Agrarian Reform in Russia
The Road from Serfdom

This book on Russia examines historical reforms and interventions affecting agriculture and assesses their impact on the rural economy.

Carol S. Leonard (Author)

9781107546233, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 August 2015

420 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.4 cm, 0.64 kg

'This is a richly-textured book, and it includes significant statistical evidence, especially relating to agricultural performance between 1861 and 1911. Its themes are illuminated by the author's own experience as an advisor to the Russian government on agricultural policy in the 1990s and Leonard's work is not simply a piece of historical scholarship, but offers broad observations on the nature of Agrarian policy making in Russia.' Peter Waldron, European History Quarterly

This book examines the history of reforms and major state interventions affecting Russian agriculture: the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the Stolypin reforms, the NEP, the Collectivization, Khrushchev reforms, and finally farm enterprise privatization in the early 1990s. It shows a pattern emerging from a political imperative in imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet regimes, and it describes how these reforms were justified in the name of the national interest during severe crises - rapid inflation, military defeat, mass strikes, rural unrest, and/or political turmoil. It looks at the consequences of adversity in the economic environment for rural behavior after reform and at long-run trends. It has chapters on property rights, rural organization, and technological change. It provides a new database for measuring agricultural productivity from 1861 to 1913 and updates these estimates to the present. This book is a study of the policies aimed at reorganizing rural production and their effectiveness in transforming institutions.

Part I. Dilemmas of Agrarian Reform in Russia: 1. Imperial reform, 1861–1913
2. The NEP and Soviet era reforms, 1921–89
3. Transition agrarian reform, 1991–2008
Part II. Russian Law and Rural Organization, 1861–2008: 4. Property rights reform
5. Rural organization and entrepreneurship
Part. III. Russian Agricultural Performance, 1861–2008: 6. Technology and farming culture
7. The productivity of Russian agriculture
Conclusion
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]