Development of Rural Settlement Networks in Western Siberia under Impact of Socio-Economic Transformations during 1930s to 1950s
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2026-15-1-508-529
Abstract
This article examines the evolution of rural settlement networks in Western Siberia during the period of industrialization characterized by collectivization and a series of measures aimed at consolidating collective farms through the incorporation of homesteads into larger settlements from the 1930s to the 1950s. It explores state resettlement policies during this era and their impact on key indicators such as typical structure, population size, and density of rural settlements. Based on unpublished archival data regarding the movement and inclusion of single-household peasant farms within settlements, as well as consolidation efforts for collective farms, and drawing upon materials from the All-Union Population Census of 1959, the study identifies distinctive features of village-type settlement development in the region. The analysis compares these figures with similar metrics across the RSFSR and its administrative divisions. Notable findings include a decline in rural populations, uneven urbanization trends across subregions of Western Siberia, increased typological diversity due to changes in farming practices resulting in the formation of collective farms, state farms, central farmsteads, branches, and agricultural facilities. Furthermore, it highlights an increase in settlement sizes driven by deliberate government policies that prioritized merging smaller economically weak homesteads and outlying hamlets into larger communities.
About the Author
A. I. Tatarnikova
Tobolsk complex scientific station of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Россия
Россия
Anna I. Tatarnikova, PhD in History, senior research scientist, Laboratory of Siberian History
Tobolsk
References
1. Alaev, E. B. (1983). Socio-economic geography: a conceptual and terminological dictionary. Moscow: Mysl Publ. 290 p. (In Russ.).
2. Alekseev, A. I. (1987). Regional problems of long-term development of rural settlement. Yoshkar-Ola: Mari Research Institute. 13 p. (In Russ.).
3. Dimoni, T. M. (1998). Settlement of farms in the European North of Russia in the late 1930s (based on materials from the Vologda region). In: Features of Russian agriculture and problems of settlement in the 9th—20th centuries: XXVI session of the Symposium on the Agrarian History of Eastern Europe: Abstracts of reports and communications. Moscow: Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 159—162. (In Russ.).
4. Isupov, V. A. (2012). The peasant farming of the Siberian village in the Soviet period: the main trends and stages. Russian History, 1: 129—141. (In Russ.).
5. Isupov, V. A., Korobeynikova, N. S., Semenov, M. A. (2016). The population of Western Siberia during the Second World War: 1939—1945. Demographic review, 3 (2): 143—168. (In Russ.).
6. Khisamutdinova, R. R. (2002). Mistakes and miscalculations made during the consolidation of collective farms in the Urals in 1950—1952. Bulletin of Orenburg State University, 7: 146—151. (In Russ.).
7. Kovalev, S. A. (1963). Rural settlement: a geographical study. Moscow: Moscow University Press. 371 p. (In Russ.).
8. Mazur, L. N. (2007). The policy of the Soviet state in the field of rural settlement. 1950s — 1980s: The Origins of the tragedy of the Russian countryside. In: State power and the peasantry in the XX — beginning of the XXI century: Collection of materials of the international scientific and practical conference, 1. Kolomna: Kolomna State Pedagogical Institute. 338—348. (In Russ.).
9. Mazur, L. N. (2012). The Russian village in the context of urbanization: a regional dimension (the second half of the 19th — 20th centuries). Yekaterinburg: Ural University Press. 471 p. ISBN 978-5-7996-0756-2. (In Russ.).
10. Meerovich, M. G. (2014). Sotsgoroda in Siberia: urban planning and settlement policy in the USSR during the period of industrialization. Balandinsky readings, 3: 121—127. (In Russ.).
11. Plyasulya, A. A. (2022). Forced state farm construction in Western Siberia (1928—1931). Historical Courier, 4 (24): 111—122. DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2022-4-10. (In Russ.).
12. Senyavsky, A. S. (2003). Urbanization in Russia in the XX century: a role in the historical process. Moscow: Nauka Publ. 286 p. ISBN 5-02-008863-3. (In Russ.).
13. Sokolova, E. V. (2017). The main causes and stages of the disappearance of villages of the Tarsky Irtysh region in the Soviet period. Bulletin of the Orenburg State Pedagogical University, 3 (23): 207—217. (In Russ.).
14. Tatarnikova, A. I. (2024). Reorganization of Population Placement System in Northwestern Siberia as a Reflection of Socio-Economic Policies of USSR in 1930s—1950s. Nauchnyi dialog, 13 (6): 478—497. DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-6-478-497. (In Russ.).
15. Tatarnikova, A. I. (2024a). The network of rural settlements in the territory of the modern Tyumen region in the 1930s—1950s: number, size, typical structure. Manuscript, 17 (4): 603—607. DOI: 10.30853/mns20240091. (In Russ.).
16. Usoltseva, O. V. (2015). Socio-economic conditions of changes in rural settlement of the Tomsk region in the second half of the 1940s — early 1960s. Bulletin of Tomsk State University. History, 2 (34): 69—77. DOI: 10.17223/19988613/34/11. (In Russ.).
17. Vyltsan, M. A. (1998). Settlement of farms in the 30s. In: Features of Russian agriculture and problems of settlement in the 9th—20th centuries: XXVI session of the Symposium on the Agrarian History of Eastern Europe: Abstracts of reports and communications. Moscow: Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 156—158. (In Russ.).
18. Zadorin, A. V. (2012). Settlement structure of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the late 50s — late 80s of the XX century. Bulletin of the Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University, 1: 338—344. (In Russ.).
19. Zayonchkovskaya, J. A. (1991). Demographic situation and settlement. Moscow: Nauka Publ. 132 p. ISBN 5-02-003395-2. (In Russ.).
20. Zelyak, V. G. (2014). Mining and industrial complex of the North-East of Russia: formation and development (late 1920s — early 1990s). Doct. Diss. Tomsk. 386 p. (In Russ.).
21. Zubarevich, N. V. (2013). Transformation of rural settlement and network of services in rural areas. Izvestiya RAS. The series is geographical, 3: 26—28. DOI: 10.15356/0373-2444-2013-3-26-38. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Tatarnikova A.I. Development of Rural Settlement Networks in Western Siberia under Impact of Socio-Economic Transformations during 1930s to 1950s. Nauchnyi dialog. 2026;15(1):508-529. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2026-15-1-508-529
Views:
73
JATS XML
Email this article 