The 'Soviet Rockefeller' Learns from the American Oil Industry for Baku, 1925

• In Event: Spaces and Imaginaries of Socialist Extractivism

Abstract

Upon establishment of Soviet power in Baku, the “arbitrary” nature of land division on the lucrative oil-bearing Apsheron Peninsula was seen by leaders of Azneft (the new socialist state oil company in Azerbaijan) to stand in the way of efficient oil extraction. But how best to understand the legacy of capitalist property regimes on the Soviet oil industry and chart a path to socialist efficiency for Baku? To answer these questions, this paper focuses on a book written by Director of Azneft, Aleksandr Serebrovskii (portrayed in the US media as the “Soviet Rockefeller”), in the wake of his 1925 fact-finding mission to the United States. In Neftianaia i gazovaia promyshlennost’ v Amerike (Oil and Gas Industry in America), the Soviet oil executive described and analyzed American oil-bearing land division and ownership regimes and dispassionately evaluated which US models and methods might be useful to implement for the burgeoning Soviet oil industry. Serebrovskii’s book, hastily published in late 1925 on his stopover in London between the US and USSR, reveals the speed with which the Soviets surveyed, assessed, learned from, and implemented certain capitalist oil-extraction practices. It also shows in what ways the new socialist land regime opened the door to innovative spatial organization of extractive sites, equipment, transportation, and labor on the Apsheron Peninsula.

Author

• Christina Elizabeth Crawford, Emory U