UDC

94(574)[378:622.3](045)

DOI

10.37482/2687-1505-V497

Authors

Yuliya G. Eshchenko - Cand. Sci. (Hist.), Assoc. Prof., Senior Researcher, Centre for the Study of the History of the Lower Volga Region During the Soviet Period, V.N. Tatishchev Astrakhan State University (address: ul. Tatishcheva 20a, Astrakhan, 414056, Russia).

e-mail: pushistik_yuliya@mail.ru, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1207-327X

Abstract

Training skilled workmen and engineers was fundamental to restoring the production potential of key industries in the first years after the end of the Great Patriotic War. This article analyses the state policy on training specialists for oil enterprises in the USSR in the second half of the 1940s. Based on the materials of the Caspian oil-and-gas province, the article examines such strands of Soviet education policy as optimization of the vocational and qualification structure, formal evaluation of workers, practice-oriented training of young oil industry workers, as well as professional development and vocational retraining of specialists with working experience. The author utilized a wide range of sources from central and regional archives (legal, regulatory and statistical documents), some of which had not been introduced into scientific discourse. As a result, it was concluded that the main personnel problem for enterprises in the oil sector was the shortage of employees with industry-specific education. The training of the required number of new workers was supposed to take several years, while the production capacity of oil fields and processing plants had to be restored to pre-war levels within a limited time frame. To quickly fill vacant positions, short-term retraining courses, on-the-job second profession training, and professional development courses were provided. The author notes that the low level of general education and the lack of vocational training, especially among workmen, shifted the emphasis in training to the practical component and did not guarantee a successful acquisition of a new profession.

Keywords

oil industry, post-war period, Ministry of Oil Industry of the Eastern Regions of the USSR, Caspian oil-and-gas province, personnel training, training of oil industry workers, professional development

References

1. Bodrova E.V., Kalinov V.V. Razvitie neftegazovogo kompleksa strany v poslevoennye desyatiletiya [Oil and Gas Complex Development of the Country in Post-War]. Vestnik Surgutskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 2013, no. 4, pp. 199–205.
2. Bodrova E.V., Kalinov V.V. State Policy in the Field of Technical Re-Equipment of the Oil and Gas Industries in the 1950s. Casp. Reg. Polit. Econ. Cult., 2023, no. 3, pp. 109–120 (in Russ.).
3. Kalinov V.V., Bodrova E.V. Rol’ neftegazovoy otrasli v pod”eme ekonomiki SSSR v poslevoennyy period [The Role of the Oil and Gas Industry to the Growth of the Soviet Economy in the Postwar Period]. Sovremennye issledovaniya sotsial’nykh problem, 2016, no. 3-3, pp. 131–140.
4. Musaeva S.I. Vozrozhdenie i razvitie neftegazovoy promyshlennosti Dagestana v poslevoennyy period [Revival and Development of the Oil and Gas Industry of Dagestan in the Postwar Period]. Izvestiya SOIGSI, 2020, no. 38, pp. 80–90. https://doi.org/10.46698/r4011-4313-2798-h
5. Komgort M.V. Sozdanie “Sibirskoy neftyanoy bazy” v promyshlennoy politike gosudarstva (1940– 1960-e gody) [On the Foundation of Siberian Oil Base in State Industrial Policy]. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2014, no. 8, pp. 49–57.
6. Sulumov Z.Kh. Razvitie groznenskoy neftyanoy promyshlennosti v 1940–1950-ee gg. [Development of Grozny Oil Industry in the 1940–1950s]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki, 2017, no. 1, pp. 192–195.
7. Khisamutdinov D.R. Distribution of Graduates of Educational Institutions of the System of State Labor Reserves in the Southern Urals During the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946‒1950). Izvestiya Yugo-Zapadnogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser.: Istoriya i pravo, 2025, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 230–241 (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.21869/2223-1501-2025-15-2-230-241
8. Rakhmankulov D.L., Ishbulatov R.F., Agliullin A.Kh., Imashev B.U., Mazitov R.M., Vil’danov F.Sh. Iz istorii vysshego neftyanogo obrazovaniya v Uralo-Povolzh’e. Soobshchenie 12: Sostoyanie trudovykh kadrov neftyanoy promyshlennosti SSSR v gody predvoennykh pyatiletok 1933–1937 gg. [From the History of Higher Oil Industry Education in the Ural-Volga Region. Report 12: The State of the Labour Force of the USSR Oil Industry During the Pre-War Five-Year Plans, 1933–1937]. Istoriya nauki i tekhniki (Ufa), 2006, no. 3, pp. 83–87.
9. Rakhmankulov D.L., Agliullin A.Kh., Imashev B.U., Latypova F.N., Mazitov R.M., Ishbulatov R.F. Iz istorii vysshego neftyanogo obrazovaniya v Uralo-Povolzh’e. Soobshchenie 13. Vysshee obrazovanie v Sovetskom Soyuze v gody Velikoy Otechestvennoy voyny [From the History of Higher Oil Industry Education in the Ural-Volga Region. Report 13. Higher Education in the Soviet Union During the Great Patriotic War]. Istoriya nauki i tekhniki (Ufa), 2006, no. 3, pp. 88–94.
10. Minkin M.R. Stanovlenie i razvitie sistemy podgotovki kadrov dlya neftyanoy promyshlennosti Tatarskoy ASSR v 1950–1960-e gg. [Formation and Development of the Personnel Training System for the Oil Industry of the Tatar ASSR in the 1950s – 1960s: Diss.]. Kazan, 2011. 221 p.
11. Salimov M.D. Nachal’nye etapy promyshlennoy razrabotki neftyanykh mestorozhdeniy Uralo-Povolzh’ya i podgotovka inzhenernykh i nauchnykh kadrov dlya neftyanoy promyshlennosti v Respublike Bashkortostan [First Stages of Industrial Development of Oil Fields in the Ural-Volga Region and the Training of Engineers and Scientists for the Oil Industry in the Republic of Bashkortostan: Diss.]. Ufa, 2005. 123 p.
12. Klinova M.A. The Policy of Remuneration of the RSFSR’s Urban Dwellers in 1946–1953: A Mobilization Tool and Material Inequality Factor. Ural’skiy istoricheskiy vestnik, 2022, no. 1, pp. 72–81 (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.30759/1728-9718-2022-1(74)-72-81