PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This article seeks to explore why the Soviet Union failed to achieve the two aims associated with the transition to "Socialist agriculture," namely the industrialization of agricultural production and a rapid increase in agricultural yields. In the 1930s, the party leadership under Stalin launched four large-scale campaigns for the implementation of these aims. These included land consolidation, the introduction of progressive crop rotation and the use of selected seeds. The paper describes what informal institutions acted to deter the agricultural producers and those officials with relevant responsibility in the Soviet party and state bureaucracy from introducing crop rotations, and why agricultural producers under Stalin lost interest in increasing per hectare yields. The study reveals the contradiction-ridden character of Stalin's agrarian policy and highlights its long-term consequences.