Potemkina M.N., Kozhukhova E.L. “Garden beds near workshops”: Food self-sufficiency of metallurgical plants (1941–1945) // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2026. V.11. №1. P. 89-112.

EDN: GQSMPZ

Annotation

The article considers the interaction between industrial and agricultural sectors during the Great Patriotic War. The authors focus on the ways in which factories developed subsidiary farms, organized decentralized harvesting, individual and collective gardening, and identify reasons and prerequisites for this type of management, its mechanisms, and the impact of such practices on food supply of the population. On the example of the Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), a large defense enterprise, the authors consider the organizational measures taken by its management to ensure the sustainable development of agricultural units, evaluating the decisions made and the efficiency of cooperation with the agricultural sector. The authors argue that the government failed to solve the problem of food security before the war. The country’s leadership demanded a transition to food self-sufficiency, so industrial enterprises had to organize independent food production by creating subsidiary farms. The lack of management mechanisms for such activities often led to low efficiency of subsidiary farms unable to have a significant impact on solving the workers’ nutrition problems.

Keywords

Economic history of the USSR, industrial enterprises, labor supply departments, subsidiary farms of enterprises, state farms, the Urals, food supply, decentralized food sources.  

About the authors

Marina N. Potemkina, DSc (History), Professor, Department of World History, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University. Prosp. Lenina, 38, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, 455000, Russia; Leading Researcher, Center for Economic and Social History, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82, Moscow, 119571, Russia.
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Ekaterina L. Kozhukhova, PhD Student, Department of World History, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University. Prosp. Lenina, 38, Magnitogorsk, 455000, Russia.
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Andreenkov S.N. Reforms in the economies’ system and land use in the Novosibirsk Region in the 1990s // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2019. V.4. №4. P. 58-75.

DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2019-4-4-58-75

Annotation

The article considers the features of reorganization of agricultural enterprises and land use system in the Novosibirsk Region in the 1990s. This reform was the main direction of the agrarian transformations in the 1990s. The author identifies the logic and consequences of the collective and state farms transformation into various forms of commercial enterprises (joint-stock companies, cooperatives, peasant farms and their associations) and features of the land redistribution. At the first stage of the reform (1991), the collective and state farm system of the Novosibirsk Region did not change, new forms of farms and land use just started to develop, and the size of subsidiary plots significantly increased. At the second stage of the reform (1992–1993), the reorganization of collective and state farms accelerated, a network of large commercial enterprises developed, and the number of peasant farms increased. However, the new organizational-economic system met the market economy standards only formally. The new agricultural jointstock companies and cooperatives did not differ much from their predecessors—collective and state farms. Large farms remained the main supplier of agricultural products on the market although they worked in extremely unfavorable conditions. Nevertheless, the role of small economies represented by peasant farms also increased.

Keywords

land reform, collective farms, state farms, agriculture, land use, Novosibirsk Region

About the author

Sergey N. Andreenkov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher, Sector of Agrarian History, Institute of History, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 630090, Novosibirsk, Akademika Nikolaeva St., 8.
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