Utopian visions of contemporary rural-urban Russia

Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal. 2017. Vol. 1. No. 5. P. 673–690.

Trotsuk I., Nikulin A.

Rural Russia is undergoing profound changes in its social and economic structure, differing greatly in numerous regions of the country and in the agrarian economy as a whole. This is due to both internal transformations of the last decades of post-Soviet transition and external causes related to processes globalization. The most visible of these changes is the growing concentration of large-scale agribusiness landholdings. This concentration is transforming rural-urban linkages, intensifying rural-urban migration, leading to the disappearance of smallholders, family farmers and even entire rural settlements. This contribution considers key aspects of contemporary rural-urban reciprocity in Russia through the analytical lens of the utopian models of rural development proposed by A.V. Chayanov for both Russia and the world. It is argued here that Chayanov’s models of social development provide an optimal conceptual frame to understand the contemporary contradictions between the town and village, industry and agriculture, the peasantry and the capitalist state. Furthermore, we question whether and to what extent Chayanov’s harmonious utopia has been achieved in Russia.

Keywords: Russia, utopia, rural-urban reciprocity, Chayanov, autarchy