Russian Pioneers of Virgin Lands from China: Re-Emigrants in Eastern Siberia in 1954–1955

The article is devoted to the problems of the history of the resettlement of the Russian-speaking population of North-Eastern China to the regions of Eastern Siberia for the development of virgin and fallow lands. In 1954–1955, the leadership of the USSR organized the repatriation of the Russian-speaking population from the People's Republic ofChina to their historical homeland. The repatriation was formalized in the form of resettlement for the development ofvirgin and fallow lands, Russian re-emigrants arrived in the regions of Russia and Kazakhstan as virgin land settlers. The easternmost regions of the Soviet Union where the re-emigrants were settled were the Irkutsk Region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The study was conducted based on office documents stored in the regional archives of Eastern Siberia, as well as personal sources and the recollections of the re-emigrants themselves. The mass and voluntary relocation of Russians from the PRC to the USSR began after the adoption of the resolution of the CPSU Central Committee in 1954 "On the further increase in grain production in the country and on the development of virgin and fallow lands", but this issue was resolved at the level of Soviet-Chinese relations back in 1953. The settlers from the PRC made up only a few percent of the total number of virgin land settlers, and a significant part of them already in 1954–1955 left agricultural enterprises, practically not taking part in the development of virgin and fallow lands. The problems of preparing the repatriation of theRussian-speaking population to the USSR, as well as their actual participation in the development of virgin and fallow lands, indicate that resettlement to develop virgin lands was a form of repatriation, with a concomitant solution to the problems of developing virgin and fallow lands. The resettlement of re-emigrants from China became an important factor in the development of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Irkutsk Region, not only in terms of developing virgin and fallow lands in these regions. Resettlement to develop virgin lands turned out to be the optimal repatriation of Russians from China totheir historical homeland in form and content.