Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps, Illustrations, and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration
- Note on Sources and Methodology
- Glossary
- Two regions of the Black Earth, Voronezh and Kharkiv oblasti, 1991–present
- Voronezh oblast' in the twenty-first century
- Kharkiv oblast' in the twenty-first century
- The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village
- Introduction: Land Reform in Post-Communist Europe
- 1 Things Fall Apart
- 2 Keeping the Collectives
- 3 The Social Origins of Private Farmers
- 4 A Return to Regulation
- 5 The Politics of Payment
- 6 The Facade
- Conclusion: Rural Proletarians in the Potemkin Village
- Index
Conclusion: Rural Proletarians in the Potemkin Village
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps, Illustrations, and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Transliteration
- Note on Sources and Methodology
- Glossary
- Two regions of the Black Earth, Voronezh and Kharkiv oblasti, 1991–present
- Voronezh oblast' in the twenty-first century
- Kharkiv oblast' in the twenty-first century
- The Post-Soviet Potemkin Village
- Introduction: Land Reform in Post-Communist Europe
- 1 Things Fall Apart
- 2 Keeping the Collectives
- 3 The Social Origins of Private Farmers
- 4 A Return to Regulation
- 5 The Politics of Payment
- 6 The Facade
- Conclusion: Rural Proletarians in the Potemkin Village
- Index
Summary
A forest of high-rise apartment buildings now surrounds the Saltivka housing development where, in the twilight of Soviet power, the workers of the Ukrainka state farm had defended their farm territory. During the 1990s, Ukrainka's status as a research farm shielded it from privatization, but in recent years, amidst rising demand for land around the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainka's land was targeted for partition. The desks of the district cadastral office, where employees once had time for afternoon tea, are now piled high with seemingly endless mountains of paperwork.
The paperwork is not, in the main, for individual worker-shareholders seeking to allot their shares and lease them to the highest bidder. As the fortunes of the city improve, Black Earth villagers have seen their living standards continue to decline, for “life is improving everywhere but the village.” As Russian urban populations operate in an economy flush with oil revenue, and consumers in the city of Kharkiv patronize markets where they choose among “twenty-five different kinds of cheese,” villagers “kill their cows because milk prices are so low.” Cadastral services, meanwhile, map land allotments for powerful local figures and interested corporate entities. A legal basis for private ownership thus established, the scramble for Black Earth land has begun.
Amidst the parceling of village land, particularly in districts near urban settlements, some villagers have begun to thrive. In certain areas, rural people have banded together to form vegetable growing cooperatives or engage in cottage industry.
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- Information
- The Post-Soviet Potemkin VillagePolitics and Property Rights in the Black Earth, pp. 189 - 200Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007