Anton Aleksandrovich Plyasulya,
State Archive of the Novosibirsk Region, Novosibirsk, Russia, e‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Political Departments of State Farms in Western Siberia in 1933–1934
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-4-6
In the article author reconstructs the history of the establishment and activities of the political departments of the state farms of Western Siberia in 1933–1934. Political departments combined political, administrative, punitive, economic, and cultural-educational functions. They were entrusted with a wide range of tasks, including control over the economic activities of state farms and ensuring the timely delivery of state farm products, placement of party cadres and organization of their training. A key point in the activities of the political departments of state farms was personnel cleansing of farms, and above all, of the leading personnel. Conflicts often arose between political subdivisions and trust management, since mass dismissal of directors and specialists of state farms had a negative effect on manageability of farms and their production results. By the beginning of 1934, the activity of many state farm political departments had shifted to the solution of economic problems and problems. Most chiefs of political departments were directly involved in the organization of the production process, duplicated and replaced the directors of state farms, not always adequately intervened in the economic and operational activities of the administration and specialists of the farms. This circumstance gave rise to conflicts between heads of political departments and directors of state farms. By the autumn of 1934, political departments had generally fulfilled their tasks: the socialist sector of the agrarian economy, including state farms, began to work more steadily, but at the same time, attempts of political departments to functionally replace the director’s corps had a negative impact on the development of state farms. At the end of 1934, the political departments of state farms lost their emergency nature and actually turned into expanded party committees.
Publishing: 28/08/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 26/04/2023
How to cite: Plyasulya А.А. Political Departments of State Farms in Western Siberia in 1933–1934 // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 4 (30), pp. 80–91. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-4-06.pdf]
Links: Issue 4 2023
Keywords: agrarian policy of the Soviet state; state farms; political departments; agriculture; Western Siberia