Soviet Resettlement Policy in the Second Half of the 1940s – 1980s: The Experience of the RSFSR

Abstract

The article examines the problem of the formation of the Soviet resettlement policy in the context of a decrease in the rural population of donor regions in the second half of the 40s - 80s. XX century on the example of the RSFSR. To achieve this goal, many historical documents were analyzed and summarized, which are contained mainly in the central archives of the Russian Federation. Such changes were caused, on the one hand, by a decrease in natural growth in the regions that were traditionally places of departure for new settlers, on the other hand, by a change in the settlement structure. Despite the demographic processes negative for the implementation of the resettlement policy, the country's leadership did not abandon this method of redistributing residents of some regions of the state in favor of others. It is noted that, while preserving the planned agricultural resettlement as a tool for increasing the demographic potential in certain regions and mitigating the shortage of labor in the enterprises of the agricultural sector, the Center inevitably faced the problem of finding sources for the formation of resettlement flows. From the beginning of the 1980s the solution to this problem in the USSR was ensured by several factors: firstly, the spread of the practice of intraregional resettlement; secondly, the inclusion of urban residents in the number of planned migrants, and not just villagers, as it was before; thirdly, the involvement of the inhabitants of Central Asia and the Transcaucasus in the organized migration. It is important to note that the article provides the information on the geography of the places of exodus for the second half of the 1940s – 1980s. indicating the most significant (by the number of people sent). Reflection of statistical data with a wide temporal and geographical coverage makes it possible to trace changes, on the one hand, in the intensity of migration ties between donor and recipient regions, and on the other, in the state policy of resettlement. The article is addressed to representatives of the scientific community (historians and demographers) and state institutions responsible for the development of modern migration policy.