Foreign trade experiments in the Arkhangelsk province (1916-1921): historical experience of survival under sanctions

Based on historical material, the article presents the regional experience of searching for a model of economic development on the example of the Arkhangelsk Province's desire to get rid of the image of a “resource province” in the context of the growing importance of this region for the state. The article considers the period of the military-revolutionary era and the early NEP, which is short by historical standards, when, in the conditions of the inaction of other Russian ports, foreign policy sanctions, and a “trade blockade”, the economically active community of Arkhangelsk sought to diversify the economic life of the region as much as possible, choosing a different vector of further development. The author noted the forms of responding to the challenges of the era that forced look for new ways of solving problems. There is a desire to find its way for the Arkhangelsk Province within the framework of a single state, and the unification of the European, Ural, and Siberian territories gravitating towards the White Seaports. These issues should be considered in terms of only economic interregional cooperation. Among the variety of development projects, the foreign trade aspect was selected for consideration. During the study, the general motivation for planning foreign trade activities through Arkhangelsk changed. In the conditions of post-revolutionary devastation, the main motivator is the food supply of the population, which could return the value of raw materials to the region, while making it more dependent on external partners. In these circumstances, the local commercial and industrial community was ready to give up part of their rights in favor of the state foreign trade monopoly. On the other hand, the state was ready to transfer part of its powers so that local authorities interested in obtaining food and other items of life support ensure the formation of the necessary “export fund”. Thus, projects to diversify the regional economy were thwarted; in the 1920s the province retained the significance of the “all-Russia sawmill”; during the period of industrialization, industrial development was also associated mainly with the forest industry, and this one-sided development subsequently led to a severe structural crisis.