Pathways and Roads of the “Mining Civilization”

Abstract

The Perm region occupies a unique position in Russia. On the one hand, it is a historical route from the European part of the country to the East (to Siberia and beyond), and on the other hand, it is a stronghold and the basis (together with the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk oblasts) of the mining and factory civilization, which to a large extent ensures the stability of the national economy. The latter is most important in today’s challenging geo-economic circumstances. As the Permian writer Alexey Ivanov notes: “ “Mining and Factory Civilization” is a well-balanced poetic phrase. But it is not a figure of speech, but an exact formula for the Ural regional identity… The academic formula “”mining and factory civilization” was coined by a young professor at Perm University, doctor of sciences Pavel Bogoslovsky. This was in the twenties of the 20th century. Bogoslovsky was head of the department of Russian literature, studied folklore and ethnography. He was the first to say that the mining and factory Urals was a unique phenomenon of the Russian world, and not just a province with old factories”. Among the first objects of this civilization is the Perm Motovilikha Plant, which began its countdown in 1736 (currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings as part of Rostec State Corporation). The historical, cultural and technological peculiarities of the “mining civilization” have a significant influence on the approaches and solutions that are being implemented in the Perm Territory. Among them, undoubtedly, is the increased attention to the issues of cooperation, interaction and complementarity of various spheres of economic activity. Among the reasons is the “mining factory” nature of economics of Perm Krai and the Urals as a whole. As a rule, the possibilities of transporting the products of the first stages of the metallurgical and then chemical, timber processing and other industries to the places of further processing, not to mentionthe production of finished products with higher added value, were very limited. One cannot ignore the fact that the development of the “mining civilization” was accompanied, in modern terms, by the formation of advanced human capital. This had a decisive influence on the development of local cooperation of different types and spheres of economic activity, as well as on the formation of workers’ increased sense of responsibility for their work and for the fate of the Fatherland. During the Civil War, this was clearly demonstrated by skilled workers of the Urals, who formed the basis of the most resilient divisions of the White Movement, which passed the “path of honor and duty” in full measure. Obviously, it was due to the above-mentioned reasons that the Permians almost twenty years ago noted that the formation and development of the regional (and then domestic) model of socio-economic development should be based primarily on the relationship of interaction (and therefore, cooperation and collaboration) between all participants in the implementation of economic and, even more so, industrial policy. They contrasted “interaction” with an approach based on unilateral “support measures” (usually bureaucratic in nature). That is why the economic and industrial policy of Perm Krai has for almost twenty years been based on a joint step-by-step discussion of the directions of its development and implementation. The economy of Perm Krai is unique in many ways. Among its leading sectors are not only mining and primary processing of minerals (hydrocarbons, potassium salt), but also modern manufacturing industries – chemistry, metallurgy, machine building, which produce a wide range of high-tech products – from aircraft engines, gas, oil, pumping compressors and optical instruments, to special purpose defense products. It is quite obvious that extractive industries and production in the 1990s-2000s were largely oriented toward the foreign market: “The diversified structure of the economy is dominated by resource export industries: oil, chemicals, titanium and magnesium, pulp and paper, which have been reoriented toward the world market since the mid-1990s. The dominant role in these industries is played by large businesses, both federal, represented by the oil company OAO “LUKoil”, the chemical company OAO “Uralkali”, one of the leading paper producers in the country OAO “Solikamskbumprom”, and “AVISMA” branch of OAO “VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation”, producing sponge titanium and magnesium for the leading world aircraft construction companies”. At the same time, the people of Perm were among the first in the country to realize the flawed and limited dominance of the policy, aimed exclusively at integrating the raw materials processing of their production into the global chains. That is why at the end of the 2000s the regional industrial policy was developed and then detailed in the package of normative-legal acts of the regional level. Among its targets are not only the development of cooperative ties in the region’s economy, but also the expansion of measures to support entrepreneurship and forms of interaction between business and the authorities on all issues related to the implementation of this policy (see the interview of E. O. Sosnin, Minister of Economy of Perm Territory). It is quite obvious that the justification of directions for further socio-economic development of Perm Krai implies not only an increased attention to innovation processes, but also the correlation of emerging goals and objectives with global trends (such as strengthening the role of sustainable environmental and economic development agenda (the paper by T. V. Alferova) as well as bringing the region’s infrastructure in line with modern economic requirements (see the paper by T. V. Bukina, E. K. Bukin and E. A. Tretyakova). An important feature of the “cluster” industrial policy implemented in Perm Krai (unlike, for example, the recently adopted Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of the Siberian Federal District) is a detailed elaboration of procedures and forms of interactionof cluster structure participants at all major stages of their formation and subsequent development. The above-mentioned allows us to say with confidence that the “mining civilization” is progressively and steadily developing towards the formation of the domestic model of interaction between economic entities, aimed at the growth of its socio-economic impact. Time is not waiting, and the present situation assumes both targeting and timeliness of taken measures and realized steps. There is a lot to learn from the Perm people!