THE “VIRGIN PROJECT” OF 1954 IN THE AGRARIAN HISTORY OF SIBERIA AND KAZAKHSTAN
S.N. Andreenkov
Institute of history of SB RAS, 8, Nikolaev Str., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Keywords: grain production, “Virgin project” of 1954, developing virgin and fallow lands, agriculture, Kazakhstan, Siberia, N.S. Khrushchev
Abstract
The study objective is to compare prerequisites, course and consequences of implementing the “Virgin project” in 1954 in Kazakhstan and Siberia. The article main tasks are the following: to analyze the prehistory of large-scale development of virgin and fallow lands, to determine features of adopting and realizing the virgin program, to identify and assess short-, medium- and long-term consequences of this action for the grain economy of studied regions. The work is based on the documents collections of the federal archives, data of archival and published statistics of the USSR, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan. The research findings are that the idea of mass development of virgin and fallow lands at the USSR east, which was actively promoted by N.S. Khrushchev in 1953, was not new and perceived with skepticism in the regions. It was treated with doubt in the Kazakh SSR, where it was planned to explore the largest areas of virgin lands. However, the “Virgin project” was supported by the West Siberian regions, and its implementation began. The development of virgin and fallow lands turned into a large-scale national economic-political action with significant consequences. Short-term results of the campaign were impressive. Quantitative indicators of developing the virgin land cultivation were quite high, but this could not be said about its qualitative characteristics, which were extremely important for consolidating the achieved successes. Therefore, in the medium term, the mobilization development of virgin and fallow lands did not ensure the non-recessionary development of agriculture. The long-term consequences of the action had the following specificity. Thanks to the virgin campaign, Kazakhstan has become a major supplier of bread to the all-Union food fund, and after the USSR collapse - into a significant grain exporter. There was a different situation in Siberia, in the long term perspective the virgin land gave it less than to Kazakhstan.
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