Social and cultural problems and everyday life of the builders of the Nizhnevartovsk GRES during the period of perestroika on the pages of the departmental newspaper "Ogni vakha" in 1987-1991

The article is devoted to the appearing of the newspaper "Ogni Vakha", issued by the engineering office of the Nizhnevartovskaya GRES and reviews its material and technical base, editorial staff, authors, correspondents and readers, the main thematic content at the end of 1987-1991. The construction was conducted in the area of the Vakh river, lit by the lamps of the building sites. The low-circulation newspapers of the energy department did not become the object of special research due to their insufficient preservation. In this regard, "Ogni Vakha" is a unique publication, because its complete set is stored in the archive of the administration of the Nizhnevartovsk district of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area and available in electronic form. The newspaper was printed in the amount of 1000 copies, came out weekly and was distributed free of charge by subscription and by distribution in the workplace. 172 issues containing 1700 articles and 250 photos were published during the period 1987-1991. "Ogni Vakha" covered the construction process of the Nizhnevartovsk hydroelectric power plant, which was one of the last major energy facilities in the USSR. It also covered management, social, cultural and domestic problems which emerged during the construction. Of particular value are the materials (letters, appeals) coming from non-professional authors - the builders themselves, as the voice of a complex and contradictory era of change that has come down to our time. Throughout the existence of the newspaper, its rubrics and topics remained unchanged, but the construction of the plant was conducted in difficult and rapidly changing socio-political and economic conditions, which changed the meaning of rubrics and were reflected in the topics of published materials. The alarmism and pessimism of articles intensified during the crisis of Perestroika. The changes in the socio-political image of the newspaper, following the changes in the country, make it possible to single out two stages in the development of "Ogni Vakha". The first stage (the end of 1987-1989) is characterized by a desire to optimistically comprehend the events taking place and the existing problems from the point of view of a policy of publicity and acceleration of socio-economic development. The second period of the publication of "Ogni Vakha" (1990 - mid 1991) was marked by an increasing criticism, both from the editorial board of the newspaper and from the readers. The number of articles had risen sharply, relating to problems in the electric power industry in general and its management structures, as well as concerning the need for serious economic and democratic transformations in the country.

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