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Government Statistical Observation in the USSR: 1917-1957

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Vsevolod Holubnychy
Vsevolod Holubnychy*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Extract

Statistical Agencies Before the Revolution: Soviet government statistics inherited from Tsarist times almost a century of experience of organized statistical observation. The first government statistical agency in Russia was established in 1811—the Statistical Department of the Ministry of Police. Its objectives were to analyze reports of provincial governors on the social and political situation in their localities and to check on the mobility of population. In the government reorganization of 1827 this department was abolished, but by that time new statistical agencies, departments, and bureaus appeared within other ministries. In 1834, the Statistical Department of the Interior Ministry was established, and in the same year the Provincial Statistical Committees were set up.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , February 1960 , pp. 28 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1960

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References

1 A good history of Russian prerevolutionary statistics can be found in Gozulov, , Istorija otechestvennoj statistiki. Gosstatizdat (Moscow, 1957), 180 pp.Google Scholar

2 Kozlov, T. I., Ovsiyenko, B. E., Savinskij, D. V., Smirnskij, V. I.: Kurs obshchej teorii statistiki (Moscow University, Moscow, 1956), p. 309 Google Scholar.

3 Narodnoe Khozjajstvo, No. 2 (Moscow, April, 1918), p. 18 Google Scholar

4 Narodnoe Khozjajstvo, No. 5 (Moscow, July, 1918), p. 22 Google Scholar.

5 “Polozhenie o Gosudarstvennoj Statistike,” Narodnoe Khozjajstvo, No. 8-9 (September, 1918), Supplement, pp. 11–12 Google Scholar>.

6 A good concise outline of the early history of Soviet statistics can be found in the paper by Prof. Pisarev, I. Ju., “The First Years of Soviet Statistics,” in the symposium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Ocherki po istorii statistiki SSSR (Moscow: Gosstatizdat, 1955), pp. 163–91Google Scholar.

7 The almost complete bibliography for the indicated period can be found in Bibliograficheskij obzor itdanii Central'nogo Statisticheskogo Upravlenija Sojuza SSR xa 10 let (1918-1928) (Moscow: CSU SSSR, 1928),70 pp.Google Scholar As many, if not more, publications were published by the republican and provincial statistical agencies in Russian and minority languages, too.

8 USSR Academy of Sciences, Ocherki po istorii statistiki SSSR, op. cit., p. 221 Google Scholar.

9 Cf. Sistematicheskoe sobranie dejstvujushchikh zakonov SSSR (Moscow, 1928), pp. 52, 194 Google Scholar.

10 Prof, Cf.. Druzhinin, N. K., Lekcii po statistike (Moscow: Gosstatizdat, 1955), pp. 184–85Google Scholar.

11 Planovoe Khozjajstvo (Moscow), No. 12, 1925, p. 27 Google Scholar.

12 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1926), No. 7, Art. 48, and No. 21, Art. 138Google Scholar,

13 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1927), No. S3, Art. 340.Google Scholar

14 Groman, Cf. V. G., “On the Organization of State Statistics,“ Planovoe Khozjajstvo, No. 1, 1927, p. 238 Google Scholar

15 Kozlov, T. I. et al, op. cit., p. 322 Google Scholar.

16 KPSS v rezoljucijakh i resheniyakh s'ezdov, konferencii i plenumov CKa, 7th ed.; Gospolitizdat (Moscow, 1953), pp. 477–79Google Scholar.

17 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1930), No. 8, Art. 97.Google Scholar

18 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1931), No. 28, Art. 221Google Scholar.

19 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1931), No. 73, Art. 488Google Scholar.

20 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1932), No. 19, Art I08-a and 108-bGoogle Scholar.

21 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1933), No. 11, Art. 52; also No. 33, Art. 196Google Scholar.

22 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1933), No. 70, Art. 417Google Scholar.

23 Sobranie takonov SSSR (1933), No. 6, Art. 41; the law of August 7, 1932, is in Ibid. (1932), No. 62, Art. 360Google Scholar.

24 Cf.Planovoe Khozjajstvo, No. 5 (1940), p. 75; No. 6 (1940), p. 58 Google Scholar.

25 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1932), No. 29, Art. 186Google Scholar

26 Bol'shaja Sovetskaya Enciklopedija, 1st ed., Vol. 60 (Moscow, 1934), p. 777 Google Scholar.

27 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1936), No. 25, Art. 237Google Scholar.

28 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1937), No. 65, Art. 292Google Scholar.

29 Sobranie zakonov SSSR (1938), No. 35, Art. 211Google Scholar.

30 The only results of this census were published in the following sources: Planovoe Khozjajstvo, No. 6, 1939, pp. 11-17; Pravda and Izvestia of June 2, 1939, and April 29, 1940; CUNK.hu Gosplana SSSR: Kul'turnoye stroitel'stvo SSSR: Statisticheskij sbornik (Moscow-Leningrad, 1940), pp. 3-7; and Vestnik Statistiki, No. 6 (1956), pp. 89-90. These include: total USSR and republics’ population, national composition of USSR population, sex and age distribution, and literacy indicesGoogle Scholar.

31 Cf.Planovoe Khozjajstvo, No. 4, 1940, p. 122 Google Scholar.

32 Kozlov, T. I. et al, op. cit., p. 327 Google Scholar.

33 Cf.Voprosy Ekonomiki, No. 9 (1953), p. 120. The full text of this decree has not yet been made public.Google Scholar

34 Summaries of and long quotations from this Statute are available only in Maslov, P. P., Statistika, KOIZ (Moscow, 1956), pp.27–29 Google Scholar; and Kozlov, T. I. et al., op. cit., pp. 333–39Google Scholar.

35 Cf.Pravda, April 7, 1957 Google Scholar.

36 Cf.Vestnik Statistiki, No. 4,1957, p. 15 Google Scholar.

37 Cf.Planovoe Khozjajstvo, No. 5, 1948, p. 62 Google Scholar.

38 Some remarks on the qualitative aspects and the limitations of scope and nature of Soviet statistical observations in the post-war period can be found in this writer's article “Organization of Statistical Observation in the USSR,” The American Statistician, Vol. 12, No. 3 (June, 1958)Google Scholar.

39 Cf. Vestnik Statistiki, No. 4, 1953, article by Vostrikova, A. Google Scholar.

40 Sobranie zakonov RSFSR (1948), No. 12, Art. 66.Google Scholar

41 Sbornik zakonov SSSR i ukazov Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR 1938-1956, Gosyurizdat (Moscow, 1956), p. 399 Google Scholar.

42 Visnyk Akademiyi Nauk Ukrayins'koyi RSR (Kiev, No. 9, 1956), p. 3. Google Scholar

43 Grazhdanskoe zakonodatel'stvo SSSR i soiuznykh respublik, Gosyurizdat (Moscow, 1957), p. 46 Google Scholar.