april 1936 The Soviet Conquest of the Far North Bruce Hopper Volume 14 • Number 3 The contents of Foreign Affairs are copyrighted.©1936 Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this material is permitted only with the express written consent of Foreign Affairs. Visit www.foreignaffairs.com/permissions for more information. THE SOVIET CONQUEST OF THE FAR NORTH By Bruce Hopper THE search for the Northeast Passage to Cathay, which for four centuries stirred the imagination of European mari seem at ners, has at last ended in triumph. We the beginning a new of phase of man's relations with the North. are to In this great polar saga three historic dates. The first seek the short-cut route from the Atlantic to the Pacific was Sir on Hugh Willoughby, who in 1553 perished with all hands the coast. In centuries of of Murman the ensuing navigators many the seafaring nations resumed the search. Some turned back be were to fore being caught; others lured eastward their doom in the ice. In 1878-79, A. E. Nordenski?ld made the first through passage by "freezing in" for the winter. The only other expedi to ? of on tions subsequently pass those Vil'kitsky, Amundsen on ? the Maud, Toll, and Nansen the celebrated Fram pursued the same method. It remained for the Soviet ice-breaker, Sibiry akov, from to Vladivostok in 1932, to sailing Arkhangelsk ? complete a season first the through-passage in single navigating the time in history. was not an was This feat accident of Soviet exploration. It pre movement ceded by years of Arctic studies, especially of the and are matters behavior of ice. In the sequel of high potential im to portance. Discovery of the through-passage has given impetus vast Soviet schemes for the exploitation of northern Asia hitherto for never trod civilized nor remote; populating regions by man, as a even by savages; and for developing the Arctic normal artery commerce. new of sea and air The program introduces factors as into the politics of the Pacific Ocean which America, close neighbor of the Soviets in the Arctic, cannot afford to ignore. While the details of Soviet achievements in the Arctic are not yet available, the following facts may be gleaned from recent crea Russian materials. Soviet scientific studies began with the tion of the Commission for Study of the North in 1919. The first was stage in opening the passage the Kara Sea expedition of 1921, a consisting of fleet of ten ships sent to the mouth of the Ob River to to areas bring Siberian wheat the famine of European Russia. an annual These trading expeditions became feature, widening Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Foreign Affairs ® www.jstor.org 5oo FOREIGNAFFAIRS were into the large scale operations of today. Geological surveys on undertaken Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, etc., during which uncharted islands were discovered, and the horizon of the known gradually pushed eastward and north, beyond the barriers of ice. In 1926, a group of "winterers" colonized Wrangel Island to warn contestants to in order off possible the Soviet claim of possession. Then, the ice-breaker Krassin, returning from the rescue of the ill-fated dirigible crew in 1928, touched at Franz Josef Land, north of 8o?, where the first permanent polar station was set subsequently up. Two years later the All-Union Arctic Institute was created to coordinate the work of developing the "Soviet Sector of the a Arctic." The Institute laid out five-year program of research, meanwhile training Arctic specialists in five main branches: hydrology, geophysics, geodesy, geology, and "bio-industry." were Seamen with experience in northern waters recruited from as other work and schooled polar navigators. The first public new was notice of the program of development the appearance in a 1930 of sailing instructions and chart of the Kara Sea. The now east. work is proceeding further Information is being collected about the sea floor, the currents, the formation and movement of at ice, the salinity various depths, the declinations of the compass, as well as the migration of fish and other matter of economic significance. The discovery of the through-passage by the Sibiry akov in 1932 made apparent the possibilities of tapping the rich regions of Yakutia and Central Siberia from the north. Scientific work in the Arctic was transformed almost over into a ? night great national objective of the Soviet Union the conquest of Russia's frozen domain. A chain of radio and meterological sta was tions rushed into existence. And by decree of December 17, 1932, the Central Administration of the Northern Sea Route was to ("Glavsevmorput") founded, attached the Council of an Peoples Commissars, but actually wielding the powers of in dependent commissariat. One of the assistant-chiefs of this organ ization is appointed by the Commissar of the Army and Navy, two on who likewise has representatives its Collegium. The im portance for defense is obvious. With this last step began the systematic conquest of the Arctic, as a result of which the Soviets may rightly claim preeminence in modern science. polar The Northern Sea Route is divided into a western section, SOVIET CONQUEST OF THE FAR NORTH 501 or from the Baltic-White Sea Canal Murmansk through the Kara an Sea (formerly considered "ice-bound mantrap") to the Enisei an delta; and eastern section, from Pacific ports through Bering Strait to the Khatanga River. The middle section, around Cape as are Cheliuskin, is yet less developed. There actually four routes west: in the 1, through Yugor Strait south of Vaigach Island; 2, through Kara Strait north of that island; 3, through Matochkin Strait, which bisects Novaya Zemlya (the shortest route for sea through-passage) ; and 4, around Cape Zhelaniya in the open north of Novaya Zemlya, used when the other routes are blocked move by ice. Airplanes fly the route, reporting and predicting the ments to of ice radio stations and ships, thus enabling expedition commanders to sail the route most feasible at the moment, with ice-breakers clearing the way if necessary. The Second Five Year Plan (1933-37) made an allocation of 250,000,000 rubles to the Northern Sea Route Administration. The navigation season is short. In the Kara Sea it averages 100 Farther east the conditions are less favorable. days. However, season the has been systematically lengthened year by year. At on was Novy Port, the Ob, it 16 days in 1927, 40 in 1929, 46 in 1932, and 54 in 1934. The latest reports indicate that over a hundred ships used the Northern Sea Route during the 1935 two season, operating from both ends, with ships each way mak ing the complete through-passage. The ice-breakers are now sta 502 FOREIGN AFFAIRS tioned in four zones, being responsible for convoy only in the zones to are which they assigned. The ports, which have sprung up like mushrooms, are for the most part situated at the mouths are of the great Siberian rivers where fuel and supplies stored. At these points river craft, operating from deep Siberia, exchange products of the interior for the manufactured goods and industrial sea. equipment brought by One striking exception is the deep water port of Igarka, 725 kilometers up the Enisei, which in five years has been converted from frozen waste into a town of 14,000 inhabitants, possessing the largest timber combine between the now Urals and the Pacific. Igarka, that it is visited by ocean seems to vessels, destined become the metropolis of the strange world within the Arctic Circle. The most obvious economic significance of the Northern Sea Route is the development made possible of Yakutia and other are regions in high latitudes which rich in natural resources and which are not yet reached by the railroads. Yakutia, called the a narrow to "big bottle with neck," has hitherto had rely solely on the long connection by trail with Irkutsk. But the coast-land to itself is also expected yield profits. The geological chart pre pared by the Arctic Institute in 1934 reveals valuable mineral at at deposits 228 points: coal 73 points, peat in fair quantity, 26 on also graphite, gold (at points the Chutkotsk peninsula), and on various non-ferrous-metals (lead and zinc Vaigach Island, on as as copper Novaya Zemlya), well sulphites and iron. Coal and oil have been found on the Pechora, Enisei and Lena Rivers in sufficient quantities to justify the expectation that the fuel commerce met needs of Arctic will be by local supplies. With ex perience gained in the Murman area, the Soviet agricultural ex perts have established Arctic farms, the northern-most in the season world, which lengthen the growing by artificial thawing of are the frozen soil. Garden crops being successfully produced. trusts To insure local food supply, the three of the Northern Sea are Route Administration operating factories for preserving fish as as and game, the chief exports, well developing the oil, salt trusts are and fur industries. These also occupied with building up the river fleets and maintaining the supply of fuel. In the matter of recruitment for service in the North, the on Soviet Government has relied largely volunteers, granting them special rewards and privileges. By decree of July 7, 1933, one members of family may work together in the Arctic; wages SOVIET CONQUEST OF THE FAR NORTH 503 are on to and pensions the relatively high scale given miners; are as disabilities rated those of professional labor; and, quite are to important, the rations those served the Red Army.