M. Tugan-Baranovskyabout the ways of solving the agrarian question in the Dnieper Ukraine in the Early Twentieth Century

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M. Tugan-Baranovskyabout the ways of solving the agrarian question in the Dnieper Ukraine in the Early Twentieth Century

Volodymyr Dubinskiy

Dubinsky Volodymyr. M. Tugan-Baranovsky on Ways to Solve the Agrarian Question in the Dnieper Ukraine in the Early Twentieth Century

Keywords: agrarian question, land distribution, nationalization of land, cadets' party, autonomy of Ukraine, purchase of land, cooperative movement

Дубінський Володимир. М. Туган-Барановський про шляхи розв'язання аграрного питання в Наддніпрянській Україні на початку ХХ ст.

У статті аналізуються ідеї відомого науковця та громадського діяча М. І. Туган-Барановського щодо врегулювання аграрних відносин початку ХХ століття в підросійській Україні. Акцентується увага на аналізі змісту публікацій ученого початку ХХ століття, присвячених аграрній тематиці. Також характеризуються теоретичні праці М. Туган-Барановського з питань земельних відносин, механізмів їх врегулювання, розвитку кооперативного руху та його перспектив. Звертається увага на розгляд ним причин і способів вирішення аграрного питання, в порівнянні з підходами українських лібералів того часу. Серед шляхів розв'язання М. Туган-Барановський визначав: націоналізацію землі, її викуп і підвищення інтенсифікації сільського господарства. Важливим дієвим засобом покращення аграрної сфери, на думку науковця, був кооперативний рух. Характеризується безпосередня участь М. Туган-Барановського в ньому та підходи щодо його удосконалення й розвитку в Наддніпрянщині. Показано практичні кроки діяльності науковця у роботі Лохвицького товариства на Полтавщині, починаючи від читання лекцій, закінчуючи участю у зборах його представників. Особлива увага звертається на поєднання у вирішенні аграрного та національного питань в підросійській Україні на початку ХХ ст.

Ключові слова: аграрне питання, розподіл землі, націоналізація землі, партія кадетів, автономія України, викуп землі, кооперативний рух.

Дубинский Владимир. М. Туган-Барановский о путях разрешения аграрного вопроса в надднепрянской Украине в начале ХХ ст.

В статье анализируются идеи известного ученого и общественного деятеля М.И. Туган-Барановского на урегулирование аграрных отношений начала ХХ века в подроссийской Украине. Акцентируется внимание на анализе содержания публикаций ученого начала ХХ века, посвященных аграрной тематике. Также характеризуются теоретические труды М. Туган-Барановского по вопросам земельных отношений, механизмов их урегулирования, развития кооперативного движения и его перспектив. Обращается внимание на рассмотрение им причин и способов решения аграрного вопроса, по сравнению с подходами украинских либералов того времени. Среди путей решения М. Туган-Барановский предлагал: национализацию земли, ее выкуп и повышение интенсификации сельского хозяйства. Важным действенным средством улучшения аграрной сферы, по мнению ученого, было кооперативное движение. Характеризуется непосредственное участие М. Туган-Барановского в нем и подходы к его усовершенствованию и развитию в Надднепрянщине. Показано практические шаги деятельности ученого в работе Лохвицкого общества на Полтавщине, начиная от чтения лекций, заканчивая участием в собрании его представителей. Особое внимание обращается на сочетание в решении аграрного и национального вопросов в подроссийской Украине в начале ХХ в. scientist agrarian publications

At the beginning of XX century M. Tugan-Baranovsky actively took part in the discussion of the means of reformation of the Russian society. Agrarian issues occupied an important place in his ideas. At this time, three collected volumes of the scientist were published in which he drew attention to the ways of settling land relations, including in the territory of sub-Russian Ukraine. Also, there are some of his articles on the problems of economic and political life.

Today, the given issue has become the object of deep study and analysis. V. Strelets, S. Danchenko, L. Gorkin, S. Zlupko and others did their best in this regard. However, publications which would cover the achievements of M. Tugan-Baranovsky concerning the settlement of the agrarian problems of the early twentieth century in the Dnieper Ukraine still do not exist. Therefore, in this article we try to investigate the researcher's groundwork in solving the agrarian question in the Dnieper Ukraine, based on the use of his groundworks and publicist writings in the early twentieth century.

M. Tugan-Baranovsky also tried to explain all the issues of the agrarian problems and to identify the main ways of solving them. Most of the Ukrainian liberal leaders considered that one of the reasons for the severity of land relations was the land scarcity and landlessness of the peasants. However, according to the opinion of an economist, the more important problem of the agrarian relations at the beginning of the XX century is, first of all, the quality of running the farming by the peasants.

The uncertainty of the agrarian question foresaw the ways of finding of its solutions. One of the important aspects of which was the problem of the distribution of land ownership among different sections of the population.

M. Tugan-Baranovsky, who was the member of the All-Russian Cadets Party, also stood in the liberal position in solving the issue of land distribution, but "from his youth and being a student he considered himself the Ukrainian patriot"¹. In his article "Nationalization of Land and Repayment", featured in the Ukrainian Bulletin, he expressed the idea of nationalization of the land. "The nationalization of land must be adapted to the unchanging conditions of the capitalist economy, because only in this case land reform can be succeeded"². In his view, the more economically advantageous form of land transfer was not its confiscation but repayment. The scientist believed that the confiscation of land could lead to negative economic consequences. He noted that "as a result, the peasants would have to be taxed" and, consequently, "as much state tax rubles would fall on the land as the interest would not fall when it was bought out in the ordinary capitalist way"³. The introduction of forced free alienation of land would also lead to the decline of other branches of economic life - industry, commerce, and banking. Therefore, he believed that the only one correct way to solve this problem could be repayment, and "the land should refund its mortgage debt. This is the only way to pay the land for its alienation"⁴. In the case of land nationalization, according to M. Tugan-Baranovsky, it should be transferred to the regional land fund. He stressed that that was possible only in the conditions of autonomy of Ukraine. "The purchased land should form a non-subject to private ownership of the national land fund that society could own for the benefit of the whole people, "said the economist⁵. In his view, this reform can only be of practical importance if the ransom is forced and at prices set by the state⁶. And for redemption operations it is necessary to create in each county "special land district commissions of the people selected for this purpose" which should consist of landowners and peasants⁷. Assessing the views and activities of M. Tugan-Baranovsky, O. Mytsyuk concludes that the scientist "submits exactly the same minimum of national claims, which were then stipulated by conscious Ukrainians as the first and inevitable step for the development of the Ukrainian people"⁸.

There were disagreements among Ukrainian liberals about the land ownership. In particular, they argued that land ownership should only be determined by the right to use communal land that belonged to communal ownership.

The Ukrainian liberals, who were part of the Russian Party of Cadets, on the contrary, believed that a nationwide land fund should be formed in the Russian state. Therefore, there is no need to consider the ownership of peasants on land. According to M. Tugan-Baranovsky, the land owner must be the state. Individuals may own no more than 50 acres of land. All other state-owned land is leased to grain farmers at "the highest price"⁹. And the state "... through the mediation of its local authorities, must take all necessary measures to improve the quality of the land and the most profitable combination of land"¹⁰. We also see that an important condition for regulating agrarian relations is the intensification of agriculture. The scientist noted: "... It is also necessary to raise machinery and expand land use, not to raise only machinery or only expand land use. One does not exclude, but complements, or even requires the other"¹¹.' He remarked: "Land should be given to tenants for a lifetime, because only in this case the tenant will be interested in the most rational cultivation and amelioration"¹².

The weak point of the Ukrainian liberal movement of the inter-revolutionary time was, in our opinion, the lack of materials and explorations of a scientific and economic nature regarding the settlement of agrarian problems in the Dnieper region. The only publication of this nature was M. Tugan-Baranovsky's own article, published in 1916, and devoted to the problem of creating an agricultural market within the Russian state. The well-known economist believed that it was possible to solve the problem of "the poor state of our agriculture" only by initiating the activity of the state in the foreign market. He wrote: "Many people think that our agriculture does not need an external market because we do not export from a disadvantage but from scarcity"¹³. Therefore, the scientist urged to revive the process of concluding treaties on the establishment of the internal market for agricultural products and take measures to protect it. It stated: "The objective of our trade policy must be to combat German agrarian protectionism"¹⁴. Active foreign trade in the context of war was considered by the author as important component of fulfilling obligations to other states. We do not see any other material of similar nature in the representatives of the liberal movement.

Among the legal forms of activity, the representatives of the liberal direction preferred to participate in the cooperative movement. These forces provided the Ukrainian cooperatives with ideological content and made it a prominent factor not only in the economic but also in the cultural and political life of the Ukrainian people. M. Tugan-Baranovsky was also the most prominent figure in the cooperative movement. In his view, cooperative farms were "the only example of new forms of economic organizations that emerged as a result of the conscious efforts of broad social groups to transform the existing economic system in a particular direction" ¹⁵ In addition, he believed that cooperation was not only "a form of self-protection for workers" from the influence of capital, but also "the only possible means of raising their economic well-being"¹⁶. Thus, analyzing the process of creation of consumer societies in the countryside the scientist points to their positive effects. In one of his works we read: "... And indeed, we see that the creation of a rural consumer society leads to a significant reduction in prices. Thus, a study held by 160 companies in Kyiv province found that the price reduction for goods reached 5-25% "¹⁷. At the same time, M. Tugan-Baranovsky highlighted the negative aspects of the development of peasant cooperation. He wrote: "... peasant cooperation covers only one area of the peasant economy, and in fact, the area of exchange, not peasant production work"¹⁸. In his view, the organization of cooperatives can be carried out in two ways: "... or consumer societies for the needs of its members to organize the production of agricultural products; or not the consumers but the farmers, producers of agricultural commodities, are united in a cooperative way"¹⁹.

A striking example of the participation of Ukrainian liberal-democratic figures in the country councils was the work of M. Tugan-Baranovsky in the Lochvitskiy Agricultural Society in Poltava. His activity in this area was evidenced by the fact that he made reports on cooperative affairs²⁰, represented the interests of the society in the work of the All-Russian Chamber of Agriculture21 and constantly participated in meetings of the society and held cooperative courses²². Regarding the latter, in the newspaper "Lochvitskoe Slovo" we read: "M.I. T.-B. (M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky) considers that courses in cooperative business, in addition to practical importance, <...> can serve as a means of disseminating knowledge about cooperation in general "²³. For practical activity in the Lochvitskyi society, M.I. Tugan-Baranovsky suggested: to visit a cooperative county in order to get acquainted with the nature and peculiarities of the activity, to extend the charter of the society and to hold "special" meetings²⁴. Finally, the scientist believes that "... These social reforms must, first and foremost, cover the area of agrarian relations - they must lead to the transfer of land to the working people on those terms that most contribute to raising the productivity of social work"²⁵. And in agriculture, "capitalism must give way to peasant labor linked by cooperation to strong unions and leagues"²⁶.

In general M. Tugan-Baranovsky in his writings and articles of the early XX century identified not only the causes of agrarian problems in sub-Russian Ukraine, but also ways to solve them. Notable among them were: nationalization of land; preservation of foreclosure as a mechanism of land ownership transfer; intensification of agriculture and development of cooperative movement.

Примітки

1. Мицюк О. І. Наукова діяльність політико-економіста М. Ів. Туган- Барановського. Львів, 1931. С. 5.

2. Туган-Барановський М. Націоналізація і викуп // Український вісник. №4. 11 июля. С. 212.

3. Там само. С. 245.

4. Там само. С. 217.

5. Там само. С. 212.

6. Там само. С. 218.

7. Туган-Барановський М. Земельна реформа. Нариси руху на користть земельної реформи та практичні висновки. Санкт-Петербург: Общественная польза, 1905. С. 177.

8. Мицюк О. Назв. праця. С. 28.

9. Туган-Барановський М. Земельна реформа. С. 34.

10. Там само. С. 36.

11. Там само. С. 164.

12. Там само. С. 176-177.

13. Туган-Барановський М. Війна та майбутні торгівельні угоди // Лохвицьке слово. 1916. №20. 8 березня. С. 2-4.

14. Там само. С. 2.

15. Туган-Барановський М. Соціальні основи кооперації. Москва, 1916. С. 4.

16. Там само. С. 94.

17. Там само. С. 340.

18. Там само. С. 500.

19. Туган-Барановський М. І. Російська революція і соціалізм. Петроград, 1917. С.26.

20. Местная хроника // Лохвицьке слово. 1915. №45. 9 червня. С. 3.

21. Там само.

22. Там само.

23. Местная хроника // Лохвицьке слово. 1915. №52. 3 червня. С. 5.

24. Местная хроника // Лохвицьке слово. 1915. №44. 3 червня. С. 5.

25. Там само. 1915. № 52. 3 липня. С. 4.

26. Туган-Барановський М. І. Російська революція і соціалізм. С. 29.

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