Subscribe to this RSS feed
2025. Vol.10. №2.

Pre-revolutionary official statistics of animal husbandry: The state of historiography and research prospects

Jul 27 2025

Afanasenkov V.O. Pre-revolutionary official statistics of animal husbandry: The state of historiography and research prospects // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №2. P. 63-82.

EDN: ALCYDM

Annotation

The article considers research approaches, hypotheses and assessments of the pre-revolutionary livestock statistics as presented in historiography. At the early stage, the expert community mainly believed in the low reliability of such data, although admitted its suitability for the study of livestock population dynamics and geographical distribution. The retrospective scientific analysis started with A. L. Vainshtein’s article (1960) comparing annual statistics with the 1916 agricultural census. Vainshtein proposed a method for adjusting annual data and upward corrections and questioned the comparability of the Veterinary Department statistics before and after 1896 and the consistency of data of the Central Statistical Committee and the Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The most recent stage of historiography was marked by the debate between “optimists” and “pessimists” in the 2000s. The most reasonable hypothesis was proposed by S. A. Nefedov — that the pre-revolutionary annual statistics fully accounted for adult livestock, while the 1916 census also counted young cattle. None of the historiographic research questions have been resolved, including the use of the livestock population data for identifying the volume of livestock production. The author suggests considering statistics as an element of the state system of governance.

Keywords

A. L. Vainshtein, agricultural census, agricultural history, Central Statistical Committee, provincial governors’ reports, Veterinary Department.

About the author

Vladislav O. Afanasenkov, Junior Researcher, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Vernadskogo Prosp., 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Full text

 

Additional Info

2017. Vol.2. №3

The organization-production school in 1917

Oct 05 2017

Savinova T.A. The organization-production school in 1917 // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №3. P. 57-75.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-3-57-75

Annotation

The article is based on new and well-known scientific sources on the work of economists of the school in the League of Agrarian Reforms and Main Land Committee of the Provisional Government aimed at developing the agrarian reform. The author identifies the milestones in the work of these organizations from their establishment to the liquidation. In the brief historiography based on the archive data, the author considers the participation of the school in the founding congress of the League and SLC, in the work of the Executive Committee and Council of the League, and in the second congress of the League and SLC held after the July events in Petrograd. The author studied the work of economists in the key commissions of the SLC on redistribution of the land fund. The statistical and economic reports of N.P. Makarov and A.N. Chelintsev were examined to identify their roles in the reforms. The author reveals the reasons to destroy the data of the all-Russian agricultural and land census, the causes of the incompleteness of the reform, and the fates of its organizations. Based on the new archive sources the author considers the structure, work and liquidation of the Department of Agricultural Economy and Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture headed by A.N. Chelintsev.

Keywords

history of the Russian revolution, agrarian reform, League of Agrarian Reforms, Main Land Committee, agricultural census, A.N. Chelintsev, A.V. Chayanov, N.P. Makarov, A.A. Rybnikov

About the author

Tatyana A. Savinova, PhD (Economics), Head of Organizational-Methodical and Personnel Work Chair, Russian State Archive of Economy; 119992, Moscow, B. Pirogovskaya St., 17.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Full text

 

Publisher and Indexing

Hard copies of the journal can be purchased at the Delo e-store or by subscription in the "Press of Russia" Agency (subscription index - Т81017).

Scientific life

Aims and scope

Russian Peasant Studies

Peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal in the field of theoretical and empirical peasant studies, rural sociology, economics and social geography. The journal publishes original works on the issues of socio-economic development of agricultural regions of Russia and the world, the history of the peasantry, including its formation and evolution, particularly from philosophical and cultural studies viewpoints. The journal aims at exploring the paths of Russian and international rural development and supporting cooperation of agrarian researchers representing different scientific disciplines. Read more>

Indexing

DOAJ logo

логотип ErihPlus

Sherpa Romeo

 

Russian Science Cigtation Index

Higher Attestation Comitte list of sources, Russian Ministry for Science and Education

 List of journals published in RANEPA

Friends and Partners

 

 

 

Repositories and white lists