Grain Procurement in Western Siberia during the Great Patriotic War: Plans and Results

Abstract

For the first time in historiography, this paper provides data on the volume of grain procurement plans and results of their implementation for all regions of Western Siberia. Through the example of Western Siberia, the author reveals characteristic features of state grain procurement policy: the plans were drawn up in isolation from economic capabilities of producers, while the methods of command and administrative pressure on collective and state farms led to numerous imbalances in agrarian production. At the same time, strengthening of repressive and mobilization measures not only in relation to the peasantry, but also to the management level reinforced labor and tax discipline in collective and state farms, which, in the opinion of the political center, was the most important factor in a stable flow of grain into state food funds.