THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MACHINE AND TRACTOR STATION POLITICAL DEPARTMENTS AND STATE FARMS OF THE CENTRAL BLACK EARTH REGION ON THE ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN'S LABOR IN COLLECTIVE FARMS (1933–1934)

The article deals with the ways of social mobilization of the female population in the collective farm village during the period of the machine and tractor station (MTS) political departments functioning and state farms. The author points out that the historiography of the issue is quite extensive. Scholars often focus on the North Caucasus, the Volga region and Ukraine. However, in the context of the Central Black Earth Region, the work of political departments, and especially the involvement of certain categories of the population in the stabilization of the agrarian sector in 1933–1934 has received virtually no coverage in the historiography. In this paper, the author analyses the actual measures used by political departments, including women's organizers, to attract the large female population to collective farm labour. The author directly links the creation of the political departments to the consequences of total collectivization, which led to widespread famine. In response to these factors, emergency agricultural management bodies of the Soviet Union emerged, supported by the central leadership. The author pays special attention to the factor of labor discipline, which, in addition to the low level of women's participation in collective farm production, demonstrated the general attitude of the softer sex towards the collective farm system that was taking root in the Soviet village during this period. The author points to the factor of gender imbalances, which for the first time most acutely raised the question of the more active inclusion of women in order to overcome the consequences of total collectivization and widespread famine before the Soviet authorities. An important factor in the social mobilization of women, in the author's opinion, was the creation of nurseries and playgrounds, which made it possible to implement the above-mentioned tasks. At the same time, the degree of implementation of the set tasks remained at an unsatisfactory level.