At the very top of the Central Committee of the CPSU, they knew how and loved to build grandiose plans for the future. Large-scale and easily implemented on paper ideas were supposed to provide the country with superiority in all areas over everything and everyone in the world. Consider some of the ambitious Soviet projects which have never been implemented.

The idea of ​​this project, which was to literally raise the USSR above the whole world, was born in the early 1930s. Its essence boiled down to the construction of a skyscraper 420 meters high with a giant statue of Vladimir Lenin on the roof.
The building, even before the start of construction, was called the Palace of the Soviets, was to become the tallest in the world, overtaking even the famous skyscrapers of New York. This is how the future giant was imagined in the party leadership. It was planned that in good weather the Palace of Soviets would be visible from a distance of several tens of kilometers.

A wonderful place was chosen for the construction of the future symbol of communism - a hill on Volkhonka. The fact that the location had long been occupied by the Cathedral of Christ the Savior did not bother anyone. Cathedral decided to demolish.

They say that Stalin's associate Lazar Kaganovich, watching the explosion of the temple from a hill with binoculars, said: "Let's pull up the hem of Mother Russia!"

The construction of the main building of the USSR began in 1932 and continued until the start of the war.

The erection of the basement During this time, they managed to completely get even with the foundation and start working on the entrance. Alas, things did not progress further than this: the war made its own adjustments, and the country's leadership was forced to abandon the image idea of ​​providing the people with high-rise buildings. Moreover, they began to dismantle what had already been built and put it into military use, for example, to create anti-tank hedgehogs.

In the 50s, they returned to the “palace” theme again and even almost started work, however, in last moment refused and decided to build a huge swimming pool on the site of the failed skyscraper.

However, this object was subsequently abandoned - in the mid-90s, the pool was liquidated, and a new Cathedral of Christ the Savior was erected in its place.

Perhaps the only thing that today reminds of the once grandiose plans of the authorities to create the Palace of Soviets is a gas station on Volkhonka, often referred to as the "Kremlin". It was supposed to become part of the infrastructure of the complex.

And now look how the capital could look if the leadership of the Union were able to carry out plans to build a "symbol of communism."

"Construction No. 506" - Sakhalin Tunnel

Not all construction projects of the Stalin era were of an image nature. Some were launched for the sake of the practical component, which, however, did not make them less grandiose and impressive. A striking example- a colossal construction project on Sakhalin, which started in 1950. The idea of ​​the project was to connect the island with the mainland by an underground 10-kilometer tunnel. The party took 5 years to complete the work.

As usual, the work of building the tunnel fell on the shoulders of the Gulag.

Construction came to a halt in 1953 almost immediately after Stalin's death.
For three years of work, they managed to build railway lines to the tunnel (about 120 km of the railway track in the Khabarovsk Territory), which later began to be used for the export of timber, dug a mine shaft, and also created an artificial island on Cape Lazarev. There he is.

Today, only infrastructure details scattered along the shore and a technical mine, half littered with debris and soil, remind of the once large-scale construction.

The place is popular with tourists - lovers of abandoned places with history.

"Battle mole" - classified underground boats

The construction of skyscrapers and other structures that amaze the imagination of the layman is not the only thing that the Soviet budget was spent on in an effort to "overtake competitors." In the early 30s, in high offices, the idea was set on to develop vehicle, often found in the books of science fiction writers - an underground boat.

The first attempt was made by the inventor A. Treblev, who created a boat resembling a rocket in shape.

The brainchild of Treblev moved at a speed of 10m / h. It was assumed that the mechanism would be controlled by the driver, or (second option) - using a cable from the surface. In the mid-40s, the device even passed tests in the Urals near Mount Blagodat.

Alas, during the tests, the boat proved to be not very reliable, so they decided to temporarily curtail the project.

The iron mole was remembered again in the 60s: Nikita Khrushchev terribly liked the idea of ​​"getting the imperialists not only in space, but also underground." Advanced minds were involved in the work on the new boat: the Leningrad professor Babaev and even academician Sakharov. The result of painstaking work was a car with a nuclear reactor, capable of accommodating 5 crew members and transporting a ton of explosives.

The first tests of the boat all in the same Urals were successful: the mole overcame the allotted path at the speed of a pedestrian. However, it was too early to rejoice: during the second test, the car exploded, the entire crew died. The mole itself remained walled up in grief, which he could not overcome.

After Leonid Brezhnev came to power, the project of the underground boat was curtailed.

"Car 2000"

No less sad was the fate of a completely peaceful transport development - the Istra car, also known as the "two thousandth".

The creation of the "most advanced machine of the Union" began in 1985 in the Office of Design and Experimental Works. The program was called "Car 2000".

Through the efforts of designers and designers, a truly promising car with a progressive design has turned out ahead of its time.

The car was equipped with a light duralumin body with two doors opening upwards, a 3-cylinder turbodiesel ELKO 3.82.92 T with a capacity of 68 horsepower. The maximum speed of the car was to be 185 km / h with acceleration to 100 km in 12 s.

On the most progressive car of the USSR, a computer-controlled air suspension, ABS, airbags, a projection system that allows you to display instrument readings on the windshield, a forward-looking scanner for driving in dark time days, as well as an on-board self-diagnosis system showing malfunctions and possible ways their elimination.

Alas, the futuristic Soviet sedan failed to enter the market. In preparation for the launch, as it happens, minor problems surfaced related to the refinement and serial production of engines. At the same time, if the technical issues were completely solvable, then the financial troubles that fell on the heads of the authors of the project already in 1991 turned out to be critical. After the collapse of the Union, there was no money for implementation, as a result, the project had to be closed. The only sample of the "two-thousander" is stored today in Moscow in the Museum of Retro Cars.

Comparing the past and the present is necessary to improve the future, while it is desirable not to repeat the mistakes of the ancestors. The USSR is once a mighty superpower that made a significant contribution to the development of society in its time. One of the cornerstones of life Soviet citizens were five years old. According to their results, historians can judge the industrialization of the country, compare the achievements of the past and the present, find out how far our generation has gone technologically and what else is worth striving for. So, the topic of this article is the five-year plan in the USSR. The table below will help to structure the acquired knowledge in a logical order.

First Five-Year Plan (1928-1932)

So, it began in the name of building socialism. The country after the revolution needed industrialization in order to keep up with the leading European powers. In addition, only with the help of an accelerated build-up of industrial potential could it be possible to rally the country and bring the USSR to a new military level, as well as to raise the level of agriculture throughout vast territory. According to the government, a strict and irreproachable plan was needed.

Thus, the main goal was to build up military power as much as possible. rapidly.

The main tasks of the first five-year plan

At the XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, at the end of 1925, Stalin expressed the idea that it was necessary to turn the USSR from a country importing imported weapons and equipment into a country that itself could produce and supply all this to other states. Of course, there were people who expressed an ardent protest, but it was suppressed by the opinion of the majority. Stalin himself became interested in making the country a leader in the very first five-year plan, putting metallurgy in first place. So, the process of industrialization had to go through 4 stages:

1. Revival of transport infrastructure.
2. Expansion of economic sectors related to the extraction of materials and agriculture.
3. Redistribution of state-owned enterprises across the territory.
4. Changes in the work of the energy complex.

All four processes did not take place in turn, but were intricately intertwined. Thus began the first five-year plan for the industrialization of the country.

It was not possible to realize all the ideas, however, the production of heavy industry increased almost 3 times, and mechanical engineering - 20 times. Naturally, such a successful completion of the project caused quite natural joy for the government. Of course, the first five-year plans in the USSR were hard for people. The table with the results of the first of them would contain as a slogan or subtitle following words: "The main thing is to start!"

It was at this time that many recruiting posters appeared, reflecting the main goal and identity of the Soviet people.

The main construction projects at that time were coal mines in the Donbass and Kuzbass, the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve the financial independence of the USSR. The most prominent building is the DneproGES. The year 1932 was marked by the end of not only the first five-year plan, but also the most important construction for heavy industry.

The new power by leaps and bounds strengthens its status in Europe.

Five Year Plan Number Two (1933-1937)

The second five-year plan in high circles was called the "five-year plan of collectivization" or "public education." It was approved by the VII Congress of the CPSU (b). After heavy industry, the country needed development National economy. This area has become main goal second five-year plan.

The main directions of the second five-year plan

The main forces and finances of the government at the beginning of the "five-year plan of collectivization" were directed to the construction of metallurgical plants. Uralo-Kuzbass appeared, the first current of the DneproGES started up. The country did not lag behind scientific achievements. So, the second five-year plan was marked by the first landing at the North Pole of the Papanin expedition, the polar station SP-1 appeared. The subway was under construction.

At this time, great emphasis was placed on among the workers. The most famous drummer of the five-year plan is Alexei Stakhanov. In 1935 he set new record, completing the norm of 14 shifts in one shift.

Third Five-Year Plan (1938-1942)

The beginning of the third five-year plan was marked by the slogan: “To catch up and overtake the per capita production of the developed.”

Directions of the third five-year plan

By the beginning of 1941, almost half (43%) of the country's capital investments went to raising the level of heavy industry. On the eve of the war in the USSR, in the Urals and in Siberia, fuel and energy bases developed rapidly. It was necessary for the government to create a "second Baku" - a new oil production area, which was supposed to appear between the Volga and the Urals.

Particular attention was paid to tank, aviation and other plants of this kind. The level of production of ammunition and artillery pieces has increased significantly. However, the armament of the USSR still lagged behind the Western one, in particular from the German one, but they were not in a hurry with the release of new types of weapons even in the first months of the war.

Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946-1950)

After the war, all countries had to revive their production and economy, the USSR managed to do this almost completely at the end of the 40s, when the fourth term began. The five-year plan did not imply an increase in military power, as before, but the revival of a society lost in all spheres of life during the war.

The main achievements of the fourth five-year plan

In just two years, the same level of industrial production as before the war was reached, even though the plans for the second and third five-year plans put forward harsh work standards. In 1950, the main production assets returned to the 1940 level. When the 4th Five-Year Plan ended, the industry grew by 41%, and the construction of buildings - by 141%.

The new DneproGES was put into operation again, all the mines of Donbass were restored. On this note, the 4th five-year period ended.

Fifth Five-Year Plan (1951-1955)

During the Fifth Five-Year Plan, atomic weapons became widespread, appeared in Obninsk, and at the beginning of 1953, N. S. Khrushchev took the post of head of state instead of I. V. Stalin.

The main achievements of the fifth five-year plan

Since capital investments in industry doubled, the volume of output also increased (by 71%), in agriculture - by 25%. Soon new metallurgical plants were built - Caucasian and Cherepovets. The Tsimlyanskaya and Gorkovskaya HPPs were featured in full or in part on the front page. And at the end of the fifth five-year plan, science heard about atomic and hydrogen bombs.

Finally, the first and Omsk oil refineries were built, and the rate of coal production increased significantly. And 12.5 million hectares of new lands came into circulation.

Sixth Five-Year Plan (1956-1960)

More than 2,500 major enterprises were put into operation when the sixth five-year plan began. At the end of it, in 1959, a parallel seven-year plan began. The national income of the country has risen by 50%. Capital investments at this time doubled again, which led to the extensive development of light industry.

The main achievements of the sixth five-year plan

Gross industrial output and Agriculture increased by more than 60%. Gorkovskaya, Volzhskaya, Kuibyshevskaya were completed, and by the end of the five-year plan, the world's largest worsted plant was built in Ivanovo. Active development of virgin lands began in Kazakhstan. The USSR finally got a nuclear missile shield.

The world's first satellite was launched on October 4, 1957. Heavy industry developed with incredible efforts. However, there were more failures, so the government organized a seven-year plan, including the seventh five-year plan and the last two years of the sixth.

Seventh Five-Year Plan (1961-1965)

As you know, in April 1961, the first man in the world flew into space. This event marked the beginning of the seventh five-year plan. The national income of the country continues to grow rapidly and increases by almost 60% over the next five years. The level of gross industrial output increased by 83%, agriculture - by 15%.

By mid-1965, the USSR was at the forefront of coal mining and iron ore, as well as for the production of cement, and this is not surprising. The country was still actively developing heavy industry and the construction industry, cities were growing before our eyes, and cement was needed for strong buildings.

Eighth Five-Year Plan (1966-1970)

The five-year plan did not involve the production of materials, but the construction of new buildings and factories. Cities continue to expand. Leonid Brezhnev takes over as head of state. During these five years, many metro stations appeared, the West Siberian and Karaganda metallurgical plants, the first automobile plant VAZ (output: 600 thousand cars per year), the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric power station - the largest station in the world at that time.

Active housing construction solved the problem of deprivation (the echo of the war still reverberated in big cities). At the end of 1969, more than 5 million residents received new apartments. After the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin into space, astronomy made a big leap forward, the first lunar rover was created, soil was brought from the Moon, the machines reached the surface of Venus.

Ninth Five-Year Plan (1971-1975)

During the ninth five-year plan, more than a thousand industrial enterprises, the gross volume of industrial production increased by 45%, and agricultural - by 15%. The automotive industry is actively developing, cars and railways are being repaired. Capital investments exceeded 300 billion rubles a year.

Development of oil and gas wells in Western Siberia led to the construction of many enterprises, the laying of oil pipelines. Because with the advent a large number factories, the level of the employed population also increased, the sign "Drummer of the Ninth Five-Year Plan" was established (for difference in labor and production).

Tenth Five-Year Plan (1976-1980)

The active increase in national income and industrial output begins to decline. Now the country does not need a huge growth of enterprises, but the stable development of all industries is always necessary.

Oil production came to the fore, so in five years a lot of oil pipelines were built, stretching across Western Siberia, where hundreds of stations deployed their work. The number of working equipment has increased significantly: tractors, combines, trucks.

Eleventh Five-Year Plan (1981-1985)

An extremely turbulent time began for the USSR. Everyone in the government felt the coming of the crisis, for which there were many reasons: internal, external, political and economic. At one time, it was possible to change the structure of power without abandoning socialism, but none of this was produced. Because of the crisis, the people occupying the leading positions of the state were replaced very quickly. So, L. I. Brezhnev remained secretary of the CPSU Central Committee until 11/10/1982, Yu. V. Andropov held this position until 02/13/1984, K. U. Chernenko - until 03/10/1985.

The transportation of gases from Western Siberia to Western Europe. The Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod oil pipeline, 4,500 km long, was built, crossing the Ural Range and hundreds of rivers.

Twelfth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990)

The last five-year plan for the USSR. During its time it was planned to implement a long-term economic strategy but the plans were not destined to come true. At this time, many received the badge of the shock worker of the twelfth five-year plan: collective farmers, workers, specialists from enterprises, engineers ... It was planned (and partially implemented) to organize the production of light industry.

Five-year plans of the USSR: summary table

So, we briefly listed all the five-year plans in the USSR. The table presented to your attention will help to systematize and summarize the above material. It contains the most important aspects for each plan.

	Plan objectives	The main buildings of the five-year plans	Results
	Increase at any cost military power and to raise the level of production of heavy industry.	Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, DneproGES, coal mines in Donbass and Kuzbass.	The production of heavy industry increased by a factor of 3 and that of mechanical engineering by a factor of 20, and unemployment was eliminated.
	I. V. Stalin: “We must catch up advanced countries in 5-10 years, otherwise we will be crushed.” The country needed to increase the level of all types of industry, both heavy and light.	Uralo-Kuzbass is the second coal and metallurgical base of the country, the navigable canal "Moscow - Volga".	The national income and industrial production increased significantly (by 2 times), rural - by 1.5 times.
	Due to the aggressive policy of Nazi Germany, the main forces were thrown into the country's defense and the production of machines, as well as heavy industry.	Emphasis on educational institutions at the beginning of the five-year plan, after the efforts are transferred to the Urals: aircraft, machines, guns and mortars are produced there.	The country suffered heavy losses due to the war, but the defense capability and the production of heavy industry made significant progress.
4th	Restoration of the country after the Great Patriotic War. It is necessary to achieve the same level of production as in the pre-war period.	The DneproGES, the power plants of Donbass and the North Caucasus are being put back into operation.	By 1948, the pre-war level was reached, the United States was deprived of its monopoly on atomic weapons, and prices for goods of first demand were significantly reduced.
	Increase in national income and industrial output.	Volga-Don Shipping Canal (1952). Obninsk NPP (1954).	Many reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations have been built, and the level of industrial production has doubled. Science learns about atomic and hydrogen bombs.
	An increase in capital investment not only in heavy, but also in light industry and also in agriculture.	Gorky, Kuibyshev, Irkutsk and Worsted plant (Ivanovo).	Capital investments have almost doubled, and the lands of Western Siberia and the Caucasus are being actively developed.
	Increase in national income and development of science.		Increase in fixed production assets by 94%, national income increased by 62%, gross industrial output by 65%.
	An increase in all indicators: gross industrial output, agriculture, national income.	The Krasnoyarsk, Bratsk, Saratov hydroelectric power stations, the West Siberian Iron and Steel Works, and the Volga Automobile Plant (VAZ) are being built. The first lunar rover was created.	Astronomy advanced (soil was brought from the Moon, the surface of Venus was reached), nat. income grew by 44%, the volume of industry - by 54%.
	Develop domestic economy and mechanical engineering.	Construction of refineries in Western Siberia, the beginning of the construction of an oil pipeline.	Significantly develops chemical industry after the development of deposits in Western Siberia. 33 thousand km of gas pipelines and 22.5 thousand km of oil pipelines have been laid.
	Opening of new enterprises, development of Western Siberia and the Far East.	Kama plant, Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station.	The number of gas and oil pipelines has increased. New industries have emerged.
Eleventh	To increase the efficiency of the use of production assets.	The Urengoy - Pomary - Uzhgorod oil pipeline, 4,500 km long.	The length of gas and oil pipelines has reached 110 and 56 thousand km, respectively. The national income has risen, social payments have been increased. Expanded technical equipment factories.
twelfth	Implementation of the reformist economic strategy.	Mostly residential buildings are being built.	The production of light industry has been partially established. Increasing the power supply of enterprises.

However difficult these plans may be, the results of the five-year plans show the perseverance and courage of the people. Yes, not everything was done. The sixth five-year plan had to be "extended" at the expense of the seven-year plan.

Even if five-year plans were difficult in the USSR (table - direct to confirmation), but Soviet people steadfastly coped with all the norms and even exceeded the plans. The main slogan of all five-year plans was: "Five-year plan in four years!"

The great construction sites of communism - that's what everyone was called global projects Soviet government: highways, canals, stations, reservoirs.
One can argue about the degree of their "greatness", but that they were grandiose projects its time, no doubt.

"Magnitogorsk"

Russia's largest Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works was designed in the late spring of 1925 by the Soviet institute UralGipromez. According to another version, the design was carried out by an American company from Clinwood, and the US Steel plant in Gary, Indiana, became the prototype of Magnitogorsk. All three "heroes" who stood at the "helm" of the construction of the plant - the manager Gugel, the builder Maryasin and the head of the trust Valerius - were shot in the 30s. January 31, 1932 - the first blast furnace is launched. The construction of the plant took place in the most difficult conditions, while most of the work was carried out manually. Despite this, thousands of people from all over the Union hurried to Magnitogorsk. Foreign specialists, primarily Americans, were also actively involved.

Belomorkanal

The White Sea-Baltic Canal was supposed to connect the White Sea and Lake Onega and provide access to Baltic Sea and Volga-Baltic waterway. The canal was built by the forces of Gulag prisoners in record time - less than two years (1931-1933). The length of the canal is 227 kilometers. It was the first construction in the Soviet Union, implemented exclusively by prisoners, which may be why the Belomorkanal is not always ranked among the "great construction projects of communism." Each builder of the White Sea Canal was called a "prisoned canal soldier" or abbreviated as "ze-ka", from which the slang word "zek" came from. Campaign posters of that time they said: “Your term will melt from hot work!” Indeed, many of those who made it to the end of construction alive had their deadlines reduced. On average, the death rate reached 700 people a day. “Hot work” also influenced nutrition: the more the “ze-ka” worked out, the more impressive the “rations” received. Standard - 500 gr. bread and seaweed gruel.

Baikal-Amur Mainline

One of the largest railway lines in the world was built with huge interruptions, starting in 1938 and ending in 1984. The most difficult section- Severo-Musky tunnel - was put into permanent operation and only in 2003. The initiator of the construction was Stalin. Songs were composed about BAM, laudatory articles were published in newspapers, films were made. The construction was positioned as a feat of youth and, of course, no one knew that prisoners who had survived after the construction of the White Sea Canal were sent to the construction site in 1934. In the 1950s, about 50 thousand prisoners worked at BAM. Each meter of BAM is worth one human life.

Volga-Don Canal

An attempt to connect the Don and the Volga was made by Peter the Great in 1696. In the 30s of the last century, a construction project was created, but the war prevented its implementation. Work resumed in 1943 immediately after the completion of Battle of Stalingrad. However, the date of commencement of construction should still be considered 1948, when the first earthworks began. In addition to volunteers and military builders, 236,000 prisoners and 100,000 prisoners of war took part in the construction of the canal route and its facilities. In journalism one can find descriptions of the most terrible conditions in which prisoners lived. Dirty and lousy from the lack of the opportunity to wash regularly (there was one bath for all), half-starved and sick - this is how they really looked, deprived civil rights, "builders of communism". The canal was built in 4.5 years - and this is a unique period in the world history of the construction of hydraulic structures.

Plan for the transformation of nature

The plan was adopted at the initiative of Stalin in 1948 after a drought and a raging famine of 46-47. The plan included the creation of forest belts, which were supposed to block the hot southeast winds - dry winds, which would change the climate. Forest belts were planned to be located on an area of ​​​​120 million hectares - that's how much England, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Belgium occupy together. The plan also included the construction of an irrigation system, during which 4,000 reservoirs appeared. It was planned to complete the project before 1965. More than 4 million hectares of forest have been planted, and total length forest belts amounted to 5300 km. The state decided food problem countries, while part of the bread began to be exported. After Stalin's death in 1953, the program was curtailed, and in 1962 the USSR was again shaken by a food crisis - bread and flour disappeared from the shelves, and there were shortages of sugar and butter.

Volzhskaya HPP

The construction of the largest hydroelectric power plant in Europe began in the summer of 1953. Next to the construction site, in the tradition of that time, the Gulag was deployed - the Akhtubinsky ITL, which employed more than 25 thousand prisoners. They were engaged in laying roads, conducting power lines and general preparatory work. They, of course, were not allowed to directly work on the construction of a hydroelectric power station. Sappers also worked at the facility, who were engaged in clearing the site for future construction and the bottom of the Volga - the proximity to Stalingrad made itself felt. About 40 thousand people and 19 thousand various mechanisms and cars. In 1961, having turned from the "Stalingrad HPP" into the "Volzhskaya HPP named after the 21st Congress of the CPSU", the station was put into operation. It was solemnly opened by Khrushchev himself. The HPP was a gift for the 21st Congress, at which Nikita Sergeevich, by the way, announced his intention to build communism by 1980.

Bratsk HPP

The construction of a hydroelectric power station began in 1954 on the Angara River. small village Bratsk soon grew to big city. The construction of the hydroelectric power station was positioned as a shock Komsomol construction site. Hundreds of thousands of Komsomol members from all over the Union came to the development of Siberia. Until 1971, the Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Plant was the largest in the world, and the Bratsk Reservoir became the world's largest artificial reservoir. When it was filled, about 100 villages were flooded. The tragedy of "Angara Atlantis", in particular, is dedicated to the penetrating work of Valentin Rasputin "Farewell to Matyora".

Reconstruction of Ground Zero

LOCATION

New York, USA

opening date

2017

Price

$25 billion

international space station

LOCATION

Earth orbit

opening date

2024

Price

$150 billion

The most expensive international scientific project: since its launch in 1998, $150 billion has already gone to assemble and maintain the ISS. Consisting of 14 modules, the station has a length of a hundred meters and can accommodate 6 astronauts. This is not the last configuration of the ISS: in the coming years, two more research modules should be attached to it. Recently it became known that Russia will not participate in the project until 2024, as previously assumed: instead, Roscosmos will focus on new projects.

City of Masdar

LOCATION

Abu Dhabi, UAE

opening date

2020

Price

$20 billion

Science parks that connect business and cutting-edge research are being built around the world - high tech can become the basis of the economy for economies developing countries. However, even among the lagging behind there are already obvious winners: the rich countries of the Persian Gulf, investing in the creation of future infrastructure windfall profits from the sale of hydrocarbons. Such, for example, is the Masdar project in Abu Dhabi - not a technology park, but whole city worth $ 20 billion, designed by the bureau of Briton Norman Foster. The job in the post-industrial city of 50,000 will be built around a new Institute of Science and Technology that works closely with MIT. The first research buildings in Masdar appeared in 2010, and by the time of its completion in 2020, the city will become the embodiment of all modern technologies. The city will implement an innovative system of personal automatic transport, and the entire required energy will come from renewable sources.

Dubailand Amusement Park

LOCATION

Dubai, UAE

opening date

2015

Price

$65 billion

The $51 billion Winter Olympics in Sochi are the most expensive sports games in history, but hardly the biggest entertainment mega-project. In just a year, the Dubailand complex is due to open in the UAE: 45 theme parks, amusement parks, sports complexes, shopping and leisure centers and hotels will be located on an area of ​​300 square kilometers. Dubailand will be twice as big" world center Walt Disney Holidays in Florida and will become the most great place entertainment on the planet.

Songdo city

LOCATION

South Korea

opening date

2015

Price

$40 billion

Founded only ten years ago, the South Korean Songdo is at the same time an analogue of the Al Maktoum airpolis and the scientific city of Masdar. It is a compact business city located near the Incheon International Airport and connected to it by a spectacular suspension bridge. In a couple of years, about 65 thousand people will live here - mostly entrepreneurs and scientists working at one of the four local universities. Songdo was created from scratch as a "green" and "smart" city. It will become a platform for experiments in the field of the Internet of things.

Great construction sites

Party, country took over hard work on the implementation of the "five-year plan", as the plan began to be called in abbreviated form. A whole constellation of construction sites arose as in the old industrial areas, and in new promising areas where there was no or almost no industry before. There was a reconstruction of old factories in Moscow, Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, in the Donbass: they were expanded and equipped with new imported equipment. Completely new enterprises were built, they were conceived on a large scale and based on the most modern technology; construction was often carried out according to projects ordered abroad: in America, Germany. The plan gave priority to branches of heavy industry: fuel, metallurgical, chemical, electric power, as well as engineering in general, that is, the sector that would be called upon to make the USSR technically independent, in other words, capable of producing its own machines. For these industries, giant construction sites were created, enterprises were built with which the memory of the first five-year plan will forever be associated, about which the whole country, the whole world will talk: Stalingrad and Chelyabinsk, and then Kharkov tractor plants, huge heavy engineering plants in Sverdlovsk and Kramatorsk, automobile plants in Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow, the first ball-bearing plant, chemical plants in Bobriky and Berezniki.

The most famous among the new buildings were two metallurgical plants: Magnitogorsk - in the Urals and Kuznetsk - in Western Siberia. The decision to build them was made after long and bitter disputes between the Ukrainian and Siberian-Ural leaders, which began in 1926 and dragged on until the end of 1929. The former emphasized that the expansion of already existing metallurgical enterprises in the south of the country would require lower costs; the second - the prospects for the industrial transformation of the Soviet East. Finally, military considerations tipped the scales in favor of the latter. In 1930, the decision took on a large-scale development - the creation in Russia, along with the southern one, of a "second industrial base", a "second coal and metallurgical center". Kuzbass coal was supposed to serve as fuel, and ore was to be delivered from the Urals, from the bowels of the famous Magnitnaya mountain, which gave its name to the city of Magnitogorsk. The distance between these two points was 2 thousand km. The long trains had to shuttle from one to the other, carrying ore in one direction and coal in the opposite direction. The question of the costs associated with all this was not taken into account, since it was a question of creating a new powerful industrial area, remote from the borders and, therefore, protected from the threat of attack from outside.

Many enterprises, starting with the two colossi of metallurgy, were built in the bare steppe, or, in any case, in places where there was no infrastructure, outside or even far from settlements. Apatite mines in the Khibiny, designed to provide raw materials for the production of superphosphate, were generally located in the tundra on Kola Peninsula, beyond the Arctic Circle.

The history of great construction projects is unusual and dramatic. They went down in history as one of the most amazing achievements of the 20th century. Russia lacked the experience, specialists, and equipment to carry out work of this magnitude. Tens of thousands of people began to build, practically relying only on own hands. They dug the earth with shovels, loaded it onto wooden wagons - the famous grabarki, which stretched back and forth in an endless line from morning to night. An eyewitness says: “From a distance, the construction site seemed like an anthill ... Thousands of people, horses and even ... camels worked in clouds of dust.” First, the builders huddled in tents, then in wooden barracks: 80 people in each, less than 2 square meters. m per soul.

At the construction of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, for the first time, it was decided to continue construction in the winter. We had to hurry. Therefore, they worked at 20, 30, 40 degrees below zero. Before the eyes of foreign consultants, sometimes admiring, but more often skeptical about this picture, which they perceived primarily as a spectacle of grandiose chaos, the most expensive and most modern equipment bought abroad.

One of the leading participants recalls the birth of the first Stalingrad Tractor Plant in this way: “Even those who saw this time with their own eyes, it is not easy to remember now what it all looked like. It is completely impossible for younger people to imagine everything that rises from the pages old book. One of its chapters is called like this: "Yes, we broke machines." This chapter was written by L. Makaryants, a Komsomol member, a worker who came to Stalingrad from a Moscow factory. Even for him, American machine tools without belt transmissions, with an individual motor, were a marvel. He didn't know how to deal with them. And what about the peasants who came from the countryside? They were illiterate - reading and writing was a problem for them. Everything was a problem back then. There were no spoons in the dining room… Bedbugs in the barracks were a problem…”. And here is what the first director of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant wrote in a book published in the early 30s: “In the machine assembly shop, I approached the guy who was grinding the sleeves. I suggested to him: "Measure". He began to measure with his fingers ... We didn’t have a tool, a measuring tool. ” In a word, it was more of a massive assault than systematic work. Under these conditions, acts of selflessness, personal courage, fearlessness were numerous, all the more heroic, since for the most part they were destined to remain unknown. There were people who dived into ice water to close the hole; who, even with a temperature, without sleep and rest, did not leave their work post for several days; who did not descend from the scaffolding, even to have a bite, if only to quickly set the blast furnace in motion ...

Among Soviet authors who today trust paper with their reflections on that period and evaluate it in accordance with their own ideological preferences, some are inclined to attribute the merit of this impulse to the extraordinary stamina of the Russian people in the most ordeal, others, on the contrary, hidden energy hidden in the masses of the people and released by the revolution. Be that as it may, from many reminiscences it is clear that a powerful stimulus for many people was the idea that short term at the cost of exhausting hard efforts, one can create a better, that is, socialist, future. This was discussed at the rallies. At meetings, they recalled the exploits of the fathers in 1917–1920. and urged the youth to "overcome all difficulties" in order to lay the foundation for the "bright building of socialism." At a time when crisis raged throughout the rest of the world, "the youth and workers in Russia," as one English banker remarked, "lived in a hope which, unfortunately, is so lacking today in the capitalist countries." Such collective feelings are not born by spontaneous reproduction. Undoubtedly, to be able to generate and maintain such a wave of enthusiasm and trust is no small merit in itself; and this merit belonged to the party and the Stalinist trend, which from now on completely led it. One cannot deny the validity of Stalin's reasoning when, in June 1930, at the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, he declared, in fact, betraying his innermost thought, that without the idea of ​​"socialism in one country", this impulse would not have been possible. . “Take away from him (the working class. - Note. ed.) confidence in the possibility of building socialism, and you will destroy all ground for competition, for labor upsurge, for shock work.”

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