Large construction projects in the USSR. Komsomol construction projects in the USSR

The great construction projects of communism - this is what all the global projects of the Soviet government were called: highways, canals, stations, reservoirs.
One can argue about the degree of their “greatness,” but there is no doubt that they were grandiose projects of their time.

"Magnitka"

The largest Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works in Russia was designed in the late spring of 1925 by the Soviet institute UralGipromez. According to another version, the design was carried out by an American company from Clinwood, and the prototype of Magnitogorsk was the US Steel plant in Gary, Indiana. All three “heroes” who were at the helm of the construction of the plant - manager Gugel, builder Maryasin and head of the trust Valerius - were shot in the 30s. January 31, 1932 - the first blast furnace was launched. The construction of the plant took place in the most difficult conditions, with most of the work carried out manually. Despite this, thousands of people from all over the Union rushed to Magnitogorsk. Foreign specialists, primarily Americans, were also actively involved.

White Sea Canal

The White Sea-Baltic Canal was supposed to connect the White Sea and Lake Onega and provide access to the Baltic Sea and the Volga-Baltic Waterway. The canal was built by Gulag prisoners in record time - less than two years (1931-1933). The length of the canal is 227 kilometers. This was the first construction in the Soviet Union carried out exclusively by prisoners, which may be why the White Sea Canal is not always considered one of the “great construction projects of communism.” Each builder of the White Sea Canal was called a “prisoner of the canal army” or abbreviated as “ze-ka”, which is where the slang word “zek” came from. Propaganda posters of that time read: “Hard work will melt away your sentence!” Indeed, many of those who reached the end of construction alive had their deadlines reduced. On average, mortality reached 700 people per day. “Hot work” also influenced nutrition: the more work the “ze-ka” produced, the more impressive the “ration” he received. Standard - 500 gr. bread and seaweed soup.

Baikal-Amur Mainline

One of the largest railways in the world was built with huge interruptions, starting in 1938 and ending in 1984. The most difficult section - the North Musky Tunnel - was put into permanent operation only in 2003. The initiator of the construction was Stalin. Songs were written about BAM, laudatory articles were published in newspapers, films were made. The construction was positioned as a feat of youth and, naturally, no one knew that prisoners who survived the construction of the White Sea Canal were sent to the construction site in 1934. In the 1950s, about 50 thousand prisoners worked at BAM. Every meter of BAM costs one human life.

Volga-Don Canal

An attempt to connect the Don and Volga was made by Peter the Great in 1696. In the 30s of the last century, a construction project was created, but the war prevented its implementation. Work resumed in 1943 immediately after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. However, the start date of construction should still be considered 1948, when the first excavation work began. In addition to volunteers and military builders, 236 thousand prisoners and 100 thousand prisoners of war took part in the construction of the canal route and its structures. In journalism you can find descriptions of the most terrible conditions in which prisoners lived. Dirty and lousy from the lack of opportunity to wash regularly (there was one bathhouse for everyone), half-starved and sick - this is what the “builders of communism”, deprived of civil rights, actually looked like. The canal was built in 4.5 years - and this is a unique period in the world history of the construction of hydraulic structures.

Nature Transformation Plan

The plan was adopted on the initiative of Stalin in 1948 after the drought and raging famine of 46-47. The plan included the creation of forest belts that were supposed to block the path of hot southeast winds - dry winds, which would allow climate change. The forest belts were planned to be placed on an area of ​​120 million hectares - that is the amount occupied by England, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Belgium combined. The plan also included the construction of an irrigation system, during the implementation of which 4 thousand reservoirs appeared. The project was planned to be completed before 1965. More than 4 million hectares of forest were planted, and the total length of forest belts was 5,300 km. The state solved the country's food problem, and part of the bread began to be exported. After Stalin's death in 1953, the program was curtailed, and in 1962 the USSR was again rocked by a food crisis - bread and flour disappeared from the shelves, and shortages of sugar and butter began.

Volzhskaya HPP

Construction of the largest hydroelectric power station in Europe began in the summer of 1953. Next to the construction site, in the tradition of that time, the Gulag was deployed - the Akhtubinsky ITL, where more than 25 thousand prisoners worked. They were engaged in laying roads, laying power lines and general preparatory work. Naturally, they were not allowed to directly work on the construction of the hydroelectric power station. Sappers also worked at the site, who were engaged in demining the site for future construction and the bottom of the Volga - the proximity to Stalingrad made itself felt. About 40 thousand people and 19 thousand various mechanisms and machines worked at the construction site. In 1961, having turned from the “Stalingrad Hydroelectric Power Station” into the “Volzhskaya Hydroelectric Power Station named after the 21st Congress of the CPSU,” the station was put into operation. It was solemnly opened by Khrushchev himself. The hydroelectric power station was a gift for the 21st Congress, at which Nikita Sergeevich, by the way, announced his intention to build communism by 1980.

Bratsk hydroelectric power station

The construction of a hydroelectric power station began in 1954 on the Angara River. The small village of Bratsk soon grew into a large city. The construction of the hydroelectric power station was positioned as a shock Komsomol construction project. Hundreds of thousands of Komsomol members from all over the Union came to explore Siberia. Until 1971, the Bratsk hydroelectric power station was the largest in the world, and the Bratsk reservoir became the world's largest artificial reservoir. When it was filled, about 100 villages were flooded. Valentin Rasputin’s poignant work “Farewell to Matera” is in particular dedicated to the tragedy of the “Angarsk Atlantis”.

Komsomol construction sites in the USSR,

1) one of the ways to organize construction and redistribute labor in the national economy.

2) National economic facilities, the construction of which was assumed by the Komsomol. They also had ideological significance: they were supposed to serve as an example of a communist attitude towards work. The status of Komsomol construction was given to construction projects to ensure timely and high-quality completion of their construction at the lowest cost. The most significant national economic objects received the status of All-Union Komsomol shock construction projects. They were located mainly in hard-to-reach and sparsely populated areas. The list of Komsomol construction projects was approved by the Bureau of the Komsomol Central Committee on the basis of proposals from party, trade union and Komsomol bodies, ministries and departments and in agreement with the State Planning Committee of the USSR and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. Komsomol construction sites were staffed with labor through the so-called public appeals of youth and military personnel being transferred to the reserve, carried out by the Komsomol Central Committee, as well as through temporary voluntary Komsomol youth construction teams. Komsomol construction sites practiced their own methods of labor organization. Komsomol headquarters operated (worked under the leadership of the Komsomol construction committee), which included young workers, foremen and specialists, representatives of economic and trade union bodies, Komsomol activists of installation and specialized organizations, subcontracting units. The headquarters, together with trade union organizations, held a competition among Komsomol youth groups. “Komsomol searchlight” posts were created in brigades and at construction sites to fight for strengthening labor discipline, saving construction materials, and efficient use of equipment. A “Chronicle of Shock Construction” was kept, in which the names of young workers and specialists, Komsomol and youth groups who made a significant contribution to the implementation of construction plans were entered.

The first Komsomol construction project was the construction of the Volkhov hydroelectric power station. In the 1920-30s, Selmashstroy (Rostov-on-Don), Tractorostroy (Stalingrad), Uralmashstroy, the construction of the Ural-Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the first stage of the Moscow Metro, the Akmolinsk-Kartaly railway were declared Komsomol construction projects , development of oil fields in the Volga-Ural oil and gas province, etc. In the 1950-70s, the All-Union Komsomol shock construction projects included the construction of the Bratsk, Dneprodzerzhinsk, Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power stations, nuclear power plants, the Ufa-Omsk, Omsk-Irkutsk oil pipeline, and the Bukhara-Ural gas pipelines. , Saratov - Gorky, the Abakan - Taishet railway line, the Baikal-Amur railway, the first stages of a number of plants (Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and Pavlodar aluminum, Angarsk and Omsk oil refineries, West Siberian and Karaganda metallurgical), etc. All-Union Komsomol shock construction projects in 1959 114 industrial and transport enterprises were built in the year (154 in 1962, 135 in 1982, 63 in 1987). The principles of labor organization adopted at Komsomol construction sites were also applied during the development of virgin lands in Kazakhstan, Altai, and the Novosibirsk region. In connection with the dissolution of the Komsomol in September 1991, the organization of Komsomol construction projects ceased.

V. K. Krivoruchenko.

At the very top of the CPSU Central Committee they knew how and loved to build grandiose plans for the future. Large-scale and easily implementable ideas on paper were supposed to provide the country with superiority in all areas over everything and everyone in the world. Let's look at some of the ambitious Soviet projects that never came to fruition.

The idea of ​​this project, which was supposed to literally elevate the USSR above the whole world, was born in the early 1930s. Its essence boiled down to the construction of a skyscraper 420 meters high with a giant statue of Vladimir Lenin on the roof.
The building, which was named the Palace of the Soviets even before construction began, was to become the tallest in the world, surpassing even the famous skyscrapers of New York. This is how they imagined the future giant in the party leadership. It was planned that in good weather the Palace of the Soviets would be visible from a distance of several tens of kilometers.

They chose a wonderful place for the construction of the future symbol of communism - a hill on Volkhonka. The fact that the location had long been occupied by the Cathedral of Christ the Savior did not bother anyone. They decided to demolish the cathedral.

They say that Stalin's associate Lazar Kaganovich, watching the explosion of the temple from a hill through binoculars, said: “Let's pull up the hem of Mother Rus'!”

Construction of the main building of the USSR began in 1932 and continued until the start of the war.

Construction of the basement During this time, we managed to completely settle accounts with the foundation and begin work on the entrance. Alas, the matter did not progress further than this: the war made its own adjustments, and the country’s leadership was forced to abandon the image idea of ​​​​providing the people with a high-rise building. Moreover, what had already been built began to be dismantled and used for military needs, for example, to create anti-tank hedgehogs.

In the 50s, they returned to the “palace” theme and even almost started work, but at the last moment they refused and decided to build a huge swimming pool on the site of the failed high-rise building.

However, this object was later abandoned - in the mid-90s the pool was liquidated, and in its place a new Cathedral of Christ the Savior was erected.

Perhaps the only thing today that reminds us of the once grandiose plans of the authorities to create the Palace of the Soviets is the gas station on Volkhonka, often called “Kremlevskaya”. It was supposed to become part of the complex's infrastructure.

Now look at what the capital could look like if the leadership of the Union had been able to implement plans to erect a “symbol of communism.”

“Construction No. 506” - Sakhalin Tunnel

Not all construction projects of the Stalin era were of an image nature. Some were launched for the sake of a practical component, which, however, did not make them any less grandiose and impressive. A striking example is the colossal construction project on Sakhalin, which started in 1950. The idea of ​​the project was to connect the island with the mainland through an underground 10-kilometer tunnel. The party allocated 5 years for all the work.

As usual, the work of constructing the tunnel fell on the shoulders of the Gulag.

Construction stopped in 1953 almost immediately after Stalin's death.
In three years of work, they managed to build railway lines to the tunnel (about 120 km of railway track in the Khabarovsk Territory), which were subsequently used for the removal of wood, dug a mine shaft, and also created an artificial island on Cape Lazarev. Here he is.

Today, only infrastructure parts scattered along the shore and a technical shaft, half filled with debris and soil, remind us of the once large-scale construction.

The place is popular among tourists - lovers of abandoned places with history.

"Battle Mole" - secret underground boats

The construction of skyscrapers and other structures that amaze the average person is not the only thing the Soviet budget was spent on in an effort to “overtake the competition.” In the early 30s, people in high places came up with the idea of ​​​​developing a vehicle that was often found in the books of science fiction writers - an underground boat.

The first attempt was made by the inventor A. Treblev, who created a boat shaped like a rocket.

Treblev's brainchild moved at a speed of 10 m/h. It was assumed that the mechanism would be controlled by the driver, or (the second option) using a cable from the surface. In the mid-40s, the device was even tested in the Urals near Mount Blagodat.

Unfortunately, during testing the boat proved to be not very reliable, so they decided to temporarily cancel the project.

The iron mole was remembered again in the 60s: Nikita Khrushchev really liked the idea of ​​“getting the imperialists not only in space, but also underground.” Advanced minds were involved in the work on the new boat: Leningrad professor Babaev and even academician Sakharov. The result of painstaking work was a vehicle with a nuclear reactor, capable of accommodating 5 crew members and carrying a ton of explosives.

The first tests of the boat in the same Urals were successful: the mole covered the allotted path at walking speed. However, it was too early to rejoice: during the second test, the car exploded, killing the entire crew. The mole himself remained immured in the mountain, which he could not overcome.

After Leonid Brezhnev came to power, the underground boat project was canceled.

"Car 2000"

No less sad was the fate of a completely peaceful transport development - the Istra car, also known as the “two-thousander”.

The creation of “the most advanced machine of the Union” began in 1985 in the Department of Design and Experimental Works. The program was called "Car 2000".

Through the efforts of designers and constructors, the result was a truly promising car with a progressive design, ahead of its time.

The car was equipped with a lightweight duralumin body with two doors opening upwards, a 3-cylinder ELKO 3.82.92 T turbodiesel with a power of 68 horsepower. The maximum speed of the car was supposed to be 185 km/h with acceleration to 100 km in 12 seconds.

The most advanced car in the USSR was supposed to have computer-controlled air suspension, ABS, airbags, a projection system that allows instrument readings to be displayed on the windshield, a forward-looking scanner for driving at night, as well as an on-board self-diagnosis system showing malfunctions and possible ways to eliminate them.

Alas, the futuristic Soviet sedan failed to enter the market. During the preparation for the launch, as it happens, minor problems related to the modification and serial production of engines surfaced. Moreover, if the technical issues were completely solvable, then the financial troubles that befell the authors of the project already in 1991 turned out to be critical. After the collapse of the Union, there was no money for implementation, and as a result the project had to be closed. The only example of the “two-thousander” is kept today in Moscow in the museum of retro cars.

Comparing the past and present is necessary to improve the future, while it is advisable not to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors. The USSR was a once mighty superpower that at one time made a significant contribution to the development of society. One of the cornerstones of the life of Soviet citizens was the five-year plan. Based on their results, historians can judge the industrialization of the country, compare the achievements of the past and present, find out how far our generation has come technologically and what else is worth striving for. So, the topic of this article is the five-year plan in the USSR. The table below will help structure the knowledge gained in a logical order.

First Five-Year Plan (1928-1932)

So, it began in the name of building socialism. After the revolution, the country needed industrialization in order to keep up with the leading European powers. In addition, only with the help of an accelerated increase in industrial potential was it possible to unite the country and bring the USSR to a new military level, as well as increase the level of agriculture throughout the vast territory. According to the government, a strict and flawless plan was needed.

Thus, the main goal was to build up military power as quickly as possible.

Main tasks of the first five-year plan

At the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, at the end of 1925, Stalin expressed the idea that it was necessary to transform the USSR from a country importing imported weapons and equipment into a country that could produce all this itself and supply it to other states. Of course, there were people who expressed ardent protest, but it was suppressed by the opinion of the majority. Stalin himself became interested in making the country a leader in the first five-year plan, putting it in first place in metallurgy production. Thus, the industrialization process had to take place in 4 stages:

1. Revival of transport infrastructure.
2. Expansion of economic sectors related to materials extraction and agriculture.
3. Redistribution of state-owned enterprises across the territory.
4. Changes in the operation of the energy complex.

All four processes did not take place one by one, but were intricately intertwined. Thus began the first five-year plan for the industrialization of the country.

It was not possible to bring all the ideas to life, but the production of heavy industry increased almost 3 times, and mechanical engineering - 20 times. Naturally, such a successful completion of the project caused quite natural joy for the government. Of course, the first five-year plans in the USSR were difficult for people. The table with the results of the first of them would contain the following words as a slogan or subtitle: “The main thing is to start!”

It was at this time that many recruitment posters appeared, reflecting the main goal and identity of the Soviet people.

The main construction projects at that time were coal mines in the Donbass and Kuzbass, and the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve the financial independence of the USSR. The most prominent structure is the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station. The year 1932 marked the end of not only the first five-year plan, but also the most important construction project for heavy industry.

The new power is strengthening its status in Europe by leaps and bounds.

Five Year Plan number two (1933-1937)

The Second Five-Year Plan in high circles was called the “Five-Year Plan of Collectivization” or “People’s Education.” It was approved by the VII Congress of the CPSU(b). After heavy industry, the country needed to develop its national economy. It was this area that became the main goal of the second five-year plan.

Main directions of the second five-year plan

The main forces and finances of the government at the beginning of the “five-year collectivization plan” were aimed at the construction of metallurgical plants. The Ural-Kuzbass appeared, the first current of the DneproGES was launched. The country did not lag behind in scientific achievements. Thus, the second five-year plan was marked by the first landing at the North Pole of Papanin’s expedition, and the SP-1 polar station appeared. The metro was actively being built.

At this time, great emphasis was placed on among the workers. The most famous drummer of the Five-Year Plan is Alexei Stakhanov. In 1935, he set a new record, completing the norm of 14 shifts in one shift.

Third Five-Year Plan (1938-1942)

The beginning of the third five-year plan was marked by the slogan: “Catch up and surpass the per capita production of developed countries. The government’s main efforts were aimed at increasing the country’s defense capability, just as in the first five-year plan, because of which the production of consumer goods suffered.

Directions of the Third Five-Year Plan

By the beginning of 1941, almost half (43%) of the country's capital investments went to raising the level of heavy industry. On the eve of the war, fuel and energy bases were rapidly developing in the USSR, the Urals and Siberia. It was necessary for the government to create a “second Baku” - a new oil production area that was supposed to appear between the Volga and the Urals.

Particular attention was paid to tank, aircraft and other factories of this kind. The level of production of ammunition and artillery pieces has increased significantly. However, the USSR's weapons still lagged behind those of the West, in particular the German ones, but there was no rush to release new types of weapons even in the first months of the war.

Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946-1950)

After the war, all countries had to revive their production and economy; the USSR managed to almost completely accomplish this in the late 40s, when the fourth term began. The Five-Year Plan did not imply a build-up of military power, as before, but the revival of what was lost in all spheres of society during the war.

Main achievements of the Fourth Five-Year Plan

Just two years later, the same level of industrial production as pre-war had been achieved, even though the Second and Third Five-Year Plans imposed harsh work standards. In 1950, the main production assets returned to the 1940 level. When the 4th Five-Year Plan ended, industry grew by 41%, and building construction by 141%.

The new Dnieper hydroelectric power station has come into operation again, and all Donbass mines have resumed operation. On this note, the 4th Five-Year Plan ended.

Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951-1955)

During the Fifth Five-Year Plan, atomic weapons became widespread, appeared in Obninsk, and at the beginning of 1953, N.S. Khrushchev took the post of head of state instead of J.V. Stalin.

Main achievements of the fifth five-year plan

Since capital investments in industry doubled, the volume of output also increased (by 71%), in agriculture - by 25%. Soon new metallurgical plants were built - Kavkazsky and Cherepovets. The Tsimlyanskaya and Gorkovskaya hydroelectric power stations made the front page in whole or in part. And at the end of the fifth five-year plan, science heard about atomic and hydrogen bombs.

Finally, the first Omsk oil refinery was built, and the rate of coal production increased significantly. And 12.5 million hectares of new land came into use.

Sixth Five-Year Plan (1956-1960)

More than 2,500 of the largest enterprises came into operation when the sixth five-year plan began. At the end of it, in 1959, a parallel seven-year plan began. The country's national income increased by 50%. Capital investments at this time doubled again, which led to the widespread development of light industry.

The main achievements of the sixth five-year plan

Gross industrial and agricultural output increased by more than 60%. Gorky, Volzhskaya, Kuibyshevskaya were completed, and by the end of the five-year plan, the world's largest worsted plant was built in Ivanovo. Active development of virgin lands began in Kazakhstan. The USSR finally had a nuclear missile shield.

The world's first satellite was launched on October 4, 1957. Heavy industry developed with incredible efforts. However, there were more failures, so the government organized a seven-year plan, including the seventh five-year plan and the last two years of the sixth.

Seventh Five-Year Plan (1961-1965)

As you know, in April 1961, the first man in the world flew into space. This event marked the beginning of the seventh five-year plan. The country's national income continues to grow rapidly, increasing by almost 60% over the next five years. The level of gross industrial output increased by 83%, agriculture - by 15%.

By mid-1965, the USSR had taken a leading position in the mining of coal and iron ore, as well as in the production of cement, and this is not surprising. The country was still actively developing heavy industry and the construction industry, cities were growing before our eyes, and cement was needed for strong buildings.

Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966-1970)

The Five-Year Plan did not imply the production of materials, but the construction of new buildings and factories. Cities continue to expand. L. I. Brezhnev assumes the post of head of state. Over these five years, many metro stations appeared, the West Siberian and Karaganda metallurgical plants, the first VAZ automobile plant (production: 600 thousand cars per year), the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station - the largest station in the world at that time.

Active housing construction solved the problem of deprivation (the echo of the war was still echoing in big cities). At the end of 1969, more than 5 million residents received new apartments. After Yu. A. Gagarin's flight into space, astronomy made a big leap forward, the first lunar rover was created, soil was brought from the Moon, machines reached the surface of Venus.

Ninth Five-Year Plan (1971-1975)

During the Ninth Five-Year Plan, over a thousand industrial enterprises were built, the gross volume of industrial output increased by 45%, and agricultural output by 15%. The automotive industry is actively developing, roads and railways are being repaired. Capital investments exceeded 300 billion rubles per year.

The development of oil and gas wells in Western Siberia led to the construction of many enterprises and the laying of oil pipelines. Since with the advent of a large number of factories the level of the employed population also increased, the “Drummer of the Ninth Five-Year Plan” badge was established (for excellence in labor and production).

Tenth Five-Year Plan (1976-1980)

The active increase in national income and industrial output is beginning to decline. Now the country does not need a huge growth of enterprises, but the stable development of all areas of industry is always necessary.

Oil production came to the fore, so over the course of five years, many oil pipelines were built, stretching throughout Western Siberia, where hundreds of stations deployed their work. The number of working equipment has increased significantly: tractors, combines, trucks.

Eleventh Five-Year Plan (1981-1985)

An extremely turbulent time began for the USSR. Everyone in the government felt the coming of a crisis, for which there were many reasons: internal, external, political and economic. At one time, it was possible to change the structure of power without abandoning socialism, but nothing of this was done. Because of the crisis, people occupying the leading positions of the state were replaced very quickly. Thus, L. I. Brezhnev remained Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee until November 10, 1982, Yu. V. Andropov held this position until February 13, 1984, K. U. Chernenko - until March 10, 1985.

Gas transportation from Western Siberia to Western Europe continues to develop. The Urengoy - Pomary - Uzhgorod oil pipeline, 4,500 km long, was built, crossing the Ural ridge and hundreds of rivers.

Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990)

The last five-year plan for the USSR. During her time, it was planned to implement a long-term economic strategy, but the plans were not destined to come true. At this time, many received the badge of a shock worker of the twelfth five-year plan: collective farmers, workers, enterprise specialists, engineers... It was planned (and partially implemented) to establish light industry production.

Five-Year Plans of the USSR: summary table

So, we have briefly listed all the five-year plans in the USSR. The table presented to your attention will help systematize and summarize the above material. It contains the most important aspects for each plan.

No matter how difficult these plans may be, the results of the five-year plans show the perseverance and courage of the people. Yes, not everything was accomplished. The sixth five-year plan had to be “extended” due to the seven-year plan.

Even though the five-year plans in the USSR were difficult (the table is a direct confirmation of this), the Soviet people steadfastly coped with all the standards and even exceeded the plans. The main slogan of all five-year plans was: “Five-year plan in four years!”

Construction projects in the Soviet Union were large-scale, as were the ambitions of this state. Nevertheless, no one ever thought about human destiny on a large scale in the USSR.

Algemba: About 35,000 people died!

Stalin is traditionally considered the most cruel ruler of the Soviet Union, who violated the behests of Ilyich. It was he who is credited with creating a network of camps (GULAG); it was he who initiated the construction of the White Sea Canal by prisoners. They somehow forget that one of the first construction projects took place under the direct leadership of Lenin. And it is not surprising: all materials related to Algemba - the first attempt of the young Soviet government to acquire its own oil pipeline - were classified for a long time.

In December 1919, Frunze's army captured the Emben oil fields in Northern Kazakhstan. By that time, more than 14 million pounds of oil had accumulated there. This oil could be the salvation for the Soviet republic. On December 24, 1919, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense decided to begin construction of a railway through which oil could be exported from Kazakhstan to the center, and ordered: “Recognize the construction of the Alexandrov Gai-Emba broad-gauge line as an operational task.” The city of Alexandrov Gai, located 300 km from Saratov, was the last railway point. The distance from it to the oil fields was about 500 miles. Most of the route ran through waterless salt marsh steppes. They decided to build the highway at both ends simultaneously and meet on the Ural River near the village of Grebenshchikovo.

Frunze's army was the first to be sent to build the railway (despite his protests). There was no transport, no fuel, or enough food. In the conditions of the waterless steppe there was nowhere to even place soldiers. Endemic illnesses began and developed into an epidemic. The local population was forcibly involved in the construction: about forty-five thousand residents of Saratov and Samara. People almost manually created an embankment along which rails were later to be laid.

In March 1920, the task became even more complicated: it was decided to build a pipeline in parallel with the railway. It was then that the word “Algemba” was heard for the first time (from the first letters of Aleksandrov Gai and the name of the deposit - Emba). There were no pipes, like anything else. The only plant that once produced them has been standing for a long time. The remains were collected from warehouses; at best, they were enough for 15 miles (and it was necessary to lay 500!).

Lenin began to look for an alternative solution. At first it was proposed to produce wooden pipes. The experts just shrugged: firstly, it is impossible to maintain the necessary pressure in them, and secondly, Kazakhstan does not have its own forests, there is nowhere to get wood. Then it was decided to dismantle sections of existing pipelines. The pipes varied greatly in length and diameter, but this did not bother the Bolsheviks. Another thing was confusing: the collected “spare parts” were still not enough even for half the pipeline! However, work continued.

By the end of 1920, construction began to choke. Typhoid killed several hundred people a day. Security was posted along the highway because local residents began to take away the sleepers. The workers generally refused to go to work. Food rations were extremely low (especially in the Kazakh sector).

Lenin demanded to understand the reasons for the sabotage. But there was no trace of any sabotage. Hunger, cold and disease exacted a terrible toll among the builders. In 1921, cholera came to the construction site. Despite the courage of the doctors who voluntarily arrived at Algemba, the mortality rate was appalling. But the worst thing was different: four months after the start of construction of Algemba, already in April 1920, Baku and Grozny were liberated. Emba oil was no longer needed. Thousands of lives sacrificed during construction were in vain.

It was possible even then to stop the pointless activity of laying the Algemba. But Lenin stubbornly insisted on continuing construction, which was incredibly expensive for the state. In 1920, the government allocated a billion rubles in cash for this construction. No one has ever received a full report, but there is an assumption that the funds ended up in foreign accounts. Neither the railway nor the pipeline were built: on October 6, 1921, by Lenin's directive, construction was stopped. A year and a half of Algemba cost thirty-five thousand human lives.

White Sea Canal: 700 deaths a day!

The initiator of the construction of the White Sea Canal was Joseph Stalin. The country needed labor victories and global achievements. And preferably - without extra costs, since the Soviet Union was experiencing an economic crisis. The White Sea Canal was supposed to connect the White Sea with the Baltic Sea and open a passage for ships that previously had to go around the entire Scandinavian Peninsula. The idea of ​​​​creating an artificial passage between the seas was known back in the time of Peter the Great (and the Russians have been using the portage system along the entire length of the future White Sea Canal for a long time). But the way the project was implemented (and Naftaliy Frenkel was appointed head of canal construction) turned out to be so cruel that it forced historians and publicists to look for parallels in slave states.

The total length of the canal is 227 kilometers. On this waterway there are 19 locks (13 of which are two-chamber), 15 dams, 49 dams, 12 spillways. The scale of construction is amazing, especially considering that it was all built in an incredibly short period of time: 20 months and 10 days. For comparison: the 80-kilometer Panama Canal took 28 years to build, and the 160-kilometer Suez Canal took ten.

The White Sea Canal was built from start to finish by prisoners. The convicted designers created drawings and found extraordinary technical solutions (dictated by the lack of machines and materials). Those who did not have an education suitable for design spent day and night digging a canal, waist-deep in liquid mud, urged on not only by supervisors, but also by members of their team: those who did not fulfill the quota had their already meager ration reduced. There was only one way: into concrete (those who died on the White Sea Canal were not buried, but were simply poured haphazardly into holes, which were then filled with concrete and served as the bottom of the canal).

The main tools for construction were a wheelbarrow, a sledgehammer, a shovel, an ax and a wooden crane for moving boulders. Prisoners, unable to withstand the unbearable conditions of detention and backbreaking work, died in the hundreds. At times, deaths reached 700 people per day. And at this time, newspapers published editorials dedicated to the “reforging by labor” of seasoned recidivists and political criminals. Of course, there were some additions and fraud. The canal bed was made shallower than was calculated in the project, and the start of construction was pushed back to 1932 (in fact, work began a year earlier).

About 280 thousand prisoners took part in the construction of the canal, of whom about 100 thousand died. Those who survived (every sixth) had their sentences reduced, and some were even awarded the “Order of the Baltic-White Sea Canal.” The entire leadership of the OGPU was awarded orders. Stalin, who visited the opened canal at the end of July 1933, was pleased. The system has shown its effectiveness. There was only one catch: the most physically strong and efficient prisoners earned a reduction in their sentences.

In 1938, Stalin, at a meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, raised the question: “Did you correctly propose a list for the release of these prisoners? They leave work... We are doing a bad job by disrupting the work of the camps. The release of these people, of course, is necessary, but from the point of view of the state economy it is bad... The best people will be released, but the worst will remain. Isn’t it possible to turn things around differently, so that these people stay at work - give awards, orders, maybe?..” But, fortunately for the prisoners, such a decision was not made: a prisoner with a government award on his robe would look too strange ...

BAM: 1 meter – 1 human life!

In 1948, with the beginning of the construction of the subsequent “great construction projects of communism” (the Volga-Don Canal, the Volga-Baltic Waterway, the Kuibyshev and Stalingrad hydroelectric power stations and other objects), the authorities used an already proven method: they built large forced labor camps that served the construction sites. And finding those to fill the vacancies of slaves was easy. Only by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of June 4, 1947, “On criminal liability for theft of state and public property,” hundreds of thousands of people were brought into the zone. Prison labor was used in the most labor-intensive and “harmful” industries.

In 1951, USSR Minister of Internal Affairs S.N. Kruglov reported at the meeting: “I must say that in a number of sectors of the national economy the Ministry of Internal Affairs occupies a monopoly position, for example, the gold mining industry - it is all concentrated here; the production of diamonds, silver, platinum - all this is entirely concentrated in the Ministry of Internal Affairs; mining of asbestos and apatite is entirely carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are 100% involved in the production of tin, 80% of the share is occupied by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for non-ferrous metals...” The minister did not mention only one thing: 100% of radium in the country was also produced by prisoners.

The world's greatest Komsomol construction project - BAM, about which songs were composed, films were made, and enthusiastic articles were written - did not begin with a call to youth. In 1934, the prisoners who built the White Sea Canal were sent to build the railway, which was supposed to connect Taishet on the Trans-Siberian Railway with Komsomolsk-on-Amur. According to the Gulag Handbook by Jacques Rossi (and this is the most objective book at the moment about the camp system), about 50 thousand prisoners worked at BAM in the 1950s.

Especially for the needs of the construction site, a new camp for prisoners was created - BAMlag, the zone of which extended from Chita to Khabarovsk. The daily ration was traditionally meager: a loaf of bread and frozen fish soup. There weren't enough barracks for everyone. People died from cold and scurvy (in order to at least briefly delay the approach of this terrible disease, they chewed pine needles). Over the course of several years, more than 2.5 thousand kilometers of railway were built. Historians have calculated: every meter of the BAM is paid for by one human life.

The official history of the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline began in 1974, during the Brezhnev era. Trains with young people reached BAM. The prisoners continued to work, but their participation in the “construction of the century” was kept silent. And ten years later, in 1984, the “golden spike” was driven in, symbolizing the end of another gigantic construction project, which is still associated with smiling young romantics who are not afraid of difficulties.

The above-mentioned construction projects have a lot in common: both the fact that the projects were difficult to implement (in particular, the BAM and the White Sea Canal were conceived back in Tsarist Russia, but due to a lack of budgetary funds they were shelved), and the fact that the work was carried out with minimal technical support, and the fact that slaves were used instead of workers (it is difficult to describe the position of the builders otherwise). But perhaps the most terrible common feature is that all these roads (both land and water) are many kilometers long mass graves. When you read dry statistical calculations, Nekrasov’s words come to mind: “And on the sides, all the bones are Russian. How many are there, Vanechka, do you know?”

(Material taken: “100 famous mysteries of history” by M.A. Pankov, I.Yu. Romanenko, etc.).