Power Relations and Rural Population in Kuban-Black Sea Region during 1921—1924
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2023-12-7-236-253
Abstract
The article examines the reforms in power relations between the government and rural population in the Kuban-Black Sea region during the transition to the New Economic Policy (March 1921—1924). The study is based on materials from party and state authorities, as well as statistics. A systemic approach and diachronic comparative analysis are applied. The authors argue that until the fall of 1922, the system of power relations with the rural population in Kuban-Black Sea region maintained the predominance of the features of “war communism”: compulsory and arbitrary taxation, appointment of governing bodies, and repression. The specificity of the region was manifested in the combination of class and estate divisions of society, as well as Cossackization. It is shown that the transition to the NEP required a fundamental change in power relations with the peasantry, shifting towards the principles of material interest and civil peace, making the middle class and Cossacks loyal. It is emphasized that attitudes towards the NEP were contradictory, with local party and Soviet workers preferring to rely on military-communist methods. The authors conclude that a contradictory system of power and social relations was formed based on compromises and indirect coercion during food and land policies and during elections to the Soviets. By the fall of 1924, the RCP(b) was forced to concede to peasant demands on key aspects of reform.
About the Authors
A. V. Baranov
Kuban State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Andrey V. Baranov, Doctor of History, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Department of Political Science and Political Management
Krasnodar
V. V. Kasyanov
Kuban State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Valery V. Kasyanov, Doctor of History, Doctor of Sociological Sciences Professor, Head of the Department of Russian History
Krasnodar
Yu. A. Yakhutl
Kuban State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Yuri A. Yakhutl, Doctor of History, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Russian History
Krasnodar
References
1. Baranov, A. V. (1999). Multicultural society in the Russian regions of the North Caucasus in the 1920s: development trends. Doct. Diss. Rostov-on-Don. 612 p. (In Russ.).
2. Baranov, A. V., Yahutl, Yu. A. (2022). The transition from “war communism” to the NEP in the Cossack regions of Southern Russia: features of interaction between the authorities and the rural population. Modern History of Russia, 12 (2): 276—287. DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu24.2022.201. (In Russ.).
3. Brovkin, V. N. (1994). Behind the Front Lines of the Civil War: Political Parties and Social Movements in Russia, 1918—1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 455 p.
4. Dzidzoev, V. D. (2020). Transition to the NEP and problems of the peasantry of the South of Russia. Bulletin of the Vladikavkaz Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 20 (1): 14—21. DOI: 10.23671/VNC.2020.1.56942. (In Russ.).
5. Genkina, E. B. (1954). Transition of the Soviet state to a new economic policy (1921—1922). Moscow: Gospolitizdat. 504 p. (In Russ.).
6. Kislitsyn, S. A. (1996). The state and storytelling, 1917—1945. Rostov-on-Don: Publishing House of the Don Law Institute. 80 p. (In Russ.).
7. Kleiner, I. M. (1924). The reality of the Kuban village. Krasnodar: Burevestnik. 122, II p. (In Russ.).
8. Kozlov, A. I. (1977). At a historical turn. Rostov-on-Don: Rostov State University Press. 214 p. (In Russ.).
9. Ladokha, G. V. (1923). Essays of the civil struggle in the Kuban. Krasnodar: Petrel. 122 p. (In Russ.).
10. Likhnitsky, N. T. (1931). Class struggle and kulaks in the Kuban. Rostov-on-Don: North Caucasus. 191, 1 p. (In Russ.).
11. Odintsov, S. S. (1927). Agriculture of the North Caucasus region to the decade of the October Revolution. Izvestia of the North Caucasus Regional Executive Committee, 11: 3—15. (In Russ.).
12. Pankova-Kozochkina, T. V. (2012). Cossack-peasant economy of the NEP era: problems of modernization of agrarian relations in the South of Russia. Novocherkassk: Lik. 268 p. ISBN 978-5-9947-0322-9. (In Russ.).
13. Penner, D. A. (1995). Pride, Power and Pitchforks: Farmer-Party Interaction on the Don, 1920—28. Ph. D. Dissertation. Berkeley: University of California. 653 p.
14. Perekhov, Ya. A. (1966). The policy of the Communist Party on the involvement of the Don and Kuban Cossacks in socialist construction, 1920—1925. PhD Diss. Rostov-on-Don. 303 p. (In Russ.).
15. Perekhov, Ya. A. (1997). Power and the Cossacks: the search for consent (1920—1926). Rostov-on-Don: Hephaestus. 137, 1 p. ISBN 5-87442-051-7. (In Russ.).
16. Shchetnev, V. E. (1967). Class struggle in the Kuban stanitsa (1920—1927). PhD Diss. Krasnodar. 306 p. (In Russ.).
17. Skorik, A. P., Tikijyan, R. G. (2010). Transition to the NEP in the problem field of the local history of the Don. Dialogue with time, 30: 352—361. (In Russ.).
18. Smirnsky, V. I. (1924). Population and economy of the Kuban district by the beginning of 1924—1925: a general sketch. Krasnodar: Kuban-Black Sea Regional Statistical Bureau. 46, VI p. (In Russ.).
19. Winter, V. F. (2019). The food problem in the USSR at the first stage of the new economic policy in 1921—1925. Izvestia of higher educational institutions. Volga region. Humanities, 3 (51): 51—68. DOI: 10.21685/2072-3024-2019-3-6. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Baranov A.V., Kasyanov V.V., Yakhutl Yu.A. Power Relations and Rural Population in Kuban-Black Sea Region during 1921—1924. Nauchnyi dialog. 2023;12(7):236-253. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2023-12-7-236-253
Views:
367
Email this article 