GOELRO plan
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GOELRO plan (Russian: план ГОЭЛРО) was the first-ever Soviet plan for national economic recovery and development. It became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans. GOELRO is the transliteration of the Russian abbreviation for "State Commission for Electrification of Russia" (Государственная комиссия по электрификации России).
The Commission and Plan were initiated and supervised by Vladimir Lenin. Lenin's belief in electrification's central importance to the achievement of socialism is encapsulated in the popular Lenin quote, "Socialism is the Soviet power plus electrification of the whole country."<ref>Lenin "Collected Works", vol. 31, page 516.</ref>
The Plan envisaged a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. It aimed to realize Lenin's vision of "...the organization of industry on the basis of modern, advanced technology, on electrification which will provide a link between town and country, will put an end to the division between town and country, will make it possible to raise the level of culture in the countryside and to overcome, even in the most remote corners of land, backwardness, ignorance, poverty, disease, and barbarism."<ref>Lenin "Collected Works", vol. 30, page 335.</ref>
The Plan was developed in 1920 and covered a ten to 15 year period. It included construction of a network of 30 regional power plants, including ten large hydroelectric power plants, and numerous electric-powered large industrial enterprises. The Plan was basically fulfilled by 1931.
The cliche "Ilyich's lamp" (лампочка Ильича) for an electric bulb, a reference to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, is a reminder of the Plan period.
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