Gordeev A. V., Nikulin A. M. “Developing a culture of trust” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №3. P. 306-324.

EDN: PYKWUO

Annotation

The second part of the biographical interview with Alexey Vasilyevich Gordeev presents his experience and results of work as the Governor of the Voronezh Region, related to the creation of a favorable human environment and entrepreneurship development. The interlocutors discuss the Voronezh local self-government at the level of rural districts, various aspects of the integration of Voronezh agricultural production, effective interaction between federal, regional and district levels in terms of professionalism and competence of the state and municipal leaders, and the importance of personal reputation. In the field of agricultural policy, the article focuses on the formation and development of the agricultural lobby in post-Soviet Russia as associated with the interests of various large and small agricultural producers, features of rural regional studies, combination of traditional and today’s lifestyles within the debatable concepts of peasantry, farming and Cossacks. The interlocuters conclude with what needs to be done to increase the efficiency of the program for the integrated development of rural areas mainly in the scientific support perspective, and to develop a culture of trust between society and the authorities, for which the territorial public self-government seems promising at the local rural level.

Keywords

Rural Russia, Voronezh Region, local self-government, agricultural lobby, comprehensive program for the development of rural areas, territorial public self-government.

About the authors

Alexey V. Gordeev, DSc (Economics), Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Okhotny Ryad St., 1, Moscow, 103265. 
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Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571.
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Round table of the Russian Peasant Studies for the 100th anniversary of Professor Viktor Petrovich Danilov // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №3. P. 153-181.

EDN: JQSTCB

Annotation

On March 25, 2025, a round table of the Russian Peasant Studies for the 100th anniversary of the outstanding agricultural historian, Professor Viktor Petrovich Danilov (1925–2004), was held. The participants noted the contribution of V. P. Danilov to the Russian and world historiography, shared personal memories of him and work with him, and discussed current issues of agricultural and social history. The following participants made presentations: Alexander V. Zhuravel, Historian, Independent Researcher; Viktor V. Kondrashin, DSc (History), Professor, Chief Researcher, Head of the Center for Economic History of the Institute of Russian History, RAS; Igor A. Kuznetsov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher, Center for Economic and Social History, RANEPA; Alexander V. Gordon, DSc (History), Chief Researcher, Head of the East and Southeast Asia Sector, INION RAS; Elena A. Tyurina, PhD (History), Head of the Russian State Archive of Economics; Igor N. Slepnev, PhD (History), Senior Researcher, Center for Economic History of the Institute of Russian History, RAS; Elena V. Danilova; Vladislav O. Afanasenkov, Junior Researcher, Center for Economic and Social History, RANEPA. The discussion was moderated by Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Peasant Studies, Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, RANEPA. 

Keywords

Round table, outstanding agricultural historian, Viktor Petrovich Danilov, Russian and world historiography, shared personal memories, current issues of agricultural and social history.

About the authors

Alexander V. Zhuravel, Historian, Independent Researcher. Profsoyuzov St. 1, Bryansk, 241022, Russia.
Viktor V. Kondrashin, DSc (History), Chief Researcher, Head of the Center for Economic History, Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russia.
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Igor A. Kuznetsov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher at the Center for Economic and Social History, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, building 1, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Alexander V. Gordon, DSc (History), Chief Researcher, Head of the East and Southeast Asia Sector, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences. Nakhimovsky prosp., 51/21, Moscow, 117418, Russia.
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Elena A. Tyurina, PhD (History), Scientific Director of the Russian State Archive of Economics. B. Pirogovskaya St., 17, Moscow, 119435, Russia.
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Igor N. Slepnev, PhD (History), Senior Researcher of the Center for Economic History, Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russia.
Elena V. Danilova, independent researcher. Boris Galushkin St., 17, Moscow, 129301, Russia.
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Vladislav O. Afanasenkov, Junior Researcher at the Center for Economic and Social History, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, building 1, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
E-mail: erpaison@ gmail.com
Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, bldg. 1, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Nikulin A.M., Nikulina E.S. Voices of the Voronezh territorial public self-governments: “You begin to feel the territory you live in…” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №2. P. 272-279.

EDN: FNJXOM

About the authors

Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Ekaterina S. Nikulina, Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Gordeev A. V., Nikulin A.M. “Today we need to significantly change the state agricultural policy to support the development of rural areas” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №2. P. 180-195.

EDN: CQTWRT

Annotation

The first part of the biographical interview with Alexey Vasilyevich Gordeev focuses on the milestones of his life and professional path related to agricultural production and rural development, especially on the transformation of institutions at different levels of agricultural management in the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods; the areas and priorities of Gordeev’s activities as Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation are considered in particular detail. Thus, in the first decades of the 21st century, the priority task was to achieve growth in agricultural production to ensure food independence, food security and stable provision of the population with a variety of food products. The interlocuters discussed ways to reform and develop contemporary agrarian sciences and education in Russia and the period of Russia’s accession to the WTO as associated with import-export relations of Russia with foreign countries.

Keywords

Rural Russia, Soviet economy, agrarian reforms, agribusiness, rural development, minister, WTO.

About the authors

Alexey V. Gordeev, DSc (Economics), Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Okhotny Ryad St., 1, Moscow, 103265.
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Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571.
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Brutskus B.D. Elimination of the world crisis (Article of B.D. Brutskus) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №1. P. 6-15.

EDN: AAOQLZ

Annotation

Boris Davidovich Brutskus (1874–1938) was a remarkable economist whose agrarian studies are usually attributed to A. V. Chayanov’s organization-production school. However, agrarian issues were only one aspect of Brutskus’s multifaceted intellectual heritage as a major specialist in Jewish migration and colonization in the late 19th — early 20th centuries, in the political-economic criticism of the Russian Revolution, Soviet economic system and socialism in general. He was an insightful expert not only in issues of the Russian and Soviet economic policy but also in international economic-political relations.
In his theoretical and ideological views Brutskus was a consistent supporter of liberalism but not an orthodox supporter of the homo economicus model. He spoke with deep respect and understanding about worldview values of socialism of both populist and Marxist directions, which were associated with the ideas of cooperative family economies and a socially oriented state, and emphasized that the market, free enterprise and economic freedom were fundamental conditions for any freedom in principle.
With the Bolsheviks coming to power, during the civil war, Brutskus consistently and convincingly criticized the Soviet economic policy, for which the United State Political Administration (OGPU) expelled him on the so-called philosophical steamship to Germany. In Europe, until the early 1930s, Brutskus lectured on agrarian issues and political economy at the Russian Scientific Institute in Berlin and taught at the Yiddish University in Vilnius. After the Nazis came to power, he moved to Paris, and in 1935 emigrated to Palestine, where he headed the Department of Agricultural Economics and Policy at the University of Jerusalem, which was established with funds from the Jewish National Fund and at which he conducted research and taught until his death in 1938. Brutskus “was very enthusiastic about not only teaching but also practical activities to promote Jewish agriculture”. Brutskus’s great contribution to the developing Jewish agricultural and economic science was recognized and highly praised: his course of lectures was published posthumously, and the national journalism called him a Jewish genius of our time.
Brutskus was an incredibly gifted and prolific economist and publicist, his analytical articles on the most current social-economic events of the 1920s and 1930s were published in newspapers and magazines not only in the Russian émigré press but also in national languages in periodicals of some European and North American countries. Thereby, it is not surprising that the article “Elimination of the world crisis”, which was discovered in B.D. Brutskus’s collection in the Central Archive for History of the Jewish People and which the author had prepared for publication but had not managed to publish, provides an overview of fundamental contradictions and probable alternatives for political-economic development of the world economy recovering with difficulty and in contradictory ways from the Great Depression in the second half of the 1930s.
In this article, Brutskus identifies those groups of countries and key sectors of the economy that overcame consequences of the world crisis in different ways. This multipolarity of political-economic development caused Brutskus concern mainly due to the strengthening tendencies of bureaucratic autarkization of economies in some countries preparing for war. At the end of the article, Brutskus prophetically warns that the implementation of the German slogan “guns instead of butter” under declining international movement of migrants, capital, goods and increasing political-economic polarization of countries leads to an escalation of international tension and future military-political conflicts.

Keywords

Crisis, market, capitalism, unemployment, agriculture, industry, League of Nations, economic policy.

About the authors

Boris D. Brutskus
Publishers: Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics),Head of the Chayanov Research Center, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences.Gazetny per., 3-5, bl. 1, Moscow, 125009, Russia.
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Vladislav O. Afanasenkov, Junior Researcher, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences; Gazetny per., 3-5, bl. 1, Moscow, 125009, Russia.
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Translator: Irina V. Trotsuk, DSc (Sociology), Professor, Sociology Chair, RUDN University; Senior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
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Ksenofontov M. Yu., Nikulin A. M. “What is the difference between weather forecasts and economic forecasts?” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №4. P. 280-307.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-4-280-307

Annotation

The interview with Mikhail Ksenofontov, DSc (Economics), Head of the Laboratory at the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, focuses on the challenges of forecasting in economic science and policies. Two scientists discuss the evolution of approaches to forecasting from the late Soviet period to the present time; the issues of forecast accuracy, their alternative nature, fallibility and the influence of the subjectivity factor (on the examples from energy industry and agriculture); economic growth assessments and criteria, its speed, optimality and proportionality; the features of forecasting approaches in natural and social sciences (on the examples of weather forecasts and economic forecasts). In conclusion, the spatial development design is mentioned in connection with issues of assessing the scale of social-economic differentiation.

Keywords

Forecasting, economics, politics, energy industry, agriculture, error, regional studies, optimality, proportionality.

About the authors

Mikhail Yu. Ksenofontov, DSc (Economics), Head of the Laboratory, Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences; Deputy Head of the Department, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Nakhimovsky Prosp., 47, Moscow, 117418, Russia.
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Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Head of the Chayanov Research Center, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Nikulin A. M. Nikolai Setnitsky and Alexander Chayanov: On ideals, exploitation, non-capitalist systems and regulation of nature // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №3. P. 47-72.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-3-47-72

Annotation

The author conducts a comparative biographical analysis to consider the social-philosophical and political-economic views and the interdisciplinary intellectual heritage of the remarkable Russian scientists N. A. Setnitsky and A. V. Chayanov on the ideals of social development, features of capitalist and non-capitalist economic systems, issues of regulating the relationship between man and nature in the 1920s–1930s. The article identifies the fundamental worldview ideas of the “agrarian-relativist” Chayanov and the “apocalyptic cosmist” Setnitsky, which determined their theoretical-methodological approaches to the cognition and transformation of reality, focusing on the comparative analytical assessment of their utopian and futurological forecasts and projects. The author concludes about the significance of the intellectual heritage of Setnitsky and Chayanov for the study of contemporary political, economic and environmental issues in Russia and the world.

Keywords

N. A. Setnitsky, A. V. Chayanov, capitalism, non-capitalist systems, city, village, exploitation, nature, utopia, cosmism.

About the author

Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Mikheev E. K., Nikulin A. M., Fadeeva O. P. “Our strategy was based on the principle of doing what was profitable” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №2. P. 212-234.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-2-212-234

Annotation

The interview with E. K. Mikheev (DSc (Economics and Management), Head of the agroholding Niva-Mikheev and Co, Honored Worker of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Honorary Citizen of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and Buturlinsky district), which was conducted by sociologists A. M. Nikulin and O. P. Fadeeva in August 2023, reconstructs his life path from the peasant collective-farm family to the world of contemporary agricultural science, politics and business. The interviewers focused on the economic philosophy of Mikheev as agricultural manager, his decision-making logic at the collective farm in the USSR and in the post-Soviet period of the developing market economy in the 1990s, his estimates of the situation at his agroholding, agrarian economy and rural development in the Nizhny Novgorod Region and Russia. The interview emphasizes the rational choice of economic decisions made and implemented in the transforming national and local institutional environment. 

Keywords

Agroholding, collective farm, perestroika, Russia, USA, agricultural strategy, Nizhny Novgorod reforms, profit.

About the authors

Evgeny K. Mikheev, DSc (Economics and Management), Head of the Niva-Mikheev and Co agroholding. Ogorodnaya St., village Valgusy, Buturlinsky district, Nizhny Novgorod Region, 607451, Russia.
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Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; ViceRector for Research, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Olga P. Fadeeva, PhD (Sociology), Head of the Department, Institute of Economics and Organization of Industrial Production, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Academician Lavrentiev Prosp., 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia.
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Nikulin A. M., Nikulina E.S. Pavel Zyryanov: community, state, personality in the Russian history // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №1. P. 156-162.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-1-156-162

Annotation

Review of the book: Expanding Scientific Horizons...( 2023) Collection of Articles in Memory of the DSc (History) P.N. Zyryanov (for the 80th Birthday). Ed. by L. V. Melnikova, Moscow: Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 352 p. ISBN 978-5-8055-0423-6

About the authors

Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Vice-Rector for Research, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82, Moscow, 119571.
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Ekaterina S. Nikulina , Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82 Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Nikulin A.M., Trotsuk I.V. Utopias of Alexander Bogdanov and Alexander Chayanov: The choice of rural-urban development and its consequences for rural human capital and social differentiation // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2023. V.8. №4. P. 23-40.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2023-8-4-23-40

Annotation

A science-based conversation about the current state of rural areas, prospects for rural human capital and trends in rural differentiation is impossible without the conceptual approaches and futuristic projects of great Russian agrarian scientists. The article presents an attempt of comparing such ideas of two outstanding social thinkers of the early 20th century — Alexander Bogdanov and Alexander Chayanov, focusing on their utopias as representing the essential features (proletarian and peasant) of their social-economic and cultural-ethical views. Bogdanov and Chayanov had extensive encyclopedic knowledge and brilliant organizational skills; they wrote original works on social philosophy and political economy; both were prominent leaders of alternative social-political directions of the Russian Revolution. Moreover, Bogdanov and Chayanov wrote several famous utopias: Bogdanov’s utopia develops Marxist ideas of proletarian revolution and construction of socialism not only on earth but also in space; Chayanov’s utopia of moderate cooperative socialism defends the new revolutionary significance of the peasantry. The proletarian ideologist Bogdanov was skeptical about the political potential of the peasantry, arguing that opponents of proletarian revolution would use peasant conservatism against socialist revolution. The peasant ideologist Chayanov was skeptical about the creative potential of the working class, predicting that in the coming social revolution it would be used to build authoritarian-bureaucratic socialism. However, both thinkers sought prospects for rural-urban development through the analysis of possible ways of interaction between man and nature. Despite the ignorance of the positive revolutionary potential of the proletariat (Chayanov) and the peasantry (Bogdanov), both thinkers made huge contributions to the theory and practice of the Russian Revolution, and their utopian ideas still inspire the search for a new just, humane and happy world.

Keywords

A.V. Chayanov, A.A. Bogdanov, utopia, proletariat, peasantry, Marxism, corporatism, colonialism, human capital.

About the authors

Alexander M. Nikulin, PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; ViceRector for Research, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571.
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Irina V. Trotsuk, DSc (Sociology), Professor, Sociology Department, RUDN University; Senior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; Intercenter, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp., 82.
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