Cotton growing in Kalmykia and southern regions of Russia in the pre-war years

Abstract

Cotton growing is the oldest occupation in agricultural culture. Cotton is grown in many countries around the world. During tsarist times, the main cotton growing areas in Russia were Central Asia and Transcaucasia, which remained so during the Soviet era. In the 1920s, as in imperial times, cotton production in the RSFSR was carried out by individual peasant farms. In the 1930s, in connection with the beginning of the collectivization of agriculture, cotton farming in the country became a lot of rapidly organized collective and state farms. In the mid-1920s. the Soviet government decides to develop cotton growing in the European part of the country, in particular in its southern regions. The article presents questions on the development of cotton growing in the south of Russia from a historical perspective and for the future. The main emphasis in it is on the analysis of the cotton growing business in the 1920-1930s. in Kalmykia, one of the driest Russian regions, in the context of the Soviet state policy for the development of agriculture. The object of the study is the collective and state farm production of raw cotton in Kalmykia. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of cotton growing in the steppe areas of the eastern uluses (districts) of Kalmykia. In conclusion, the article summarizes recommendations for the development and improvement of the cotton business in the south of Russia in the modern period.