Vyacheslav Borisovich Laperdin,
Candidate of History Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Remuneration of MTS Workers in the West Siberian Region in the 1930s
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-1-18
Author analyzes the wage system of workers and employees of machine-tractor stations in 1930’s. It is shown that two different wage systems were preserved in MTS. One was for clerks and regular employees of the stations, the other was for workers. The wage system for full-time employees remained unchanged. But the wage system for workers was reorganized throughout the decade. The main part of machine operators remained by their social status collective farmers, and had a system of payment peculiar to this category of the population – in “labor days”. Already in the years of the first five-year plan, it became clear that mechanics could not be kept in MTS without improving their material standard of living. In 1932, government increased the cost of “labor days” for machine operators by introducing fixed rates. In 1933 the “weight” of a “labor day” was again increased and progressive wage system was introduced. However, high turnover of personnel persisted. By 1935 MTS staff included most qualified workers – foremen and combine harvesters. Following this, there was a need to enlist rank-and-file workers. But the state, seeking to save money, was unwilling to take such measures, shifting the responsibility for paying mechanics to collective farms. Desire of mechanics to join the staff of MTS was explained not so much by the desire to secure a privileged position in collective farm society. But rather the need to create a mechanism to protect their own labor rights, regularly violated by both the station management and collective farm management. Delays in payment of wages on the part of collective farms and numerous fines imposed by MTS directorate became ubiquitous phenomenon. Only in 1939 a half-hearted decision was made. “Mekhanizators” remained in collective farms, but monetary part of wages was taken by the state. Natural part, as before, continued to be paid by collective farms. Thus, not only rural youth had to adapt to the new social conditions of collective farm village, an integral part of which became the MTS. The ruling regime was forced to make certain concessions, improving the system of payment for station workers. The final decision to enroll mechanics in the staff of MTS was delayed and was implemented only in the postwar years, shortly before the liquidation of the system of machine and tractor stations.
Publishing: 28/02/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 22.10.2022
How to cite: Laperdin V.B. Remuneration of MTS Workers in the West Siberian Region in the 1930s // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 1 (27), pp. 220–229. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-1-18.pdf]
Links: Issue 1 2023
Keywords: machine and tractor stations; agrarian policy of the state; collective farms; Siberia