Rogozin Recalls Industrialization of 1930's

26.09.2012 Russian defense industry will pass development analogous to that happened in the USSR in 1930's, Russian vice premier Dmitry Rogozin told Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper. According to the supervisor of Russian defense industry, that is just the process which will result in "the new-level industry" capable to create up-to-date weapons.

"I'll tell you why thirties. Because in that time we took best things from the West and adapted to our conditions. Perhaps, now we should go the same way. And sometimes the question is not only renovation of available plants but construction of new ones in new places", Rogozin explained. As for him, to conduct new industrialization, one needs to "minimize everything", put together "all valuable things and rationally concentrate".

As an example, Rogozin mentioned the Izhmash plant which occupies too vast territory. "Few people are aware of the fact that during designing and construction of this giant plant it was supposed to produce things other than rifles and machineguns", the vice premier said. He noted that the plant was huge enough to build aircraft carriers but not only Kalashnikov automatic rifles.

During industrialization process, it is necessary to build up "integrated structures", and then "mercilessly throw away all junk that has done its time". Rogozin believes that it is essential not only to purchase new machinery to produce more advanced weapons but to renew national machine tool industry, too.

Earlier on, that was president Putin who spoke for modernization of defense industry "like it was in thirties". "We will have to master science-intensive, basic and critical technologies to manufacture up-to-date competitive products", said the president. "We're fifty or even hundred years behind advanced countries. We must get over this lag in ten years. We will either do that or be trampled down", Putin said.

Industrialization was carried out in the USSR in 1930's. The government declared three basic objectives then: state regulation of economy, economic independence from other countries, and establishment of a powerful military industrial complex. The Soviet industrialization was carried out in 5-year periods. As is believed, that was why the USSR turned into a superpower within relatively short time.

According to Rogozin, full-fledged transfer of Russian industry to the "new level" is hindered by mobilization reserves made for the case of the Third World War. "Mobilization capacities of our plants have been always considered a 'sacred cow' which cannot be milked under any circumstances. And finally, almost all defense-oriented plants are divided in two parts. One half is working somehow, another is simply locked", explained the politician.

As for him, production lines of such mobilization reserves are at the level of 1930's and will not be capable to establish large-scale production of present-day arms in case of urgent need. To settle this problem, the government began development of a new mobilization policy. Its purpose is to gain another production level when "machines and technological chains working in one or two shifts would be capable to work in three shifts without quality losses, if needed".