The traditional economy of Yakutia and AIC “Sever”: organizational and managerial decisions of the second half of the 1980s — 1991

Studying history of indigenous economy in the Arctic and the North is relevant due to the need for further research on strategies for its adaptation in the modern agrarian system [1, Ivanov V.A.; 2, Perevalova E.V.], and to reveal the intrinsic value of indigenous economy and way of life in the area [3, Kirko V.I., Zakharova K.N.; 4, Vinokurova L., Filippova V., Suleymanov A., Grigorev S .; 5, Takakura H.; 6, Filippova V.V., Vinokurova L.I., Sannikova Ya.M., Grigorev S.A.]. In this regard, more detailed coverage of individual local issues of management decisions in the late 1980s — early 1990s about the northern farms and the study of the indigenous economy will consider those historical realities that led to subsequent transformations in the indigenous economic activity as a whole. This article draws attention to a local example of the specially created agroindustrial combine “Sever” to manage the northern farms of Yakutia and reflects the experience of real economic changes in their development in the period under study. Since in the second half of the 1980s, changes of management began in the agrarian sector as well as in all the other sectors of the economy [7, The Peasantry and Agriculture of Siberia; 8, Alekseev A.I.; 9, Verbitskaya O.M.]. Each territory of Yakutia had own peculiarities of agricultural development. From the perspective of the national economy and production, the industry was considered lagging, while agriculture and traditional economy were the true occupations of the indigenous population of the area [10, Kovlekov S.I.; 11, Vinokurova L.I.]. Under the conditions of the country's centralized economic system that developed during the Soviet years, it was stated that due to the incomplete management structure of the agro-industrial complex at the federal and republican levels, the necessary inte-

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gration of agriculture with the processing industry did not occur. No significant changes in the economic mechanism of collective farms, state farms, and service organizations were observed [10, Kovlekov S.I., p. 12]. An attempt to solve this problem was the decision to form the AllRepublican State Agro-Industrial Committee (USSR State Agro-Industrial Committee), the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers, issued on November 14, 1985. In the same month the State Agricultural Committee of the RSFSR was formed. By order of the RSFSR State Agro-Industrialism of February 25, 1986, liquidated Ministry of Agriculture of the Yakutsk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Ministry of Food Industry of the Yakutsk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, organized the State Committee of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on production and technical support of agriculture and production management "Yakutselstroy". According to the Regulations, it was the state administrative body of the agro-industrial complex of the Republic It consisted of 438 state farms, enterprises, and institutions, incl. the meat and dairy plant, the "Selkhozkhimiya" association, Gosplemobedinenie, a branch of the Dalgiprozem institute, and some enterprises of the Ministry of Food Industry. The system of the agro-industrial complex also included the Ministry of Land and Water Management, the Ministry of Forestry, the “Yakutrybprom” Association, the Management of Hunting, the Bakery and Macaroni Industry Department, and the “Holbos” Consumer Union, preserving the functions and rights provided its charter.

Creating the AIC “Sever”

In the course of the management decisions that followed soon, the northern farms of Yakutia were assigned to the jurisdiction of a new agro-industrial complex, an independent entity, separate from the State Agro-Industrial Association of the YASSR. Order No. 770 of the RSFSR State Agro-Industrial Administration of November 1, 1988 established the agro-industrial combine “Sever” in the Yakut ASSR with a separate management apparatus1. The new AIC was subordinate to the RSFSR Gosagroprom and the Council of Ministers of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Initially, 77 subdivisions (state farms, breeding groups, veterinary stations for combating diseases of farm animals, meat processing plants, interfarm mobile mechanized columns), 13 regional agricultural departments of the North of Yakutia, incl. 30 state farms, eight enterprises of republican and town significance2. Also, the State Agricultural Committee of the RSFSR included several fishing factories in the agricultural sector “Sever” of the Yakut ASSR. They were transferred from the Ministry of Fishing, incl. 6 fish factories of the Association “Yakutrybprom”. Among them: “Kolymskiy”, “Indigirskiy”, “Bykovsky” and fishing farm “Arktika”. Minmestprom transferred a souvenir factory "Sardana", (Yakutsk). Later, in December 1988, the Soviet agro-industrial complex “Sever” got the farm “Kirovskiy”, Kobyayskiy district and “Tomponsky”, Tomponsky district.3 It is interesting that, as in the order on the establishment, in the regulations on agro-industrial com- plex “Sever” of the state agro-industry of the RSFSR it was said that the AIC “Sever” was organized in accordance with the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR of September 9, 1988 № 378 “On additional measures to accelerate the economic and social development of the agroindustrial complex of the Yakut ASSR for the period up to 2000” in the order, based on economic expediency, on the terms of the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of June 7, 1984 d. № 549 "On establishment of agricultural combine “Kuban” in Krasnodarskiy Krai”. In general, the above-mentioned resolution on the AIC of the Yakutia was called an example of care, constant attention of the party and the government to the “issues of socio-economic development of the areas of residence of the peoples of the North”, and it was noted that the AIC “Sever” was created to implement one of the points of this resolution, which was to raise the social level of settlements of the North and to accelerate the economic development of the Northern state farms4. In turn, in pursuance of the above decision, the Council of Ministers of the YASSR issued resolution No. 370 of December 16, 1988 “On the establishment of agro-industrial combine “Sever”. The main task of the AIC was to increase the production of agricultural products and high-quality food products on the basis of modern technology, procurement, processing and sales of products on the basis of self-sufficiency and self-financing5. Attention was drawn to the fact that the activities of the agro-industrial complex “Sever” will have some features that open up good prospects for the plant: the right to enter the foreign market with products of reindeer husbandry and furs. (Great importance had the harvesting of reindeer panes); the AIC could sell up to 30% of the planned, all over-planned and unplanned products at negotiated prices both in the market and to the other enterprises; the AIC was supposed to assist the construction of industrial facilities, housing, social and cultural facilities for the AIC. Unlike other state farms of Yakutia, the northern farms of the RSFSR Gosagroprom annually had to allocate a certain amount of budget funds. It was noted that this was a great advantage of the AIC “Sever”, an exception to assist the social development of villages of the Republic located in the Arctic Circle6. A management decision was implemented to unite state farms, processing and service enterprises and organizations of the North of Yakutia under the general structure. The highest governing body of the plant was the Council, which convened as necessary, but not less than twice a year. Its extraordinary meetings were possible at the request of at least 1/3 of the Council members. The assembly of the Council was competent in the presence of at least 3/4 of its membership. The Council of the AIC "North" at the beginning of its activities by 1989 included approximately 60 participants, including the Director General of the AIC “Sever”, his five deputies, the manager of the trust “Severoagropromstroy”, the heads of the northern households and the workers of households — one by one Representative from the industries: reindeer herder, fisherman, hunter, fur farmer. Invited heads of farms and workers of republican bodies also took part in the meetings of the plant’s board. By mid-1989, the agrarian and industrial complex “Sever” had already united 102 organizations, including 33 state farms from 15 regions7. To promptly resolve issues of the plant’s activities, between the meetings of the Council, a Presidium of the Council was created. It was elected at a meeting of the Council. The Chairman of the Council became the Chairman of the Presidium. The Presidium convened as necessary and was competent at 3/4 of its membership. To manage the daily activities of the plant by hiring a separate control unit was created. The maximum number of the apparatus of the agro-industrial complex was approved in the amount of 65 people with an annual labor compensation fund of 8,500 thousand rubles, which was headed by the general director of the company, he was elected and dismissed by the Board of the plant with the subsequent approval of the RSFSR State Agricultural Committee. Kliment Egorovich Ivanov was appointed the first general director of the agrarian and industrial complex “Sever.” Since September 1989, it was Sidor Afanasevich Filippov.

By October 1, 1989, 110 economic entities, incl. 44 state farms and enterprises, organizations serving agricultural production, fish factories, meat, and milk plants, and inter-farm trust Severag-ropromstroy, voluntarily, by a decision of the general assembly of authorized representatives, were included in the agro-industrial complex. All enterprises maintained economic autonomy and the rights of a legal entity8. In economic terms, agricultural, industrial products, products of national crafts, products of own production in fresh or processed video, including furs sold through its trading network and on the market, was considered to be a plan by the plant. The plant performed the functions of a procurement organization, concluded contracts of procurement, contracts for the purchase of surplus agricultural and other products from the population. The board of the plant determined and approved the volume of capital investments, their direction and title lists for the construction of objects with an estimated value of one to four million rubles. The plant had the right to enter into cooperation and to establish contacts with firms of capitalist and developing countries in the field of science, technology, international production co-operation and division of labor to implement the tasks of state plans. Realization of all agricultural and industrial products produced by enterprises, organizations, and households that make up the plant by the planned targets was carried out at the approved state prices and prices of cooperative trade. Sales of products through their trading network were carried out at rates set by the combine’s plant considering product quality and consumer demand, while sales to the market and other consumers were carried out according to an agreement. The prices set by the Combine Board were to reimburse the costs of production, storage, processing, packaging, transportation, and sale of products, as well as provide the necessary savings for the expansion of production.

Characteristics of the initial organizational and management decisions

Decisions on the management and organization of activities of all subordinate enterprises of the AIC “Sever”, primarily concerned farms and state farms, they, as the leading producers of products, were a crucial element in the activities of the entire combine.

In 1989–1990 The organizational processes of 1) the disaggregation of state farms and 2) the beginning of the reorganization of forms of management became decisive in the development of northern farms.

The disintegration of the state farms themselves — the creation of new state farms proceeded as a permanent, planned process. Thus, according to the plant, in 1989, on the basis of branches of large farms of the northern regions, seven new state farms of the AIC “Sever” were organized: four farms with reindeer production units: “Kistatemsky” of the Zhiganskuy district, “Berezovsky” of the Srednekolymymskiy district, “Bytantaysky” of the Eveno-Bytantayskiy district, “Mayorsky”, of the Abyisky district and three farms for horse-breeding production: “Aleko-Kyuelsky”, “Svataysky”, and “Ebyakhsky” of the Srednekolymsky district. The reorganization began in August 1989. All calculations were carried out according to the balance sheet on September 1, 1989, within the limits of the established standards for labor and finance. In addition to the abovementioned horse-breeding production line, now in the four state farms of the region, milk and beef were additional commercial products in animal husbandry, and fur farming and animal husbandry in the hunting industry. To carry out the process of unbundling and organizing new state farms directly, the AIC commission was formed, which included the chairman, first deputy general director of the plant, and members — leading specialist, chief accountant, lead economist of the combine, director, chief accountant of the Alazeisky state farm, Chief Surveyor of Srednekolymsky District9. On December 8, 1989, to continue decisions on the newly organized state farms (as well as the Berezovsky state farm separated from the state farm “50 let SSR”) an order was issued in the AIC “Sever”. It was on the economic and social development of the new state farms of the Srednekolymsky district for the period 1990–1992. The order was about the fact that the central estates of the new state farms are socially low, the economic potential (especially of the Svatayskiy and Ebyakhskiy state farms) was assessed as low. Therefore, the AIC carried out the planning of a radical upswing in the economy and the social level of development of villages. The first steps were the approvals of indicators of the economic and social development of state farms and a plan to send managers and specialists of agricultural production to study to improve their business skills10. However, after more than half a year, on August 22, 1990, an audit of the financial and economic activities of the Berezovsky state farm concluded that the farm was not staffed with temporary workers. Also, it had no reindeer breeding base. The employees were not provided with the means of fishing and fur overalls. Poor construction was carried out on the sites of Urodan and Killem. It was approved without drawing up acts. Communication and transportation to the district center, Srednekolymskiy was carried out by helicopter only at the expense of the state farm11.

In 1990, the state farm “Adychinsky” of the Verkhoyansky District, created on January 26, 1990 by the Executive Committee of the Verkhoyansk District Council, was commissioned by a commission of 13 people until March 20 to provide the necessary materials to the district Executive Committee and the AIC “Sever” with the involvement of the YASSR officials. On April 11, 1990, Order No. 1/1 was issued on the unbundling of the Adychinsky state farm. It said that, considering the repeated requests and petitions of the Soviet institutions and based on the decision of the village assemblies of Betenkes, Tomtor, Ulakhan-Kuhel, the village Executive Committee of the Verkhoyansky Council of People's Deputies decided to disassemble the Adychinsky state farm and base state farm branches to form three state farm: state farm “Tabalahsky” on the basis of Taba-lahsky division with the center in the village Culakhan-Kyuel, state farm “Adychinsky” on the basis of the Kirov branch with the center in Betenkes, state farm “Borulakhsky” on the basis of the Borulakh branch with the center in Tomtor. The feasibility study was compiled by the Institute of Economics KOPRS YRC SB RAS. The boundaries of state farms were approved according to the presented schematic maps based on the resolution of the Council of Ministers of YASSR 197512.

On the example of the state farms of two regions, the general logic of building the northern farms in 1989–1990, supervised in the organization and economics by the AIC “Sever” is shown. Until September 1990, the curator’s order was determined by the assignment of farm specialists. The management of the plant found this order not fully justified, on September 11, 1990, as it was stated in the order, “to increase the mutual responsibility of the apparatus and specialists of the state farm and improve the overall organization of the farms and the plant’s staff, it was decided to distribute the districts by industry departments only. A total of 44 state farms in 17 districts were distributed among nine departments of the AIC “Sever”13.

The first new forms of management in the areas under study were two stud farms and a community in the early 1990s. Horse-breeding enterprises had rather only production and breeding specialization to justify their creation. On February 2, 1990, the Presidium of the AIC “Sever” adopted a resolution on the establishment of stud farms of the herd method of keeping horses of the Yakut breed. And on March 11, a commission was created. It was supposed to work on the stud farms "Sartansky" of the Verkhoyansk district and "Aleko-Kyuelsky" of the Srednekolymsky district. The State farm of the same name was reorganized by order of the AIC "Sever" from September 1 to stud farms of herd-breeding¹⁴.

The community was also created by the production specialization of the base economy, while at the same time it is clear from the documents that the process of reviving the traditional forms of economic management of the indigenous peoples of the North was of decisive im- portance. So, on August 14, 1990, an order was issued by the AIC “Sever” on the organization of an independent farm by the cooperative “Oetung” at the state farm “Allaikhovsky”. A commission was created. It was supposed to study the proposal of the “Oetunians” and submit a feasibility study to transfer the cooperative to a collective enterprise with direct subordination to the AIC “Sever” before September 1, 1990. The general justification was that during the restructuring determined the search for new forms of management, the revival, and development of national settlements and the formation of specialized production units. It was emphasized that the former workers and indigenous people of the village work at the AIC. Oetung — department of the state farm “Allaikhovsky” together with representatives of the Republican Association of Northern Peoples with a request to create an independent enterprise on the basis of their brigade, considering the peculiarities of their conditions and the status quo of indigenous people, the Oytung Evens, to organize an independent farm based on the cooperative “Oetung” at the farm “Allaikhovsky”15. As a result, the combine’s order of November 22, 1990 created a small enterprise, the Oetun Evenki Olenevodno-Commercial Community, attached to the agrarian and industrial complex Sever, to ensure employment and production of reindeer herding, hunting (domestic fur, wild reindeer) and fishing community oetunskih Evens Allai-Hovskogo area on their ancestral lands. Director was appointed Vladimir Nikolaevich Sleptsov. By the same order, on the basis of the decision of Al-laikhovsky District Council of People's Deputies of October 11, 1990 No. 158, paragraph 2., the Olenegorsky State Farm (director S.V. Shakhov) was obliged to transfer 3,000 deer free of charge from January 1, 1991 previously transferred from the Oetung branch of the state farm “Allaikhov-sky” at the organization of the state farm “Olenegorsky” in 1972. The state farm “Allaikhovsky” (director A.L. Dolinin) before December 20, 1990 was to carry out the separation of material and technical resources and the base and submit to the mill for approval. A new enterprise should also be completed with a staff of managers and specialists.

About transfer to a market economy

On October 16, 1990, a meeting of the Council of the AIC "Sever" of the Yakutsk-Sakha SSR was held. Transition to market relations was discussed and some issue were identified: difficulties encountered in the development of agricultural production, orientation to a mixed economy and development of various forms of ownership in the agricultural sector, negotiation and privatization means of production, solving problems of land reform, changing banking and financial and credit systems, pricing considering the regional features of agricultural production duction in Yakutia. It was officially adopted a resolution “On the preparation for the transition of the AIC “Sever” to the market economy”, in which the directions of its future activities were defined. So, if to generalize, besides state farms, other forms of management as national-territorial formations of the peasant, communal farms, farms, cooperatives at state farms, rental and subsidiary farms and the private sector should also be in an equal position. In economic terms, under the transition pe- riod, the procedure for planning production and procurement of agricultural products for 1991 under the current system should be maintained, considering the possibilities of contracting for the volume of production for all types of products and establishing tax (Republican state order) for 1991 in the amount of 80% of the achieved average level of 12th "pyatiletka" for the purchase and supply of meat and meat products, milk and dairy products, subject to confirmation of the material and technical supply, and fish products, furs and leather materials at the discretion of farms, subject to Republican subsidies for these products; It was proposed to submit to the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the Yakutsk-Sakha SSR questions on the allocation of subsidies to cover transportation costs, the granting of licensing rights for selling on the external market, the allocation of additional funds for land management and other works, and the scrapping of long-term and short-term loans. In the AIC “Sever”, the allocation of a subsidy to cover the costs of maintenance of housing and communal services by state farms, healthcare, culture and education and their subsequent transfer on the communal property of local Soviets. Separately, it was said that in the farms of the plant, where representatives of small nations and indigenous people of the North are engaged in traditional industries — reindeer herding, hunting and fishing, the borders of the territories should be set so as to return these people to common and communal reindeer herding and fishing grounds16.

The resolution document of the AIC's board made it clear that the organizational plan dealt with the improvement of supply for state farms, maintaining the centralized supply of material and technical resources in the Republic; creating joint ventures with foreign partners and own processing enterprises and associations; finding the possibility of obtaining a foreign loan for expanding supplies to the international market and processing inside the Republic of related products of reindeer husbandry (antlers, antler extract, endocrine gland secretions, etc.); the creation of a reserve currency fund in the AIC “Sever” to solve general socio-economic and economic issues; it was proposed even to provide a republican subsidy for successful competition with the shadow economy in the purchase of fur raw materials. In addition to direct production, there were other tasks of various organizational and financial nature in the management: preservation of the AIC “Sever” as a vital economic unit. Until December 15, 1990, it was required to develop and submit a new AIC's management structure that met the conditions of market relations with the necessary contractual work of each department with the combine’s facilities. Working together with the Association of the Peoples of the North (incl. the development of legislative initiatives in the field of traditional industries); work on the establishment of a combine in small aviation to establish commercial banks and membership of farms and enterprises of the combine in connection with the upcoming sharp increase in tariffs; material incentives for employees of the plant. Also, it was separately stated that the funds intended for deduction in the RSFSR Ministry of Agriculture for 1990 should be redistributed in order of assistance to cover the disaster of households of the Indigirka, Kolyma and Yana river basins. In general, the organizational and managerial decisions of were also affected by the priority tasks of the new economic policy in the AIC of the Republic, adopted at the extended meeting of the State Agricultural Committee of Yakutsk-Sakha SSR on October 27, 1990, in the form of a list of events for October-December 1990–199117and the adoption of the Model Provision on the nomadic tribal community of small peoples of the Yakutsk-Sakha SSR, approved by Resolution No. 24 of the Council of Ministers of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which became significant for the creation of new forms of management as for the process of reviving the traditional lifestyle of the indigenous peoples of the North. On February 25, 1991, the Presidium of the Council of the AIC "Sever" approved a list of measures to introduce the priorities of the new economic policy in the AIC "Sever" in 1991, among which the first was the organization of various forms of management: start practical work on the organization of rental, community enterprises, farms and agro-firms that meet the conditions of a market economy and are engaged in a complete cycle: production, processing and trade; for the transfer of on-farm subdivisions to independent commodity producers — rental collectives at a state farm with the right to own products and income. It was also necessary to develop proposals for determining ways of further conducting unprofitable and low-profitable enterprises and submit them to the RSFSR Ministry of Agriculture and Food; to develop agricultural ties for the processing of fur, to organize sewing farms from fur raw materials at state farms, to provide them with special equipment, to create their own trading system; to recognize as expedient the export types of furs, with the participation of experts, to accept them for export, bring the task for manning, etc.18

Economic conditions of the farms

The year 1989 was practically the first one in the activity of the AIC “Sever”. As of January 1, 1989, the farms of the AIC “Sever”: 33 state farms in 15 districts — accounted for 91% of deer (303 thousand heads), 17% of horses (29 thousand heads), 7.6% of large cattle (22 thousand heads) of the republican livestock of domestic animals, 52.5% of commercial and 47% of cellular furs. The state farms of the republic had 332 thousand deer heads, incl., 303 thousand heads, or 91% in 32 northern state farms of the AIC “Sever”. Among them, 22 state farms specialized in reindeer herding, where 1 950 reindeer herders worked in 265 brigades. The management of the AIC emphasized that Yakutia is a large reindeer herding region of the country. According to the AIC, in the annual state order, venison meat was 50%, revenues from the sale of venison meat and its products were 37–40 million rubles, while about 4 million rubles were received from the sale of reindeer meat. The significance of the northern farms was highlighted in the following thesis of the reporting documents of the AIC “Sever”: in economic and socio-economic terms, domestic reindeer breeding is the main industry on which the financial and economic activities of the whole the AIC “Sever” depend — household, living conditions of the peoples of the North. This complex of issues related to the development of reindeer herding, the improvement of the social and living conditions of reindeer herders, should have been directed to the attention of the apparatus of the AIC “Sever”, heads of enterprises in the field 19.

In August 1989, for the seven months of the current year, the enterprises (farms) of the plant officially submitted the following indicators: they fulfilled the state order for the sale of milk by 100%, meat by 14%, furs harvesting by 126%; industrial enterprises of the plant produced in the amount of 4 million 936 thousand rubles, having fulfilled the plan for the production of wholedairy products by 107%, meat - 2.3 times. In the first six months of 1989, the capital construction plan for all sources was fulfilled by 103%, 20 million rubles were spent. In the first six months of 1989, the enterprises of the combine received profits for 26 million 245 thousand rubles. 277 subdivisions or 23% of all enterprises of the combine worked on the rental contract20.

The activity of 12 reindeer state farms, which transferred to the direct delivery of livestock products directly to trade, as well as the expansion of foreign economic relations of the plant with foreign firms were recognized as productive. The following were attributed to serious omissions and unused reserves in the activities of enterprises of the plant in implementing socio-economic development plans: in seven months of 1989, 13 state farms failed to sell milk, including the Aby-isky and Arylakhsky state farms, "Alazeysky", "50 years of the USSR", "Oimyakonsky", "Kirovsky"; low quality indicators of reindeer herding as the main industry was in the state farms "Anabarsky", "Ust-Yansky", "Taymylyrsky", "Zhigansky", "Bulunsky". In general, the state farms of the plant in comparison with 1988 received less than 12 thousand heads of young deer. As a result, there were serious difficulties in fulfilling the plan for the delivery of meat and milk. As can be seen from the resolution of the Council of the AIC dated August 17, 1989, the main problems in the current economic activity of the plant during the first six months were the following: issues of creating a base for processing livestock products, switching to waste-free production, installing refrigerators, modern technology, leather processing, and fur raw materials; there were particular difficulties in the material and technical support of the enterprises of the plant, and especially in the completion of construction projects by an economic means; there were severe deficiencies in accounting and reporting, due to the incompleteness of the central audit department, not a single audit was conducted within eight months; the restructuring of work in the new conditions of economic relations in the plant’s apparatus and its departments was slow21.

Six months later, on February 2, 1990, the combine’s board summed up the financial and economic activities of the enterprises of the agroindustrial complex “North” in 1989 and adopted another resolution stating that the state order for the purchase of livestock was completed on 111 , 6%, milk — by 99.6%, fish by contract — by 100%, fur — by 117%. 1,577 tons of meat, 1,053 thousand rubles were delivered over the plan. Furs, 87 tons of fish. Three state farms failed to cope with the state order for meat: “Severny”, “Oymyakonsky”, “50 let SSR”. 14 state farms failed to cope with the state order for milk, including they allowed a decline against last year and the state farms of the Srednekolymy district, “50 let SSR”, “Abyisky”, “Oymyakonsky” did not fulfill the state order. In the state farms of the plant, the plan for livestock of cattle was exceeded for 689 heads, pigs — for 420 heads, the method for the herd of horses was not fulfilled for 1,435 heads, incl. state farms of Verkhoyansk district — by 951 heads22.

It was also noted that as a result of insufficient organizational work on the part of the leaders of the reindeer state farms and the departments of the combine for the implementation of the resolution of the OK CPSU’s and the Council of Ministers of the Yakut ASSR indicators of the main industry — reindeer herding — are not improving, there are serious problems and shortcomings in the organization of working and living conditions for reindeer herders. At the end of the year, the plan for the output of the livestock of deer was fulfilled by 97.2%, the unproductive waste of deer was 44.29% of the heads. Of serious concern was the state of reindeer herding in state farms from the studied regions: “Bulunsky”, “Anabarsky”, “Ust-Yansky”, “Silianiahsky”.Despite the overall implementation of the plan for the development of state investments (for all sources of financing) by 104.5%, incl. SMR 100%, state farms under-utilized from the studied areas: “Ust-Yanskiy”, “Zhi-ganskiy”, “Olerinskiy”, “Anabarskiy”, “Severniy”, “Adychinskiy”, “Verkhoyanskiy”, “Iskra”, “Silyann-yakhsky”, and “Kirovskiy”. As was stated, as a result of the weakening of organizational work and the lack of accounting for economic methods of management, many state farms did not receive the planned profits for 1989: “Abysky” — 40%, “Indigirsky” — 76%, “Adychinsky” — 54%, “50 let SSR” — 86%,“Oimyakonsky” — 67%. It was concluded that the combine had unsatisfactorily organized the organizational work on the transition to waste-free production, processing of deer products, fur production23. The economic methods and foreign economic activity of the enterprises of the combine did not bring the expected result either. There were serious shortcomings in the material and technical supply of the northern state farms. A total of 15 the Arctic and north uluses under study for 1985–1991. Livestock decreased from 344,117 heads to 279,405 heads, i.e., by 18.8%, for cattle — from 35,380 heads to 34,787 heads or by 1.7%, the livestock of horses increased relatively — from 34,936 heads to 38,255 heads — by 8.7%. In one year, from 1990 to 1991, the volume of meat in live weight decreased from 13,660 tons to 12,173 tons, i.e., by 10.9%; milk production volumes increased relatively — from 26,863 tons to 27,765 tons or by 3.2%24.

Additionally, it should be noted that on this background, the local socio-economic development was attempted to be strengthened by measures such as transferring the farms to direct delivery of products, auditing the financial and economic condition of the farms, rendering assistance to the farms in areas in emergencies due to natural disasters. Natural disasters, an analysis of the socio-economic development of traditional industries by the AIC “Sever”... Despite the fact that all these processes were of great importance in general during the initial transformation the traditional economy of the late twentieth century, its real state is shown on the basis of quantitative indicators as the main criteria for the well-being of farms: the number of livestock in reindeer herding, cattle breeding, breeding and production in the fishing and hunting industries.

Conclusion

In the context of the study of the problem of the development of the traditional economy of the Arctic and the North, the individual issues of management decisions in Yakutia regarding the northern farms in the face of a specially created management structure - the agroindustrial combine "North" show that irreversible socio-economic transformation processes that are irreversible began in 1989. And in 1990–1991 there were active organizational, managerial and socioeconomic changes that led the economy to fundamental changes in the last decade of the twentieth century. If we single out the main ones, they were as follows.

In terms of organization and management, the creation of the North industrial agroindustrial complex under the RSFSR State Agro-Industrial Complex with fairly wide powers in its activities, including the socio-economic development of the Arctic and northern farms, then still state farms, was completely new. Organization of the plant was associated with the management desire from above, practically on the example of the union level, to create an association, which is important, with planning and financial support for managing farms in the traditional sectors of the North. At the same time, the structure of the official functioning of the plant was such that the main governing body was the Council, including representatives from, mainly, managers, with the elected Presidium, and the plant apparatus was hired for day-to-day ongoing work with farms and enterprises.

In terms of specific organizational and managerial decisions in relation to the households, it is necessary to highlight the fact that in 1989 the processes of the unbundling of state farms and the reorganization of forms of management of some state farms began, as yet within the framework of cost accounting, in particular, leasing production relations. During this period, the social and political substantiation of the economic development of the representatives of the indigenous peoples of the North engaged in traditional sectors of the economy began to strengthen. Therefore, all organizational and economic actions were not only of economic but of public importance. Thus, the process of unbundling state farms went on as a process of creating new independent farms by former branches, although organizational difficulties existed on the ground, and in reality, the state of affairs in the new state farms was quite complicated. The first new forms of management, in contrast to the state farms, were the stud farm and the community, which were based both on the traditions of the horse-breeding and reindeer-breeding specialization of farms and on the revival potential of the Oetung Evens clan association.

Preparation of the transition directly to market relations in the northern farms, which were under the jurisdiction of the plant, was first officially declared for them in October 1990. The main emphasis was placed on the active continuation of the creation of the first tribal communities, stud farms, peasant farms, collective enterprises based on the changing forms of ownership, a special process until the end of 1991. Almost all the questions concerned the expansion of economic activity from the point of view of new economic opportunities, and The changes that were beginning were, we can say, quite declarative.

In the economic condition of the farms, with all the current actions in the light of the decisions taken by the combine and the correct positioning of Yakutia as one of the leading oilproducing regions of the country, a certain decrease in quantitative and qualitative indicators became a visible problem. If we talk about the main indicator of the well-being of the northern economy, the number of livestock, then for 1985–1991. In the northern regions studied, the number of deer and cattle decreased, while the number of horses and horses still maintained a positive trend. In the volume of production of the main product, meat production decreased, but the volume of milk production remained. Thus, the last years of the Soviet economy, considered, reflected in a peculiar way on the development of the northern farms of Yakutia, a specially created management body — the agrarian and industrial complex “North” — led the socio-economic processes in the farms through organizational and managerial decisions, which could not always claim concrete return in the form of an improvement in the state of affairs in traditional industries, but were characteristic of the beginning of a transformational period in the development of farms, which is important to show using specific examples that prove the documents of the studied period.