The Formation of Kolkhoz Law in Russia (1917–1929): The Experience of Reconstructing Soviet Agriculture

The paper examines the process of radical transformation of Soviet agriculture during the precollectivization period, a topic that has received little attention in academic scholarship. It demonstrates that even on the eve of collectivization, the Soviet village differed fundamentally from its pre-revolutionary counterpart in terms of economic conditions, cultural level, technical equipment, and organizational changes. Law played a huge role in this transformation. Through legal acts, for the first time in Russian history, peasants obtained land in sufficient quantities, the mobilization of relevant specialists for agricultural activities was carried out, model charters for collective farms (communes, artels, associations for the joint cultivation of land) were developed, literacy (including agricultural literacy) was disseminated, and kulak farms were displaced. The state supported farm laborers and middle peasants, showing by example the benefits of collective agricultural production. The collective farms that emerged were not merely a simple sum of peasants and their former holdings; rather, with active state support, they reached a new qualitative level of development that would have been impossible under individual farming. At the same time, collective farms did not operate chaotically but on the basis of emerging planning (organizational plans, production plans). Much of the experience gained remains relevant to this day, both for our country and for foreign states.

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