#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. In the 1970s and 1980s, the consumer goods deficit intensified in the USSR. And on a national scale, a policy was pursued when the Soviet industry giants – up to the automobile industry and military plants – in parallel with their main products release, made everyday goods for Soviet citizens.
Norilsk enterprises did the same. At the Сopper plant, for example, they mastered the TV stands production.
And on the Mechanical plant they made safes for weapons, tools for ice fishing and skewers for barbecue.
By 1985, the goods range included more than 30 items: special furniture, hypochlorite, container garages, flower pots, garage gates, vegetable boxes, gymnastic walls and metal monuments.
We set up the cultural and household goods production from local raw materials: ceramic pots and food ceramics were made from tufoargillite, untayki (North indigenous people’s traditional winter shoes) and souvenirs were made from reindeer fur.
Norilsk residents were also offered building materials with the Made in Norilsk brand: lime, cement, floorboards, chipboard and fiberboard, hygienic plastic and metal corners. Even a special store Do It Yourself was built for their sale.
In 1987, the combine produced local goods worth 64.5 million rubles. And in the following year, 1988, an All-Union seminar dedicated to consumer services was even held in Norilsk.
It was believed that in Norilsk there was the most powerful consumer service in the Soviet Union. According to statistics, on average in the country each adult resident received 39 rubles a year of personal services, but in Norilsk this amount was 22 rubles more.
About 30 high-ranking officials came to learn from the Norilsk people experience: deputy ministers, senior officials of the party’s Central Committee and the Soviet republics’ delegates.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we talked about the fact that Norilsk football players were coached by the ex-captain of Spartak Andrey Starostin.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
