Between Ocean and Mainland: Versions and Diversifications in Industrial Development of the Kola Peninsula

The article deals with the economic specifics of the peninsula’s territory, which is closely related to the resources of both the mainland and the ocean. Using the example of the Murmansk Oblast, an approach is proposed to study the industrial development of the peninsular region in the Soviet period, taking into account the competition of two versions. One of them was aimed at creating an “oceanic” economy – the fishing industry and marine transport. Another version served the “mainland” economy, represented mainly by mining industry. Specific historical materials are used to examine the pendulum effect, i.e. the fluctuations between these two versions and the formation of prerequisites for diversification. Of particular interest is the experience of combining two versions, which appeared in 1923, when an industrial transport and colonization combine was created on the basis of the Murmansk railway, and later, during the industrialization of the 1930s. It is debatable whether the two old versions were successfully transformed into the third “ocean-mainland” one, based on the idea of the integrated development of the resources of the Kola Peninsula and the seas surrounding it, which was most noticeably manifested during the Soviet economic reform of 1957. The prospects for studying this issue may be related to the use of methods of historical and economic analysis.