The Beginning (Pochatok): Launching the Dniprospetsstal Plant's Subsidiary Farm

1983 · history · Amateur Film Studio of the Zhovtnevy Palace of Culture (Authors: V. Stepanov, M. Vulfovych, I. Kyt, · History Museum of PJSC Dniprospetsstal

An extraordinary archival amateur documentary film titled "The Beginning" (Pochatok), produced in 1983 by the Amateur Film Studio of the Zhovtnevy Palace of Culture of the Dniprospetsstal special metallurgy plant. The film captures the initial phase of constructing and operating a massive subsidiary agricultural farm (pidsobne hospodarstvo) by the industrial collective of the steel plant in the fields of the Zaporizhzhia region. HISTORICAL CONTEXT & INDUSTRIAL SOCIOLOGY: Filmed in 1983, this documentary is a brilliant visual primary source demonstrating the practical implementation of the "Soviet Food Programme" (Prodovolstvennaya programma), launched in 1982 to tackle chronic food shortages by forcing heavy industrial enterprises into agrarian self-sufficiency. The film highlights the mobilization of various specialized factory departments and workshops for non-industrial construction, featuring authentic signs, banners, and executive names: 1. Agrarian Mobilization: Footage shows several hundred hectares of land allocated to the factory, surveying abandoned rural structures, and agricultural machinery working the fields under the banner: "Fulfilling the Food Programme is the duty of every Dniprospetsstal worker." 2. Factory Infrastructure Department Split: - Chief Power Engineer's Department (VHE, led by D.F. Hladkyi) managing energy and power supply lines. - Chief Mechanic's Department (VHM, led by V.M. Prykhodko) overseeing piggery reconstruction, welding, and farm machinery shed construction. - Steel Melting Shop No. 5 (SPZ-5) and DPSM (led by shop chiefs L.V. Frolov and V.P. Volyk) restoring the administrative staff headquarters and the rural library. - Power Engineering Shop (led by O.V. Mazhura) reconstructing the central boiler station by the May 1983 deadline. 3. Key Personalities: Features a young T.V. Aliyeva during the construction review, who would later advance to become the Head of the Repair and Construction Shop of the entire metallurgical plant. 4. Active Farming Operations: Captures the delivery of building materials, installation of a massive power transformer, and the arrival of the farm's first animals. Features the pig-breeding complex (piglets, automated waterers), an apiary (beehives, fresh honeycombs), irrigation systems, and a poultry yard with ducks. PRODUCTION & CONSERVATION METADATA: - Digitization: Digitized from original master reels by the specialists of the Center for Urban History in Lviv (LivArch). - Archive: The physical film master and extensive records are permanently preserved in the collections of the History Museum of PJSC "Dniprospetsstal" in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. This film provides rare microhistorical data for international researchers studying late Soviet economy, industrial paternalism, corporate social responsibility in the Eastern Bloc, and the daily survival strategies of industrial workers in Ukraine. Original YouTube link: https://youtu.be/w7JHDA8yH_M Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JuryRylsky Curator Contact: rylskiju62@gmail.com / rylskii.iurii@dss.com.ua