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Equity Relations and the Future 

 of Agrarian Reform in Russia' 



Stephen K. Wegren 



Department of Political Science 



Southern Methodist University 



Dallas, TX 



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 



• The purpose of reform, from the government's point of view, is twofold. First, and 

 most urgent, is to provide sufficient quantities of food at reasonable prices to consumers. 



• The second purpose of reform is to introduce efficiency and cost-efTeciiveness into the 

 system that heretofore was lacking. 



• The consequences of price liberalization resulted in an extreme financial drain from the 

 rural sector and forced ihe Yel'tsin administration to introduce compensation and further 

 subsidies to food producers. By mid-1992 the state began to pursue a more egalitarian 

 policy toward all farms. 



• The sources of egalitarianism under Yeltsin are twofold. First, we can see a carryover 

 from Soviet rural egalitarian policy. 



• Second, the effects of market reform led to an abandonment of rural differentiation 

 anyjng farms. These basic impulses can be seen by reference to a number of aspects in land 

 reform. 



• Obtaining Land 



• The "Law on Peasant Farms" stipulated the right of "every able-bodied citizen" who 



' Tlje research for this article is basod upon field work in Kosuoma OWasL Three trips by the author were 

 made within a twelve month period, ihc first in December 1991-Janiiary 1992, the second during June-July 

 1992, and the third in January 1993. 



A reference list of sources obtained in Kostroma used in this paper api)cars at the end. Full citations for 

 other sources arc given in Uic footnotes. 



