Agrarian Reforms of the 20th Century in Russia

Abstract

Current political and economic reforms, as well as the development of market relations and private property rights, need a retrospect to the experience of the past. An ambitious reform implemented by Russian public entities in the early 20th century was a result of a compromise between the government, society, and individuals. The goals of the reforms offered by Pyotr Stolypin were similar to those of the contemporary ones. Stolypin's reforms aimed at the substitution of group type of land use by public property. The reforms were not evolutional but were motivated by the explosive political and social-economic situation. Another agrarian reform took place in the early 1990s in the Soviet bloc, including the USSR. It aimed at state land property and a centrally planned agrarian economy, the domination of big manufacturers like collective and communal farms, and state pricing control. Despite similar basic principles, the states chose different strategies for the implementation of agrarian reforms.