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Was Stalin Necessary? Railroads and the Crumbling of the Obshchina in Tsarist Russia

In: Russia on the Move

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  • Sylvia Sztern

    (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Abstract

Russian agriculture in Tsarist times was a stagnant, ossified enterprise and its practitioner, the muzhik (peasant), was listless, indolent, driven by prejudices, and beholden to the Tsar and the church. As a result, agriculture was trapped with the productivity of the Middle Ages. Only a serious jolt could set the peasant on the way to a more modern way of life and to the adoption of the new technologies that were drifting in from the West. The jolt was administered by Stalin. It may have been harder than it had to have been, even unnecessarily cruel, yet the jolt itself was inescapable. This is a widely accepted view that we propose to refute in this chapter.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvia Sztern, 2022. "Was Stalin Necessary? Railroads and the Crumbling of the Obshchina in Tsarist Russia," Studies in Economic Transition, in: Russia on the Move, chapter 0, pages 371-400, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:stuchp:978-3-030-89285-2_9
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-89285-2_9
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