Taking Inventory of Resources in Distant Landscapes: The Rise of the Tourist-Scout in the USSR in the 1950s

Expanding over nearly one-sixth of the earth’s landmass, the USSR was a nation with vast stores of natural resources.  However, low population densities in and poor internal transportation routes made to many resource rich regions made it difficult for the state to inventory and access some of its most valuable natural resource.  As the Soviet economy boomed in the 1950s and the government made improving living standards one of its most important tasks, tapping resources in little studied areas became an important priority.  At the same time, the USSR was experiencing an outdoor recreation boom made possible by increasing living standards and leisure time.  Scientists, members of the press, and government officials became concerned that tourism devoid of ideological content or useful tasks would turn tourism into empty “frills” of tourism in the capitalist world.  To avoid this, geographers, tourist clubs, local history societies, began encouraging tourists to use their multi-day trips as “scouting expeditions” that would provide planning agencies better information about the topography of and the valuable natural resources in little studied areas.  This paper analyzes the phenomenon of the rise of the “tourist-scout” in the 1950s by placing it in the broader context of improving living standards, increased leisure time, the preoccupation of distinguishing socialist from capitalist leisure, and the state’s need to increase the better understand the potential uses of new resources in little studied landscapes.