Soviet Practices of Financing the Operation of Highways in the Tyumen North: Between Regional Lobbying and Departmental Voluntarism

The article analyzes the Soviet practices of financing the operation of highways in the Tyumen North in the mid-1960s – early 1970s. Based on the materials of state and municipal archives, as well as the memoirs of road users of the Tyumen region, with the help of historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods, an attempt is made to show departmental interests and features of regional lobbying practices during the formation of contributions from enterprises of the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets national districts to the so-called “road fund” of the Tyumen Region for the operation of highways within the framework of the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (April 7 , 1959). The main problems of financing the repair and maintenance of highways, which led to contradictions between the Soviet authorities at the regional and district levels, are identified. Interdepartmental conflicts between Tyumenavtodor’s management and enterprises of the national districts were an active continuation of regional contradictions. The essence of the main contradictions in the period under study was the departmental affiliation of the highways of the Tyumen North. They did not belong to local or regional public roads and could not be repaired at the expense of deductions received by decree from enterprises and organizations in national districts. Among the practices of administration by the road industry, directive planning for the year and the formation of a task for the shared participation of enterprises of the districts played an important role. The author comes to the conclusion that enterprises and organizations of the national districts sought to reduce the amount of monetary contributions for the repair and construction of highways and redistribute funds to the district or city budget at the enterprise’s location. However, the Soviet authorities, represented by Tyumenavtodor’s management, hindered these processes, pursuing the goals of financial support for roads under construction in the south of the region, as well as recruiting road construction equipment and enterprises’ trucks.