And again about the USSR, its collapse and our "achievements" in quotes or without. This time, let's talk about industry and compare the main production indicators of the Soviet period with some indicators of industrial production in Russia as of 2010.
In order to draw honest conclusions, let's compare the industrial indicators of the Russian Federation not with the all-Union indicators, but only with the indicators of the RSFSR. The comparison was carried out on the basis of information provided by the famous Russian scientist, political scientist and publicist Sergei Kara-Murza, published on the Internet.
First of all, it makes sense to analyze such a key indicator that characterizes any industrial economy as steel production. In 2010, Russia produced 66, 3 million tons of steel, which is almost equal to the indicator of the RSFSR in 1971 - 66, 8 million tons. Thus, in terms of steel production, modern Russia is at the level of 40 years ago.
Let us take the output of rolled products of ferrous metals. In 2010, 57.8 million tons of rolled products were produced, which is again close to the indicators of the 70s. years: in 1977, the enterprises left 57.3 million tons of rolled metal, in 1978 - 60.1 million tons, and in 1990 - 63.7 million tons.
In an absolutely incredible way, Russia has surrendered its former positions in the production of tractors. In addition to the fact that the main tractor industries remained outside the Russian Federation, their domestic production simply collapsed, which is primarily associated with the destruction of Soviet agriculture. Let's compare: in 2010, only 6,200 tractors were produced in the Russian Federation against 178,000 at the time of the collapse of the USSR in 1991! And in comparison with the pre-perestroika period for this component, the current indicators of the Russian Federation are becoming ridiculously indecent: in 1984, 258,000 units were produced!
Now let's give statistics on trucks. Here the picture is not so depressing, but still … In 2010, Russia produced 153,000 trucks, and in the fateful 1991 - 616,000.
Metal-cutting machines: in 2010, 2,000 machine-tools were made in the Russian Federation, which is almost 50 (!) Times less than in the stagnant 1980, then the RSFSR produced 97,500 metal-cutting machines. The situation with machine tools characterizes the depressing situation in the domestic metalworking industry as clearly as possible.
Forging and pressing machines: 2010 - 1900 units. 1984 - 39,600 thousand. Comments are superfluous again …
In recent years, it is customary to talk a lot about a certain "oil needle" on which our economy sits. This suggests that if our heavy industry is in decline, then we probably began to produce more oil. In 2010, a lot of oil was pumped out from the bowels of the Motherland: 505 million tons (including gas condensate). But in 1990, 516 million tons were produced, and in 1984 - 561 million tons, which is more than now. Yes, oil prices have grown significantly, we do not need to pump out a lot of oil, but let's not forget about the colossal increase in domestic consumption. The above statistics on oil production helps to understand where the current prices for fuels and lubricants come from. It turns out that we do not produce so much oil to make it cheap - this, unfortunately, is unprofitable for the state.
Such statistics have already been cited more than once by a variety of political figures, including during the presidential races of recent years. The communists are especially fond of working with such statistics. This is understandable, because there is no more eloquent evidence of the superiority of the Soviet economy over the modern Russian economy than industrial production figures.
