from which to bring advanced methods of land cultivation and animal husbandry into general use.
Enterprises of the food-processing industry and light industry built with the assistance of the USSR are helping solve the food problem and increase the output of consumer goods. Of the more than 150 such enterprises planned under agreements on cooperation in effect in 1975, 60 have been put into operation in Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Nepal, Guinea, Somalia, the Sudan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Uganda.
An important trend is the USSR’s assistance in creating an infrastructure in the developing countries. By the end of 1975 about 60 projects had been completed, including the construction of highways in Afghanistan and the Yemen Arab Republic; large railroad trunk lines in Syria, Iraq, and the Republic of Guinea; and deepwater seaports and river ports in the Yemen Arab Republic, Somalia, and Afghanistan.
A number of countries have received aid to develop their health-care systems; the USSR has helped them recruit physicians, build and equip hospitals and health-care centers, and obtain such supplies as medicines and vaccines.
In payment for its assistance in establishing production facilities, the USSR has received increasing quantities of goods such as pig iron, alumina, ships, nitrogenous fertilizers, and surgical instruments from plants it has helped build. It obtains natural gas from Iran and Afghanistan, petroleum from Iraq, and bauxites from a complex in Guinea. As payment for economic and technical cooperation and for credits granted to certain countries, the Soviet Union receives such traditional raw-material and foodstuff exports of the countries as long-staple cotton, raw hides, natural rubber, ore concentrates of nonferrous metals, shellac, jute, vegetable oils, fruits, cocoa beans, and tea. It also receives finished goods, including cotton fabrics and articles made from them, jute articles, footwear, and furniture. By taking part in the construction of production facilities, the USSR has helped form a new international division of labor, in contrast to the system of imperialist exploitation.
The USSR extends aid to help countries overcome shortages of skilled personnel. Soviet specialists travel to the developing countries to give instruction at construction sites; by early 1976, about 350,000 skilled workers and secondary technical personnel had been trained in this way. Work practice and apprentice work at enterprises in the USSR have undergone development. The Soviet Union helps developing states to organize their own systems for the training of personnel and to establish educational institutions. As of Jan. 1, 1976, 110 educational institutions had opened their doors, among them technological institutes in Bombay, India, and in Rangoon, Burma, and polytechnic institutes in Conakry, Guinea, in Kabul, Afghanistan, and in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Other institutions include the National School of Public Administration in Bamako, Mali, the Institute of Hydrocarbons in Boumerdes, Algeria, and the National School of Engineering in Tunisia. The USSR has also helped build educational centers in Egypt, Iran, Mali, Algeria, and Iraq. More than 170,000 specialists of various types have been trained at educational institutions built with the help of the USSR. Many citizens of developing countries study at Soviet higher educational institutions and specialized secondary educational institutions; between 1957 and 1975 some 20,000 skilled specialists were trained, of whom half were in engineering and other technical fields. During the 1975–76 academic year, more than 20,000 persons from the developing countries were studying at the USSR’s higher educational institutions and technicums.
S. A. SKACHKOV
Developed capitalist countries. Economic and technical cooperation with the developed capitalist countries became an important element in the USSR’s international business relations in the late 1960’s. The first agreement on economic, scientific, and technical cooperation was signed with Italy in 1966. The legal basis of subsequent cooperation has been the long-term (ten-year) treaties and agreements on the development of economic, scientific, technical, and industrial cooperation, as well as the long-term programs for such cooperation, that had been signed by the USSR and most of the industrially developed capitalist countries by early 1977. In the new type of agreements and treaties, the first of which was a Soviet-Finnish treaty in 1971, the signatories pledge to foster, in every way possible, the further development and extension of cooperation in various areas; the treaties and agreements are aimed at making use of achievements in advanced equipment and technology in order to apply as fully as possible the principles of the international division of labor and of production cooperation and specialization. The goals of cooperation are the development of joint planning and construction of industrial, transport, and other facilities, the drafting and implementation of measures in fields that are of interest to both sides, and the sharing of, for example, patents, licenses, and production and technical experience.
Specific programs for implementing treaties are worked out by intergovernmental commissions. In the first half of the 1970’s the USSR’s economic and technical cooperation with many developed capitalist countries reached the level of stable economic relations. A new form of economic relations is large-scale barter agreements, under which capitalist firms deliver, on credit, equipment for plants being built in the USSR. The USSR pays off the credits by shipping to the creditor nation part of the output of plants built under the agreement.
The most notable examples of cooperation under barter agreements are the participation of firms of the Federal Republic of Germany in the construction of the Staryi Oskol Electrometallurgical Combine in Belgorod Oblast, the participation of the American firm Occidental Petroleum in the building of Soviet plants for the production of mineral fertilizers, and the participation of Japanese firms in the exploitation of the timber resources of the Far East and coal deposits in Yakutia. In the USSR several projects have already been completed with the assistance of Western firms: the Italian company Fiat took part in the building of a passenger-car plant in the city of Tol’iatti between 1967 and 1971, and with the help of several capitalist firms, construction began in 1970 on a plant for the production of KamAZ trucks in Naberezhnye Chelny. A natural-gas pipeline from the USSR to Western Europe was laid with the help of Western European firms; it went into operation in 1974.
Soviet organizations took part in the construction of an atomic power plant in Finland and metallurgical works in France and Finland; in cooperation with Swedish and French firms, they set up the joint production of machine tools with programmed and numerical control. In January 1977 the largest hydraulic press in the world, with a force of 65,000 tons, went into operation in Issoire, France; it was designed, manufactured, and installed by Soviet specialists. Several large concerns in the USA have signed an agreement to purchase licenses from the USSR, particularly for the use of Soviet technology in the production of aluminum, magnesium, and cooling systems for blast furnaces.
IU. N. KAPELINSKII
A chronological list of important events in the USSR’s economic relations with foreign countries follows.
1918. Decrees are published on nationalizing foreign trade (establishing a monopoly of foreign trade), on regulating dealings in foreign currency, and on exporting money abroad. Activities of foreign banks in Russia are banned. Government of Great Britain prohibits the export of goods to Russia. In the first exchange of commodities, the USSR obtains agricultural machinery from a Swedish firm. Treaty is signed with Denmark to supply Russia with seeds for market gardens. Trade delegation of the Central Cooperative Alliance is established in Sweden in order to purchase goods in Scandinavia.
1919. Society for rendering technical assistance to Soviet Russia is established in New York. Great Britain and France step up blockade of Soviet Russia.
1920. Capitalist states lift economic blockade of Soviet Russia. In London, the Soviet joint-stock company Arcos, Ltd., is formed to conduct trade with Great Britain. The RSFSR establishes trade delegations in such countries as Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Iran. Agreements are signed between the Central Cooperative Alliance and an association of Swedish firms, primarily metalworking firms, providing for the purchase of goods with a total value of 100 million kronor.
1921. Agreements on a procedure for conducting foreign trade and on the transit of goods are concluded with Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Austria, and Italy; trade agreements are signed with Great Britain and Norway. Government of the USA rejects a proposal by the Soviet government that trade relations be resumed. The American citizen A. Hammer is granted a concession to exploit the Alapaevsk asbestos mines for a period of 20 years. Soviet Russia renounces all privileges and concessions in Iran.
1922. Soviet delegation takes part in economic conference in Genoa, Italy. Soviet Russia presents compensation claims totaling 39 billion prewar gold rubles to the Western countries to repair damage caused by the intervention and blockade. At Rapallo, Italy, the Soviet state and Germany sign a treaty establishing diplomatic relations and restoring normal trade relations. Russo-German joint-stock companies are established in foreign trade and transportation. Norway agrees to grant a loan to Soviet Russia to combat famine. Temporary trade agreement is signed with Czechoslovakia.
The RSFSR takes part in an international fair in Leipzig.
1923. Boycott is declared against Switzerland in response to the assassination of V. V. Vorovskii (conflict settled in 1927). Concessionary treaties are signed with German, Dutch, and Norwegian timber merchants, allowing them to exploit timber resources and export lumber. The Russian-Oriental Trade Office is established to foster economic rapprochement with several Asian countries.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Leipzig, Tehran, and Lyon.
1924. Commercial treaties are signed with Italy, Sweden, and Great Britain. Agreement is reached on resumption of economic relations with Hungary. Economic relations with Germany are temporarily suspended after police raid a Soviet trade delegation; relations are resumed on July 29, 1924. Agreement is reached with China on temporary administration of the Chinese-Eastern Railway (renamed Chinese Ch’angch’ung Railway in 1945). In the USA, the joint-stock company Amtorg is organized to conduct trade between the USSR and USA. Several Russo-Persian joint companies are created, such as Rusperssakhar and Persazneft’.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Vienna, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig, and Helsinki.
1925. Convention is signed with Japan on basic principles of mutual relations. Commercial treaties are concluded with Germany and Norway. Concessionary treaties are signed with the USA on exploiting the Chiatura manganese deposits and with the British company Lena on the mining of gold and other minerals.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Leipzig, Milan, Paris, Lyon, and Stockholm.
1926. Treaties on mutual neutrality are concluded with Germany, Afghanistan, and Lithuania, under which the signatories pledge not to engage in economic or financial boycotts. Germany grants the USSR guaranteed credit of 300 million marks for the purchase of commodities. Charter is approved for Rusgerstroi, a Russo-German joint-stock construction company.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and exhibitions in Thessalonniki, Milan, Tel Aviv, Paris, Lyon, and Leipzig.
1927. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Turkey, Iran, and Iceland. Agreement is concluded with Iran on joint fishing off the Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea. Great Britain breaks off diplomatic and economic relations with the USSR. The All-Union-Western Trade Office is established. Soviet delegation attends international economic conference in Geneva.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Leipzig and İzmir.
1928. Treaty on friendship and trade is signed with Yemen. Convention is signed with Japan, demarcating fishing areas and setting forth a procedure by which Japanese subjects can lease and exploit fishing grounds off the coast of the USSR. Convention is signed with Norway on reciprocal protection of rights to industrial property.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Cologne, Berlin, Marseille, Paris, and Prague.
1929. Trade convention is signed with Greece. Customs conventions are signed with Iran and Finland. Diplomatic and trade relations with Great Britain are resumed. Agreement is reached with the American company Ford on technical aid for the production of motor vehicles in the USSR.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Frankfurt am Main, Ankara, Paris, Lyon, and Prague.
1930. Temporary trade agreement is reached with Great Britain, as well as temporary fishing agreement under which British ships are granted the right to fish in Soviet territorial waters. Italy agrees to grant government guarantees totaling 200 million lire on Soviet orders placed in Italy. In France, a license system is introduced on the import of Soviet commodities (abolished in 1931).
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Dresden, and Bordeaux.
1931. Commercial treaties are signed with Turkey and Iran. Agreement is reached on placing some 300 million marks’ worth of Soviet orders in Germany. Credit agreement is concluded with Italy under which the Italian government guarantees credits for Italian exports to the USSR totaling 350 million lire. The USA prohibits the import of a number of Soviet commodities; limits are placed on the import of Canadian goods into the USSR in response to the establishment of a Canadian embargo on Soviet goods (restrictions abolished in 1936).
First auction of Soviet furs is held in Leningrad. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Vienna, Hamburg, Leipzig, Milan, Bari, Marseille, Tokyo, and al-Hudaydah.
1932. General agreement is reached with Germany on the supplying of goods. Long-term credit of $8 million is granted to Turkey for purchases of Soviet equipment.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Vienna, Milan, Marseille, Paris, Hamburg, Leipzig, Tel Aviv, and Istanbul.
1933. Soviet delegation attends the Second World Economic Conference in London. Trade agreement is concluded with Norway. Customs convention and agreement are signed with Italy, providing for guaranteed credits in export deals. Commercial treaty is signed with Latvia. In response to an embargo on Soviet imports, trade relations with Great Britain are broken off; relations resume after embargo is lifted on July 1, 1933.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Milan, Paris, Marseille, and Leipzig.
1934. Temporary trade agreements are signed with France and Great Britain. Agreement is reached with Mongolia on principles of trade. Credit agreements are signed with Sweden. Convention is signed with Finland on fishing and seal hunting on Lake Lado ga.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Milan, İzmir, Paris, and London.
1935. Trade agreements are signed with Czechoslovakia and Iran. Temporary trade convention is concluded with the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, and Denmark. Consortium of banks agrees to grant the USSR’s trade delegation in Berlin credits totaling 200 million marks, and agreement is reached on general terms for the shipment of goods from Germany to the USSR. Agreements are signed with Czechoslovakia under which industrial property is to be protected and a consortium of banks grants 6-percent bond credit to the USSR totaling 250 million Czechoslovak korunas. Agreement is concluded on the sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway to the government of Manchukuo. In accordance with a League of Nations resolution, economic sanctions are imposed against Italy in response to its aggression against Ethiopia (sanctions lifted in 1936).
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Milan and Paris.
1936. Trade agreement is signed with Greece. Agreement on payments is signed with Rumania. Trade agreement with France is extended. Agreement is concluded under which Great Britain grants credits totaling about £10 million to the USSR. Purchase of goods of Uruguayan origin is prohibited after diplomatic relations between the USSR and Uruguay are broken off. Temporary fishing agreement is signed with Japan for 1937. Exchange rate of the ruble is set: 1 ruble = 3 French francs.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in İzmir, Paris, and Lyon.
1937. Commercial treaty, as well as agreements on trade and payments, is signed with Turkey. Commercial treaty is signed with the USA. The Soviet Union begins using the American dollar to compute the rate of exchange of the ruble: 5.30 rubles = $1.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in İzmir and Lyon and the international Paris Exposition.
1938. Agreement on trade and payments is signed with Germany for 1938–39. Trade agreement is concluded with Greece. Agreement is signed with Estonia on trade turnover for 1938.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Philadelphia, Budapest, and İzmir.
1939. Commercial treaties are signed with Poland and China. Trade and credit agreement is signed with Germany under which the Soviet Union receives credits of 200 million marks to purchase goods from Germany and to ship to Germany, over a period of two years, Soviet goods worth 180 million marks. Trade agreement is signed with Estonia.
The USSR takes part in the New York World’s Fair and the international fair in İzmir.
1940. Economic accord is signed with Germany. Commercial treaties are signed with Bulgaria, Iran, Yugoslavia, Finland, Hungary, and Slovakia. Agreements on trade turnover and payments are signed with Denmark and Sweden, as well as a credit agreement with Sweden under which the Soviet Union receives credit of 100 million kronor.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and exhibitions in Varna, Plovdiv, Budapest, and Leipzig.
1941. Economic agreement with Germany is expanded. Commercial treaty is signed with Rumania. Agreements on trade turnover and payments are signed with Switzerland, Belgium, Norway, and Denmark.
After the beginning of the Great Patriotic War on June 22, an agreement is concluded with Great Britain on trade turnover and on granting the Soviet Union credits of £10 million. The American government frees Soviet assets in the USA, abolishes all limitations on trade with the USSR, and arranges to send $1 billion in arms and raw materials to the USSR under the Lend-Lease Act. In Moscow, an initial protocol is signed with the USA and Great Britain on granting the USSR arms, equipment, and raw materials.
1942. Agreement is signed with the USA on principles applicable to mutual aid in waging war against the fascist aggressors. Agreement is concluded with Great Britain on financing military shipments and military aid to the USSR. In Washington, D.C., representatives of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain sign a second protocol on shipments of arms, war matériel, and raw materials to the USSR. Trade agreement between the USSR and the USA is extended.
1943. In London, representatives of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, and Canada sign a third protocol on shipments of arms, equipment, war matériel, and raw materials to the USSR. Soviet delegation takes part in a United Nations conference on postwar food-supply problems held in Hot Springs, Va. Agreement is signed on establishing the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).
1944. Agreement is signed with Canada on military shipments to the USSR. Protocol is signed on the payment of compensation to Canadian firms for the value of nickel mines in Finland that were located on territory ceded to the USSR under the peace treaty with Finland. Agreement is concluded with Finland on payment of reparations to the USSR in the form of shipments totaling $300 million. Soviet delegation attends the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, N.H. Protocols are signed with Japan transferring to the USSR Japanese petroleum and coal concessions in northern Sakhalin and extending the Soviet-Japanese fishing convention for five years.
1945. Representatives of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, and Canada sign a fourth protocol on military shipments to the USSR. Military supplies from the USA to the USSR under the Lend-Lease Act are cut off. Commercial treaty is signed with Poland. Trade agreements are signed with France and Bulgaria. Agreements are concluded on reciprocal shipments of goods with Finland, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary, and Poland. Agreement on economic cooperation is signed with Rumania.
Agreement is concluded with Poland under which Poland is to be compensated for damages wrought by the German occupation by receiving a percentage of the reparations deliveries from Germany to the USSR; agreement also calls for shipments of Polish coal to the USSR. Agreements are signed with Rumania and Hungary on the payment of reparations, to take the form of goods worth $300 million and $200 million, respectively. Agreements are signed with UNRRA on relief shipments to the Ukraine totaling $189 million and to Byelorussia totaling $61 million. Agreement is signed with China on joint administration of the Chinese Ch’angch’un Railway (formerly Chinese Eastern Railway).
1946. Commercial treaties are signed with Denmark and Uruguay. Agreements are concluded on reciprocal shipments of goods with Rumania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Credit and trade agreement is signed with Sweden under which the Soviet Union receives credits of 1 billion kronor to pay for Soviet orders in Sweden. The Soviet Union agrees to ship 500,000 tons of grain to France. Agreements on economic cooperation are signed with Mongolia, Poland, and Yugoslavia. Agreement is concluded with Iran on the creation of a joint Soviet-Iranian company to explore and exploit petroleum deposits in northern Iran.
Soviet government agrees to the requests of the governments of Rumania and Hungary that reparations payments be rescheduled. Joint Soviet-Hungarian and Soviet-Rumanian industrial and transportation joint-stock companies are created on the basis of German assets located in these countries and transferred to the USSR.
Finnish industrial exposition is held in Moscow. The USSR takes part in international fairs in Mexico City and Prague.
1947. Commercial treaties are signed with Rumania, Hungary, Finland, and Czechoslovakia. Agreements on reciprocal shipments of commodities are concluded with Rumania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden. Agreement is signed with Great Britain on questions of trade and finance. The Soviet Union lends Poland $28.9 million in gold and extends credit to Albania to enable it to pay for industrial equipment and agricultural machinery provided by the USSR. Agreement is signed under which Yugoslavia is to receive on credit Soviet equipment for industrial enterprises and the USSR is to render technical assistance. The USSR agrees to send industrial equipment to Bulgaria on credit. Agreements are concluded with Poland and Czechoslovakia on scientific and technical cooperation and with Finland and Hungary on the use by the Soviet Union of former German assets in those countries.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Plovdiv, Poznań, Prague, Zagreb, and Paris.
1948. Commercial treaties are signed with Switzerland, Bulgaria, and Italy. Agreements on trade turnover and reciprocal shipments of goods are concluded with Norway, Poland, the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, Rumania, Switzerland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Finland, and Yugoslavia. Agreement is signed with Egypt on trade questions. Agreement on economic cooperation is signed with Czechoslovakia. The USSR grants some $450 million of credits to Poland and $40 million of credits to Bulgaria to enable those countries to pay for industrial equipment provided by the USSR. The government of the USSR reduces by half the remaining reparations payments owed by Finland, Rumania, and Hungary.
Czechoslovak exposition of light industrial products and Finnish industrial exposition are held in the USSR. The USSR takes part in international fairs in Plovdiv, Budapest, Poznań, Prague, and Zagreb.
1949. Agreements on trade turnover are concluded with Mongolia and Rumania. Agreement is signed with Albania under which the USSR is to ship goods on credit. The USSR signs agreements under which it is to ship goods to Poland, Finland, and Czechoslovakia for a period of one year. Agreements are signed with the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK) on economic cooperation, the rendering of technical aid to the PDRK, and the granting of credits to enable the PDRK to pay for goods supplied by the USSR.
Economic conference attended by representatives of the socialist countries is held in Moscow; at the conference, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) is created. The USSR takes part in the First and Second Sessions of COMECON, held in Moscow and Sofia, respectively.
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland hold industrial expositions in Moscow. Soviet industrial exposition is held in Bucharest. The USSR takes part in international fairs in Plovdiv, Budapest, Poznań, and Prague.
1950. Agreement is signed with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on transferring ownership of the Chinese Ch’angch’un Railway (formerly the Chinese Eastern Railway) to PRC, on granting long-term credit of $300 million to China, and on trade. Long-term trade agreements are concluded with Finland, Poland, Afghanistan, and Czechoslovakia. Agreements on trade turnover are signed with Albania, Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Finland, Mongolia, Iran, and Belgium. Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation are signed with Rumania and Bulgaria. Remaining reparations owed by the GDR are cut by half. The Council of Ministers adopts a resolution under which the value of the ruble is to be calculated in gold and the value of the ruble against foreign currencies is to be raised. Under the revaluation, 4 rubles = $1.
The USSR takes part in the Third Session of COMECON, held in Moscow.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Plovdiv, Leipzig, Poznań, and Prague.
1951. Trade agreement is signed with France. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Rumania and the GDR. Protocols and agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Albania, Poland, Czecho slovakia, Bulgaria, Rumania, the GDR, Hungary, Sweden, the PRC, and Mongolia. Long-term agreements under which the USSR is to ship industrial equipment and render technical aid are signed with Albania and Rumania. Agreements on scientific and technical aid are signed with Albania and Rumania. Agreement is signed on scientific and technical cooperation with the GDR.
Finnish industrial exposition is held in Moscow. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Milan, Prague, and Paris.
1952. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Hungary and Finland. The USSR agrees to grant Hungary commercial credits of 100 million rubles. Protocols are signed on rendering technical aid to the PRC and Bulgaria. Agreement on scientific and technical cooperation is signed with Albania. The USSR transfers to the GDR ownership of 66 of the Soviet enterprises in East Germany.
International economic conference is held in Moscow, attended by representatives from 49 states.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Vienna, Plovdiv, Leipzig, and Bombay.
1953. Trade agreements are signed with Afghanistan, Argentina, France, and India. Agreement on trade and payments is concluded with Egypt. Agreements on trade turnover are signed with Finland, Mongolia, Rumania, the PRC, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, Sweden, Poland, the GDR, Norway, Iran, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the PDRK, Greece, Iceland, Italy, and Afghanistan. Agreements are signed on rendering technical aid to India. Agreements are concluded on rendering economic and technical aid to the PRC and PDRK and on granting credits of 485 million rubles to the GDR. Agreement is concluded under which the reparations payments outstanding from the GDR are waived and the remaining Soviet enterprises in East Germany are transferred gratis to the GDR.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Vienna, Leipzig, and Bangkok.
1954. Agreement on trade and payments is signed with Lebanon. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Bulgaria, Finland, and Mongolia. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with the PRC, Norway, the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland, the GDR, Albania, the PDRK, Egypt, Uruguay, Greece, Yugoslavia, France, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and India. The USA, Great Britain, and a number of other capitalist states draw up lists of strategic goods, whose export to the USSR and other socialist countries is banned. Agreements are signed on granting credits of 520 million rubles to the PRC and 48 million rubles to Albania. Agreements are signed on rendering technical aid to Bulgaria, the PRC, and Albania. Finland is granted a loan of 40 million rubles. The USSR turns over to Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the PRC its share in the joint companies that had been formed in those countries.
The USSR takes part in the Fourth and Fifth Sessions of COMECON, held in Moscow.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Vienna, Leipzig, Thessaloniki, Milan, Jakarta, Damascus, İzmir, Lyon, New Delhi, and London.
1955. Commercial treaty is signed with Austria. Trade agreements are signed with Yugoslavia, Burma, Austria, Norway, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Burma, Finland, the PRC, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the PDRK, Albania, Rumania, the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Egypt, Argentina, Norway, Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iceland, Austria, Mongolia, and Syria. Agreement is reached with Austria on supplying the USSR with $150 million of Austrian goods as compensation for the value of German assets in Austria that were transferred to the USSR after the war and that under a state treaty were to be returned to Austria.
The USSR grants a loan of 40 million rubles to Finland, credits of 60 million rubles to Albania, and credits of 35 million rubles to Mongolia. Agreement is signed on granting credits to, and building a metallurgical plant in, India. Agreement is signed on rendering gratis 400 million rubles of economic aid to the DRV. Agreements are concluded on rendering technical aid to the PDRK. Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation are signed with Finland, Yugoslavia, and the PDRK. Agreements on rendering scientific and technical assistance on the peaceful use of atomic energy are signed with the PRC, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, the GDR, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Agreement is signed on transferring to the Austrian government Soviet enterprises in Austria, for which the USSR is to receive appropriate compensation, including the delivery to the Soviet Union of 10 million tons of petroleum at the rate of 1 million tons annually.
The USSR takes part in the Sixth Session of COMECON, held in Budapest.
Czechoslovakia and Hungary mount industrial expositions in Moscow. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Vienna, Plovdiv, Leipzig, Utrecht, Poznań, Karachi, Stockholm, Zagreb, Turin, New Delhi, Reykjavfk, Novi Sad, and Ljubljana. The USSR mounts an industrial exposition in Buenos Aires and a scientific and technological exposition on the peaceful use of atomic energy in Geneva.
1956. Commercial treaty is signed with Uruguay. Trade agreements are signed with Canada, Yemen, Burma, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Japan. Agreements and protocols on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, the PDRK, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Albania, France, Burma, the DRV, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, the PRC, the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, Iran, Iceland, Austria, Lebanon, Finland, and Mongolia. Agreements are concluded on trade between the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR and cooperative organizations in Japan, Scotland, Denmark, and the GDR.
Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with Yugoslavia, Afghanistan (credits of $100 million), Bulgaria (credits of 300 million and 70 million rubles), the PRC (credits of 2.5 billion rubles), Mongolia, the PDRK, the GDR, Indonesia (credits of $100 million), Poland (credits of 100 million and 700 million rubles), Hungary (credits of 100 million rubles), Rumania, and Albania (credits of 55 million rubles). Agreements on cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy are signed with Yugoslavia, Egypt, and the GDR. The USSR signs an agreement creating an international organization of railroads and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Reserach.
The USSR takes part in the Seventh Session of COMECON, held in Berlin.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Vienna, Leipzig, Thessaloniki, Damascus, İzmir, Zagreb, Kabul, Milan, Hyderabad, and Jogjakarta.
1957. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with the GDR, Japan, Cambodia, and Tunisia. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Afghanistan, France, Yugoslavia, the GDR, Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, and Italy. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are concluded with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Sweden, Norway, the GDR, Albania, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary, the DRV, Poland, the PRC, Morocco, the PDRK, Finland, Tunisia, Austria, Pakistan, Syria, and France.
Agreements are signed on trade between the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR and cooperative organizations in Denmark and Japan. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with the GDR (credits of 340 million rubles), Bulgaria (credits of 200 million rubles), Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Hungary (credits of 750 million rubles), Albania (credits of 160 million rubles), Mongolia (credits of 200 million rubles), Syria, India (credits of 500 million rubles), Burma, and the PDRK. Agreements on cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy are signed with Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The USSR turns over to Iran, without asking for compensation, its interests in the exploitation of oil fields in northern Iran. The USSR signs an agreement establishing the Organization for Cooperation in Telecommunication and Postal Communication, an international organization of the socialist states.
The USSR takes part in the Eighth Session of COMECON, held in Warsaw.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Cairo, Leipzig, Poznań, Oklahoma City, İzmir, Damascus, Zagreb, Vienna, and Buenos Aires.
1958. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Ceylon, Albania, Morocco, the PRC, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Iraq, and India. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Hungary, Poland, the FRG, Bulgaria, the PDRK, Greece, Rumania, Mongolia, Czechoslovakia, Norway, France, and Sweden. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with India, the PDRK, Hungary, Argentina, Poland, Afghanistan, Albania, Rumania, Norway, the DRV, the GDR, Iran, Morocco, the PRC, the FRG, Turkey, France, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Italy.
Commercial and maritime treaties are signed withe the DRV, the PRC, and Albania. Agreements are signed on trade between the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR and cooperative organizations in Great Britain, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Japan, Scotland, and Italy. The USSR agrees to halve the remaining petroleum deliveries due from Austria under the agreement signed in 1955. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with Ceylon (credits of 120 million rubles), Argentina (credits of 400 million rubles), the GDR, the PDRK, Bulgaria (credits of 130 million rubles), Hungary, Rumania, Mongolia, the PRC, Poland, and Egypt (credits of 400 million rubles to pay for equipment for the Aswan Dam). The Soviet Union grants loans of 50 million Icelandic kronur to Iceland and 400–500 million rubles to Finland. Agreements on cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy are concluded with Poland and Hungary. COMECON adopts a resolution on construction of the Druzhba Pipeline for the transport of petroleum from the USSR to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the GDR.
The USSR takes part in the Ninth and Tenth Sessions of COMECON, held in Bucharest and Prague, respectively.
In addition to the Brussels World’s Fair, the USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Osaka, Leipzig, Milan, Poznań, Brussels, New York, Kabul, Izmir, Damascus, Plovdiv, Vienna, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Tunis, and Budapest.
1959. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Guinea, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Brazil, and Ghana. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Albania, Great Britain, Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Bulgaria, and the GDR. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Albania, the FRG, the PRC, Finland, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Great Britain, Tunisia, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Bulgaria, Austria, Poland, Morocco, the GDR, Mongolia, the DRV, France, Hungary, Sweden, and Italy. Agreements are signed on trade between the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR and cooperative organizations in Hungary, Bulgaria, Norway, Poland, Japan, India, Sweden, Rumania, Scotland, the GDR, Italy, Greece, and Czechoslovakia.
Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with Indonesia, the PRC, Mongolia, Poland, the DRV (credits of 100 million rubles), Iraq (credits of 550 million rubles), the PDRK, Rumania (credits of 180 million rubles), Afghanistan, Albania (credits of 300 million rubles), Guinea (credits of 140 million rubles), India (credits of 1.5 billion rubles), Ethiopia (credits of 400 million rubles), Bulgaria, Finland (credits of up to 500 million rubles), Yemen, and Czechoslovakia. The USSR gives gratis 30 million rubles of aid to Nepal. Agreements on cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy are concluded with Iraq, the PDRK, and Hungary.
The USSR takes part in the Eleventh and Twelfth Sessions of COMECON, held in Tirana and Sofia, respectively.
The USSR mounts an exposition in Moscow. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Casablanca, Novi Sad, Göteborg, Budapest, New York, Poznań, İzmir, Damascus, Brno, Thessaloniki, Marseille, Colombo, Helsinki, Mexico City, and New Delhi. Soviet expositions are mounted in New York, Colombo, Helsinki, and Mexico City.
1960. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Tunisia, Cuba, Japan, Canada, the PDRK, Burma, Ghana, Guinea, and the FRG. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Iceland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Rumania, India, Austria, Cuba, Mongolia, the PDRK, and the FRG. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Yugoslavia, Albania, Afghanistan, the PDRK, India, Turkey, the PRC, the DRV, the Sudan, Iran, Finland, Poland, Austria, Morocco, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mongolia, Japan, and the FRG. Commercial and maritime treaty is signed with the PDRK. Agreements are signed on trade between the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR and cooperative organizations in Japan and Hungary. The USA refuses to conduct negotiations with the USSR toward a trade agreement and the granting of long-term credits to the USSR.
Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with Afghanistan, Czechoslovakia, Cuba (credits of $100 million), Indonesia (credits of $250 million), Guinea, Ethiopia, the GDR, Poland, the DRV (credits of 350 million and 430 million rubles), Iraq (credits of 180 million rubles), India (credits of 500 million rubles), Egypt (credits of 900 million rubles), Ghana (credits of 160 million rubles), Syria, Mongolia, Rumania, Bulgaria (credits of 650 million rubles), and the PDRK. Agreements on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy are signed with Indonesia and France. Protocol is signed waiving the PDRK’s payments on credits of 760 million rubles previously granted by the Soviet Union and rescheduling payments on 140 million rubles. New gold content is established for the ruble, whose exchange value is raised; under the revaluation, 90 kopeks = $1.
The USSR takes part in the Thirteenth Session of COMECON, held in Budapest.
In Moscow, expositions are mounted by the FRG, France, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Yugoslavia, Great Britain, Hungary, Japan, and Denmark. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Havana, Leipzig, Geneva, Baghdad, Milan, Paris, Marseille, Budapest, Addis Ababa, Poznań, Bucharest, Oslo, Pyongyang, Damascus, İzmir, Stockholm, Vienna, Zagreb, Brno, Plovdiv, Tunis, and Jakarta. Soviet exhibitions are mounted in Havana, Baghdad, Prague, Addis Ababa, Bucharest, Oslo, Pyongyang, and Jakarta.
1961. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Mali, Somalia, Cyprus, Togo, the Sudan, and Ghana. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Bulgaria, Lebanon, Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland, the GDR, the PDRK, Hungary, Denmark, and Norway. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are concluded with Albania, Guinea, Rumania, the Sudan, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Turkey, the PDRK, the GDR, Italy, Yugoslavia, the PRC, the DRV, Iran, Finland, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Austria. Agreements are signed on trade between the Central Cooperative Alliance of the USSR and cooperative organizations in Japan.
Agreements on economic cooperation and rendering technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with India (credits of 112.5 million rubles), Indonesia, Pakistan (credits of 27 million rubles), Mali (credits of 40 million rubles), Mongolia (credits of 122 million rubles), Poland, Somalia (credits of 47 million rubles), Cuba, Ghana, the PRC, Cambodia, the PDRK, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, the Sudan, Hungary, Tunisia, the GDR, and Rumania. Agreements on cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy are signed with Great Britain, Poland, India, Ghana, and the GDR, and agreements on scientific and technical cooperation are concluded with Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania, and Hungary. Agreement on cultural, scientific, and technical cooperation is signed with Iceland.
The USSR takes part in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Sessions of COMECON, held in Berlin and Warsaw, respectively.
In Moscow, expositions are mounted by Bulgaria, Great Britain, the GDR, France, the USA, and Japan. Soviet expositions are mounted in London, Ulan Bator, Tokyo, Paris, and Chicago. The USSR takes part in international fairs and exhibitions in Calcutta, New Delhi, Leipzig, Utrecht, Cairo, Casablanca, Göteborg, Budapest, Poznań, Sydney, İzmir, Kabul, Damascus, Thessaloniki, Zagreb, Brno, Mogadishu, and Montreal.
1962. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Niger, Senegal, Egypt, Cameroon, and Laos. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Afghanistan, Sweden, Ceylon, Tunisia, Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Iceland. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Turkey, Bulgaria, Cuba, Afghanistan, Morocco, Rumania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, the DRV, Japan, the PDRK, Guinea, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, the GDR, Poland, Ghana, the PRC, Greece, Brazil, India, Finland, Austria, and Mongolia.
Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits are signed with Nepal (credits of 3.2 million rubles), Burma, Guinea, the GDR, Somalia, Afghanistan, Cuba, the DRV, Hungary, Laos, Senegal, Finland, Poland, Mali, and Bulgaria. Agreement is concluded with Czechoslovakia on cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy.
Conference of representatives of Communist and workers’ parties of the COMECON countries is held in Moscow; it approves recommendations on expanding economic, scientific, and technical cooperation. Agreement is concluded among COMECON countries on central dispatcher control of integrated power grids.
The USSR takes part in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Sessions of COMECON, held in Moscow and Bucharest, respectively.
In Moscow, industrial expositions are mounted by Czechoslovakia, Italy, Japan, Poland, and the GDR. Soviet expositions are mounted in Conakry, Rio de Janeiro, Accra, Khartoum, and Hanoi. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Tripoli, Leipzig, Budapest, Poznań, Nicosia, İzmir, Damascus, Zagreb, Brno, Plovdiv, and Lagos.
1963. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Brazil, Libya, Dahomey, Nigeria, New Zealand, Cameroon, Tanganyika, Canada, and Algeria. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with France, Japan, Bulgaria, Brazil, India, Denmark, and Hungary. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with the PDRK, Poland, Morocco, Cyprus, Bulgaria, France, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Afghanistan, Ghana, the Sudan, Turkey, the GDR, the PRC, Iran, Mali, Yugoslavia, Finland, Guinea, Lebanon, Mongolia, the DRV, Austria, and Indonesia.
Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with Mali, Cuba, Bulgaria, Poland, Ghana (credits of 20 million rubles), Somalia, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Guinea, Egypt, Iran, Algeria (credits of 90 million rubles), Czechoslovakia, Rumania, India, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Agreement is concluded with Afghanistan on cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy. COMECON countries sign an agreement on establishing multilateral accounts in transferable rubles and on organizing the International Bank for Economic Cooperation.
The USSR takes part in the Eighteenth Session of COMECON, held in Moscow.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Tripoli, Leipzig, Budapest, Poznari, Brno, Zagreb, and Damascus.
1964. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Great Britain, Kenya, Uganda, the Congo (Brazzaville), the Malagasy Republic, and Mali. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Cuba, Bulgaria, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Iran, Cyprus, Finland, Ceylon, Greece, France, Yugoslavia, and Tunisia. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Cuba, the PRC, Guinea, Cyprus, Rumania, Mongolia, the PDRK, Afghanistan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Poland, Austria, Egypt, Finland, and the DRV. Soviet delegation takes part in the UN Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva.
Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with Bulgaria (credits of 465 million rubles), Yemen, India, Nepal, Algeria (credits of 115 million rubles), Egypt (credits of 252 million rubles), the GDR, Syria, Rumania, Kenya, Uganda, Czechoslovakia, the Congo (Brazzaville), Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Pakistan, Somalia, Ceylon, and Indonesia. Agreement signed with Canada on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy.
The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Bamako, Leipzig, Genoa, Budapest, Poznań, Damascus, İzmir, Brno, Plovdiv, Zagreb, Algiers, and Tokyo. Soviet expositions are mounted in Bamako and Genoa.
1965. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Nepal, Australia, and Syria. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Norway, Sweden, Rumania, Cuba, Cyprus, the Sudan, the GDR, Pakistan, Austria, Mongolia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Iceland, Poland, Ghana, Egypt, Syria, and Morocco. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Ghana, Rumania, the GDR, Mongolia, Cuba, Afghanistan, Turkey, Japan, Algeria, Indonesia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, the PRC, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, Finland, Mali, and the DRV. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid, including the granting of credits, are signed with India, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Bulgaria, Hungary, Algeria, the Congo (Brazzaville), the DRV, Afghanistan, Cuba, Mongolia, Ghana, Kuwait, Senegal, Poland, and Turkey.
Agreements are signed on economic cooperation and technical aid in the peaceful use of atomic energy with the GDR, Italy, and France. Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation in the manufacture of motor vehicles are signed with Yugoslavia and Italy. Soviet-Japanese and Japanese-Soviet committees on economic cooperation are formed.
The USSR takes part in the Nineteenth Session of COMECON, held in Prague.
Moscow is the site of a Japanese industrial exposition and the international exposition Chemistry in Industry, Construction, and Agriculture. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Tripoli, Tehran, Paris, Budapest, Poznań, İzmir, Damascus, Algiers, Thessaloniki, Zagreb, Brno, and Copenhagen. Soviet expositions are mounted in Tehran, Paris, Bucharest, and Sofia.
1966. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Singapore and Mauritania. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with India, Japan, the PDRK, and Yugoslavia. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with India, Algeria, Cuba, Afghanistan, Italy, Syria, Mali, Ceylon, Lebanon, France, Sweden, Turkey, the PDRK, the DRV, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland, the PRC, the GDR, Mongolia, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Pakistan, and Finland. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, and Morocco, and an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation in space research and exploration for peaceful purposes is signed with France. Protocol signed with Fiat under which the Italian company is to help establish in the USSR a complex of enterprises for the production of passenger cars. Agreements on economic and technical cooperation, including the granting of credits, are signed with India and Tanzania.
The USSR takes part in the Twentieth Session of COMECON, held in Sofia.
Four international expositions are held in the USSR: International Office Equipment ’66, Agricultural Machinery ’66, Poultry Raising ’66, and Mathematical Machines. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Brno, Budapest, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, Algiers, Damascus, İzmir, Utrecht, Bangkok, Pyongyang, Rangoon, Karachi, Tokyo, Osaka, and Santiago.
1967. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Chile, Chad, Colombia, and Malaysia. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Iran, the Sudan, and Norway. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Cuba, Turkey, Algeria, the PDRK, Poland, Bulgaria, the DRV, the GDR, Mongolia, Rumania, Finland, Syria, Sweden, France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Guinea, India, Pakistan, Japan, Ghana, and the PRC. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with the PDRK, Algeria, Zambia, and Mali. Agreements are concluded with Bulgaria and Cuba on scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy, with Yugoslavia in scientific research, with Czechoslovakia and Mongolia in communications, and with the PDRK and Chile in the construction of industrial enterprises. Agreement on economic and technical aid is signed with Guinea.
The USSR becomes a member of the European Organization for Quality Control. The USSR takes part in the Twenty-first Session of COMECON, held in Budapest.
Three international expositions are held in Moscow: Clothing ’67, International Food-industry Machinery, and International Mining Machinery ’67. In addition to Expo ’67 in Montreal, the USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, İzmir, Damascus, Thessaloniki, Algiers, Tripoli, Bucharest, and Tokyo.
1968. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Colombia and Upper Volta. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Cyprus, Iceland, Ceylon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Pakistan. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Algeria, Tunisia, Czechoslovakia, the DRV, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, the GDR, the PDRK, Poland, Turkey, India, Rumania, Cuba, Finland, Guinea, Ghana, Mali, Japan, and Egypt. Agreement is signed on cooperation between the USSR and the other COMECON countries. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Austria, Iran, Chad, and Nigeria.
Agreement is signed with Denmark on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy. Agreements are signed on cooperation with the GDR and Czechoslovakia in the construction of a natural-gas pipeline in the USSR and with Poland in the manufacture of passenger cars. Agreements on cooperation are signed with Great Britain, Hungary, and India. Agreements on scientific and cultural exchanges are signed with the USA and Mexico. Conference of representatives of the central banks and foreign-trade banks of the COMECON countries is held in Budapest.
The International Exposition of Home Appliances and the International Exposition of the Fishing Industry are held in the USSR. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, İzmir, Madras, Paris, Damascus, Marseille, Bari, Vienna, Bogotá, London, and Kabul.
1969. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Jordan, the Central African Republic, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, Peru, Uruguay, and Ecuador. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Great Britain, Finland, and Denmark. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Mongolia, Hungary, Cuba, Japan, Bulgaria, the DRV, the GDR, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, India, Algeria, Ghana, Ceylon, Pakistan, Finland, Mali, Turkey, and Egypt. Agreements are signed with the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union on economic, scientific, and technical cooperation, with the Sudan on economic and technical cooperation, with Iraq on helping it develop a petroleum-extraction industry, with Hungary on extending the Druzhba Petroleum Pipeline, and with Guinea on the construction of factories. Agreement is signed with Finland on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy. Agreement on trade and economic cooperation is concluded with France. The USSR signs an agreement establishing Interkhim (Organization for Cooperation in Light Chemicals Production), an economic organization of the COMECON countries.
The USSR takes part in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third Sessions of COMECON, held in Berlin and Moscow, respectively.
Three international expositions are held in the USSR: Automation ’69, International Printing Machinery ’69, and Footwear ’69. The USSR takes part in international fairs and exhibitions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, İzmir, Tripoli, Tunis, Sydney, Damascus, and Sao Paulo.
1970. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Equatorial Guinea, Thailand, India, Costa Rica, Lebanon, Nepal, and Bolivia. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Iran, Sweden, Syria, India, Ceylon, Austria, the FRG, Italy, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Iceland. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Hungary, Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq, the GDR, Bulgaria, the DRV, the PDRK, the PRC, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Guinea, Japan, Finland, and Mali.
Agreement on establishing the International Investment Bank is signed with Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Mongolia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Jordan, Cuba, and the GDR in geological exploration, with Iran in fishing, and with Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Finland in the construction of atomic power plants. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are concluded with Pakistan, the PDRK, India, Morocco, and Syria. Agreement on economic, scientific, and technical cooperation is signed with Denmark. Agreement is signed with Sweden on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy. Protocols on coordinating national economic plans for 1971–75 are signed with Poland, Rumania, the GDR, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Mongolia.
The USSR takes part in the Twenty-fourth Session of COMECON, held in Warsaw.
Six international expositions are held in the USSR: International Exposition of Machinery for Light Industry 70, Intergas ’70, Chemistry ’70, Historical Literature, Prosthetic and Orthopedic Devices, and Radio-measuring Instruments, an exposition mounted by the COMECON countries. In addition to the Osaka World’s Fair, the USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Bucharest, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, Vienna, Algiers, Helsinki, İzmir, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Paris.
1971. The USSR signs the Comprehensive Program for the Further Extension and Development of Socialist Economic Integration Among the Members of COMECON.
Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Zambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Norway, Argentina, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Nigeria. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with the DRV, the Sudan, Japan, Iceland, the PDRK, and Yugoslavia. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, the PRC, Yugoslavia, Iran, Cuba, India, Mongolia, Poland, the PDRK, Turkey, Egypt, Ceylon, Ghana, Burma, Costa Rica, and Finland. Agreement is signed on trade between the Central Cooperative Alliance and the Hungarian Alliance of Consumer and Marketing Cooperative Societies.
Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Pakistan in building a metallurgical plant, with Bulgaria and the GDR in the construction of industrial plants and other facilities, and with Iraq in building a canal. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Cuba, Rumania, Hungary, Egypt, the PDRK, Peru, Chile, and Dahomey. Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation are signed with France in standardization and metrology, with Finland in the construction of an atomic power plant, and with Poland in computer technology. Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation are concluded with Canada, Japan, Syria, and Iran. Long-term agreements on the development of economic, technical, and industrial cooperation are signed with France and Finland. Protocol on coordinating national economic plans is signed with Mongolia.
The USSR takes part in the Twenty-fifth Session of COMECON, held in Bucharest.
Seven international expositions are held in the USSR: International Trade Machinery ’71, Building Materials ’71, Surgery, Geodesy-Geophysics, Railroad Rolling Stock, Phthisiopulmonology, and Automation of Production Processes in Ferrous Metallurgy, an exposition mounted by the COMECON countries. USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, Tripoli, Cairo, Damascus, Algiers, Baghdad, Lima, Wellington, İzmir, Ulan Bator, Basel, Rangoon, Göteborg, Nicosia, Singapore, and Dar-es-Salaam.
1972. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Algeria, Spain, Bangladesh, Burma, and the USA. Treaty on maritime shipping signed with Italy. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Egypt, Cyprus, Cuba, and the FRG. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with Hungary, Bulgaria, the PDRK, Cuba, Mongolia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, the PRC, Guinea, Egypt, Finland, Turkey, Mali, India, Ghana, and Pakistan. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Cuba in the construction of power transmission lines, with Syria in the construction of railroads and the development of the petroleum-extraction industry, with Libya in the development of the energy industry and other branches of the economy, and with Czechoslovakia in the construction of facilities for the chemical industry. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Mongolia, Yugoslavia, Bangladesh, Iran, and Iraq.
Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation are signed with the GDR in the construction of industrial plants and with France in the machine tool and instrument-making industries. Long-term agreements are signed with the Netherlands and Norway on the development of economic, scientific, technical, and industrial cooperation. Long-term agreement on commercial and economic cooperation is signed with the FRG. USSR and Finland draft a long-term program for the development of trade and economic cooperation, production cooperation, and specialization. The USSR signs an agreement with the COMECON countries establishing the international economic association Interatominstrument.
The USSR takes part in the Twenty-sixth Session of COMECON, held in Moscow.
Eight international expositions are held in the USSR: Electro ’72, Agricultural Machinery ’72, Biophysics, Gerontology, Food Industry, Sports, Optics, and Radio-electronic Measuring Instruments, an exposition mounted by the COMECON countries. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, Bucharest, İzmir, Cairo, Milan, Seattle, Damascus, Algiers, Vienna, Santiago, New Delhi, Amsterdam, Montreal, Colombo, Bogotá, Jakarta, Nicosia, Baghdad, and Beirut.
1973. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Guyana, Mexico, and Ireland. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with the DRV and Pakistan. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with the PDRK, the PRC, Hungary, the GDR, Mongolia, Cuba, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Finland, Ghana, Guinea, and Turkey. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Cuba for the development of several basic branches of industry, with the GDR in expanding and building fossil-fuel-fired steam power plants, and with Iraq. Long-term agreements on developing economic, industrial, and technical cooperation are concluded with the FRG and Austria. Agreements on developing economic and trade cooperation are signed with India and Australia. The USSR and France draft a long-term program for furthering cooperation in economics and industry. Agreement is signed on cooperation between the State Planning Committee of the USSR and the Planning Commission of India. The USSR signs a general agreement with Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, and Rumania on construction of the Ust’-Ilimsk Pulp Mill. The USSR signs agreements creating Interatomenergo, Interelectro, and Intertextil’mash, international economic associations embracing Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Agreement is signed with the USA on cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy.
The USSR takes part in the Twenty-seventh Session of COMECON, held in Prague.
Six international expositions are held in the USSR: Service Station ’73, Timber Machinery ’73, Obstetrics and Gynecology, School Equipment, International Casting Machinery, and Unified System of Computers of the Socialist Countries, an exposition mounted by the COMECON countries. USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, Bucharest, İzmir, Tripoli, Cairo, Hanover, Damascus, Algiers, Nicosia, Baghdad, East Berlin, West Berlin, São Paulo, Tokyo, Oslo, Casablanca, Paris, Toronto, Mogadishu, Lima, Helsinki, Montreal, and Washington, D.C.
1974. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with Libya, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Burundi, Rwanda, El Salvador, and Portugal. Long-term agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Algeria, Finland, and Morocco. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with the GDR, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Bangladesh, Finland, the PRC, the PDRK, Mongolia, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. Twenty-year general agreement on reciprocal shipments of goods is signed with Japan. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Syria in developing the petroleum industry, with Poland in building an atomic power plant, as well as with Morocco and Somalia. Agreements on economic and technical cooperation are signed with Dahomey, Indonesia, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), and the Malagasy Republic. Agreements are signed with France and the FRG on economic cooperation for 1975–79. Agreement on scientific, technical, commercial, and economic cooperation is concluded with Argentina. Long-term agreements on developing economic, industrial, and technical cooperation are signed with Great Britain, the USA, Italy, and the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union.
The USSR takes part in the Twenty-eighth Session of COMECON, held in Sofia.
Four international expositions open to socialist and nonsocialist countries are held in the USSR: Health Care ’74, Feed Production, Soil Science, and Sport Weapons. Two expositions of the COMECON countries are held in the USSR: Specialized Furniture and Automatic Control System Technology. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, Bucharest, İzmir, Tripoli, Cairo, Bogotá, Damascus, Vienna, Algiers, Tehran, Bangkok, Düsseldorf, Spokane, Mexico City, Copenhagen, Lagos, Tokyo, Sapporo, Nicosia, Buenos Aires, Marseille, Baghdad, and New Delhi.
1975. Commercial treaties and agreements are signed with the Malagasy Republic, Guinea (Bissau), and Mozambique. Longterm agreements on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, the DRV, Iceland, Austria, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Rumania. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover are signed with the DRV, Poland, the PDRK, the PRC, Cuba, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary, the GDR, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Austria, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guinea. Agreements on economic cooperation and technical aid are signed with Bulgaria and the DRV in building industrial enterprises, as well as with Syria, Iraq, Niger, and Turkey. Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation are signed with the GDR, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia in producing ferroalloys; with France in power engineering, agriculture, and the aviation industry; with Egypt in metallurgy; and with Poland and Yugoslavia in the automotive industry.
Long-term agreements on the development of economic, scientific, technical, and industrial cooperation are signed with the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britian, Portugal, and Sweden. Agreements on economic and technical cooperation are concluded with Guinea (Bissau) and Sri Lanka. Ten-year protocol on cooperation in chemistry is signed with the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union. Agreements are concluded on economic cooperation with Italy and on commercial, economic, scientific, and technical cooperation with Colombia. Protocols on coordinating national economic plans for 1976–80 are signed with Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, the GDR, Cuba, Mongolia, and the DRV.
The USSR takes part in the Twenty-ninth Session of COMECON, held in Budapest.
Eight international expositions open to socialist and nonsocialist countries are held in the USSR: Communications ’75, Coal, Welding Equipment, International Office Equipment, Aluminum, Irrigation and Drainage, Plant Protection, and International Exposition of the Fishing Industry. Two international expositions are mounted by the COMECON countries: Interkhim and Servicing of Agricultural Machinery. The USSR takes part in international fairs and expositions on Okinawa and in Leipzig, Budapest, Brno, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Poznań, Bucharest, İzmir, Tripoli, Cairo, Lyon, Tokyo, Damascus, Algiers, Baghdad, Lima, Shimizu, Montreal, Casablanca, Tunis, Lisbon, Brazzaville, and Mogadishu.
1976. Long-term agreements on trade turnover and payments are signed with Cuba, the PDRK, and Mongolia. Protocols on trade turnover are signed with Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, the PDRK, Mongolia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Agreements on cooperation in the construction of power transmission lines are concluded with Bulgaria, the GDR, and Poland. Agreement is signed with Hungary on the expansion of the available production capacities and the construction of new facilities for the production of various chemicals and reciprocal shipments of chemicals. Agreement on cooperation is signed with Rumania on the development of the Orenburg gas-condensate deposit involving the supplying of gas to Rumania.
Commercial treaty and agreement on trade turnover and payments are signed with Laos. Agreements on the development of economic, scientific, technical, and industrial cooperation are signed with Ireland and Canada. Long-term commercial agreement is signed with Sweden. Agreements on the general principles of commercial relations are signed with Angola, Ghana, Zaire, Mozambique, India, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Philippines. Agreements on the reciprocal establishment of trade delegations are signed with Angola and Mozambique. Long-term agreements on trade turnover are signed with Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria.
Agreements on cultural and scientific cooperation are signed with Angola, Bulgaria, Laos, Liberia, Mozambique, the Cape Verde Islands, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Agreements on air transportation are concluded with Angola, Spain, Mexico, Mozambique, the Cape Verde Islands, and Rumania. Agreements on cooperation in postal service and electrical communication are signed with Laos and Rumania, in tourism with Cyprus, and in the further development of nuclear power engineering with Czechoslovakia. Agreements on commercial shipping are signed with Angola, India, and Mozambique; on maritime navigation with Zaïre and Libya; on cooperation in fishing with Angola, Sierra Leone, and Mozambique; on mutual relations in fishing with Canada and Norway; on fishing in the US coastal zone with the USA; and on questions of fishing in Finland’s coastal zone with Finland.
Agreements on economic and technical cooperation are signed with Angola, Venezuela, Iraq, Mozambique, the Cape Verde Islands, Nepal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Tunisia. Protocol on economic and technical cooperation is signed with Syria. Supplementary protocols to agreements on economic and technical cooperation are signed with Algeria, Angola, Guinea (Bissau), and Mozambique. Agreements on economic and technical cooperation in the construction of industrial facilities and other projects in the period 1976–80 are signed with Hungary and Rumania.
Two agreements are concluded with the GDR: (1) on cooperation in building in the GDR projects and facilities of the construction and building-materials industries and on the shipment of equipment for the projects from the USSR in the period 1976–80 and (2) on rendering assistance to the GDR in geological prospecting and exploration, in the development and exploitation of gas deposits, and in the construction of underground gas-storage facilities.
Agreements on cooperation in the construction of an aluminum plant are signed with Algeria, on economic and technical cooperation in the construction of a metallurgical plant with Nigeria, and on cooperation in the construction of industrial enterprises with Czechoslovakia. Protocols on rendering assistance to Laos in the establishment of the country’s geological survey and on economic cooperation with Mongolia for 1976–80 are signed.
The USSR signs a multilateral agreement on cooperation in and the peaceful use of outer space.
The USSR takes part in the Thirtieth Session of COMECON, held in Berlin.
Eighteen international expositions are held in the USSR: Oxyacetylene Cutting and Welding Equipment; Feed Mixing Machines and Secondary Raw-material Processors Used in Feed Production; Second International Exposition of Light-industry Equipment and Production Processes; Diamonds, Diamond-cutting Tools, and Diamond-cutting Equipment; Machines and Equipment for the Production and Application of Mineral Fertilizers; Modern Amusement-park Attractions and Machinery; Equipment, Instruments, Tools, and Materials Used in Cartography and Geography; Machines and Equipment for Mechanized Potato Cultivation, Harvesting, and Processing; Automatic Controls and Monitors for Vehicular and Pedestrian Traffic; Equipment and Recreational Merchandise for Resorts; Technology for the Olympics; Second International Exposition of Municipal Maintenance Machinery and Home Appliances; Equipment for the Application of Anticorrosion and Nonmetallic Coatings Used in the Petrochemical Industry; Tea-cutting Machines for Black and Green Loose Tea and Instant Tea; Automatic Control Systems and Hardware Components Aboard Ships and in Ports; Equipment, Instruments, and Tools for the Clock and Watch Industry; Instruments and Equipment for Research in Radio Physics; and Machinery, Equipment, and Instruments for the Food-processing, Food-preserves, and Wine-making Industries.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Tripoli, Cairo, Leipzig (both spring and autumn fairs), Brno (both spring and autumn fairs), Hanover, Bucharest (both spring and autumn fairs), Budapest (both spring and autumn fairs), Barcelona, Poznań, Damascus, Izmir, Plovdiv, Thessaloniki, Zagreb, Algiers, Baghdad, Tehran, and Manila. Soviet expositions are mounted in Vienna, Buenos Aires, New Delhi, West Berlin, and Shimizu.
1977. Protocols on trade turnover are signed with Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, the DRV, the PDRK, Cuba, and Czechoslovakia. Agreements on cooperation in the production of aircraft matériel are signed with Poland, on cooperation and mutual aid in customs arrangements with Yugoslavia, on reciprocal shipments of goods in the period 1978–80 with India, and on trade turnover and payments in 1976–80 with Japan. Agreements are concluded with Finland on reciprocal shipments of goods in 1978, on cooperation in the construction of the Kostomuksha Ore-dressing Combine, and on taxation matters.
Long-term programs for the development of economic, industrial, scientific, and technical cooperation are signed with the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union and with Finland. The USSR and France sign a protocol supplementary to the Program for Furthering Soviet-French Cooperation in Economics and Industry. Agreement on the development and expansion of long-term cooperation in economics and industry is signed with the FRG. Agreements on the general principles of commercial relations are signed with the Cape Verde Islands, Tanzania, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, and Jamaica. Protocols are signed on establishing the USSR’s trade delegations in Tunisia, Ethiopia, and Jamaica. Agreements on cultural and scientific cooperation are signed with the Seychelles and Tanzania and on air transportation with Madagascar and Ethiopia. Agreements on cooperation in postal service and electrical communication are signed with the GDR, in the establishment of tropospheric scatter communication with India, in tourism with Cuba and Mongolia, in public health and medical sciences with the PDRK, in space research for peaceful purposes with the USA, and in fishing with Benin and Guyana. Agreements on consultations and scientific and technical cooperation in fishing and marine fauna research are signed with Iceland and on fishing in 1977 in the USSR’s coastal zone, in the northwestern Pacific, and along the Japanese littoral with Japan. Agreements and protocols on economic, scientific, and technical cooperation are signed with Turkey, the PDRY, India, Madagascar, Syria, and Ethiopia. Treaty on the development of economic cooperation is concluded with Afghanistan. Agreements on scientific and technical cooperation in the study of upper atmospheric layers are signed with Bulgaria and Mongolia. Agreements on cooperation in science and technology are signed with the USA, in chemistry and transportation with France, in the construction of the Nagymarös Hydroengineering Complex with Hungary, and in the construction of agricultural projects with Poland. Agreement on procedures for cooperation in manufacturing equipment for atomic power plants is signed with Rumania.
The USSR signed two multilateral agreements: (1) a general agreement on cooperation in the long-term development of COMECON member countries’ integrated electric power grids up to 1990 and (2) an international agreement on sugar.
The USSR takes part in the Thirty-first Session of COMECON, held in Warsaw.
Fifteen international expositions are held in the USSR: Program Control Metalworking Equipment, Robots, Manipulators, and Transfer Arms; Scientific Instruments for Oceanographie Survey and Marine Pollution Control; Secondary Standards and Reference and Precision Instruments in Metrological Measurements; Equipment for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cardiovascular and Nervous Diseases; Equipment and Production Methods in the Manufacture of Communication Facilities; Equipment for the Manufacture of Total-prefabricated Single-apartment Houses and Appropriate Building Materials; Special Molding Methods and Equipment for the Analysis of Cermets; Second International Exposition of Electrical Engineering Equipment and Power Transmission Lines; Building Materials and Equipment for Their Production; Second International Exposition of Railroad Transport; Production and Test Equipment in the Manufacture of Medicines; Foundry Materials and Monitors; Fourth International Chemistry Exposition; Equipment for the Examination and Clinical Treatment of Coronary Insufficiency; and Optical Instruments and Devices in Science, Industry, Culture, and Everyday Life.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Tripoli, Leipzig (both spring and autumn fairs), Cairo, Paris, Brno (both spring and autumn fairs), Bucharest (both spring and autumn fairs), Budapest (both spring and autumn fairs), Melbourne, Lisbon, Poznań, Damascus, İzmir, Plovdiv, Zagreb, Algiers, Baghdad, and New Delhi. Soviet expositions are mounted in Hanoi, Pyongyang, Los Angeles, Caracas, Shimizu, Tokyo, and Osaka.
1978. Protocols on trade turnover are signed with the GDR, Hungary, Cuba, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, the PDRK, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Agreements on trade turnover and payments are signed with the PRC, Cuba, and Yugoslavia. Long-term programs for the development of economic and industrial cooperation are drafted with Denmark and for economic, industrial, scientific, and technical cooperation with Canada. Agreements on the development of economic, industrial, scientific, and technical cooperation are signed with Switzerland and on the development and expansion of long-term cooperation in economics and industry with the FRG. Agreements on the general principles of commercial relations are signed with Mali and Nigeria. Protocols are signed on the establishment of the USSR’s trade delegations in the People’s Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Benin. Agreements on trade turnover and protocols on reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guinea, Iraq, the PDRY, Pakistan, Turkey, and Finland. Protocol on long-term commodity exchange is signed with Morocco.
Agreements on cultural and scientific cooperation are signed with the GDR, Greece, the Philippines, and Jamaica. Protocols on setting up joint Soviet-Bulgarian and Soviet-Rumanian intergovernmental commissions on cultural cooperation are signed.
Agreements on air transportation are signed with Kuwait and Jamaica, on commercial shipping with Ethiopia and Jamaica, and on maritime navigation with Mexico. Agreements on cooperation in the fishing industry are signed with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), Rumania, the Seychelles, and Japan. Agreements on fishing are signed with New Zealand, the GDR, Poland, and Bulgaria. Agreements are concluded on the construction of two space communication ground stations of the Intersputnik system, one in Laos and one in the SRV, as gifts of the Soviet government. Agreements on economic and technical cooperation are signed with Laos, Nepal, and Ethiopia. The USSR and Afghanistan sign an agreement on setting up a permanent intergovernmental commission on cooperation. Agreement establishing an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic, scientific, and technical cooperation is signed with Ethiopia. Agreement on furthering and extending economic, scientific, and technical cooperation is signed with the SRV. Long-term agreement on economic and technical cooperation in phosphate production is signed with Morocco. Protocols on shipments of machinery and equipment and on economic and technical cooperation are signed with the PDRY and on economic and technical cooperation in geological exploration with Uganda. General agreement on scientific and technical cooperation is signed with Peru. Agreements on cooperation in the construction of the Gabčíkovo Hydroengineering Complex are concluded with Czechoslovakia and on the furthering and expanding long-term cooperation in economics and industry with the FRG.
The USSR signs a multilateral agreement establishing Inter-lighter, a multinational economic association for shipping.
The USSR takes part in the Thirty-second Session of COMECON, held in Bucharest.
Fifteen international expositions are held in the USSR: Overall Transportation, Materials-handling, and Warehousing Mechanization and Automation; Sports Equipment; Hand Power Tools for Various Branches of the Economy; Machinery and Equipment for the Quarrying, Working, and Machining of Stones; Refrigeration Equipment in Agriculture, Food Processing, Civil Engineering, Transportation, and Trade; Alarm Facilities; Automation Equipment and Facilities in the Pulp and Paper Industry; Second International Exposition of Equipment and Facilities for Food Processing, Stores, and Food Services; Spectrometers and Laser Equipment; Third International Exposition of Agricultural Machinery, Implements, and Devices; Automation and Remote Control Facilities in the Petroleum and Gas Industry; Equipment and Medicine Used for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Urological Diseases; Batchers and Packers for Foodstuffs and Other Products; Research Equipment and Instruments; and Second International Exposition of Automotive Servicing and Repair Equipment and Facilities.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Tripoli, Cairo, Leipzig (both spring and autumn fairs), Hanover, Brno (both spring and autumn fairs), Budapest (both spring and autumn fairs), Bucharest (both spring and autumn fairs), Poznań, Damascus, İzmir, Plovdiv, Thessaloniki, Zagreb, Vienna, Tehran, Algiers, and Baghdad. Soviet exposition is mounted in Helsinki.
1979. Protocols on trade turnover are signed with Bulgaria, the PDRK, Cuba, the SRV, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guinea, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Finland, and Ethiopia. The USSR concludes an agreement on cooperation in building the Khmel’nitskii Atomic Power Plant and on the related supplying of electric power with Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Multilateral agreement on cooperation in building the Mozyr’ Plant and on the related shipment of goods is signed with the GDR, Cuba, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Agreement on cooperation in building industrial facilities for the manufacture of cast-iron tubing is signed with Czechoslovakia. Long-term agreement on trade turnover and payments is signed with Finland. Agreements on the general principles of commercial relations are signed with Algeria, Mauritius, and Panama. Agreements on economic cooperation in the period 1980–85 are signed with Italy and France.
The USSR, France, and Switzerland draft long-term programs for furthering cooperation in economics, industry, and technology. Protocol supplementary to the long-term program for furthering cooperation in economics and industry is signed with Italy. Agreements on the establishment of an intergovernmental joint commission for commercial, economic, scientific, and technical cooperation and for fishing are signed with Colombia and Peru. Protocol on the reciprocal establishment of trade delegations is signed with Nigeria. Agreements on cultural and scientific cooperation are signed with Hungary and Spain. Protocols supplementary to the agreement on cultural and scientific cooperation are signed with Spain and supplementary to the agreement on cultural exchanges with Italy.
Agreements on air transportation are signed with Cambodia (Kampuchea) and Laos, on cooperation in postal service and electrical communication with Angola and Madagascar, on cooperation in ocean research with France, on cooperation in medical sciences and public health with India, on maritime shipping with Madagascar, on cooperation in the fishing industry with Angola and Jamaica, and on the construction of a space communications ground station of the Intersputnik system as a gift of the Soviet government with Afghanistan. Agreements on cooperation in the mining and petroleum industries are signed with Angola, on economic and technical cooperation with Afghanistan, on scientific and technical cooperation with Spain, on rendering economic and technical assistance in the construction of a tractor works, a forging and pressing machinery plant, and a casting and forging foundry with the SRV, and on cooperation in building a metallurgical works in Visakhapatnam with India. The USSR and Czechoslovakia sign an agreement on the construction of a new railroad border passage.
Protocols are signed with the PDRY on economic and technical cooperation, with the Cape Verde Islands and Ethiopia supplementary to the respective agreements on economic and technical cooperation, and with the GDR on cooperation in expanding the Jänschwalde Thermal Electric Power Plant. The USSR signs agreements on the establishment of intergovernmental commissions for economic, scientific, and technical cooperation with Laos and Madagascar and on scientific, technical, and industrial cooperation in computer technology and electronics with France.
The USSR signs a multilateral general agreement on specialization and cooperation in the manufacture of power-consuming products supplied as a compensation for power-consuming products.
The USSR takes part in the Thirty-third Session of COMECON, held in Moscow.
Twenty-three international expositions are held in the USSR: Equipment and Rigging for the Mechanization of Finishing Work in Civil Engineering; Modern Interior Decoration, Furniture, and Accessories; Equipment and Automatic Systems of Collection, Processing, Storage, and Output of Scientific and Technical Information; Equipment and Instruments for Automatic Environmental Monitoring and Pollution Sources Control; Technical Aids for Maintenance of Public Order and Fire-fighting Equipment; Machinery and Equipment for Coal Concentration; Services for Air Passengers and Operation of Airfields; Land Reclamation; Traffic Safety Controls; Life Style and Fashions; Veterinary Preparations, Instruments, and Equipment; Machinery for the Manufacture of Medical Equipment; Second International Exposition of Machinery, Equipment, and Instruments for the Lumber and Wood-products Industries; Mechanization of Feed Production in Mountainous Areas; Hotel Equipment; Machinery and Gears for the Mechanization of Labor in Construction; Equipment and Instruments for the Study of Solid Surfaces; Second International Exposition of Equipment for the Manufacture and Inspection of Electronic Components; Seismic Detectors and Vibration Engineering; Automation of Production Processes in Nonferrous Metallurgy; Equipment for the Manufacture of Plastic Tubes; Engineering Facilities of Apartment Houses; and Computers 79: Facilities of the Unified System of Computers, Systems of Minicomputers, and Their Application, an exposition mounted by the COMECON countries.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Tripoli, Leipzig (both spring and autumn fairs), Brno (both spring and autumn fairs), Casablanca, Milan, Budapest (both spring and autumn fairs), Bucharest (both spring and autumn fairs), Poznań, Damascus, İzmir, Algiers, Zagreb, Plovdiv, Baghdad, Stockholm, and Lima. Soviet expositions are mounted in Jakarta, Kabul, London, Geneva, Baltimore, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, Knoxville, Kansas City, San Antonio, and Atlanta.
1980. Protocols on trade turnover are signed with Bulgaria, the GDR, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Cuba, and the PDRK. Long-term agreements on trade turnover and payments are signed with Mongolia and on cooperation in shipbuilding and reciprocal deliveries of ships and marine equipment with the GDR, Poland, Rumania, and Czechoslovakia. Agreement on trade turnover and payments is signed with the PRC. The USSR and the FRG draft guidelines for long-term cooperation in economics and industry. The USSR and Norway draft a long-term program for the development of economic and industrial cooperation. Supplementary protocol to the long-term program for furthering commercial, economic, industrial, scientific, and technical cooperation is signed with Finland. Agreements and protocols on trade turnover and reciprocal shipments of goods are signed with Angola, Bangladesh, Guinea, Iraq, the PDRY, and Pakistan. Protocol on reciprocal shipments of goods on a long-term basis is signed with Iceland. Agreements on the general principles of commercial relations are concluded with Gabon, Grenada, Cambodia (Kampuchea), Morocco, and Nicaragua. Protocols are signed on the establishment of the USSR’s trade delegations in Cambodia and Sierra Leone and on the reciprocal establishment of trade delegations with Nicaragua.
The USSR takes part in the Thirty-fourth Session of COMECON, held in Prague.
Sixteen international expositions are held in the USSR: Second International Exposition of Equipment Used in the Manufacture of Toys; Elevator Equipment; Second International Exposition of Motion-picture and Television Engineering; Cryogenic Engineering; Instruments for Analysis; Research Equipment and Instruments; Machinery and Equipment for Fodder Production and Feed-making; Technology and Equipment for the Manufacture of Vessel-hull Components; Facilities for the Mechanization and Automation of Tobacco Growing and Postharvest Treatment and Curing of Tobacco Leaves; Third International Exposition of Fishing Vessels and Gear, Fish and Marine-products Processing Machinery, and Facilities for the Reproduction of Aquatic Biological Resources; Second International Exposition of Public-health Developments, Medical Equipment, and Medicines; Machinery and Equipment for Highway Building and Maintenance; Electrical Technology; High-speed Photography and Photonics; Equipment, Instruments, and Tools Used in Geology, Geophysics, and Cartography; and Facilities for the Mechanization and Automation of Production Processes in Hothouses and Mushroom Cellars.
The USSR takes part in international fairs in Tripoli, Leipzig (both spring and autumn fairs), Osaka, Brussels, Brno (both spring and autumn fairs), Hanover, Bordeaux, Bucharest (both spring and autumn fairs), Budapest (both spring and autumn fairs), Bogotá, Poznań, Plovdiv, Damascus, İzmir, Algiers, Thessaloniki, Zagreb, Tehran, Vienna, and Vientiane.
G. M. IAKOBSON (to 1966), F. G. PISKOPPEL’ (1967–75), M. KH. AKOPOV, A. V. MOLOKOEDOVA, I. I. CHERNYSHEVA, and V. S. SHESTAKOV
The objective basis for economic regionalization is the territorial division of labor; the economic significance of such regionalization is increased efficiency of social production as a result of specialization and integration of development.
In prerevolutionary Russia the division of labor was marked by serious disproportions owing to the insufficient development of productive forces and the transportation network. The administrative territorial structure did not meet the economic needs of the country. In the early period of Soviet power economic regionalization played an integral role in the creation of a scientific plan for the development of the national economy and the administrative restructuring of the country. In the plan worked out by the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO plan), which Lenin termed a second party program, the ideas of electrification and economic regionalization were linked. The basic principles of socialist economic regionalization were formulated in theses that were examined and approved in 1921 by a commission (chaired by M. I. Kalinin) of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. These principles have served as the basis of national economic planning at all stages of the economic development of the USSR.
The main factors considered in the establishment of economic regions in the USSR are the technological and economic advisability of the integration of industry, the level of development of production, the structure of the social economy, the territorial division of labor, the administrative system, and geographic and environmental conditions.
An economic region is an economically integrated territorial unit. It is based on the territorial-production complex, which is characterized by a specific combination of intricately linked branches of production, by a commonality of economic-geographic conditions, and by a common historical past. These characteristics make possible specialization, within the framework of the country as a whole, of a given region in the territorial division of labor.
The present network of economic regions in the USSR was established in 1963 and revised in 1966. The country, excluding the Moldavian SSR, is divided into 18 economic regions. The information given below is accurate as of the beginning of 1975.
Northwestern. The Northwestern Economic Region comprises Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod, Vologda, Arkhangel’sk, and Murmansk oblasts, the Karelian ASSR, and the Komi ASSR. Primarily an industrial region, it has a highly developed and diversified machine-building industry, whose principal branches are shipbuilding, the electric engineering industry, and instrument-making. Also of national importance are nonferrous metallurgy, the lumber and paper industry, the mining and chemical industry, and the fishing industry. Agriculture, which is notable for flax cultivation, plays a subordinate role. The activity of the region’s seaports has helped transportation occupy a leading place in the regional economy. The Northwestern Economic Region makes important contributions to the country’s scientific and engineering work.
Central. The Central Economic Region consists of Moscow, Kalinin, Riazan’, Smolensk, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Briansk, Kaluga, Orel, and Tula oblasts. With a broad range of production, it is the chief industrial region of the USSR. Several industries are of national importance. They include machine building, which is highly developed and specializes in motor vehicles, machine tools, electrical equipment, and electronic devices; light industry, which produces primarily textiles; the chemical industry, which specializes in rubber goods; and the production of building materials, mainly glass. Noteworthy work is carried out in science, engineering, and planning. Agriculture is oriented toward supplying the urban population with fresh products, including vegetables.
Volga-Viatka. The Volga-Viatka Economic Region encompasses Gorky and Kirov oblasts, the Mari ASSR, the Mordovian ASSR, and the Chuvash ASSR. Industry and lumbering are more highly developed than is agriculture. Of particular importance are machine building, especially the manufacture of motor vehicles, and the chemical industry.
Central Chernozem. The Central Chernozem Economic Region comprises Belgorod, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, and Tambov oblasts. Its economy, whose leading branches traditionally have been agriculture and food processing, has a rapidly developing mining industry, which is based on the reserves of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly. Also of growing importance are ferrous metallurgy, various types of machine building that use large quantities of metal, and the building-materials industry.
Volga. The Volga Economic Region consists of Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kuibyshev, Penza, Saratov, and Ul’ianov oblasts, the Bashkir ASSR, the Kalmyk ASSR, and the Tatar ASSR. It is notable for petroleum production and refining and has a substantial petrochemical industry. Machine building, primarily the manufacture of motor vehicles, is highly developed. The production of building materials is also of national importance. Agriculture is dominated by the cultivation of wheat, oil-bearing crops, melons, vegetables, and meat.
Northern Caucasus. The Northern Caucasus Economic Region is made up of Krasnodar and Stavropol’ krais, Rostov Oblast, the Dagestan ASSR, the Kabarda-Balkar ASSR, the Severnaia Osetiia ASSR, and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Its agriculture is of national importance. One of the principal grain suppliers of the country, the region grows oil-bearing crops; animal husbandry is dominated by livestock raising for meat and by sheep raising. Notable industries include the food-processing industry, agricultural machine building, nonferrous metallurgy, and cement production. The region’s health resorts and seaports are of national importance.
Ural. The Ural Economic Region consists of Kurgan, Orenburg, Perm’, Sverdlovsk, and Cheliabinsk oblasts and the Udmurt ASSR. Industry is more highly developed than agriculture. The leading branches of industry are ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy and machine building, particularly heavy machine building, power engineering machine building, transportation machine building, and agricultural machine building. The chemical industry, logging, and extraction of natural gas are of national importance.
Western Siberian. The Western Siberian Economic Region encompasses Altai Krai and Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, and Tiumen’ oblasts. It is notable primarily for its reserves of petroleum, natural gas, and hard coal. Well developed are the fuel industry, ferrous metallurgy, and the chemical, lumber, and wood-products industries. The region is one of the principal sources of grain of the USSR.
Eastern Siberian. The Eastern Siberian Economic Region is formed by Krasnoiarsk Krai, Irkutsk and Chita oblasts, the Buriat ASSR, and the Tuva ASSR. Of particular importance are its hydroelectric power resources and its reserves of timber and minerals. The region’s mining industry plays a leading role in its economy. Also of significance are the electric power industry, nonferrous metallurgy, and the lumber, wood-products, pulp and paper, and chemical industries. Agriculture is poorly developed.
Far East. The Far East Economic Region comprises Primor’e and Khabarovsk krais, Amur, Kamchatka, Magadan, and Sakhalin oblasts, and the Yakut ASSR. The leading branches of the economy are mining, the lumber, wood-products, pulp and paper, and fishing industries, and the manufacture of building materials.
Donets-Dnieper. The Donets-Dnieper Economic Region consists of Voroshilovgrad, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporozh’e, Kirovograd, Poltava, Sumy, and Kharkov oblasts. Its industry and agriculture are highly developed. Of national importance are the fuel industry (primarily coal mining), metallurgy (particularly ferrous metallurgy), machine building (mainly heavy and transportation machine building), and the chemical industry. Agriculture is dominated by the cultivation of grains, sugar beets, and oil-bearing crops and by the raising of livestock for meat.
Southwestern. The Southwestern Economic Region encompasses Vinnitsa, Volyn’, Zhitomir, Transcarpathian, Ivano-Frankovsk, Kiev, L’vov, Rovno, Ternopol’, Khmel’nitskii, Cherkassy, Chernovtsy, and Chernigov oblasts. It has a highly developed agriculture, which provides a large part of the national output of sugar. Of particular importance are the food-processing, mining, machine-building, and chemical industries.
Southern. The Southern Economic Region is formed by Crimean, Nikolaev, Odessa, and Kherson oblasts. Industries of national importance are machine building (primarily shipbuilding) and food processing. There is a diversified agriculture. Health resorts and seaports are located in the region.
Byelorussian. Industry and agriculture in the Byelorussian Economic Region are highly developed. In the national division of labor the region is notable for machine building (primarily the manufacture of motor vehicles, agricultural machinery, and machine tools), the chemical industry (especially fertilizer production), and agricultural production (principally flax and potatoes).
Baltic. The Baltic Economic Region consists of the Lithuanian SSR, the Latvian SSR, the Estonian SSR, and Kaliningrad Oblast, RSFSR. Its well-developed industry specializes in the manufacture of products of high technological complexity. Machine building is particularly advanced; its electrical engineering and machine tool branches are of national importance. Light industry and the food-processing industry, especially fishing, have undergone considerable development. Agriculture is dominated by livestock raising for dairy products. The region’s health resorts and ports are of national importance.
Transcaucasian. The Transcaucasian Economic Region comprises the Georgian SSR, Armenian SSR, and Azerbaijan SSR. It is known throughout the country for its subtropical crops. Well developed are mining, the fuel industry, metallurgy, food processing, machine building, and the chemical industry. The region is a leading health resort area.
Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan Economic Region’s principal contributions to the national division of labor are in nonferrous and ferrous metallurgy and the fuel industry (especially coal). A machine-building industry is being developed. The region is an important source of grain for the country and one of the principal sheep-raising areas.
Middle Asian. The Middle Asian Economic Region consists of the Uzbek SSR, Tadzhik SSR, Kirghiz SSR, and Turkmen SSR. Its economy combines industry with highly developed agriculture. The principal industries, which are based on local resources, are the extraction of natural gas, nonferrous metallurgy, and the chemical, textile, and food-processing industries. Agriculture specializes in sheep raising and cotton cultivation; the region accounts for most of the country’s cotton output.
Territorial production complexes. Every large economic region is basically a territorial-production complex (TPC) of the highest order. In order to resolve specific economic problems, second-order TPC’s (subregions) and third-order TPC’s (industrial complexes) may be included within its composition.
Basic Trends in the Development of the National Economy of the USSR Between 1976 and 1980, which was approved by the Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU (1976), provides for the development of existing TPC’s and industrial complexes and the creation of new ones. Among the most important TPC’s in the European USSR are the Timan-Pechora TPC, which is based on the use of the petroleum and natural-gas resources of the northern part of the European USSR; the TPC in the zone of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, which is based on the region’s unique iron-ore deposits; and the Orenburg TPC, which is based on the gas-condensate deposits in the Southern Urals. The principal TPC’s in the Asiatic part of the USSR are the Western Siberian TPC, which is based on the petroleum, natural-gas, and timber reserves of the Western Siberian Lowland; the Saian TPC, which is centered on the Saian-Shushenskaia Hydroelectric Power Plant; the Southern Yakut TPC, which is based on deposits of coking coals; the Bratsk-Ust’-Ilimsk TPC, which is based on the hydropower resources of the Angara River and the timber riches of the Angara Region; the Pavlodar-Ekibastuz TPC, which is centered on the Ekibastuz Coal Basin; and the Southern Tadzhik TPC, which is based on a series of hydroelectric power plants on the Vakhsh River.
IU. N. PALEEV
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