The making of modern Russia, 1855–1991 - 2 Agriculture and productivity:…

The idea

Peasant farming stayed backward after 1861: strip farming, communal repartition, low yields and debt limited innovation. Railways from the 1860s let gentry and nobility estates sell grain commercially, but many still relied on traditional methods and noble debt grew. Stalin's collectivisation (1929–33) imposed kolkhozy and sovkhozy, mechanised via Machine Tractor Stations, yet grain extraction and livestock losses caused famine. Khrushchev promoted maize widely, even in unsuitable climates, and opened the Virgin Lands in Kazakhstan and Siberia; early gains faded as soil eroded. Brezhnev increased fertiliser and irrigation spending but output stagnated and imports rose. Gorbachev sought leasehold contracting and private plots within collective structures, but reform was incomplete before 1991.

What earns the marks

• Explains how serf emancipation in 1861 left peasant agriculture backward: redemption payments, communal land repartition and strip farming discouraged investment and new techniques.
• Assesses the impact of railways on larger gentry and nobility estates before 1914: export routes raised grain sales, but many estates remained indebted and technically conservative.
• Analyses Stalin's drive to modernise: collectivisation, kolkhozy and sovkhozy, Machine Tractor Stations and procurement quotas, with consequences for productivity and rural living standards.
• Evaluates Khrushchev's productivity drive: maize mania and the Virgin Lands scheme, including early successes and later soil exhaustion and climatic failure.
• Compares attempts under Brezhnev and Gorbachev: Brezhnev's investment in fertiliser and irrigation with persistent inefficiency; Gorbachev's leasehold contracting and private plots within collective agriculture.
• Sustains a judgement on continuity and change in reform, innovation and productivity across 1861–1991, using evidence from more than one period.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating the 1861 emancipation as an immediate modernisation of peasant farming.

  Put it right: Explain that redemption payments and communal repartition often reinforced backwardness.

• Assuming railways automatically transformed all agriculture.

  Put it right: Distinguish the commercial gains of larger gentry and nobility estates from the limited change on peasant smallholdings.

• Presenting Khrushchev's maize campaign as uniformly successful.

  Put it right: Note that maize failed in unsuitable climates and that Virgin Lands gains were eroded by soil exhaustion.

• Describing Brezhnev's and Gorbachev's policies as identical.

  Put it right: Contrast Brezhnev's input-led investment with Gorbachev's structural experiments such as leasehold contracting.

Exam tips

• Plan by factor: peasant structure, state policy, technology and environment, then judge which best explains persistent low productivity.
• Use precise dates and named schemes, such as 1861 emancipation, 1929–33 collectivisation, 1954 Virgin Lands and 1972–79 grain imports, to anchor analysis.
• When comparing leaders, state the criterion for success, such as grain output, livestock numbers or rural living standards, before reaching a judgement.
• Integrate the key developments into an argument about reform and innovation rather than listing them chronologically.