In the history of the USSR, 1957 is a time of significant events that took place in the life of the country. Then changes and innovations touched not only economics, science, space achievements, but also culture as a whole. We will talk about what happened in the country and what event in the USSR in 1957 became the main one in this article.
Sixth Five Year Plan
Its implementation was to take place from 1956 to 1960. According to the reports of those years, national income grew almost one and a half times, the number of agricultural products increased by 32, and industrial - by 64%. In addition, Kuybyshevskaya, Gorkovskaya, Volgograd, Irkutsk hydroelectric stations were commissioned, and in Ivanovo the largest light industry enterprise in Europe, the worsted plant, was launched.
The Sixth Five-Year Plan was marked by the beginning of the development of fallow and virgin lands in Kazakhstan, Western Siberia and the Trans-Urals. The country acquired a reliable nuclear missile shield, and also in the USSR the world's first artificial satellite was launched. But, despite the above great achievements, they decided to interrupt the implementation of this plan. The fact is that these were the years of the reign of Khrushchev, who fully demonstrated his remarkable abilities when he led the post-war reconstruction of the Ukrainian economy. It is not surprising that they were listening to his opinion, so when he proposed at the XXI Congress of the CPSU in 1959 a proposal to replace the five-year plan with a seven-year plan, his initiative was supported.
This program was supposed to be the first step towards building communism in the USSR already in 1980. However, after the dismissal of Nikita Sergeyevich, the seven-year plan was considered adventurous, and the economy returned to its previous five-year plan.
The formation of economic councils
The main event in the USSR in 1957 was economic reform, which was also initiated by N. S. Khrushchev. It was to improve the management of construction and industry. He proposed to eliminate the departmental subordination of all enterprises and transfer them to the management of the regions. At the same time, line ministries were proposed to be disbanded.
The aim of the economic reform of 1957 in the USSR was to decentralize the existing concept of production management. According to the initiator, such a reorganization would improve the quality of products, improve material and technical supply, reduce the amount of funds allocated for the repair of equipment, as well as optimize the allocation of resources.
I must say that the reform was progressing very slowly and at first it was aimed exclusively at breaking down the already established industrial centralized management system. However, contrary to optimistic forecasts, such actions led to the gradual destruction of not only the already existing common technical policy, but also to the loss of all economic ties both in agriculture and industry. In addition, prices in 1957 in the USSR for certain types of food, furniture, clothes, cars and many other goods began to creep up steadily.
International Forum
A significant event in the USSR in 1957 was the opening of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Moscow from July 28 to August 11. It was decided to make it a symbol of the Dove of Peace, which was invented by the famous French and Spanish artist, the founder of Cubism Pablo Picasso. According to an already established tradition, young people who came to the festival from different parts of the world had to plant trees in the parks of those capitals where the forum was held. Therefore, specifically for this, in Moscow, they laid down the Druzhba park. In addition, a sculpture known as the Festival Flower was installed there. More than eight hundred events were held in two weeks.
I must say that this festival was held during the reign of Khrushchev and it fell on the so-called thaw period, when an atmosphere of unprecedented openness and freedom reigned in the country. Then Muscovites could easily communicate with the foreigners who arrived and not be afraid of any persecution by the authorities. Soviet people, accustomed to concealing their true thoughts and feelings over the long years of the totalitarian regime, were finally able to openly talk to each other about sore things.
Hydrofoil ship
The operation of such passenger ships began in 1957. The ship completed its first voyage on August 25th. He overcame a distance of 420 km, passing the route Gorky - Kazan in just 7 hours. On board were 30 passengers. The ship "Rocket-1" was built at the factory "Red Sormovo". Later, its serial production was established at a shipyard in Feodosia. These ships were equipped with high-speed diesel engines, which were supplied by the Zvezda Leningrad plant.
It is worth noting that hydrofoils were extremely popular. A trip to them in one of the many picturesque bays was a favorite type of family vacation, despite the fact that tickets for a walk along the river cost much higher than for travel on a commuter train at the same distance.
Launch of the first ballistic missile
We cannot but recall the event in the USSR in 1957, when the first launch of the R-7 (products 8L718) took place on August 21, which, after so many years of painstaking work, ended successfully. Recall that the work on the creation of this rocket, as well as other technical equipment, took place under the guidance of the famous Soviet designer Sergey Korolev. The R-7 rocket construction project is one of the largest engineering programs ever implemented in the USSR. Its implementation was the starting point in the subsequent successful development of industries related in one way or another to rocket science.
An intercontinental ballistic missile, the warhead of which only mimicked a nuclear warhead, was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan . She successfully followed the given route and just hit the target, which was located on the territory of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Launch of an artificial Earth satellite
It took place on October 4, 1957. Then for the first time it was possible to put into orbit an artificial celestial body. This was made possible thanks to the R-7 launch vehicle. The satellite was launched from the territory of the fifth research site belonging to the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union, later renamed to Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The PS-1 device was made in the form of a ball, the diameter of which was 58 cm, and the weight was 83.6 kg. Four bayonet antennas were placed on its surface, two of which had a length of 2.4, and the remaining 2.9 m. After 295 seconds, it was put into elliptical orbit, and at the 315th satellite separated from the launch vehicle, after which it call signs could be heard all over the world. The PS-1 was flying for 92 days. During this time, he made 1,440 revolutions (approximately 60 million km) around our planet.
Such famous scientists as B. S. Chekunov, M. V. Keldysh, N. S. Lidorenko, M. K. Tikhonravov, V. I. Lapko and many others worked on the creation and launch of the world's first artificial Earth satellite. The project was led by the founder of the Soviet cosmonautics S.P. Korolev.
Second Soviet spacecraft
On November 3, 1957, Sputnik-2 was launched into near-Earth orbit. For the first time, a warm-blooded animal - a dog named Laika - left our planet aboard the spacecraft. The purpose of the launch is to determine the possibility of finding any living creatures at an altitude of 100-110 km in zero gravity and their subsequent ejection, and then return to Earth using a parachute. It was from this moment that the era of space travel began, providing for the crew to be on board.
Recall that the dog managed to live in orbit for only a few hours, after which it died from the resulting stress and excessive overheating of the body. But, despite this, the launch of the Sputnik-2 device showed that the presence of living beings in space is quite possible. It flew around the Earth 2,570 times, after which it burned down, entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. It happened on April 4, 1958.
Nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin"
He was launched on December 5, 1957. The icebreaker was the first ship in the world to carry a nuclear power plant on board. The ship was designed by a team of Soviet scientists, led by physicist Anatoly Alexandrov.
Such an important event in the USSR in 1957, as the commissioning of the Lenin icebreaker, greatly expanded the possibilities of expeditionary research in the Arctic. In addition, the ship was actively used for the needs of the so-called Northern Sea Route (a section located between the European part of the country and the Far East).
The Lenin icebreaker was 134 m long, 27.6 m wide and 16.1 m high. The ship with a displacement of 16 thousand tons had two masts, an elongated superstructure in the middle and was equipped with a landing pad where helicopters could land ice reconnaissance. Over the 30 years of his service, he led through the ice more than 3.5 thousand ships. In 1989, it was decided to decommission the Lenin icebreaker and put it in permanent storage in Murmansk.
The cultural life of the country
This year was marked by a large number of films released on cinema screens, which later became cult. The rental leader of 1957 is the painting “Quiet Don”, based on the novel of the same name by M. Sholokhov. Then the director Gerasimov faced a rather difficult task - to fit such a voluminous work in three series, and he coped brilliantly with it.
For the first time, the popular magazine “Soviet Screen”, which tells about the latest movies, held a spectator vote among its readers and, based on its results, determined the best film of 1957. He became the picture "Height", telling about the complex characters and difficult relationships of Soviet people.
In the same year came out on the screens and the tape "Cranes are flying." This legendary film won the Golden Palm Branch at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.