УДК 94(470)«1938/1941»:930,049.32

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-4-1273-1279

Elena V. Bodrova

MIREA - Russian Technological University, Moscow, Russian Federation

Vyacheslav V. Kalinov

I. M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (National Research University), Moscow, Russian Federation

Leading Oil Industry Experts of Soviet Russia on the Results of “Rationalization” in the 1920s and Its Crucial Factors

Abstract

The article analyzes the content of the leading experts’ discussions on the outcome of restoration and technical re-equipment of oil industry in the 1920s. The study is based on key principles of historical knowledge: historicism, consistency, and objectivity, which allows the authors to avoid ideological implications when analyzing sources and to determine the backbone of the experts’ disagreement on optimal strategy for oil industry development. So far, the modern historiography hasn’t given a full picture of conceptual approaches to this problem that emerged among leading oil industry workers. The article is to study major assessments of the industry recovery and its proposed strategies and nature of contradiction. It draws on discussion in the Scientific and Technical Council of the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy and on main conclusions set forth in A.P. Serebrovsky’s book and memorandum. It uses documents from the Russian State Archive of Economics and the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (personal provenance fond of G. K. Ordzhonikidze). The theory of modernization is judged an adequate concept contributing to the elucidation of the topic. The study of archival and other materials allows the authors not only to evaluate colossal efforts made during the “rationalization” in the days of new economic policy, but also to show its significance for national economy development in the context of modernization processes. The studied documents make it possible, for instance, to determine how oil workers’ heated discussions in summarizing and identifying key factors of success arose from the need to form a development strategy for the oil industry and to reorganize its management. Analysis of various points of view shows that leading experts mostly recognized great importance of technical revolution, nationalization, and increasing centralization in the oil industry, which became a significant source for and a component of industrialization

Keywords

Archive, sources, Supreme Soviet of the National Economy, Russian State Archive of Economics, Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, technical re-equipment, oil industry of Soviet Russia, rationalization.

Download the article: bodrova_kalinov_doi

References

ALEKHEROV, V. Yu. Neft’ Rossii. Proshloe, nastoyashchee i budushchee [Russian oil: Past, present, and future. In Russ.]. Moscow, Kreativnaya ekonomika publ., 2011, 488 р.

BODROVA, E. V., KRASIVKAYA, V. N. K voprosu o prichinakh toplivnogo krizisa v Rossiiskoi imperii v nachale XX veka [On the causes of fuel crisis in the Russian Empire in early 20th century. In Russ.]. IN: Tonkie khimicheskie tekhnologii, 2017, no. 12 (6), рp. 98-107.

GINSBURG, A. M. Problema kapitala v sovetskoi promyshlennosti [The problem of capital in Soviet industry. In Russ.]. Moscow, Ekonomicheskaya zhizn' publ., 1925, рp. 60–61.

EVDOSHENKO, Yu. V. Neizvestnoe “Neftyanoe khozyaistvo”. Ocherki po istorii neftyanoi promyshlennosti SSSR i otraslevogo nauchno-tekhnicheskogo zhurnala. [“Unknown Oil economy”: Essays on the history of oil industry of the USSR and industry-specific scientific and technical magazine. In Russ.]. Moscow, Neftyanoe khozyaistvo publ., 2010, 344 р.

IGOLKIN, A. A. Sovetskaya neftyanaya promyshlennost' v 1921-1928 godakh [Soviet oil industry in 1921-28. In Russ.]. Moscow, RGGU publ., 1999, 183 p.

About authors

Bodrova Elena Vladimirovna, PhD in History, professor, MIREA - Russian Technological University, Institute of Economics and Law, department of history, head of the department, Moscow, Russian Federation, +7-915-227-42-04, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kalinov Vyacheslav Viktorovich, PhD in History, associate professor, I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, faculty of education in the humanities, department of history, head of the department, Moscow, Russian Federation, +7-915-227-42-04, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submitted 3.02.2020 , published (for citation):

BODROVA, E. V., Kalinov, V. V. Vedushchie spetsialisty neftyanoi otrasli sovetskoi Rossii ob itogakh protsessa “ratsionalizatsii” v 1920-e gg. i faktorakh, ee opredelivshikh [Leading Oil Industry Experts of Soviet Russia on the Results of “Rationalization” in the 1920s and Its Crucial Factors. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2020, no. 4, pp. 1095-1106. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2020-4-1095-1106