YUDINA T.V. Labor Force at Industrial Enterprises in the Lower Volga Region at the Turn of the 1920s and 1930s: Organization of the Use of Dekulakized Labor
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2026.3.9
Taisiya V. Yudina,
Doctor of Sciences (History), Professor, Department of History and International Relations, Volgograd State University, Prosp. Universitetsky, 100, 400062 Volgograd, Russian Federation,
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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0526-6484
Abstract. Introduction. The construction of new industrial enterprises in the Lower Volga region in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as the reconstruction of existing enterprises, required a constant influx of a labor force. Recruitment agencies ran various campaigns to hire workers, primarily from the countryside, by sending recruiters on trips to settlements in Saratov, Stalingrad, Astrakhan, and other nearby provinces. Despite the replenishment, many enterprises in the Lower Volga Region continued to experience an insufficient complement of the labor force. Because of such conditions in the early 1930s, a number of industrial enterprises in the region began to attract labor militia members, so-called “non-working elements,” or dekulakized peasants. Methods and materials. The use of a systematic approach, analysis, and synthesis allowed us to understand the specifics of the use of labor by the dekulakized and their family members. Analysis. The use of their labor was applied not only in civilian but also in military construction and was strictly centralized. The host enterprises, which needed a labor force, were obliged to provide the dekulakized with housing, tools, food, and necessary kitchen equipment. The distribution and movement of the dispossessed labor force were controlled by the Lower Volga Regional Labor Department and, upon agreement with the regional department, by the city ones. The use of the labor of the dispossessed in the enterprises of the Lower Volga region was regulated by the Model Agreement, which clearly defined the share contributions of each employee to the mandatory security for them and the labor authorities and fixed the amounts of cash payments from the earned funds. The Labor Code adopted in the RSFSR in 1918 did not apply to Soviet citizens who had been dekulakized, so their wages for the same work were significantly lower than those of other workers. Results. The state policy implemented towards dekulakized peasants who were not deported outside their region led to the use of cheap labor for industrial needs, while they and their family members were provided with the minimum necessary conditions for living and fulfilling their work obligations.
Key words: labor force, industrial enterprises, dekulakized, Lower Volga region, labor authorities.
Citation. Yudina T.V. Labor Force at Industrial Enterprises in the Lower Volga Region at the Turn of the 1920s and 1930s: Organization of the Use of Dekulakized Labor. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 4. Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 2026, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 95-104. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2026.3.9
Labor Force at Industrial Enterprises in the Lower Volga Region at the Turn of the 1920s and 1930s: Organization of the Use of Dekulakized Labor © 2026 by Yudina T.V. is licensed under CC BY 4.0 
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