Socialist Agrarian Utopia in the 1920s

The specific focus of this paper is to re-examine two agrarian utopias of Alexander Chayanov (1888-1937): mostly The Journey of my Brother Alexei to the Land of the Peasant Utopia (1920) and partly the scientific prediction of the future development of agriculture The Possibilities of Agriculture (1928), in the context of the discussion of socialism and in particular Chayanov's theory of non-capitalist economic systems (1924). The manifestation of peasant socialism that he envisages, with a form of economic organization that is based on total cooperation and inspired by the criticism of extreme coercion related to proletarian socialism (alongside his thoughts on the new paths to the large-scale collective organization of agriculture), provides us with new insights into Chayanov's economic thinking. The paper discusses the role of the family in Chayanov's peasant utopia. The answers to "uncomfortable" theoretical questions about the worker's incentives, the use of coercion and the emergence of a new elite appearing under socialism are central to Chayanov's theory of non-capitalist development. The partial comparison of scientific and peasant utopias shows different perspective to various issues and questions. In a broader context, the paper aims to show that utopias deserve a special attention in the history of economic thought and in the study of Chaynov's legacy

Coercion (linguistics · Market socialism · Peasant · Proletariat · Utopia · Utopian socialism · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Cooperative Studies and Economics · Political Economy and Marxism

• Utopias of Alexander Bogdanov and Alexander Chayanov

  Open Access•Alexander Nikulin, Irina Trotsuk et al.•Russian Peasant Studies•2023

  Incluir item

• Russian Political Economy from Utopia to Social Engineering

  Open Access•Amanar Akhabbar, François Allisson•OEconomia•2014

  Incluir item

• Degrowth and critical agrarian studies

  Open Access•Julien-François Gerber•The Journal of Peasant Studies•2020

  Incluir item

• History of Economic Analysis

  Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter, Joseph Alois Schumpeter•History of economic analysis•2006

  Incluir item

• Utopian Thought in the Western World

  Frank E Manuel, Fritzie P Manuel•Utopian Thought in the Western…•1979

  Incluir item

• Čajanov, Kerblay et les shestidesiatniki

  Alessandro Stanziani•Cahiers du monde russe•2004

  Incluir item

• The Only Soviet Literary Peasant Utopia

  Nonna D Shaw•The Slavic and East European…•1963

  Incluir item

• The Political Economy of Utopia

  G M Hodgson•Review of Social Economy•1995

  Incluir item

• The journey of my brother Alexei to the land of peasant Utopia

  Ivan Kremnev•The Journal of Peasant Studies•1976

  Incluir item

• Aleksandr Chaianov

  Open Access•Yuli I Kagarlitskii•Slavic Review•1990

  Incluir item

• Chayanov's Economic Analysis in Anthropology

  E Paul Durrenberger•Journal of Anthropological Research•1980

  Incluir item

• Aleksandr Chayanov and Russian Berlin

  Frank Bourgholtzer•The Journal of Peasant Studies•1999

  Incluir item

• Chayanov's model of peasant household resource allocation

  Diana Hunt•The Journal of Peasant Studies•1979

  Incluir item

• Chayanov and the economics of the Russian Peasantry

  Mark Harrison•The Journal of Peasant Studies•1975

  Incluir item