Alexander Portcel
(Murmansk State Technical University)
The Newspaper «Polyarnayakochegarka" (“Polar stokehold") as a Source on the Soviet Mining on Spitsbergen in the 1930-80s .
Periodical editions occupy the main place among historical written sources. They reflect not only priorities, but the official opinion and people’s mood at the certain time as well, sometimes they contain valuable information about earlier periods. It refers to the newspaper “Polyarnayakochegarka” published by the soviet trust “Arcticugol”. Almost complete set of issues of this newspaper since 1948 and some prewar issues are kept in the Murmansk state regional archives. What information can materials of this departmental edition provide to those who are interested in the history of mastering the archipelago Spitsbergen?
Mass media is commonly named as a “fourth power”. Indeed, its possibilities to impact people’s consciousness and to form their behavior are great. It was also understood in the “Arcticugol”. The newspaper was of great significance as the tool for mobilizing people’s trade activity and increasing their political literacy. But it was impossible to deliver the central newspaper in time to Spitsbergen for objective reasons, and after the end navigation radio was the only means of communication with the Mainland. That is why the administration and party leaders of the trust “Arcticugol” developed began to publish their own newspaper for the employees of the Soviet mines on Spitsbergen. It was published on the archipelago, in Barentsburg.
The trust “Arcticugol” was established in October 1931. But there was no technical opportunity to organize the publishing of the factory newspaper. Then only wall newspapers were issued. The first three issues of the factory newspaper “Polyarnayakochegarka” were published in 1934. But soon it was stopped. The reason was the shortage of the technical staff for the newspaper publishing.
But the significance of the factory newspaper for the political work among the working people was dramatic. And the party leaders couldn’t put up with the cessation of its publishing. Active measures for revival of the “Polyarnayakochegarka” publishing were undertaken. It took place in October 1935. At that time the newspaper was issued every five days.
In May 1941 it was reported from Spitsbergen to M.Starostin, the First secretary of the regional committee of VKP(b): “The publishing printed newspaper reorganized its work and assists in the affair of the industrial and party-political activity improvement”.
After the Great Patriotic war the publishing of the newspaper of Soviet mines was continued. The issue of the “Polyarnayakochegarka” was renewed in 1948 and was finished in the years of perestroika. After the war the “Polyarnayakochegarka” was issued three times a week. Each issue contained 4 pages (type pages).
What can be interesting for the investigators in materials of this newspaper?
1. Official materials
Of course official documents occupied the noticeable place on pages of the factory newspaper. First of all there were documents of highest state structures. So in 1977 the text of new Soviet Constitution was published in a few issues.
The information about visits of high persons was certainly highlighted in the newspaper. For example there was informed about the visits of Emergency and Plenipotentiary Ambassadors of the USSR in Norway – D.Polyanskiy in 1985 and 1986, A.Teterin in 1988. to Barentsburg and Pyramid.
Much space was given to the official materials of leadership of the mines and public organizations of the trust. There were editorials where immediate tasks of the collective body were appointed, materials of conferences, the information about decisions of the meetings and elected public bodies. For example there was a regular column “Notes from the meeting of the trade union committee” in the 60-s.
Statistic materials are also introduced here also but they are very poor. In particular there is information about recompenses, given to innovators and inventors (No.41 of 1949).
Greetings of Ministries and leaders of the “Arcticugol” to the workers of the mines on the occasion of labour victories of the miners were also published in the newspaper.
Regularly the leaders of the trust and mines told about achievements and prospects of mines development. For example the Trust’s Director for the production V.Trifonenkov wrote about it in detail in 1980 (“Frontiers of creation” – No.96 of 1980). In 1986 the General director of the “Arcticugol” N.Gnilorybov in one and half pages described in detail the prospects of the mines development for the period of the 12-th five-year (“The main tasks of the workers of the trust “Arcticugol” in 1986” – No.12 of 1986).
2. Materials about employment, about leaders of production.
The newspaper mandatory published socialist obligations of the labor collectives of the trust.According to these documents, we can trace the major directions and priorities of the development of the Soviet mines on the archipelago.
Also the newspaper certainly published the orders concerning the rewarding of "Arcticugol’s" workers.
Since No.10 from 1948 in almost every issue of the newspaper on the front page there was "The board of honor". The names of the best workers of the mines and their achievements in a previous month were published here.
Forward practices were popularized widely in the newspaper. These articles were written not only by journalists or “rabcors” (the term for ordinary citizens who regularly sent their materials to the newspaper). In many articles best workers themselves told about how they had managed to achieve such good results.
It is possible to get biographical information from these publications. So in 1980 the information about M.Plisetskiy, about the beginning of “Arcticugol” ‘s work was placed in a few issues of the newspaper (“One of the first” – No.26 of 1981). During the 80-ies the regular column “Your best people, the Arctic”. For example here were published articles “The talent of a modern leader” – it is the article about the director of the Barentsburg mine during 50-80-ies V.Gureev (No.2 of 1986); “Realizing of the dream” – about the famous scientist-glaciologist E.Zinger (No.57 of1986) and others.
Much space is given to the articles aimed to increase the efficiency of mines’ production. Special regular columns were devoted to it. For example the column “The task of the day – the mastering of new techniques”.
The issues of accident prevention were focused on at the pages of the newspaper. There were regular columns – “Safety of labour - everyone’s duty”, “Permanent attention - to labour safety”, “Permanent attention - to accident prevention” and others. Using the materials it is possible to understand the problems of production organization on the mines and ways of their solving, about technical and technological development of the mines.
Critical materials also published in the newspaper. So No.3 of 1948 was fully devoted to the problems of fight against thriftlessness on the mines of "Arcticugol". Later there appeared a regular column "At an acute angle".
These critical materials did not lack the attention of the trust’s governing body. Regular columns “Returning to the published”, “In the wake of our statements” existed in the newspaper since the first months of its publishing.
3. International information.
The newspaper placed the TASS reports about the most important international events, international documents and official comments to them.
For example in 1949 the double issue of the newspaper was fully occupied with “The declaration of The the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the North-Atlantic treaty” (No.13-14 of 1949), and later it published the text of the treaty (No.33 of 1949) and the Soviet government memorandum on this occasion (No.38 of 1949). Another example: in 1968 during the Czechoslovakian crisis there was published “The address of the group of members of the Central Committee of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia and the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia” (No.66 of 1968) and the official information about the events taking place in this state.
Often there was not only information in the newspaper but stories about people’s life in different countries.
Soviet polar explorers showed great interest to the questions of history and modern life of Norwegian settlements of the archipelago. The newspaper wrote articles many times on this theme. For example it was told in detail about the history of Norwegian mines, about experience of interrelations between representatives of the two states on Spitsbergen in the material by G.Ivanov “Traditions of neighborliness” (No.62-66 of 1981).
Quite often we can find materials about visits of Norwegian officials and ordinary citizens of Norwegian mines to the soviet settlements on pages of the “Polyarnayakochegarka” (“We have all flags as guests in…” – No.58 of 1967, “Plans of friendship” No.13 of 1969, “On the laws of friendship” – No.30 of 1969 and others).
Information about visits of soviet delegations to Longyearbyen was also placed here (“Useful visit” – No.18 of 1969, “Meet: Barentsburg – Longyearbyen” – No.73 of 1969). There was much interesting about the life of neighboring Norwegians there. In particular it refers to the large article by V.Gureev “ Longyearbyen. The mine and people” (No.37 of 1969), written after the visit of Russian miners to the Norwegian mines.
Rules of behavior for Soviet people aboard were also elucidated in the newspaper (“The rules obligatory for all” – No.14 of 1980).
4.Materials about the history of Spitsbergen and polar researches.
The interest to the history of the development of the archipelago and the Arctic in general was great among the readers of the “Polyarnayakochegarka”. That’s why materials on these topics were often published. Especially many of them were placed in the newspaper in connection with jubilee dates of the “Arcticugol”.
Here are a few examples.
In 1949 in two pages there were memoirs of veterans of the “Arcticugol” – “So soviet Barentsburg recover” (no.49-50 of 1949).
The article “The island Spitsbergen. The short history of its research and development” lights the most important events in the history of the archipelago since 1596 till 1924 (No.18-19 of 1951).
In 1966-1967 in 14 issues the current main events in the history of the “Arcticugol” were published (V.Kirillov “The newly born” – No.83-86, 89-92, 95, 98, 101 of 1966, No.2,9,24 of 1967). Then this topic was continued by the article “The current unforgettable years” (No.86 of 1967).
In 1969-1970 the newspaper again published a large selection of the materials “From the history of Spitsbergen’s mastering”, some of them were prepared by soviet vice-consul on Spitsbergen B.Smirnov (No.92, 94,96, 97, 99-100 of 1969, No.1, 2-5, 18-20, 23, 24, 27,32,38,43 of 1970).
In 1986, 1987, 1988 the newspaper pulled a few pages in some issues to the articles by N.Gnilorybov “We are 55”, “In the high Arctic”, “The discovery and mastering of Spitsbergen”. There not only main marks of the development of the mines were described, but statistic materials and documents, in particular – the decree of the Sovnarcom (the Council of People’s Commissars) from 29 July 1920 which initiated the creation of the soviet coal mines on Spitsbergen (No.67 of 1986, No.6 of 1987, No.82, 84-86, 88 of 1988).
N.Gusev (the chief engineer of the mine Pyramid and later – of the whole trust “Arcticugol”) not once made articles on pages of the newspaper about the history of Spitsbergen and its mines. Here are some of his publications: “By hands of the soviet polar explorers” (No.15 of 1948) - about the restoration of the mine Pyramid after the war; “How we took over the mine” (No.68 of 1980).
Many memoirs of other veterans of the trust were also published. These memoirs are duplicated in the collected stories “Half of the century near the Pole”, published in 1983. The editor of the “Polyarnayakochegarka” V.Shirikov was the compiler of this collection. But the newspaper version of the memoirs mentioned above has a far more details. Here are some examples.
A.Politov “Troubles of the war time” (No.51 of 1981) – the former party organizer of the mines told in this article about the evacuation of the soviet settlements in 1941.
E.Magerov “This is our work” (No.49 of 1981), M.Pirojzkov “Ten years in the Arctic sky” (No.71 of 1985) and others. – Due to these articles by representatives of the Aeroflot (Air fleet) in Longyearbyen the development of air transportation from Moscow to the archipelago can be traced.
L.Murashov “Always in search” (No.26 of 1967). – This article by chief geologist of the geological survey expedition of the trust “Arcticugol” was devoted to the history of the work of the soviet geologists on the archipelago.
“How everything developed” (No.10 of 1980) - That was the interview by the veteran of the mines N.Sudnik where he told about the creation of the farm on the mines during the postwar years. E.Speranskaya lights the analogous topic in the memoir (“Wintering at Grumant” – No.21 of 1980).
In 1987 in three issues the memoirs by V.Gureev “Barentsburg of the 60-ies” were published (No.58-60 of 1987).
The newspaper materials about the history of mastering of the Arctic – about the largest expeditions of Russian and foreign investigators were also placed on the pages of the newspaper.
So in the column “From the annals of the Arctic” the article by A.Barhatov “To the heights of Spitsbergen” was published (No.70, 71 of 1983). This article told about many geological expeditions on the archipelago since 1899.
V.Kirillov told in the article “We remember you, the heroes of the Polar seas!” (No.39 of 1967) about the rescue operation of the steamer “Malygin” and the loss of the tugboat “Ruslan” near Spitsbergen in 1933.
Many articles were prepared by A.Pechurov who is one of the largest soviet authors of the Spitsbergen’s history. So the articles “Unresolved mysteries of the Polar expedition” about the expedition of G.Brusilov on the boat “St. Ann” (No.87 of 1986) belong to his pen.
The chief of the IX Polish Polar expedition G.Gregorchik in the article “The way to the Arctic” told the history of polish research in the Arctic and on Spitsbergen (No.87 of 1986).
The famous glaciologist E.Zinger often published in the newspaper chapters of his future books about Spitsbergen.
5. Materials about the living conditions and life.
It is one of the most interesting layers of the newspaper information. For those who study everyday life in the Arctic these newspaper articles are a valuable source. These articles allow you to get “first hand” information on the social conditions of the Polar communities for decades (nearly a half of the century).
People wrote about the long-standing worries, shared their life experience in wintering, told about their comrades. Complexity and "sore spots" in the life of the community of the Soviet settlements were easily viewed in these articles. But we can also see in these materials how people overcame these difficulties. Authors of the articles wrote about their weekdays. But that were “weekdays of great buildings” as it was sung in the popular soviet song.
In particular one of the regular questions touched on in the newspaper was the state and improvement of living conditions. Among other articles there were the results of the competitions for the best room in the dormitory. The way of encouraging the winners of these competitions in the postwar years when there was an acute shortage of consumer goods were described in the newspaper: “Collectives of explorers whose rooms the jury recognized the best will be awarded 5 prizes:
I prize (one) – a radio set,
II prize (two) – a gramophone and a set of gramophone records,
III prize (two) - a special set of furniture for the room” (No.11 of 1948).
6. Another information in the newspaper.
Among the information, we note the following layers.
a) Cultural life of the settlements.
There are a lot of materials concerning this aspect of life.
Already in the first issues we can find the information about the work of clubs, amateur talent activities, hobby groups and sport clubs.
Annually amateur group festivals held since 1957 were widely covered on the pages of the newspaper. Much space is taken with notes about amateur groups’ visits with concerts to the Norwegian settlements and the return visits of the Norwegian neighbors.
Concert reviews of Soviet music stars visiting the mines of Spitsbergen were also published in the newspaper.
It was written in detail about the work of the Club of the Cheerful and the Sharp-witted(KVN), which began its activity in Barentsburg in 1967.
b) Sports life of the mines.
The newspaper minutely informed the readers about Island Sport and Athletic Olympiads, held annually in the Soviet settlements since 1949. Also it was written a lot about sport competitions with Norwegian neighbors.
Materials about tourists and for tourists were often published.
They were primarily the rules of behavior in hiking. It was not only the instruction for safety during these trips developed by the administration of the soviet mines, but also the explanation of the rules for tourists established by the administration of Svalbard (“The Arctic is not a joke” – No.42 of 1969, “Hunting is forbidden” – No.46 of 1969, “Rules of behavior in hiking” – No.37 of 1980, “In the polar night conditions” – No.96 of 1985 and others).
c) The study of polar explorers of Spitsbergen.
Much was written in the newspaper about how the study among the Soviet citizens of Spitsbergen was organized. It was political, economic study and the work of evening schools. But materials about the work of secondary schools and pre-schools in Barentsburg, Grumant and Pyramid are of great interest. It is unique information about children’s life and education in the Arctic.
d) Health issues.
The column “Doctor’s advice” give us valuable material for understanding the issues of health protection in the Polar latitudes. In addition medical recommendations placed here are of practical interest for the readers today.
e) Organization of Catering
It is possible to know quite a lot about this aspect of life of the soviet settlements’ population from the “Polyarnayakochegarka”. These articles are not only about the work of dining rooms but also about the farm and the organization of food supply to the mines from the Mainland.
f) Environmental issues.
Ecological problems were lighted on the pages of the newspaper as well. We can trace how the interest to this topic was increasing, how the quantity of the articles on this theme became larger.
g) Creativity of readers.
The newspaper did not avoid this topic. There are many articles by amateur authors – stories, poems, humoresques, caricatures, rebuses, crosswords etc.
It is not a complete list of topics for an investigator to find the considerable amount of information in the “Polyarnayakochegarka”.