Concession policy of the Soviet Union in agriculture: a review of the recent historiography

Introduction. The article analyzes the issues of agricultural concession presented in the works of Russian researchers Maxim Matveyevich Zagorulko, Vladimir Viktorovich Bulatov and German historian Marina Schmider. Methods and materials. The monographs are significantly complemented by the already known works on concession policy and practice, as the authors introduce a significant number of new sources and statistics from German and Russian archives and libraries. To provide an objective analysis of the scientific works, the author uses the historical-system and historical-comparative methods. Analysis. The Russian researchers analyze the economic activities of four agricultural concessions: “Druzag”, “Manych”, “Druag”, “Prikumskoye Russo-American Partnership”. They identified factors that influenced the increase or decrease in profitability of the enterprises.M. Schmider focused her attention on changing the attitude of the government and business circles of Germany to the concession policy pursued in the USSR. In addition, it reveals the role of German agricultural concessions in the development of the German economy. The author identified mechanisms of influence on the Soviet leadership, which were used to facilitate the activities of two large agricultural concessions - Manych-Krupp and Druzag. It should be noted that the memoirs of German employees of agricultural concessions helped to recreate the life and activity of Soviet and German workers and employees, compare their working conditions, describe the relationship with the local population and government officials. Results . The authors conclude that the effective management methods and economic activities of these concessions contributed to increasing their competitiveness in comparison with similar Soviet enterprises. However, the activities of the concessions depended not only on the interest of the Soviet leadership in them, but also on the foreign policy relations of Germany and the Soviet state.