Sergey Valerievich Sharapov,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Economy of the Collective Farm Yard on the Eve and during the Great Patriotic War (Based on the Materials of Western Siberia)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-2-9
The economy of the collective farmyard was subordinated to the task of joint survival of all, including disabled members of the peasant family. In accordance with it, functions were distributed within the farmstead and the optimal option of economic behavior was chosen. The article examines the importance of the collective farm as a basic element of the agrarian production system for family survival. In addition, the reverse influence of peasant behavior with its inherent special rationality on the state of the collective farm economy is investigated. The active participation of one or more family members in artisanal production depended on the degree of profitability of such labor inputs and the availability of alternatives (market trade, seasonal wage work, etc.). The state, increasing mobilization pressure on the eve and during the war years, followed the path of restricting alternative ways of earning an income and strengthening coercive measures. The latter made the peasants’ struggle for survival more difficult, and therefore they encountered various tactics to save labor costs (imitation of labor, poor quality and untimely performance of work). Despite the fact that the economy of most collective farms was in a deplorable state, it remained vital for the peasant family to maintain a connection with the collective farm. Even if this connection did not mean the desire to work with full dedication, and the family’s dependence on collective farm income alone threatened starvation. Belonging to a collective farm opened access to the use of personal subsidiary farms, as well as to integration into inter-family networks of mutual assistance that bound relatives and fellow villagers together. In addition, the weak state control over collective farm products and resources made it possible, albeit in violation of the law, to appropriate a part of them.
Publishing: 28/04/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 13/01/2025
How to cite: Sharapov S.V. Economy of the Collective Farm Yard on the Eve and during the Great Patriotic War (Based on the Materials of Western Siberia) // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 2 (40), pp. 118−131. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-2-09.pdf]
The article was carried out within the framework of the state assignment “Siberian Society as a Factor of Territorial Growth and Unity of Russia (Late 16th − Early 20th Centuries)” (FWZM-2024-0007).
Links: Issue 2 2025
Keywords: collective farm yard; peasant family; economic behavior; subsistence ethics; the Great Patriotic War