Translation submitted by P. Curtis Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is one of the most well-known multitonnage and practically important polymer products. Many thousands of rigid, semisoft, and soft (plasticised) materials and articles, which can be used in virtually all sectors of the national economy and in the home, are based on PVC. It was first produced in 1872 by E. Baumann, but the industrial production of PVC was begun comparatively recently. According to published data, it began in 1935 in Germany, but according to data of the Du Pont company it began in 1930 in the United States. The growth in world production of PVC is impressive: in 1950, 220 000 t was produced; in 1960, in the order of 1.5 million t was produced; in 1965, over 3 million t was produced; in 1970, over 5 million t was produced; at present, PVC production amounts to over 15 million t. The main problem of PVC is its extremely low stability. Under the action of heat, UV light, oxygen, radiations, etc., it breaks down readily by the law of conversion of framing groups, with the elimination of hydrogen chloride and the formation of sequences of double saturated C=C bonds in the macromolecules with the appearance of an undesirable colour (from yellow to black). Therefore, during the storage, processing, and service of PVC, and also during the production, storage, and use of materials and articles based on it, it is necessary to use a combination of methods leading to an increase in the resistance of PVC to different factors, and to its stabilisation.