Goelro decoding of the USSR. History of Goelro. Russia electrification map

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

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 Lenin’s recommendation, 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.

The famous phrase about “electrification of the entire country” was not invented by Lenin. And the pride of the Bolshevik GOELRO plan - the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station was designed before October. The Revolution and Civil War only delayed the electrification of Russia

There were still 40 years left before the ceremonial inclusion in the village of Kashino near Moscow. This, however, did not stop enthusiasts of the introduction of electricity into Russian life from lighting hitherto unseen electric lamps on the Liteiny Bridge in St. Petersburg in 1880 - after all, the innovators did not know that in the Soviet future the Kashin light bulb would be declared the first in Russia. Something completely different hindered them: the monopoly of the owners of gas lamps in the imperial capital - they had the exclusive right to illuminate St. Petersburg. But for some reason, Liteiny Bridge fell out of this monopoly. A ship with an electrical installation was brought up to it, which lit the lanterns.

Their Lordships

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 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.

Three years later, in 1886, the Electric Lighting Society was founded in St. Petersburg, uniting scientists and businessmen in the cause of “electrification of the entire country” (these “Leninist” words were already written down in the charter). The majority of the company's shareholders were foreigners - primarily the same Siemens concern - but the technical personnel were Russian. All the future creators of the GOELRO plan worked here - Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Leonid Krasin, Robert Klasson and others. Even then, the first projects for large-scale construction of power plants and transmission lines were being developed.

Although the Russian Empire noticeably lagged behind Western countries in the field of energy, the development of the industry at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries proceeded by leaps and bounds. At the end of the century, the first thermal power plants with a capacity of more than 5 megawatts were built - Raushskaya in Moscow and Okhtenskaya in St. Petersburg. But the matter was not limited to the capitals - the country's first three-phase power station appeared in 1893 in Novorossiysk. Three-phase current, first used by Russian engineer Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky in Germany, made both the generation of electricity and its transmission over long distances much cheaper. By 1896, the number of power plants had grown to 35. The efficiency of such stations was close to 25% (in modern combined cycle power plants it reaches 60%). All of them belonged to private owners, including 12 - the Electric Lighting Society.

The company’s first Moscow contract—on the inclusion of a block to illuminate the shopping arcades of the Merchant Postnikov Passage (this building now houses the Yermolova Theater)—was concluded in 1887. The following year, the first power plant in the current capital was launched (now this is the premises of the Small Manege).

In 1899, member firms of the Society attracted leading banks to finance electrification work, founding the Great Russian Banking Syndicate. Despite the name, there was only 12% of domestic capital - the rest was invested by foreigners. The syndicate was mainly involved in the construction of tram routes and the electrification of railways. The first Russian tram was launched in 1892 in Kyiv, and it appeared in Moscow seven years later. Later, the City Duma approved the metro construction plan. The defeat of our troops in the war with Japan had a positive impact on the development of energy - Russian ships began to be equipped with electric power equipment. And of course, one city after another switched to electric lighting. True, slowly - even in Moscow before the revolution there was no electricity in 70% of residential buildings.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the scientific support for the electrification of pre-revolutionary Russia. Higher educational institutions financed from the treasury produced engineering personnel for the industry. With the support of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, electrical engineering congresses were regularly held - from 1900 to 1913, eight of them took place. At the congresses, both specific plans for the construction of individual facilities and strategic prospects were discussed. Among the latter, the most ambitious was the project developed at the beginning of the twentieth century by the great scientist Vladimir Vernadsky. It provided for the creation by 1920 of a wide network of power plants throughout the country, the energy of which could power new industrial areas. Actually, it was these ideas that formed the basis of the future “Leninist” GOELRO plan.

Domestic science relied on the development of Russian entrepreneurship. Gradually, Russian entrepreneurs crowded out foreigners - especially after the outbreak of the First World War, when the Germans left the Russian market. The most vigorous activity was developed by the Baku oil industrialist Abram Gukasov, who became the leading manufacturer of electrical cables and the head of Ruskabel JSC. With his money, a large Dynamo plant was built in Moscow, producing electric motors and generators using Western technologies, but from local parts. At the same time, the Svetlana factory opened - the country's first manufacturer of electric lamps based on Edison's patents.

If in 1909 the share of Russian capital in the electrical engineering industry was 16.2%, then by 1914 it reached 30%. This was largely due to the customs and tariff war that then Finance Minister Witte launched in the 1890s with Germany. Without going into details, let’s say that the result of this war was the creation of such conditions when it turned out to be more profitable for German companies (namely, they were the leaders in power engineering at that time) to create production facilities in Russia than to import finished products here. In general, during the years of pre-war industrial growth, the increase in foreign investment in the energy industry was 63%, while Russian investment was 176%. The country's energy sector has been developing at a pace that is constantly outpacing the growth of the economy as a whole - 20-25% per year.

Just before the war, a power plant with a capacity of 9 megawatts was built in Bogorodsk (present-day Noginsk) near Moscow. At that time it was the largest in Russia, and in the world there were no more than 15 such “giants” (almost all in the USA, as the USA was then called). For the first time, it transmitted current through wires over a long distance - up to 100 km. It was planned to build several such power plants capable of supplying energy to Moscow, and in the future the entire Central region.

Russian inventors were thinking about developing the enormous hydropower resources. The first hydroelectric power station (then called a “water power plant”) with a capacity of 700 kilowatts was built on the Caucasian river Podkumok near the city of Essentuki in 1903. The second was built by monks on the Solovetsky Islands. In 1910, under an agreement with the American concern Westinghouse, the construction of the Volkhov hydroelectric power station began, the capacity of which was supposed to reach 20 megawatts. It was promised to be built by the same Siemens and the American company Westinghouse. And in 1912, many companies and banks united in a consortium to build a hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper rapids - the future Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station. The project was examined by German specialists; They also proposed to build a canal to bypass the future hydroelectric station, which would make the Dnieper navigable. Construction at an approximate cost of 600 million gold rubles was to begin in 1915. But he, like many other projects, was interrupted by the First World War.

The emergence of large power plants could change a lot in the Russian economy. But so far, almost all power plants were low-power, 10-20 kilowatts, and were built chaotically, without any plan. They were created at large enterprises or in cities. In the first case, they were built by the owners of the enterprises themselves, in the second - by joint-stock companies that sold electricity to city authorities. In a number of cases, city councils issued loans to companies for the construction of power plants in exchange for the supply of electricity at a cheaper price (for example, this happened in 1912 in Saratov). Very rarely did cities or even villages build small stations at their own expense.

In 1913, the capacity of all power plants in Russia reached 1 million 100 thousand kilowatts, and electricity generation - 2 billion kilowatt-hours. According to this indicator, Russia ranked eighth in the world, lagging behind not only the leading USA (there were already 60 billion), but even tiny Belgium.

And yet, electricity production in Russia grew faster than in all other countries except the States - by 20-25% per year. It is estimated that at this rate, by 1925 our country would have become the first in the world in this field.

Bright future

As you know, history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, and therefore it is pointless to say what would have happened if, instead of the GOELRO plan, the country had been given the opportunity to develop normally - without wars and revolutions. Moreover, this plan itself, without any exaggeration, is a reason for pride and a worthy contribution of our country to the history of world industrial policy.

The already mentioned Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Technological Institute and the author of the project for the Elektrodacha thermal power plant near Moscow, built in 1912, on the instructions of the party, infiltrated the St. Petersburg branch of the Electric Lighting Society in order to strengthen the Bolshevik cell. Then he transferred to the Moscow branch of the society. Party work, however, did not prevent Krzhizhanovsky from participating in the main work of society. And it was revolutionary - though not in the political, but in the economic sense. Krzhizhanovsky did not forget his work with leading Russian energy experts. Moreover, he was so carried away by plans for the electrification of Russia that he was able to infect his comrade of his youth with them, Lenin, with whom he created the Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class in the mid-1890s.

In December 1917, Krzhizhanovsky obtained a reception from the leader for two prominent members of the Illumination Society, Radchenko and Winter. They told the head of the new government about the existing plans for the electrification of the country and, most importantly, about their consonance with the plans of centralization of the national economy, which were close to the Bolsheviks. But then the Civil War began, after which in 1920 the country produced only 400 million kilowatt-hours of electricity - five times less than in the notorious 1913.

This meeting, however, remained in Lenin's memory. On February 21, 1920, Ilyich signed a decree on the creation of the State Commission for Electrification of Russia (GOELRO). The commission was headed, as you might guess, by Gleb Krzhizhanovsky (by the way, one of the very few people with whom Lenin was on first terms). 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. This volume in the form of a strategic plan was approved by the VIII All-Russian Congress of Soviets, which met at the Bolshoi Theater. The presentation of the report took place at the highest technical level for that time. To help delegates appreciate the enormity of the proposed project, a giant map of Russia was displayed on stage. And as the speaker - he was Krzhizhanovsky - spoke about certain objects on the map, multi-colored light bulbs lit up in the appropriate places. At the end, when all the lights came on, Moscow was plunged into darkness - all the power of the then capital’s energy supply went to the Bolshoi Theater, the buildings of the Cheka and the Kremlin.

GOELRO, despite its name, was a plan for the development of not just the energy sector, but the entire economy. It provided for the construction of not only generating capacities, but also enterprises that would provide these construction sites with everything necessary, as well as the rapid development of the electric power industry in comparison with the national economy as a whole. And all this was tied to territorial development plans. For example, according to the plan, the Electric Plant was built in Moscow, and later similar production facilities were opened in Saratov and Rostov. However, GOELRO went even further: it provided for the construction of enterprises - future consumers of electricity. Among them is the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, founded in 1927, the basis of domestic tank building. As part of the plan, the development of the Kuznetsk coal basin also began, around which a new industrial area arose.

The construction of large hydroelectric power stations on the Volga was envisaged, although in reality their construction began only in the 50s. It was planned to increase coal production to 62.3 million tons per year versus 29.2 million tons in 1913, oil production to 16.4 million tons versus 10.3 million. Already in 1921, the GOELRO commission headed by Krzhizhanovsky was transformed into Gosplan, which was in charge of the entire economic development strategy of the country.

They were the first to decide to build the Kashirskaya and Shaturskaya thermal power plants in the vicinity of Moscow. Komsomol members, military personnel and workers from idle factories were thrown into this. Hungry and naked people worked 18 hours a day. The Kashira power plant with a capacity of 12 megawatts, powered by coal near Moscow, was opened in June 1922, when the sick Ilyich was already locked up in Gorki. At the same time, the country's first power transmission line was built, through which electricity was delivered from Kashira to Moscow. After the commissioning of the Shaturskaya CHPP in 1926, energy production reached pre-war levels.

The implementation of the GOELRO plan coincided with the new economic policy - faced with the real prospect of being hanged from all the necessary lanterns and aspens, the Bolsheviks decided to abandon the ideology of a moneyless and commodity-free economy and give the right to life to medium and small entrepreneurs (commanding heights - the party abandoned large-scale industry behind you).

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.

Western companies also participated in the implementation of the electrification plan. Hoping for profit and the return of assets nationalized by the Bolsheviks, they sent specialists and equipment to the USSR: during the first five-year plans, up to 70% of electrical equipment came from abroad. Before the revolution, this share was smaller (approximately 50%), although to be fair, it is worth noting that much less equipment was required. By the mid-30s, the USSR had established the production of its own turbines, generators and everything necessary for the industry.

Over the ten years for which the GOELRO plan was designed, it was exceeded. Electricity production in 1932, compared to 1913, increased not 4.5 times, as envisaged, but almost sevenfold: from 2 to 13.5 billion kWh. In 1927, in the Zaporozhye region, the construction of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station began - the largest at that time in Europe hydroelectric power station and the most prominent object of GOELRO. He was allowed in in 1932. The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station became simultaneously the last big construction project of the “Leninist” plan and the first “Stalinist” five-year plan, into which GOELRO smoothly flowed.

Vadim Erlikhman

Original taken from zavodfoto in AOStory from LJ: Electrification of Russia and the GOELRO Plan

Original taken from mgsupgs in Communism minus electrification.

There is a house in Moscow on Myasnitskaya, 24, built according to the design of the architect F. O. Shekhtel; in 1920, a commission met there to develop a plan for the electrification of Russia, about which there is a commemorative plaque. But what is written on the board is not true, or rather, not the whole truth.

And the famous phrase about “electrification of the entire country” was not invented by Lenin. And the pride of the Bolshevik GOELRO plan, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, was designed before October. The Revolution and Civil War only delayed the electrification of Russia.

And it all started much earlier

Builders of the power station "Electrotransmission". Photo by G.M. Krzhizhanovsky. 1913

The experience of creating stations that operated on local, rather than fuel brought from afar, and provided 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.

Their Lordships

There were still 40 years left before the ceremonial switching on of Ilyich’s light bulb in the village of Kashino near Moscow. This, however, did not stop enthusiasts of the introduction of electricity into Russian life from lighting hitherto unseen electric lamps on the Liteiny Bridge in St. Petersburg in 1880 - after all, the innovators did not know that in the Soviet future the Kashin light bulb would be declared the first in Russia. Something completely different hindered them: the monopoly of the owners of gas lamps in the imperial capital - they had the exclusive right to illuminate St. Petersburg. But for some reason, Liteiny Bridge fell out of this monopoly. A ship with an electrical installation was brought up to it, which 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.

Pe The first experience in 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:

complete(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.

Since then, the founding date of Leenergo has been considered July 16, 1886, when Emperor Alexander III approved the charter of the Electric Lighting Society of 1886 by Karl Siemens,uniting scientists and businessmen in the cause of “electrification of the entire country” (these “Leninist” words were already written down in the charter). The majority of the company's shareholders were foreigners - primarily the same Siemens concern - but the technical personnel were Russian. All the future creators of the GOELRO plan worked here - Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Leonid Krasin, Robert Klasson and others. Even then, the first projects for large-scale construction of power plants and transmission lines were being developed.

At one of the Moscow tram substations. In the center, at the table, sits L.V. Dreyer - assistant head of the current distribution service 1907. RGAE

Bright future

The matter of “electrifying the entire country” was not 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.

Nizhegorodskaya CHPP

St. Petersburg Thermal Power Plant Red October 1914-1916, 1920-1930

During the construction of the Shaturskaya 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 thanks 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.

GOELRO plan- the first unified state long-term plan for the development of the national economy of the Soviet Union. republics based on the electrification of the country, developed in 1920 on the instructions and under the leadership of V.I. Lenin by the State Commission for Electrification of Russia (GOELRO), formed by the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council on February 21, 1920 in accordance with the resolution of the session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of February 3, 1920 on the development electrification plan.

Over 200 scientists and technicians were involved in the development of the plan. Among them are I. G. Alexandrov, G. O. Graftio, A. G. Kogan, K. A. Krug, B. I. Ugrimov, M. A. Chatelain and others. The commission was headed by G. M. Krzhizhanovsky. The Central Committee of the Communist Party and V.I. Lenin personally daily directed the work of the GOELRO commission and determined the main fundamental provisions of the country’s electrification plan. By the end of 1920, the commission had done a lot of work and prepared the “Electrification Plan of the RSFSR” - a volume of 650 pages of text with maps and diagrams of electrification of the regions. In a report at the 8th All-Russian Congress of Soviets (December 1920), V.I. Lenin, calling the GOELRO plan the second program of the party, put forward the formula “Communism is Soviet power plus electrification of the entire country.”

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).

A radical reconstruction based on the electrification of all sectors of the country's national economy and mainly the growth of heavy industry and the rational distribution of industry throughout the country were envisaged. The plan was developed for 8 main economic regions (Northern, Central Industrial, Southern, Volga, Ural, West Siberian, Caucasian, Turkestan) taking into account their natural, raw material and energy resources and specific national conditions. Industrial production was supposed to increase in 10-15 years by 80-100% compared to the pre-revolutionary level. It was planned to increase coal production to 62.3 million tons per year against 29.2 million tons in 1913, oil 11.8-16.4 million tons against 10.3 million tons, peat 16.4 million. tons versus 1.7 million tons, iron ore 19.6 million tons versus 9.2 million tons, iron smelting 8.2 million tons versus 4.2 million tons. Along with a comprehensive reconstruction of transport, it was envisaged to electrify the most important railway highways and begin large-scale construction of new railways. Much work is planned on the mechanization of agricultural production, the introduction of agrochemicals, progressive farming systems, and the development of irrigation and land reclamation. The plan provided for a rapid increase in labor productivity based on the electrification and mechanization of all industries. processes and fundamental changes in working conditions.

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 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 in the production of coal, oil, peat, iron and manganese ore, and the production of cast iron and steel.

Since 1947, the USSR has 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.

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