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2024. Vol.9. №4.

“NEP crisis” in the northern village, or peasant “proletarianization” as a specific form of “de-peasantization” in non-agricultural regions in the interests of industrialization

Feb 10 2025

Troshina T. I., Morozova O. M. “NEP crisis” in the northern village, or peasant “proletarianization” as a specific form of “de-peasantization” in non-agricultural regions in the interests of industrialization // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №4. P. 122-143.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-4-122-143

Annotation

Issues of industrialization and collectivization in the northern regions of Soviet Russia have been well studied, with an emphasis on both positive and negative consequences. The article provides grounds for another discussion — of alternative forms of social, economic and political development of the country on the example of a particular territory. The authors focus on the role of the “NEP crises” in the final transition to the “forced industrialization”. There were two major crises — “crisis of sales” (1923– 1924) and “crisis of grain procurement” (1927–1928), which to a greater or lesser extent affected the transition to the planned economy. “Labor crisis” is less known: it broke out in the northern (forest) regions of the European North during the 1925/26 logging season and played a similar role in the industrialization of the Soviet timber industry. The essence of this “crisis” was the competition of logging organizations, which contributed to the peasants’ (loggers and rafters) refusal to conclude contracts, while waiting for more profitable offers. The semi-peasant economy of loggers allowed them to be quite independent from earnings in the forestry sector. Sabotage of loggers and refusal to fulfill already concluded agreements disrupted production plans and, thus, violating export obligations, especially of the “sluggish giants” (state trusts), and created prerequisites for the government measures for the planned organization of the workforce. The same applies to the “colonization” of the region, since the constant shortage of labor significantly increased the cost of export timber. There were increasingly more suggestions about regional specialization and, eventually, “proletarization” of the peasantry engaged in logging. These radical ideas under real problems took over rational economic managers’ minds. Negative results of the semi-state management in the resource territories during the NEP period led to the idea of five-year plans as the most promising and quickest way to solve all problems. Despite the persistent revolutionary enthusiasm with its ideas of freedom, practitioners agreed with the ideas of the 19thcentury entrepreneurs about forced labor. Sending administratively expelled peasants to settlements in forest areas and setting tough logging tasks for the local population, including collective farmers, were seen as the only way out of the crisis that is considered in the article as another “NEP crisis”.

Keywords

North European Russia, northern peasants, non-agricultural activities, “new economic policy”, industrialization, logging, labor shortage, forestry, forms of peasant protest, timber industry.

About the authors

Tatiana I. Troshina, DSc (History), Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Security, Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University; Department of Humanities, Northern State Medical University. 163 002, nab. Severnoy Dviny, 17,  Arkhangelsk.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
Olga M. Morozova, DSc (History), Professor, Department of Public Relations, Don State Technical University. 344000, Gagarina sq., 1, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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2017. Vol.2. № 4.

Symbiosis of agriculture and forestry on the early-developed periphery of the Non-Black Earth Region: The case of the Tarnogsky district of the Vologda Region

Feb 12 2018

Averkieva K.V. Symbiosis of agriculture and forestry on the early-developed periphery of the Non-Black Earth Region: The case of the Tarnogsky district of the Vologda Region // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2017. V.2. №4. P. 86-106.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2017-2-4-86-106

Annotation

The article considers the social-economic structure of the Tarnogsky district of the Vologda Region, which has a peripheral position in both European Russia and the region. Its specific features such as the low rate of population decline and the growth of the local economy that is not high compared to other Non-Black Earth regions do not correspond to the centre-periphery logic of the well-developed space adopted in social and economic sciences. There is a highly developed timber industry including manufacture of a wide range of complex products; eleven agricultural enterprises and creamery that increase production annually, which is a rarity in the peripheral Non-Black Earth region. Such success of the Tarnogsky district is determined by both reasonable regional policies in forestry and agriculture and by personal qualities of the residents, i.e. the social capital. The author argues that the long-term territorial isolation combined with a long history of economic development played an important role in the current situation. Perhaps, the development of stable and close social ties was influenced by the ‘cluster’ (or “nesting”) type of rural settlement, in which “bushes” of 10-15 villages are located in walking distance from each other and separated by forest areas.

Keywords

rural area, periphery, early-developed territory, agriculture, forestry, social capital

About the author

Averkieva Kseniya V., PhD (Geography), Senior Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119017, Staromonetny Per., 29.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.     

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Russian Peasant Studies. Scientific journal

Center for Agrarian studies of the Russian Presidental Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

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).

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