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[A CHRONICLE OF SOVIET INDUSTRIAL “AMERICANIZATION” BY A REPRESSED AUTHOR] Amerika v Kerchi [i.e. America in Kerch]

Borisoglebsky, M.

Item #2753

Moscow; Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoy literatury, 1931. 132 pp.: 14 black-and-white plates. 19,5x13,5 cm. In original publisher’s constructivist wrappers by Boris Tatarinov. Professional restoration of the spine. Very good condition.

Scarce. First edition. 1 of 5,000 copies. Text in Russian.
A rare example of Soviet industrial literature and a controversial attempt to promote the “Americanization” of Kerch, written by Soviet author Mikhail Borisoglebsky in 1931. Shortly after publication, the book was fiercely attacked by Soviet critics, who accused the author of counter-revolutionary slander and ideological sabotage. Borisoglebsky was expelled from the Soviet Writers’ Union, and the work was unanimously condemned as an example of concealed Trotskyism. According to the electronic database of the Memorial Society, Borisoglebsky was arrested in September 1942, convicted under Article 58-10, and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment; he died in custody later that same year and was posthumously rehabilitated in 1957. The present copy likely belonged to a local engineer, specialist, or factory worker who managed to preserve the edition from the systematic destruction of condemned literature during the Stalinist purges.
The book features a remarkable constructivist wrapper designed by Soviet artist Boris Tatarinov shortly before the USSR’s official adoption of Socialist Realism in 1932. The design centers on a monumental blast furnace and a dramatic stream of molten metal set against a photograph of a multi-story industrial structure covered in scaffolding. Along the lower edge, silhouetted workers push ore carts beneath the towering machinery, emphasizing the relationship between human labor and mechanized industry. Within only a few years, such constructivist visual language would be denounced by Soviet authorities as formally “counter-revolutionary.”
The text offers a poetic chronicle of the radical reconstruction of the Kerch Metallurgical Plant, later renamed the Voykov Plant, during the intense early years of the First Five-Year Plan. Borisoglebsky divides the enterprise into distinct technological “fronts” (the Blast Furnace Shop, the Sintering Plant, the Coke-Chemical Plant, and the Ropeway), presenting the reconstruction as a symbolic struggle to replace the stagnant legacy of the tsarist era with an “Americanized” industrial reality. The author pays specific attention to the Soviet Union’s acquisition of advanced Western technology from Germany, France, and especially the United States. He enthusiastically describes equipment supplied by the American “Sintering Corporation” and American-designed Becker coke ovens, portraying them as symbols of industrial speed and technical efficiency redirected toward socialist production.
Beyond its technical focus, the work places strong emphasis on the human and ideological dimensions of industrialization. Borisoglebsky contrasts the “heroic” labor of Komsomol shock brigades with the harsh and backward conditions of the pre-revolutionary factory system. The narrative highlights figures such as Lyubov Yablonskaya, described as the world’s first female blast-furnace engineer, and the veteran worker Nazar, whose physical scars are presented as evidence of the brutality of the old regime. The book culminates in a dramatic account of the launching of the giant blast furnaces “Ivan” and “Marya” in 1929, portrayed as the triumph of socialist industry over industrial inertia.
Importantly, the work also functions as a broader survey of the region’s interconnected industrial network. Tracing the “path of coal” and the “path of ore,” Borisoglebsky discusses the Taman ore mines, the Donbas and Tkvarcheli coal fields, and the Kamysh-Burun iron ore basin, illustrating the massive logistical system required to sustain Soviet heavy industry. To emphasize the scale of the reconstruction, the author repeatedly compares Kerch to other major Soviet industrial centers, including Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, and the Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant.
The edition is illustrated with 14 black-and-white plates depicting various sections of the Voykov Plant, including a general view of the complex, the gas blower station, the open-hearth furnace shop, the water tower, the foundry canteen, the coke conveyor system, the coal tower under construction, and other industrial facilities.
Overall, a rare and controversial example of early Soviet industrial literature documenting the rapid “Americanization” of Soviet heavy industry through the eyes of the repressed author.

Worldcat shows 1 copy of the edition at the University of Minnesota.

Price: $450.00

Status: On Hold