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[PLAN OF WHITE SEA-BALTIC CANAL] Belomorsko-baltiyskiy kanal imeni tovarischa Stalina [i.e. The White Sea–Baltic Canal named after comrade Stalin. Map guide]

Item #2235

Moscow: Ts. OSVOD, 1934. 3 maps with text on their versos. Wrapper size: 15,5x10,5 cm., maps are folding in three times. Very good condition.

The waterway system was one of the most developed spheres of the Soviet economy. Following the Bolshevik Revolution, the new regime decided first on reconstruction and then on expansion and modernization of the inland waterway system. The plan encompassed opening to navigation, or expanding navigation on, major rivers, particularly in the Asian part of the Soviet Union. As a result, the early-1930s witnessed the construction of one of the most important Soviet canals, White Sea-Baltic Canal (227 kilometers long). Considering that the canal opened in 1933, this guide might be one of the first cartographic pieces indicating the newly-built waterway in detail.

The canal was the first major project constructed in the Soviet Union using forced labor. BBLAG, the Directorate of the BBK Camps, managed the construction, supplying a workforce of an estimated 100,000 convicts, at the cost of huge casualties. Although prison labor camps were usually kept secret, the White Sea Canal was a propaganda showcase of convicts "reforging" themselves in useful labor (Soviet concept of perekovka, reforging or rehabilitation).

Although the canal was created for touristic purposes, as well as logistical ones, as this edition suggests, its usage as a touristic water route remains limited to this day.

Price: $550.00