ABSTRACT
ORIGINS, HISTORY AND SCOPE KEMEROVO CITY-KNOWN AS SHCHEGLOVSK BEFORE 1932QUICKLY developed in the 1930s during the Soviet industrialization as the center of the industrial region of Kuzbass-Kuznetsk CoalMining Basin. The Kuzbass is the main fuel and energy base for the eastern part of Russia and its significance has grown after the Soviet Union collapsed. The oblast extracts over 30% of the Russia’s total coal production. The region’s other industries, such as machine construction, chemicals and metallurgy, are based on coal mining. The legacy of the disproportionate development of the oblast remains a heavy burden in the post-Soviet period: industries are predominantly extractive or raw materials processors, social infrastructure is underdeveloped relative to the level of industrial concentration. These biases in the economy, while environmentally hazardous, have nevertheless been lucrative. The oblast economy was ranked in the high group of the 89 oblasts in the mid-1990s. The tax revenues available to the local government were also on the high side. However, the heavily industrialized and the most densely populated Siberian region needed more capital investments. The restructuring of coal mines aggravated the standards of living of many families and their wage arrears instigated miners’ strikes and social unrest.
