History of the Baku Oil Industry. Part 23

After the discovery of oil fields, Baku became a special place, where various economic and political interests of international coalitions, industrial clans and leaders were concentrated and clashed. VK begins publishing chapters from the book by Ismail Agakishiev "History of the Baku Oil Industry and the Second Oil Boom (second half of the 19th century - beginning of the 20thcentury.)". The book presents a historical analysis of the emergence and current state of the Azerbaijani oil industry.

The liquidation of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic and the establishment of the Azerbaijani Socialist Republic on April 28, 1920 the oil industry entered the new, Soviet stage. When speaking about the establishment of the Soviet rule in Azerbaijan, Vladimir Lenin stressed that “[w]e received the news that the proletariat of Baku seized power... It means that now we have the economic basis that can revitalize all our industry... Therefore, our transport and industry will get significant help from Baku workshops.” Later, in  December 1920 Lenin said that “oil business is going well and we start getting on our feet in terms of fuel”. Naturally, the head of the Soviet state realized the importance of Baku oil in the restoration and development of the national economy. He also understood that at the end of the Civil war the level of oil industry required unusual ways of revitalization.

Indeed, in the early 1920s the volume of extraction and processing were significantly lower than before and even during the World War One, both in Azerbaijan and Russia in general. This was first of all connected to the decrease of drilling work. Another important factor was the decline  in workforce. The number of workers between 1916 and 1912 decreased by half – from 52 to 23 thousand. The main reason behind it was the hunger that made the workers abandon their workshops. It was particularly noticeable among the bailers. By 1920 most of them (up to 86%) were coming from Persia and so they went home when the hunger started.  The shortage was perceivable among the other professional groups i oil industry. Serious problems existed in the spheres of technology and transportation. Out of 40 oil plants only 18 were still in operation.  It was possible to refill the deficit of the workforce. For instance, in 1921 4.5 thousand of the former soldiers from the Vrangel army were settled in Baku. The majority of them started working in the oil industry. The dramatic famine in Volga region in 1921 made thousands of refugees go to Baku. Many of them also entered the oil industry. The ration of Russians in the oil industry grew from 33.2% to 47.6%. The number  of Azeri, including the comers from Persia, dropped drastically. The part of Persions fell from 29.5% to 17.3%. The quantitative shortage of workforce was thus changed but the number of qualified workers decreased.

On May 24, 1920 the Soviet government issued the Decree of the nationalization of Baku Oil Industry. All the oil extracting, processing, trading and transporting firms were declared the property of the state. However, soon it became obvious that the nationalization alone cannot sole all the problems in the brunch. The special committee of the Council for labor and defense, headed by Ivan Gubkin examined the oil fields in Baku. It particularly stressed the low technical level of the industry that, as it was supposed, was responsible for the frequent accidents and fires. In this respect the emphasis was made on the improving management of the oil economy. The oil industry of Azerbaijan was then headed by the famous revolutionary A. Serebrosky. Since  1921 Sergey Kirov was made the head of the local party organization and, basically,  of the entire Azerbaijani Republic.

Moscow, taking into consideration the importance of the oil industry for the entire Soviet state,brought its emissars to manage the field. The oil industry was removed from the responsibility of the republican authorities and subordinated to Russian and from 1922 to the Soviet bodies of economic and party government. It should be admitted that the measures taken at the time certainly brought their results. The introduction if the new oil fields and the increase in workforce, measures against fires and accidents, new plants for oil machine building and oil processing contributed to the progress in the industry. By 1928-1929 the volume was extracted oil was 13.7 million tons that was fr above the level of 1920. The sphere of oil business underwent significant restructuring.