MECHANISATION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION DURING COLLECTIVISATION IN THE LENINGRAD REGION IN 1928-1936
The second half of the 20s of the last century witnessed an industrial boom in the USSR, which required a large-scale labour force. In this context, the urban population began to grow demanding the increased food supplies. At the same time, the volume of production and purchases of agricultural products did not meet these requirements. There was a dire need of reforms, which would radically restructure the work relations in agriculture. Rapid productivity gains were needed but they could be reached only with the introduction of machine technologies, the effectiveness of which could be ensured merely under conditions of large-scale farms. The study aim was to survey the status and evolution of machine technologies for agricultural production during the large-scale collectivisation in the Leningrad Region from 1931 to 1935. In those years, 90% of private farms were united into collective farms, with an average of 33 households per collective farm. The organisation of collective farms was followed by their technical and technological modernisation. Manufacture and supply of agricultural tractors increased sharply. Machine-and-tractor stations or tractor depots were opened to provide their more efficient use. By 1936, 101 such stations had 2500 tractors with an average power capacity of 16.4 hp, which grew by 5.7 hp in five years with a 4.6-fold increase in the number of tractors. The Leningrad Institute for Agriculture Mechanisation launched the training of highly qualified engineering personnel. Agricultural engineering started as science - the All-Union Institute for Mechanisation of Socialized Agriculture (VIM) was established. Collectivisation in the villages of the Leningrad Region radically changed socio-economic relations and the life in the rural areas. The level of mechanisation of peasants’ work increased twofold owing to the supply of more power-intensive high-performance equipment. In 1928-1935, the procurement of dairy products in the Leningrad Region raised from 41.2 to 197.8 thousand tons, or 4.8 times. This allowed the agriculture of this region to become a producing sector of economy.