Stalin's MEGA projects that were curtailed after his assassination

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In 2010, there was an active talk in our country about the need for de-Stalinization. This was also discussed in the immediate circle of the then president of the country. Dmitry Medvedev … But it should be noted that this was not the first de-Stalinization. The first de-Stalinization began in March 1953.

The generally accepted view is that Stalin's killers only saved their own skins, fought for their positions, etc. But if this were so, if they generally shared the leader's views on the future of our country, then the feverish changes that took place in the first few months after his death would not have begun.

Rejection of the Stalinist testament to develop the theory of social development

The question of finding the theoretical foundations for the further development of Soviet society and the state always worried Stalin. After the 19th Party Congress, held in October 1952, three independent departments appeared in the Central Committee apparatus: philosophy and history, economics and law, natural and technical sciences. Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee became the head of the department of philosophy and history DI. Chesnokov, who at the same time was the editor-in-chief of the "Kommunist" magazine. The Department of Economics was headed by a member of the Central Committee A. M. Rumyantsev … Stalin set before them the task of revitalizing theoretical work in the party, providing an analysis of new processes and phenomena in the world. DI. Chesnokov recalled what Stalin said then: " Without a theory, we have death, death, death!.."

Somewhat earlier, in 1951, Stalin said D. T. Shepilov, to the head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department: “We are now thinking of holding very large economic events. Rebuilding our economy on a truly scientific basis. we will train our cadres, our people, our business executives, leaders of the economy on the basis of science, or we will perish. That is how the question is posed by history."

Stalin looked deep, but immediately after Stalin's death, talk about the development of a scientific theory stopped. All those people who were introduced by him to the governing bodies of the party and state to resolve this issue were transferred to secondary and tertiary positions, and instead of searching for new theoretical foundations for the country's development, a dogmatic repetition of the foundations of Marxism-Leninism began. Thus, one mistake or deliberate actions to renounce the Stalinist covenant led to serious problems in the most important sphere - ideological.

Abolition of Courts of Honor

Courts of honor were introduced in March 1947 by the Decree of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). According to this Resolution, special bodies were created in the ministries and central departments, which were supposed to consider issues related to antipatriotic, anti-state and anti-social actions committed by leading, operational and scientific workers of the USSR ministries and central departments, - if these actions were not subject to criminal punishment. The decree required, first of all, within two weeks to organize Courts of Honor in the Ministries of Health, Trade and Finance. In 1947 alone, 82 Courts of Honor were held.

These courts primarily fought against manifestations of cosmopolitanism and servility before the bourgeois culture of the West, which was quite common among the intelligentsia and was reflected in the fable written in those years Sergei Mikhalkov:

We know there are still families

Where our hayut and scold, Where they look with affection

On foreign stickers …

And lard … they eat Russian!

It should be noted that the Courts of Honor did not concern ordinary citizens of our country, they did not even concern workers at the regional level. It was only about the ministries of the Union level and central departments. From 1947 to 1953, Courts of Honor were held several times, but after Stalin's death were forgotten.

Termination of the construction of the Transpolar Highway

Already on March 25, 1953, a special Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was adopted to stop the construction and conservation of the Transpolar Mainline. What was this highway? After the end of World War II, in the face of the growing military threat from the United States, the top military-political leadership of our state decided to build a naval base in Igarka on the Yenisei. It was planned to build a railway to Igarka in order to connect the central regions of the country with the Yenisei. The road was to pass from the pre-Ural station Chum to Salekhard, then to Ermakovo and Igarka. In the future, construction could continue from Igarka to Dudinka. There was already a railway from Dudinka to Norilsk.

Construction began in 1947. More than 80 thousand people were involved in it, about a third of them were special contingents, the rest were civilians. The work was carried out in difficult conditions, but in five years the road was practically completed. Telegraph communication was established between the northern territories of the country and Moscow. Trains were running, only on a small section between Pur and Novy Urengoy the road had not yet been put into operation.

After Stalin's death, it was decided to mothball the road … But when the calculations were made, it turned out that the road maintenance would cost about the same as already spent, and then the road was simply abandoned. We have lost billions of rubles and hopes for a quick and effective development of the North.

Already in the 1970s, for the construction of Nadym and Novy Urengoy, both workers and houses for shift workers had to be dropped by helicopters. Then they bring in concrete slabs, make runways for airplanes, and then bring parts of a house-building plant on airplanes, assemble this plant, then cast concrete slabs on site, build houses, etc. Accordingly, the facilities in these cities of oil workers cost us tens of billions of gold rubles. And if the Transpolar Mainline functioned, we could get all this at a much lower cost.

The road was abandoned, but this topic has not been forgotten. They started talking about the need to restore the Transpolar Railway in the early 2000s. In 2003, the resumption of construction was even announced, but then it was postponed for ten years, to 2013.

In 2018, during the election campaign V. V. Putin They returned to this topic and said that the road will be built in any case: we are gaining sovereignty, the country is recovering, the economy is growing, and we need the Transpolar Road, despite the fact that even today, after seventy years, the prospects of building this road frighten our Western "partners".

Termination of construction of the tunnel passage to Sakhalin

The tunnel passage to Sakhalin was necessary, first of all, to move a significant military group to the island in the event of a threat on the Far Eastern borders of our Fatherland. The ferry crossing did not allow quickly transferring a significant group, and there were no roomy cargo planes at that time. Also, the construction of a bridge or tunnel ensured the effective inclusion of the island in the national economic complex.

The cost of building the bridge was comparable to that of building a tunnel, and the stake was on a tunnel. In the spring of 1950, a decision was made to build, according to which it was planned to build 540 km of the railway and make a ten-kilometer tunnel passage from Cape Lazarev to Cape Pogibi. By March 1953, a part of the railway line 120 kilometers long was laid on the mainland, the shaft of a mine was dug, dams were filled up, piers were built, etc.

On March 21, 1953, construction was stopped. In fact, stopping the construction of the tunnel played into the hands of those who did not want to strengthen the USSR in the Far East, who dreamed of a different architecture of international relations and a different alignment of forces.

The topic of a tunnel or a bridge to Sakhalin is still relevant today. This issue is being discussed at the highest level, at the level of the country's president. The cost of work is unusually high in our time, and it is difficult to make a political decision. But then, in 1950, the country's top political leadership, on the initiative of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, made such a decision.

The collapse of the Stalinist plan for the transformation of nature

In October 1948, the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) "On the plan of field-protective afforestation, the introduction of grass crop rotations, the construction of ponds and reservoirs to ensure high sustainable yields in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of the European part of the USSR" was adopted. In the press, this plan immediately began to be called " Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature".

A comprehensive program for the scientific regulation of nature assumed that in 15 years 120 million hectares of land would be reclaimed from the steppe zone and included in agricultural circulation, more than four million hectares of forest were planted and state shelter belts over five thousand kilometers long were created. These strips were supposed to protect the fields from the hot southeastern dry winds.

In addition to the main state forest belts, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, forest belts of local importance were planted: around individual fields, along the slopes of ravines, along old and new water bodies, on sands, etc.

In accordance with the plan, the methods of processing the fields were improved, black fallow, autumn plowing and stubble plowing were introduced. The system of application of mineral and organic fertilizers was improved, and selected seeds of high-yielding varieties adapted to local conditions were sown. Investments in agriculture increased, collective and state farms received new equipment.

All this made it possible to obtain high yields in the very first year of the implementation of the Stalinist plan: grain yields increased by up to 30%, vegetables - up to 70%, herbs - up to 200%. A solid forage base was created for the development of animal husbandry. Machine-tractor stations played a significant role in the implementation of the plan.

With such a growth rate in agriculture, we could completely cover the domestic demand for food by 1960 and reach an increase in exports. But in 1953, the implementation of the plan was terminated, moreover, the planting of forests began to be cut down, 570 forest protection stations were closed.

All the equipment that was used in accordance with Stalin's plan for transforming nature: cars, tractors, combines, etc., was transferred to the virgin lands. Soon, on the initiative of Khrushchev, machine and tractor stations were also closed.

The issue of food security of our state has not yet been resolved. Will it be Putin's plan for transforming nature or something else - time will tell, but we need such a project.

Termination of annual price reductions and liquidation of individual entrepreneurship

Under Stalin, natural indicators were the main in the economy: tons, meters, etc. Target figures were set for each type of product in accordance with the plan. This made it possible to restore the country's economy, destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, to carry out a rearmament program, to solve major infrastructure problems and, starting in 1947, reduce prices annually.

After Stalin's death, enterprises began to report at the cost of manufactured products, as a result, the very possibility of lowering prices has disappeared from us.

Under Stalin, the country had a developed artisan production, which employed almost six million people. Individual entrepreneurship was encouraged: the cost of a patent was affordable and was a kind of tax on imputed income. Individual craftsmen and artels produced clothes, shoes, furniture, toys, household appliances, gramophones, etc.

Under Khrushchev, production artels were destroyed, more than 140 thousand enterprises were closed. In the short term, this led to a shortage of products, and for many types of products - to a shortage of goods

Allowing abortion

On the initiative of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin in 1936, a special Resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was adopted On the prohibition of abortions, increasing material assistance to women in childbirth, establishing state aid for multi-family ones, expanding the network of maternity hospitals, nurseries and kindergartens, increasing criminal punishment for non-payment of alimony and some changes in the legislation on divorce".

Thanks to this set of measures, we had already restored the pre-war population of the country by 1953.

The law banning abortions was in effect in the Soviet Union until November 23, 1955, when by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the production of artificial termination of pregnancy was allowed. As a result, our country has lost tens of millions of unborn fellow citizens.

Scrapping plans to create a dollar-free international trade area

In April 1952, at the initiative of the Soviet Union, an International Economic Conference was held in Moscow, in which representatives of 49 countries took part. The participating countries agreed on the creation of a large format block and dollar-free trading zone.

During the work of the Moscow meeting, more than 40 trade and scientific and technical agreements were signed for a period of three to five years, which provided for the expansion of trade operations by the Soviet Union with the countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa.

In February 1953, a few days before Stalin's death, in the capital of the Philippines, Manila, on the initiative of the USSR, a meeting was held on the creation of a zone of dollar-free ruble trade for the countries of Asia and Oceania. Similar regional meetings were planned for 1953 in Buenos Aires and Addis Ababa.

Stalin regularly requested trade figures and was interested in foreign economic issues. At a meeting with the Ambassador of Argentina Leopoldo Bravo, which took place on February 7, 1953, Stalin asked what Argentina would like to buy, how many tractors, agricultural machinery, and other products would be needed for the development of the economy of the South American country. The ambassador replied that Argentina would like to buy equipment for the oil industry, agricultural machinery and much more from the Soviet Union.

At this meeting, Stalin noted that Anglo-Saxons are accustomed to sitting on strangers' necks and that this policy must end!

All this suggests that the Soviet Union was ready to create its own international market - ruble, not dollar. After Stalin's death, this economic and, of course, strategic project was forgotten.

Unrealized large projects, as well as industrialization, collectivization and restoration of the national economy after the war, implemented in the Stalin era, show that the development of our state, based on its natural and climatic conditions and scale, is possible only through state mobilization projects. Not only enterprises gather around these projects, the spirit of the people itself is mobilized around them.