Stalin's Railroad: Turksib and the Building of Socialism (Russian and East European Studies)

The Turkestano-Siberian Railroad, or Turksib, was one of the great construction projects of the Soviet Union’s First Five-Year Plan. As the major icon to ending the economic "backwardness" of the USSR’s minority republics, it stood apart from similar efforts as one of the most potent metaphors for the creation of a unified socialist nation. Built between December 1926 and January 1931 by nearly 50,000 workers and at a cost of more 161 million rubles, Turksib embodied the Bolsheviks’ commitment to end ethnic inequality and promote cultural revolution in one the far-flung corners of the old Tsarist Empire, Kazakhstan. Trumpeted as the "forge of the Kazakh proletariat," the railroad was to create a native working class, bringing not only trains to the steppes, but also the Revolution. In the first in-depth study of this grand project, Matthew Payne explores the transformation of its builders in Turksib’s crucible of class war, race riots, state purges, and the brutal struggle of everyday life. In the battle for the souls of the nation’s engineers, as well as the racial and ethnic conflicts that swirled, far from Moscow, around Stalin’s vast campaign of industrialization, he finds a microcosm of the early Soviet Union. Contents Illustrations and Tables Preface Acknowledgments Introduction The Politics of Planning Introduction Moscow Decides to Build Turksib The Marriage of Local and National Interests The Center and the Regions Compete Conclusion Managerial Hegemony Introduction Bourgeois Spetsy at the Reins Checks and Balances on Spets Hegemony Challengers of Spets Dominance: The Red Engineers Conclusion Turksib's "Motley" Workforce Introduction An "Ill-Matched" Working Class Otkhodniki: The Village Amidst the Proletariat Outsiders from the Steppe Conclusion The Fall of the Bourgeois Specialists The Regime Changes Course Spetsy Under Pressure Crises: The Tikheevshchina and the Summer Strikes The New Order: Red Directors to the Fore Conclusion Forge of a Native Proletariat? Introduction Nativization and Recruitment A Pattern of Racism Conclusion The Struggle to Control Kontrol' Introduction The Crisis of Managerial Confidence and Kontror The Trade Union and Workers' Kontrol' The Party as a “Guiding Force" in Production Conclusion A New Commanding Staff Introduction The Purge of Turksib's Apparatus The Renovation of the Engineering Cadres Conclusion Reforging the Working Class Introduction Shock Work and the New Model Worker "Cooked in the Workers' Kettle": The Reform of the Navvies Conclusion: The Making of a Soviet Working Class The New Industrial Order and Edinonachalie Introduction Edinonachalie and the Revision of the Production Triangle The Trade Unions Turn Face to Production The Party Prefects Conclusion Controlling the Unruly Working Class Introduction The Authoritarian Impulse Soviet Paternalism Conclusion Conclusion Notes Glossary of Russian Terms Bibliography Index "The Turkestano-Siberian Railroad, or Turksib, brought not only trains to the steppes of the old Tsarist Empire, Kazakhstan, but also the promise of revolution." "One of the great projects of the Soviet Union's First Five-Year Plan, Turksib was part of a larger campaign of rapid industrialization to transform the country into the first socialist society on earth. The "building of socialism" was both metaphorical and literal. Turksib was not the largest, the most expensive, or the most prestigious of the large-scale building projects sweeping the Soviet Union in the 1920s, but the railroad captured the imagination of a people and seemed tangible proof of the country's breakneck "leap into communism." "Construction on Turksib spanned five years, from December 1926 to January 1931, at a cost of over 161 million rubles, with a peak workforce of nearly 50,000 men. Designed to fulfill Bolshevism's broken promise to end ethnic inequality and uplift formerly exploited colonies, Turksib became known as the "forge of the Kazakh proletariat." The colossal struggles involved - such as feeding and housing the project's many railworkers, building hospitals and schools along the rail line, fighting disease, eradicating illiteracy, and acclimating nomads to industrial work while sovietizing peasant seasonal workers - all cast the massive railroad project as an instrument of civilization in a supposedly uncivilized outback."--Jacket

The Turkestano-Siberian Railroad, or Turksib, was one of the great construction projects of the Soviet Union’s First Five-Year Plan. As the major icon to ending the economic backwardness of the USSR’s minority republics, it stood apart from similar efforts as one of the most potent metaphors for the creation of a unified socialist nation.

Built between December 1926 and January 1931 by nearly 50,000 workers and at a cost of more 161 million rubles, Turksib embodied the Bolsheviks’ commitment to end ethnic inequality and promote cultural revolution in one the far-flung corners of the old Tsarist Empire, Kazakhstan. Trumpeted as the forge of the Kazakh proletariat, the railroad was to create a native working class, bringing not only trains to the steppes, but also the Revolution.

In the first in-depth study of this grand project, Matthew Payne explores the transformation of its builders in Turksib’s crucible of class war, race riots, state purges, and the brutal struggle of everyday life. In the battle for the souls of the nation’s engineers, as well as the racial and ethnic conflicts that swirled, far from Moscow, around Stalin’s vast campaign of industrialization, he finds a microcosm of the early Soviet Union.

Built between 1926 and 1931, the Turkestano-Siberian railroad, or Turksib, was one of the great construction projects of the Soviet Union's First Five-Year Plan. This text explores the transformation of its builders in Turksib's crucible of class war, race riots, state purges and struggle for life