«Not Bred Alone»: the Role of Handicrafs in the Recovery of the Economy of the 1920-ies

Abstract

The article reveals the negative consequences of the First world war and the Civil war on the state of small and artisanal industry in Siberia, assesses its role in the economic recovery in the NEP period. It is proved that the methods of direct state regulation of small private and cooperative industry did not contribute to the awakening of business activity and deformed the historical course of cooperative construction. The nationalization of small enterprises aimed at the elimination of private property, was not accompanied by an increase in the efficiency of its use. The development and implementation of a pragmatic course on the use of artisanal industry in the saturation of the commodity market was hampered by the rudiments of ideology and methods of military communism management. With regard to the handicraft industry and trade cooperation, they remained until 1924. Only after the introduction of a favorable tax climate in early 1925 and the establishment of an adequate system of management, it was possible to achieve a high socio-economic effect, in a timely manner to ensure a sharp increase in the production of goods and the level of employment of the population. In 1926/27 small and artisanal industries in Siberia began to produce more than half of the gross industrial output and to process two-thirds of agricultural and one-third of industrial raw materials. The end of the recovery period was thus a peak in the development of handicraft sector. In the future, despite the absolute growth, its importance began to decline steadily due to the deployment of a large industrial structure.