This holiday remained in Soviet times

In autumn, Russia celebrates "Day of Agricultural Workers." The professional holiday is dedicated to the end of the main agricultural work, to the completion of the harvest. In Soviet times, the day of the agricultural worker was celebrated first on the second Sunday of October, then, since 1986, on the third Sunday of November. In 1999, Russian President Yeltsin, by his decree, again defined the second Sunday of October as the day of celebrations. But this decree already looked like a mockery of the villagers: there was nothing to celebrate. Agriculture was destroyed and continued to be systematically destroyed.

How does the village live today? It is clear that in the village there was a class division: the former collective farmers and state farm workers turned into wage agricultural workers, and they are exploited by the “new kulaks” and the latifundists - owners of argos enterprises. But in the case of the Russian village, it is not just about the restoration of capitalism, but about the destruction of the village - with the real extinction of people. The Russian village, under false stories about "import substitution," continues to be destroyed in the interests of international capital.

The rural population in Russia today is 25% of the total population of the country. That is, one in four Russians lives “in the countryside”. The share of peasants in the population of Russia is steadily decreasing: for example, back in 2001 the percentage of rural residents was 27%.

In absolute terms, according to Rosstat, there was also a decrease from 39.2 million people up to 37.3 million people That is, the Russian village is not developing, but is slowly dying out.

It is worth noting that the number of villagers would be even smaller if not for the joining of Crimea. So, in 2014, the number of villagers has already dropped to 37.1 million people, but thanks to the infusion of new citizens into the Russian population, in 2015 it “jumped” to 38 million people. And then it continued to decline - to the current 37.3 million.

In 2018, the natural decline in the rural population was 2.9%. This, of course, is not the situation in 2001, when this figure reached 7.3%, but the trends are the same. Since 2001, there has not been a single year in a Russian village that would demonstrate population growth. Only 2013 gave, there was little hope for a rectification of the situation: this year the growth became zero. But the next year, 2014, returned to negative values.

For comparison, we can say that things were better in the city: there was a small natural population growth in 2013-2016. (However, many experts are sure that the "gain" appeared as a result of fraud by Rosstat with numbers.)

Moreover, the total fertility rate in rural areas is even higher than in the city. So, per woman in the village there are 1.87 children, while in the city this figure is 1.48.

Life expectancy in the countryside is less than in the city. According to official data for 2018, the villager lived on average 76 years, while the townswoman lived 78 years. For men, the picture is similar: 66 years live in the village, while in the city - 68 years. It turns out that village men die almost when they reach retirement age. However, many people consider the statistics to be false, but in reality the villagers live even less.

The atmosphere of life in the village is complemented by another terrible figure - the number of suicides. In total, in 2018, 18 thousand 206 people settled accounts in Russia. As we remember, every fourth Russian is a resident of the village, but among the suicides of the villagers in percentage terms - more. 10 thousand 806 suicidal citizens had 7 thousand 400 villagers who resorted to suicide. That is, more than a third of suicides are residents of the countryside.

90 years ago, the Soviet village was rapidly transforming: a new, collective farm life was replacing the patriarchal way of life, the dominance of the rich, hard work. Tractors and combines came to the fields, schools, hospitals, and cultural centers were built in rural areas. The educational and cultural level of the villagers increased. The Communist Party of the Bolsheviks proclaimed a course to overcome the differences between town and country, which meant a further rise in the standard of living in the village, providing the villagers with all the benefits that the townspeople have.

Today, the rich again reign, and the working people are hunchbacked for a penny. The villages are empty, schools, hospitals and FAPs are closing, and cultural houses in many towns already gaping empty sockets, turning into "abandoned houses." Alcoholization of the population has become catastrophic.

Only a new socialist revolution can stop the process of reaction and degradation. Only the union of rural workers with the urban proletariat for the sake of victory in the class struggle against the capitalists will return to the people of labor the prospect of a happy life.

Until then, the Russian peasant has nothing to celebrate ...

Dar Vetrov


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