Activities of Arctic Commission under Council of People’s Commissars of USSR in 1928—1930: from Tasks of Scientific Research to Plans for Economic Development

Abstract

The organizational formation of the system of state management of the Arctic development processes in the USSR during the first fiveyear plans, is considered. The relevance of considering the problems of the development of the Arctic during the period under review is due to the growing interest in this issue in modern conditions. The activities of the Arctic Commission formed under the government, which was entrusted with the role of a single coordinator of state events and a center for regulating the activities of various institutions and departments in the Arctic region, are shown. Attention is drawn to the initial period of activity of the government commission, associated with the country's adoption of a course towards industrialization and the transition to a system of planned regulation of the economy. Under these conditions, the installations of scientific expeditions that had previously explored the Arctic possessions began to transform radically, the transfer of research work to solving applied, economic problems began. On the basis of archival sources, it has been established that the Arctic Commission initiated and led a huge complex of works on organizing and coordinating research and practical economic work in the north of the country. It is concluded that during the years of the first fiveyear plans, the process of development of the Arctic territories of the USSR entered a turning point in its development. The most important component of the new stage in the development of the Arctic was the transfer of managerial initiative in organizing work in the north of the country into the hands of the state.

Keywords

• arctic
• public administration
• arctic commission
• northern sea route
• polar expeditions
• first fiveyear plans