The Grozny Oil Complex and the Transformation of Urban Population’s Ethnic Structure in the 1920–40s

Abstract

The Grozny oil industry complex played a significant role not only in the economic, political and cultural development of Chechen-Ingushetia from the end of the 19th century and during the Soviet period, but also influenced the change in the social structure of mountain societies and the population of Grozny. In the context of the Bolshevik program of radicalization, it was supposed to form layers of workers in the national regions who would become the mainstay of Soviet power in the region. These processes were negatively influenced by the separation of Grozny and Chechnya during the administrative-territorial structure in the North Caucasus after the Civil war, the mistakes of local committees of the CPSU(b) and heads of enterprises in the activities of involving mountaineers in industrial production. Based on the analysis of archival documents and sources, many of which are being newly introduced, the article attempts to identify the specifics of the implementation of the project to overcome the backwardness of Chechen-Ingushetia in the industrial sphere and the creation of a national proletariat. It is noted that the deportation of Chechens and Ingush in 1944 had negative consequences both for the social-economic and cultural development of the autonomy and for the Grozny oil complex due to the fact that overnight fisheries and enterprises lost a significant part of qualified specialists from the indigenous population.