N. Zhukov A.

«RED DENMARK»: EXPERIENCE OF AGRARIAN MODERNI-ZATION IN THE SMOLENSK VILLAGE OF THE 1920S.

Authors

N. Zhukov A.

Keywords:

NEP, farmstead, «Danish» experiment, collectivization, agrarian trans-formation, modernization, Smolensk province

Abstract

The article considers the mechanism of agrarian transformation in the 1920s at the Smolensk region. In the 1920s, during the NEP, modernization processes were continued along the path of the Stolypin agrarian reform. The creation of farms, mass cooperation and withdrawal from the peasant community – all that could not be achieved «under P. A. Stolypin» was realized thanks to the huge desire of the peasant masses "from below" and the support of local authorities «from above». However, the economic impasse caused by the extensive development of agriculture in the mid-1920s raised the issue of searching for an optimal model for fur-ther agricultural transformation. In the Smolensk province, this was manifested in the choice of the «Danish» way of development – high-commodity farms, United in various types of agricultural cooperatives with a dairy-grass-flax bias, could provide a large number of export products, for which the Soviet government could receive muchneeded currency for the needs of industrialization. The accompanying enrichment of the peasantry, the fear of the economic NEP growing into a political NEP, eventually led to the collapse of the «Danish» experiment. The remnants of this model were eliminated during the political process – the «Smolensk abscess». Further development was forcibly directed along the socialist path of modernization with its inherent costs.

«RED DENMARK»: EXPERIENCE OF AGRARIAN MODERNI-ZATION IN THE SMOLENSK VILLAGE OF THE 1920S.