BUILDING SITE OF THE SULPHURIC ACID PLANT OF THE VOSKRESSENSK CHEMICAL COMBINE (AUGUST 30, 1930) 

THE BASIC CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, PRODUCING MINERAL ACIDS, ALKALIS, AND CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS, OCCUPIES AN EXCEPTIONAL PLACE AMONG TIE OTHER BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY. ALMOST NONE OF ITS OUTPUT GOES TO MARKET, AND YET IT WOULD BE HARD TO NAME A SINGLE INDUSTRY IN WHOSE PROCESSES OF PRODUCTION CHEMICAL PRODUCTS DO NOT PLAY A R LE OF MORE OR LESS IMPORTANCE. THE XV PARTY CONGRESS HAD EXCELLENT REASONS FOR INCLUDING THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AMONG THOSE BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY THAT « WILL RAISE THE ECONOMIC POWER AND DEFENSIVE CAPACITY OF THE USSR IN THE SHORTEST SPACE OF TIME, THAT WILL SERVE AS A GUARANTEE OF FURTHER DEVELOPMENT, LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON OTHER COUNTRIES IN CASE OF A BLOCKADE, AND PROMOTE THE TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURE ON THE BASIS OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND COLLECTIVIZATION». * THE SIGNIFICANCE OF OUR BASIC CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AS A PRODUCER OF FERTILIZERS AND INSECTICIDES FOR AGRICULTURE IS TREMENDOUS, IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT THESE PRODUCTS TEND TO GREATLY INCREASED CROP YIELD AND PREVENT THE EXHAUSTION OF THE SOIL.  IN WESTERN EUROPE, THE CHEMICAL FERTILIZATION OF THE SOIL HAS LONG BEEN USED ON THE MOST EXTENSIVE SCALE, AND IS CONSIDERED JUST AS NECESSARY AS PLOUGHING AND HARROWING. THE AVERAGE AMOUNT OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS USED PER HECTARE IN 1913 WAS 235 KGM FOR BELGIUM AND 166 KGM FOR GERMANY. * LAND FERTILISED IN THIS WAY GAVE A CROP YIELD OF 2.5 TONS OF WHEAT, 2.4 TONS OF RYE, OR 16.7 TONS OF POTATOES. UNDER THE TSARS AND NOBLE LANDLORDS OF RUSSIA, THE IGNORANT PEASANT, OPPRESSED BY WANT AND THE SERFDOM OF THE LAND-OWNER AND THE «KULAK», NOT ONLY FAILED TO USE CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS, BUT OFTEN DID NOT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE MANURE—THE NATIONAL FERTILIZER OF THE FARM. AND, INDEED, IT WAS A DIFFICULT MATTER, EVEN FOR A PERSON WHO KNEW ABOUT CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS, TO CARRY ON SCIENTIFIC FARMING ON LAND CUT UP INTO NARROW STRIPS. * BARBAROUS METHODS OF TILLING THE SOIL, MIXED SEEDS, PESTS, AND BLIGHTS LED TO A CONDITION IN WHICH THE «RUSSIAN MOTHERLAND, BENEFACTRESS OF THE PEOPLE» GAVE AN AVERAGE CROP YIELD OF 0.8 TON OF WHEAT AND RYE, AND 7.1 TONS OF POTATOES IN 1919. THE CAUSES OF THIS VERY LOW CROP YIELD LIE IN THE INSIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS AND INSECTICIDES USED ON THE FARMS. IN THE RUSSIA OF 1913, AN AVERAGE OF 7 KGM OF FERTILIZERS PER HECTARE OF CULTIVATED LAND WAS USED, THE UTILIZATION OF ANY CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS AT ALL BEING LIMITED TO A FEW LEADING FARMS. ON THE MAJORITY OF THE LANDRDS  ESTATES, THE LAND WAS TILLED IN A PRIMITIVE WAY, SINCE THE NEEDY PEASANTRY FURNISHED CHEAP LABOUR IN ABUNDANCE. THE PEASANTS WORKED FROM DAWN TILL DARK FOR A NEGLIGIBLE WAGE, THUS ENABLING THE LANDLORDS TO ORAW AN ADEQUATE INCOME FROM THEIR ESTATES WITHOUT THE INTRODUCTION OF COMPARATIVELY EXPENSIVE AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT, FERTILIZERS, INSECTICIDES, AND SO FORTH. * THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION WIPED OUT THE LANDLORDS, DECLARED WAR ON THE «IDIOCY OF RURAL LIFE», AND SET ITSELF THE TASK OF TRANS

2 

FORMING AGRICULTURE ON THE NEW BASIS OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND COLLECTIVIZATION, OF CHANGING MILLIONS OF WRETCHED, OPPRESSED PEASANTS INTO ACTIVE BUILDERS OF SOCIALISM. ON LAND THAT WAS FORMERLY CUT UP INTO SMALL STRIPS, COLLECTIVE FARMS ARE NOW INCREASING AND GROWING IN STRENGTH. * HERE SOVIET «GRAIN FACTORIES» OF UNPRECEDENTED SIZE, BASED ON ADVANCED MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL TECHNIQUE, HAVE ALSO GROWN UP. THE RADICAL TRANSFORMATION OF RURAL LIFE MAKES GREAT DEMANDS ON THE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY.  THESE DEMANDS WILL BE MET BY THE CONSTRUCTION OF HUGE NEW FERTILIZER PLANTS AND BY THE EXPANSION, RECONSTRUCTION, AND REGENERATION OF THE SMALL NUMBER OF EXISTING FACTORIES. THE TEMPO OF FERTILIZER PRODUCTION IS INCREASING FROM YEAR TO YEAR. IN 1928 THE OUTPUT OF SUPERPHOSPHATES, ONE OF THE BASIC TYPES OF FERTILIZER, WAS 155 400 TONS.  IN 1929, THIS FIGURE WAS RAISED TO 231 200 TONS, AND IN 1930, TO 440 000 TONS.  IN 1931, THE OUTPUT OF SUPERPHOSPHATES WILL REACH 1 112 000 TONS, WHILE OUR FACTORIES WILL PRODUCE 3 400 000 TONS IN 1933. BEFORE THE WAR OUR PHOSPHITE QUARRIES WERE IN THE RUDIMENTARY STAGE AND THE FEW EXISTING FACTORIES WORKED ALMOST ENTIRELY ON IMPORTED RAW MATERIAL. THUS, IN 1913, RUSSIA PRODUCED 6952 TONS OF PHOSPHITES AND IMPORTED ABOUT 53 900 TONS. THE PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED APATITE DEPOSITS ON THE KOLSKY PENINSULA ARE PARTICULARLY BRILLIANT. THESE DEPOSITS WILL PLAY A GREAT R LE IN FULFILLING THE TASKS LAID UPON THE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROVISION OF AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS FOR OUR SOCIALIST AGRICULTURE. FOR A NUMBER OF SPECIFIC REASONS, THE PRODUCTION OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS IN THE SOVIET UNION IS ADVANCING ALONG DIFFERENT LINES FROM THOSE FOLLOWED IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.  THUS, IN THE USSR, WITH ITS TREMENDOUS DISTANCES, THE PROBLEM OF TRANSPORT HAS OBLIGED OUR SCIENTISTS TO WORK ON THE PRODUCTION ON CONCENTRATED FERTILIZERS CONTAINING THE SLIGHTEST POSSIBLE ADMIXTURE OF UNNECESSARY SUBSTANCES AND GIVING THE BEST POSSIBLE RESULTS. AFTER MANY YEARS OF PERSISTENT WORK IN THE LABORATORY, FOLLOWED BY TESTS UNDER FACTORY CONDITIONS, FERTILIZERS OF HIGH GRADE AND RAPID ACTION WERE DISCOVERED. AMONG THE FERTILIZERS OF THIS TYPE, WE SHOULD INCLUDE DOUBLE SUPERPHOSPHATES,WITH A PHOSPHORIC ACID CONTENT OF 35% AS AGAINST THE STANDARD 14 % OF ORDINARY SUPERPHOSPHATES, PRECIPITATES PRODUCED BY THE ACTION OF LIME UPON CALCIUM PHOSPHATES, AND AMMOPHOSPHATES OBTAINED BY SATURATING A SOLUTION OF PHOSPHORIC ACID WITH AMMONIA. THE PHOSPHORIC ACID CONTENT OF THE LATTER MAY REACH 40%. THE MANUFACTURE OF THESE FERTILIZERS WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN A NUMBER OF GIANT FACTORIES THAT HAVE BEEN OR ARE NOW BEING NEWLY EQUIPPED. MANY OF THEM WILL BEGIN WORK IN 1931. SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE TRACTOR AND THE COMBINE, THEY WILL REACH OUT INTO THE FIELDS OF THE SOVIET UNION TO BRING ABOUT A «HIGHER LEVEL OF CHEMICAL TECHNIQUE» 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE CONSTRUCTION WORK AT THE VOSKRESSENSK CHEMICAL COMBINE (MARCH, 1931)