Abstract

"American Machinery for the Soviet “Synthetica”: Synthetic Materials and U.S.-USSR Business Relations, 1958-1964"

Ji Soo Hong, Brown University (ji_soo_hong@brown.edu)

On June 5, 1961, portraying Nikita Khrushchev as a “red-hot customer” of Western Europe, Newsweek reported how the British, West Germans, Italians, and other Westerners have been selling machinery, chemicals, and “almost anything” to the Soviets “in bulk lots.” In contrast, it lamented, the Americans refrained from doing the same due to governmental restrictions that labeled a broad range of machinery as “strategic,” thus not to be sold to enemies. Newsweek bemoaned a situation where “the U.S. [was] fighting the cold war practically alone” on the trade front and urged the U.S. to follow its allies.
My paper explores American-Soviet trade relations between 1958 and 1964. Focusing on Khrushchev’s drive to “chemicalize” the Soviet economy, which prioritized the production of synthetic materials for industrial modernization, it uncovers how the Soviets’ demand for new materials reshaped American-Soviet business ties. Despite ample deposits of raw materials and resources, the USSR lacked the machinery and know-how to process its oil and gas into novel types of plastics, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubbers. In order to boost its petrochemical industry, the Soviets set out to attract Western companies, including American firms, in the making of the Soviet “synthetica.” This dovetailed with the interests of American capitalists, who were eager to access the Soviet market and tap into USSR’s cheap resources despite U.S. government’s restrictions. Facing a growing problem of resource shortage and declining profitability at home, a number of U.S. enterprises, refigured the USSR as a potential business partner, seeking not only economic profits but also political coexistence. Illuminating this little-known story, my paper explores how American companies negotiated with the U.S. government on the trade front, redefining the meaning of “strategic” interests as well as public interests, and recalibrating the “American” interests amidst Cold War tensions.