Figure 1.--Incredably, Soviet agriculture was much more prpductive before the Revilution. Stalin's collectivization desimated Soviet agriculture and enbtailed the grusome mirder of millions of pesant farmers while fellow traverls in the West were gushing about happy peasants and workers. Stalin's one concession to Soviet orthodoxy was allowing farm workers a small garden plot. Dacha owmers were also allowed gardens. Incredably while the garden plots were only 3 percent od tital agricultural land, they produced a huge portion of not frits and vegetables, but also eggs, poultry, and pork and all withiut any state support and investmhent. Here we see what looks like a hog being raised atba dacha. The snapshot is undated, but dealer suggested the 1930s. .
Stalin after brutally collectivizing agriculture and murdering many of the best farmers in the country, many in Ukraine, faced a serious problen. Rather than improving efficency and increasing agricultural harvests, efficency and harvests plummeted. Stalin was sure that tractors and collective ownership would result in huge bountiful harvests. Russia and Ukraine had once been the breadbasket of Europe. Huge grain harvests once enabled exports to Europe. Under Communism and Stalin, however, the Soviet Union not only ceased exporting grain to Eurooe, but experienced domestic food shoratages becuse of the declining harvests resulting from collectibization. One tiny concession to Soviet collctive farmers was what became called garden plots. Soviet aparatcheks debated the size of the garden plots. Of course Stalin would decide. One hustorian stmapthetic to Stalin and the Sovirt ecperience, putting a humanitarian spin on Stalin's agricultural policy tell us, "After he had listened to everyone else, comrade Stalin then expressed his own opinion. 'You are all progressive people that are gathered here,' he said, 'and it’s very good that you think more of working on the kolkhoz land than on your own plots. But you must not forget that the majority of kolkhozniks want to plant an orchard, cultivate a vegetable garden, or keep bees. The kolkhozniks want to live a decent life, and for that this 0.12 hectares is not enough. We need to allocate a quarter to half a hectare, and even as much as one hectare in some districts." [Fitzpatrick, p. 122.] It was not just collective farm workers allowed garden plots. There were also many dachas. Most Soviert officials had dacaha, including Stalin. But it was not just poerful officials. Lower level apparatchiks had dachaas as well as government workers, scientists, authors, artists and many others had dachas. And dacha oeners were aloowed garden plots. The idea behind household plot was primarily cultivated for subsistence and provide the family with food. Stalin permitted surplus production to be sold to neighbors, relatives, and often in farmer markets that came to be an imprtant element in the Soviet food ststem. The garden plot was the one single form of private farming permitted during the Soviet era. The tital area of the fardennplots were an increasably small portion of the area fat,med in the Soviet Union, yet produced a huge prtion of the fruits and vegtables. But it was not just fruits and vegetables. It was also subatantial quanties of eggs, poultry, and hogs. One source reports that "The hand-cultivated garden plots—occupying 3 percent of the Soviet Union’s farmland and receiving little or no government assistance—produced 18 percent of all crops and 29 percent of livestock products in 1989." [Buchot] This of course is all based on Soviet data. The actual profuctibity of the garden plot farmers may have been even larger. Any one assessing the data could not nut ask, why not privatize agriculture and unleasing the energy and producibity pf pribate individuals. Itvwas, however, never seriously considered by Sovirt og=ffucuals, but it cut at the heart of Doviet orthodovt and the legitimacy of Markist ideology. Chinese Communist officals did shift to market reforms which is why Communist China not ionly still exisrs and us a superpower and the Sivier Uniin in Markist terms has been confined to the ash can of history.
Soitces
Buchot, Emmnanuel. "Economy of USSR : Agriculture".
Fitzpatrick, Sheila. Stalin’s Peasants (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
