Kim Chang Jin. Lost Paradise: The phenomenon of ‘Soviet Korean Advanced Kolkhozes’ in Central Asia (Part 1) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №2. P. 109-138.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-2-109-138

Annotation

In the history of Soviet kolkhoz (collective-farm) research, the ‘advanced kolkhoz (millionaire) phenomenon’ remains almost unexplored, although it was a notable social-economic phenomenon. Members of the Korean advanced kolkhozes in Central Asia, which operated from the late 1930s to the 1980s, at first adapted to the kolkhoz system through hard work, but later became very active in creating social-cultural institutions within the kolkhoz system for common benefit (not only ethnic Koreans but also natives). Regionally, the overwhelming majority of Korean advanced kolkhozes, including the legendary ‘Polar Star’ and ‘Politotdel’, were active in Uzbekistan, followed by Kazakhstan. Perhaps, Korean advanced kolkhozes in Central Asia reached the peak of the Soviet-style socialist agricultural development in the 1960s — 1970s. These wellto-do Korean kolkhozes in Central Asia developed a strong social infrastructure in their community as a basis for the contemporary living culture. Local common assets were formed from their own abundant undivided funds, consumption and cultural funds. However, what is more important is that Korean kolkhozes-millionaires not only built an excellent material and technical foundation in the village based on their high economic performance, but also created harmonious multiethnic communities while enjoying various social benefits similar to city life.

Keywords

Soviet Korean advanced kolkhoz, Central Asia, community-wealth building, competent dedicated leader, efficient labor organization, kolkhoz garden city, multiethnic community.

About the author

Kim Chang Jin, Dsc (Political Science), Professor, SungKongHoe University. 320 Yeon Dongro, Guro Gu, Seoul, Korea; Visiting Researcher, Institute of Asian Studies, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 71 Al-Farabi Avenue, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
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The article was submitted on 05.04.2024.

Timkin Yu. N. “Face of the village”: Activities of the Vyatka Provincial Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to revitalize rural and volost organizations in 1924–1926 // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №2. P. 89-108.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-2-89-108

Annotation

The author considers the litsom k derevne (‘turning to the village’) policy implemented by the ruling party in 1924–1926. The article is based on the materials of the Central State Archive of the Kirov Region and on the principles of historicism, objectivity and historical institutionalism. The author focuses on the activities of the commission for work in the village of the Vyatka Provincial Committee and its practical measures to create a non-party activist group, attract peasants and strengthen the lower Soviet level. The study of the peasant everyday life in one volost of the province, in particular of the communist peasants’ farms, showed that many members of rural and volost party organizations were not much different from the so-called “well-off village elite” and were closely connected with it. By joining the ruling party, young active peasants got a good chance to improve their social status and make a career. The provincial committee aimed at encouraging poor peasants, hired farm workers, peasants who served in the Red Army, Komsomol members and activists of delegate women’s meetings to join the party by promoting them to various paid positions in the Soviet and party apparatus and cooperation. The author argues that the litsom k derevne policy allowed the party elite to organize the rural poor and farm workers, thus, creating “rural proletariat”, splitting the village, and “making” a “class” of kulaks as its main enemy in the village.

Keywords

Vyatka Province, provincial committee, commission, volost organizations of the RCP(B), communists, peasants, poor people, kulaks.

About the author

Timkin Yuri N., PhD (History), Associate Professor, Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Vyatka State University. Moskovskaya St., 36, Kirov, 610000, Russia.
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The article was submitted on 09.01.2024.

Nikolaeva A. A. “Village Languishing in Ignorance...”: Woman’s fate in the lyrics of S. A. Esenin during the World War I // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №2. P. 79-88.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-2-79-88

Annotation

As its witness and participant, S. A. Esenin responded to the World War I with works written in 1914–1915. As the “singer of the village”, the poet sincerely worried about peasants who were close to him and went to the front. Most of Esenin’s works about the World War I reflect the village life and changes in the usual peasant way of life, especially the unfortunate fate of the peasant woman, to whom the poems “The Patterns” () and “The Mother’s Prayer” () are dedicated. Esenin shows the bride’s grief and tells the story of the lonely mother commemorating her breadwinner son. Other works inspired by war events also present female images: in the little poem “Rus” (1914), Esenin describes militia, departure of men, women waiting for and receiving news from the front and faith in victory as moments in the life of peasant women inseparable from village realities. When repeatedly describing the sendoff of men from villages, Esenin not only emphasizes the crying of women anticipating troubles but also mentions outdoor festivities of recruits with playful girls, referring to his personal experience (“Through the Village by the Crooked Path...”, 1914). However, the main result of war for the poet is the death of soldiers; therefore, the images of peasant women in his works of the World War I are associated mainly with tears, suffering and commemoration.

Keywords

S. A. Esenin, World War I, village, motives, “Rus”, “The Mother’s Prayer”, “The Patterns”, “Through the Village by the Curved Road...”.

About the author

Alla A. Nikolaeva, PhD (Philology), Senior Researcher, Scientific Seсretary of the Esenin Group, А. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Povarskaya St., 25а, bldg. 1, Moscow, 121069, Russia.
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The article was submitted on 19.02.2024.

Ivanov A. A., Chemakin A. A. “Revolutionary revolt” of the Black-Hundred peasantry: The 1914 unrest in Podolia // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №2. P. 61-78.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-2-61-78

Annotation

The article considers the peasant riot that spread to several villages of the Podolsk Province in the spring of 1914. Those events were special, because the “troublemakers” were monarchist peasants influenced by the Black-Hundred Pochaev Union of the Russian People led by the Archimandrite Vitaly (Maksimenko). The fact that the peasant strike, protests against the zemstvo and other “revolutionary” manifestations were the result of the right-wing political agitation attracted special attention of local and central authorities. Based on the documents of Russian and Ukrainian archives and pre-revolutionary periodicals, the authors reconstruct in detail the peasant unrest in Podolia, its causes and consequences, focusing on the reaction of the provincial authorities, government bodies and special services, their attitude to the awakening peasant political activity. The authors argue that these issues, despite being particular cases, are vivid illustrations of complex relationship between the authorities and the Black Hundreds and allow to understand representations and moods of the peasantry in Right-Bank Ukraine, which joined en masse the Union of the Russian People in the early 20th century. This episode from the history of the peasant movement in the Podolsk Province explains why the former Black-Hundred peasants began to join the left-wing radical political movements and Ukrainian rebel groups during the 1917 Revolution and civil war.

Keywords

Russian Empire, peasant unrest, Right-Bank Ukraine, Podolia, Pochaev Union of the Russian People, Black Hundreds, Vitaly (Maksimenko).

About the authors

Andrey A. Ivanov, DSc (History), Professor, Institute of History, Saint Petersburg State University. Universitetskaya Nab., 7–9, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russia.
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Anton A. Chemakin, PhD (History), Senior Lecturer, Institute of History, Saint Petersburg State University. Universitetskaya Nab., 7–9, Saint Petersburg, 199034, Russia.
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The article was submitted on 23.01.2024.

Goryushkina N. E. Peasants’ exercise of the rights to alcohol trade in excise Russia (1863–1894) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №2. P. 39-60.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-2-39-60

Annotation

The author considers the peasants’ rights to open or close pubs under the excise system in Russia. Such an analysis is important for understanding the communal legal consciousness, peasant perception of the alcohol trade and consumption, external and internal factors of peasant behavior at communal gatherings, and the government reasons for refusing free alcohol trade in the 1890s. Rural peasant community was considered by the government as a stronghold of national stability, sobriety and order; therefore, it was given the right to authorize or prohibit the sale of alcohol in villages. In fact, moral principles did not prevail in the communal perception of alcohol trade. Most decisions of peasant gatherings had no moral basis, and a permission to open a pub was usually based on the wine merchant’s bribe. Despite legislative prohibitions, peasant gatherings accepted backsheesh in alcohol, money or their combination. In the excise period, the number of pubs remained high, there was a monopolization trend, and drunkenness was a serious social problem. The author argues that all attempts to make peasants guardians of the state interest in alcohol trade were unsuccessful. The ease with which peasant votes were bought, omnipotence of rural authorities, and peasant dependence on the wine merchant forced the government to involve provincial and district authorities in the public control of alcohol trade. However, the result did not meet expectations; thereby, the government banned free alcohol trade and introduced wine monopoly.

Keywords

Peasants, excise reform, (free) alcohol trade, pub, peasant gathering and its decisions, sobriety.

About the author

Natalya E. Goryushkina, DSc (History), Head of the Department of History and SocialCultural Services, Southwestern State University. 50 years of October St., 94, 305040, Kursk, Russia.
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The article was submitted on 06.12.2023.

Belykh A. A. What was the price of the Pushkin family estate Mikhailovskoe? // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №2. P. 20-38.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-2-20-38

Annotation

The article considers the history of financial relationships between A. S. Pushkin and his relatives about their family estate Mikhailovskoe, which has not been studied by Pushkinists, historians or economists despite its importance for understanding the economic life of both Pushkin and Russian nobility in the mid and late 19th century. Mikhailovskoe belonged to Pushkin’s mother, Nadezhda Osipovna. After her death in 1836, according to the law, Pushkin’s father, Sergey Lvovich received its seventh share, Pushkin’s sister Olga — its fourteenth share, while the rest was divided equally between brothers — Alexander and Lev. Pushkin’s father refused his share in favor of his daughter. The real division of the estate with 80 male serfs was complicated and economically meaningless, unlike financial settlement. Pushkin suggested to buy out Mikhailovskoe for 40 thousand rubles (500 rubles per serf). N. I. Pavlishchev, Olga’s husband, wanted to receive more money, insisting that the estate was twice more expensive. Later he reduced the price, but Pushkin did not have enough money, and it was the second half of 1936, when the events that led to Pushkin’s tragic duel were already unfolding. In February 1837, Pushkin’s widow, Natalia Nikolaevna, asked the Tsar for permission to buy out Mikhailovskoe for her children. The сustody of Pushkin’s children was appointed, and, after lengthy negotiations, in 1841 Mikhailovskoe was bought out. The heirs — Lev, Olga and Natalia Nikolaevna — received money for their shares based on the estate’s price of 34 thousand rubles. Owners of the estate with equal shares were Pushkin’s children — Maria, Alexander, Grigory and Natalia. In 1856, Pushkin’s sons bought out their sisters’ shares. In 1870, Grigory became the sole owner of Mikhailovskoe. In 1899, the estate was bought out by the Treasury for 144,600 rubles; however, this was mainly the price of forest rather than serfs.

Keywords

A. S. Pushkin, Mikhailovskoe estate, Pushkin family, evaluation methods, price of estate, custody of Pushkin’s children, G. A. Pushkin, buy out estate.

About the author

Andrei A. Belykh, DSc (Economics), Deputy Head of the Centre of Applied History, Institute of Social Sciences, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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The article was submitted on 01.02.2024.

Kornienko N. V. Fire-resistant construction of the “governorameliorator Platonov” (based on the materials from the State Archive of the Voronezh Region) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №1. P. 54-74.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-1-54-74

Annotation

The article considers one of the constant issues of Platonov’s works related to his participation in the fire-resistant construction in his native province. This fact from the Voronezh period of Platonov’s life (when he was a provincial ameliorator) was not mentioned in other chronicles and comments. Thus, the materials from the funds of the State Archive of the Voronezh Region are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time and present a story of the fire-resistant construction in the province, when the governor-ameliorator Platonov was forced to take care of such matters in 1925. This important part of Platonov’s business correspondence in 1925 provides new documentary material for commenting on the biographies of Platonov’s favorite characters (from Ethereal Tract to Aphrodite) and presents another page in the life of the future classic of the Russian literature, to which he returned more than once in his memoirs and work.

Keywords

Platonov, biography, Voronezh Province, fire-resistant construction, reclamation sub-department, correspondence.

About the author

Kornienko Natalia V., PhD (Philology), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Chief Researcher, A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Povarskaya St., 25a, Moscow, 121069.
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The article was submitted on 20.10.2023.

Egorov A. K. Peasant unrest in the North-West of Russia in the summer of 1831 // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №1. P. 39-53.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-1-39-53

Annotation

The article considers the peasant unrest in the North-West of Russia during the cholera epidemic. In the summer of 1831, after the mass outflow of workers from Saint Petersburg due to the cholera riots, a wave of peasant protests swept through Saint Petersburg and Olonets provinces: local residents attacked doctors and government officials, accusing them of abusing power and of poisoning the people under the pretext of fighting the epidemic. Such peasant revolts caused serious concern to the authorities that paid special attention to the population behavior during the epidemic. The distinctive feature of the peasant unrest was a gradual shift of its epicenter to the east along waterways — rivers and canals of the Mariinsky system. Peasant revolts were caused by a combination of factors that had both a nationwide nature and local specifics. The first important factor was rumors of poisoning that spread throughout the Mariinsky water system and its surroundings from Saint Petersburg due to its cholera riots. The second important factor were waterways that allowed people and rumors to travel relatively quickly over long distances. The third important factor was social distrust to authorities, doctors and anti-epidemic measures. The peasant unrest was a part of Russia’s cholera riots in the summer of 1831.

Keywords

Peasant unrest, epidemic, cholera, rumors, poisoning, panic, violence, communication, communication lines.

About the author

Egorov Alexander K., PhD (History), Associate Professor, Petrozavodsk State University. Lenin St., 33, Petrozavodsk, 185910; Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History, Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pushkinskaya St.,11, Petrozavodsk, 185910.
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The article was submitted on 11.12.2023.

Agapov M. G. From the “North of Russia” to the “Russian North”: Intellectual appropriation of the northern territories of the European part of Russia in the mid-18th — first half of the 19th centuries // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2024. V.9. №1. P. 23-38.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2024-9-1-23-38

Annotation

The normativity of the “Russian North” concept seems self-evident; however, it was introduced only in the mid-19th century and became an integral part of political discourse and everyday language only at the turn of the 19th — 20th centuries. The concept of “Russian North” had been developed in the works of Russian scientists, public figures and officials from the mid-18th to the first half of the 19th centuries, when the cultural construction of the territory implied connections based on both facts and fiction; thus, “Siberia”, “Caucasus”, “Russian North” and other “regions” became analytical categories. They were the result of a diverse set of intellectual operations (observation, description, comparison, systematization, differentiation, etc.) carried out by government officials, scientists and travelers, poets and philosophers. The cultural construction of the northern imperial periphery was inseparable from the cultural construction of the center, since observers from the center could hardly describe the main features of the periphery without simultaneously identifying their starting position. In the second half of the 18th century, the discourse about the Northern territory became a part of the Russian imperial cameralism with its special distribution of territories and their peoples according to the “scale of comparative civilization” (L. Wolff). In the second half of the 19th century, the Russification discourse became dominant, aiming at the radical reassembly of the imperial society as a single nation-state body. Thus, the “North of Russia” was reconsidered as the “Russian North”, which provided new grounds for the symbolic appropriation of the northern peoples’ territories.

Keywords

Northern Territory, Russian North, cameralism, imperial diversity, arable farming, Old-Believers, geography of power, Russification.

About the author

Agapov Mikhail G., DSc (History), Leading Researcher, Center of Urban Studies, Tyumen State University. Volodarskogo St., Tyumen, 6625003.
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The article was submitted on 18.12.2023.

Khorasani Zadeh H. The rise of the peasant land ownership as a driver of social-spatial differentiation in contemporary rural Veneto and French Flanders // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2023. V.8. №4. P. 83-101.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2023-8-4-83-101

Annotation

The growth of peasant ownership in peasant societies is usually associated with a reduction in social hierarchies due to the improvement of social-economic conditions, decline of large-scale land ownership and development of small-scale agriculture. When qualifying such assertions, scholars have proved that the peasant ownership’s impact on the evolution of agriculture and social differentiation are highly variable depending on the social-historical contexts. The article aims at contributing to this debate by showing how the rise of peasant ownership may lead to contradictory dynamics in terms of social-spatial differentiation due to the so-called differentiated ‘relationship with land and kinship’ or ‘reproduction patterns’ of peasant families. To test this hypothesis, the paper examines two European rural areas located in Northern France and Veneto, focusing on the evolution of land ownership, tenancy, kinship and social-professional features in a sample of municipalities in these two areas from the mid-19th century to the end of the 20th century. In addition to the analysis of aggregated data at the municipal level, the author also considers the evolution of smaller areas in each municipality under study with the qualitative approach based on the ‘biography’ of some properties and holdings, individuals and families. The research relies on both public sources (population census, property cadasters, agrarian surveys, etc.) and private archives.

Keywords

Ownership, tenancy, agricultural holdings, kinship, family, space, social reproduction, mapping, industrialization.

About the author

Khorasani Zadeh Hessam, PhD (History), Postdoc Fellow, University of Lille. Cité Scientifique Campus, TVES Laboratory, Paul Langevin Avenue, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
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