Construction of the Moscow-Simferopol highway through the territory of Ukraine as a factor of integration of the Crimea into the economic complex of the UkrSSR (1948–1949)

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Date
2020-03
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Indian society for health and advanced research
Abstract
The problem of the USSR government’s socioeconomic and political motivation with respect to transferring the Crimea from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR became especially urgent in 1954. Moreover, that issue was urgent not only for political reasons but also from the viewpoint of development logic and work out and application of socioeconomic development methods. After the end of World War II, the USSR Five-Year Socioeconomic Development Plan (1946 to 1950) was adopted in 1946. Ensuring the agricultural development and solving the food problem in the country were key components of that plan. The next priority matter was the energy base development to be focused on the regions that had prospects for industrial development. In that context, the southern Ukrainian regions were highly promising. The southern Ukrainian areas and the Crimea had a very favorable climate for agricultural development; however, material risks in that region were due to low humidity and frequent droughts. Therefore, the first five-year plan after the war end included construction of the irrigation system in the southern Ukrainian areas and electrification of agriculture. However, economic development of those regions could not be rapid as planned because of low number and density of population. In addition, the problem of logistical development to provide conditions for intensified economic development of the southern Ukrainian areas and the Crimes became obvious. The problem of sparse population and logistical system development needs of the region were interrelated. In the period after the end of World War II, construction processes were mechanized poorly, and mainly low-cost and unskilled labor was used. Meanwhile, collective farms provided reliable concentration and possibilities for rapid mobilization of the workforce. Therefore, the combination of the programs of providing population growth conditions in the Ukraine’s southern regions and the Crimea and buildup of the region’s logistical system in the latter half of 1940s is an issue that is relevant for study. The Moscow-Simferopol motorway construction was carried out within the implementation of the program of logistical system development of the Southern Ukraine and the Crimea in 1948 and 1949. A section of that motorway, Kharkiv-Simferopol, was built owing to workforce and hardware mobilization on the Ukrainian territory. Actually, the workforce was provided by the UkrSSR Ministry of Internal Affairs by involving prison population (detainees and prisoners of war). Again, the basic unskilled work and resources were provided by collective farms who mobilized collective farm workers and vehicles for the motorway construction. Methods of supplying the construction project with maximum use of resources regionally were piloted in the course of that construction. Thereafter, such methods were actively applied for implementing the Kyiv-Odesa highway project and some other large-scale construction projects. Study of the experience of implementing such projects in the years of carrying out the first two USSR Five-Year Socioeconomic Development Plans after the end of World War II provides a better insight into the processes of establishing the regional infrastructure networks. This also offers scope for a deep analysis of the logic of the Crimea’s socioeconomic integration with Ukraine. Проблема соціально-економічної та політичної мотивації керівництва СРСР у питанні передачі Криму від РРФСР до складу УРСР у 1954 р. набула надзвичайної актуальності. Причому актуальність цього питання обумовлено не лише політично, а й з точки зору логіки регіонального розвитку, вироблення й застосування методики соціально-економічного розвитку територій. В рамках реалізації програми розбудови системи логістики півдня України в Криму у 1948–1949 рр. відбувається будівництво траси Москва-Сімферополь. Відрізок цієї траси Харків-Сімферополь будувався завдяки мобілізації робочої сили і технічних засобів на території України. У ході цього будівництва було апробовано методику забезпечення будівництва із максимальним залученням ресурсів на регіональному рівні.
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Keywords
Moscow-Simferopol highway, economic development, Crimean region, Kherson region, logistics system, траса Москва-Сімферополь, відбудова економіки, Кримська область, Херсонська область, система логістики
Citation
Satskyi P. Construction of the Moscow-Simferopol highway through the territory of Ukraine as a factor of integration of the Crimea into the economic complex of the UkrSSR (1948–1949) / Satskyi Pavlo // International Journal of Science and Research. – 2020. – Vol. 9, Iss. 3, March. – P. 239–245.