Forests, Peasants, and Revolutionaries - Forest Conservation and Organization in Soviet Russia, 1917-1929

Forests, more than most natural resources, exist throughout Russia and constitute a clearly vital resource for both the State and public alike. The study of forests thus deeply intersects with a wide range of critical social and political issues central to early Soviet history. This book examines how natural resources were protected and exploited by the Soviet system across the vast majority of Russian lands not set aside as nature reserves. What was the situation when conservation and exploitation imperatives regarding vital economic resources -- coal, timber, furs, and so on -- clashed on a national scale? How did conservation fit into the broader structure of early Soviet socialist construction, especially given the Bolsheviks'overarching drive toward electrification and industrialization?