People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry of the USSR. Unrealized projects of Soviet architecture Work in the uranium project

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Although history does not know the subjunctive moods, it is still quite possible to imagine what Moscow would have looked like if things had gone a little differently. But I wonder which of the following buildings Muscovites would not mind having in Moscow now?

The master plan provided for the development of the city center as a unified system of highways, squares and embankments with unique buildings embodying the ideas and achievements of socialism.

The architecture of Moscow of the 30s - early 50s undoubtedly occupies a central place in the domestic architecture of the socialist era. In its originality and scope, this is the most striking embodiment of the socialist utopia in architecture. The peculiarity of the architectural process of this period was that it was entirely determined by ambitious government tasks. To implement them, large-scale architectural competitions were organized, to which architects of various orientations and creative schools were invited.

A. Vesnin, V. Vesnin,

In 1934, a competition was announced for the building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry (Narkomtyazhprom) on Red Square. The construction of this grandiose complex of 110 thousand m3 on an area of 4 hectares would lead to a radical reconstruction of Red Square, adjacent streets and squares of Kitay-Gorod. 12 projects were submitted to the first stage of the competition. The impressive projects of the brothers A. and V. Vesnin - leaders of the constructivist movement - were not noted by the jury, as were the projects of other participants, although outstanding architectural solutions were submitted to the competition, which were among the most interesting design ideas of our century.

When deciding on the layout of the Kitaygorod district, the authors set the task of designing an ensemble of a number of squares (Red Square, Sverdlova, Dzerzhinsky, etc.) as the main core of the entire city, incorporating all the main highways, and creating a new architectural center of the proletarian capital.

Leaving the existing ring of squares, the authors identified a north-south highway and broke through the Maroseyka highway to Manezhnaya Square. At the intersection of these highways, a square was formed, serving as a front square in front of Red Square and protecting it from transit traffic. The new Kirovskaya Street is also located here, oriented to the axis of the mausoleum.

Sketch perspective

General plan and ground floor plan

Lengthwise cut

Plan of the 2nd and 3rd floors

Layout

Fragment of the facade

The entire central part of Kitay-Gorod is being transformed into a park, revealing a perspective of both Red Square and the Kremlin, and the House of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry.
The general plan of the site uses the features of the terrain: the terraces going down to the Moscow River simultaneously serve as a stylobate for the entire building.

A floor for showroom stores and product exhibitions is being designed above the main lobby. At the top of the square base are the governing bodies of the People's Commissariat and a large conference room for 500 people.
All the premises of the People's Commissariat are located on 32 floors of a star-shaped tower with vertical transport in the center. The total number of rooms in the tower is 3780.

The public part, located between the buildings of the People's Commissariat and design organizations, has a connection with the People's Commissariat through four passages. A club is designed in the public part of the building, located from the 5th to 9th floors and including a large auditorium for 1,500 people.

The structure of the buildings is taken in the form of an iron frame filled with lightweight materials. The cladding is mainly light gray marble with partial use of non-ferrous and stainless metals. Building capacity: first stage - 1,273,000 m3, second - 287,000 m3 and third - 500,000 m3, and in total - 2,060,000 m3.

More projects..

Building of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry.(I. Fomin, P. Abrosimov, M. Minkus. 1934)

I. Fomin is the largest representative of the St. Petersburg school of neoclassical direction in Russian architecture, having developed as a master in pre-revolutionary times. Even in the 20s, during the period of complete dominance of constructivism, Fomin managed to remain faithful to classical principles in architecture and even developed the so-called “proletarian order”. “The two main verticals of the main facade are given in order to create a gap through which it would be good to look at the mausoleum. Along Sverdlov Square the building ends with the straight end of the building. Here the silhouette solution is chosen. We break this end with a very ceremonial arch, corresponding to the character of the old architecture of the square. The building's plan represents a closed ring. Since the composition is closed, we did not want to rise in general above 12-13 floors, and only the towers will reach a height of 24 floors.” From the explanatory note to the project.

On the stylobate corresponding to the Kremlin wall, four towers were erected, reaching a height of up to 160 meters. The rhythmic structure, expressed in four vertical elements and a stylobate colonnade, creates the visual extent necessary for the longitudinal framing of the square and corresponds to the construction of the Kremlin wall. The vertical division corresponds to the four divisions of the Kremlin tower, which is necessary to include the building in the overall ensemble. A single lobby stretching along Red Square has been designed.” From the explanatory note to the project.

Project "Narkomtyazhprom". Competition project of Ivan Leonidov

That's how it is Leonidov described his project: (from the explanatory note)

“I believe that the architecture of the Kremlin and St. Basil’s should be subordinated to the architecture of the House of the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry, and the building of the NKTP itself should take a central place in the city.
Historical motifs must be compositionally subordinated to the principle of artistic contrast to this leading object...

In the project, the center of the composition are high-rise towers, the choice of which is determined by functional and architectural considerations (the requirement of harmony, composition, movement, spatiality, size). The low parts of the building (hall, stands, exhibitions, rear building) correspond in height to the surrounding architecture and are compositionally built in the limited contrast of the lower ground.
There are three towers. The first is rectangular in plan, with a light spatial top, facing Red Square. The top of the tower is glass, with suspended terraces of a metal structure (stainless steel).

The third tower is designed to be spatial in plan, simple and austere in its facades.

Red Square is divided into two terraces located at different levels, which makes it possible to achieve new effects during military parades (for example, launch tanks in one plane, cavalry in another...)
The terrace-like principle of the area will ensure good visibility of the Mausoleum."
Three towers of different heights and silhouettes, connected to each other at different heights by passages, were to be visible from all over Moscow and its outskirts. In the evenings, one of the towers, with a completely glass facade, would create a cosmic spectacle.

House of Narkomtyazhprom Leonidov created at a time when they were already fighting against it. They fought not just against Leonidov, but against “Leonidism,” which became a terrible curse in the 30s. It meant, as the magazine “Art to the Masses” wrote, “blind imitation of Western models, fetishism of architectural forms developing independently of the class struggle, and ignoring issues of the economy of buildings.”

Vesnin brothers

Melnikov

Shchusev in collaboration with Friedman

However, very quickly the construction of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry House on Red Square was abandoned.

But according to the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow approved in 1935, a place was allocated for it nearby - the territory of Zaryadye.

Engineer Shumilin drew up a project for the design of the central part of Moscow, according to which Red Square should have been renamed Mausoleum Avenue with the destruction of the Iversky Gate, as well as the demolition of buildings on the territory of Kitay-Gorod and Zaryadye.

Devoid of architectural restrictions, Red Square turned into an immense space, onto which the grandiose composition of the House of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry was revealed in its entirety.

Here is a photomontage illustrating a similar project by Mordvinov

Not a single pre-war project satisfied the customer (that is, the state, in essence), and during the Second World War there was no time for construction.

is one of the largest and most representative architectural competitions of our century. The idea of constructing a building in the capital of the world’s first state of workers and peasants that could become a symbol of the “coming triumph of communism” appeared already in the 20s. It was decided to build the Palace of the Soviets on the site of the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The competition for the design of the Palace of the Soviets was announced in 1931, and it took place in several stages.

A total of 160 projects were submitted to the competition, including 12 commissioned and 24 non-competitive, as well as 112 design proposals, 24 proposals came from foreign participants, among whom were world-famous architects: Le Corbusier, V. Gropius, E. Mendelssohn. The turn of Soviet architecture towards the heritage of the past, which had clearly emerged by this time, also determined the choice of winners. The highest prizes were awarded to the following architects: I. Zholtovsky, B. Iofan, G. Hamilton (USA). Subsequently, the Council of Builders of the Palace of Soviets (which at one time included Stalin himself) adopted B. Iofan’s project as a basis, which, after numerous modifications, was accepted for implementation.

A competition for the design of the Palace of Technology was announced in 1933. The design object itself was a complex of scientific and technical institutions; it was supposed to become in the capital of the country, which was in the active process of industrialization, a center designed to “equip the masses with the achievements of Soviet technology in the field of industry, agriculture, transport and communications.” The site on the banks of the Moscow River was chosen as the site for the construction of the Palace. The industrial nature of the solution to the project by A. Samoilov and B. Efimovich is not a tribute to constructivism that has already become a thing of the past, but rather an illustration of the “technocratic” nature of the design object itself. The Palace of Technology was not built.

Military People's Commissariat building. (L. Rudnev. 1933)

The buildings of the architect L. Rudnev are among the most noticeable in Moscow. He is the head of the design team for the Moscow State University High-Rise Building on the Lenin Hills (1953). In the 30s, a number of buildings of the People's Commissariat of Defense were built according to Rudnev's designs: the Military Academy of the Red Army named after. Frunze on the Maiden Field (1932), the building of the People's Commissariat of Defense on Frunzenskaya Embankment (1936) and on the street. Shaposhnikova (1933). For the buildings of this department, the architect developed a special style with motifs of formidable inaccessibility and overwhelming power, consistent with the official image of the Red Army. The design of the building on Arbat Square, which was only partially implemented, reflects the architect’s transition from the gloomy grandeur of the People’s Commissariat of Defense buildings of the 30s to the grand pomp that became characteristic of the architecture of the 40s and early 50s.

The buildings of the architect L. Rudnev are among the most noticeable in Moscow. He is the head of the design team for the Moscow State University High-Rise Building on the Lenin Hills (1953). In the 30s, a number of buildings of the People's Commissariat of Defense were built according to Rudnev's designs: the Military Academy of the Red Army named after. Frunze on the Maiden Field (1932), the building of the People's Commissariat of Defense on Frunzenskaya Embankment (1936) and on the street. Shaposhnikova (1933). The design of the building on Arbat Square, which was only partially implemented, reflects the architect’s transition from the gloomy grandeur of the People’s Commissariat of Defense buildings of the 30s to the grand pomp that became characteristic of the architecture of the 40s and early 50s. (With)

This is what we see now on Frunzenskaya:

In 1934, the whole world followed the dramatic fate of the crew of the icebreaker Chelyuskin, who was drifting on an ice floe after the death of the ship in the Chukchi Sea. In the summer of the same year, Moscow welcomed the brave Chelyuskinites and the pilots who saved them, who were the first to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The new traditions of socialist life demanded the perpetuation of the glorious feat of the Soviet people in monumental forms.

The Aeroflot building, which was planned to be erected on the square near the Belorussky railway station, was conceived by the architect D. Chechulin as a monument to heroic Soviet aviation. Hence the sharp silhouette solution, the “aerodynamic” shape of the high-rise building and the sculptural figures of heroic pilots: A. Lyapidevsky, S. Levanevsky, V. Molokov, N. Kamanin, I. Slepnev, I. Vodopyanov, I. Doronin, crowning seven openwork arches , turned perpendicular to the main facade and forming a kind of portal. The sculptor I. Shadr took part in the work on the project, sculpting the figures of the pilots.

The project was not implemented in its original form and purpose. Almost half a century later, the general ideas of the project were embodied in the complex of the House of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment (now the Government House).

The House of Books project is an example of the solution of the building as an “architectural monument” typical of the early 1930s. Trapezoidal, skyward silhouette, simplified architectural forms and an abundance of sculpture on all parts of the building. The architect I. Golosov in the 20s clearly showed himself in line with constructivism (he is the author of the textbook famous Zuev Club), and in subsequent years he created interesting solutions in the spirit of the new Soviet classics. He took part in competitions for the design of the Palace of Soviets and the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, where he proposed original designs. Golosov’s works are distinguished by features that are defined as “symbolic romanticism.” “An architect must be free from style, in the old, historical sense of the word, and must create style himself...

For this purpose, guiding rules and laws must be given that make it easier for the architect in each individual case to choose the right path to solving the problem of artistic creativity... It is necessary to establish only immutable provisions that are inevitable, true and irreplaceable. There are a lot of such provisions, and these provisions, undoubtedly carrying absolute value, are equally acceptable both to classical architecture and to the architecture of our time.” I. Golosov. From the lecture “New paths in architecture.”

Since October 1942, at the very height of the Great Patriotic War, the newspaper “Literature and Art” reported: “The competition for monuments to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War is ending. About 90 works were submitted from Moscow sculptors and architects. Information was received about the sending of projects from Leningrad, Kuibyshev, Sverdlovsk, Tashkent and other cities of the USSR. Over 140 projects are expected to arrive.” In order to familiarize the public with the materials of the competition, three exhibitions were organized in Moscow in the winter and spring of 1943, at which the submitted projects were exhibited. The terms of the competition, among other topics, included the creation of a monument to the “Heroic Defenders of Moscow.” The choice of location for the monument was at the discretion of the competitors. The author of the “Arch of Heroes,” architect L. Pavlov, proposed placing his monument on Red Square. The monument was not built.

Architect V. Oltarzhevsky, together with A. Mordvinov, author of the high-rise building of the Ukraine Hotel on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. V. Oltarzhevsky worked a lot on architectural theory and methods of constructing high-rise buildings. In 1953, his book “Construction of High-Rise Buildings in Moscow” was published, in which he tried to find a connection between this architecture and the traditions of Russian architecture. V. Oltarzhevsky paid special attention to the designs and various types of engineering and technical equipment of “high-rise buildings”. Oltarzhevsky's project was not implemented. High-rise building on the square. Vosstaniya was built according to the design of architects M. Posokhin and A. Mndoyants.

And only in 1947, after a decree was adopted on the construction of high-rise buildings designed to revive the lost expressiveness of the Moscow skyline, a 32-story administrative building was designed in Zaryadye based on Chechulin’s design. This building became the main vertical dominant of Moscow, the center of a whole necklace of high-rise buildings.

Initial Project

Which after some minor transformations began to look like this:

In 1947, the Soviet government adopted a decree on the construction of high-rise buildings in Moscow. By the beginning of the 50s, high-rise buildings on the Lenin Hills (MSU), on Smolenskaya Square (MFA), on Lermontovskaya Square (administrative building), on Komsomolskaya Square and on Kutuzovsky Prospekt (the Leningradskaya and Ukraina hotels), on Kotelnicheskaya embankment and on Vosstaniya Square (residential buildings) were built. And only the construction of a 32-story administrative building in Zaryadye, which was supposed to become one of the main dominant features in the skyline of the capital’s center, was not completed. Its construction was interrupted after the famous decree of 1955, which condemned “excesses and embellishment in architecture” and marked the beginning of a new era in Soviet architecture. The already erected structures were dismantled, and the Rossiya Hotel was built on the foundations of the High-Rise Building, designed by the same D. Chechulin, in 1967.

This is what was written down in the resolution of the Moscow Soviet of 1935: “Red Square will be doubled, and the central squares - named after Nogin, named after Dzerzhinsky, named after Sverdlov and Revolution - will be reconstructed and architecturally designed within a 3-year period. The territory of Kitai-Gorod should be cleared of existing small buildings, with the exception of individual large buildings, and instead build several monumental buildings of national importance.

The high hilly bank (Zaryadye) should be freed from small buildings with the construction of a monumental building of the House of Industry on this site and with the design of descents to the river."

Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR (1930 - 1932)
People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR (1932-1937)

Born in western Georgia, into an impoverished noble family. In 1898 he graduated from a two-year school in the village of Kharagauli, in 1905 - from the paramedic school at the city Mikhailovsky hospital.

He worked as a paramedic in the oil fields. He took part in the October Revolution of 1917. During the Civil War, he was in a leadership position in the army, one of the organizers of the defeat of Denikin.

Since 1922, 1st secretary of the Transcaucasian, since 1926, North Caucasian regional committees of the RCP (b).

In 1926-1930 Chairman of the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), People's Commissar of the RKI and Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

G.K. Ordzhonikidze played a key role in the implementation of the industrialization of the USSR. The creation of the first industry giants - Magnitka and Kuznetsk, Balkhash and Uralmash, the Gorky Automobile Plant and the Volgograd Tractor Plant - is associated with his name.

The People's Commissar oversaw the construction of the country's largest machine-building plant "Sibkombayn" (later "Sibselmash"), a mining equipment plant (Chkalov Aviation Plant), the Apatit mining and chemical plant, the Voskresensky Chemical Plant, the Rostselmash plant, the Moscow Machine Tool Plant, which later received the name Ordzhonikidze and many other enterprises.

At the end of 1931, the overall growth of the national economy was 21% compared to the 1930 level. A number of industries fulfilled the targets of the first five-year plan, and a number exceeded them. The production of wagons was doubled against the planned indicators, the production of tractors was increased by 1.3 times, there was growth in the electrical industry, and the planned target for oil production was exceeded.

However, in the second five-year plan, the average annual growth rate of industrial output decreased. Ordzhonikidze sought to take into account the miscalculations and intended to expand the production of consumer goods. But the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Engineering, which he headed, had defense orders, and it was necessary to load “civilian” engineering factories with orders from the military department.

Often the People's Commissar was forced to solve purely production problems in conditions of general suspicion, increasing political tension, and personnel purges, which concerned, first of all, the economic People's Commissariats. A large number of employees of his department were under attack.

In 1936, Ordzhonikidze's elder brother was arrested. At the February-March (1937) plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a report by G.K. Ordzhonikizhze. Five days before the plenum on February 18, 1937, he died of a heart attack (according to the official version).

Awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, the Red Banner, and the Red Banner of the Georgian SSR.

Alexander Uralov.

Malyshev Vyacheslav Alexandrovich. People's Commissar of Heavy Engineering (1939-1940), People's Commissar of Medium Engineering (1940-1941), Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (1940-1944), People's Commissar of Tank Industry (1941-1942, 1943-1945), Hero of Socialist Labor, Stalin Prize laureate, general - Colonel of the Tank Engineering Service.

“He was a very organized, disciplined person, a little tough, rather demanding. He knew how to work when there was an incredible amount to do. He had colossal organizational talent, which helped him head several ministries at once. And in addition to everything, God, or whatever, it was given to him, he understood all the innovations of science and technology.”

V.S. Sumin. Assistant to V.A. Malyshev, who worked with him for 17 years.

Legendary People's Commissar of War

Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Malyshev was a talented design engineer and a major industrial production manager. He began his career as a railway driver. He received his engineering education at the Moscow Higher Technical School (Moscow Higher Technical School named after Bauman), from which he graduated in 1934. His thesis defense turned into a creative interview with the mature engineer V.A. Malysheva with examiners. From his teacher A.N. Shelest, a member of the state examination commission, who also graduated from the Higher Imperial Technical School (as the Moscow Higher Technical School was called before the revolution), heard a flattering diploma student: “Yes, this is a born director!” And he became one already in May 1938, at the age of thirty-six, when, at the request of the People's Commissar of Mechanical Engineering A.D. Bruskin was appointed director of the plant. Kuibysheva. Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich delved into every detail, he was constantly in the production shops and, if necessary, strictly questioned any omissions. But the people were not offended by Malyshev, because first of all he did not spare himself.

As People's Commissar of Heavy Engineering, Malyshev devoted most of his energy to the production of tanks. He managed to evacuate to the Urals the main production base for the production of tanks from Leningrad (Kirov and Northern plants), as well as factories from Stalingrad, Kharkov and Moscow. Thanks to his ebullient energy and drive, some factories from other industries were also switched to producing tanks, including the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard in Gorky.

In 1943 V.A. By resolution of the State Defense Committee, Malyshev was appointed People's Commissar of the Tank Industry.

A man of ebullient energy, he was constantly on the “battlefield” - in the workshops, at the training grounds, at the front. And with his energy, like a torch, he lit the hearts of workers and engineers, forcing them - for the sake of the front, for the sake of Victory - to work to the limit of human capabilities. He spared himself least of all - and the tank factories fulfilled and exceeded the plan. After all, the front needed tanks.

V.A. Malyshev often visited the fronts, among the troops defending Stalingrad. At the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, which produces tanks, together with their deputy Goreglyad, they found themselves literally on the front line - before their eyes, German tanks, attacking, almost broke through our defenses. The situation is critical. Then, straight from the assembly shop, with their tracks clanging, unpainted, scary, factory tanks went into battle - everything that could move and shoot. Over 50 vehicles under the command of the plant's process engineer. “We have never seen anything like this,” Paulus’ adjutant, Colonel V. Adam, later recalled. - General Wittersheim suggested that the commander of the 6th Army move away from the Volga. He didn’t believe that this gigantic city could be taken.”

T-34 is a legend of the Second World War.

This is how the commander of the tank industry, Colonel General of the Engineering and Technical Service V.A., fought at the head of the country’s tank builders. Malyshev. It was under his leadership that a tank armada consisting of 86 thousand tanks and 23 thousand self-propelled artillery units launched a strategic offensive on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Steel warriors T-34, KV, IS, as well as SAU-76 and 85, SU-100, SAU-122 mm, SAU-152, called St. John's worts, became heroes of many decisive battles. Member of the State Defense Committee A.I. Mikoyan characterized Stalin’s People’s Commissar this way:

“I met him when he became People’s Commissar and Deputy Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars. I especially liked it during the war. I liked to look at him, with what fire he worked, becoming the People's Commissar of the tank industry. He was not only a knowledgeable engineer, but also a great organizer, and engineering and organizational activities are very important in our conditions. There are many good engineers, but there are few, even very few, great organizational engineers. This is not only because of his experience, but also his personal talent.

At the end of the war, we all became convinced of what a talented organizer Malyshev was, what a fiery leader who knew how to gather talented people around him and accomplish what was assigned to him. And it is no coincidence that when the question of creating a nuclear industry in the USSR arose, it was Malyshev who was sent as the head of the newly created industry.”

Among all the people's commissars, Malyshev was most often called to the Kremlin and to the dacha in Kuntsevo to resolve the most important issues in the defense industry. From 1939 to 1950 he spoke with Stalin over 100 times, and most of these meetings took place during the war. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief highly valued him as an outstanding organizer of industry.

A brilliant leader with deep engineering knowledge, Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich was one of the outstanding organizers of the development of the tank industry during the war.

From left to right: D.F. Ustinov, B.L. Vannikov, A.I. Efremov, V.A. Malyshev, 1943

The industry quickly reorganized itself on a military basis and began to supply the front with good combat vehicles.

The famous commanders of the Great Patriotic War treated Malyshev with the greatest respect: G. K. Zhukov, A. M. Vasilevsky, K. K. Rokossovsky, I. S. Konev, A. I. Eremenko, marshals and generals of the armored forces Ya. N. Fedorenko, P. A. Rotmistrov, P. S. Rybalko.

Army General twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Candidate of Military Sciences D. D. Lelyushenko during the Patriotic War commanded combined arms and tank armies and was deputy head of the Main Armored Directorate of the Red Army. In his notes, he writes: “In those days, I had the opportunity to often meet with Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Malyshev, who led the tank industry. I was amazed by his ebullient energy. Being a very busy man, Malyshev did not miss the opportunity to meet and talk with front-line tankers, patiently listened to their complaints and remarks. He often visited front-line training grounds where new vehicles were tested. He accompanied formed tank formations to the active army. You could call him late at night or early in the morning - Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich was always “at home.” He did not have the habit of postponing decisions. Working with it was pleasant and easy for such a person.”

Lieutenant General of the Technical Troops, Hero of Socialist Labor F. F. Petrov in his memoirs emphasizes the exceptional organizational talent of Malyshev, who united everyone - from armor masters, engine creators to cannon designers.

Work in a uranium project.

Even during the Great Patriotic War, information appeared about work with uranium-235. Malyshev became interested in this problem.

The Americans never thought that we could make an atomic bomb so quickly. Immediately after the war, on July 17, 1945, at the Potsdam Conference of the Victorious Powers, American President G. Truman informed J.V. Stalin about the presence of powerful weapons in the United States, thereby, according to the observation of those present, Marshal G.K. Zhukov and W. Churchill , leading him to extreme surprise. John F. Hogerton and Ellsworth Raymond, in the book “When Will Russia Have an Atomic Bomb?”, published in 1948 in Moscow, predicted that the USSR would be able to create an atomic bomb only in 1954. As is known, they were in trouble with the forecast.

Even during the Great Patriotic War, Soviet scientists were working on the uranium problem. In December 1946, I.V. Kurchatov and his colleagues built the first reactor in Europe and carried out a chain reaction, and in 1948 they launched the first industrial uranium-graphite reactor.

The launch of these reactors and the production of insignificant microgram amounts of plutonium in the first of them, and industrial quantities in the second, summed up the enormous efforts of geologists, miners, metallurgists and metallurgists, chemists and radiochemists, graphite designers, designers and experimental physicists. Already in August 1949, the Soviet Union tested an atomic bomb. The development of nuclear energy began with the creation of atomic weapons.

Testing of the first atomic bomb of the USSR. August 29, 1949

He was the head of the State Commission for testing the first thermonuclear bomb, carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site on August 12, 1953. A.D. Sakharov recalled: “Malyshev hugged me and immediately suggested that, together with the other test managers, we go to the field “to see what happened.” I, of course, agreed, and soon, in several open gas cars, we drove up to the checkpoint, where we were given dustproof overalls with dosimeters in the chest pockets. ...The cars drove on and stopped a few tens of meters from the remains of the test tower. ...Malyshev got out of the car and went to the tower. I sat next to him and also got out. The rest remained in the car. All that was left of the tower were the concrete bases of the supports... Half a minute later we returned to the cars...” As it later became known, everyone who visited the epicenter of the explosion then received very large, life-threatening doses of radiation.

On August 12, 1953, the world's first hydrogen bomb was tested in the USSR. The test took place at the Semipalatinsk test site. The blast wave destroyed everything within a radius of 4 kilometers.

Malyshev’s role as a major mechanical engineer in the uranium project is obvious. I.V. Kurchatov spoke more than once about his merits, noting that Malyshev managed to mobilize hundreds of factories, mines, design bureaus (including former tank ones, from where N.L. Dukhov came to the nuclear industry - in Arzamas-16 he headed a special design sector involved in the development of the atomic bomb) to work on the Atomic Project. With the participation of Malyshev, the construction of a nuclear power plant began in Obninsk, launched in June 1954, and the construction of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" (chief designer V.I. Neganov, scientific director of the creation of a nuclear power plant, academician A.P. Aleksandrov), in which he was involved up to 500 factories of the Soviet Union. Its creation turned into another giant experimental site for new technology and became a test of maturity for metallurgists, machine builders, and assemblers. Heading the Ministry of Shipbuilding of the USSR, V.A. Malyshev was one of the founders and organizer of work on the creation of a nuclear submarine fleet of the USSR.

However, he did not have a chance to see the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", the construction of which was started by Malyshev. He did not live to see that day for several months. And he did not live to see the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite. But he also has his share of labor in the rapid pace of development of Soviet rocket and space technology.
J.V. Stalin called V.A. Malyshev the chief engineer of the country. Malyshev was a demanding person, he loved to understand everything thoroughly, he loved everything new. He was present at all the tests of weapons and equipment; it was important for him to understand everything himself, to look, to study the processes taking place. He was a very meticulous, scrupulous person. Despite the prohibitions, immediately after the atomic bomb test I went to the epicenter of the explosion. He wanted to see for himself, almost feel it. It was his fearlessness and passion for his work that led to the fact that he “grabbed” a dose of radiation and died early, at only 54 years old...

The creation and organization of the nuclear industry is a task that he took on with enthusiasm. When scientists completed their developments and they needed to be put into production, Malyshev attracted his tank designers, as well as machine-building and tank factories.

Vyacheslav Alexandrovich's working day lasted a long time: from early morning and often until one in the morning. He visited the government almost every day. And then - analytical work. We prepared reviews of foreign literature on technical issues for him. He became acquainted with what was happening in the world through reviews and translations. He was interested in all information related to issues of the defense complex. I remember how, before going to a scientific symposium that was held in England, he filled his entire notebook with information about this country. Extracts were made from a wide variety of literature. The result was a kind of “encyclopedia” about England. Everything was there: history, economic development, the state of the defense industry, culture. I still have this notebook, covered in his handwriting. Now I keep it as a memory of this man.

He was a very dynamic person. One of the English newspapers, after his trip to the conference, wrote that he was a “dynamo man.” While in England, he visited factories and enterprises. All this was close, familiar to him, like home. He loved visiting factories. This was more important to him than any paper report.

V.A. Malyshev visited all the facilities, nuclear submarines. He was praised by the government for creating a nuclear fleet so quickly. Instead of rivets, he introduced automatic welding. He taught some specialists to be bolder, reproaching them for being afraid of new things. He often communicated with academician Evgeniy Oskarovich Paton.

In 1946, Malyshev, analyzing the results of the war, concluded that “our tank industry during the war years has gone through a path in the field of introducing equipment and technology that would have taken 10-15 years in pre-war times.” Despite the difficulties of the war, hundreds and thousands of enterprises were transferred to the East. The government was able to allocate a sufficient amount of new equipment to tank factories, which ensured the creation of a base for the mass production of tanks.

As an outstanding organizer of industry, I.V. highly valued him. Stalin. During the war, Malyshev was called to Stalin’s office 107 times to resolve the most important issues in the defense industry. More often than not, only some members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were summoned and none of the people's commissars who were not members of the Politburo.

Creation of the transport industry.

In October 1945, the People's Commissariat of Tank Industry was abolished and on its basis the People's Commissariat of Transport Engineering was created, headed by V. A. Malyshev.

The new case was incredibly difficult. After four years of war, transport engineering factories were in a difficult situation, many were switched to the production of military equipment. And the tasks set are enormous. Over the five-year period (1946-1950), the People's Commissariat of Transport Engineering should produce 6,165 mainline steam locomotives, 865 diesel locomotives, and 435 thousand cars. In addition, the Ministry's enterprises must provide 74.5 thousand tractors, 79 thousand diesel engines, and revive the production of river boats at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant.

How to make this jerk? Malyshev is looking for ways. Experience suggested: only through new maneuvers with existing capacities and, above all, a decisive switching of tank, armored hull, and diesel factories to new types of products.

Malyshev sought not only to restore the production of civilian products and the organization of production, focusing on pre-war models, but to create a new mass production focused on modern types of machines.

Malyshev based post-war transport engineering on the principles of mass flow technology. New aggregate plants are being built, the factories of the former tank industry with their powerful base are becoming related enterprises of transport engineering. New designs of steam locomotives, diesel locomotives, diesel engines, and tractors are being created.

Creation and application of new technology.

In December 1947, the State Planning Committee of the USSR was reorganized and the State Committee for Supply of the National Economy of the USSR and the State Committee for the Introduction of New Technology into the National Economy (Gostekhnika USSR) were formed. The State Technical Committee was entrusted with the task of speeding up the introduction of new technology into the national economy in order to further rapidly upgrade technical equipment and re-equip the national economy.

V. A. Malyshev was appointed Chairman of the State Technical Committee. A very special period begins in the life of Malyshev, who turned forty these days. He was transformed into one of the strategists of the national economy, into the country's true chief engineer (as many industry workers called Malyshev). In this position, his integrity, engineering talent and organizational thought received the most complete expression. He believed that the main thing is the fight not for individual new products, not for private improvements that bring temporary success, but the fight for historically progressive trends in science and technology.

Malyshev focuses on the problem of speedy mechanization of labor-intensive and heavy work in the main industries and construction. This ensured the creation of a labor reserve and the gain of time.

State engineering most fully revealed the organizational role in the construction of the Volga-Don Canal (1950-1952).

In contrast to the original canal construction project, which provided for the involvement of more than 500 thousand people, the proposal by Malyshev and Gostekhnika provided for only 200 thousand people, but with the creation and commissioning of powerful earth-moving equipment. Walking excavators, scrapers, powerful dump trucks, and tractors are being created.

New construction - new equipment. This was a truly Malyshev scale, a matter that shook up dozens of factories and ministries. Volgo-Don became a laboratory of new technology.

Everything was done in two and a half years instead of five. On May 31, 1952, the waters of two great rivers merged forever.

Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry.

On January 10, 1950, by order of the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, Malyshev undertakes to accept the affairs of the Ministry of Shipbuilding Industry within seven days. A day later, a corresponding Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR appeared. This is the third ministry in five years.
Malyshev knew that the large fleet program had been adopted even before the war, when the People's Commissariat of the Navy and the People's Commissariat of Shipbuilding were created. In 1938-1940, many large warships were laid down. But they remained on the stocks unfinished.
There is very little time for a large fleet to be. Meanwhile, the construction of one ship lasted for three to four years, with enormous costs of manual labor. Malyshev travels to shipyards. He realized that it was necessary to break the outdated technology for assembling ships. Some innovations began to be introduced before him, but innovations had to be introduced more boldly. The Ministry is working on this. Shipyards changed their traditional appearance in the 50s. "Slipway time" was sharply reduced, most assembly work was transferred to the workshop. The 1950 delivery program was successfully completed. In January 1951, J.V. Stalin called Malyshev and congratulated him on the successful implementation of the ship delivery plan.

The world's first nuclear icebreaker "V.I. Lenin".

Old shipbuilders and designers noted that working with Malyshev was not only interesting. The lessons of working with Malyshev are lessons of extremely efficient, flexible development of new things, overcoming inertia, and constant development of a sense of the new.

The disease - acute leukemia - crept up unnoticed and progressed rapidly. Intensive treatment, the extraordinary personal courage of Malyshev himself, the care of friends - everything turned out to be powerless. On February 20, 1957, death occurred. On February 22, a farewell took place in the Hall of Columns of the House of Soviets. The urn with the ashes is buried in the Kremlin wall. The Kharkov Machine-Building Plant, streets in Moscow, Kolomna and Syktyvkar (a monument was erected in the city) and in other cities were named after him.

Where have such people gone? They were replaced in government positions by demagogues who built their careers by participating in various kinds of political squabbles, technically illiterate, but, nevertheless, undertaking to decide something on issues completely unknown and incomprehensible to them - the results of their activities are already obvious even to people farthest from technical topics.

For example, a physics teacher by training, owner of a car dealership, head of the election headquarters of Petro Poroshenko in the Kherson region, deputy of the regional council 42 -year-old Roman Romanov.

This physics teacher graduated from the Kherson State Pedagogical Institute in 1995. N.K. Krupskaya (a very prestigious university!) being an entrepreneur since 1992. When did he study?

“...He had colossal organizational talent, which helped him head several ministries at once. And in addition to everything, God, or whatever, it was given to him, he understood all the innovations of science and technology.” This is V.A. Malyshev.
As it is with I. Stalin: “Cadres decide everything!”

And what kind of talent does a regional council member, an entrepreneur, the owner of a car dealership in Kherson have that is applicable to the management of such a colossus as the state concern “Ukroboronprom”?

Good bye, State Concern "Ukroboronprom"!

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People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry. People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry. 1934-1936. Part 2

Competition project of Ivan Leonidov

_______________________

I believe that this project is the most successful of all those presented during the 2 competitions. Why? For several reasons:

This is the most expressive project in my opinion. The composition is made up of a large platform-podium, which can be used as stands for demonstrations, and a high-rise dominant of three towers. From different angles, the towers always form a good compositional subordination to the general idea.
This is the only project that considers the connection of the new building with the historical buildings of Moscow. On this occasion I.G. Lezhava calls Ivan Leonidova an architect who included two eras: modernism and postmodernism. In fact Leonidov becomes the first representative of postmodernism, noticeably ahead of the historical course of events and views. El Lissitzky, analyzing the results of the competition, called Leonidov “the only one who strives to find unity” Kremlin - St. Basil's Cathedral - new building".
The project is incredibly valuable in terms of proportions. At the same time, Leonidov did not use any constructions of proportions; he apparently felt them.
The project is also clean from a stylistic point of view. This is the only project in the competitions where ALL the rules of constructivism were followed, which positively distinguishes the project from others.

That’s why I devoted the entire article to just one project.

That's how it is Leonidov described his project: (from the explanatory note)

The round tower is designed to contrast with the first, picturesque in form and treatment. The tower is decorated with tribune terraces. The material is glass brick, which makes it possible to maintain the integrity of the form using the textured effects of an extraordinary material... At night, the tower will stand out with its light silhouette with a barely noticeable grid structure and dark spots of terrace-tribunes.
The third tower is designed to be spatial in plan, simple and austere in its facades.
Red Square is divided into two terraces located at different levels, which makes it possible to achieve new effects during military parades (for example, launch tanks in one plane, cavalry in another...)
The terrace-like principle of the area will ensure good visibility of the Mausoleum."

Three towers of different heights and silhouettes, connected to each other at different heights by passages, were to be visible from all over Moscow and its outskirts. In the evenings, one of the towers, with a completely glass facade, would create a cosmic spectacle.

I think no words can compare with the expressiveness of the project itself.

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