DEVELOPMENT OF STATE POLICY OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE ARCTIC AND NORTHERN REGIONS OF YAKUTIA IN THE POST-WAR PERIOD

Research article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23670/IRJ.2023.127.94
Issue: № 1 (127), 2023
Suggested:
05.12.2022
Accepted:
21.12.2022
Published:
24.01.2023
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Abstract

The article considers the development of the policy of the Soviet state in the scientific study of the Arctic and northern regions of Yakutia in the post-war period (1945-1953). Almost immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War, at the initiative of the republican authorities, scientific research was resumed in Yakutia. In 1949, the political leadership of the republic put forward to scientific organizations the task of drawing up a long-term plan for the development of the national economy of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic for 10–15 years, and including a number of serious tasks that were supposed to fundamentally rebuild the economy of the Yakutia. During this period, science actively developed and contributed to the solution of domestic and foreign policy problems, a powerful research reserve was accumulated, which allows modern Russia to be the undisputed leader in some areas of the development of the Arctic today.

1. Introduction

The issues of the formation and development of science in the Arctic regions of Russia in the post-war period are an important trend in modern historical science, and they attract the attention of regional researchers and quite often become the subject of their study

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The Soviet leadership of Yakutia understood the important geopolitical role and significance of the Arctic at the state level. The idea of scientific study of the territory of the republic arose during the work of the First All-Yakut Congress of Soviets in 1922-1923. First of all, the problem of raising the economy and culture of the peoples of Yakutia was discussed. Since 1925, systematic scientific research began on the territory of the republic to study the productive forces of the YASSR, the study of the geological structure, flora and fauna of the region was continued, while a significant part of the scientific research was subordinated to the needs of the economic and economic development of the republic and the country

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2. Research methods and principles

This article presents a study based on the analysis of archival sources introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. During the analysis, the following methods of historical research were used: problem-chronological, historical-typological, retrospective analysis.

3. Main results

With the end of the Great Patriotic War and the transition to peaceful construction, complex tasks were set before Soviet science not only to restore industry and other branches of the economy on a higher technical basis, but also to ensure further technical progress of the entire national economy. I.V. Stalin, in his speech of February 9, 1946, declared: “I have no doubt that if we provide proper assistance to our scientists, they will be able not only to catch up, but also to surpass the achievements of science outside our country in the near future”

such a task was placed before Soviet science by the Law on the five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy for 1946-1950.

Almost immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War, on the initiative of the republican administrative structures, scientific research was resumed in Yakutia. Thus, on August 15, 1946, the Council of Ministers of the YASSR petitioned the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences to organize in 1947 the Yakut Research Base of the USSR Academy of Sciences (YANIB AS USSR). The Yakut base of the Academy of Sciences completed the organizational period in a short period of 2 years, was promptly staffed with scientific personnel and equipped with laboratories and other equipment, began scientific research, and which was then transformed in 1949 into a branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences

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By the beginning of the 50s. 20th century in addition to the Base of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in the Yakut ASSR, apart from many expeditions, there were already more than a dozen stationary research institutions: a department of the All-Union Institute of Hunting, breeding, livestock and veterinary experimental stations, Permafrost Station, Hydrometeorological Service and others, as well as enterprises combining production scientific activities are Yakutneftegeologiya, Agrogeodetic enterprise and 6 geological exploration trusts of a number of departments.

In March 1949, the XVI Yakut Regional Party Conference took place, at which it was noted that “in general, research work in the republic is still far from satisfactory. The main disadvantages are the isolation of many topics of research work from the needs and needs of the national economy of the republic. This primarily applies to the sectors of zoology and animal husbandry, soil science and botany of the Base of the Academy of Sciences, the animal breeding experimental station, the hunting research station, etc. These scientific institutions have not yet set themselves the main task of actively interfering in the life of plants and animals with the aim of their directed changes and obtaining new, more advanced forms and types ... Our scientific institutions still do not develop such important practical problems as planting greenery in the city, water supply to regional centers and collective farms”

. Based on the results of the work of the party conference, it was decided to develop a new long-term plan for the development of the national economy of the YASSR, designed for a long period of time.

On July 5, 1949, a session of the Yakutsk Base of the USSR Academy of Sciences was held at which the first secretary of the Yakut Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks I.E. Vinokurov. In his speech, he noted that "The task is to subordinate all research work to the interests of the national economy, to reveal and deeply study the various natural resources of our republic as quickly and fully as possible, to put them at the service of the interests of building communism ..."

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Also, I.E. Vinokurov confirmed the need to develop a new long-term plan for the development of the national economy of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, designed for 10–15 years, and including a number of serious tasks that were supposed to fundamentally rebuild the economy of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He noted the presence of the richest deposits of gold, platinum and other non-ferrous metals explored by that time. He set the task of strengthening the monetary and defense power of the USSR, which dictated an increase in gold mining in Yakutia several times, by increasing the capacity of existing enterprises, and by developing new deposits.

In his report, I.E. Vinokurov considered it economically expedient and necessary to create a metallurgical and coke-chemical industry in the Yakut ASSR as the basis for developing the productive forces of Yakutia and the Far North-East of the USSR. It was noted that more than 70 coal deposits were already known on the territory of the YASSR at that time, many of which were located in the Arctic and northern regions of Yakutia.

Given the remoteness of the Yakut ASSR from the main oil regions of the USSR and favorable geological conditions in the form of oil fields discovered in 1941 at the mouth of the river. Anabar expedition Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, the question was raised about the creation of an oil industry, which should have been preceded by large-scale geological exploration work.

It was also proposed to consider the creation of a salt industry in Yakutia on the basis of powerful deposits of high-quality rock salt discovered in the region of Olekminsk in order to supply the entire Far East. It was also noted that in 1941 a valuable high-quality phlogopite mica deposit was discovered in the area of the Emeldzhak River in the Aldan region. The mica industry was established almost immediately.

Providing the national economy of Yakutia with energy resources was of paramount importance. It was noted that the republic, possessing gigantic energy resources in the form of tens of billions of tons of coal, billions of cubic meters of wood, powerful wind flows and water power capacities of rivers, experienced a shortage of electricity. The power supply of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic at that time was several times lower than the national average, which led to a lack of electricity even in Yakutsk, not to mention its complete absence in the vast majority of regional centers, which hampered the further economic development of Yakutia.

In his report, I.E. Vinokurov also considered the main issues of agriculture, which is the main occupation of the local population of Yakutia, which required further scientific study. It was noted that agriculture in Yakutia has its own characteristics. Unfavorable climatic conditions, the presence of permafrost, the low level of agricultural development and frequent droughts caused enormous damage to the national economy, led to the need to import a significant amount of products into the republic, the transportation of which cost the state annually 60-70 million rubles.

To successfully solve these problems, it was necessary to carry out special research work on a large scale, designed to study the vast territory of the republic in all the variety of climatic, soil and other conditions. The main task was to correctly determine the direction of agriculture in the regional context, for which it was considered absolutely necessary to draw up an agricultural map of the Yakut ASSR based on agroclimatic and soil data. It was believed that in some regions of Yakutia, the most suitable in terms of climatic and soil conditions, with proper and proper management of the economy, it was possible to increase the gross yield of bread by one and a half to two times. The need to increase the production of meat and milk. When resolving issues of animal husbandry, herd horse breeding should have been of great importance, and it was also considered necessary to organize farms for breeding silver-black foxes and sable, and in parallel with this to resolve issues of personnel training, a technical school for fishing, etc.

The most important task of the socio-economic development of Yakutia with its vast distances between settlements was the development of transport infrastructure. It was proposed to build a railway as soon as possible, connecting the Lena River in its middle course with the Siberian Railway. Along with the construction of this railway, it was planned to build a latitudinal railway line over the course of 10–15 years, passing through the main economic and most densely populated centers of the republic and a wide network of roads. A serious task was also the radio installation of all collective farms, the installation of telephones in all village councils, the organization of reliable telephone communications between regional centers and Yakutsk, and a reliable wire connection between Moscow and Yakutsk should also be made. At the same time, the need to ensure year-round postal communication with all northern regions was noted.

4. Conclusion

As we can see, the long-term plan was based on the solution of a number of major problems covering all sectors of the national economy. It was noted that in order to finally resolve them and include them in the plan already in a specific form - indicating the place and time of construction, the volume of production of an industrial enterprise, the organization of a new large branch of the economy, etc. much more work is required. It could not be carried out only by the forces of the State Planning Commission, the economic bodies of the Yakut ASSR and the central ministries and departments. All scientific research organizations of the YASSR, all specialists and scientists were obliged to take part in it. Favorable conditions for scientific organizations of the republic to be actively involved in the large and complex preparatory work to draw up a long-term plan for the development of the productive forces of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, political leadership was considered: firstly, the presence of a large scientific center represented by the Yakut research base of the USSR Academy of Sciences and dozens of others scientific institutions, and secondly, the decision of the Council for the Study of Productive Forces at the USSR Academy of Sciences to organize in 1950 a large complex expedition with numerous detachments led by prominent specialists.

As we can see, the political leadership of the republic hatched big plans for the organization of scientific research on a wide range of problems, which should have contributed to the solution of domestic and foreign policy tasks, on the basis of which a powerful research reserve was accumulated. Subsequently, many of them were implemented, but some tasks were implemented much later than the indicated dates or have not yet been implemented.

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