The art of management: how BAM turned into a construction site where everyone wanted to get to and work for an idea

Abstract: 2024 is an anniversary year for the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM). Fifty years ago, that construction project in the wild taiga was declared an all-Union Komsomol top-priority one. That was one of many competent management decisions, without which the rails would not been laid among the taiga and mountains, on permafrost (however, in construction on permafrost, due to inexperience, a number of mistakes were made that have been correcting up to now. – Ed.). That construction project was not only very well supplied, but also advertised so well that people rushed to the edge of the world to show their worth, even waited in line. In the Union republics, the competition to get into the first Komsomol parties reached up to 20 people per one place. Republics and regions patronized stations and villages along BAM and competed with each other. They created those objects from scratch, took care of everything such as engineering survey, design, supply of materials, dispatch of specialists, design and decoration of stations (often in national traditions). And they tried to do everything qualitatively and quickly. In difficult climatic conditions, in forests and mountains, engineering technologies were often invented on the spot. Foreign experts were amazed and went there to adopt the experience. At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the public attitude towards BAM changed from plus to minus, then again from minus to plus. But the friendship of the BAM pioneers remained unchanged; they continued to consider that construction project great and well-organized one. Scattered local associations of BAM builders gradually united into the all- Russian public organization “BAM Commonwealth”. It was registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in 2021 and began preparing for the half-century anniversary of BAM. The celebrations will be both similar and different from past anniversaries. There will be an awards ceremony for “50 years of BAM” medals. There will be a special train from Moscow to Tymda with concerts at the stations. A business program will be organized. In this paper we will tell about the organization of that construction project on the basis of archival materials, which were provided to the editorial staff of the “Geolnfo” journal by employees of the Museum of the History of BAM in the city of Tymda, the State Treasury Institution of the Rostov Region “Center for the Contemporary History Documentation of the Rostov Region” and the all-Russian public organization “BAM Commonwealth”.
 

Keywords: Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM): all-Union Komsomol top-priority construction project; anniversary: difficult conditions; management decisions.