What led to the development of virgin lands. The beginning of the development of virgin lands

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.

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. Khrushchev, tireless in his search.

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 the grain economy by increasing productivity.

For various reasons, the 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, turned out to be serious opponents of the “super program”. 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 Agriculture USSR V. B. Matskevich, 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 RSFSR 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.”

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 22, 1954 in front of young people leaving for 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 combines, a corresponding number of tractor plows, seeders, heavy disc harrows, cultivators and other agricultural implements. 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.

By the spring of 1954, more than 120 state farms had appeared on the virgin lands of Kazakhstan. The pioneers lived in canvas tents, worked in off-road conditions, 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 were interspersed with intense construction work There was little time 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 were harvested from virgin lands.

Significance of 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, 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 virgin lands development areas provided 33% of grain purchases in the country back in 1940, and 35% in 1950. 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. He was unsuitable for work higher grades flour, shipments for export, bookmarks in state reserves and seed reservations, 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. Far more pernicious was the "strategic turn" of agriculture towards extensive factors growth, 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

Specific gravity virgin regions in total grain purchases (in %)

	1953	1958	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964
The main areas for the development of virgin and fallow lands	35	58	62	45	48	37	55
USSR as a whole of them:
RSFSR	27	32	40	31	33	26	32
Kazakhstan	8	26	22	14	15	11	23

Kazakhstan

The development of virgin lands is a set of measures to eliminate the backlog of agriculture and increase grain production in the USSR in 1954-1960, by introducing vast land resources into circulation in Kazakhstan, the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East.

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.

The development of virgin and fallow lands in 1954 began mainly with the creation of state farms. The development of virgin lands began without any pre-training, with a complete lack of infrastructure - roads, granaries, qualified personnel, not to mention housing and a repair base for equipment. natural conditions steppes were not taken into account: sandstorms and dry winds were not taken into account, sparing methods of soil cultivation and varieties adapted to this type of climate were not developed

cereals.

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: 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 and stalled. 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 supposed to plow 13 million hectares, then in reality 33 million hectares were plowed. 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.

Thanks to the extraordinary concentration of funds and people, as well as natural factors, the 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, despite efforts, the desired stability 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 soil erosion in 1962-1963. Dust storms have become a real disaster. Development of virgin lands

entered the stage of crisis, the efficiency of its cultivation fell by 65%.

From 1954 to 1955, 18 million hectares of land were raised in Kazakhstan. Huge quantities of agricultural machinery, machinery and equipment were brought to the republic; local enterprises for the production of spare parts also rose. The communication network of Kazakhstan was also improving; housing construction proceeded at a rapid pace, new buildings were quickly erected, entire cities appeared almost in the bare steppe. Agriculture in 1953 - 1958 grew at a gigantic rate: the sown area expanded from 9.7 to 28.7

million hectares, the gross grain harvest from 332 million to 1,343 million poods. The ranks of the virgin lands were replenished with more and more new settlers: in March 1954, 250 thousand young Komsomol members arrived in Kazakhstan, as well as 23 thousand people from the ranks of the former soldiers of the Soviet Army.

Such a grandiose project as the development of several million hectares of wild land could not disappear without a trace in history. The echoes of those years still influence our lives. For Kazakhstan it had great importance: as positive, as negative. Firstly, thanks to the pulling of all the forces of the country into the republic, new factories and plants appeared in Kazakhstan. New universities and colleges specialized in agriculture were opened. across the republic

railway lines, automobile lines were stretched, a communication system was being established. But at the same time, the widespread plowing of areas for agricultural land has caused irreversible unforeseen consequences. Perhaps the biggest negative point, which crosses out with a bold cross all the advantages of the new policy and all the ingenious merits of the economists of that period, is erosion. Huge crop areas were literally swept away by winds quite typical for

Northern Kazakhstan. In a short time, most of the fertile layer was blown away by the wind. All work on the development of virgin lands was lost. The original nomadic economy of the Kazakhs, which had developed over the centuries, was also violated - large territories suitable for pasture. Nature has been irreparably damaged.

In total, over the years of developing virgin lands in Kazakhstan, more than 597.5 million tons of grain were produced.

After the end of the campaign, about six million Russians and Ukrainians from the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR remained in the Kazakh SSR. However, their number began to decrease after the collapse of the USSR and the acquisition of statehood by Kazakhstan - hundreds of thousands of Slavs rushed back to their homeland. In 2000, 100 thousand people emigrated from Kazakhstan to Russia, in 2001 - 80 thousand, in 2002 - 70 thousand, in 2003 - 62 thousand, in 2004 - 64 thousand people.

The virgin epic changed the appearance of a number of territories of the RSFSR bordering with Kazakhstan. In particular, in 1963 the Ust-Uisky district of the Kurgan region was renamed Tselinny, and the village. Novo-Kocherdyk in the village. Virgin. During the development of virgin lands, more than 1.5 thousand young people from Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, and Moscow regions arrived in the Ust-Uysky district.

About 4,000 virgin lands were awarded orders and medals, among them 5 Heroes of Socialist Labor.

Today, thoughts about the virgin epic evoke ambivalent feelings.

On the one hand, it was a feat of the people, captured by enthusiasm. The Komsomol for the development of virgin and fallow lands was awarded the Order of Lenin!

Alas, it is now becoming clearer that Khrushchev's virgin lands turned out to be the first major and successful sabotage against socialism and undermined the prospects for sustainable, systemically and socially balanced development of Soviet agriculture.

This is briefly discussed below, but I hope it's enough to give you some thought...

The 19th Party Congress was the last congress, in the preparation and work of which Stalin took part. And even a cursory acquaintance with the Directives of the 19th Congress convinces of their powerful potential and the scale of quite real ideas. However, from the standpoint today The most interesting and surprising thing about these Directives was that they did not contain a word about the notorious "development of virgin and fallow lands", which began to be trumpeted from the spring of 1954.

Speaking at the congress, Kazakh secretary Shayakhmetov, speaking about "huge success" noted only "insufficient attention of the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR to the development of animal husbandry in Kazakhstan."

In the Directives themselves, in the section on agriculture, it was said about Kazakhstan only what needs to be provided there "creation of high-yielding hayfields and pastures through the use of local irrigation and the use of artesian waters in order to gradually reduce long-distance cattle drives."

There was no talk of any "Tselina"! And this was quite understandable: objectively, the country had no time for virgin lands, especially in Kazakhstan.

During the war, the Germans burned and destroyed 70 thousand Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian villages and villages, ruined and plundered 98 thousand collective farms, 1876 state farms, while even in areas that were not occupied, the material and technical base of agriculture was severely undermined by the war.

And all this had to be restored - in the RSFSR, in the Ukrainian SSR, in the BSSR, which was provided for by the Directives.

The directives for any post-war five-year plan for the development of the Soviet economy are a ten times thought out and calculated document. They learned to plan based on the real possibilities and needs of the country in the USSR of the late Stalin, and they planned well, and the plans themselves were tense precisely because they included intensive indicators without latent reserves ...

In other words, if in 1955-59 the introduction of the virgin lands of Kazakhstan into circulation was not provided for by the plan, then it should not have been.

And suddenly, almost immediately after the assassination of Stalin and the liquidation of Beria, like a devil from a box, this strangely hasty project appears in the life of the USSR.

Upside down

In September 1953, the next Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU was convened. He introduces the post of first secretary of the Central Committee, to which Khrushchev is elected. And already on September 7, 1953, the same Plenum adopted a resolution “On measures further development Agriculture of the USSR”, where its crisis state is stated.

This assessment was to a large extent true, but a reasonable way out was to sharply increase the financing of the village in order to raise collective and state farms in the Russian Non-Black Earth Region and create a modern agricultural base in the European part of the USSR, primarily in the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus. There were huge growth reserves here, and the political effect would have been very relevant and strong - after all, it was these regions that suffered the most from the war.

However, at the end of February and the beginning of March 1954, another plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU was convened, mainly on agricultural issues. On February 23, Khrushchev makes a report, and on March 2, 1954, a resolution of the Plenum "On a further increase in grain production and on the development of virgin and fallow lands" is issued. The areas of new grain production are Western and Eastern Siberia, the Far East, the Urals, the North Caucasus, but, above all, the Kazakh SSR.

(In parentheses, I will inform you that in the same March, namely, on March 13, 1954, for some reason, on the 13th, the USSR State Security Committee was formed, which by the end of the 80s, in my opinion, was one from essential tools destruction of the USSR)

In 1954, the lands of the Kiev region, Smolensk region, Poltava region, Kharkov region, Oryol region, Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod, Sumy and many other regions of Russia and Ukraine, not to mention the lands of Belarus, still bore the terrible marks of the war. In addition to statistics, one can recall the deeply realistic rural essays by the outstanding Soviet writer Valentin Ovechkin - they accurately describe the situation of the post-war village and its problems. A worn-out fleet of cars, a shortage of workers, obviously insufficient construction ...

And now, all that equipment, all the forces and personnel that were so lacking for the agriculture of the European part of the Union, were poured in a wave ... far away, into the windswept desert steppe!

In 1954, Voroshilov came to the Smolensk region. He was amazed at what he saw there, and at the same time, in his hearts, he threw out the phrase that here at least appoint Karl Marx as the chairman of the collective farm, and he will not be able to do anything. But at the same time, Voroshilov also doubted whether distant Kazakhstan with an undeveloped infrastructure should be made the center of efforts - wouldn't it be better to revive the same Smolensk region?

Molotov and Malenkov asked the same questions, but it was already too late. Having betrayed Beria and handed over the country to Khrushchev and the Khrushchevites (among whom there were obviously Western agents of influence), Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich, Voroshilov themselves were increasingly deprived of the right to vote and the opportunity to influence the situation ...

In 1954-1955, 40 large machine and tractor stations (MTS) were created in virgin lands development areas, where 120,000 tractors (in 15-horsepower terms) and 23,000 combines were sent. 425 new state farms received 136,000 tractors (in terms of 15 horsepower) and 55,000 combines.

On November 6, 1951, L.P. Beria, in his report at the solemn meeting of the Moscow City Council, reported: “Agriculture annually receives a large amount of latest machines. V current year it will receive 137,000 tractors converted to 15-horsepower, 54,000 grain harvesters, of which 29,000 are self-propelled, as well as two million other agricultural machines and implements.

Comparing the "virgin" figures with the figures for the all-Union production of agricultural machinery, one can understand that the "virgin" adjustments of the Directives of the XIX Congress actually blew up these Directives! To hell flew carefully weighed plans ...

In the 6th volume of Brezhnev's "History of the Socialist Economy of the USSR" it is said that in 1953 "was prepared(state, - S.K.) a little more than 31 million tons of grain, and more than 32 million tons were used, which forced the use of state reserves in part.

But everything was in real time, not so catastrophic! In general, already in 1950, the USSR produced 81.2 million tons of grain, and even in 1945 - 47.3 million tons (in 1940 - 95.6 million tons, while in 1941, if not for the war, the collection would obviously exceed 100 million tons, without any virgin soil).

The reasonable line was clear - to accelerate the traditional areas of grain production with an all-round increase in productivity there (which, in fact, was provided for by Stalin's Directives for the five-year plan). Instead, since 1954, 350 thousand young men and women, having received a ticket from the Komsomol committee, left for the "development of virgin lands" and sang: "We, friends, are going to distant lands, we will become new settlers, and you and I ...".

In 1954-1955, 33 million hectares of new land were plowed across the USSR, 18 million of them in Kazakhstan.

Stupidity or sabotage?

The first harvest on the lands that had never known a plow before was the richest, only most of it rotted in virgin ravines, because the grain receiving points were not ready to process such an amount, and the insufficiently developed infrastructure of previously deserted places did not allow to take out the grain.

In 1954, Kazakhstan produced 250 million poods (4 million tons) of grain, 150 million poods (2.4 million tons) more than before. An increase that the traditional areas of grain production could well have given if the Khrushchevites had not “ripped off” them in favor of virgin lands. At the same time, the first Kazakhstani harvest, as already mentioned, to a large extent simply rotted along the ravines.

1955 was a lean year in the virgin lands. And only in 1956 Kazakhstan "gave the country the first Kazakh billion poods of bread", that is, 16 million tons. At the same time, in two years, the sown area was increased to 27 million hectares.

Simple arithmetic shows that the average yield in Kazakhstan was "awful" - about 6 centners per hectare.

The directives of the congress provided for an increase in productivity in North-Eastern Kazakhstan to 15-16 centners and on irrigated lands to 24-26 centners, but, firstly, by 1959, and, secondly (and this is the most significant) - by fundamentally smaller acreage!

The Russian and Ukrainian villages did not receive the vital necessities, but huge funds continued to be invested in the "virgin lands". Instead of restoring the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian villages that suffered, devastated by the war and occupation, the construction of virgin villages began in the middle of nowhere! New highways and railways were built in Kazakhstan and Siberia...

Such an unexpected, previously unplanned redistribution of all-Union funds hit the Russian village especially hard. And today we can confidently assert that the anti-people and asocial policy of Brezhnevism in relation to "unpromising villages" had its origins precisely in the "virgin epic" of Khrushchevism.

Here are the figures for the gross grain harvest in the USSR by years: 1950 - 81.2 million tons; 1951 - 78.7 million tons; 1952 - 92.2 million tons; 1953 - 82.5 million tons; 1954 - 85.6 million tons; 1955 - 103.7 million tons; 1956 - 125 million tons; 1957 - 102 million tons; 1958 - 134.7 million tons; 1959 - 119.5 million tons; 1960 - 125.5 million tons

And here are the yield figures in centners per hectare: 1949 - 6.9; 1950 - 7.9; 1951 - 7.4; 1952 - 8.6; 1953 - 7.8; 1954 - 7.7; 1955 - 8.4; 1956 - 9.9; 1957 - 8.4; 1958 - 11.1; 195 -; 1959 - 10.4.

As you can see, in general, the planned target of the Directives to increase grain production was fulfilled: instead of 81.5 million tons in 1950, 119.5 million tons were produced in 1959, that is, almost one and a half times more.

However, all the outlines of the Directives on productivity were frustrated. And this means that the growth in grain production was ensured not due to intensive development, as envisaged by the Stalinist plan, but due to Khrushchev's extensive development.

Stalin's plan was to lay a solid foundation for a new powerful upsurge in the countryside.

Khrushchev’s “development” doomed Soviet agriculture to permanent vegetation, which was the case in reality in the 60s and later. But wasn't the "virgin" "epopee" for which the Komsomol received the Order of Lenin, became one of the reasons for the catastrophic failure of the USSR in the field of agriculture?

Yes, then the Soviet people were proud of the virgin lands, and at the level of the masses, its development bordered on a feat - it was a movement of real enthusiasts. But after decades, it becomes clear that "Tselina" became the first major adventure of the Khrushchevites, the negative consequences of which stretched out for many years to come ...

So where did all these "virgin plans" come from after the death of Stalin and Beria?

The country needed grain - no doubt. If funds were invested in the agriculture of the European zone, then the return would not be as fast as in the development of virgin lands, but it would be a lasting success, and a triple success - economic, political and social.

However, the reality is different...

There is hardly any doubt that for Khrushchev personally, the virgin lands became his next adventure, quite in his style. For the growing Khrushchev party nomenklatura, virgin lands became an opportunity to curry favor, even if for a set of losses in the national economy.

But for the agents of influence of the West, which are increasingly strengthening their positions in the Khrushchev USSR, virgin lands have become, it seems, the first major successful action to strategically undermine the USSR and Soviet socialism!

Alas, this sabotage was successful from every point of view...

Sergei Kremlev (Brezkun), especially for the "Ambassadorial order"

The traditional form of animal husbandry, which has developed in the Kazakh steppes since ancient times, will be fully preserved in the coming years. The forcible imposition of non-traditional activities such as farming and grain production can subsequently turn these lands into deserts. In these steppes, serious farming is difficult for two types of reasons - natural and economic. Severe winters and dry summers in a number of regions will lead to the death of crops, and all labor will be in vain. It would be one thing if the lands in Kazakhstan were rich in black soil. But this is not the case, and the impression of fertility that arises is deeply deceptive. Besides water resources to ensure abundant harvests in Kazakhstan are insufficient.

Mambetali Serdalin-Shubetov, in a report before the Senate Commission on the Development of Trade in the Russian Empire, March 8, 1890

The development of virgin and fallow lands in 1954 began mainly with the creation of state farms. 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 grain varieties adapted to this type of climate were not developed.

Enormous resources were focused on the implementation of this project: for - years. virgin lands absorbed 20% of all Soviet investments in agriculture. Because of this, the agrarian development of traditional Russian farming areas remained unchanged and stalled. 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 supposed to plow 13 million hectares, then in reality 33 million hectares were plowed. For - gg. 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 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 the 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 soil erosion in - years. dust storms have become a real disaster. The development of virgin lands has entered the stage of crisis, the efficiency of its cultivation has fallen by 65%.

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. But, no matter what happened there and despite all the difficulties, virgin bread remained the cheapest.

Results

In total, over the years of developing virgin lands in Kazakhstan, more than 597.5 million tons of grain were produced.

The virgin epic changed the appearance of a number of territories of the RSFSR bordering Kazakhstan. In particular, in 1963 the Ust-Uysky district of the Kurgan region was renamed Tselinny, and with. Novo-Kocherdyk in the village. Virgin. During the development of virgin lands, more than 1.5 thousand young people from the Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Moscow regions arrived in the Ust-Uysk region.

About 4,000 virgin lands were awarded orders and medals, among them 5 Heroes of Socialist Labor.

Criticism

Virgin land began to develop prematurely. It was, of course, nonsense. In this size - a gamble. 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 offered 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.

Reflection in art

In the spring and summer of 1954, a group of artists consisting of T. Salakhov, D. Mochalsky, L. Rabinovich, V. I. Basov, M. I. Tkachev, V. E. Tsigal and others went to the virgin lands to study sketches. The artists who visited there in the first days and months of the development of virgin lands plunged into the very thick of a difficult life. They endured the same hardships as the virgin lands themselves and lived in the same tents and wagons. The result of the artists' trip was "an exhibition of works by Moscow artists made on trips to virgin and fallow lands" held in Moscow in 1954.

In philately

Notes

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See what "Virgin Land Development" is in other dictionaries:

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Ministry of Education and Science Russian Federation

History department

Department of National History and Archeology

abstract

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.

V last 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

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

For various reasons, the 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.

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

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.

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

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

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 hardly suitable for the production of higher grades of flour, shipment for export, bookmarks in state reserves and seed reservations, and the production of high-grade bread products.

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

Distinctive feature of that era - 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 a speedy solution 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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