THE ROLE OF PERSONNEL SUPPLY IN THE INTENSIFICATION OF AGRICULTURE IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR (1960s – 1980s)

Abstract

The development of the material and technical basis in the collective and state farm production is inextricably connected with the formation and improvement of the professional structure of mass professions, the intensification of general and professional training. Increasing the production and improvement of agricultural machinery required the preparation of skilled personnel able to operate these machines. The farms had a great need for professionals able to repair tractors, agricultural machines, equipment of livestock farms and complexes, engines of motor vehicles. Engineers, mechanics, economists, accountants, veterinarians were also of great need in the collective and state farms. The main idea of the article is to show the role of Ukrainian village personnel during the times of agriculture intensification in the Ukrainian SSR in the 1960s – 1980 s.

The training of skilled personnel for the agrarian sector was mostly carried out by vocational schools, but there were many shortcomings in their activities. Insufficient material and technical base and short terms of training did not ensure thorough preparation of a worker having several related specialties. The graduate did not receive sufficient knowledge on agronomy, zootechnics, and agriculture economics. This situation caused a considerable turnover of personnel in mechanization. The problem of providing agriculture with managerial staff and experts also remained unsolved. 17 higher education institutions and 133 technical schools were responsible for training specialists for this economy sector in the Ukrainian SSR.

The workers exercising unskilled labour were quite a numerous category in the village. They were engaged in equestrian work, work with machines and mechanisms that did not require special theoretical knowledge. They mostly used the skills gained by themselves in practice. Their number on farms was different and depended on the overall level of production mechanization.

There were also some faults in the use and consolidation of personnel. The farm managers did not care about the formation of right conditions for specialists’ life and work. Most young professionals were forced to hire their homes and solve numerous domestic problems. Labour remuneration was one of the weakest points  in the collective farm system. In the manufacturing process woodworkers, machine and tractor motormen were paid greater attention than workers. The socialist principle “the good payment for good work” was not realized. A real source of material support for a rural worker was private farming.

During the 1960 s and 1980 s the state did not manage to pay attention to the social significance of rural labour. The measures implemented were not supported by the necessary material factors. Wages remained low. The money paid for work did not provide workers with decent living conditions. The mistakes in the administrative and bureaucratic management influenced the general state of agriculture, including the agricultural science, which was supposed to ensure its development.