Tankograd : the formation of a Soviet company town : Cheliabinsk, 1900s-1950s

"Tankograd depicts the daily life and strivings of the people in the Urals, ordinary workers, peasants, engineers and managers who transformed a slumbering provincial city to a central element in Russia's defence industry. It combines social, economic, and cultural history with military analyses of the Urals' importance for the Soviet war efforts"-- Provided by publisher A major production site of Soviet KV and T-34 tanks in WWII, the town of Cheliabinsk in the Urals was nicknamed 'Tankograd', its civilian machine-building factories swiftly converted to arms production. This book gives a social, economic and political panorama that describes everyday life in a typical Soviet company town during the Stalin era. The once-closed town of Cheliabinsk in the Urals was nicknamed 'Tankograd' during World War Two. The dozens of new machine-building, metal and tractor factories established in the 1930s were swiftly prepared for conversion to arms production and Cheliabinsk became a major production site of the Soviet KV, IS and T-34 tanks. This book outlines a vast social, economic and political panorama that describes everyday life in a typical Soviet company town during the Stalin era. The socialist visions of the founders of the new cityscape in the early 1930s is contrasted with the dire conditions in the shanty townships on the outskirts of the city. The repression waves during the Great Terror 1937-8 are analyzed in their regional dimension, as well as the transformation of the historical memory after 1991 Front Matter....Pages i-xii Cheliabinsk As a Mirror of Russia in the 20th Century....Pages 1-12 From the Civil War to the Five-year Plans....Pages 13-68 The Industrial City As a Socialist Vision and Soviet Reality....Pages 69-102 The Tractor Factory’s Civilian Production and Military Potential....Pages 103-133 Stagnation and Streamlining in the Whirlwinds of Terror, 1936–1939....Pages 134-162 Industrial Preparedness in Cheliabinsk, 1939–1940....Pages 163-182 Production Conditions for Heavy Tanks in the Urals....Pages 183-216 1418 Long Days on the Home Front in the Southern Urals....Pages 217-254 The New Military-Industrial Complex in Cheliabinsk during the Cold War....Pages 255-277 Historical Memory and Research in Today’s Cheliabinsk....Pages 278-289 Back Matter....Pages 290-351 Machine generated contents note: Cheliabinsk as Mirror of Russia's 20th Century From the Civil War to the Five-year Plans Industrial City as Socialist Vision and Soviet Reality The Tractor Factory's Civilian Production and Military Potential Stagnation and Streamlining in the Whirlwinds of Terror, 1936-39 Industrial Preparedness in Cheliabinsk, 1939-1940 Production Conditions for Heavy Tanks in the Urals 1418 Long Weekdays on the Home Front in the Southern Urals The New Military-Industrial Complex in Cheliabinsk in the Cold War.