The Role of People's Labor Participation in Road Construction of the Bashkir ASSR During the First Five-Year Plans

This article aims to analyze the role of the rural population's labor participation in the road construction of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (BASSR) during the first five-year plan. It is based on various sources: normative legal acts, periodicals and archival materials. The documents from the National Archive of the Republic of Bashkortostan (NA RB), the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) and the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE) proved to be particularly important for this study, as they contain the main quantitative indicators of the implementation of the plan for labor participation of the population in the road industry of the BASSR, the order and size of financing of road works with the population's labor participation and the results of the application of various forms of work organization and stimulation. The main research methods used were analysis and synthesis, as well as statistical and chronological methods. The author of the article draws attention to the fact that during the period of industrialization, the forms and methods of organizing labor participation of the population became more complicated. Initially, in the period of industrialization, this method of labor organization did not yield positive results. Road works required high-skilled specialists and road machinery, so stakes were made on the forcing of the population to construct roads. In 1925, the road service was officially introduced, and it was fixed in the early 1930s. However, the law on labor participation was enforced poorly because of inadequate funding and general absence of minor technical staff. This meant the cost of road repairs increased many-fold, while the quality remained poor. As bad roads slowed down the development of the national economy of the country, in the early 1930s, the ruling circles searched for optimal forms to organize labor participation of the population. In particular, it was proposed to follow the positive experience of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Financing of the population's labor participation in the road industry increased every year. In 1940, the "Fergana method" of road construction began to be used in the road industry of the Bashkir ASSR. The author believes that the specific weight of the population's labor participation in the construction of roads increased from year to year, and was the only source of construction and repair of the lower road network.

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