Mine-Rescue Stations in Kuzbass in 1922–1934

Abstract

In the early 1920s, Russia moved on from the New Economic Policy to industrialization. The Kuznetsk Coal Basin needed an advanced mine-rescue system to support its growing coal industry. This research focused on the chain of decisions made by the state authorities to expand the mine-rescue stations network across the USSR. The authors used the examples of mine-rescue stations in Anzhero-Sudzhensk, Leninskiy, and Kemerovo to describe the formation and development of respiratory and supporting rescue teams. Archival sources made it possible to restore the quantitative composition, wage system, and funding sources of the Kuzbass mine-rescue service in July 1, 1924, as well as to identify the first management team. The mine-rescue development followed the expansion of the coal industry under the efficient state control provided by the centralized mining supervision. By the beginning of the second five-year industrial plan, Kuzbass was responsible for 8.5 % of the total mine-rescue stations in the country. The Kuzbass region owed its wide and efficient network of mine-rescue stations to the financial and organizational support of the state.