Often old Soviet and new Russia have similar ideas to help and thereby control old satellites. Nothing sinister really but it is a lot easier to build on what you have than completely start anew. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
You could really show industry on older stamps. This stamp manages to show an oil pipeline, a high voltage electrical transmission line and a vision of the Soviet nuclear plants that Hungary had just signed up for. Did no one call the Greens. I guess not but it is a good stamp because it showed what the Soviets had done, was doing, and what they planned to do to improve things in Hungary. This was all a reality but that doesn’t mean the efforts don’t need selling. That the approach to selling it looks so dated only improves the stamp in my eyes. The other stamp in the set displayed a Sputnik tracking station. Interesting but much more dated. The Paks nuclear power station and the Friendship oil pipeline are still doing their thing and both are even being expanded. COMECON still at work for you Hungary!
Todays stamp is issue A534, a 3 Forint stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Hungary on September 5th, 1974. The stamp recognized the 25th anniversary of Soviet economic cooperation and technical assistance to Hungary. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used, An imperferate version exists that is worth $5,
At the 1958 COMECON summit in Prague, it was agreed upon to build a more than 5000 kilometer pipeline to take crude oil from Tatarstan in central Russia to Eastern Europe. The nations would all contribute to contruction with Hungary handling the electronic control systems. The fact that oil was flowing through the pipeline by 1963 shows how efficient even communist construction was back then. The Friendship pipeline was and is the longest pipeline in the world. The oil was sold to Eastern Europe at bargain prices and as such is too important a relationship to let end despite the end of the cold war and Hungary entering the European Union. In fact, the Hungarians have recently expanded the pipeline to the Adriatic Sea in Croatia to allow for wider exports.
In 1973, the Hungarians witnessed the Arab oil embargo and decided on a nuclear power plant to supply domestic electricity needs. 4 Soviet designed reactors were in operation at the Paks site by 1982. Not as fast as the pipeline but still very fast by modern standards. The plant was originally to have a thirty year life but has proved to be so important that there as been a 20 year extension of the plant. The plant supplies over half of domestic electricity needs. In fact the plant is being expanded with two additional reactors bought from and financed by Russia. The purchase angered the EU but the need for speed and commonality won the day.
Well my drink is empty but I will pour another to toast COMECON. That Russia is still benefiting from the old Soviet generosity shows the rightness of it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.