Leningrad Krasnyi Treugolnik Production Association

Leningrad Krasnyi Treugol’nik Production Association

 

the largest manufacturing establishment for rubber products in the USSR; organized in 1962. The association consists of factories manufacturing technical rubber products and rubber footwear, a tire factory, a factory for technical asbestos products, the Slantsy reclamation shops, and the Rassvet (Dawn) factory.

The Krasnyi Treugol’nik (Red Triangle) works were established in St. Petersburg in 1860 as the Russian-American Partnership for Rubber Manufacture (TRARM). Until the end of the 19th century the works had a complete monopoly of rubber manufacturing in Russia. By the end of the 19th century it was the leading establishment for production of rubber goods not just in Russia but in the world. Because of the excellence of its products the company won many medals and certificates of merit at international exhibitions and at exhibitions in Russia (1862, 1873, 1876, 1878, 1900, and 1909).

Factory workers were active in the revolutionary struggle. Even in the early 1890’s they took part in the Social Democratic groups that sprang up at that time in St. Petersburg. In 1891, during the first celebration of May Day, a speech was made by V. I. Proshin, a worker at the factory. The workers at Krasnyi Treugol’nik took part in the overthrow of autocracy in February 1917 and in the Great Socialist October Revolution. On the eve of the October uprising the Red Guard of the factory consisted of 500 fighters armed with rifles, machine guns, and hand grenades. The detachment commanders were the Bolsheviks V. A. Anisimov and I. N. Briukhov. The Red Guards disarmed the students at the Nicholas Cavalry School and the Lermontov Cadet School and guarded the factory and its district. In 1922 the factory received the name Krasnyi Treugol’nik. Its workers were among the initiators of mass socialist emulation in the USSR. The factory was the first in the world to produce goods made of synthetic rubber (in 1932); in 1938 a process for injection molding of rubber under pressure was developed.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 some of the most valuable equipment was evacuated to the eastern districts of the USSR, where it became the basis for the construction of new factories. In 1943 alone artillery bombardment and aerial bombing caused the destruction of 22 factory buildings; nevertheless, work at Krasnyi Treugol’nik did not stop. The reconstruction of the works began while the war was still going on. It included technical reequipment and was completed in 1948–49.

Krasnyi Treugol’nik uses the latest equipment. New methods of manufacturing rubber footwear have been introduced. New shaper-vulcanizers for motor vehicle tires are in operation. SPK-2M machines for the fabrication of motor vehicle tires and SPK-1M and SPD-14M machines for assembly of tires for farm machinery were used there for the first time in the USSR. Products manufactured by the association are exported to 40 foreign countries. The association has prepared a social development plan to raise the workers’ standard of living. It has been awarded the Order of Lenin (1960) and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1922).

N. D. STEPANKOV