The reconstruction of agriculture in Pskov oblast' 1945–1953

THE CURRENT STATE of agriculture in the USSR attests to the total failure of the kolkhoz-sovkhoz system. This crisis raises the possibility of a deadlock. The main argument supporting this thesis is the lack of a social stratum that would form the basis of a system of privately owned farms, which is a necessity. In fact, no such stratum exists. The Soviet peasantry has got used to being employees of the state. I shall not discuss here how this stratum could be recreated, but show that this would have been possible during the years of Khrushchev's reforms. For this purpose I shall analyse the situation in agriculture during the early post-war years in Pskov oblast'. First I want to make clear the differences between the behaviour of the oblast' and the raion administration. Then I shall examine the implementation of state policy in Pskov oblast' and, at the same time, try to explain the real reasons for the government policy of widespread amalgamation of kolkhozy. Then I shall try to analyse the peasantry's reaction to this policy and the ways in which the peasants adapted to the real situation in agriculture. In Pskov oblast' the consequences of Stalin's rule were very serious and for that reason they are easy to identify. Pskov oblast' is located in the North-West of the European part of the USSR (the non-Black-Earth zone). The majority of the oblast' has been part of the USSR since 1917, but three raiony were not incorporated into the USSR until 1940, (at the same time as Estonia and Latvia) and for this reason there were no kolkhozy in these three raiony until 1946. The small area of the oblast' was the reason for the addition of part of Velikie Luki oblast' to Pskov oblast' at the end of 1957. At the end of the war agriculture in the oblast' was in a very bad state. The number of able-bodied kolkhozniki had decreased by one-third; 60% of kolkhoznik families were living in dug-outs or in neighbours' houses.1 The sown area had fallen to 36.5% of the pre-war level, cattle numbers at the beginning of 1945 were only 40% of the numbers at the beginning of 1941 (in the kolkhozy only 11%), and pig numbers were down to 15% of the pre-war level ( and in the kolkhozy there were none at all).2 The great problem was the restoration of the kolkhozy, because during the occupation the peasants had operated the pre-kolkhoz system with the permission of the German authorities. The oblast' party committee and agriculture administration had taken into account the local realities. If one considers the undoubtedly hard line coming from Moscow, the behaviour of the oblast' authorities seems more liberal. In particular

Agriculture · Archaeology · Argument (complex analysis · Deadlock · Economics · Economy · Geography · Government (linguistics · Political science · State (computer science · Stratum · Agricultural Development and Policies · Engineering · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends · Russia and Soviet political economy

• The revenge of the peasant? The collapse of large-scale Russian agriculture and the role of the peasant 'private plot' in that collapse, 1991-97

  Gavin Kitching•The Journal of Peasant Studies•1998

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