Agricultural Reforms in Russia From 1856 to the Present
Successes and Failures in the International Comparative Perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4877335 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephan Merl (Bielefeld University, corresponding author), Merl |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 56-87 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Russian Peasant Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2500-1809 • E-ISSN: 2949-2564 |
| Publisher | Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (PUBLISHER • RU) |
| DOI | 10.22394/2500-1809-2020-5-2-56-87 |
| OpenAlex | W3044901384 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 7 |
Despite its initial backwardness, the agricultural sector played a decisive role in the Russian/Soviet history. Until the 1950s, it was the main sector of occupation; it had contributed greatly to the gross domestic product and gross value added until forced collectivization destroyed huge agricultural resources. The article argues that emancipation paved the way for agricultural modernization by promoting a new agricultural structure based on the market and the skills of the heads of large-scale and family farms. The author identifies three Russian/Soviet approaches to the agrarian reform (1856-1928, 1929-1987, from 1987) in terms of contribution to the modernization of agriculture and of catching up with the developed countries. The article argues that until 1928 and (after the agricultural depression of the 1990s) from 2000, Russia was successful in both modernization and catching up, while Stalin's forced collectivization at first led to stagnation. After the World War II, forced collectivization prevented any "green revolution" (i.e. application of the agricultural scientific research findings). Under the state command system in agriculture, poor mechanization did not increase the labor productivity. Although Russia was known for agricultural surpluses before collectivization, the late Soviet Union became a major grain importer. Only the reform that started in 1987 removed the state command system to make the agricultural producers masters of their fields again, which led to a considerable increase in agricultural productivity since 2005. Basing the reappraisal of the agrarian reforms on the recent successes, the article likes to encourage further discussion. It proposes to regard the use of the available rural labor force, the quality of the industrial inputs in agriculture and the extent to which the producers were allowed to be masters of their agricultural production as the most appropriate criteria for assessing the agrarian reforms' results
Agrarian society · Agricultural productivity · Agricultural revolution · Agriculture · Backwardness · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Emancipation · Geography · Modernization theory · Political science · Politics · Productivity · Agricultural Development and Policies · Law
Was Chayanov's Concept of Peasant Agriculture Under the Soviet Rule Realistic? The Emerging of the Kulturniki in Answer to the Litsom K Derevne Policy
Why the Soviet Union Under Khrushchev and Brezhnev Failed With the Complex Mechanization of Agriculture
Why the Soviet Union Under Khrushchev and Brezhnev Failed With the Complex Mechanization of Agriculture
The awkward class
Bauern unter Stalin
Food Policy and Food Security. Putting Food on the Russian Table
Peasants in Russia from Serfdom to Stalin
Die russische Agrarreform von 1861
Did Russia's Emancipated Serfs Really Pay Too Much for Too Little Land? Statistical Anomalies and Long-Tailed Distributions
Reassessment of the Soviet Agrarian Policy in the Light of Today's Achievements
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2022 (3) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |