Industrial Nuclei
Authors: Střída Miroslav 
Published: February 2024

Industry is the strongest and most progressive factor in Czechoslovak national economy. All industrial plants have been already nationalized and have become socialistic property. In 1957 more than one third of the total number of working people in Czechoslovakia were engaged in industry (together with the building industry 41,30%). In 1950 already nearly 30% of the population were engaged in industry, whereas only less than 25% worked in agriculture. Still more striking is the share of industrial production in the compilation of the Czechoslovak national revenue which reached over 66% in 1957. The industrial factor enfluences to a certain extent the life of a majority of people, affecting at the same time also the character of the landscape. It has become the most important factor in the formation of new economic nuclei and the development of economic areas. Consequently, industry becomes the dominating factor in the investigation and delimitation of regions in Czechoslovakia. The choice of large and medium-sized industrial centres to become future industrial nuclei has been carried out with respect to the total extent of industry according to combined, reduced data of the number of workers considered on the basis of the above-mentioned criteria. 7 333 detached workshops of the national industry have been established in 1 524 towns and villages. The workshops - producing mostly in the line of consumption goods, foodstuffs and wood work - are small and dispersed. Chemical and metallurgical lines, on the other hand, together with the production of ores and fuel concentrate more in one place. Owing to a considerable ruggedness of the terrain of the Czechoslovak territory, the occurence of industrial plants has been controlled by the altitude as well. More than one quarter of villages with more than 50 inhabitants engaged in national industry are situated at a lower altitude than 300 m but higher than 200 m above sea level. Between 200 m and 400 m a whole half of all industrial community are situated, whereas less than one twentieth occur higher than 600 m. At an altitude of more than 800 m only 5 localities with industry occur in Krušné hory (Ore Mountains). A fundamental dependence exists, of course, between the industrialization and the population of towns. Since the administrative area of community does not always correspond to the geographical situation, some industrial towns have been connected in agglomeration to make - within the distance of 1-2 km - the transport and housing construction easier. In Czechoslovakia, a mature industrial nucleus - whatever may be the line in which it is specialized - is supposed to acquire a richer industrial structure with at least three percent of a third out of nine considered industrial lines. The relative criterion for industrial nuclei is the so-called industrial intensity, i. e. the proportion of industry to the number of inhabitants living in the same area. Besides normal cases, it shows a slight intensity of large, medium-sized towns in which other, non-industrial factors play an important part (Karlovy Vary), or where industry has been scarce so far (Nové Zámky), or it shows an unproportional concentration of population in smaller housing quarters with a large number of people to be transported to and from their work daily. Furthermore, the so-called relative density of industry has been studied in order to ascertain the proportion of industry in different areas of approximately the same extent. The geographical estimation of the above data gives a basic idea of the position of industrial nuclei on the territory of the Czechoslovak republic. They are the necessary facilities for the investigation of the nuclei in economic areas.