The end of “Lenin's light bulbs” in Kyrgyzstan
In Majluu-Suu, the historic factory that symbolised the electrification of the Soviet Union promoted by Vladimir Ilič is on the verge of closing down for good. Incandescent light bulbs, once exported abroad, have now been replaced by LED bulbs produced in China. The Kyrgyz authorities are seeking to convert the factories, but almost 60% of the city's inhabitants have now emigrated in search of work.
Bishkek (AsiaNews) - The Majluu-Suu light bulb factory in Kyrgyzstan, around which the town was built over 60 years of history, is now on the verge of closing down for good due to technological progress. It produces the so-called ‘Lenin bulbs’, Lampočki Iliča, as the first incandescent lamps used to light farmers' homes in Soviet times after the revolution were called.
The term was introduced after Vladimir Ilič's 1920 trip to the village of Kašino in the Volokolamsk region, near Moscow, to inaugurate a power station with a distribution network made from old telegraph wires, the locals welcomed Lenin and his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya with a letter “to share the joy we feel at the sight of electric lighting in our huts, which the peasants did not even dare to dream of under the rule of the tsars”.
Lenin's trip was celebrated throughout the Soviet press, and the revolutionary leader spoke about it at the 8th Congress of the CPSU as a symbol of the “success story” of the new Soviet era, installing new sources of electricity throughout the countryside. That model of light bulb was now only produced in Majluu-Suu in the Kyrgyz region of Džalal-Abad, and was exported not only to the former Soviet area but also abroad.
The factory stands at the physical and symbolic centre of the town like a kind of ancient cathedral, and almost all the workers have now been laid off. Technological advances and the automation of production have led to a gradual exodus of the population, somewhat similar to what happened in the Rust Belt around Detroit in the United States at the end of the 20th century.
In the 21st century, when tungsten filament incandescent lamps, produced for over a hundred years, began to be replaced by energy-saving LED lamps, Majluu-Suu is turning into a ghost town, with almost 60% of its inhabitants now migrating for work, 15-16,000 having gone abroad and 7-8,000 remaining at home. Only a few can work in schools, nurseries and three local institutions, in addition to social services, while the others languish in unemployment, dependent on small state subsidies and remittances from relatives working abroad.
The Kyrgyz authorities are trying to save what they can of the historic light bulb production by opening a line in the factory to produce glass containers, but without much success.
According to local workers, only the small oxygen and nitrogen workshops that supply hospitals are still operating, and staff numbers are being reduced periodically. On 2 January, while the whole country was on holiday, Deputy Prime Minister Bakyt Torobaev visited Majluu-Suu, meeting with the factory workers and announcing that the last three months' unpaid wages would be paid directly from the state budget, while the company's activities would be suspended in search of new investors.
Light bulbs will be completely discontinued, and new production opportunities must be sought, as over the last 20 years, light bulb sales have fallen from 214 million som in 2005 to 27 million in 2025, just over £250,000, considering that the national currency has also depreciated significantly during this period.
In recent years, China has taken the lead in the lighting equipment market with its energy-saving LED products, compact fluorescent lamps and related components shipped worldwide. Factory director Dairbek Zakirov confirmed that demand is steadily declining and the company is unable to pay salaries on time and purchase raw materials.
President Sadyr Zhaparov himself stated that Kyrgyzstan does not intend to “destroy” this prestigious factory and hopes that it can be revived, “reigniting the lamp of history to illuminate the future”.
.png)
05/11/2021 13:13
