Expert board:

• Scientific Council of RAS on economic history;
• Research and Educational Center «The economic history of Central Russia and the Middle Volga region» of Ogarev Mordovia State University;
• Center of Economic History of  Lomonosov Moscow State University

Certificate of registration

ISSN 2409-630X (Print), ISSN 2618-916X (Online)

DOI: 10.24412/2409-630X.067.020.202404.317-330

Ivan V. Zykin

Institute of History and Archaeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin (Ekaterinburg, Russia),

e-mail: zivverh@mail.ru

 

Regional Timber Industry Complexes of the Soviet Union during the First Five-Year Plans: Models and Roles

 

Abstract

Introduction. In the Soviet industrialization project of the late 1920s–early 1940s, the development of the forest industry was based on the development of large forests in the northern and eastern regions, the development of integrated forest management, satisfaction of domestic needs and exports in wood.

Materials and Methods. The topic of the formation of regional timber industry complexes has not been studied enough. On the basis of archival materials, five-year plans, statistics, based on the methodology of the resource model of modernization, the idea and results of the development of the timber industry complexes of the European North, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East are analyzed. The characteristics of models of regional timber industry complexes are substantiated.

Results. Railway construction and the construction of factories have become important factors in meeting domestic needs and exporting timber, achieving the integrated use of forest resources. The first five-year plans envisioned the development of the fields of mechanical processing and deep processing of wood in a short period of time. The European North and the Far East focused more on the export of forest resources and materials, while the Urals and Siberia focused on meeting domestic needs. The models of regional timber industry complexes were adjusted due to a lack of funding, the priority of harvesting and exporting wood for the highest party and state bodies, and a reduction in forest exports as industrialization tasks were completed.

Discussion and Conclusion. During the first five-year plans, it was not possible to achieve an integrated nature of forest management in the northern and eastern regions of the country, as well as significantly increase exports of products of mechanical processing and deep processing of wood. Large pulp and paper enterprises began to operate in the European North and the Urals, embodying the semi-combined nature of regional timber industry complexes. In Siberia, the Far East, and the Komi oblast, forest management was of a raw material nature. At the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, due to a decrease in timber exports, enterprises in the northern and eastern regions switched to meeting the domestic needs of the country.

Keywords: industrialization, the first five-year plans, the forestry industry, regional timber industry complexes, integrated use of wood, export.

For citation: Ivan V. Zykin. Regional Timber Industry Complexes of the Soviet Union during the First Five-Year Plans: Models and Roles. Economicheskaya istoriya = Russian Journal of Economic History. 2024; 20(4): 317–330. (In Russ.)  DOI: 10.24412/2409-630X.067.020.202404.317-330.

 

Download article in PDF