Consumption of Food by the Families of Collective Farmers in the Molotov region in the First Post-War Five Years (1946—1950)

Abstract

A quantitative and qualitative analysis of food consumption in the families of collective farmers in the Molotov and Sverdlovsk regions is provided in the article. The author used materials from the funds of two archives: the Russian State Archive of Economics (RSAE) and the State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region (SASR), some of which have never been published. The source base for writing this article was the materials of budget surveys of the population, which have a long history in our country. It is argued that the need for high-quality and properly structured nutrition is one of the basic needs of human existence. It is stated that the level of consumption of food products by the population of the Soviet Union in 1946—1950 was determined by the harsh post-war conditions. Attention is focused on the fact that a powerful decrease in the livestock component of the collective farm backyard, combined with a decrease in income from work on the collective farm, could not but affect the level of income and consumption of collective farm families, including nutrition. It is proved that in the studied period — the first post-war five years — the level of nutrition of collective farm families should be assessed as unsatisfactory.

Keywords

• collective farmers
• budget surveys
• molotov region
• food products