MAKING NATURE MODERN: ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE SOVIET NORTH BY ANDY RICHARD BRUNO DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Mark D. Steinberg, Chair Professor Diane P. Koenker Associate Professor John Randolph Associate Professor Zsuzsa Gille Abstract How should we understand the economic relationship of the Soviet Union to the natural environment? This dissertation explores this broad question through a fine- grained study of the environmental history of one particular Russian region in the far north throughout the entire twentieth century. It emphasizes the commonalities embedded in different political economies that existed in Russia: the state capitalism of the late imperial era, Soviet communism, and post-Soviet neo-liberalism. It suggests that a unified, but deeply political, process of seeking to make the natural world modern belongs at the center of an account of Soviet environmental history. It also highlights the significant role of the physical environment itself in shaping the trajectories of Soviet economic development. The study focuses on the Arctic territory of the Kola Peninsula or the Murmansk region and considers five different economic branches that emerged there during the twentieth century. A discussion of efforts to use a railroad line to enliven a desolate periphery and of the difficult experiences of wartime construction elaborates some of the overarching methods and visions of modernization. An examination of phosphate mining and processing in the Khibiny Mountains stresses the place of the environment in the Stalinist system and the anthropocentric holism of many Soviet planners. The campaigns to transform reindeer herding into a productive socialist industry and to protect wild caribou reveal how diverse ways of knowing nature influenced the behavior of elite and marginal actors. An investigation into the development of the Kola nickel industry suggests that excessive pollution in the Soviet Union is best accounted for by specific historical contexts instead of by structural factors. Finally, a review of the energy economy of the Kola Peninsula points to the tremendous transformation of human relations with the environment during modernization, while also exposing abiding, though reconfigured, connections between nature and society. ii Acknowledgements Acknowledgements are one of the most rigidly structured genres of literature. As a way of shaking it up a tiny bit, let me begin with the personal before proceeding to the more formal and professional. No one has contributed more intellectual and emotional support to this project than Sarah Frohardt-Lane. Even before we fell in love, she encouraged my interest in environmental history and challenged my thinking about the Kola Peninsula. Since that wonderful moment, she has spent an adventurous month in the Arctic with me, proofread my writing more times than reasonable, served as an intelligent interlocutor about ideas for this project on an almost daily basis, supported and encouraged me when research and writing were not going well, and done too many other things than can even fit in these acknowledgements. Indeed, it would double the length of this dissertation to thank her properly. My family has also tremendously assisted me in this endeavor. My twin brother, Mike Bruno, has always been quick to challenge the soundness of any claim that leaves my mouth and in doing so has helped refine my thinking about the world in more ways than I can even comprehend. I know that this dissertation would never have been written without him. My parents, Carol Jarema and Dennis Bruno, have lovingly enabled me to pursue my goals by supporting my education, financially and emotionally. They have been encouraging throughout this long process and have helped me overcome the logistical difficulties of doing research in Russia on more than one occasion. I have also benefited from my large extended family, my wonderful in-laws, and the more recent members of my immediate family, Polly Bruno, Charlie Goins, and Mike Jarema. Thank you all! I began talking about the environmental history of the Soviet Union in my last year as an undergraduate at Reed College. All of my friends since that time have endured my nerding out about history and have helped keep me grounded. There are too many of you to name, so I would just like to thank you all. I should single out, however, my entire cohort of fellow Russianists at the University of Illinois. Jesse Murray, Steven Jug, Anna Bateman, and Rebecca Mitchell in particular offered helpful feedback during our dissertation writing group sessions. Elana Jakel graciously proofread the dissertation for me. Rebecca Mitchell has been a close friend throughout all of graduate school and iii supported my work in numerous ways. I would also like to thank the many other colleagues and friends whom I spent time with while doing research in Russia. I endlessly appreciate all of the help and guidance provided by my dissertation committee. Mark Steinberg has been an astute, attentive, and affable academic adviser throughout my time at Illinois. His intellectual enthusiasm, engagement, and critique have done an amazing amount to help me develop as a scholar. Diane Koenker has offered remarkably thoughtful and thorough feedback. I know that her insightful challenges have forced me to make considerable improvements to this work. Since I arrived at Illinois, John Randolph has been a wonderful mentor who has frequently engaged me in deep discussions about Russian and environmental history. Zsuzsa Gille has encouraged my interest in environmental studies and helped me think about many issues with much greater sophistication. Many people have read parts of this dissertation at various conferences, workshops, and reading groups. I would sincerely like to thank everyone who has taken the time to look at my work and offer feedback. Jesse Ribot, Maria Todorova, Donald Filtzer, John McNeill, Douglas Weiner, Paul Josephson, David Darrow, Julia Lajus, Amy Nelson, and Jane Costlow have commented on parts of this dissertation at various conferences over the years. I would also like to thank the participants in the Russian studies kruzhok at the University of Illinois, the Midwest Russian History Workshop, the two workshops sponsored by the Social Science Research Council that I attended, the Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems seminar at the University of Illinois, and the Russian animal studies conference that led to the collection, Other Animals: Beyond the Human in Russian Culture and History. I first began seriously studying environmental history and the history of industrial development on the Kola Peninsula while a master’s student at the European University at Saint Petersburg. Julia Lajus, Alla Bolotova, and Daniil Aleksandrov were extremely helpful mentors at this early stage and have remained supportive colleagues in the years since then. My interest in Russian history was first sparked as an undergraduate student at Reed College where I benefited from some of the best teachers out there. In particular, I would like to thank Douglas Fix, Zhenya Bershtein, Lena Lencek, Jackie Dirks, Scott Smith, and Christine Mueller. iv The logistics of doing research in Russia have always been a bit challenging. I have had the fortune to be assisted by many kind scholars, librarians, and archivists in Russia. Early on Boris Kolonitskii helped me learn the ropes of working in Russian libraries. A number of scholars on the Kola Peninsula vitally contributed to my ability to successfully conduct research there, including Aleksandr Portsel´, Nikolai Voronin, Pavel Fedorov, Dmitrii Fokin, Elena Makarova, and Valerii Berlin. The generous staff at the Murmansk State Technical University provided essential institutional support and helped keep me in good spirits during the many months of the Arctic winter. The library staff in the regional studies reading room of the Murmansk State Regional Universal Scientific Library was absolutely wonderful. Svetlana Salivova greatly assisted me in preparing a presentation for a conference in Murmansk. Paul Josephson helped me overcome some difficulties getting archival access early on during my time in Murmansk and Jenny Leigh Smith explored Lovozero with me. The staff of Praxis International took care of visa support and registration in Moscow. Finally, I am very grateful for the rich collection of the Slavic Library at the University of Illinois, which has made writing this dissertation a much less arduous task. I recognize that I have probably overlooked many people who really belong in these acknowledgements. Let me end, though, by expressing my appreciation to the many sources of financial support I have received for this research. At the University of Illinois I have benefited from large and small levels of funding from the Department of History, the Thomas M. Siebel Fellowship in the History of Science, the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center, the Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems program, the Social Dimensions of Environmental Policy initiative at the Beckman Institute, and two Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships. An International Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a fellowship from