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. To him, enthusiasts of implementation in Russian life electricity and brought in 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 Christmas and New Year's holidays 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 Horse power 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 present, when transmission is possible 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.
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| 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 was copied from a book by a German professor 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 monetary system 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 a highly developed industry, 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, the transport and energy framework of the country's territory is highlighted. 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 benefits 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, all normative base, 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. At the construction of the Shterovskaya State District Power Plant in its brand new concrete foundation deep cracks formed 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. Special attention is devoted 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
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 major cities, like 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 in these most powerful installations, which can only conditionally be brought under modern concept Regarding regional stations, there was essentially no centralized energy supply 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 - “ Joint stock company electric lighting 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.
Comrade Lenin!
Over the last 3 days I have had the opportunity to read the collection “Plan for the Electrification of Russia. The disease helped (every cloud has a silver lining!). An excellent, well-written book. A masterful sketch of a truly unified and truly state economic plan without quotation marks. The only Marxist attempt in our time to bring economically backward Russia under the Soviet superstructure with a truly real and only possible technical and production base under current conditions.
Remember last year’s “plan” of Trotsky (his theses) for the “economic revival” of Russia based on the massive application of labor to the ruins of the pre-war industry of the unskilled peasant-working masses (the labor army). What squalor, what backwardness in comparison with the Goelro plan! A medieval handicraftsman who imagines himself to be an Ibsenian hero, called upon to “save” Russia with the ancient saga... And what are the dozens of “united plans” worth, appearing every now and then in our press to our shame - the childish babble of the preparers...
Or again: the philistine “realism” (actually Manilovism) of Rykov, still “criticizing” Goelro and mired head over heels in routine... My opinion:
1) don’t waste another minute chatting about the plan;
2) begin an immediate practical approach to the matter;
3) subordinate to the interests of this attack according to at least The scope of our work (1/3 will go to “current” needs) for the import of materials and people, restoration of enterprises, distribution work force, food delivery, organization of supply bases and supplies themselves, etc.
4) Since Goelro workers, despite all their good qualities, still lack healthy practicality (professorial impotence is felt in the articles), it is imperative to add people of living practice to their planning commission, acting on the principle of “convey execution”, “implement to deadline”, etc.
5) Oblige “Pravda”, “Izvestia”, especially “ Economic Life” to popularize the “Electrification Plan” both in general and in specifics relating to individual areas, remembering that there is only one “single economic plan” - this is the “electrification plan”, that all other “plans” are just chatter, empty and harmful.
Your Stalin
Written in March l921
First published in the book:
Stalin. Collection of articles for
fiftieth birthday.
M.-L., 1920
The VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers, Peasants, Red Army and Cossack Deputies took place in Moscow on December 22-29, 1920.
Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the entire country.V. I. Lenin.
The highest priority task after the proclamation of Soviet power was the restoration of the destroyed economy of the huge country. All of Russia was in the deepest political and economic crisis. Most industrial enterprises did not work due to lack of raw materials, energy and worn-out equipment. The tram stopped in 1918. Only particularly important industrial facilities and institutions were provided with electricity.
The government, headed by V.I. Lenin, it was necessary to urgently determine optimal strategy actions to restore and industrialize the national economy.
Discussion of the GOELRO plan
Group of creators of the GOELRO plan
The global scale of strategic goals required the involvement of the best minds in Russia to conduct a scrupulous macroeconomic analysis, search, justify and make the only correct decision on the strategy of application of forces. The attractive idea of electrification seemed to be the only optimal solution, but its implementation seemed absolutely fantastic if we take into account the state of the country's economy after two years of civil war and intervention. February 3, 1920, at the insistence of V.I. Lenin, the session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopts a resolution on the development of an electrification plan.
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 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 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, Gorky, 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.
Krzhizhanovsky G.M.
The brilliant scientist and practitioner Gleb Maximilianovich Krzhizhanovsky begins to form a team, and on February 21, 1920. The resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council "On the creation of an electrification commission" was adopted. The regulations on the commission were approved by the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense on March 24, 1920. and thus the “State Commission for Electrification of Russia - GOELRO” was born. In the work of the commission chaired by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky is actively working with outstanding figures of science and technology in Russia: prof. G.O. Traftio, Eng. A.G. Kogan, prof. E.Ya. Shulgin, prof. A.A. Gorev, prof. I.G. Alexandrov, prof. OK. Ramzin, prof. K.A. Krug, Prof. M.A. Chatelain; prof. G.D. Dubellir, prof. B.I. Ugrimov, prof. A.I. Ugrimov, engineer M.Ya. Lapirov-Skoblo, engineer. B.E. Stunkel, M.A. Smirnov and many, many others. Over 200 leading specialists were involved in the development of a specific state plan for the revival of the Russian economy and industry based on electrification.
Memorial sign on house 24 on Myasnitskaya street, Moscow, where the GOELRO plan was developed
In a very short time, not at all simple conditions Russia in 1920, a professional team organized and completed an enormous amount of work. Statistical, technical and economic, geological and hydrological, mineralogical and mining, soil science, ethnographic, transport, industrial and agricultural data on the vast territories of the RSFSR were collected, processed, studied and deeply analyzed. In the works of the commission, these data are grouped into large regions: Southern, Central Industrial, Volga, Caucasian, Northern, Ural, Western Siberia and Turkestan. Analytical materials synthesized and summarized into a general summary.
Based on such in-depth analysis and linkage with the overall goals of the people economic construction Key aspects of the electrification project have been worked out in detail:
- electrification and state economic plan
- electrification and fuel supply
- electrification and water energy
- electrification and agriculture
- electrification and transport
- electrification and industry
The document is crowned by a specific program for the restoration and construction of power plants and power plants, consisting of sections A - restoration and expansion of the capacity of existing facilities, and B - construction of regional power plants (centrals).
Schematic map of Russia's electrification
The project provided for the construction of 30 power plants with a total capacity of 1.5 million kW, which made it possible to increase the power supply capacity of the regions by an order of magnitude compared to 1913. Tasks for the electrification of highways and key industrial facilities were separately spelled out. An assessment of the costs of implementing an industrialization program based on electrification was made and the document provides an enlarged budget for this global project: 17 billion rubles. (gold) intended for the most part for the development of large-scale industry and transport, including 1.2 billion rubles. in the section of electrical construction. The electrification program for 10-15 years is plotted on the R.S.F.S.R. map, which makes it possible to visualize the results of the work in terms of covering the country’s territory with an area of reliable power supply.
The proceedings of the commission on December 22, 1920, the opening day of the VIII All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies, were published in the form of a separate volume. Approved by the VIII All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies, the "GOELRO Plan" was actively refined locally and in individual details during 1921. The results of this great job were summed up at the VIII All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress in October l921, at which individual aspects of the plan were worked out in detail based on 218 reports.
L.K. speaking Ramzin
The congress approved the GOELRO plan, indicating that “The electrification plan of the State Commission for Electrification of Russia, which united the best scientific and technical forces of the country for its work, in general, is the correct scheme according to which the state, planned economy should be built. Attaching particular importance to the development of the mining industry industry, the congress recognizes that the network of regional stations proposed by GOELRO should be considered as the main one."
On December 21, 1921, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the "Decree on the electrification of the R.S.F.S.R."
Only the implementation of this plan (1,750 MW at 30 power plants) created the basis for the economic development of young Soviet Russia. After all, before the revolution, the capacity of all Russian power plants was only 1192 MW. In 1916, they produced 2575 million kW/hour of electricity. The unit capacity of power plants reached 55 thousand kW, the mastered voltage was only 70 kV. Moreover, the energy sector was based on imported equipment. And coal was imported from England! All Electricity of the net had a length of only 100 km. The power grid of the Kazan province was 10 km. In 1914, the first power transmission line with a voltage of 70 kV was built in Russia from a power station near Moscow to Moscow. Electricity consumption was only 12.8 kWh per year per capita! And only 20% of the country’s residents enjoyed the benefits of electricity. In general, Tsarist Russia was in eighth place in the world in terms of electricity production.
Transformer point made in Belgium. 1910
And now accepted new Russian government The GOELRO plan provided for major changes in the existing technical policy for energy development. He aimed the economy at using exclusively local coal and peat + hydropower. The development of Russian industry was focused on the creation of its own energy equipment. No country of that time could have foreseen such a bold strategy.
The GOELRO plan was the first state plan for the development of the national economy based on electrification. He outlined the construction of 30 regional power plants in the central part of the country (20 thermal and 10 hydroelectric power stations) within 10-15 years, the creation of a large machine industry on this basis, and the electrification of railways.For example, in Petrograd and the surrounding area, the GOELRO plan planned to build the Volkhov, Verkhne- and Nizhnesvirskaya hydroelectric power stations, and in the suburbs - a thermal power plant on peat. In the Moscow economic region, Novomoskovskaya and Kashirskaya power plants began to be built on coal located near Moscow, as well as Shaturskaya on peat.
To supply electricity to the cities of the Volga region, it was decided to build a hydroelectric power station near Volgograd, Saratov, Syzran, and Kazan. Electricity supply to the industrial Urals was planned to be based on local coal. It was planned to build Kizilovskaya, Chelyabinsk, and Yegorshinskaya thermal power plants.
Along with the construction of power plants, the GOELRO plan provided for the construction of a network of high-voltage power lines. Already in 1922, the country's first power transmission line with a voltage of 110 kV was put into operation - Kashirskaya GRES, Moscow, and in 1933 an even more powerful line - 220 kV - Nizhnesvirskaya HPP, Leningrad, was put into operation. During the same period, the unification of the power plants of Gorky and Ivanovo began along the networks, and the creation of the energy system of the Urals began.
The implementation of the GOELRO Plan required titanic efforts, the exertion of all the forces and resources of the country. Already by 1926, program “A” of the electrical construction plan was completed, and by 1930 the main indicators of the GOELRO Plan under program “B” were achieved." By the end of 1935, i.e. the 15th anniversary of the GOELRO plan, instead of 30 planned, 40 regional power plants were built with a total capacity of 4.5 million kW. Russia had a powerful, extensive network of high-voltage power lines. The country had 6 electrical systems with an annual capacity of over 1 billion kWh.
The overall indicators of the country's industrialization also significantly exceeded the design targets and the USSR took 1st place in Europe and 2nd place in the world in terms of industrial production.
COMMUNISM -
IN AND. Lenin
GOELRO was created in February 1920 - 95 years ago.
This is the first unified state long-term plan for the development of the national economy of the Soviet Republic.
How it all began
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 an engineer who had 5 years of experience at the Elektroperedacha peat power plant I.I. Radchenko gave instructions on construction near Moscow Shaturskaya (also peat) power plant. At the same time, he showed interest in the works of G.O. Graftio by design Volkhovskaya 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 it was formed CES(Central Electrotechnical Council) is the successor and successor of the All-Russian Electrotechnical 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, power engineers who collaborated with the Soviet government found themselves in more comfortable conditions. They were provided with living space, rations, and social benefits.
In December 1918 CES organized a Bureau to develop a general plan for the electrification of the country, and about a year later Krzhizhanovsky sent Lenin my article "Challenges of industrial electrification" And received an enthusiastic response. 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. In 1920 , in less than 1 year (in conditions of the Civil War and intervention!!! ), government under Lenin developed a long-term plan for the electrification of the country, for which a Commission was created to develop an electrification plan under the leadership of G.M. Krzhizhanovsky. About 200 scientists and engineers . In December 1920the plan developed by the commission was approved by the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets, a year later it was approved by the IX All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
The GOELRO plan, designed for 10-15 years, provided for the construction 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 Chelyabinskayaregional thermal power plants, as well as hydroelectric power stations - Nizhegorodskaya, Volkhovskaya(1926), Dnieper, two stations on the Svir River andetc. Within the framework of the project, economic zoning was carried out, and the transport and energy framework of the country's territory was identified. 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 the industrialization of Russia. The plan was largely exceeded by 1931. Electricity production in 1932compared to 1913, it increased not 4.5 times, as planned, but almost 7 times: from 2 to 13.5 billion kWh.
L. SHMATKO. LENIN AT THE GOELRO MAP AT THE 8TH CONGRESS OF SOVIETS
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. 
Opening of the Shaturskaya Thermal Power Plant. Moscow province. 1925. Photo by A. Shaikhet.
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. The GOELRO plan was exceeded for the extraction of coal, oil, peat, iron and manganese ore, and the production of cast iron and steel.
Since 1947, the USSR has been ranked 1st in Europe and 2nd in the world in electricity production. The USSR operates the most powerful hydroelectric power stations in the world (Krasnoyarsk with a capacity of 5 million kW. Bratskaya named after the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution - 4.1 million kW. Volzhskaya named after the 22nd Congress of the CPSU - 2.53 million kW) and thermal power plants of 2.4 million kW each (Pridneprovskaya, Konakovskaya, Zmievskaya, etc.) and the most distant high-voltage power lines with voltages of 500 and 750 kV AC and 800 kV DC.
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.
Electricity was virtually unknown in villages before the revolution. Large landowners installed small power plants, but their numbers were few.
| 1913 | 1917 | 1927 | |
| Number of power plants | 33 | 75 | 858 |
| Installed power (kW) | 712 | 1036 | 18 500 |
| Serviced agricultural settlements | — | — | 89 739 |
| Current consumption (thousands) kWh) | 427 | 622 | 10 000 |
Heads of the GOELRO Commission:
G.M. Krzhizhanovsky- Chairman (1872-1959)
A. I. Eisman - Deputy Chairman
A.G. Kogan- Comrade of the Chairman (1865-1929)
B.I. Ugrimov- Comrade of the Chairman (1872-1940)
N. N. Vashkov - Deputy Comrade Chairman (1874-1953)
N. S. Sinelnikov - Deputy Comrade Chairman
In 1920, a famous science fiction writer visited Russia H.G. Wells
. 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:
“The fact 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 the short man in the Kremlin has such a gift.”
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.
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 - Power Engineer's Day.
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...
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Science and life, GOELRO PLAN. MYTHS AND REALITY