THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN THE USSR IN 1970-1990

Danilchenko Sergey Leonidovych

Publication date: September 25, 2022 DOI: 10.52270/27132447 2022 11 54

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN THE USSR IN 1970-1990

A

Danylchenko, Sergey Leonidovych1

1Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Sevastopol State University, 33, Universitetskaya Street,

Sevastopol, Russia, E-mail: sldistorik@bk.ru

Abstract

The article analyzes agriculture in the USSR in 1970-1990. The agrarian reform currently being carried out in Russia, which is an integral element of the renewal of society and brought to life by the urgent need to create a highly developed agricultural sector, gives particular importance and even topicality to the study of these issues. A genuine revival of the peasantry, the creation of a highly efficient agricultural sector capable of ensuring and guaranteeing Russia's food security, is possible only on the basis of a comprehensive study of the experience of agrarian policy.

Keywords: state, agriculture, community, peasant, reform.

I. INTRODUCTION

In the 1970s-1990s, such an agrarian system functioned in the USSR, a fundamentally important feature of which was the active participation of the state, party-state structures in the regulation of the agrarian economy and all spheres of rural life. This experience is instructive in many ways. On the one hand, he clearly demonstrated the perniciousness of total control, petty regulation, and nationalization in the field of agriculture. On the other hand, the use of the mechanisms of state regulation of the agrarian sector reflected (albeit in a peculiar form) one of the leading trends in the development of the agrarian economy of the modern world, namely: the strengthening of the role of the state in the development of the agro-industrial complex.

Convincing evidence of the great attention of the party and the Soviet state to agriculture, the entire agro-industrial complex is the USSR Food Program for the period up to 1990, approved by the May (1982) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU and marking the beginning of a new stage in the modern agrarian policy of the party, characterized by a deeper turn all branches of the national economy to solve the problems of further development of agriculture. The implementation of the Food Program is a paramount economic and sociopolitical task, an essential component of the Party's economic strategy for the next decade. "It is especially necessary to establish an uninterrupted supply of high-quality food products to the population," stressed the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Andropov Y.V.

54

II. DISCUSSION AND RESULTS

At the same time, within the framework of this concept, it is possible to single out two areas of historiography: a purely apologetic one, whose supporters did not analyze, but propagated the agrarian policy of the CPSU as the only possible and absolutely correct one, and a moderately critical one, whose supporters, standing on the same theoretical and methodological positions, propagandizing the next party decisions in the field of agriculture, they analyzed the contradictions, problems, and difficulties of agrarian development. A considerable number of authors of past years (V.R. Boev, I.N. Buzdalov, V.G. Venzher, I.M. Volkov, M.A. Vyltsan, Y.P. Denisov, A.M. Emelyanov, I.E. Zelenin , A. A. Nikonov, V. B. Ostrovsky, V. A. Tikhonov, A. P. Tyurina, G. I. Shmelev and others) not only raised a wide factual material, but also tried as much as possible to show the real life of the village with its problems, difficulties and contradictions. These authors apparently said everything that could be said in those years and under those conditions on the problems of agrarian policy in the 1970s and 1990s.

The agrarian policy of the 1970s - 1990s is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that does not fit into the bed of one-dimensional, especially politically biased assessments. The analysis of the problems of agrarian policy in the 1970s and 1990s gives grounds for the conclusion that during this period a special model of agrarian development was implemented in the USSR, which was characterized by a number of features.

The agrarian model was historically conditioned. First, its emergence in the mid-1970s. did not mean a sharp break with the previous agrarian model, implemented in the 1930s and 1950s and partially transformed at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, since the new features of agrarian policy were combined with the preservation of its fundamental theoretical and practical political foundations. At the same time, the agrarian policy was an alternative to the Stalinist policy of depeasantizing the countryside and the ill-conceived experimentation of the late 1960s and early 1980s. Secondly, the emergence of the agrarian model reflected the search for ways to adapt the Soviet economic system to the conditions and requirements of the scientific and technological revolution. In this regard, the agrarian course of 1970. was an attempt at a conservative reform of the Soviet agrarian sector, designed not only to increase the pace of development of agricultural production, but also to develop a competitive socialist alternative to the bourgeois-farmer path of agrarian evolution.

Наименование СССР Китай США

1961 1990 1961 1990 1961 1990

Ячмень Barley 12,3 52,5 3,7 3,3 8,5 9,2

Гречиха Buckwheat 0,75 1,4 L5 1,9 0,02 од

Кукуруза Maize 17,1 9,9 18,0 97,2 91,4 201,5

Просо Millet 2,7 3,2 7,2 4,6 од 0,2

Овес Oats S 15,6 1 = 1 0,9 14,7 5,2

Рис паддн Rice, paddy 0,2 о 7 56,2 191,6 2,5 7,1

Рожь Rye 15,0 22,2 1,3 1,2 0,7 0,26

Сорго Sorghum 0,06 од 6,3 5,8 12,2 14,6

Пшеница Wheat 62,5 101,9 14,3 98,2 33,5 74,3

Structure of grain production in the USSR, China, USA (million tons).

©®

55

The agrarian model was objectively aimed at modernizing the agrarian sector in order to create an agro-industrial sector adequate to the industrial stage of development of society. It took into account some trends in the development of modern productive forces (strengthening the process of concentration of production and capital, the increasing role of state regulation, planning and forecasting in the development of the agricultural sector, intensification of production, integration of industries within the agro-industrial complex, etc.), but some features were underestimated or completely ignored. the current stage of scientific and technological revolution (in particular, a sharp increase in the importance of social and environmental factors in the development of agriculture, the accelerated formation of the industrial infrastructure of the agro-industrial complex, the widespread use of computer technology, biotechnology, etc.), the specifics of agrarian relations and the principles of economic activity widely recognized in the world in agricultural sector (development of market mechanisms, functioning of the agrarian economy as a set of enterprises of various levels of concentration and forms of ownership, broad development of free cooperation).

At the subjective level, however, modernization as an achievement of a certain civilizational level was not recognized. The problems of agricultural development were considered within the framework of the socialist paradigm from the point of view of strengthening the material and technical base of developed socialism, the implementation in practice of a number of ideological postulates. Among them, the most significant postulates are: on the leading role of the CPSU in the development and implementation of agrarian policy; about the total nature of the nationalization of land; about the superiority of state property over collective-farm cooperative property, the convergence and merging of the two forms of property, and the steady increase in the level of socialization of production; about the absolute advantages of large-scale forms of production in the form of collective farms and state farms; on the temporary admission of personal subsidiary farming and its gradual elimination; about state farms as the highest form of management; about collective farms as the only possible form of cooperation; about the movement of society towards social homogeneity, the erasure of class differences within the framework of "mature socialism", the leading role of the working class in society and in alliance with the peasantry; about the peasantry as a "new type" class that has almost lost its specific features; on directive planning as the main element of the system of state management of agriculture; on the need to limit commodity-money relations; about the priority of production over the social sphere, the city over the countryside, industry over agriculture.

In the photo is a "Winnowing machine", a machine for cleaning the "pile" obtained by threshing. The heap consists, in addition to grain, of fragments of straw of different sizes, empty ears.

56

The agrarian model evolved from attempts to introduce elements of commodity-money relations into the planned system in the second half of the 1970s. through the strengthening of administration, centralism and directiveness to a complete disregard for the market regulators of the agrarian economy. The evolution of the economic mechanism of the agrarian model up to the second half of the 80s. was anti-market in nature, although the first steps in accordance with the decisions of 1970 gave some reason to hope for the possibility of mastering elements of market mechanisms in the planned system, ensuring a combination of the plan and the market with the priority of the former. Because of this, the reform potential contained in the agrarian model was realized to a very small extent.

All this did not allow for such a transformation of the agrarian model, which would take into account modern trends in the development of productive forces to the maximum extent, contributed to the establishment of the conservative nature of the evolution of the agrarian model, which affected its dynamics and results: the slow growth of the main macroeconomic indicators and the solution of individual private problems did not lead to to the creation of an effective agricultural sector, were accompanied by a non-linear increase in crisis phenomena.

From the point of view of a number of social consequences (a decrease in the number of the rural population, a change in its socio-professional structure, the spread of urban culture with the loss of a number of elements of traditional rural culture, etc.), the period of implementation of the agrarian model can be considered as distinctive, completing the process of depeasantization of the Soviet countryside (but not completed depeasantization at all). Peasantization tendencies developed both under the influence of objective processes (industrialization and intensification of agricultural production, growth in labor productivity, urbanization of society), and under the influence of specific steps and specific features of agrarian policy (underestimation of the importance of the social sphere of the village, limitation of the economic initiative of peasants, transformation of collective farms into state farms , nationalization of collective farms, insufficient consideration of the specific interests of the peasantry, the policy of resettlement of unpromising villages). During the agrarian modernization of the 70s - 90s. failed to avoid mistakes, dramatic collisions, deformations. It is precisely for this that the leadership of the CPSU bears the responsibility. However, all the variety of steps in the agrarian area in the 70s - 90s. cannot be reduced to de-peasantry. The real agrarian course had a pronounced paternalistic character. Agricultural policy 1965 - 1990 characterized by the absence of direct violence against the peasants, the gradual intensification of social construction in the countryside, the strengthening of material incentives, the encouragement of personal subsidiary plots, etc. measures of agrarian protectionism. That is why there is reason to assert that the period of implementation of the agrarian model, from the point of view of the historical retrospective of depeasantization, is the least painful for the peasantry.

The process of transferring agriculture to a material and technical base adequate to developed socialism required considerable time and effort. The food program of the USSR for the period up to 1990 provided for increasing the energy capacity of collective farms and state farms by 1.6 times and completing, in the main, the comprehensive mechanization of agriculture and animal husbandry. But even after that, the task of comprehensive mechanization of all processes of agricultural production has not yet been fully resolved.

According to economists' estimates, for this it is necessary to increase the power-to-weight ratio of a worker engaged in agricultural production by more than 2 times and bring it to about 65-70 hours. A serious reserve for a more complete satisfaction of the needs of collective farms and state farms in technology was its better use and careful attitude towards it. In the 1970s, agriculture received 3,473,000 tractors, while their number increased by only 585,000 during this time. Over the same years, 2444 thousand trucks were delivered, and the increase in the fleet amounted to only 460 thousand vehicles. Most of the new equipment received (up to 80%) went to replace decommissioned equipment that was put out of action, often as a result of mismanagement, unskilled operation, untimely repairs, etc. Surveys show that equipment served longer on collective farms than on state farms; here, apparently, there was great concern for its safety.

57

In the 1990s there were significant changes in the nature of personal subsidiary plots. It became more and more closely connected with the public. The practice of establishing contractual relations between collective farmers, workers of state farms and collective farms, state farms for the maintenance of social livestock, poultry, became widespread, which reduced the isolation of personal farming and included it more fully in social production. The social composition of the holders of personal subsidiary plots has changed. At the present stage, it cannot be associated only with the collective farms and the collective farm peasantry. In Art. 13 of the Constitution of the USSR it is written: "Plots of land may be used by citizens ... for farming." At the end of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, 39.5 million families had personal subsidiary plots, including 13.7 million families of collective farmers, 10.8 million of state farm workers, and 15 million of persons not employed in agriculture. Personal subsidiary farming is an integral part of socialist agriculture, used not only by collective farmers, but also by all other sections of the rural population, a production form of socialist personal property of the working people. Despite the big changes, it still remained a subsidiary farm: its share in the income of the collective farm family during the tenth five-year plan remained at about 25%, and the products, as a rule, were consumed by this family, and only 20 - 25% of it went on sale.

SK-3. Soviet grain harvester for cotton harvesting.

The implementation of a scientifically based agrarian policy under mature socialism ensured the development of agricultural production on collective farms, state farms, and personal subsidiary plots. But along with the increase in production, there was also an increase in production. However, the possibilities for the development of personal subsidiary farming and obtaining products from it have decreased due to a decrease in the rural population. There was a systematic increase in the monetary incomes of the population. All this caused a significant increase in demand for food, especially for the most high-calorie, meat and dairy products.

III. CONCLUSION

For agricultural development in the 70s - 90s. characteristic, on the one hand, is the delay in carrying out long overdue reforms, on the other hand, forced leaps and the desire to introduce this or that "innovation" everywhere and quickly. The result of such a policy was the growth of crisis phenomena in agriculture and the discrediting of even quite fruitful ideas.

©®

58

The experience of agrarian development in the 1970s and 1990s thus showed that transformations in the agrarian sector must be evolutionary in nature, corrected as necessary, carried out consistently and by nonviolent methods.

REFERENCE LIST

Brezhnev L.I. (1978) Lenin course. Speeches and articles. Vol. 6. M. P. 623. (In Russ).

Denisov Y.P. (1975) The development of collective farm democracy (1946-1970). Pp. 115-126. (In Russ).

Denisov Y.P. (1988) The development of collective farm democracy (1965-1986). History of the USSR. Vol. 2. Pp. 4-5. (In Russ).

Kuznetsov G.Y. (1971) Commodity relations and economic incentives in collective farm production. M. P. 141. (In Russ).

Logvinenko V.K. (1966) Collective farm property and issues of its development during the transition to communism. K. Pp. 141-147. (In Russ).

Materials of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the KPSS. June 14-15, 1983. M. P. 14. (In Russ).

Oskolkov E.N. (1996) Actual problems of methodology of the history of the peasantry in Russia. P. 30. (In

Russ).

Semenov V.N. (1973) The role of finance and credit in the development of agriculture: (Methodological and practical issues of the mechanism of the impact of financial and credit relations on the development of agriculture). M. Pp. 51-109. (In Russ).

Semin S.I. (1973) Overcoming socio-economic differences between the city and the countryside. M. Pp. 75-76. (In Russ).

Serova E. (1996) Reform of the financial and credit mechanism in Russian agriculture. Agro-industrial complex: Economics. Management. Vol. 2. P. 34. (In Russ).

Stroev E.S. (1994) Methodology and practice of agrarian reform. M. 133 p. (In Russ).

Suslov Y.P. (1981) From the history of party organizations of the Volga region. Voprosy Istorii of the KPSS. Vol. 7. P. 131. (In Russ).

Tyurina A.P. (1982) Socio-economic development of the Soviet village. Pp. 38-40. (In Russ).

Vashchukov L.I. (1986) Development of agriculture of the USSR. Facts and figures. M. P. 56. (In Russ).

Vershinin A.A. (1991) Agrarian reform: Transition to Market relations. Novosibirsk. P. 101. (In Russ).

Volkov I.M. (1983) Agriculture of the USSR in the conditions of developed socialism. Voprosy Istorii. Vol. 9. Pp. 33-35. (In Russ).

59

m

РАЗВИТИЕ СЕЛЬСКОГО ХОЗЯЙСТВА В СССР В 1970-1990 ГОДЫ

л

Данильченко Сергей Леонидович1

1Доктор исторических наук, профессор, Севастопольский государственный университет, ул.

Университетская, 33, Севастополь, Россия, E-mail: sldistorik@bk.ru

Аннотация

В статье анализируется сельское хозяйство СССР в 1970-1990 гг. Проводимая в настоящее время в России аграрная реформа, являющаяся неотъемлемым элементом обновления общества и вызванная насущной необходимостью создания высокоразвитого аграрного комплекса, придает особое значение и даже актуальность изучению этих вопросов. Подлинное возрождение крестьянства, создание высокоэффективного сельскохозяйственного комплекса, способного обеспечить и гарантировать продовольственную безопасность России, возможно только на основе всестороннего изучения опыта аграрной политики.

Ключевые слова: государство, сельское хозяйство, община, крестьянин, реформа.

СПИСОК ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ