“This ʻqueenʼ, bluntly speaking, will bring us to beggary...” On the issue of the corn campaign of the thaw period of 1953–1964

Abstract

Background. In modern Russia, the problem of food security, the availability of high-quality food products for all categories of citizens, as well as the possibility of deve-loping the agricultural sector of the economy to ensure the export of most agricultural crops to the world market has not been completely solved. Food is a renewable resource, unlike some other goods exported by the Russian Federation. On the other hand, the development of agricultural production with the creation of jobs allows solving the problem of rural la-bor resources, preserving rural areas as such, and making the structure of society in the vil-lage-city ratio more balanced. The purpose of the study is to analyze the measures of the secular state during the thaw of 1953–1964 to solve the fodder problem of animal husband-ry by increasing corn crops. The author sought an objective analysis of the causes and con-sequences of one of the most striking programs of the Khrushchev transformations, which had, among other things, the consequences of forming the image of a political leader in Soviet society. Materials and methods. The validity and objectivity of the research results is ensured by comparing the data and conclusions of a number of Russian historians, as well as by analyzing the archival sources published and put into scientific circulation, contained in the Russian State Archive of Economics, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the State Archive of Socio-Political History of the Kirov Region, the Russian State Archive of Modern History. The most attention is paid to statistical data, reports and directives of So-viet and party bodies, on the basis of which economic decisions were made, letters from peasants to the authorities, the perception of events in the regions. A brief description of the role of the political leader of the USSR in the events is also given. The methodology of the article is based on the use of a comparative method that allows you to compare the changes that have occurred. The source base of the article is published and unpublished materials: statistical data contained in published collections, including the results of the agricultural census. The author sought to proceed from a systematic approach that allows to characterize specific measures of agrarian policy based on the general situation in the coun-try. Results. The measures of the ongoing corn campaign as a way to solve the food prob-lem were studied mainly on the materials of the Volga-Vyatka economic region, which included 5 subjects of the RSFSR: 2 regions and 3 autonomous republics, similar in natural and climatic characteristics. Specific historical information is analyzed, revealing the rea-sons, goals and results of the activities carried out in the whole country and in individual regions. Conclusions. Based on a critical understanding of diverse sources and historio-graphy data, the conclusion is made about the ineffectiveness of the campaign in terms of its contribution to solving the food problem. At the same time, the conduct of this campaign is being questioned solely due to a subjective factor – the will of N.S. Khrushchev.

Keywords

• thaw
• agrarian reforms
• agriculture
• food problem
• corn campaign