Pavel Sergeevich Grebenyuk,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, North-East Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Magadan, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Development of Local Industry and Trade in the Magadan Region in 1953 – Early 1960s
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-4-3
The article examines the main trends and specific results in the development of local industry and trade in the Magadan Region in the period 1953 – the early 1960s after the creation of the new northern region on the territory of the Dalstroy’ activity. A wide range of measures undertaken by local authorities to create their own industrial enterprises and expand the production of consumer goods are analyzed. The problems of material and technical supply with imported raw materials and materials, provision of electricity and fuel are considered. Data on the dynamics of production of the most important types of industrial and food products in physical and value terms are provided. It is noted that after the creation of the Magadan Region, the local Soviet authorities faced serious difficulties of the transition period, slow rates of transfer of control functions over the region from the production and economic complex of Dalstroy. A whole set of measures was undertaken to deploy indigenous industries. The main organizational form of local industry enterprises of that period were industrial combines that united disparate productions without technological interconnection. By 1958, there were 20 enterprises of local industry of regional and district subordination operating in the region. Over 1954–1957, the gross output of consumer goods increased more than 3 times. The production capacities and range of manufactured products at the existing enterprises were expanded, new workshops and productions were put into operation. The volumes of furniture, garments, footwear, sausage products, dairy and meat production increased. The network of public services enterprises developed. At the same time, there remained a whole range of unresolved problems. There was an acute shortage of raw materials, materials and components to ensure stable operation of existing and newly established industries. There was a shortage of skilled workers and engineering and technical personnel. There remained serious difficulties with transport support and energy supply to remote northern territories. The structure of trade organizations in the region remained complicated and confusing, which hindered effective management. Periodic disruptions in planned commodity supplies occurred, surpluses accumulated in warehouses. The range of many types of products was limited. Nevertheless, by the early 1960s, positive shifts in the development of industrial production and trade services for the population of the Magadan Region began to emerge. This made a significant contribution to improving the life support and social and living conditions of the population of the region, providing it with vital goods and products in the difficult natural and climatic conditions of the Far North-East of the USSR.
Publishing: 28/08/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 22/11/2023
How to cite: Grebenyuk P.S. Development of Local Industry and Trade in the Magadan Region in 1953 – Early 1960s // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 4 (36), pp. 34–46. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-4-03.pdf]
Links: Issue 4 2024
Keywords: Dalstroy; sovnarkhoz; local industry; trade; supply, consumer services; Magadan Region