Krasilnikov S.A. V.P. Danilov: Scientific opponent of the “Great Break” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №1. P. 43-57.
EDN: FSHBKB
Annotation
The past century left a deep mark not only on the life and fate of the Russian peasantry as a civilizational social-cultural community but also on the work of historians who studied it. Among them, one of the most outstanding is Viktor Petrovich Danilov. As a historian of the Soviet era, he enjoyed well-deserved respect and reputation on both sides of the border, having developed a platform for their creative union in two successive documentary works on the tragic history of the Soviet peasantry in the era of etatization of the agrarian economy. The article aims at assessing the professional and personal experience of a participant of the famous Danilov’s projects, a representative of the next generation of historians who grew professionally while working with Danilov. The author considers some principles of collective work on serial documentary publications, difficulties of such work and ways to overcome them, which allowed to achieve the final results, focusing on the development of alternativeness in the transformations of the 1920s. Due to its consistent rejection of Stalin’s solution to the peasant question, Danilov’s legacy serves as a moral challenge to conformism as a widespread historical corporate disease.
Keywords
Peasant studies, Viktor Petrovich Danilov, N. I. Bukharin, alternative to Stalinism, serial documentary publications.
About the author
Sergey A. Krasilnikov, DSc (History), Chief Researcher, Institute of History, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Nikolaeva St., 8, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia.
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Additional Info
- Submitted Saturday, 14 December 2024
- Reviewed Wednesday, 15 January 2025
- Copyright © Auhtors, 2025
- Distribution Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Presnyakov I. On the “subjective reality” of Teodor Shanin’s peasant projects: Field studies, ‘long table’ method, and Peredelkino (an oral history approach) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №1. P. 16-42.
EDN: BMNVIL
Annotation
The article reconstructs the researchers’ “subjective reality” in Teodor Shanin’s peasant studies projects. While there has been extensive research on methodological, epistemological and empirical dimensions of these projects, little attention has been paid to personal experiences, emotions and transformations of the researchers. This study aims at filling this gap by reconstructing their subjective perceptions through oral histories, memories and published sources and also at ‘localizing’ such a subjective reality by examining its connection with the Peredelkino House of Creativity, where Shanin’s research team used to meet periodically. The article consists of the following parts: first, it outlines the broader conditions of Shanin’s peasant studies expeditions; then it focuses on “subjective reality of the first encounters” with Shanin and his ideas; the fieldwork is examined through the researchers’ observation of rural communities, their efforts to gain peasants’ trust and methodological challenges they faced; further, the study considers the long table discussions at Peredelkino, emphasizing their dual function as spaces for methodological and personal support; finally, the author explains institutionalization of the projects’ subjective reality through their lasting impact on research and educational initiatives of its participants. The findings show that the scholars’ subjective reality was deeply intertwined with the broader intellectual and social-political transformations of the 1990s, which resulted in the specific research culture of Shanin’s peasant studies projects — a combination of reflections on ethnographic experiences, analytical and methodological frameworks with personal experiences, friendship, and intellectual partnership.
Keywords
Teodor Shanin, peasant studies, subjective reality, oral history, long table method, Peredelkino, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences.
About the author
Ilya Presnyakov, PhD Student, Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, Tel Aviv University, Gilman Bldg., Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.
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Additional Info
- Submitted Tuesday, 03 December 2024
- Reviewed Wednesday, 29 January 2025
- Copyright © Auhtors, 2025
- Distribution Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Rogozin D.M. Peasant son Anton Bolshakov (1887–1941): A scientific obituary of the executed historian, sociologist and local historian // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2023. V.8. №3. P. 27-45.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2023-8-3-27-45
Annotation
The article presents a scientific biography of the outstanding Russian historian, sociologist and local historian Anton Mikhailovich Bolshakov (1887–1941). The author outlines the milestones of his scientific career: from historical research to the ethnographic and local-historical descriptions of the Soviet village. The most fruitful, productive period of his scientific activity was in the 1920s, when the NEP provided new opportunities not only for entrepreneurs but also for researchers and activists — to realize their intentions and strengths. Despite poverty, censorship and partisanship of the mass media and science, the 1920s were a golden time for the Soviet humanitarian thought and social research. The article identifies three most important directions in Bolshakov’s scientific work: (1) expansion of historical knowledge through the systematic development of related disciplines; (2) promotion of economic history as a collection of documents, statistical analysis and observations; (3) development of rural sociology as a regular observation of the peasantry’s life. Despite attempts to adapt to the Soviet regime’s demands for control and supervision, Bolshakov failed to avoid repression, and he realized the tragedy and ambiguity of his situation. On March 6, 1939, he was arrested, convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union on charges of participation in the counter-revolutionary terrorist organization, sentenced to death on July 9, 1941, and executed on July 27, 1941. Bolshakov was rehabilitated on September 1, 1956, by the decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union 15 years later.
Keywords
History of the Russian sociology of the 1920s, historical sociology, peasant studies, rural sociology, economic history.
About the author
Dmitry М. Rogozin, PhD (Sociology), Head of the Center for Field Research, Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Prechistenskaya Nab., 11, bldg. 1, Moscow, 119034, Russia.
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Additional Info
- Submitted Thursday, 27 July 2023
- Reviewed Friday, 01 September 2023
- Copyright © Auhtors, 2023
- Distribution Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Doktorov B.Z., Nikulin A.M. Teodor Shanin: Peasant Studies and Russia // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2020. V.5. №3. P. 146-172.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2020-5-3-146-172
Annotation
In this interview, Boris Doktorov, a Russian sociologist living in America, a researcher of intellectual biographies and methods of social sciences in the 20th–21st centuries, together with the Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Peasant Studies and Head of the Chayanov Research Center of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Alexander Nikulin, talks about the outstanding British sociologist Teodor Shanin, whose scientific legacy is closely related to the development of an interdisciplinary social science—peasant studies, and who conducted a number of fundamental historical-sociological and economic-sociological studies of rural Russia. The interview considers the basic concepts and milestones in the development of peasant studies as a branch of the historical-sociological knowledge in Russia, analyzes Shanin’s estimates of various aspects of the Russian social-humanitarian thought as related to the study of the peasantry and to the recommendations on alternatives for the development and transformation of peasant worlds, which were suggested by agrarian populists and Marxists, G.V. Plekhanov and V.I. Lenin, A.V. Chayanov and I.V. Stalin. The interview considers the impact of literature and art on descriptions and explanations of the role of the peasantry through the intellectual interests of Teodor Shanin; focuses on his joint activities with his closest colleagues in the study of rural Russia—the outstanding agrarian scientists V.P. Danilov and T.I. Zaslavskaya. Throughout the interview, Shanin’s worldview and moral-ethical principles in the search for humanistic alternatives for the Russian and global rural development are discussed.
Keywords
peasantry, peasant studies, agrarian policy, Teodor Shanin, V.P. Danilov, T.I. Zaslavskaya, village writers, rural Russia
About the authors
Boris Z. Doktorov, DSc (Philosophy), Professor, Independet Analyst. 100 Village Lane, Foster City, CA 94404, USA.
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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. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
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Fadeeva O.P., Vinogradsky V.G., Babashkin V.V., Kondrashin V.V., Gorovenko O.V., Shteinberg I.E. In memory of Teodor Shanin // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2020. V.5. №1. P. 172-195.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2020-5-1-172-195
Annotation
These texts are a tribute of the representatives of peasant studies to their dear teacher and colleague Teodor Shanin (29.10.1930—04.02.2020), an outstanding British sociologist, one of the founders of the global and Russian interdisciplinary studies of rural life (peasant studies), Professor Emeritus of the University of Manchester, founder and President of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Honorary Editor of the journal Russian Peasant Studies. The texts present the personal memories of sociologists and historians O. Fadeeva, V. Vinogradsky, V. Kondrashin, V. Babashkin, O. Gorovenko and I. Shteinberg about their communication and work with Teodor Shanin. The memories focus primarily on the development of the first Shanin’s sociological project ‘Social Structure of the Soviet (Post-Soviet) Village’ (1990-1994) and describe features of the research methodology, field work, realized and not realized research plans of Shanin and his colleagues. The authors emphasize the intellectual and personal significance of Shanin’s legacy for understanding the further research tasks of contemporary peasant studies, and honor Shanin not only as a talented organizer of scientific projects and methodologist-theoretician of social sciences, but also as a remarkable field researcher and excellent lecturer-teacher. All authors admire the personal virtues of Shanin—his curiosity, keenness of observation, empathy, and the will for both intellectual comprehension and humanistic transformation of society.
Keywords
Teodor Shanin, peasant studies, historical sociology, economic sociology, anthropology, field research, qualitative methods, rural Russia
About the authors
Vladimir V. Babashkin, DSc (History), Professor, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 115571, Moscow, Prosp.Vernadskogo, 82.
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Valery G. Vinogradsky, DSc (Philosophy), Senior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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Viktor V. Kondrashin, DSc (History), Professor, Head of the Center for Economic History, Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 117292, Moscow, D. Ul’yanova St., 19.
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Oksana V. Gorovenko (Ryzhankova) , PhD (Economics), Associate Professor, Department of International Business, Belarus State Economic University. Partizansky Prosp., 26, Minsk, 220070, Belarus.
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Olga P. Fadeeva, PhD (Sociology), Senior Researcher, Institute of Economics and Organization of Industrial Production, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 630090, Novosibirsk, Prosp. Lavrentieva, 17.
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Ilya E. Shteinberg, PhD (Philosophy), Associate Professor, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. Sretenka St., 29, Moscow, 127051, Russia.
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“My constant desire is to establish relations between the cultures of France and Russia ...”
Jan 14 2020Berelowitch A., Nikulin A.M. “My constant desire is to establish relations between the cultures of France and Russia ...” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2019. V.4. №4. P. 96-114.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2019-4-4-96-114
Annotation
In his interview, the French researcher Alexis Berelowitch considers his Russian family roots and the desire to combine French and Russian cultures in his life through different types of cooperation in the Russian and French historical-sociological projects. He first visited Russia as a teenager in a Moscow pioneer camp in the late 1950s, then he worked as a young volunteer teacher of French at the Minsk State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages in the late 1960s, and after that he chose the key topic of his research—the development of the nationalist trend among village-writers in the Soviet Union. Since perestroika Berelowitch has participated in Russian-French scientific projects of sociologists who studied the transformations of public opinion under the collapse of the USSR, and in Russian-French scientific projects of historians who studied the early Soviet period of the agrarian history of the 1920s—1930s. Alexis Berelowitch made a great contribution to the development of cultural and scientific relations between France and Russia as a cultural attaché of the French Embassy in the mid-1990s and as a director of the French Scientific Center in Moscow (2002-2006). The interview pays special attention to his personal memories of such remarkable researchers of the Russian peasantry as Basile Kerblay, Moshe Levin, Viktor Danilov and Teodor Shanin.
Keywords
Peasant Studies, perestroika, Russia, USSR, France, university science, Kerblay, Levin, Danilov, Shanin
About the authors
Alexis Berelowitch, University Paris — Sorbonne (Paris IV). France, Paris-5, Rue VictorCousin, 1.
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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. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp, 82.
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Berelowitch A. Basile Kerblay — an explorer of Russia // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №4. P. 69-77.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-4-69-77
Annotation
The article describes the milestones of the scientific biography of the prominent French sociologist and historian of the 20th century, Professor of Sorbonne University Basile Kerblay. The article presents the main themes of Kerblay’s works — history of Russia and sociology in the late Soviet society — in the context of the Western sovietology debates of the 1960s — 1970s and disputes of “totalitarianists” and “revisionists”. The author considers as distinctive features of Kerblay’s works his broad outlook, comparative approach to the study of Russian history, and lack of ideological bias. The article emphasizes the importance of Kerblay as one of the first biographers, researchers and publishers of A.V. Chayanov’s works on the theory of peasant economy.
Keywords
Sociology, peasant studies, sovietology, Kerblay, Chayanov.
About the author
Alexis Berelowitch, University Paris — Sorbonne. France, Paris-5, Rue Victor-Cousin 1.
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Kerblay B. A.V. Chayanov. Evolution of the Russian agrarian thought from 1908 to 1930: At the crossroads (Article of B. Kerblay) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №4. P. 17-68.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-4-17-68
Annotation
The Russian Peasant Studies presents a collection of archival documents related to the publication of Alexander Chayanov’s works in 1967 in France and England, which was prepared by the Professor of Sorbonne University Basile Kerblay. This collection includes the correspondence of Olga Gurevich, the widow of Chayanov, with Basile Kerblay in 1966-1970, and her translation from French of Kerblay’s article on the work of Chayanov. Kerblay’s article was published as a preface to the collected works of Chayanov and became classic. This is the first serious study of the biography and work of Chayanov and of the theory of the Russian organization-production school of the 1920s in Western sociology. This article is published in Russian for the first time. The letters of Kerblay and Olga Gurevich reveal some additional circumstances of the publication of Alexander Chayanov’s works in 1967 and some features of the ideological atmosphere of the USSR at that time. The collection of archival documents in the Russian Peasant Studies includes comments and a brief biography of Olga Gurevich. These documents are a part of the funds of the Russian State Archive of Economics. This publication is dedicated to the anniversary of Chayanov. The publication with comments was prepared by I.A. Kuznetsov and T.A. Savinova.
Keywords
A.V. Chayanov, rural Russia, peasant studies, interdisciplinary research, agrarian policy, Russian revolution, collectivization.
About the authors
Basile Kerblay
Editors: Igor A. Kuznetsov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher, the School of Public Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Vernadskogo Prosp., 82.
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Tatyana A. Savinova, PhD (Economics), Head of Organizational-Methodical and Personnel Work Chair, Russian State Archive of Economy; 119992, Moscow, B. Pirogovskaya St., 17.
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Translator: Olga E. Gurevich
Round table “Organization-production school in the Russian agrarian-economic thought: History and the present time” // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №1. P. 74-98.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-1-74-98
Annotation
The round table “Organization-production school in the Russian agrarian-economic thought: History and the present state” at the Center for Agrarian Studies of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration gathered historians, sociologists, economists, and culturologists for an interdisciplinary discussion of the relevance of the scientific legacy of A.V. Chayanov and his colleagues not only for agrarian science, but also social sciences and humanities on the eve of the anniversaries of the organization-production school representatives. The participants of the round table focused on the genesis and historical prerequisites of the organization-production school, and on the ideas of the Chayanov’s school as influencing the rural development of Russia and the world in the past and present. The participants of the round table were particularly interested in the recently discovered unique archival papers, such as the responses of A.V. Chayanov and N.P. Makarov to criticism of L.N. Litoshenko and A.A. Manuylov considering the theoretical-methodological foundations of the organization-production school’s idea of peasant economy; and the Chayanov’s texts for the German, French and American journals comprehensively describing features of the Russian and Soviet agrarian-economic science development. The intellectual legacy of A.V. Chayanov and his colleagues A.A. Rybnikov, A.N. Chelintsev, B.D. Brutskus, N.P. Makarov, A.N. Minin, and G.A. Studentsky was considered from the perspective of populist, socialist and liberal traditions in the development of Russian and international peasant studies. The participants of the round table also mentioned theories of other remarkable agrarians that can be called predecessors and followers of the organization-production school.
Keywords
Peasant studies, interdisciplinary studies, organization-production school, theory of peasant economy, populism; socialism, liberalism, rural development.
About the authors
Valery G. Vinogradsky, DSc (Philosophy), Senior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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Alexander V. Gordon, DSc (History), Head of the East and South-East Asia Branch, Institute of Scientific Information in Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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Igor A. Kuznetsov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher at the School of Public Policy Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, prospect Vernadskogo, 82.
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Alexander A. Kurakin, Senior Researcher at the Center for Agrarian Studies of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Higher School of Economics, 101100, Moscow, Myasnitskaya, 20.
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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; 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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Lyubov A. Ovchintseva, PhD (Economics), Senior Researcher, Department of Sustainable Rural Development and Rural Cooperation, Alexander Nikonov All-Russian Institute of Agrarian Issues and Informatics; 105064, Moscow, Bolshoi Kharitonievski Per., 21–1.
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Alexander V. Petrikov, DSc (Economics), Academician of RAS, Head of the Alexander Nikonov All-Russian Institute of Agrarian Issues and Informatics; 105064, Moscow, Bolshoi Kharitonievski Per., 21–1. In 2007–2016 — Deputy Minister of agriculture.
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Tatyana A. Savinova, PhD (Economics), Head of Organizational-Methodical and Personnel Work Chair, Russian State Archive of Economy; 119992, Moscow, B. Pirogovskaya St., 17.
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Teodor Shanin, Professor, President of the Moscow School of Social and Economics Sciences, chairman of the Advisory Board of the journal “Russian Peasant Studies”. 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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Chayanov A.V. To the Board of the State Institute of Agricultural Economy (Letter of A.V. Chayanov) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №1. P. 54-62.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-1-54-62
Annotation
This is a publication of an archival document—a letter of Alexander Vasilievich Chayanov (1888–1937) written in 1928 to the administration of the Research Institute of Agricultural Economy as a response to the criticism of his theory of peasant economy by an agrarian-Marxist and employee of the Institute Ivan Vermenichev. The letter reveals the circumstances of writing and publishing Chayanov’s article “The current state of agriculture and agricultural statistics in Russia”. This publication characterizes the atmosphere of ideological discussions and persecution of the non-communist scientific thought in the USSR in the late 1920s. The comments were prepared by I.А. Kuznetsov.
Keywords
History of economic thought, organization-production school, peasant studies, A.V. Chayanov, I.D. Vermenichev.
About the author
Alexander V. Chayanov
Igor A. Kuznetsov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher at the School of Public Policy Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, prospect Vernadskogo, 82. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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