Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Economic development

Pre-war economy

Foreman of the 6th brigade Shaikhiy Gatdrashitov indicates to collective farmer Galimov the time of his work according to the schedule. 1930s. Photo by B. Ivanitsky.

In 1921, the republic, like the adjacent Volga region, was struck by a drought that caused mass famine. To combat it, in 1921–22 the Tatar Republic received more than 8 million poods of seeds and 6 million poods of various food supplies from other regions of the country.

After the end of the Civil War, the restoration of the autonomous republic’s national economy began.

During the 1920s and 1930s, industrialisation took place throughout the Soviet Union. The Autonomous Tatar ASSR transitioned from a predominantly agrarian economy to an agrarian-industrial one. Old enterprises underwent major reconstruction, and new plants and factories were established. The industry of the Tatar ASSR developed at a rate exceeding the average industrial growth of both the RSFSR and the USSR. During the first Five-Year Plans, the largest machine-building, chemical, and light-industry enterprises in the autonomy were constructed. The number of workers grew, and national personnel were trained. Whereas in 1921 there were only 3,100 Tatar workers, technicians, and engineers at large enterprises (15.5%), by 1932 their number had risen to 16,400 (33.6%).

However, the republic’s only industrial hub (apart from the “Krasny Metallist” plant and the Bondyuzhsky chemical plant) was the capital, Kazan. In 1932, construction began there on the large aviation complex “Kazmash.”

At the same time, the collectivization of agriculture in the autonomy was carried out. In 1930, the first Machine Tractor Station (MTS) in the autonomy — Nurlat-Oktyabrskaya — was established. During the first Five-Year Plans, mechanization advanced so rapidly that for its achievements in agricultural development, Tatarstan was awarded the Order of Lenin on January 3, 1934.

Period of the Great Patriotic War

During the Great Patriotic War, factories as well as engineers from Moscow and the eastern regions of the country were evacuated to the Tatar ASSR.

Enterprises created and modernized before the war significantly increased production output, including the Kazan Optical-Mechanical Plant, Film Factory No. 8, and Lenin Powder Plant No. 40.

In the autumn of 1941, the “Moscow Aviation Plant No. 22 named after S. P. Gorbunov” was transferred to Kazan onto the territory of “Plant No. 124 named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze.”

On July 1, 1942, the Chistopol Watch Factory, established on the basis of the Second Moscow Watch Factory, began operating at full capacity.

Already in 1942, the Volga Rokada — a railway line along the Volga from Sviyazhsk to Stalingrad — was put into operation.

Post-war years

In the post-war years, the oil and gas industry developed rapidly in the Tatar ASSR. Development began on the supergiant Romashkino oil field.

In 1950, Tatarstan produced 867 thousand tons of oil, twelve times more than in 1947. From 1956 onward, Tatarstan held first place in the USSR for oil production for a long period. In 1966, 86.218 million tons were extracted there — 32.5% of all oil produced in the USSR. By 1970, production in Tatarstan had reached: oil — 101.9 million tons, gas — 3.882 billion m³.

To transport oil from the Volga-Ural oil and gas province to Eastern European COMECON countries, the “Druzhba” and “Druzhba-II” oil pipelines were built during the 1960s and 1970s.

For oil refining within Tatarstan itself, new industrial centers were established: Bugulma (Bugulmaneftemash, Tatneft), Leninogorsk (Leninogorskneftstroy), Nizhnekamsk (Nizhnekamskneftekhim), and Almetyevsk. In the capital, the “Organic Synthesis” plant was built.

Other sectors of the national economy also developed rapidly. In Kazan, a compressor plant was built, the medical-instrument plant was expanded, and the chemical-pharmaceutical plant and household chemicals plant were reconstructed. In the 1950s, Aircraft Plant No. 387 began producing helicopters, while the Sergo Plant in Zelenodolsk launched mass production of household refrigerators (“Mir,” “Sviyaga”).

Agriculture also advanced. The material and technical base of collective and state farms was significantly strengthened (in 1972, the Tatar ASSR had 583 collective farms and 168 state farms). Gross grain harvests amounted to 2.317 million tons in 1960 and 3.34 million tons in 1971.

With the commissioning of one of the world’s largest condensing power plants — the Zainsk State District Power Plant (GRES) — along with the construction of several other major power stations, including Kazan CHP-3, Nizhnekamsk CHP-1, and the Nizhnekamsk Hydroelectric Power Station, the republic fully met its own electricity needs and became an exporter of electricity to other regions of the country.

Notable people

Gabdulkhay Akhatov – professor and Turkologist

Youri Egorov - pianist

Sofia Gubaidulina – composer

Rustem Kildibekov – painter and creator of monumental art

Chulpan Khamatova – film, theater and TV actress

Mintimer Shaimiev – politician, the first secretary of the Tatar Regional Committee of the CPSU

Boris Yeltsin – first Russian president (1991–1999)

Röstäm Yaxin – composer

Ravil Maganov – chairman of Lukoil (2020–2022)

Valery Gerasimov – incumbent Russian Chief of General Staff

Alsou - Singer and actress; Russian representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2000