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Humanitarian sciences in Siberia

2016 year, number

LABOR MIGRATION TO KUZBASS IN 1921-1923

D.P. Sarin
Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPSU), 1 M. Pirogov str., building 1, Moscow 119991, Russia
Keywords: labor migration, recruitment of workers, workforce, Kuzbass, Sibtrud, coal industry

Abstract

The article deals with the inflow of migrants to the Kizbass industiral areas in 1921-1923 for the replenishments of labour resources. The study of this aspect of labor migration also implies addressing the issue of voluntary recruitment of workers in the provinces of the European part of the RSFSR, Siberia, the Far Eastern Republic and their organized displacement to Kuzbass for employment purposes. The author used a problem-based and chronological methods which allowed tracing the replenishment process of the workforce in Kuzbass in the early years of national economy reconstruction in Siberia under the conditions of NEP (New Economic Policy). On the basis of archival sources the author examined the progress and results of recruitment campaigns which bolstered the workforce of the Kuzbass coal industry; identified the areas of recruitment of manpower for the Kuzbass industry, the number of migrants and their distribution among the coal areas of the Basin. In 1921, 4396 people migrated from starving districts of the Tatar Republic into the Kuznetsk Basin as part of internal labor migration. The total rate of migrant workers from Kazan was about 31 %, which was due to the fact that during the recruitment of migrants the proportion was set - 1 worker to 3 mouths (to feed) including a worker himself. Recruitment campaigns of 1922 and early 1923 were conducted upon terms of economic accountability and showed a decrease in the number of migrant workers. As a result of recruitment campaigns, more than 5,000 people came to Kuzbass from outside of Siberia. At the end of the recruiting period, migrant workers returned to their places of permanent residence. The author emphasizes that the recruitment of workers allowed temporary filling the vacancies of workers in coal mines, but did not help to transform migrants in Kuzbass into core miners.