State of Construction Sector of Economy of Sverdlovsk Region in 1945-1950

Abstract

The article is devoted to the subject rather poorly developed in the national historiography, especially in regard to its regional aspect. The study was conducted on materials of the State archive of the Sverdlovsk region and the Centre of documentation of public organizations of Sverdlovsk region with the assistance of the scientific and publicistic literature. The relevance of the topic is determined by its known importance for the social sciences, especially history. Scientific novelty of the work is seen in the fact that the new materials discovered by the author in these archives are introduced into scientific usage. The research proves the importance of a well-developed construction sector for sustainable economic development of society. It is argued that the development of this industry in the middle Urals in the early post-war years has never attracted special attention of historians for various reasons. It is declared that by the beginning of the Great Patriotic war Sverdlovsk region and the Urals as a whole has already taken a leading place among the industrial regions of the USSR. It is emphasized that moving to the Urals the large number of industrial enterprises in the years of the Great Patriotic war had serious positive aspect: it helped to increase the general level of the region’s economy. It is proved that the construction industry in the Soviet Union could not be leading by definition - the leading sphere was the sphere of military-industrial complex in all the years of existence of the USSR. It is noted that, despite some efforts have been made in the area of housing, there were no significant changes in providing housing for the population in 1946-1950. The conclusion is made that the Sverdlovsk region had modest progress in housing construction in the 1950-ies.