Potatoes for petrol: The effects of agricultural reform in a Russian village.

摘要

This dissertation examines the economic and social effects of post Soviet agricultural reform. Historical, national, and local aspects of Russian agriculture are used as a foundation for understanding how current reorganization of collective and state farms has developed. Relying on the opinions and experiences of rural Russians, the dissertation shows how historic problems persist and new problems abound. Lack of incentives, maintenance of unprofitable activities, the preservation of weak farms, and problems with the harvest and transportation of produce burdened Soviet agriculture and continue to affect productivity today. In addition there are unique problems that arose with the push toward a free market system and away from a command economy. The ills of a cashless village, the burden of debt and taxes, unsuccessful market channels, and a lack of wages have exacerbated the difficulties of agricultural productivity and village life. In addition, the social fabric of the collective farm has been torn. Village services such as education, medical care, a cultural club, and basic transportation have weakened and in some cases been eliminated all together as a result of the retraction of state support and the incomplete transfer of power to local authorities. My research, based on one year of fieldwork, finds that Russian peasants have not embraced individual farming the way privatization consultants, and indeed the world, had envisioned. Rather than risk everything on a system yet to be proven stable, rural Russians are choosing to remain in collective organizations. This is not a vote of no confidence for the market system, it is simply a reflection of the collective nature of Russian agriculture and the village itself. Until adequate economic and social supports exist for individual farming, peasants will try to maintain their collectivity. The development of civil society has yet to reach the countryside and may not for some time. Until then, the creation of a viable and sustainable village is necessary in order to ensure that someone is home to plow Russia's fields tomorrow.