Algemba was a railway and oil pipeline project inaugurated by the Bolsheviks in 1919. It was reviewed in 1921. The name was created from Al(exandrov) G(ay), a village in the largely rural Novouzensky Uyezd (now in Alexandrovo-Gaysky District) and Emba, a river in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. Following the capture of the Emba oil fields by

Mikhail Frunze Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze (; ; 2 February 1885 – 31 October 1925) was a Soviet revolutionary, politician, army officer and military theory, military theorist. Born to a Bessarabian father and a Russian mother in Russian Turkestan, Frunze at ...

in December 1919, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

had seized a significant amount of oil, but lacked any means to transport it to the centre of Russia. Thus on 24 December it was decided to extend the railway line which went as far as Alexandrov Gay a further 500 miles to reach the Emba river. The task was not easy as it involved traversing empty saline

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

which did not have any habitation or even drinking water for the workforce. Despite his protests, this task was assigned to Frunze. He conscripted about 45,000 local people in

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

and

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

, who were engaged in constructing a raised bank along which the railway was proposed to run. Despite problems with an outbreak of

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

amongst the workforce, it was decided in March 1920 to construct a pipeline alongside the railway. However as they had no suitable pipe material to construct the pipeline, little progress was made. The Bolshevik decision makers had little experience in pipelines, so when they made the suggestion that wooden pipes be used, experts informed them that not only was there no suitable forest to provide the timber, but also wooden pipes would not be able to take the necessary pressure. Even in April 1920, following the Bolshevik conquest of

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

and

Grozny Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Russian Census, 2002 ce ...

, the Bolsheviks still insisted on building the project With hundreds of people dying every day, Lenin wanted to know who was responsible for the "sabotage", but the reality was that poor food inadequate shelter and disease were the source of the problems. However a billion rubles in cash had been allocated to the project and there is no record of what became of this money. By late 1920 hundreds were dying every day and in early 1921 there was a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreak. On 19 April 1921 the

Council of Labour and Defence The Council of Labor and Defense ()Sovet truda i oborony, Latin acronym: STO), first established as the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense in November 1918, was an agency responsible for the central management of the economy and production ...

set up a commission to review the project. Leonid Ramzin, a professor at the

Bauman Moscow State Technical University The Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU; ), sometimes colloquially referred as the ''Bauman School'' or ''Baumanka'' (), is a public technical university (Institute of technology, polytechnic) located in Moscow, Russia. Bauman Univ ...

was part of this commission. At a subsequent meeting held on 29 April 1921 it was decided to suspend construction of the pipeline for logistical reasons. The railway line had been assigned for an accelerated pace of construction, but on 6 May 1921 this was reverted to ordinary pace. It is estimated 35,000 people lost their lives on this project.

References

{{reflist Railway lines in Russia