Soviet times - Mass construction

Author: Maria Mushtrieva (on 15 Jul 2016)
The 20th century for Russia - especially the first half of it - is the age of colossal mass construction.
The construction of hydro power plants in Siberia and southern Russia - apart from practical function of creating a base for the Russian industry, - is also emphatically loaded.
 
Krasnoyarsk Power Plant
It symbolically underlines the superiority and power of thought of the Soviet man and postulates the final victory over the nature.
 
So it went like this: 
 
- Hey guys, we need to become a superpower country! We need to fight the capitalist western societies and establish socialism on the planet Earth. We start with Russia.
 
- But I don't care that much. I need to collect my harvest. Winter is coming. - says a Russian peasant. 
 
- Well, your harvest is for everyone. We need you at the socialist construction. Only together we can make the rivers serve us and give us energy, and then we also make a lot of machines and you will not have to work that much. And you don't need to pay for it. And if you do not join us, you are our enemy.
 
If you into it, check Eisenstein movies or less famous but incredible Kavaleridze. It is all about that.
 
Same goes for the new industrial cities. There is a famous story about German architect Ernst May going to build Magnitogorsk, an industrial city in Ural. After years of meticulous planning, he comes and finds the city already built. 
"Faster, higher, stronger!" is not only an Olympic dream, but also the motto of 1930s. Well, also lots of people die doing it. 
 
Kuznetsk metallurgical factory - Soviet Union (1937) photo by _devol_ / http://s165.photobucket.com/user/devol_photo/media/1937.jpg.html
One might argue, that this is the case for most of the countries in 20th century, but in Russia this process took place in an incredibly accelerated tempo.
 
The land of wooden houses becomes an important industrial nation in less than 20 years. 



 

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