Establishment of Political Departments in State Farms of the Kyrgyz SSR during World War II
The results of 1941 indicate the enormous economic potential of the collective farms and state farms of Kyrgyzstan, as well as their capabilities in further increasing the production of food and raw materials.
1942 proved to be particularly difficult for the country's agriculture. The Soviet Union lost Ukraine, the Don region, Crimea, Kuban, and other key areas for the production of grain and technical crops, as well as livestock. Before the war, these regions were home to 45% of the USSR's population, contained 47% of the sown areas, and accounted for 45% of the livestock.
Even in the pre-war years, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Soviet government set a course for increasing grain production in the eastern regions of the country. In the resolution adopted on November 17, 1941,
the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on the production and repair of tractors, combines, agricultural machinery, and the agricultural work plan for 1942 emphasized that "in the conditions of... the temporary loss of a number of agricultural regions, the further expansion of sown areas and the increase in the yield of grain, technical, vegetable crops, and potatoes, especially in the regions of the Volga, Ural, Siberia, Central Asia, and Kazakhstan, acquires special significance in ensuring the country with food products and agricultural raw materials."
To address this challenging task, it was essential to strengthen party-organizational and mass-political work in the decisive links of the economic life of the village. In the early period of the war, the number of communists in the collective farms, machine-tractor stations (MTS), and state farms of Kyrgyzstan sharply decreased, and the network of primary party organizations was reduced. As of January 1, 1942, 64.2% of the collective farms in the republic had no primary party organizations at all. They were absent in five state farms and four MTS and MTM. In the collective farms and state farms of the republic, there were 7,127 livestock farms, among the managers of these farms, there were only 428 communists, i.e., only 6%. Among the total number of foremen of tractor, collective, and state farm brigades, communists made up only 5.4%, tractor drivers — 2.2%, and combine operators — 5.3%.
To enhance operational party leadership in agriculture, extraordinary bodies — political departments of machine-tractor stations (MTS) and state farms were established by the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on November 17, 1941. To oversee the political departments, political administrations were created under the People's Commissariats of Agriculture and State Farms of the Kyrgyz SSR, and political sectors were established under regional land departments. Experienced party, Soviet, and economic workers were promoted to the positions of heads of political departments and their deputies. Among them were former members of the twenty-five-thousanders, who played a significant role in the organizational and economic strengthening of collective farms during the collectivization period, as well as leading workers from MTS and state farms evacuated from Ukraine, Belarus, Rostov, Kursk, and Oryol regions, and from Moldova.
Agriculture of Kyrgyzstan in Service to the Front in 1941.
