LABOUR POTENTIAL OF SIBERIA ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR: EVALUATION OF MOBILIZATION OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

The article attempts to evaluate the mobilization opportunities of the labor potential of Siberia on the eve of the Great Patriotic War. For this purpose, based on the materials of  All-Union census of 1939, the research identified the demographic, socio-economic and socio-cultural features of the formation of the population aged 15 – 59 used later in the military economy of Siberian rear. It was concluded that from the point of view of intensive economic use of the strengths of the human array was the high proportion of youth, intense dynamics of migration and economic activity, low level of industrial employment, the existence of large reserves of female labor force in urban and rural areas. Weak sides of this array were the disperse nature of population distribution, low fixability of migrants in large cities, a significant share of male reservists, higher overall employment, low levels of literacy and education. In general, these quality characteristics in wartime conditions had an ambiguous and contradictory effect on the mobilization of human resources in Siberia in the industry of defense significance.