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19Olga Smirnova
Candidate of Philosophy Sciences, Professor Cherepovets State University Cherepovets, Russia julya13mouse@rambler.ru
Review on: R.S. Kolokolchikova. History of Industrial Cities in Northern European Russia: Space, Society, Culture (second half of 1960s - first half of 1980s): Monograph. Cherepovets: ChSU, 2013. 337 p.
History of Northern European Russia is an important part of the history of Russia as it reflects the main tendencies and contradictions in the development of our fatherland in the modern times. Nowadays, when some global civilizational shifts happen in our country and in the whole world; when under the conditions of exacerbated informational war, the system of traditional values of our people is fundamentally revised, the impersonal and deliberated scientific research of the topic is currently of great interest. A complicated problem of modernization of the technical and material base of the economy, as well as a simultaneous solution of a large range of social issues which the state is facing, require an active consideration of the historical experience. Within the next stage of the Soviet urbanization in Northern European Russia in the 1960-80s, the massive programs of industrial development of vast underpopulated territories were implemented, which qualitatively transformed the social-economic and cultural sphere in the region. Thus, monocities appeared and became the city-forming centers around the chemical, pulp and paper, mining industries, as well as non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy. Dramatic changes of the conditions in these cities and the adjacent areas in the present days (up to the crisis and depression) also need some special consideration.
The reviewed monograph is written around the problematic field of historical ur-banistics, which determines the use of interdisciplinary methods, such as culturologi-cal, philosophical, social-economical methods, etc. along with the historical ones. It is worth noting that the author's supporting base is that of historical methodology. The integral character of the research is determined by the structure and contents of the study. The monograph consists of three logically connected sections, each of which deals with one of the aspects mentioned in the title. Thus, the first section analyzes the social space of industrial cities and their influence on the environment. The second section examines in detail the social problems and achievements of these types of cities. The third section is a detailed study of the cultural environment in the industrial cities of Northern European Russia.
In the introduction, the author justified the purpose and the tasks of the study in a conclusive way, characterized the basic theoretical and methodological approaches to
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the studied topic, rightly noting that "urbanistics has collected a lot of material about the city and the processes, which take place in its individual subsystems; there are individual theoretical concepts of cities and urbanization within the framework of individual sciences. However, there is no general theory of studying the cities on the whole" [p. 5]. Therefore, the author's attempt to prove the efficiency of using the methodology of a complex approach to the studies of cities per three parameters (space, society, culture) based on the model put forward in due time by N.P. Antsyfe-rov, seems valuable and reasonable. The territorial framework of the study includes the area of four entities of the Russian Federation: Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Vologda regions and Karelian Autonomous Republic. On the example of construction and development of city-forming enterprises in the industrial cities (such as Novodvinsk, Koryamzha, Cherepovets, Sokol, Kirovsk, Apatity, Monchegorsk, Olenegorsk, Kov-dor, Segezha, Kondopoga, Kostomuksha), R.S. Kolokolchikova reveals the complicated dynamics of implementation of the Soviet strategy of "managed urbanization' with the final purpose of development of the territories rich in natural resources. On the base of a significant volume of empirical material, she conclusively demonstrated how the process of formation of a specific type of industrial cities with characteristic features relevant to the settings and values of 'developed socialism' era, was going on.
The author's merit is the introduction of a large array of archival materials for scientific circulation, including departmental documents intended for official use. More than 1100 cases from 62 funds from 13 central and regional, as well as municipal and enterprise archives were used. The extensive bibliography of the study covering more than 700 titles of printed publications is an important source base not only for studying this period of the history, but also for the Soviet era in the context of the urbanistic approach. The theoretical value of the presented array of materials is determined by both quantitative parameters and thorough analysis of the degree of reliability of the published documents. Almost every statement and assumption put forward by the researcher is confirmed or illustrated by the references to printed or archival sources. The attachments with full bibliographical descriptions of the cited sources contain significant statistical material on the studied topic.
In the first section, whilst analyzing features of creating the spatial environment of industrial cities in Northern European Russia, R.S. Kolokolchikova notes that the new urban planning as well as the growth and development of historically formed cities were first conditioned by the official interests of the relevant ministries. "The rigid connection between urban planning on the one hand and creating and developing the industrial enterprises on the other hand, reduced the significance of the social component in the process of urbanization, which, in particular was reflected in the external parameters of the cities" [p. 12]. This fact determined, per the author, the specificity of the urban space, its functionality, the very appearance of these industri-
al cities, in many ways preserved to this day. Thus, "by the beginning of the 1980s, the spatial environment of the entire typological group of the studied cities was formed based on the general planning and use of their territories, which made it possible to improve the urban spatial environment, to overcome fragments of village development in the territory of industrial cities and to create more favorable conditions for human life in an industrial city" [p. 27]. The unquestionable achievement of those years was the successful solution of the housing problem. The pace and the results of implementation of the programs for demolition of dilapidated housing, the relocation of people from barracks and emergency buildings, the construction of closed microdistricts with the necessary transport and socio-cultural infrastructure, were truly impressive. The author gives considerable statistical material proving the effectiveness of the Soviet urban planning practice in those years [p. 28-44]. This historical experience of carrying out the construction works should be considered by modern municipal authorities when solving similar problems. At the same time, the researcher also reveals the serious shortcomings inherent in the town-planning policy of the mentioned period. We are talking about violations of the complexity of development, deviations from general plans, errors associated with the socio-demographic calculations, products of poor quality from the enterprises of the construction industry and works conducted directly on the construction site, etc. Such shortcomings and miscalculations led to unfavorable consequences affecting the present situation in these cities. For example, it is stated that the "customers were reluctant to invest in the design and construction of utility networks, sought to save on this ..., which on the one hand, made the cost of the construction cheaper; and on the other hand led to the overload of utility networks, exacerbated environmental problems, violated planning decisions of the spatial environment of the city" [p. 48]. Thus, the reasons of the current environmental problems and risk factors were laid just then. The raw specialization of resource-intensive industries, lack of sanitary protection zones between the enterprises and the residential areas, lack of effective technologies for cleaning industrial wastes and discharges, the residual principle of financing environmental protection activities - these as well as other factors led to the destruction of natural ecosystems, aggravated the situation of the ecological crisis.
The study convincingly shows that the main contradiction between the economic interests of the city-forming enterprises and the social and humanitarian needs of the population was finally decided in favor of the former. In the second section, the author examines in detail the main achievements and contradictions of the social development of the industrial cities of this region. It is noted that the combination of voluntary and coercive sources of labor force development exacerbated the social and demographic problems in the region. On the one hand, active industrial construction in Northern European Russia led to the fact that "in comparison with the cities of other typological groups, the industrial cities of the region had the highest rates of
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population growth"; on the other hand, the formation of the urban population was "mainly because of intensive migration turnover" [p. 97]. Moreover, the peculiarity of the demographic processes was the large mobility of the population, where not only migration to these cities was observed, but also a reverse tendency. The causes of backward migration were "severe climatic zones, hard working conditions, dissatisfaction with the provision of housing, specialty, trade and consumer services, etc." [p. 99]. The instability of the social structure of the urban population, the presence of a significant stratum of marginal elements in it, the unfavorable housing conditions and other negative factors led to the serious social problems. Using an extensive and reliable material, both local and central sources, the author reveals the causes and manifestations of such negative phenomena as crime [p. 126-134], alcoholism [p. 114-126], social illnesses [p. 134-148] etc. "In general, the social development of industrial cities fits into the mainstream of the laws of urbanization," the researcher believes [p.149].
The content of the third section devoted to the description of the cultural environment of industrial cities, substantially corrects the impression of predominantly unfavorable trends in the development of urban space and society. On the contrary, a systematic analysis of the factors influencing the public mood, the socio-cultural infrastructure, the achievements of propaganda and counterpropaganda, the specifics of cultural and educational activities, success in education, art, sports and amateur activity naturally lead to the conclusion that "the cultural life of industrial cities is remarkable for great saturation, dynamism and diversity"[p. 272]. Even though in the opinion of the author, there was no special state program for the development of the culture of industrial cities considering their problems during the period under study, the enterprises of the city-forming complex, the city councils of deputies and their executive committees played a significant role in the socio-cultural formation of these settlements. The monograph contains extensive statistical material that visually shows that during the period under consideration, sufficiently full infrastructure of the urban cultural environment is formed in the said region, providing the spiritual needs of the population, creating conditions for involving the inhabitants in benefits of culture. During these two decades, many social and cultural facilities were built in the industrial cities of Northern European Russia: schools, hospitals, libraries, cinemas, palaces of culture, sports complexes, etc. And although there was a certain lag in the development of their socio-cultural infrastructure as compared to the growth rate of the population (provision of the townspeople with spaces in cultural-leisure and educational institutions was significantly lower than the all-Union norms), in general, "the socio-cultural environment of the industrial cities of the region not only favored the broad development of the amateur artistic creativity, amateur associations in these cities..., but also radically changed itself towards humanization of all its components" [p. 245]. One cannot but agree with the author's assertion that the
cultural environment of the industrial cities of Northern European Russia was formed by the unification of efforts of city authorities, management of city-forming enterprises and the creative part of the population. The dynamic development of this cultural environment increased the status and the role of the cities belonging to this group in the culture of the region.
It should be noted that the monograph of R.S. Kolokolchikova is remarkable for its novelty and the formulation of the problem and with regards to the used research model, the complexity of the diverse sources, the logic and reasoning of the conclusions. This study makes a significant contribution both to regional studies through history and to historical urban studies, allowing to learn the history of Russia through the history of its regions. However, one can make a few comments and suggestions to the work. The conclusion and assumptions in the sections seem superfluously laconic; thus, they do not fully and accurately reflect the content of the structural elements and the position of the author. The title of the first paragraph of the third section is not entirely correct. Instead of the concept of 'public sentiment', it would be more appropriate to use the term 'public consciousness'. The semantic content and the scope of this category, in addition to the psychological and emotional component, also includes ideological, political, socio-economic and legal components, which are discussed in the paragraph. The photographic materials are not of a systemic nature; they are also distinguished by poor print quality. Not all industrial cities of Northern European Russia are covered in the study; it might become the subject of further scientific research conducted by the author. The above comments do not reduce the overall positive evaluation of R.S. Kolokolchikova's monograph, performed at a high theoretical and methodological level and deserving the attention of the professional scientific community.
