Ural-Siberian method

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TheUral-Siberian method[1]was an extraordinary approach launched in theSoviet Unionfor the collection of grain from the countryside. It was introduced in theUralsandSiberia,hence the name.[2]The Ural-Siberian method was a return to the drastic policies that had characterizedWar Communismin the period prior toLenin’sNew Economic Policy.[3]

Criticized by theRight Oppositionfor being a restoration of extraordinary measures, it was nevertheless approved and eventually received legislative support in June 1929.[3]

History

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Between 1928 and 1929, various suggestions were put forth to increase the efficiency of grain procurement.[2]

The initial version of the Ural-Siberian method was first suggested by Uralobkomof theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union(CPSU), based on the actual practice used there in 1928. TheBolshevikPolitburoapproved the suggestion on March 20, 1929 and recommended its use in eastern regions of the Soviet Union. Siberianraikomsignificantly contributed to this approach (particularly, it suggestedpyatikratka,see below), and therefore at the April 1928 Plenum ofCentral CommitteeandCentral Control Committeeof the CPSU,Joseph Stalindubbed this method "Ural-Siberian".[2]

The approach resembled that of theKombeds(Poor Peasants Committees) of 1918 to 1919. The village assemblies endorsed the grain procurement plans for their villages and set up the commissions which assigned individual quotas according to the "class approach": it was supposed thatkulaks(rich peasants) would be forced to deliver their surplus grain. Kulaks who failed to meet their quotas were fined the amount up to five times the quota, the fine colloquially known aspyatikratka( "five-timer" ). Further refusal resulted in up to one year offorced labor camps,and in the case of group resistance, up to two years of confinement with confiscation of property and subsequent internal exile. This practice anticipated the policy of "dekulakization".[3]

Outcomes

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The Ural-Siberian Method fostered increasing unrest among peasants, with a corresponding intensification of repressive measures, both in the countryside against peasants, and in cities against private grain traders declaredprofiteers.1929 witnessed a significant increase of "mass disturbances" and "kulak terror". In November 1929OGPUreported 12,808 arrests oncounter-revolutionarycharges and 15,536 arrests on economic charges, with the bulk of arrests in major grain production regions: Siberia,Northern Caucasus,Ukraine,Central Black Earth Region,and the Urals.[3]

These drastic measures allowed Stalin to speak of "satisfactory procurement", with the backdrop of the 1927 crisis which resulted from theScissors Crisisof the mid 1920s.[4]Some researchers believe that this relative success convinced Stalin of the efficiency of a forced administrative approach to the peasantry, further developed in the policy of totalcollectivization in the USSR.This policy was declared an immediate priority at the November 1929 Plenum of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party.[3]

Historiography

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InSoviet historiography,it was claimed that the method was introduced upon the initiative of aZavyalovovillage[5]inNovosibirskokrug,and the termZavyalovo Methodwas in use for some time. On March 22, 1929 the newspaperSoviet Siberiainformed about the "Zavyalovo initiative" and called for spreading it to other places. It is suggested that this publication waspropagandacover-up of the March 20 decision of Politburo.[2]

In western historiography, different versions of the chronology of events have been published due to a lack of documentary sources.[2]In particular, some works say that the method was first introduced in Siberia, and only later in the Urals.[3]Additional information became available after thedissolution of the Soviet Union,which provided greater clarity regarding adoption of the Ural-Siberian method.

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^Russian:Урало-сибирский метод хлебозаготовок.
  2. ^abcde"The Ural-Siberian Method of Grain Procurement:In Search of an Optimal Variant",Humanitarian Sciences in Siberia(Гуманитарные науки в Сибири), 2006, no 2,pp. 20–26(in Russian)
  3. ^abcdef"The War Against the Peasantry, 1927–1930: The Tragedy of the Soviet Countryside", Volume one (Annals of Communism Series), 2005,ISBN0-300-10612-2,section "The Ural-Siberian Method and the Intensification of Repression", [pp. 119–123]
  4. ^Suny, Ronald Grigor.The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR and the Successor States.New York: Oxford, 1998.
  5. ^There were several of them in theokrug;the exact location was not indicated.

Further reading

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  • E.H. Carr,A History of Soviet Russia: Foundations of a Planned Economy, 1926–1929: Volume 2.London: Macmillan, 1971.
  • R.W. Davies,The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia: Volume 1: The Socialist Offensive: The Collecitivisation of Soviet Agriculture, 1929–1930.London: Macmillan, 1980.
  • J.R. Hughes, "The Irkutsk Affair: Stalin, Siberian Politics and the End,"Soviet Studies,vol. 41, no. 2 (April 1989), pp. 228–253.In JSTOR
  • James Hughes, "Capturing the Russian Peasantry: Stalinist Grain Procurement Policy and the" Ural-Siberian Method, "Slavic Review,vol. 53, no. 1 (Spring 1994), pp. 76–103.In JSTOR
  • James Hughes,Stalin, Siberia and the Crisis of the NEP.Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
  • Olga Narkiewicz, "Soviet Administration and the Grain Crisis of 1927–1928,"Soviet Studies,vol. 20, no. 4 (October 1968), pp. 235–245.
  • Yuzuru Taniuchi, "Decision-making on the Ural–Siberian Method," in Julian Cooper, Maureen Perrie, E.A. Rees (eds.),Soviet History, 1917–53: Essays in Honour of R. W. Davies.London: Macmillan, 1995; pp. 78–103.