Soviet industrial production and waste dispersal: a case study of pulp and paper plants on the Karelian Isthmus, 1940s–1980s

ABSTRACT

This article examines the industrial wastes and environmental effects of Soviet technological development through the history of the Karelian Isthmus, a border territory that had previously been Finnish. Focusing primarily on the history of two large enterprises – the Svetogorskii (former Enso) and Sovetskii (former Johannes) pulp and paper making plants, the authors illustrate the polluting nature of the Soviet economy in the 1940s–1980s. We contend that from the very beginning, important as they were for the USSR, the enterprises of the Isthmus were built into a system of shortages of techniques and materials that contributed to the hectic fulfilment of the plan. Producing pulp and pulp-based products remained a priority during the whole Soviet period. On the level of industrial enterprises, the Soviet system revealed itself as incapable of solving the problem of pollution and wasting. After waste treatment facilities developed by Soviet engineers in the 1960s turned out to be inadequate for dealing with increasing pollution, the Soviet authorities called on Finnish companies to carry out substantial modernisation of a few enterprises on the Isthmus. This helped the modernised plants remain functioning in the age of economic crisis at the end of the Soviet epoch. Old problems, however, such as shortages and lack of expertise, remained pivotal, while new sources of pollution, such as carbon emissions, appeared. As a result, the level of contamination was still high and led to negative environmental impacts.

KEYWORDS:

• Socialist economy
• Karelian Isthmus
• environment
• technology
• Cold war

JEL CODES:

• N50
• N54
• N64
• N94

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Riitta Hjerppe, Sari Autio-Sarasmo and two anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 See more on the location and volumes of production in Barr (1971).

2 In 1946 in Sakhalin, the Soviets united seven pulp and paper making enterprises under the association ‘Sakhalinbumprom.’

3 In 1939, their combined area made up 12 percent of the entire forest area of Finland (See more in Bol`shakova, 2009, p. 22–24).

4 Protokoly soveshchaniia pri nachal`nike Glavtselluilozy, 1948 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 47. L. 2.

5 Opisanie poselka Iokhannes// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 3.

6 Ob`ekt 937. Iokhannes TsBK. Materialy po obsledovaniiu// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 6–7.

7 Materialy obsledovaniia poselka Iokhannes// LOGAV. F. R-14. Op. 1. D. 4. L. 5.

8 Doklad direktora ‘O khode vosstanovitel`nykh rabot’ na soveshchanii partiino-khoziaistvennogo aktiva 1945 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 7. L. 5.

9 Doklad direktora ‘O khode vosstanovitel`nykh rabot’ na soveshchanii partiino-khoziaistvennogo aktiva 1945 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 7., L. 2.

10 Protokoly tekhnicheskikh soveshchanii, 1947 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 24. L. 48.

11 Protokoly tekhnicheskikh soveshchanii, 1947 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 24. L. 48.

12 Doklad direktora ‘O khode vosstanovitel`nykh rabot’ na soveshchanii partiino-khoziaistvennogo aktiva 1945 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 7. L. 3.

13 Doklad direktora ‘O khode vosstanovitel`nykh rabot’ na soveshchanii partiino-khoziaistvennogo aktiva 1945 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 7. L. 5.

14 Doklad direktora o rezul`tatakh proizvodstvenno-khoziaistvennoi deiatel`nosti kombinata za 1949 g.// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 108. L. 27.

15 Doklad direktora ‘O khode vosstanovitel`nykh rabot’ na soveshchanii partiino-khoziaistvennogo aktiva 1945 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 7. L. 1.

16 Protokoly, materialy i drugie resheniia tekhnicheskogo soveta// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 169. L. 30.

17 Protokoly, materialy i drugie resheniia tekhnicheskogo soveta// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 169., L. 39.

18 Protokoly, materialy i drugie resheniia tekhnicheskogo soveta// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 169., L. 39.

19 Protokoly, materialy i drugie resheniia tekhnicheskogo soveta// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 169., L. 64.

20 Protokoly operativno-dispetcherskogo proizvodstvennogo soveshchaniia, 1952 g.// LOGAV. F. 457. Op. 1. D. 104. L. 13.

21 Godovoi otchet o khoziaistvennoi deiatel`nosti za 1950 god// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 138. L. 7.

22 Workers cut wood nearby and transported it with horses. It was difficult work, which was one of the reasons for high rates of labour turnover. Some workers just left the job because they were suffering from poor work conditions. In 1945 in Johannes, almost 150 workers were employed felling trees. Even so, because of low mechanisation and large demand for logs, the number of workers in forests was insufficient and the authorities attracted peasants for wood harvesting. Thus, in 1945 more than 1800 peasants worked in forests using kolkhoz horses. Postanovleniia i resheniia Vybispolkoma// LOGAV. F. R-14. Op. 1. D. 1. L. 34.

23 Doklad direktora ‘O khode vosstanovitel`nykh rabot’ na soveshchanii partìno-khoziaistvennogo aktiva 1945 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 7. L. 7.

24 Protokoly briza po kombinatu za 1948–1957 gg. Dokladnaia zapiska ‘O kachestve podavaemoi shchepy’// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 145. L. 55.

25 Protokoly briza po kombinatu za 1948–1957 gg. Dokladnaia zapiska ‘O kachestve podavaemoi shchepy’// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 145. L. 47.

26 Doklad ‘Avangardnaia rol` kommunistov v dele usileniia tekhnicheskogo progressa’ za 1951 god// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 170. L. 8.

27 Prikazy minbumproma za 1957 god// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 5. D. 29. L. 80.

28 Otchet issledovatel`skoi gruppy ‘Otbelka tselluilozy’// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 112. L. 2.

29 Godovoi otchet o khoziaistvennoi deiatel`nosti za 1950 god// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 4. D. 138. L. 236.

30 Otchety o postuplenii i vnedrenii izobretenii i ratsionalizatorskikh predlozhenii za 1978 g.// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 682. L. 49.

31 Issledovanie elektroliticheskogo sposoba regeneratsii natriia iz shcheloka ot goriachego oblagorazhivaniia tselliulozy. Protokoly tekhnicheskogo soveta// LOGAV. F. R-180. Op. 5. D. 934a. L. 113.

32 Plakat ‘Sistema ochistki stochnykh vod’// Archival Funds of the Vyborg Castle. The fund on industry. L. 74.

33 Plakat ‘Sistema ochistki stochnykh vod’// Archival Funds of the Vyborg Castle. The fund on industry. L. 74.

34 Pis`mo ot komiteta okhrany prirody Leningradskoi oblasti direktoru Vyborgskogo TsBK Naidinu. Otchet po ratsionalizatsii, 1989// LOGAV. F. R-69. Op. 2. D. 890b. L. 8. See more on later developments of the ecology of Russian pulp and paper production in the Isthmus in Vorobiov and Bolotova (2003).

35 Compare with processes in Sweden where the industrial sectors experienced substantial emission reductions after the 1960s. See more in Söderholm & Bergquist (2012b).

Additional information

Funding

The research for the introduction, sections 1 and 2, conducted by Elena Kochetkova, was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project no. 16-18-10255).