Goskoopkhozes for the uplift of agriculture: a note by A. Grechukha on the reorganization of the kolkhoz - MTS system. December 1957
Authors:   Institute of History, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, Andreenkov Sergey N. 
Published: December 2024

The Khrushchev Thaw was a period of significant and ambiguous changes in the life of the Soviet state and society. Very contradictory trends were observed in the development of the country's agrarian system. Agrarian reforms of 1953-1964 led to its tangible liberalization, and at the same time the supreme power continued to use administrative methods of solving economic problems. One of the most important directions of agrarian reform in the thaw period was the reorganization of machine and tractor stations (MTS) - the most important component of the collective farm system and the basis of its logistical support system. In the economic conditions of the mid-1950s, the Kolkhoz-MTS system, which had been established back in the Stalinist period, needed to be reformed. And it was carried out in favor of collective farms. MTS were liquidated, and their property was transferred on a reimbursable basis into the ownership of agricultural enterprises. But the new owner of machinery used this production resource not in the best way. In the national historiography there are two opinions about the goals, course and results of the reorganization of the MTS in 1958. Some researchers consider it to be an expedient but unsuccessful measure, while others believe that the MTS should not have been liquidated, since collective farms could not effectively dispose of complex machinery. It is now known that the supreme power considered an alternative option of reforming the Kolkhoz-MTS system, which consisted in combining these two organizational and economic forms to form a new type of agricultural enterprises. Two projects of combining MTS and collective farms have been identified. The author of the first one was K. D. Karpov, the head of the Planning and Finance Department of the Main Directorate of MTS in the Urals. The main sections of his note to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee (December 1955) on the formation of socialist farms (sotskhozes) have already been published. The published article introduces into scientific circulation the basic provisions of the second note (December 1957), - the project for the creation of state-cooperative enterprises (goskoopkhozes). The author of the document was A. Grechukha, director of the Potok MTS in the Poltava region of the Ukrainian SSR. The published document recognized the futility of further preservation of two owners on one land and at the same time substantiated the inexpediency of selling MTS equipment to collective farms. The mass transformation of agricultural associations into state farms was also questioned. According to the author of the recommendations, state farms allowed to reduce the management apparatus, create incentives for farm workers to work, provide conditions for better use of machinery, correctly calculate the cost of production and profitability of production and, in general, quickly raise agriculture. Association of MTS and collective farms can be considered a worthy alternative to the liquidation of stations.