Point of no return

Soviet paper reuse, 1932–1945

Bibliographic Data

ID8419628
AuthorsBirgitte Beck Pristed (0000-0003-4881-1040, Aarhus University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume64
Issue5
Pages946-962
Publication date2022-07-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBusiness History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-6791 • E-ISSN: 1743-7938
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00076791.2020.1842875
OpenAlexW3100362752
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited21

The article examines Soviet paper reuse as an ideological, economic daily practice, implemented through the advanced, but hitherto undescribed Soiuzutil’waste collecting system by the early 1930s as the reverse side of Stalinist industrialization. It argues that Soiuzutil’waste paper handling attempted to form a new socialist collective by reworking old print while cultivating citizens as classless scrap-collectors, for the sake of an (ir)rational resource optimization. While World War II intensified recycling efforts among the Allied and Axis powers, invasion and evacuation damaged Soviet waste collection to a point where no return of paper into a centralized system was possible. War forced printers and consumers to retreat to local self-supply networks, as paper remained a crucial, yet scarce resource. By analyzing technical-educational literature and correspondence of the reutilization offices, the article demonstrates the changing attitudes in the Stalinist war economy, the industries, and the population towards mobilizing and saving paper

Business · Point (geometry · Political science · Reuse · Engineering · European history and politics · French Historical and Cultural Studies · German History and Society · Mathematics

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