The Left Chapter: The Minsk Tractor Plant USSR 1970s Part I

The book we are looking at today is a fascinating promotional hardcover that was published in the USSR in the 1970s to advertise the tractors of the Minsk Tractor Plant. It celebrates the achievements, technology, workers and internationalism of the plant that was the largest of its type in the Soviet Union (it produced 20% of all Soviet tractors) and one of the largest in the world.

They were justly proud of its tractors as well as the fact that it had produced 100,000 of them by 1958 and 1,000,000 of them by 1972.

The tractors were sold or sent as aid around the world and there were many different models. The plant complex was gigantic and a community unto itself with housing, educational, recreational and medical facilities for its workers and their children.

In this first of two parts we look at the plant history, tractor models and technology while in an upcoming second part we will look at the technology further, the plant's international connections and the plant's facilities for workers.

(Click on images to enlarge)