Prospects for Soviet Farm Output and Labor
BY way of summary let it be said that for seven years up to and including I960 which are considered here, net farm output per capita of total population may possibly increase, perhaps by as much as I5 per cent or even 20 per cent. This conclusion is arrived at on basis of policies laid down in Malenkov's speech in August I953,' Khrushchev's speech in September I953,2 Party decision on Measures of Further Development of Agriculture of U.S.S.R., 3 and three further decrees of government and Party.4 But if government takes seriously its promises, demands, or both, of fulfilling the task to create an abundance of food for population and raw materials for light industry within next 2-3 years, 5 it is heading toward a great disappointment. With considerably more attention than formerly given to labor-saving devices, enlarged farm output might possibly be produced with a moderately smaller labor force than that currently available. To be on safe side, roughly stable labor requirements in agriculture are best assumption in calculating reserves of labor which may be available for nonagricultural pursuits. The total supply of labor newly available each year for all requirements will be large in I954-57 but will drop to almost zero in subsequent several years. On basis of present policies it may be anticipated that amount of labor in agriculture will be increasing in first four years of period under review, but part of additionally accumulated farm labor will have to be released in last three years of period. This would leave some labor reserves to be drawn from agriculture after I960 (the lean years for agricultural labor supply would not end at this arbitrarily selected date). The change from years with rising labor force in agriculture to years with declining labor force is likely to affect farm output, but it would be difficult to estimate intensity of this effect.
- DOI
- 10.2307/1924672
- Volume
- 36 (2)
- Pages
- 212
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