The history of the formation of Siberian pine nuts industry

The article studies the activities on the formation of "cedar industry" in the USSR in the period of the country's industrialization. The chronological scope of the research covers the period from December 1931 to November 1933, when the government of the Soviet Union, using the approaches tested in the development of other industries, took steps to establish a new industry for the exploitation of the cedar forests of the Eastern regions of the country. It is shown that the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR relied on the foundation of large complex Siberian pine farms. To support a new industry a share capital and working capitals were allocated, tax incentives were introduced, the raw material base was agreed upon, the problem of attracting personnel was settled, a specialized research institute was established. The trust Board was located in Krasnoyarsk. The research team analyzed the documents of SoyuzKedr, the Pan-Soviet Union Trust of Siberian Pine Nuts Industry, stored in the State Archive of Krasnoyarsk Krai and never used for studies before. The research is based on the methodological principles of historicism and objectivity, which allowed the authors to consider the development of the issue of the Siberian pine nuts industry formation in specific historical conditions. The analysis of the archival materials allowed to conclude that, despite the great work done by the management of SoyuzKedr on surveying the resource base, opening of procurement centers, organizing research work, concluding agreements on harvesting nuts, the formation of Siberian pine nuts industry encountered problems associated with industrialization and collectivization in the Soviet Union. The reduction of investments in new capital construction in the country in 1932 resulted in abandoning the organization of integrated Siberian pine nuts industry farms. The idea of attraction of developing collective farms for harvesting nuts was not successful. The failure to put to practice the conceptual ideas of a new industry development made management look for workarounds. It had to increase procurement prices for nuts, increase the number of goods and products given to suppliers, involve cooperative and komsomol organizations to nuts harvesting. But all the measures did not stabilize the situation as the People's Commissariat of Supply of the USSR constantly changed the industry's leaders. The results of two harvesting seasons organized by SoyuzKedr proved that methods used in the establishment of industries of the technical profile are not quite applicable to Siberian pine nuts industry. Natural cycles of crop of nuts did not fit into the logic of the planned economy. Development of Siberian pine nuts industry required long-term work and substantial financial costs to make and support the annually fruiting Siberian pine forests. Therefore, in 1933 the People's Commissariat of Supply of the USSR had to stop the experiment of establishing an independent Siberian pine nuts industry

Keywords

Authors

References