Technical re-equipment of Soviet industry in the 1950^s

   Introduction. The need to ensure technological sovereignty, which is critically important in the complicated geopolitical situation, actualizes the study of the Soviet experience of industrial and scientific and technical policy.

   Materials and Methods. The acuteness of the discussions and the possibility of analyzing currently declassified documents makes it possible to bring certainty to the assessment of the effectiveness of the economic course chosen by the Soviet government in the 1950^s. The theory of modernization was the basis for the study. Analysis. On the basis of archival documents, it is proved that in the post-war period, the USSR lagged significantly technologically behind the leading Western countries, and the problem of a low percentage of implementations at heavy engineering enterprises remained acute. In this situation, the leading scientists of the Academy of Sciences, based on their comparative analysis of the technological development of the USA and the USSR, proposed a very promising plan for the technical re-equipment of Soviet industry, in which the main attention was paid to the automation of production. A necessary condition for academics was the reorganization of the industry that produces automation and telemechanics equipment, and the structures that manage it. They proposed to create a Ministry of Automation and Industrial Instrumentation. It was planned to create automatic plants and telemechanized complexes in various industries over the next few years, update a number of research projects and provide mass training of specialists.

   Results. Based on the conducted research, the conclusion is formulated that during the period under study, a powerful scientific and technical complex was created in the USSR, which was provided with highly qualified personnel. The studied documents do not allow us to agree with the authors’ conclusions about the beginning of the crisis, a significant slowdown in the 1950^s, since the pace of technical re-equipment was still relatively high. After the most difficult and bloody war, it was possible to concentrate resources on priority areas, thanks to which it was possible to re-equip a number of leading industries. However, the pace of introduction of remote control and telemechanization of production was still insufficient. Automation in a significant part of industries covered single processes.

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