The Problem of Agrarian Reconstruction of the Russian Non-Black Earth Region in the Decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the First Half of the 1930s

Scientific article

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-1-204-224

For citation

Shevelkov, Anatoly I. (2025) The Problem of Agrarian Reconstruction of the Russian Non-Black Earth Region in the Decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks(b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the First Half of the 1930s, Herald of an Archivist, № 1, pp. 204-224, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-1-204-224

Shevelkov, Anatoly I., Research Moscow State Construction University, Moscow, Russia

The Problem of Agrarian Reconstruction of the Russian Non-Black Earth Region in the Decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in the First Half of the 1930s

Abstract

The article analyzes the formation of the agrarian policy of the Soviet state in the Non-Black Earth zone of Russia in the first half of the 1930s on the basis of the study of a set of documents from federal archives, reflecting the activities of the central party and state bodies, which allows to fill the existing research gap. The peculiarity of the historiographical situation in the coverage of the problem of reconstruction of agriculture in the Non-Black Soil is, on the one hand, the abundance of publications reflecting various aspects of the agrarian policy of the state in the 1920-1930s, and on the other hand, the lack of generalizing works on the scale of the Non-Black Soil in the period of Soviet history. The author shows that the agrarian policy in the Non-Black Earth region by the mid-1930s had a priority character, which was due to both the political importance of the region (the center of the Soviet state) and its economic role. This is evidenced by the involvement of industry science in the expertise of decisions and the practice of party-state meetings. The leaders of the Party and the Soviet state, first of all, I. V. Stalin, V. M. Molotov, were substantially engaged in the issues of agrarian reconstruction of the Non-Black Earth zone. This is evidenced by regular assessments at party forums on the situation in agriculture in the region, active participation in the preparation of resolutions of the SNK of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b), the work of the meeting on the organizational and economic strengthening of collective farms and the rise of agriculture in the Non-Black Earth region. Thus, in the transcript of the meeting on December 5-8, 1935, 369 manifestations of Stalin's participation (questions, remarks, remarks, evaluations, proposals) were noted. The study of archival documents, primarily of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), shows that the agrarian reconstruction of the region was strictly linked to the collectivization of the village, had a complex character, affecting the issues of technical equipment of the village, staffing of collective farms. The creation of grain districts in the Non-Black Earth Region was aimed at meeting the bread needs of the local population, as well as the rise of cattle breeding and flax farming. It is proved that the party-state decisions of the first half of the 1930s laid the foundations of agrarian policy in the region. To realize the research task, the author identified and attracted an extensive array of archival materials. Involvement of new sources in the scientific turnover, not only gives the opportunity to study the problem of agrarian reconstruction, socio-economic policy of the USSR in these years, but also sheds light on the problems of development of the Russian Non-Black Earth region.

Keywords

И. V. Stalin, V. M. Molotov, historical sources, agrarian policy, agrarian reconstruction, A. A. Zhdanov, D. N. Pryanishnikov, Non-Black Earth strip of Soviet Russia, V. E. Pisarev, agriculture, collectivization, peasant farms, collective farms, archival documents, Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b).

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About authors

Shevelkov Anatoly I., PhD in History, Research Moscow State Construction University, Department of Social and Humanitarian Sciences and Technologies, Associate Professor, Moscow, Russian Federation, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The article was received in the editorial office on 15.3.2024, recommended for publication on 20.12.2024