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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

History department

Department of National History and Archeology

Essay

On the history of Russia on the topic: Development of virgin lands

Samara 2011

Introduction

Chapter 1. Pre-reform period.

1 The state of agriculture in the USSR on the eve of the virgin epic

2 Development of a program for the development of virgin lands and fallow lands

Chapter 2. Development of virgin and fallow lands

1 Development of virgin lands

2 The importance of the development of virgin and fallow lands for the agricultural economy of the USSR

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The development of virgin and fallow lands is not a new problem for Soviet historiography. During the second half of the 50s - 70s. collections of documents, numerous articles and monographs were published.

In recent years, historians have almost completely lost interest in the study of the virgin epic, documents of a fundamental nature remained inaccessible until the mid-1990s.

The purpose of the report: to characterize the development of virgin and fallow lands for the economy of the USSR in 1954-1964.

Consider reforms in the economy after Stalin's death;

Analyze the program for the development of virgin lands and fallow lands;

To characterize the process of development of virgin lands and fallow lands;

Analyze the importance of developing virgin and fallow lands.

In this work, articles by V.N. Tomilin "Campaign for the development of virgin and fallow lands in 1954-1959" and I.E. Zelenin "Virgin epic: Development, adoption and implementation of the first Khrushchev's "Super Program" (September 1953 - early 60s)", thanks to which the progress of Khrushchev's reform in the development of virgin lands was most clearly shown. And the Soviet historiography is also clearly presented, thanks to which the problems that Khrushchev faced while carrying out his program were identified.

Also in the work of D.A. Vanyukov "Khrushchev's thaw" shows the economic situation in Russia after the death of Stalin.

Chapter 1. Pre-reform period

.1 The state of agriculture in the USSR on the eve of the virgin epic

The economic reforms that began after Stalin's death were forced and inevitable. Their parameters and main tasks were actually determined during the life of the "father of nations". The reforms did not affect the foundations of power and were determined, first of all, by external export: the need to withstand the economic and military confrontation with the West. By the beginning of the 50s. The country's agriculture was in the most difficult position. The Russian village was actually on the verge of starvation. The city still lived at the expense of the countryside, which remained the main source of income and labor resources for industry. At the turn of the 40-50s. the country harvested only slightly more than pre-revolutionary, despite the fact that the population grew by 1/4. For the period from 1948 to 1953. gross harvests and grain harvests, in essence, did not increase. In 1953, 31 million tons of grain were harvested, 32 million tons were consumed, i.e. state reserves were affected. The number of livestock at that time was lower than in 1913 or 1928.

The crisis of the collective farm-state farm village, its degradation was a direct result of the domination of the repressive-command system in the country, the lack of an adequate economic mechanism for managing, democratic foundations in the activities of collective farms and state farms. Harvested prices for agricultural products were many times lower than market prices.

After the February 1947 Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the collective farms were actually deprived of the right to decide not only how much, but also what to sow. Only after Stalin's death in August 1953, on the initiative of Malenkov and Khrushchev, was the first attempt made to bring agriculture out of a severe crisis. At the session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, it was proposed to increase capital investments in the countryside, to raise the purchase prices for meat, milk, wool and other agricultural products. The government “wrote off” all the arrears from private farms that had accumulated since the war years, halved the agricultural tax, and lowered the norms of mandatory natural deliveries. In September 1953, a set of measures was outlined to expand the independence of collective farms and state farms and to strengthen their economic interest in increasing production. The turn to economic methods of management was aimed at overcoming the inefficiency of the collective farm system, but did not affect its essence. In practice, economic methods were still replaced by command-administrative ones, and measures for material incentives for personal subsidiary plots.

1.2 Development of a program for the development of virgin lands and fallow lands

Khrushchev wanted to achieve a rapid rise in living standards. And so in 1954 he launched an "offensive" in the spirit of traditional Bolshevism with the aim of developing some 35 million hectares of virgin lands in northern Kazakhstan and southern Siberia for grain production. The company was headed by Brezhnev, Khrushchev's old protégé.

The grandiose program for the development of virgin and fallow lands in the East began to be developed and partially implemented immediately after the September (1953) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The initiator and main developer of it was N.S., tireless in his search. Khrushchev.

Khrushchev, who in September 1953 became the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, wanted immediate success. In January 1954, he sent a note to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU "Ways to solve the grain problem", which spoke of a critical discrepancy between grain production and growing demand for it.

The main provision of the note was included in the resolution of the February-March (1954) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On a further increase in grain production in the country and on the development of virgin and fallow lands". The proposed “super program” was at odds with the new course of agrarian policy approved by the September plenum, which did not talk about expanding the sown area at all, but set the task of world-wide development of grain farming by increasing productivity.

Serious opponents of the “super program” turned out to be, for various reasons, a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Minister of Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov and the leadership of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, headed by Zh. Shayakhmetov. The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, members of the bureau referred to the lack of specialists, the lack of transport routes for the export of bread and storage facilities for grain. They believed that the plowing of the steppes would deprive livestock of grazing.

Khrushchev ridiculed criticism of his proposal and stated in his memoirs: “Disputes broke out in the Presidium of the Central Committee of the party, doubts arose, especially among such conservative people as Molotov ... He did not understand agricultural production at all. At first, he did not object to the development of virgin lands, but he was already blowing “bubbles”: he endlessly put forward certain questions that seemed unpleasant to him and required clarification. And they all boiled down to one thing: too large a scale is taken, the matter has not yet matured, and perhaps, in general, it is erroneous, the costs do not justify themselves.

The transcript of the June (1957) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU gives an idea of the deep disagreements between Khrushchev and Molotov on the development of virgin lands (and in fact on a serious adjustment of the agrarian policy of the Soviet state). Molotov was accused of "anti-virgin" moods by the Minister of Agriculture of the USSR V.B. Matskevich, the Minister of Procurement of the USSR L.R. Korniets, Minister of State Farms of the USSR I.A. Benediktov, Minister of State Farms of the RSVSR T.A. Yurkin, Head of the Agricultural Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the RSFR V.P. Malarshchikov. “You forgot, Comrade Molotov, that meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, at which the issue of virgin lands was discussed,” said Benediktov, “You spoke and said that this event is very expensive, there is not enough money, it is unreasonable, inexpedient to invest in this business, and that this event is dubious. And then it was only about 13 million hectares.”

Chapter 2. Development of virgin and fallow lands

.1 Development of virgin lands

Enormous funds were required for the development of virgin and fallow lands: for the purchase of agricultural equipment, the construction of industrial facilities, housing, roads, etc. First of all, there was the question of agricultural machinery. It was impossible to immediately increase the production of tractors and other agricultural machines, all existing factories were already working at full capacity. A way out was found - to send the main part of the agricultural machinery produced in the country to the virgin lands.

February 1954 in front of young people going to the virgin lands. Lands suitable for agricultural use were located on the territory of Kazakhstan, Southern Siberia, the Urals, the Volga region and the North Caucasus. The greatest prospects were opened by the development of virgin territories of Kazakhstan, Siberia and the Urals. Khrushchev decided to organize the call of the first virgin lands with the help of the Komsomol. Khrushchev recalled: “Heads, engineers and agronomists of state farms and collective farms were mobilized to organize state farms and collective farms. They began to agitate experienced tractor drivers, compiled lists of people who had withdrawn the desire to go to the virgin lands. Khrushchev sent his assistant Shevchenko, who specialized in agricultural issues, to the virgin lands to clarify the situation.

In 1954, 120,000 arable tractors, 10,000 combine harvesters, a corresponding number of tractor plows, seeders, heavy disc harrows, cultivators and other agricultural implements were sent to the areas of development of virgin and fallow lands. In the first year of the "virgin storm" for the development of new lands, almost 88% of the arable tractors produced in the country and more than 25% of the combines were sent.

On the virgin lands of Kazakhstan by the spring of 1954. more than 120 state farms appeared. The virgin lands lived in canvas tents, worked in off-road conditions, in a sharply continental climate with its severe winter frosts and no less severe summer heat. They worked almost around the clock and all year round: the sowing and harvesting seasons alternated with intense construction work, there was little time left for rest. The first harvest strengthened the enthusiasm of the virgin lands, which was somewhat extinguished by unsettled life and harsh working conditions. In 1954, more than 40% of the gross grain harvest was obtained from virgin lands, the production of meat and milk increased significantly, which made it possible to somewhat improve the supply of food to the population.

At the same time, land development began in Kazakhstan, in the Urals, Altai and Krasnoyarsk territories, in Omsk, Novosibirsk, Saratov and Volgograd regions. The whole country participated in the implementation of the virgin lands development program. So, in 1954-1955. in the uninhabited regions of Kazakhstan, envoys from Ukraine staffed 54 grain state farms, Belarus - 22, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia - 2, Moscow - 46, Leningrad - 15, etc. And yet, it was not possible to finally solve the problem of cadres of mass professions, although about 1 million people left for the development of virgin lands. For the period of harvesting, additional labor had to be attracted. Total for the harvesting of virgin crops in 1956-1958. more than 3 million students, working soldiers of the Soviet army went. Youth brigades from Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria worked in the virgin farms of Kazakhstan. Hungary, Romania, Poland and China. Therefore, the cost of virgin bread turned out to be higher than in the central regions of the country.

The first harvest taken from the virgin lands proved the possibility of their use.

Young people from all over the country went to work in the virgin steppes on Komsomol vouchers. The pioneers showed colossal courage and will. Sometimes I had to work all day long. We slept in tents and ate right in the field. As in the years of the first five-year plans, during the development of virgin lands, the labor enthusiasm of the masses, the willingness of people to work for free and in difficult conditions, were actively exploited. For 1954-1957 36 million hectares were developed, which made it possible to double grain production. In 1960, 125.5 million tons were harvested in the USSR, of which 58.7 million tons came from virgin lands.

2.2 The importance of the development of virgin and fallow lands for the agricultural economy of the USSR

There is no doubt that the development of virgin lands played a huge role in replenishing the country's grain reserves. From 250 million poods per year, Kazakhstan quickly moved on to collecting one billion poods. In addition to harvests from the virgin lands of Kazakhstan, the all-Union harvest was now supplemented by fees from the virgin - fallow lands of Altai, the Urals and other regions of the RSFSR. Where previously there was only the steppe, large agricultural enterprises have grown, new settlements have arisen.

In the first decade of the virgin lands epic, in average annual terms, grain crops in the USSR as a whole increased by only 16.6 million hectares. More than half of all newly developed lands fell on Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan's virgin lands are a zone of risky farming, favorable years in terms of agriculture were replaced by lean ones. So, in 1954, 9.3 centners of grain were harvested per hectare, in 1955 - 2.8, in 1956 - 11.4, in 1957 - 4.3 centners.

For 1954-1958 Gross harvests of grain in the USSR averaged 110,313,000 tons per year, exceeding the corresponding figures for the previous five-year period (80,948,000 tons) by 1.4 times. At the same time, the contribution of farms in the areas of development of virgin and fallow lands increased, respectively, from 20,697 thousand tons to 45,176 thousand tons, or 2.2 times, and their share was 40%. This was a major success in the development of grain farming in the virgin regions.

In fact, the picture was not so optimistic. Firstly, the increase was not given by the virgin lands themselves. The areas of development of virgin and fallow lands are not only the Kazakh steppes, but also the Volga region, Western Siberia, the Urals, the North Caucasus, the Far East, where there were long-standing agricultural traditions. The increase in grain production in these areas was achieved, among other things, by increasing the yield on old arable lands. Noting the high share of virgin bread in the balance of the country, one should also take into account the fact that the newly created farms were mainly engaged in the production of grain. While the collective farms and state farms of the old-arable regions were engaged in multi-profile crop and livestock production, they allocated part of the crops for industrial and fodder crops. But at the same time, the future areas for the development of virgin lands in 1940 provided 33% of grain purchases in the country, and in 1950 - 35%. And the return of the virgin lands itself is not at all 40%.

Secondly, the problem of grain in the country was not removed. Consumer characteristics of virgin bread turned out to be very low. It was not very suitable for the production of higher grades of flour, export shipments, bookmarks in state reserves and seed reservations, and the production of high-grade bread products.

If we consider the areas of development of virgin and fallow lands in isolation from the rest of the agricultural regions of the USSR, then we can talk about certain successes. Material, technical and human resources diverted from traditional areas of agriculture went to the virgin lands. Only in 1954 - 1958. the state spent 30.7 billion rubles, or 31.6% of all funds allocated to the country's agriculture, for the development of virgin and fallow lands.

At the same time, in addition to the assault that accompanied the development of virgin lands and led to unnecessary material losses and even human casualties, an attempt to increase production by short-term emergency measures led agriculture to a dead end. The then Minister of Agriculture, I. A. Benediktov, subsequently assessed Khrushchev's initiative as follows: of course, it gave an obvious and quick effect, but in the long run it turned out to be a clearly erroneous decision. And the point is not only that the development of virgin lands went at the expense of the regions, which, on the contrary, had to be given increased attention - Ukraine and the Non-Chernozem zone of Russia. Much more pernicious was the "strategic turn" of agriculture towards extensive growth factors, while the shift to agricultural intensification was on the agenda. By the way, in all countries such a transition was accompanied by a reduction in sown areas. In other words, it was necessary to go "in depth", and we, chasing momentary successes, went "in breadth", along a deliberately false path, losing, without exaggeration, several agricultural five-year plans.

Gross grain harvest in the USSR before and after the development of virgin lands

virgin fallow land grain

On average, grain was harvested per year (thousand tons) In the USSR Incl. in areas of development of virgin lands in 1949-195380 94820 697in 1954-1958110 31345 176in 1959-1063124 69951 501

Share of whole regions in total grain purchases (in %)

1953 1958 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 The main areas for the development of virgin and fallow lands 35586245483755 USSR as a whole of them: RSFSR 27324031332632 Kazakhstan 8262214151123 Conclusion

A distinctive feature of that era is mass enthusiasm, especially among young people. Moreover, enthusiasm existed not only in slogans, appeals and marches, but also in the minds of real Soviet people. Socio-psychological conditions have developed in the country, when mass enthusiasm, supported by an interest in the speedy solution of social problems, as well as material incentives, could give a really long-term economic and political effect. With this in mind, the leaders of the country could turn social activity into a productive force. However, the desired was taken for real.

The development of virgin and fallow lands played an important role in the development of agriculture in Western and Eastern Siberia, but it did not justify the hope for a stable increase in grain yields. In some dry years, in some cellinic areas, even seeds were not collected. The virgin lands, of course, helped temporarily relieve the acuteness of the grain problem, saved the country's population from starvation, but delayed the transfer of domestic agriculture to an intensive path of development.

Bibliography

1.Vanyukov D.A. Khrushchev thaw. M., Mir knigi, 2007.

2.Emelyanov Yu.V. Khrushchev from shepherd to secretary of the Central Committee. M., Veche. 2005.

.I.E. Zelenin. Virgin epic: Development, adoption and implementation of the first Khrushchev's "Super Program" (September 1953 - early 60s) / / Domestic History. No. 3,4. 1998, pp. 109-121.

.Zubkova E.Yu. Power in the development of the ethno-conflict situation in the USSR. 1954-1958.// Domestic History-2004. No. 4. C. 3.

.Marlin Milia. Soviet tragedy the history of socialism in Russia 1917-1991. M., ROSSPEN.

.Sakharov A.N. History of Russia from ancient times to the present day. M., Prospekt, 2007.

.Tomilin. V.N. Campaign for the development of virgin and fallow lands in 1954-1959. // Questions of history. - 2009.- No. 9. S.85-86.

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The course towards the elimination of "unpromising" villages took place against the backdrop of investing huge amounts of money and efforts to develop the virgin and fallow lands of the Volga region, Southern Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Far East. The idea was correct, but the matter had to be carried out reasonably, gradually, without constant race and rush. The program was supposed to be long-term. However, everything was done in a hurry, everything turned into another campaign.

In 1954, the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted a resolution "On a further increase in grain production in the country and on the development of virgin and fallow lands." The State Planning Committee of the USSR planned to plow in Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Volga region, the Urals and other regions of the country at least 43 million hectares of virgin and fallow lands. As the second secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan Zh. Shayakhmetov recalled: “There was a discussion: to develop agriculture in an intensive or extensive way. The arguments for intensification were much more convincing, but the leadership of the country of the Soviets, represented by N. S. Khrushchev, preferred an extensive path of agricultural development.

Khrushchev and his like-minded people put forward the idea to quickly plow up the virgin fallow lands at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU in June 1953, but then they received a rebuff from both the party leadership and many agricultural scientists, especially T. D. Lysenko. However, in 1954, the Khrushchevites were able to take over.

The accelerated development of virgin lands gave rise to several troubles at once. On the one hand, the development of virgin lands began without any preliminary preparation, with a complete lack of infrastructure - roads, granaries, qualified personnel, not to mention housing and a repair base for equipment. The natural conditions of the steppes were not taken into account: sandstorms and dry winds were not taken into account, sparing methods of soil cultivation and varieties of grain adapted to this type of climate were not developed. Therefore, the development of virgin lands has turned into another campaign, supposedly capable of solving all food problems overnight. Hand-to-hand and assault flourished, confusion.

Huge amounts of money, resources and efforts were invested in this hasty and ill-conceived project. So, for 1954-1961. virgin lands absorbed 20% of all Soviet investments in agriculture. Because of this, the agrarian development of traditional Russian farming areas remained unchanged or even began to degrade. This money could have been put to better use. Thousands of specialists, volunteers and equipment were thrown to the "virgin front". According to Komsomol orders, young people were driven to the Kazakh steppes, technical specialists were sent, and entire graduates of teachers, doctors and agronomists were sent. They also sent young collective farmers from "unpromising" places. In fact, it was a mass deportation of Russians from their native lands, which at that time were deserted.

On the other hand, huge areas of developed land in a few years began to turn into a desert and salt marshes. An environmental problem has arisen. Again, a lot of money and effort had to be invested, now for rescue activities like forest plantations.

As V. Molotov later wrote: “Virgin lands began to be explored prematurely. It was, of course, nonsense. In this size - an adventure. From the very beginning, I was a supporter of the development of virgin lands on a limited scale, and not on such a huge scale that we were forced to invest huge amounts of money, incur colossal expenses, instead of raising what was already ready in the inhabited areas. But it is impossible otherwise. Here you have a million rubles, no more, so give them to virgin lands or already settled areas where there are opportunities? I proposed to invest this money in our Non-Black Earth region, and gradually raise the virgin lands. They scattered funds - a little bit of this, and that, but there is nowhere to store the bread, it rots, there are no roads, it is impossible to take it out. But Khrushchev found an idea and rushes like a savras without a bridle! This idea does not definitely solve anything, it can help, but to a limited extent. Be able to calculate, estimate, consult what people will say. No - come on, come on! He began to swing, bit off almost forty or forty-five million hectares of virgin land, but this is unbearable, absurd and unnecessary, and if there were fifteen or seventeen, it would probably be more useful. More sense."

The virgin lands were raised in just four years. This was stated in 1959 by Khrushchev, the main initiator and inspirer of the virgin fallow campaign. Khrushchev himself at the 21st Congress of the CPSU in 1959 stated that "thanks to the successful development of virgin lands, it became possible not only to significantly improve the food supply of cities and industrial centers, but also to set the task of surpassing the United States in terms of agricultural development." In total for 1954-1960. 41.8 million hectares of virgin lands and deposits were raised. In the virgin lands, only in the first two years, 425 grain state farms were created, agricultural giants were created later.

The first result of the development of virgin lands was a sharp increase in agricultural production: in 1954, the USSR collected 85.5 million tons of grain (including 27.1 million tons on virgin lands), and in 1960 already 125 million tons (including virgin soil - 58.7 million tons. Due to the extraordinary concentration of funds, people and equipment, as well as natural factors, new lands in the early years gave super-high yields, and from the mid-1950s - from half to a third of all grain produced in the USSR. However, the desired stability, despite efforts, was not achieved: in lean years, even the seed fund could not be collected on the virgin lands. As a result of the violation of the ecological balance and wind and chemical soil erosion, dust storms became a real disaster. Only in 1956-1958 from the virgin lands was " blown away "10 million hectares of arable land, in other words, the territory of Hungary or Portugal. The development of virgin lands has entered the stage of crisis, the efficiency of its cultivation has fallen by 65%.

In addition, by 1959, the sown area under grain and industrial crops in the Russian Non-Chernozem region, in the Central Black Earth region of the RSFSR and in the Middle Volga region was, on the whole, reduced by about half compared to 1953, including the sowing of traditional flax there - almost three times.

It should be noted that the problems of developing agriculture and ensuring the country's food security have always occupied an important place in the policy of the Soviet leadership and have become one of the main ones in economic policy in the postwar years. This was due to the severe consequences of the war. The damage that Hitler's hordes inflicted on the agriculture of the Soviet Union amounted to tens of billions of rubles. On the territory of the USSR occupied by the Nazis in previous years, it was produced (on a national scale): 55-60% of grain, including up to 75% of corn, almost 90% of sugar beet, 65% of sunflower, 45% of potatoes, 40% of meat products, 35% - dairy products. The Nazis destroyed or removed almost 200,000 tractors and combines, which amounted to about a third of the country's agricultural machinery fleet in 1940. The country has lost more than 25 million heads of livestock, as well as 40% of enterprises for the processing of agricultural products.

The situation was aggravated by the drought of 1946-1947. In addition, Moscow has refused enslaving foreign loans and imports of agricultural products for foreign currency, so as not to become dependent on the West. However, by refusing this channel of possible support for the economy, Moscow has complicated the restoration of agriculture. It is also worth considering that, despite internal problems, in 1945-1953. The USSR provided free food aid to East Germany, Austria, as well as China, Mongolia, North Korea and Vietnam.

In 1946, the Soviet leadership instructed agricultural and research organizations to develop proposals for ensuring a long-term reliable supply of agricultural products, increasing crop yields and livestock productivity, as well as material incentives for increasing labor productivity in agriculture in the USSR. An interdepartmental commission was established under the leadership of Academicians T. D. Lysenko and V. S. Nemchinov: it received the task of developing a long-term state agricultural policy. The commission lasted until 1954. According to the decisions of the March plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, her work was declared unsatisfactory. Apparently, because of the negative attitude towards the initiative of Khrushchev and the Khrushchevites for the speedy development of fallow and virgin lands.

An attempt to start a virgin campaign was made under Stalin. Some scientists - Khrushchev's future advisers - in 1949-1952. literally "bombarded" with letters not only Lysenko and Nemchinov, but also many members of the Politburo, lobbying for the extensive development of the country's agriculture. They proposed the rapid development of new lands by the old agrotechnical methods and through the massive use of chemical fertilizers and, accordingly, the redistribution of sown areas. That is, what was later carried out under Khrushchev. However, the interdepartmental commission led by academicians Lysenko and Nemchinov did a great job and submitted seven reports and recommendations to the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers, as well as personally to I.V. Stalin, which denied the extensive path of development of the agricultural sector.

Scientists predicted: “The plowing for wheat of about 40 million hectares of virgin fallow lands, radically different in their properties and required methods of processing from farmlands in other regions of the USSR, will lead to chronic degradation of these lands, to negative changes in the environmental situation in a vast region of the country and, accordingly , to a constant increase in the costs of maintaining the fertility of virgin soils.

They also noted that in the short term, 2-3 years, there will be a sharp increase in productivity. However, then, with the help of chemical means and an increase in the volume of artificial irrigation, it will be possible to achieve only the maintenance of the level of productivity, but not its further increase. Due to the peculiarities of the soil and climate in the virgin areas, the yield there will be two to three times lower than the yield in the traditional agricultural regions of Russia (Ukraine, Moldova, the North Caucasus, the Central Black Earth region, some regions of the Volga region). Artificial increase in productivity through chemicalization and irrigation will lead to irreparable pollution, salinization and acid waterlogging of soils, and, therefore, to the rapid spread of erosion, including on natural water bodies in the region with virgin lands. This trend will cause, in particular, the elimination of animal husbandry as an agricultural sector in the region from the Volga to Altai inclusive. In the first 5-6 years, the reserves of the fertile soil layer - humus - on virgin lands will decrease by 10-15%, and in the future this figure will be 25-35% compared to the "pre-virgin" period.

Soviet scientists wrote that for the artificial irrigation of new agricultural lands, many kilometers of diversions from the Volga, Urals, Irtysh, Ob and, possibly, from the Aral and Caspian seas (with the obligatory desalination of the water of these arteries) may be needed. Obviously, this can lead to negative, and moreover, chronic changes in the water management balance of many regions of the country and will sharply worsen the supply of water resources to agriculture, especially livestock, in most of the territory of the USSR. A decrease in the level of the Volga, the Urals and other waterways and reservoirs will adversely affect all sectors of the economy of the regions adjacent to virgin lands, especially forestry, fisheries, shipping and the electric power industry, and the environmental situation will worsen there.

If we continue the policy of increasing the grain yield on virgin lands in the conditions of degradation of virgin soils and growing water shortages, then, along with a constant increase in soil chemicalization, we will first have to completely reorient the lower and, in part, the middle reaches of the Irtysh, Volga, and Ural rivers. , Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Ob to northern Kazakhstan and adjacent areas. As a result, over time, the channels and course of these rivers will have to be completely changed. These and related measures will lead to a constant increase in the cost of agricultural production, which will deal a blow to the entire economy and finances of the USSR.

It is worth saying that the commission did not reject in principle the idea of developing the virgin and fallow lands of the USSR. But this required fundamentally new agrobiological and technical methods, including the development of breeding work, taking into account the specifics of the natural and climatic conditions of specific regions, and the specifics of the impact of chemical fertilizers on certain types of agricultural plants in specific regions of the USSR. No wonder Molotov noted the need to develop virgin lands on a limited scale.

The conclusions of the commission during the Khrushchev period remained in the USSR classified as "Secret" or "For official use" and were not available to the general public. Only during the confrontation of the USSR with China and Albania (entirely Khrushchev's fault) did they end up in Beijing and Tirana, where they were given a move.

Thus, back in the Stalin period, Soviet scientists fully predicted the negative factors of Khrushchev's virgin epic.

As predicted by the commission, in the first few years in the virgin lands and, therefore, in the country, the grain harvest increased significantly. But it was not the yield that increased, but the area under crops: the share of virgin lands in the sown areas of wheat in the USSR by 1958 amounted to 65%, and the share of these lands in the gross wheat harvest in the country almost reached 70%. At the same time, in the six years after 1953, the consumption of chemical fertilizers by agriculture, according to official data, more than doubled: virgin lands demanded a growing amount of "chemistry", which subsequently infects soils, grain, and water bodies, causing damage to animal husbandry.

In addition, under Khrushchev, the grass-field system of agriculture was first criticized and then even banned. Moreover, the authorities instructed to continue not to take care of the forest protection belts created under Stalin in 1948-1953. and made it possible to prevent desertification, salinization of soils, and a decrease in their natural fertility in many regions (for example, in Little Russia).

At the same time, investment in agriculture also increased. It was from the time of Khrushchev's rule that the agriculture of the USSR began to turn into a "black" hole, sucking in more and more funds. And the larger their volume, the faster their efficiency decreased.

Thus, the virgin epic was another strong blow to the Russian countryside and agriculture. Food abundance did not take place; the agricultural sector began to turn into a "black hole"; Russia-USSR began to sit down on food imports; there was a sharp outflow of the able-bodied, skilled and young population from the Russian countryside and a forced redistribution of material and technical resources in favor of new agricultural regions, which became one of the leading factors, along with the course towards the elimination of "unpromising" villages, which led to the degradation of agriculture in the central and the northern part of Russia (in the indigenous Russian lands).

In addition, after the collapse of the USSR, millions of Russians became hostages of Khrushchev's policies, having lost their great homeland. Many were forced to leave the cities and developed lands founded by their ancestors, fearing the nationalist policy of local authorities.

As V. Molotov later wrote: “Virgin lands began to be explored prematurely. It was, of course, nonsense. In this size - an adventure. From the very beginning, I was a supporter of the development of virgin lands on a limited scale, and not on such a huge scale that we were forced to invest huge amounts of money, incur colossal expenses, instead of raising what was already ready in the inhabited areas. But it is impossible otherwise. Here you have a million rubles, no more, so give them to virgin lands or already settled areas where there are opportunities? I proposed to invest this money in our Non-Black Earth region, and gradually raise the virgin lands. They scattered the funds - a little bit of this, and that, but there is nowhere to store the bread, it rots, there are no roads, it is impossible to take it out. But Khrushchev found an idea and rushes like a savras without a bridle! This idea does not definitely solve anything, it can help, but to a limited extent. Be able to calculate, estimate, consult what people will say. No - come on, come on! He began to swing, bit off almost forty or forty-five million hectares of virgin land, but this is unbearable, absurd and unnecessary, and if there were fifteen or seventeen, it would probably be more useful. More sense."

The first result of the development of virgin lands was a sharp increase in agricultural production: in 1954, the USSR collected 85.5 million tons of grain (including 27.1 million tons on virgin lands), and in 1960 already 125 million tons (including virgin soil - 58.7 million tons Due to the extraordinary concentration of funds, people and equipment, as well as natural factors, new lands in the early years gave super-high yields, and from the mid-1950s - from half to a third of all grain produced in the USSR. However, the desired stability, despite efforts, was not achieved: in lean years, even the seed fund could not be collected on the virgin lands. As a result of the violation of the ecological balance and wind and chemical soil erosion, dust storms became a real disaster. Only in 1956-1958 from the virgin lands was " blown away "10 million hectares of arable land, in other words, the territory of Hungary or Portugal. The development of virgin lands has entered the stage of crisis, the efficiency of its cultivation has fallen by 65%.

Scientists: “The plowing of about 40 million hectares of virgin fallow lands for wheat, which are radically different in their properties and required methods of cultivation from agricultural lands in other regions of the USSR, will lead to chronic degradation of these lands, to negative changes in the environmental situation in a vast region of the country and, accordingly, to a constant increase in the cost of maintaining the fertility of virgin soils.

Soviet scientists wrote that for the artificial irrigation of new agricultural lands, many kilometers of diversions from the Volga, Urals, Irtysh, Ob and, possibly, from the Aral and Caspian seas (with the obligatory desalination of the water of these arteries) may be needed. Obviously, this can lead to negative, and moreover, chronic changes in the water management balance of many regions of the country and will sharply worsen the supply of water resources to agriculture, especially livestock, in most of the territory of the USSR. A decrease in the level of the Volga, the Urals and other water arteries and reservoirs will adversely affect all sectors of the economy of the regions adjacent to virgin lands, especially forestry, fisheries, shipping and the electric power industry, and the environmental situation will worsen there.

Thus, back in the Stalin period, Soviet scientists fully predicted the negative factors of Khrushchev's virgin epic.

"To the whole land!"

In the spring of 1954, the mass development of virgin and fallow lands began in the USSR.

The word "virgin lands" says almost nothing to the current generation of Russians under 30 years old. Meanwhile, in the mid-1950s, among the youth of that time, it evoked a feeling of patriotic enthusiasm and enthusiasm, and hardly less than the word "cosmos". Still: Komsomol members and students in whole groups went to conquer the virgin lands, because here they saw not only the romance of youth, but also the opportunity to show themselves in a new business, to help their country and their people, no matter how loud it sounds these days (Fig. 1 ).

"Malenkov came - ate pancakes"

The era of large-scale development of virgin and fallow lands in the east of the USSR coincided in time with the beginning of the so-called "Khrushchev thaw". However, this warming in post-Stalinist society was difficult and slow, especially in such a conservative area as agriculture. As you know, after the death of Stalin, on March 6, 1953, the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was taken by the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov (Fig. 2),

and his short reign is considered by historians as the period of the first post-Stalinist reforms in the Soviet economy.

This was announced on August 5, 1953, when Malenkov made a report at a session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, where he put forward a program to soften the party's policy towards the peasantry. The people then recalled the time he was in power with the apt phrase: "Malenkov came - they ate pancakes." In general, the economic program proclaimed by Malenkov was aimed at increasing the people's well-being, reorienting industry to the production of consumer goods. With regard to agriculture, it provided for the cancellation of previous arrears in the tax in kind from the collective farms, a halving of the tax itself, permission to five times increase the size of the household plot, and a threefold increase in the purchase prices for wheat and rye. In connection with these reforms, in the mid-1950s, Soviet agriculture experienced an unprecedented upsurge, which, however, was interrupted three years later by Khrushchev's surge in the fight against personal plots and the growth of forced meat procurement.

It was Nikita Khrushchev, and not Malenkov at all, as many had previously assumed, who was elected on September 13, 1953 First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (Fig. 3).

On his initiative, in February-March 1954, a plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU was held, which "with a bang" adopted the famous resolution "On a further increase in grain production in the country and on the development of virgin and fallow lands." Such lands included vast steppe spaces not only in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, but also in the Volga region, Western Siberia and the Far East.

Here is what, in particular, was said in this resolution: “The Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU sets before ... the party, Soviet and agricultural bodies of Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Urals, the Volga region ... the most important state task - the expansion of grain crops in 1954-1955. by developing fallow and virgin lands for at least 13 million hectares and obtaining in 1955 from these lands 1100-1200 million poods of grain, including 800-900 million poods of marketable grain. And already at the beginning of March, the first trains with young virgin lands left Moscow in the direction of these endless steppes (Fig. 4).

Corn epic

Current experts believe that the Khrushchev leadership, seeing the country's desperate situation in terms of food security, tried to solve this problem not with new, but with the old Stalinist methods. Khrushchev and his entourage began to achieve an increase in grain production in the country not by increasing the productivity of peasants and economic incentives, but by an extensive method, by developing new land spaces in our vast country.

Now only a few remember that in the mid-1950s, the Kuibyshev region also went to the zone of virgin agriculture. The first echelon of our countrymen from the regional center to the virgin lands went on March 23, 1954. At the call of the Kuibyshev regional committee of the Komsomol, a total of 2040 volunteers were sent here, including to the Chkalovsky, Amur, Omsk and Kokchetav regions, as well as to the south of our region.

In 1954–1955 alone, over 115,000 hectares of virgin and fallow lands were raised in the Bolshegluchitsky and Bolshechernigov districts, on the basis of which several farms, former collective farms and state farms of the Soviet era, operate here to this day. The most famous of them is the Yuzhny state farm of the Bolshegluchitsky district, for the creation of which in the spring of 1954 more than 200 Komsomol members from different parts of the country arrived in this bare steppe, primarily, of course, from Kuibyshev (Fig. 5-9).

By autumn, several dozen residential buildings, an office, a canteen and a club had been erected on the central estate of the state farm. And in total, over the next three years, the young virgin lands of the Yuzhny mastered over 8 thousand hectares of previously unused land, on which up to 40 centners of wheat per hectare were grown in good years.

It was during the development of virgin lands that Khrushchev launched his famous campaign to grow corn, which was then called the "queen of the fields" in the press. In particular, in the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated April 15, 1954 “On the further development of state farms of the Ministry of State Farms of the USSR and increasing their profitability”, it was said in this regard: as a result, the proportion of corn in the crops is extremely insignificant, and the yield due to non-compliance with the basic requirements of agricultural technology in most state farms is at an unacceptably low level. Among the regions where it was ordered to increase corn crops in the first place, the Kuibyshev region was also named (Fig. 10-15).

At the same time, there were incidents when individual officials in their official zeal tried to plant this culture even where it was unacceptable due to climatic conditions. So, the "queen of the fields" did not justify in many farms of the southern, steppe part of our region, much to the dismay of the regional party leadership. The fact is that for the normal development of this plant, a significant amount of water is required, in which the arid Trans-Volga region has always experienced an acute shortage.

Oddly enough, Khrushchev declared that the main culprit of his miscalculations in the implementation of the “virgin epic” was ... Georgy Malenkov. At a meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU on January 25, 1955, he was credited with a "bias towards" revisionism ", and as a result, Malenkov was dismissed. Instead, Nikolai Bulganin became the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, who during the 1920s and 1950s held senior positions in various Soviet departments, including being Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, but he could not prove himself anywhere. As a result, two years later, Khrushchev had to replace Bulganin due to his complete incompetence in economic matters.

Nevertheless, Khrushchev continued to try to raise the country's agriculture by administrative methods. What is worth only one of his famous slogan: "We will catch up and overtake America in the production of meat and milk." However, it was impossible to achieve a 3-4-fold increase in production by the efforts of collective farms alone, and therefore the authorities decided to increase these figures by withdrawing food from the peasants' personal farms. And soon, voluntary-compulsory purchases of livestock from peasants began in the country. Dairy cattle were sent to farms, the rest to slaughter. In this regard, in 1959, meat production in the USSR increased by a third, but two years later it fell noticeably, since the basis of animal husbandry was undermined (Fig. 16).

In those same years, a struggle began in the countryside with personal plots, which began to be sharply reduced, and in some places even taken away. At the same time, the authorities explained that peasants who had a large farmstead simply could not work well on the collective farm. The collective farm tax was also increased. But soon all these measures led to the opposite effect. In 1962, due to a reduction in agricultural production in the country, the authorities had to raise prices for meat and dairy products, which caused a new wave of popular indignation. As you know, in Novocherkassk, Rostov Region, this discontent resulted in a mass demonstration of workers, which was suppressed by military force.

Winston Churchill joke

Now only the old-timers remember that in the early 60s in many regions there were shortages of bread, which forced the Soviet government in 1962, for the first time in the history of the country, to buy grain abroad. This also affected the trading network of the Kuibyshev region. It was then, unexpectedly for everyone, that the most ordinary foodstuffs suddenly began to disappear from the sale. Sugar, butter, milk, sausage, children's semolina and even white bread fell into the deficit category. In connection with this situation, some Kuibyshev residents, inspired by the debunking of the Stalinist cult of personality, began to write complaints to the party and Soviet bodies. Some of the authors of such letters became so bold that they directly blamed Khrushchev personally for the food crisis.

Party bodies immediately reacted to the "signals" of citizens - however, in a very peculiar way: they began to send letters to ... state security agencies, which initiated criminal cases under Art. 70 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda). The authors of the messages were usually accused of "spreading slanderous fabrications against the leaders of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet government and their policies, slandering the position of workers in the USSR." In total, during 1963-1964, over a dozen people were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment by the Kuibyshev Regional Court under Article 70 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and with similar charges.

It is not known what would have happened next if Khrushchev had not been dismissed at the extraordinary plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, held almost 45 years ago - on October 12, 1964. And the result of his agrarian policy was aptly summed up by the joke of Winston Churchill: “If earlier I thought that I would die of old age, now I know that I will die of laughter. Bringing Russia to grain imports is brilliant!” In our country, the joke was even shorter: "Khrushchev sowed bread in the virgin lands, and harvested it in Canada."

Political and environmental costs

Now we can already say that in that memorable campaign for the mass development of virgin and fallow lands in the USSR in the 1950s and 1960s, there were much more negatives than positives. Unfortunately, in our country, this was discussed in full voice only many years after those events. Here's what it says on Wikipedia.

“The development of virgin lands has turned into another campaign, supposedly capable of solving all food problems overnight. Hand-to-hand and assault flourished: here and there confusion and all sorts of inconsistencies arose. The course towards the development of virgin and fallow lands preserved the extensive path of development of agriculture.

Huge resources were focused on the implementation of this project: in 1954-1961 virgin lands absorbed 20% of all Soviet investments in agriculture. Because of this, the agrarian development of traditional Russian farming areas remained unchanged and, as a result, stalled for many years. All tractors and combines produced in the country were sent to the virgin lands, students were mobilized for the summer holidays, and machine operators were sent on seasonal business trips.

The development of virgin lands proceeded at an accelerated pace. If in two years it was planned to plow 13 million hectares, then in reality 33 million hectares were plowed. During 1954-1960, 41.8 million hectares of virgin lands and deposits were raised. In the virgin lands, only in the first two years, 425 grain state farms were created, agricultural giants were created later.

Thanks to the extraordinary concentration of funds and people, as well as natural factors, the new lands during the first years gave super-high yields, and from the mid-1950s - from half to a third of all grain produced in the USSR. However, despite efforts, the desired stability was not achieved. In lean years, even the seed fund could not be collected in the virgin lands. As a result of the violation of the ecological balance and large-scale soil erosion in 1962-1963, dust storms became a real disaster. Already in the mid-60s, the development of virgin lands entered the stage of crisis, the efficiency of its cultivation fell by 65%.

From the memoirs of N.S. Khrushchev (1970):

“When we had already plowed a large number of hectares of virgin land, terrible dust storms occurred in Kazakhstan. Clouds of earth rose into the air, the soil was weathered. If the economy in the steppe conditions is carried out culturally, then long-known means of erosion control, tested in practice, are used, including the planting of protective strips from tree plantations: a difficult and expensive business, but justified. There are also certain agricultural practices. People have to reckon with natural processes and adapt to them, opposing their fiction to wild nature.

From the memoirs of V.M. Molotov (1977):

“Virgin lands began to be explored prematurely. It was, of course, nonsense. In this size - an adventure. From the very beginning, I was a supporter of the development of virgin lands on a limited scale, and not on such a huge scale that we were forced to invest huge amounts of money, incur colossal expenses, instead of raising what was already ready in the inhabited areas. But it is impossible otherwise. Here you have a million rubles, no more, so give them to virgin lands or already settled areas where there are opportunities? I proposed to invest this money in our Non-Black Earth region, and gradually raise the virgin lands. They scattered the funds - a little bit of this, and that, but there is nowhere to store the bread, it rots, there are no roads, it is impossible to take it out. But Khrushchev found an idea and rushes like a savras without a bridle! This idea does not definitely solve anything, it can help, but to a limited extent. Be able to calculate, estimate, consult what people will say. No - come on, come on! He began to swing, bit off almost forty or forty-five million hectares of virgin land, but this is unbearable, absurd and unnecessary, and if there were fifteen or seventeen, it would probably be more useful. More sense "(Fig. 17, 18, 19).

By the way, there is a version (so far, however, not confirmed by official declassified documents) that, as part of the development of virgin lands, the KGB of the USSR also simultaneously carried out a “cover operation” during the construction of a huge missile test site in Kazakhstan (now the Baikonur cosmodrome). The disguise was needed in order to mislead the Western intelligence services. After all, it is clear that when transporting such a large number of goods and people from the European part of the USSR to Kazakhstan, it was easy to hide in these streams both echelons with building materials and parts of the construction troops, which were just at that time heading to the area where the cosmodrome was being built.

The most important stage in the history of the development of the USSR was the post-war years, in which it was necessary to re-raise the country, which suffered enormous losses during the Second World War. One of the stages of the restoration of the national economy was the development of virgin lands. What did it represent and what was its significance for the countries of the Soviet Union?

The meaning of the word "virgin"

First you need to understand what is virginity? Virgin lands are lands untouched by man. They have not been plowed up for centuries, and natural vegetation grows on them. That is, these are lands that are in their natural conditions, not used by people for agriculture.

In Soviet times, virgin lands acquired great importance for the country. It was a chance to save the Soviet Union from starvation and feed the people. Untouched virgin soil is the land that could help in this noble cause. And she generously provided her resource to a person, and people with enthusiasm and selflessness began to work for the good of the Motherland.

Exploration of the whole land. How it was

In 1954, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, N. S. Khrushchev, sent a note to the Presidium with a proposal to develop virgin lands in southern Siberia and northern Kazakhstan. The note said that an agrarian crisis had matured in the country, and the amount of grain produced did not meet the needs of the population. At that time, the proposal was unexpected, since the main focus was on increasing the productivity of existing land, and not on the development of new areas. There was an opinion that this could hit the livestock sector, limiting the possibility of grazing.

Despite the controversy and debate on this issue, it was nevertheless decided to proceed with the development of virgin lands. In 1954, about 88% of arable tractors produced in the USSR, as well as almost 25% of combines, were sent to new lands.

The human resource, which took on this difficult mission, worked in the most difficult conditions. People lived in the middle of the field in canvas tents, worked almost without rest, in a sharply continental climate with harsh winters and hot summers.

Land development simultaneously began in the Urals, in the Volgograd, Omsk, Saratov, Novosibirsk regions, as well as in the Krasnoyarsk and Altai territories. The first harvest that the virgin lands gave was more than 40% of the gross grain harvest, which was evidence of the expediency of the policy pursued, and the production of milk and meat was also increased.

controversial issues

Of course, there were many controversial issues in the topic of developing new lands. There is an opinion that it was possible to feed the country after the war without such methods. Instead, it was easier to restore agriculture in the Ukraine, Kuban, Chernozem, i.e., in more familiar regions. It would be cheaper and more efficient.

However, there are arguments that speak in favor of the development of virgin lands. To use the existing lands, it was necessary to invest a lot of resources - for fertilizer, melioration. In those days, a bet was made on the natural fertility of the new lands, especially since the main reserve - people - went with great enthusiasm to solve a grandiose national project, which helped to rally the people and achieve their goals.

Importance of virgin lands development

As a result of the development of virgin lands, about 42 million hectares of new land were introduced into economic circulation in six years. In the eastern part of the country, a new granary appeared, which began to produce high quality food grain in sufficient quantities.

Virgin soil is the resource that allowed to produce more than 3.5 billion tons of grain over the next fifty years. This figure eloquently indicates that the project for the development of new lands has given a positive result, and the efforts were not in vain.

The project at one time was so large-scale that even such a popular expression appeared as “to raise virgin soil”. Phraseologism, the meaning of which is as follows: "achieving significant success in a new business" - began to characterize not only the events developing in Soviet times, but also any new undertakings that bring good luck.

The uplifting of virgin lands is a feat of the Soviet people, who spared no effort and time for this large-scale event. Only thanks to the colossal efforts of the working people, it was possible to achieve those indicators that we can be proud of.