Soviet Experience in Managing Evacuation Cargoes in 1941–1942: From Over-centralization to Local Initiative

Abstract

To understand the functioning of the Russian economic system in the current turbulent conditions, it is important to study historical experience, especially the issue of the relationship between centralization and independence in management practices under the extreme conditions of the Great Patriotic War. The source base of the study is represented by documents from central and local Russian archives, most of which are introduced into scholarship for the first time. The study applies an institutional methodological approach, which enables to understand ways of solving managerial problems; methods of source study; and system analysis. The article considers the mechanism for managing transportation, storage and further use of evacuated goods, including industrial raw materials, finished products of industrial enterprises, food supplies, household items, and other valuables. It also reveals difficulties in the course of the evacuation process, which were determined by the lack of evacuation plans, the loss of significant territories due to their capture by the enemy, and the general lack of resources. The study demonstrates that over-centralization in management and the dominance of violent methods during the evacuation of human and material resources proved their inefficiency in the first months of the war, so gradually the authority to distribute goods arriving from the frontline to the rear areas began to be transferred down to the regional level. The conclusion of the article concerns the expansion of the operational independence of local authorities in the rear regions in the extreme conditions of the war. Thanks to a combination of centralization and decentralization in management practices, most of the evacuated cargoes was saved, and their use contributed to achieving the victory in the war.