Every educated person is familiar with the phrase “GOELRO Plan,” but not everyone knows what this plan was, how large-scale and grandiose this project was at that time not only for Russia, but also for the world community as a whole. Today, after many years, this project is considered the only state long-term plan for the restoration and development of the entire industrial and economic complex based on the development of the electric power industry implemented on the territory of the Soviet Union, and it was implemented brilliantly.
The country is in dire ruin
After the October Revolution, the country's national economy was in a state of severe devastation. The supply of fuel to industry, transport and the population was completely disrupted; due to the lack of fuel, factories were idle. Epidemics raged, illiteracy and homelessness flourished. The food crisis has caused an extreme decline in labor productivity. Industrial production decreased by 7 times compared to 1913, electricity production decreased by almost 4 times, and the volume of agricultural production was 2/3 of the pre-war level.
In such conditions, the question of restoring the national economy and creating the prerequisites for further socio-economic development of the country arose with great urgency. IN AND. Lenin was one of those political figures who correctly assessed the role of electrification of the national economy. Based on Marx's thesis about capitalism as the age of steam, Lenin believed that socialism would become the age of electricity.
The role of electrification
Lenin's views on electrification began to take shape long before the revolution. In his works (1896–1913), he paid special attention to the issue of using electrical energy in various sectors of the national economy and formulated the position that electrification is the basis of modern technical progress due to a number of advantages of electricity over other types of energy.
Lenin's views on electrification
Back in 1901, he wrote: “...at the present time, when the transmission of electrical energy over distances is possible... there are absolutely no technical obstacles to the fact that the treasures of science and art, accumulated over centuries, can be used by the entire population, distributed more or less evenly throughout country." When solving the problem of restoring and developing the country’s economy according to a unified state plan that arose after October 1917, Lenin put electrification at the forefront. He became, as Krzhizhanovsky put it, “a great pusher for the cause of electrification.”
By the end of 1917, a catastrophic fuel situation had developed in the country (especially in Moscow and Petrograd): Baku oil and Donetsk coal were unavailable. And already in November, Lenin, at the suggestion of engineer I. I. Radchenko, who had 5 years of experience working at the Elektroperedacha peat power plant, gave instructions on the construction of the Shaturskaya - also peat - power plant near Moscow. At the same time, he showed interest in the work of G. O. Graftio on the design of the Volkhov hydroelectric station near Petrograd.
And in January 1918, the First All-Russian Conference of Electrical Industry Workers took place, proposing the creation of a body to manage energy construction. Such a body - Elektrostroy - appeared in May 1918, and at the same time the Central Electrical Engineering Council (Central Electrical Engineering Council) was formed - the successor and continuator of the All-Russian electrical engineering congresses. It included the largest Russian power engineers: I. G. Alexandrov, A. V. Winter, G. O. Graftio, R. E. Klasson, A. G. Kogan, T. R. Makarov, V. F. Mitkevich, N.K. Polivanov, M.A. Chatelain and others.
Essentially, Lenin outlined the concept of the GOERLO plan in his work “Sketch of a plan for scientific and technical work” (April 1918). In January 1920 G.M. Krzhizhanovsky introduced V.I. Lenin drafted an article “Tasks of electrification of industry” and received an enthusiastic response to it, as well as a request to write about this problem popularly in order to captivate “the mass of workers and class-conscious peasants” with it. And already on March 24 of the same year, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense adopted a regulation on the State Commission for the Electrification of Russia.
Challenges of industrial electrification
The commission of 22 scientists was headed by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky. More than 200 specialists in various sectors of the national economy were involved in the creation of the plan. For the successful work of the commission, a special loan, premises, necessary technical means and transport were allocated. In November 1920, the drawing up of the plan was generally completed.
On December 21, 1920, a volume of the GOELRO plan, still smelling of printing ink, was placed on Lenin’s table.
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5 hour working day during the time of Comrade Stalin
Discussions during the NEP period
From Stalin's speech at the first All-Union Conference of Socialist Industry Workers on February 4, 1931.
Industrialization and the Cultural Revolution
The origins of the first - Stalinist industrialization, plans for the industrial development of the country of Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II
Collectivization – industrialization of agriculture
Course towards industrialization
Mobilization economy or what funds were used for industrialization?
Where does the money for industrialization come from?
About collectivization
The first is Stalin’s industrialization: the first five-year plan
The first is Stalin’s industrialization: the second five-year plan
Results of collectivization
Results of industrial development of the USSR in the post-war years
The role of industrialization in winning the war
Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature
Quotes from I.V. Stalin on the personnel of industrialization
Quotes from I.V. Stalin on collectivization, on the need for collectivization
Quotes from I.V. Stalin on collective farm construction
Quotes from I.V. Stalin on industrialization
Quotes from I.V. Stalin on the results of collectivization Social ownership of the means of production is the basis of the production relations of socialism.
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GOELRO or GOELRO plan - State Commission for Electrification of Russia, plan for the electrification of Russia. It envisaged the construction of thirty large power plants with a total capacity of 8.8 billion kWh in Russia within 10-15 years. While in 1913, only 1.9 billion kWh were generated in Russia.The initiator of the plan was the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, V.I. Lenin, who was a great enthusiast for electrification, believing that if capitalism was the era of steam, then socialism should become the era of electricity.
“If Russia is covered with a dense network of power stations and powerful technical equipment, then our communist economic construction will become a model for the coming socialist Europe and Asia”
The electrification plan was based on the developments of leading Russian electrical engineers created during the First World War. They did not inspire the tsarist government, therefore, when the Soviet government became interested in them and adopted them as a basis, the engineers happily got down to business.
In January 1918, the First All-Russian Conference of Electrical Industry Workers took place. In May, Elektrostroy was created, a body for managing energy construction, and the Central Electrical Engineering Council (CEC), which included the largest Russian power engineers.
In December 1918, the CES organized an Bureau to develop a general plan for the electrification of the country, and about a year later the plan was created. Its implementation was undertaken by a commission consisting of
- G. M. Krzhizhanovsky - chairman,
- A. I. Eisman
- A. G. Kogan
- B. I. Ugrimov
- N. N. Vashkov
- N. S. Sinelnikov
- G. O. Graftio
- L. V. Dreyer
- G. D. Dubelir
- K. A. Krug
- M. Ya. Lapirov-Skoblo
- B. E. Stunkel
- M. A. Chatelain
- E. Ya. Shulgin
- D. I. Komarov
- R. A. Ferman
- L. K. Ramzin
- A. I. Tairov
- A. A. Schwartz
Most of the scientists who developed the GOELRO plan occupied the management offices of power plants, factories, ministries and departments, and became academics. N. N. Vashkov, G. D. Dubellir, G. K. Riesenkamf, B. E. Stunkel, B. I. Ugrimov were repressed
In June 1921, the GOELRO Commission was abolished, and on its basis a State General Planning Commission was created - Gosplan, which from that time led the entire economy of the country.
GOELRO results
The so-called “A” program of the GOELRO plan, which provided for the restoration of the country’s destroyed energy sector, was completed already in 1926. By 1931, all planned indicators for energy construction were exceeded. According to Wikipedia, electricity production in 1932 compared to 1913 increased not 4.5 times, as planned, but almost 7 times. By 1935, Soviet energy industry reached the level of world standards and took third place in the world, after the United States and Germany.
Socialist construction, including energy facilities, was carried out not only thanks to the enthusiasm of the people, but with the help of the mass of prisoners, whose forced labor was put on
On December 22, 1920, the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets took place, at which the State Plan for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO) was approved, which became the first long-term economic development plan adopted and implemented in Russia after the revolution.
A year later, it was approved by the IX All-Russian Congress. The Soviet GOELRO Plan was developed in less than a year in the most difficult conditions of the civil war (1917-1922/1923) and intervention by the State Commission for the Electrification of the Country, created on February 21, 1920, under the leadership of G. M. Krzhizhanovsky. About 200 scientists and engineers were involved in the work of the commission. According to some sources, the preparation of a project for large-scale electrification of Russia was carried out even before the 1917 revolution by German engineers working for the St. Petersburg Electric Company, on the assumption that during the First World War (1914-1918) it was impossible to begin implementation due to large military expenses. According to other sources, the basis of GOELRO was the developments of the energy department of the Academic Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces of Russia (KEPS), created in 1916, transformed in 1930 into the Energy Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Until 1880, due to the monopoly of the owners of gas lamps in the imperial capital, who had the exclusive right to illuminate St. Petersburg, electric lighting was not used. But for some reason, Liteiny Bridge fell out of this monopoly. It was to him that the enthusiasts of introducing electricity into Russian life brought a ship with an electrical installation that lit the lanterns. Just three years after this demonstration of the “anti-monopoly light show,” the first power plant with a capacity of 35 kilowatts was opened in St. Petersburg - it was located on a barge moored at the Moika embankment. 12 dynamos were installed there, the current from which was transmitted through wires to Nevsky Prospekt and lit 32 street lamps. The station was equipped by the German company Siemens and Halske; at first it played a major role in the electrification of Russia.
The first experience of using centralized electric lighting instead of gas lighting was made by palace management technician engineer Vasily Pashkov to illuminate the halls of the Winter Palace during the Christmas and New Year holidays in 1885. To implement it, on November 9, 1885, a project for the construction of a special “electricity factory” was approved with a note from Alexander III: “The winter balls of 1886 (January 10) should be completely illuminated by electricity.” To eliminate unwanted vibration of the building during operation of steam engines, the power plant was placed in a special pavilion made of glass and metal in the second courtyard of the Winter Palace (since called “electric”). The area occupied by the station was 630 m². It consisted of an engine room, where 6 boilers, 4 steam engines and 2 locomotives were installed, and a hall with 36 electric dynamos. The total power of the power plant was 445 horsepower and consumed about 30 thousand poods (520 tons) of coal per year. The generated electricity illuminated: the Antechamber, Petrovsky, Great Field Marshal, Armorial and St. George Halls. Three lighting modes were provided:
- full (holiday, which was turned on five times a year) - 4888 incandescent lamps and 10 Yablochkov candles were turned on;
- working - 230 incandescent lamps;
- duty (night) - 304 incandescent lamps.
All this taken together could not but influence the mood of electrical engineers and, perhaps, became one of the reasons that many of them, including Alliluyev, Krasin, Krzhizhanovsky, Smidovich and others, were involved in the revolutionary shaking of the country. Moreover, the leaders of the world proletariat turned out to be much more perspicacious in this regard than the authorities of tsarist Russia and foresaw the key role that electricity was to play in the social transformation of society. One of those political figures who correctly assessed this role was V.I. Lenin, a great enthusiast for the electrification of Russia. Based on Marx's thesis about capitalism as the era of steam, Lenin believed that socialism would become the era of electricity. Back in 1901 he wrote: "... at the present time, when it is possible to transmit electrical energy over distances... there are absolutely no technical obstacles to the fact that the treasures of science and art, accumulated over centuries, can be used by the entire population, distributed more or less evenly throughout the country"Isn't it remarkable that this was said many decades before the advent of not only the Internet, but also the computer and even television! It is possible, however, that Lenin saw in electrification not only a social, but also a purely political task: he hoped to conquer with its with the help of the peasantry. After all, light in Russia, since pre-Christian times, has always been associated with truth and world order, and it is clear how in a remote village that received light they should have treated the one who brought it.
By the end of 1917, a catastrophic fuel situation had developed in the country (especially in Moscow and Petrograd): Baku oil and Donetsk coal were unavailable. And already in November, Lenin, at the suggestion of engineer I. I. Radchenko, who had 5 years of experience working at the Elektroperedacha peat power plant, gave instructions on the construction of the Shaturskaya - also peat - power plant near Moscow. At the same time, he showed interest in the work of G. O. Graftio on the design of the Volkhov hydroelectric station near Petrograd and the possibility of using military personnel in its construction.
And in January 1918, the First All-Russian Conference of Electrical Industry Workers took place, proposing the creation of a body to manage energy construction. Such a body - Elektrostroy - appeared in May 1918, and at the same time the Central Electrical Engineering Council (Central Electrical Engineering Council) was formed - the successor and continuator of the All-Russian electrical engineering congresses. It included the largest Russian power engineers: I. G. Alexandrov, A. V. Winter, G. O. Graftio, R. E. Klasson, A. G. Kogan, T. R. Makarov, V. F. Mitkevich, N.K. Polivanov, M.A. Chatelain and others.
What made them - the flower of Russian electrical engineering science and by no means participants or even supporters of revolutionary events - interact with the Bolsheviks? There were several reasons for this. The first and, probably, the main one was, apparently, patriotism - concern for the good of the country and people, the belief that the development of science and technology can lead to the progress of society. Skeptical of the ideology of the new government and categorically rejecting its methods, they nevertheless came to the conclusion that opposing it would bring harm to Russia.
Another reason was also important. Technocrats, who for many years did not have the opportunity to bring their ideas to life, now have this opportunity. The new government consistently and firmly demonstrated its interest and political will in this.
And finally, not least, apparently, purely pragmatic considerations played a role. In conditions of devastation, lack of the most necessary products and living conditions, as well as persecution, searches and confiscations, power engineers who collaborated with the Soviet government found themselves in a completely different world. They were provided with living space, rations, social benefits, and G. O. Graftio, for example, thanks to Lenin’s personal intercession, was spared from the excessively close attention of the security officers.
In December 1918, the CES organized a Bureau to develop a general plan for the electrification of the country, and about a year later, Krzhizhanovsky sent Lenin his article “Tasks of Electrification of Industry” and received an enthusiastic response to it. And also a request to write about this problem popularly - in order to captivate “the masses of workers and class-conscious peasants” with it.
The brochure, written literally in a week, was immediately published, and a couple of weeks later the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense approved, and Lenin signed, the regulations on the GOELRO Commission - the State Plan for the Electrification of Russia. The commission consisted of 19 people:
G. M. Krzhizhanovsky - chairman,
A. I. Eisman - Deputy Chairman,
A. G. Kogan, B. I. Ugrimov - comrades of the chairman,
N. N. Vashkov, N. S. Sinelnikov - deputy comrades of the chairman,
G. O. Graftio, L. V. Dreyer, G. D. Dubelir, K. A. Krug, M. Ya. Lapirov-Skoblo, B. E. Stunkel, M. A. Shatelain, E. Ya. Shulgin - members,
D. I. Komarov, R. A. Ferman, L. K. Ramzin, A. I. Tairov, A. A. Schwartz - deputy members.
Wikipedia mentions 10 more participants: I. G. Alexandrov, A. V. Winter, I. I. Vikhlyaev, R. E. Klasson, S. A. Kukel, T. R. Makarov, V. F. Mitkevi, M. K. Polivanov , G. K. Riesenkamf, R. L. Semenov.
Krzhizhanovsky involved not only practicing engineers, but also scientists from the Academy of Sciences - about 200 people in total. Among them, by the way, was the famous Russian philosopher, priest and “part-time” outstanding electrical engineer Pavel Florensky. He came to commission meetings in a cassock, and the Bolsheviks tolerated it.
After ten months of hard work, the commission produced a 650-page volume with numerous maps and diagrams.
 |
| Members of the St. Petersburg "Union of Struggle" for the liberation of the working class" (1897) Krzhizhanovsky sits second from the left (to the left of Lenin) |
There is a version that the GOELRO plan allegedly does not represent an original development, but is copied from a book by the German professor of political economy K. Ballod, published in Germany in 1898 and called “The State of the Future, Production and Consumption in a Socialist State.” Domestic electrifiers were, of course, very familiar with this book and used it when developing the GOELRO plan. But, firstly, this material itself is just a desk project, quite abstract, and the question of its implementation has never been and could not be raised. Secondly, Russian scientific personnel did not lag behind foreign ones, and in some respects - including in the matter of building an economy based on energy - they were even ahead of them. And, thirdly, and this is the most important thing, the nature and raw materials of Russia, its territory, economy, demography, national mentality and even the monetary system are so unique that they exclude the very possibility of completely borrowing, much less copying, any specific programs . Therefore, we can safely say that both in theoretical and practical aspects, the GOELRO plan is original and has no analogues in world practice. On the contrary: its uniqueness, attractiveness and practical reality have led to attempts to copy it by the leading countries of the world. In the period 1923-1931, electrification programs appeared in the USA (developed by Fran Baum), Germany (Oscar Miller), England (the so-called Weyer Commission), France (engineers Velem, Duval, Lavanchy, Mative and Molyar), as well as Poland, Japan etc. But they all ended in failure at the planning and feasibility stage.
In 1920, the famous science fiction writer Herbert Wells visited Russia. He met with Lenin, got acquainted with the plans for widespread electrification of Russia and considered them impracticable. In the essay “Russia in the Darkness,” dedicated to this trip, he spoke about these plans as follows: “D The point is that Lenin, who, as a true Marxist, rejects all “utopians,” ultimately fell into a utopia himself, a utopia of electrification. He is doing everything in his power to create large power plants in Russia that will provide entire provinces with energy for lighting, transport and industry. He said that two areas have already been electrified as an experiment. Is it possible to imagine a more daring project in this vast, flat, forested country, inhabited by illiterate peasants, deprived of sources of water energy, without technically competent people, in which trade and industry have almost died out? Such electrification projects are now being carried out in Holland, they are being discussed in England, and one can easily imagine that in these densely populated countries with highly developed industries, electrification will prove successful, cost-effective and generally beneficial. But the implementation of such projects in Russia can only be imagined with the help of super imagination. No matter what magic mirror I look into, I cannot see this Russia of the future, but a short man in the Kremlin has such a gift"Lenin invited Wells to come 10 years later and see how the plan was being implemented. In 1934, Wells arrived and was amazed that the plan was not only fulfilled, but also exceeded on a number of indicators.
The GOELRO plan, designed for 10-15 years, provided for a radical reconstruction of the national economy based on electrification: the construction of 30 regional power stations (20 thermal power plants and 10 hydroelectric power stations) with a total capacity of 1.75 million kW. Among others, it was planned to build Shterovskaya, Kashirskaya, Nizhny Novgorod, Shaturskaya and Chelyabinsk regional thermal power plants, as well as hydroelectric power stations - Nizhny Novgorod, Volkhovskaya (1926), Dnieper, two stations on the Svir River, etc. Within the framework of the project, economic zoning was carried out, transport and energy framework of the country's territory. The project covered eight main economic regions (Northern, Central Industrial, Southern, Volga, Ural, West Siberian, Caucasian and Turkestan). At the same time, the development of the country's transport system was carried out (transportation of old and construction of new railway lines, construction of the Volga-Don Canal). The GOELRO project laid the foundation for industrialization in Russia. The plan was basically exceeded by 1931. Electricity production in 1932 compared to 1913 increased not 4.5 times, as planned, but almost 7 times: from 2 to 13.5 billion kWh.
GOELRO was a plan for the development of not just the energy sector, but the entire economy. It provided for the construction of enterprises that would provide these construction sites with everything necessary, as well as the rapid development of the electric power industry. And all this was tied to territorial development plans. Among them is the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, founded in 1927. As part of the plan, the development of the Kuznetsk coal basin also began, around which a new industrial area arose. The Soviet government encouraged the initiative of private owners in implementing GOELRO. Those involved in electrification could count on tax breaks and loans from the state.
The success of the plan was most clearly manifested in the gradual elimination of imported supplies of equipment - due to the growth of power engineering in this industry. If in 1923 the Elektrosila plant produced only the first four hydrogenerators with a capacity of 7.5 MW each for the Volkhov hydroelectric power station, then by the mid-30s such large enterprises as Elektrozavod (Moscow), Dynamo (Moscow) were operating in the country ), "Red Kotelshchik" (Taganrog), Turbogenerator Plant named after S. M. Kirov (Kharkov). And starting from 1934, the USSR no longer needed imports for energy construction. The construction itself proceeded at a pace unprecedented in history. And the reason for this was not only the enthusiasm of the people, which we were told about before, but also a number of very shadowy aspects of the implementation of the GOELRO plan. A significant part of the builders were not only soldiers drafted into the so-called “construction labor army,” but also prisoners. And to finance the program, treasures of Russian culture, including the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery, were widely sold. And also grain - and this in conditions when famine was raging in many regions of the country, and primarily in the Volga region and Ukraine. And in general, for many years, all social sectors of the economy were financed only on a residual basis, which is why the people in the USSR lived extremely difficult. The sacrifices made by the Soviet people for the implementation of the GOELRO plan were enormous. To forget about the present day for the sake of the future - such was the pathos of the system that gave birth to this plan and ensured its implementation. Was the goal worth such sacrifices? - our descendants will have to answer this question.
The matter of “electrifying the entire country” could not have happened without the NEPmen. For example, 24 artisanal artels near Moscow united into the large partnership "Electric Production", and 52 Kaluga artels - into the partnership "Serena"; they were building stations, laying power lines, and electrifying industrial enterprises. The Soviet government, in a rare case, encouraged the initiative of private owners in implementing GOELRO. Those involved in electrification could count on tax breaks and even loans from the state. True, the entire regulatory framework, technical control and tariff setting were retained by the government (the tariff was uniform for the entire country and was set by the State Planning Committee). The policy of encouraging entrepreneurship has yielded tangible results: about half of the generating capacities built according to the GOELRO plan were created with the involvement of the forces and resources of the NEPmen, that is, business. In other words, it was an example of what we now call a public-private partnership.
As for the help of foreign specialists, these were mainly the so-called chief engineers and consultants, with the help of whom the installation and commissioning of equipment supplied from abroad was carried out. Sometimes the habits and ambitions of representatives of Western companies conflicted with the interests of domestic energy developers. Western pedantry, the desire to strictly follow the letter and paragraph of agreements, regulations, standards and instructions, was difficult to coexist with the Soviet mentality, focused on the speedy commissioning of facilities. Foreigners were unaccustomed to extracurricular and three-shift work, ignoring sleep, rest, and timely nutrition; they lived by their own rules and routine. It happened that this led to difficult and even emergency situations. During the construction of the Shterovskaya State District Power Plant, deep cracks formed in its brand new concrete foundation during testing. It turned out that pedantic chief installers from England took breaks from work regularly and at regular intervals. And the concrete at the levels to which it was supposed to be supplied during these pauses had time to dry out, and as a result it did not set well and cracked at the first vibration. After a lawsuit was brought against the English company, it had to redo the work. But for the most part, foreigners worked honestly and efficiently and received government gratitude and gifts in addition to their salaries. And some - such as, for example, the chief consultant of Dneprostroy, Colonel Cooper - were awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
By the mid-30s, the need for foreign assistance had disappeared, but a number of foreign specialists did not want to leave the USSR and remained with us until the war. There were also those who did not have time to leave, and the fate of many of them turned out to be tragic. Some were repressed by our authorities: they were exiled to Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Far East, others were interned in Germany and were subjected to repression there. The fates of the members of the GOELRO Commission also turned out differently. All of them belonged to the country's energy elite, and the positions they occupied by the early 1930s corresponded to the upper steps in the hierarchy of the Soviet party and economic nomenklatura. I. G. Alexandrov - chief engineer of Dneprostroy, and then a member of the Presidium of the State Planning Committee, A. V. Winter - director of Dneprostroy, and then the manager of Glavenergo, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky - chairman of the State Planning Committee, etc. Many of them were used by the people very popular. Perhaps this is what prompted Stalin to remove electrifiers from leadership work and bring his own creatures to the forefront: A. A. Andreev, L. M. Kaganovich, V. V. Kuibyshev, G. K. Ordzhonikidze and others. And then he transferred many of the main creators of the GOELRO plan to the system of the Academy of Sciences: bypassing all the necessary intermediate steps, I. G. Alexandrov, B. E. Vedereev, A. V. Winter, G. O. Graftio, G. M. became academicians. Krzhizhanovsky. Not everyone, however, had such a fortunate fate. Of the leadership core of the GOELRO Commission alone, five people were repressed: N. N. Vashkov, G. D. Dubellir, G. K. Riesenkamf, B. E. Stunkel, B. I. Ugrimov.
In honor of this historical event, a professional holiday for workers in this industry has been established in Russia -.
CONTENT: 1932 Ural, Krasnotalsk city. There was sabotage at the power plant. The turbine is out of order. After putting the guards to sleep, someone poured sand into the turbine oil. In Moscow, the leadership of the OGPU received a secret code. From it it becomes known about the conspiracy of German intelligence against the USSR. Its main goal is subversive actions at Soviet power plants. Particular attention is paid to the Urals and the DneproGES under construction. The sabotage in Krasnotalsk is a link in this chain. OGPU special agent Viktor Sergeevich Lartsev was sent to Krasnotalsk...
Wikipedia
Science and life, GOELRO PLAN. MYTHS AND REALITY
V. GVOZDETSKY, head. Department of the History of Technology and Technical Sciences of the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology named after S. I. Vavilov RAS.
BACKGROUND
Science and life // Illustrations
Moscow, Myasnitskaya street, 24.
Builders of the power station "Electrotransmission". Photo by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky. 1913
The first sheet of the "Electrification Plan of the R.S.F.S.R." (GOELRO plan).
The power plant on Raushskaya embankment in Moscow (MOGES) has been operating since 1897.
Meeting of the commission to develop the GOELRO plan. From left to right: K. A. Krug, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, B. I. Ugrimov, R. A. Ferman, N. N. Vashkov, M. A. Smirnov. 1920
Beginning of construction of the Kashira power plant (photomontage).
Electric lighting in the hut. Mordovia, 1924.
G.M. Krzhizhanovsky. 1913
Electrification of Moscow outskirts.
L. B. Krasin.
L. K. Ramzin.
Once-through boiler of Professor Ramzin. Exhibit of the Polytechnic Museum.
The phrase “GOELRO plan” has been known to everyone in Russia since school years, but not everyone remembers what exactly it means. And if some people have difficulty remembering the deciphering of the abbreviation (State Plan for the Electrification of Russia), then they have very relative and contradictory ideas about its essence, directly depending on the years in which they were acquired. The fact is that the information presented to us about this plan was always based on myths - one or another.
According to one group of versions that arose back in the 30s of the last century, patriarchal Russia did not have its own energy base at all, the GOELRO plan was the brainchild exclusively of the October Revolution and V.I. Lenin personally, and one of the main ideologists of the electrification of Russia was I.V. Stalin. Other versions, born 60 years later, argued that the role of V.I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the development and implementation of the GOELRO plan was insignificant, that the plan itself was not born of domestic scientific and technical thought, but was a copy of foreign developments, that it was implemented in the end it was not, and what was nevertheless done as part of its implementation was possible solely thanks to foreign assistance, etc. It is curious, by the way, that both myths were either hushed up or, contrary to all facts, they completely denied the role of industrial potential pre-revolutionary Russia and its national electrical engineering school.
However, sooner or later myths are replaced by knowledge and truth. In fact, the idea of developing a GOELRO plan, its concept, program and specific characteristics go back to the level and circumstances of development of Russia's energy sector, and in general its entire industry at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.
Russia, as we know, embarked on the capitalist path later than a number of countries in Western Europe and the United States and lagged significantly behind them in many important characteristics. Possessing, for example, enormous natural resources, it produced many times less mineral resources - coal, iron ore and even oil - than the United States, and smelted much less iron and steel. But the pace of industrial development in Russia was higher than in the West: in the last decade of the 19th century alone, its industrial production doubled, and in heavy industry almost tripled. But despite this, as well as the cheap labor market and the powerful influx of foreign industrial capital, Russia, even in 1913, continued to lag behind the leading countries of the world.
The situation in the electric power industry was approximately the same as in industry. In the same year, 1913, Russia produced only 14 kWh per capita, while in the USA - 236 kWh. But if this was the case in terms of quantitative characteristics, then in terms of quality we were in no way inferior to advanced foreign countries.
The level of equipment of Russian power plants and their capacity were quite consistent with Western ones and grew simultaneously with them. The intensive development of the Russian electric power industry at the beginning of the twentieth century was determined by the appearance and then the introduction of electric drives into industry, the emergence of electric transport, and the growth of electric lighting in cities.
However, all power plants built in Russia - in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Baku, Riga, etc. had a limited (from one to several dozen) number of consumers and were not energetically connected to each other. Moreover, the values of their current values and frequencies had a colossal scatter, since no unified system existed in the development of these stations.
Meanwhile, the domestic electrical engineering school was considered one of the best in the world. Its activities were coordinated by the VI (Electrical Engineering) Department of the Russian Technical Society, as well as by All-Russian Electrotechnical Congresses, of which seven took place from 1900 to 1913. At these congresses, both technical and purely strategic problems were considered. In particular, the question of where it is better to build thermal power plants: directly in industrial regions in order to deliver fuel to them, or, on the contrary, in the place where this fuel is produced, in order to then transmit electricity through power lines. Most Russian scientists and electrical engineers were inclined to the second option - mainly because central Russia had the largest reserves of brown coal and especially peat, which was unsuitable for transportation and practically not used as fuel.
The experience of creating such regional stations, operating on local rather than fuel brought from afar and providing electricity to a large industrial region, was first implemented near Moscow in 1914. Near Bogorodsk (later Noginsk), a peat power plant "Electroperedacha" was built, the energy from which was transmitted to consumers in Moscow via a high-voltage line with a voltage of 70 kV. In addition, for the first time in Russia this station was switched on in parallel with another. This was the power plant on Raushskaya Embankment (now the 1st MOGES), which had been operating in Moscow since 1897. In 1915, at a meeting on the problems of using coal and peat near Moscow, the director of the Elektroperedacha station, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, made a report. His report already contained all those main principles of energy construction, which five years later became the basis of the future GOELRO plan.
As energy construction in Russia grew, experts became increasingly convinced that the country needed a unified national program that would link the development of industry in the regions with the development of the energy base, as well as with the electrification of transport and housing and communal services. At electrical congresses, resolutions were repeatedly adopted on the national importance of electricity supply, on the need to build large power plants near fuel deposits and in river basins and to connect these stations to each other using a developed power transmission network.
However, it cannot be said that the Russian government authorities reacted in any way to these resolutions, while energy construction sometimes caused very peculiar reactions among the local public. For example, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky’s development of the problem of using the Volga’s hydro resources in the Samarskaya Luka area became the reason for the following letter:
"Confidential. Desk No. 4, No. 685. Dispatch. Italy, Sorrento, province of Naples. To the Count of the Russian Empire, His Excellency Orlov-Davydov. Your Excellency, calling upon you God's grace, I ask you to accept the archpastoral notification: on your hereditary ancestral possessions are the floodlights of the Samara Technical Societies, together with the apostate engineer Krzhizhanovsky, are designing the construction of a dam and a large power station. Show mercy with your arrival to preserve God's peace in the Zhiguli domains and destroy sedition in its conception. With true archpastoral respect, I have the honor to be your Excellency’s protector and worshiper. Diocesan Bishop, the Most Reverend Simeon, Bishop Samara and Stavropol. June 9, 1913."
All this taken together could not but influence the mood of electrical engineers and, perhaps, became one of the reasons that many of them, including Alliluyev, Krasin, Krzhizhanovsky, Smidovich and others, were involved in the revolutionary shaking of the country. Moreover, the leaders of the world proletariat turned out to be much more perspicacious in this regard than the authorities of tsarist Russia and foresaw the key role that electricity was to play in the social transformation of society.
STORY
One of those political figures who correctly assessed this role was V.I. Lenin, a great enthusiast for the electrification of Russia. Based on Marx's thesis about capitalism as the era of steam, Lenin believed that socialism would become the era of electricity. Back in 1901, he wrote: “...at the present time, when the transmission of electrical energy over distances is possible... there are absolutely no technical obstacles to the fact that the treasures of science and art, accumulated over centuries, can be used by the entire population, distributed more or less evenly countrywide". Isn’t it wonderful that this was said many decades before the advent of not only the Internet, but also the computer and even television! It is possible, however, that Lenin saw in electrification not only a social, but also a purely political task: he hoped to conquer the peasantry with its help. After all, light in Russia, since pre-Christian times, has always been associated with truth and world order, and it is clear how the remote village that received the light should have treated the one who brought it.
Be that as it may, when solving the problem that arose after October 1917 of restoring and developing the country’s economy according to a unified state plan, Lenin put electrification at the forefront. He became, as Krzhizhanovsky put it, “a great pusher for the cause of electrification.”
By the end of 1917, a catastrophic fuel situation had developed in the country (especially in Moscow and Petrograd): Baku oil and Donetsk coal were unavailable. And already in November, Lenin, at the suggestion of engineer I. I. Radchenko, who had 5 years of experience working at the Elektroperedacha peat power plant, gave instructions on the construction of the Shaturskaya - also peat - power plant near Moscow. At the same time, he showed interest in the work of G. O. Graftio on the design of the Volkhov hydroelectric station near Petrograd and the possibility of using military personnel in its construction.
And in January 1918, the First All-Russian Conference of Electrical Industry Workers took place, proposing the creation of a body to manage energy construction. Such a body - Elektrostroy - appeared in May 1918, and at the same time the Central Electrical Engineering Council (Central Electrical Engineering Council) was formed - the successor and continuator of the All-Russian electrical engineering congresses. It included the largest Russian power engineers: I. G. Alexandrov, A. V. Winter, G. O. Graftio, R. E. Klasson, A. G. Kogan, T. R. Makarov, V. F. Mitkevich, N.K. Polivanov, M.A. Chatelain and others.
What made them - the flower of Russian electrical engineering science and by no means participants or even supporters of revolutionary events - interact with the Bolsheviks? There were several reasons for this. The first and, probably, the main one was, apparently, patriotism - concern for the good of the country and people, the belief that the development of science and technology can lead to the progress of society. Skeptical of the ideology of the new government and categorically rejecting its methods, they nevertheless came to the conclusion that opposing it would bring harm to Russia.
Another reason was also important. Technocrats, who for many years did not have the opportunity to bring their ideas to life, now have this opportunity. The new government consistently and firmly demonstrated its interest and political will in this.
And finally, not least, apparently, purely pragmatic considerations played a role. In conditions of devastation, lack of the most necessary products and living conditions, as well as persecution, searches and confiscations, power engineers who collaborated with the Soviet government found themselves in a completely different world. They were provided with living space, rations, social benefits, and G. O. Graftio, for example, thanks to Lenin’s personal intercession, was spared from the excessively close attention of the security officers.
In December 1918, the CES organized a Bureau to develop a general plan for the electrification of the country, and about a year later, Krzhizhanovsky sent Lenin his article “Tasks of Electrification of Industry” and received an enthusiastic response to it. And also a request to write about this problem popularly - in order to captivate “the masses of workers and class-conscious peasants” with it.
The brochure, written literally in a week, was immediately published, and a couple of weeks later the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense approved, and Lenin signed, the regulations on the GOELRO Commission - the State Plan for the Electrification of Russia. The commission consisted of 19 people:
G. M. Krzhizhanovsky - chairman,
A. I. Eisman - Deputy Chairman,
A. G. Kogan, B. I. Ugrimov - comrades of the chairman,
N. N. Vashkov, N. S. Sinelnikov - deputy comrades of the chairman,
G. O. Graftio, L. V. Dreyer, G. D. Dubelir, K. A. Krug, M. Ya. Lapirov-Skoblo, B. E. Stunkel, M. A. Shatelain, E. Ya. Shulgin - members, D. I. Komarov, R. A. Ferman, L. K. Ramzin, A. I. Tairov, A. A. Shvarts - deputy members.
Less than a year later, in December 1920, the plan was developed and approved at an extended meeting of the GOELRO Commission. (By the way, it took place in the very building where the editorial office of the journal “Science and Life” is now located and on which there is a corresponding sign.)
The plan represented a unified program for the revival and development of the country and its specific industries - primarily heavy industry, and considered the maximum possible increase in labor productivity to be the main means. And moreover, not only through intensification and rationalization, but also through the replacement of the muscular efforts of people and animals with mechanical energy. And this program especially emphasized the promising role of electrification in the development of industry, construction, transport and agriculture. The directive proposed using mainly local fuel, including low-value coal, peat, shale, gas and wood.
The restoration of the destroyed economy was considered in the plan only as part of the program - the basis for subsequent reconstruction, reorganization and development of the country's national economy. In total, it was designed for ten and fifteen years with strict adherence to the deadlines for specific work. And it was developed in extremely detail: it determined the trends, structure and proportions of development not only for each industry, but also for each region.
For the first time in Russia, the authors of the GOELRO plan proposed its economic zoning based on considerations of the proximity of sources of raw materials (including energy), the existing territorial division and specialization of labor, as well as convenient and well-organized transport. As a result, seven main economic regions were identified: Northern, Central Industrial, Southern, Volga, Ural, Caucasian, as well as Western Siberia and Turkestan.
From the very beginning, it was assumed that the GOELRO plan would be introduced by law, and centralized economic management should contribute to its successful implementation. In fact, it became the first state plan in Russia and laid the foundation for the entire subsequent planning system in the USSR, anticipating the theory, methodology and problems of future five-year plans. And in June 1921, the GOELRO Commission was abolished, and on its basis, the State General Planning Commission was created - Gosplan, which from that time led the entire economy of the country for many decades.
HISTORY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN AND THE FATE OF ITS AUTHORS AND IMPLEMENTERS
The so-called “A” program of the GOELRO plan, which provided for the restoration of the country’s destroyed energy sector, was completed already in 1926. And by 1931, the minimum ten-year period of the program, all planned indicators for energy construction were exceeded. Instead of the projected 1,750 kW of new capacity, 2,560 kW of new capacity was put into operation, and electricity production almost doubled in the last year alone. By the end of the fifteen-year period, by 1935, Soviet energy had reached the level of world standards and took third place in the world, after the United States and Germany.
The success of the plan was most clearly manifested in the gradual elimination of imported supplies of equipment - due to the growth of power engineering in this industry. If in 1923 the Elektrosila plant produced only the first four hydrogenerators with a capacity of 7.5 MW each for the Volkhov hydroelectric power station, then by the mid-30s such large enterprises as Elektrozavod (Moscow), Dynamo (Moscow) were operating in the country ), "Red Kotelshchik" (Taganrog), Turbogenerator Plant named after S. M. Kirov (Kharkov). And starting from 1934, the USSR no longer needed imports for energy construction.
The construction itself proceeded at a pace unprecedented in history. And the reason for this was not only the enthusiasm of the people, which we were told about before, but also a number of very shadowy aspects of the implementation of the GOELRO plan. A significant part of the builders were not only soldiers drafted into the so-called “construction labor army,” but also prisoners. And to finance the program, treasures of Russian culture were widely sold. And also grain - and this in conditions when famine was raging in many regions of the country, and primarily in the Volga region and Ukraine. And in general, for many years, all social sectors of the economy were financed only on a residual basis, which is why the people in the USSR lived extremely difficult.
Without this, the plan could hardly be completed on time.
As for the help of foreign specialists, these were mainly the so-called chief engineers and consultants, with the help of whom the installation and commissioning of equipment supplied from abroad was carried out.
Sometimes the habits and ambitions of representatives of Western companies conflicted with the interests of domestic energy developers. Western pedantry, the desire to strictly follow the letter and paragraph of agreements, regulations, standards and instructions, was difficult to coexist with the Soviet mentality, focused on the speedy commissioning of facilities. Foreigners were unaccustomed to extracurricular and three-shift work, ignoring sleep, rest, and timely nutrition; they lived by their own rules and routine. It happened that this led to difficult and even emergency situations.
During the construction of the Shterovskaya State District Power Plant, deep cracks formed in its brand new concrete foundation during testing. It turned out that pedantic chief installers from England took breaks from work regularly and at regular intervals. And the concrete at the levels to which it was supposed to be supplied during these pauses had time to dry out, and as a result it did not set well and cracked at the first vibration. After a lawsuit was brought against the English company, it had to redo the work.
But for the most part, foreigners worked honestly and efficiently and received government gratitude and gifts in addition to their salaries. And some - such as, for example, the chief consultant of Dneprostroy, Colonel Cooper - were awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
By the mid-30s, the need for foreign assistance had disappeared, but a number of foreign specialists did not want to leave the USSR and remained with us until the war. There were also those who did not have time to leave, and the fate of many of them turned out to be tragic. Some were repressed by our authorities: they were exiled to Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Far East, others were interned in Germany and were subjected to repression there.
The fates of the members of the GOELRO Commission also turned out differently. All of them belonged to the country's energy elite, and the positions they occupied by the early 1930s corresponded to the upper steps in the hierarchy of the Soviet party and economic nomenklatura. I. G. Alexandrov - chief engineer of Dneprostroy, and then a member of the Presidium of the State Planning Committee, A. V. Winter - director of Dneprostroy, and then the manager of Glavenergo, G. M. Krzhizhanovsky - chairman of the State Planning Committee, etc. Many of them were used by the people very popular
Perhaps this is what prompted Stalin to remove electrifiers from leadership work and bring his own creatures to the forefront: A. A. Andreev, L. M. Kaganovich, V. V. Kuibyshev, G. K. Ordzhonikidze and others. And then he transferred many of the main creators of the GOELRO plan to the system of the Academy of Sciences: bypassing all the necessary intermediate steps, I. G. Alexandrov, B. E. Vedereev, A. V. Winter, G. O. Graftio, G. M. became academicians. Krzhizhanovsky. Not everyone, however, had such a fortunate fate. Of the leadership core of the GOELRO Commission alone, five people were repressed: N. N. Vashkov, G. D. Dubellir, G. K. Riesenkamf, B. E. Stunkel, B. I. Ugrimov.
PREDECESSORS AND FOLLOWERS
Among the myths that exist regarding the GOELRO plan is that it allegedly does not represent an original development, but is copied from the book of the German professor of political economy K. Ballod, published in Germany in 1898 and called “The State of the Future, Production and Consumption in a Socialist state". Domestic electrifiers were, of course, very familiar with this book and used it when developing the GOELRO plan. But, firstly, this material itself is just a desk project, quite abstract, and the question of its implementation has never been and could not be raised. Secondly, Russian scientific personnel did not lag behind foreign ones, and in some respects - including in the matter of building an economy based on energy - they were even ahead of them. And, thirdly, and this is the most important thing, the nature and raw materials of Russia, its territory, economy, demography, national mentality and even the monetary system are so unique that they exclude the very possibility of completely borrowing, much less copying, any specific programs .
Therefore, we can safely say that both in theoretical and practical aspects, the GOELRO plan is original and has no analogues in world practice. On the contrary: its uniqueness, attractiveness and practical reality have led to attempts to copy it by the leading countries of the world. In the period 1923-1931, electrification programs appeared in the USA (developed by Fran Baum), Germany (Oscar Miller), England (the so-called Weyer Commission), France (engineers Velem, Duval, Lavanchy, Mative and Molyar), as well as Poland, Japan etc. But they all ended in failure at the planning and feasibility stage.
RESULTS
The GOELRO plan played a huge role in the life of our country: without it, it would hardly have been possible to bring the USSR into the ranks of the most industrially developed countries in the world in such a short time. The implementation of this plan shaped, in fact, the entire domestic economy and still largely determines it.
The drawing up and implementation of the GOELRO plan became possible solely due to a combination of many objective and subjective factors: the considerable industrial and economic potential of pre-revolutionary Russia, the high level of the Russian scientific and technical school, the concentration in one hand of all economic and political power, its strength and will, as well as the traditional conciliar-communal mentality of the people and their obedient and trusting attitude towards the supreme rulers.
The GOELRO plan and its implementation proved the high efficiency of the state planning system in conditions of strictly centralized government and predetermined the development of this system for many decades.
The sacrifices made by the Soviet people for the implementation of the GOELRO plan were enormous. To forget about the present day for the sake of the future - such was the pathos of the system that gave birth to this plan and ensured its implementation. Was the goal worth such sacrifices? - our descendants will have to answer this question.
L. B. KRASIN - CREATOR AND DESTROYER
A feature of the Russian energy community at the beginning of the twentieth century was the involvement of a number of energy engineers in the revolutionary movement. G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, I. I. Radchenko, P. G. Smidovich, S. Ya. Alliluyev and many others, who raised the economy of Soviet Russia from ruins in the 20s, actually restored what they themselves had broken .
But, perhaps, the most striking figure in this regard was L. B. Krasin - a talented engineer and an excellent professional, a brilliant speaker, a lover of life and a conqueror of women’s hearts, a courageous and convinced man, a statesman who dreamed of the greatness of Russia, he directed all his strength time and ability to destroy his “beloved Motherland to the point of tears.”
Krasin always used his engineering activities and official position in the interests of the Social Democrats, and then the Bolsheviks, and, moreover, their most radical wing. For example, the Bibi-Heybat thermal power plant (Baku), where he worked as deputy director since 1900, immediately became a place of work for a number of party activists (S. Ya. Alliluyev, A. S. Enukidze and others) and a cover for a printing house that printed leaflets, proclamations and the Iskra newspaper. Krasin showed exceptional abilities in raising funds for this printing house: for example, he organized a whole series of charity concerts with the participation of V.F. Komissarzhevskaya, which took place in the mansion of the chief of the Baku police.
Then Krasin moved to Orekhovo-Zuevo in 1904 and headed there, at the invitation of the manufacturer S.T. Morozov, the construction of a factory thermal power plant. Almost immediately after his arrival, an underground printing house arose in this quiet corner and literally flooded Moscow and the surrounding regions with its products.
Since 1905, Krasin held the position of leading engineer at the electric company "Society of 1886" (St. Petersburg), while simultaneously heading the "Combat Technical Group" of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP. And in 1907, he, being the chief treasurer of the party, organized the robbery of a cash-in-transit crew in Tiflis by the militant Kamo. The stolen 500-ruble bills were transported to St. Petersburg and stored in the service safes of the 1886 Society and boiler rooms of city thermal power plants.
Having subsequently moved to a management position at the Siemens-Schuckert company and rising there to the position of general manager of the Russian branch, Krasin hid escaped political prisoners in this company, supplied them with forged documents, supervised a series of bank robberies and the printing of counterfeit banknotes.
His post-revolutionary activities were no less decisive. It was Krasin who prepared the decree on the refusal of Soviet Russia to pay the debts of Tsarist Russia. And in his last years, as People’s Commissar of Foreign Trade, he obtained imported equipment for the GOELRO plan, and in general tried to replenish the state treasury by any means. Including through the sale of treasures of the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery.
L. K. RAMZIN. TRAGEDY OF A SCIENTIST
One of the largest heating engineers of the 20th century, L.K. Ramzin, had no political preferences since his youth. He was only interested in science. In 1914, after graduating from the Imperial Technical School (now Moscow State Technical University named after N. E. Bauman), he was left with him for scientific and pedagogical activities. Less than five years had passed before Ramzin’s name began to be mentioned in the same breath as such famous Russian heating engineers as V.I. Grinevetsky and K.V. Kirsch.
Ramzin was attracted to work on the GOELRO plan solely because of his professional qualities, and his contribution to this plan was extremely significant. And in 1921, Ramzin, on the recommendation of Lenin, became a member of the State Planning Committee, at the same time heading the newly created All-Russian Thermal Engineering Institute (VTI). The institute under his leadership developed rapidly, and the scientist himself conducted successful research on his main brainchild - a direct-flow steam boiler designed to use cheap fuel instead of high-quality fuel. It seemed that a brilliant scientific future awaited Ramzin, but life decreed otherwise.
At the end of the 20s, several political processes inspired by Vyshinsky and Krylenko took place in the country, the victims of which were the technical intelligentsia. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, as industrialization progressed, the role of white-collar workers increased, and at the same time their independence from government increased. The authorities did not want to tolerate this. And secondly, by this time - due to outdated and worn-out equipment - the number of industrial accidents had sharply increased, especially in the coal industry. There was no money to update the technical fleet in the country, and the authorities did not consider it necessary to admit their mistakes in the country’s industrial development strategy. It was necessary to urgently find the culprit of all the troubles, and they found him: wrecking engineers, “specialists,” the technical intelligentsia.
The most high-profile of them was the “Industrial Party” trial, which involved eight people: MVTU professor and VTI director L.K. Ramzin, chairman of the Gosplan section and professor of the Air Force Academy I.A. Kalinnikov, chairman of the Gosplan section V.A. Larichev , Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of the Supreme Economic Council Professor N.F. Chernavsky, Chairman of the Board of the Scientific Research Textile Institute Professor A.A. Fedotov, Technical Director of Organic Textiles S.V. Kupriyanov, Scientific Secretary of the VTI V.I. Ochkin and engineer of the All-Union Textile Syndicate K. V. Sitnin.
It is unknown what measures of influence and to what extent were applied to Ramzin, but his “confessions” became the basis for the subsequent indictment. Five were sentenced to 10 years in prison, three to 8 years. All of them, except Razmin, died in the camps. As for himself, he got the opportunity to continue his scientific work, albeit behind barbed wire. This was the first experience of those very “sharashkas” in which Tupolev and Korolev, Timofeev-Resovsky, Solzhenitsyn and thousands of others with names not so well known subsequently worked.
At the end of 1931, Ramzin completed his work on creating a prototype of a once-through boiler, and tests were completed a few months later. By order of the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry G.K. Ordzhonikidze, the Design Bureau for Direct-Flow Boiler Construction was created. It was headed by Ramzin, whose regime was gradually softened, and in 1936 the scientist was released completely. Subsequently, Ramzin headed one of the departments of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, and only consulted on the production of boilers.
After the trial, colleagues began to shun Ramzin; many did not shake hands with him. All this was aggravated by the fact that the authorities (also a kind of sadism!) constantly showered him with awards: the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree, the award of the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences without defending a dissertation. All this did not please Ramzin. He never smiled again, walked with a stoop and his head pulled into his shoulders, aging prematurely. When, at the insistence of the Kremlin, Ramzin was nominated as a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, he received 24 votes “against” and only one “for” in a secret ballot. In 1948 - shortly after his unnoticed 60th birthday - Ramzin died. Another life, albeit seemingly prosperous, but in reality crippled by the regime.
On December 22, 1921, the GOELRO plan was adopted.
Ask a modern schoolchild - what is GOELRO?
Yeah, the results will be the same as with the question “who is Rocinante?”
Meanwhile, if it weren’t for GOELRO... who knows what Russia would be like today (and would it be in general)?
You and I would definitely not exist.
I hope everyone has read Bradbury's "And Thunder Came"?
So what am I talking about?
To understand what GOELRO was, you must first find out what came before it.
A small but informative post on this topic was written by a fellow energy engineer frudor
:
Development of the electric power industry in pre-revolutionary Russia.
Power stations “Electrotransmission”
At the dawn of the domestic electric power industry in pre-revolutionary Russia, there was no planning, there was poor industrial development, and agriculture significantly prevailed over all other industries. All this legitimately had a negative impact on the development of this very complex and important electric power industry.
We can say that the electric power industry was then in its infancy. There were fragmented small utility and factory installations, handicraft operated and operating with very low efficiency. As a rule, stations were built to serve a single enterprise or a small group of consumers located in close proximity to the source of power supply. Each power plant had its own power grid, which had no connections with the networks of other power plants, even in such large cities as St. Petersburg and Moscow. In addition, both the level and type (DC, AC) of voltage, and frequency (20, 40 or 50 Hz) in different networks were different. There were both single-phase and three-phase networks. The transmission of electricity over distances was considered by the owners of power plants (who were most often foreigners) exclusively in a narrowly commercial direction. The energy industry at that time was developing very chaotically and was more of an experimental and trial nature within the country. There were no uniform norms and standards for this still new industry.
The main energy centers of that time were St. Petersburg, Moscow and Baku - areas with the most developed industry. At all ten stations of these cities, about 170,000 kW was installed in 1913, i.e., approximately 16.5% of the total capacity of all electrical stations in Russia. But even at these most powerful installations, which can only conditionally be subsumed under the modern concept of regional stations, there was essentially no centralized supply of energy to consumers. The stations operated in isolation, sometimes differing in basic electrical parameters. For example, until 1914, Moscow was supplied with electricity from two stations - the “Joint-Stock Company for Electric Lighting of 1886” and "Tram". Both stations were of three-phase voltage: the first had a voltage of 2.2 and 6.6 kV, at a frequency of 50 Hz, the second - 6.6 kV at 25 Hz. There was no parallel operation of stations. At the time of 1913, Russia had about 109 km of overhead power lines with voltages above 10 kV.
In 1912, construction began on the first regional power plant in Russia, “Electroperedacha” (now Klasson State District Power Plant) with a capacity of 15,000 kW. It was built in Bogorodsk and was intended to cover the increased load of Moscow. The station was put into operation in 1914. The double-circuit line "Electric Transmission" built in connection with this - Moscow (to the Izmailovskaya substation), with a voltage of 70 kV and a length of 70 km, as well as a step-down substation at the end of the line - was the first step in the construction of networks in pre-revolutionary Russia and the parallel operation of stations. At the same time, a 33 kV network was built in the substation area and distributed electricity to a number of factories and factories.
This was the first station that can be classified as a regional station. Further construction of regional stations and networks began only after the revolution, on the basis of a unified plan for the electrification of the country. However, even then the technical community pointed out the advantages of regional stations and the enormous prospects for electrification of industry.
And against the backdrop of all this, the young, hungry and cold Republic of the Soviets, which had not yet recovered from the civil war, decided to implement the “State Plan for the Electrification of Russia” - as part of the abbreviation GOELRO stands for.
In fact, GOELRO is "State Commission for Electrification of Russia".
What did the GOELRO plan include?
In 1920, in less than 1 year (during the civil war and intervention), the government under the leadership of Lenin developed a long-term plan for the electrification of the country, for which, in particular, it was created Electrification Plan Commission under the leadership of G. M. Krzhizhanovsky. About 200 scientists and engineers were involved in the work of the commission.
In December 1920, the plan developed by the commission was approved by the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets, and a year later it was approved by the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
GOELRO was a development plan not just the energy sector, but the entire economy
.
It provided for the construction of enterprises that would provide these construction sites with everything necessary, as well as the rapid development of the electric power industry. And all this was tied to territorial development plans. Among them is the one founded in 1927.
As part of the plan, the development of the Kuznetsk coal basin also began, around which a new industrial area arose.
The GOELRO plan, designed for 10-15 years, provided for the construction of 30 regional power plants (20 thermal power plants and 10 hydroelectric power stations) with a total capacity of 1.75 million kW. Among others, it was planned to build Shterovskaya, Kashirskaya, Nizhny Novgorod, Shaturskaya and Chelyabinsk regional thermal power plants, as well as hydroelectric power stations - Nizhny Novgorod, Volkhovskaya (1926), Dnieper, two stations on the Svir River, etc. Within the framework of the project, economic zoning was carried out, transport and energy framework of the country's territory. The project covered eight main economic regions (Northern, Central Industrial, Southern, Volga, Ural, West Siberian, Caucasian and Turkestan). At the same time, the development of the country's transport system was carried out (transportation of old and construction of new railway lines, construction of the Volga-Don Canal).
The GOELRO project laid the foundation for industrialization in Russia.
The plan was largely exceeded by 1931.
Electricity production in 1932 compared to 1913 increased not 4.5 times, as planned, but almost 7 times: from 2 to 13.5 billion kWh.
Even... science fiction writers did not believe in the implementation of the plan!
GOELRO was so large-scale that the American English science fiction writer Herbert Wells, who visited Soviet Russia in 1920 and got acquainted with the plans... twirled his finger at his temple. Impossible - the science fiction writer gave a verdict.
“the implementation of such projects in Russia can only be imagined with the help of super imagination”
Lenin invited Wells to come in 10 years and see how the plan, which was designed for 10-15 years, was being implemented. Wells arrived in 1934 and was amazed that the plan was not only fulfilled, but also exceeded on a number of indicators.
