By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent
ELEKTROSTAL, Russia – Electric Steel – “Elektrostal” in Russian – is the epitome of a “one-company town” whose citizens traditionally either worked at, or depended on, the heavy machine factory that bears the town’s name.
About an hour’s drive from Moscow, Electric Steel became, starting in the 1930’s, a symbol of Soviet strength and economic security. Entering this Stalin-era town, one can’t escape Electric Steel’s insignia – a striking red and yellow icon of a Roman blacksmith pounding a steel slab against a black anvil, setting off electric sparks – which adorns just about every workplace, store and street light.
 |
| VIDEO: From boom to bust in Russian steel town |
The town has grown over the years – about 150,000 now live in pastel-painted houses along avenues with names like “Soviet,” “Karl Marx” and “Lenin.” A large statue of Lenin – frozen in a speech-giving pose – stands in the middle of the main square, next to a hockey rink.
We traveled to Electric Steel to see how the deepening economic crisis was affecting this so-called “mono-town,” one of hundreds of industrial projects the old Soviet leadership spread across the nation.
…(read more)
