Agricultural reforms in Russia at the turn of an era (1990-1993)

Abstract

In the second half of the 1980s, Soviet agricultural policy was subjected to revisionism. The problems in the agro-industrial complex had been accumulating for many years and were the result of many factors associated with the socialist system in the USSR. Whereas in the 1930s agriculture was subject to forced collectivisation, the new conditions proposed the revival of independent peasant farms and the adoption of Western experience associated with the development of farming. Private property and the future of collective farms were at the centre of the debate. This article attempts to find the following questions: why were the agrarian reforms necessary; what was their purpose; did the country's leadership have an agenda for reforms; how did the economic, legal and social aspects interact in the reform process; did the reforms succeed in achieving their objectives. The article uses documents from the Congress of People's Deputies, the Supreme Soviet and the Russian Government. Significant static material and data from sociological surveys should be noted. Legislative acts constitute a separate group of sources.