SOME GEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF THE NEW SOVIET FIVE-YEAR PLAN

The following preliminary overview of some spatial aspects of the 10th Five-Year Plan, originally prepared for oral delivery at the 1976 St. Louis meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, is published here in response to widespread requests for reprints. It comments briefly on what are perceived to be some new locational priorities in the context of the so-called East-West issue, the proposed shift to greater use of coal compared with oil, a pro-European bias in steel location, the impact of joint development projects with Comecon countries and with the West, and an apparent movement to seaboard locations in conjunction with increased foreign-trade interaction between the Soviet Union and the world economy.     

SOVIET ASIAN-PACIFIC TRADE AND THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET FAR EAST

During the 1970s and early 1980s it was generally accepted, by both Soviet and Western specialists, that in the Soviet Far East the expansion of exports to the nations of the Pacific Basin offered a solution to the region's economic problems. However, recent policy statements suggest the rejection of this export-led development strategy. This study examines the changing structure and dynamics of Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region. At present, for a combination of economic and political reasons, Soviet trade with the Asian-Pacific region is dominated by exports of machinery and equipment and petroleum to the socialist nations of the region, inasmuch as Japanese demand for Soviet natural resources is stagnant. Therefore, because of the resource orientation of the Far Eastern economy, contemporary trade relations do not favor the expansion of the Soviet Far Eastern export base. Consequently, the future role of the region in the national economic system will be determined largely by the availability of domestic capital investment funds.     

THE 1929 MEETING OF SOVIET GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS: A KEY EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF SOVIET ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

A Soviet economic geographer who participated in a 1929 conference of geography teachers describes the antecedents, the atmosphere and the proceedings of this crucial meeting in a stormy period of the discipline. It was a landmark in the history of Soviet economic geography in marking the beginning of the end of the old sectoral-statistical approach and inaugurating the new regional school led by N. N. Baranskiy.     

SOME DATA ON CHANGES IN TRANSPORT ACCESSIBILITY OF EAST SIBERIA AND THE SOVIET FAR EAST IN CONNECTION WITH CONSTRUCTION OF THE BAM

The impact of the Baikal-Amur Mainline on accessibility to resource sites in East Siberia and the Soviet Far East is measured. At the present time, a little more than one-half of the developed southern portion of the region lies within 200 km of the Trans-Siberian. As a result of the construction of the BAM, nearly 75 percent of the area will be within 200 km of the nearest railroad. The gains in distance to the nearest railroad are mapped, and show a maximum gain (of 420–450 km) in an area northeast of the northern tip of Lake Baikal. Although the BAM, because of difficult terrain, is still distinguished by a high coefficient of sinuosity (compared with the great-circle distance), it does represent a gain over the present distance from the Pacific coast to points west of Lake Baikal.     

AN APPRAISAL OF THE SOVIET CONCEPT OF THE TERRITORIAL PRODUCTION COMPLEX

The paper, contributing to one of the research goals of the Commission on Industrial Systems, International Geographical Union, provides an appraisal of the Soviet approach to spatial organization of the economy known as the territorial production complex. The authors review the genesis of the concept, definitional criteria, and its practical formation and operation, making occasional comparison with Western approaches to spatial economic organization. An unresolved problem for Soviet planners is the provision of a coordinating administrative authority for each territorial complex that would integrate the activities of individual industrial ministries involved in the creation of the complex; the current thinking of Soviet planners is illuminated by a recent statement appended to the paper. (For a previous Western view of Soviet regional development models, see G. A. Huzinec in Soviet Geography, October 1976.)     

THE BAM AND THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET FAR EAST

The construction of the Baykal-Amur Mainline, which began in 1974 and is scheduled to be completed in 1983, is expected to have a profound impact on the economy of the Soviet Far East, whose development has long lagged because of lack of transport access to regional resources. The BAM is expected to foster the development of new industries, such as coal and steel, oil and gas, hydropower, metal fabrication and chemicals, and stimulate the expansion of traditional activities, such as gold and tin mining, fisheries and forest products. The BAM is also expected to play a key role in expanding trade between the Soviet Far East and the countries of the Pacific basin and the Indian Ocean. In light of the complex aspects of the BAM project, it is suggested that integrated planning procedures encompass not only the transport aspects of the project, but all economic activities to be generated as a result of the construction of the new railroad. In view of the labor shortage, a high level of labor-saving technology is recommended. Concern for the local environment is expressed in view of the extensive construction activities in permafrost. (Previous articles on the BAM appeared in Soviet Geography, April and October 1975.)     

REPLY TO THE SOVIET REVIEW OF RADICAL GEOGRAPHY

A Norwegian geographer and Deputy Head of the International Northern Sea Route Programme (INSROP) Secretariat surveys past, present, and potential future Northern Sea Route (NSR) cargo flows. The route's economic potential and importance, both as an international transit route and as a transport corridor to and from the Russian Arctic regions, are discussed. An overview of the main NSR infrastructure components (icebreakers, ice-class cargo vessels, ports) also is made, with estimates of future capacity. Based on the survey of future cargo potential, future infrastructure requirements are calculated and compared with estimated capacity in order to identify possible future bottlenecks for NSR operations. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L90, O18, R40. 1 figure, 4 tables, 76 references.     

长征中的中华苏维埃共和国国家银行

七十多年前中国工农红军长征的途中,中国革命的金融工作者也同红军战士一样进行了英勇的斗争。他们除了行军打仗外,在极其艰难的条件下还进行了大量的经济、金融工作,特别是利用有利时机适时发行苏维埃国家银行纸币,为迅速补充红军给养,促进部队战斗力的恢复做出了贡献。     

THE SIZE OF SOVIET RAYONS AND INTRA-RAYON LINKAGES

The paper is devoted to an analysis of the relationship between the area of Soviet rayons (minor civil divisions) and population density. It is assumed that a network of rayons is shaped for purposes of administrative convenience, minimizing administration-related trips from the periphery to the center. The solution of the minimization problem yields a set of relationships among population density, radius, area and total population of rayons.     

川陕苏区“改制代用币”初论及藏品辨析

川陕苏区是第二次国内革命战争时期,中国共产党领导川陕苏区人民共同创建的一个重要革命根据地,是中华苏维埃共和国第二个大的区域。川陕苏区在革命政权中建立的金融体系是工农民主专政强有力的工具。它在支援革命战争,发展工农业生产,促进商品流通,支持合作化运动,巩固苏维埃政权等方面,发挥着重要的作用。根据现有史料和藏品实物,川陕苏区发行流通的货币有三种类型:1·苏维埃货币,有布币、纸币、铜币、银币、锡币五种及鄂豫皖苏区纸币(内部流通);2·仿制民国货币,有铜币、银币两种;3·改制代用币(简称改用币)。本文就第三种货币作一初步论…     

SPATIAL PATTERNS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SOVIET UNION

Analysis of spatial patterns of attained educational levels is helpful in understanding the cultural geography of an area, perhaps especially in the Soviet Union, with its many ethnic groups and stated aim of providing equality of education regardless of ethnicity or sex. The proportion of the population that had completed a higher education was mapped at oblast level from 1970 census data. High rates are found in certain urban areas, Estonia and Latvia, Georgia, and certain sparsely populated areas of the Far North, Siberia, and the Far East. There are regional patterns of disparity between male and female rates of completed higher education and between rural and urban rates, despite Soviet attempts to reduce these inequalities. The distribution of Soviet higher educational institutions conforms generally to the distribution of population, although access to higher education opportunities appears to be geographically limited in some regions. (Maps by Joann L. Krupa, George Mason University.)     

LOCATIONAL FACTORS OF MACHINE MANUFACTURING IN THE SOVIET NORTH

Arguments are marshaled against the location of machine manufacturing in the North. The location of suppliers and the location of the market are viewed as negligible factors because machinery plants generally are supplied from a large number of sources and serve a highly dispersed market. The crucial element is said to be the issue of labor resources, particularly skilled labor, and the associated infrastructure that would be needed in the North. It is also pointed out that machine manufacturing is traditionally most cost-effective in large urban centers and in older industrial areas where it benefits from the so-called agglomerative effect of locational factors. It is recommended that metal-fabricating activities in the North be restricted to essential equipment repairs and overhauls and occasional manufacture of nonstandard equipment, with greater use of centralized supplies of spare parts. (For an opposed view, see V. P. Yevstigneyev in Soviet Geography, May 1976.)     

MODERNIZATION OF SOVIET AGRICULTURAL MACHINE BUILDING: THE EXAMPLE OF TRACTOR PRODUCTION

The Soviet agricultural equipment industry produces over 40 percent of the world's tractors. It also is a major world producer of combines and other agricultural equipment. Nevertheless, almost three-fourths of the 33 million Soviet agricultural workers are classified as manual laborers. This paper focuses on how the industry is being modernized to address this problem, and how this effort fits into the overall program of economic restructuring. It also briefly examines some of the spatial dimensions of agricultural machinery production, including the distribution of tractor assembly plants within the country and some of their locational factors.