The Problem of Coal Mining Planning in Kuzbass in the Years of the First Five-Year Plan

Abstract

The article considers the problem of planning coal mining in Kuzbass during the first five-year plan (1928–1932). The main trends in the formation of the Second Coal and Metallurgical Base in the east of the country in 1928–1937, including the construction of mines, their mechanization, the formation of mining personnel and the development of their qualifications, are widely covered in domestic history. However, the work of historians lacked an analysis of the difficulties faced by industry management and local managers during the five-year coal planning campaign. The aim is to investigate the problem by analyzing archived documents. As a result of the study, the author comes to conclusion that during the five-year period the planning of coal mining in Kuzbass was a continuous and tense process, the result of which was a set of periodically changing in the direction of significant increase in control figures. At the same time, there was still inertia among specialists in the transition to planned management, due to the manifestations in production relations of elements of ochlocracy and its consequences, the influence of a trade union front line on managerial decisions.