Comprehensive study of the productive forces by the organizations of the Academy of Sciences in 1915–1941

Abstract

The article is devoted to the activities of specialized institutions that studied the productive forces of the country within the Academy of Sciences. The Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces was established in 1915. It was the answer to the challenges of the First Word War. The Commission existed in the structure of the Academy of Sciences until 1930 and laid the foundation for many academic research institutes. The Council for the Study of Productive Forces, which was created on the basis of the Commission in 1930 during the reorganization of the Academy of Sciences, helped the Academy survive in the face ofincreased pressure from the government. Over the next three decades The Council coordinated the activities of academic institutions and laboratories in the field of productive forces and also organized scientific expeditions of the Academy of Sciences. The article examines the emergence of these institutions, their structural features and main areas of activity. The study covers the period from 1915 when the first academic unit for the study of productive forces appeared, until 1941 when the work of the Academy of Sciences was significantly transformed because of The Great Patriotic War.