Keywords
estate parcelling
agrarian overpopulation
employment transformation
poverty trap
Prussian capitalist path
Categories
How to Cite
Number of views: 0
Number of downloads: 0
Abstract
The relationship between land reform and economic development in the people's democracies of Central and Eastern Europe after World War II has been discussed mainly in the context of comparative legal and historical analyses of particular countries. The broader question of the role of land reform in the process of structural change of the economy – analyzed both for individual countries and for the whole region – requires more thorough investigation.
This article examines the basic relationships between land reform and economic development in the people's democracies of Europe after World War II, analyzing the connection between the parcelling out of large estates, the reduction of agrarian overpopulation, the shift of manpower from agriculture to industry, and the transformation of the structure of national income and employment.
The analysis draws on official statistical yearbooks of the people's democracies (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, GDR, Poland, Romania, Hungary), UN reports on land reform and economic progress, and the comparative demographic and economic literature (Kuznets, Nelson's low-level equilibrium trap theory).
The analysis shows that the land reforms of the late 1940s solved the problem of land hunger by apportioning land to four million farmers, but could not by themselves radically change conditions in the countryside. Their lasting economic significance lay in releasing agrarian overpopulation for employment in industry, thereby enabling extensive industrialization. In Poland the share of agriculture in national income fell from 68% in 1929 to 24% in 1948; similar trends appear for Hungary. By avoiding the low-level equilibrium trap – in which limited land, population growth, and lack of foreign capital prevent income growth – the people's democracies achieved rapid structural transformation. The Prussian way of agrarian capitalism was superseded by socialist industrialization, which could not have proceeded without prior resolution of the agrarian question.
References
European Programs of Agricultural Reconstruction and Development (1948). Washington–Geneva: Food and Agriculture Organization.
Land Reform. Defects in Agrarian Structure as Obstacles to Economic Development (1951). New York: United Nations.
Progress in Land Reform. Analysis of Replies by Governments to a United Nations Questionnaire (1954). New York: United Nations.
World Economic Report 1950–51 (1952). New York: United Nations.
Anuari statistikor i Republikës Popullore të Shqipërisë 1958 (1958). Tiranë: Drejtoria e Statistikës.
Die europäischen sozialistischen Länder in Zahlen (1961). Berlin: Staatliche Zentralverwaltung für Statistik beim Ministerrat [publication year and publisher not confirmed].
Golopenția, A. and Onică, P. (1948) Recensământul agricol din Republica Populară Română. 25 ianuarie 1948. Rezultate provizorii. București: Institutul Central de Statistică.
Kiesewetter, B. (1958) Statistiken zur Wirtschaft Ost- und Südosteuropas. Eine ausgewählte Zusammenstellung des seit 1945 bekanntgegebenen Zahlenmaterials. Vol. 4: Gebiet und Bevölkerung. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Mały Rocznik Statystyczny 1939 (1939). Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
Polska w liczbach 1944–1958 (1959). Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
Rocznik Statystyczny 1950 (1950). Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
Rolniczy Rocznik Statystyczny 1945–1965 (1966). Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
Statistički godišnjak Federativne Narodne Republike Jugoslavije 1954 (1954). Beograd: Savezni zavod za statistiku i evidenciju.
Statistická ročenka republiky Československé 1957 (1957). Praha: Orbis.
Statisztikai évkönyv 1949–1955 (1957). Budapest: Statisztikai Nyomtatvány- és Folyóiratkiadó Vállalat.
Статистически годишник на Народна република България 1956 [Statistical Yearbook of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria 1956] (1957). Abridged ed. София [Sofia]: Централно статистическо управление [Central Statistical Administration].
Yearbook of Food and Agricultural Statistics 1950 (1951). Vol. 4, part 1. Washington: Food and Agriculture Organization.
10 Jahre Volkswirtschaft der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. Eine Auswahlbibliographie (1959). Berlin: Berliner Stadtbibliothek.
Enciclopedia României (1940). Vol. 3: Economia națională. Cadre și producție. București: Imprimeria Națională.
Ajnenkiel, A. (1963) ‘O reformie rolnej w Polsce i innych europejskich krajach demokracji ludowej’, in Z polskich studiów slawistycznych. Prace na V Międzynarodowy Kongres Slawistów w Sofii 1963. Series 2: Historia, pp. 137–157.
Allen, R.G.D. and Bowley, A.L. (1935) Family Expenditure. A Study of Its Variation. London: P.S. King & Son.
Behrendt, R.F. (1955) Die wirtschaftliche und soziale Revolution in den unentwickelten Ländern. Bern: Herbert Lang.
Bellerby, J.R. et al. (1956) Agriculture and Industry. Relative Income. London: Macmillan.
Dietze, C. von (1957) ‘Agrarreformen und Agrarrevolutionen’, in Staatslexikon. Recht, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Vol. 1: Abbe–Beyerle. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder.
Dovring, F. (1960) ‘Tendencje zmian w proporcji ludności rolniczej i nierolniczej’, Zagadnienia Ekonomiki Rolnej, 3, pp. 121–135.
Góra, W. (1962) PPR w walce o podział ziemi obszarniczej 1944–1945. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza.
Góra, W. (1963) ‘Niektóre zagadnienia reform agrarnych w europejskich krajach demokracji ludowej’, Materiały i Studia z Najnowszej Historii Polski, 1, pp. 51–63.
Gsovski, V. and Grzybowski, K. (eds) (1959) Government, Law and Courts in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Vol. 2. London: Stevens & Sons; The Hague: Mouton.
Imbs-Jędruszczak, H. (1967) ‘Problemy struktury społeczno-ekonomicznej ludności krajów Europy Środkowej i ZSRR w latach 1930–1960’, Studia z Dziejów ZSRR i Europy Środkowej, 3, pp. 227–264.
Jacoby, E.H. (1955) La réforme agraire et le développement agricole. Rome: Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture.
Казанцев, М. [Kazantsev, M.] (1949) ‘Земельные реформы в странах народной демократии Юго-Восточной Европы’ [‘Land Reforms in the People’s Democracies of South-Eastern Europe’], Вестник Академии наук СССР [Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR], 11.
Kuznets, S. (1955) ‘Underdeveloped Countries and the Pre-Industrial Phase in the Advanced Countries. An Attempt at Comparison’, in Proceedings of the World Population Conference, 1954, Rome, 31 August–10 September 1954. Vol. 5: Papers. New York: United Nations, pp. 947–969.
Landau, L. (1957) ‘Gospodarka światowa. Produkcja i dochód społeczny w liczbach’, in Szturm de Sztrem, T. (ed.) Wybór pism. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, pp. 353–426.
Laqueur, W. (1970) Europa aus der Asche. Geschichte seit 1945. München–Zürich–Wien: Axel Juncker Verlag.
Lorenzoni, G. (1930) La questione agraria albanese. Studi, inchieste e proposte per una riforma agraria in Albania. Bari: Laterza.
Madajczyk, C. (1956) Burżuazyjno-obszarnicza reforma rolna w Polsce 1918–1939. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza.
Mieszczankowski, M. (1960) Struktura agrarna Polski międzywojennej. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
Moore, W.E. (1944) ‘Agricultural Population and Rural Economy in Eastern and Southern Europe’, in Demographic Studies of Selected Areas of Rapid Growth. Proceedings of the Round Table on Population Problems. Twenty-Second Annual Conference of the Milbank Memorial Fund, April 12–13, 1944. New York: Milbank Memorial Fund [page range not confirmed]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3348031
Nelson, R.R. (1958) ‘Teoria pułapki równowagi w gospodarstwach nierozwiniętych’, in Sachs, I. and Zdanowicz, J. (eds) Problemy wzrostu ekonomicznego krajów słabo rozwiniętych. Wybór tekstów. Trans. J. Zdanowicz. Warszawa: Polskie Wydawnictwa Gospodarcze, pp. 119–139.
Петрушов, А.М. [Petrushov, A.M.] (1959) Сельское хозяйство европейских стран народной демократии на социалистическом пути [Agriculture of the European People’s Democracies on the Socialist Path]. Москва [Moscow]: Госполитиздат [State Publishing House of Political Literature].
Пухлов, Н. [Pukhlov, N.] (1949) ‘Переустройство сельского хозяйства в странах народной демократии’ [‘The Reorganisation of Agriculture in the People’s Democracies’], Вопросы экономики [Problems of Economics], 10, pp. 31–47.
Rosen, J. (1948) L’industrialisation des régions arriérées. L’exemple de l’Europe du sud-est. Bâle: Imprimerie U.S.C.
Schultz, T.W. (1949) Production and Welfare of Agriculture. New York: Macmillan.
Słabek, H. (1967) Polityka agrarna PPR. Geneza i realizacja. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza.
Sokołowski, K. (1961) Odpływ ludności ze wsi. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
Spulber, N. (1954) ‘Eastern Europe. The Changes in Agriculture from Land Reforms to Collectivization’, American Slavic and East European Review, 13(3), pp. 389–401. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2491820
Szymczak, T. (1963) Ustrój państw socjalistycznych Europy Środkowej i Południowo-Wschodniej. Warszawa–Łódź: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.