Contenu du sommaire : Paysan au-delà du mur

From Land Reform to Collectivization in Eastern Germany The consequences of agrarian policies on the structure of rural society in the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany and, subsequently, in the German Democratic Republic are analyzed for the period from 1945 to 1952. Following the expropriation of big landowners (Junker) stipulated by the 1945 reform and the systematic eviction of rich farmers, undertaken in 1948, a group of « new farmers » arose during the 1950s. The government economically and socially supported the latter, just as it favoured agricultural laborers and former owners of small and middle-sized farms. However, the new farmers, in particular those who had fled from the lost eastern territories, were not always welcomed in villages.

Land and « Ethnic Purity » along the Polish-Ukrainian Borderlands The agrarian economy of the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands (kresy), and in particular of former central Galicia, was long based on a deeply inegalitarian articulation of microfundia and latifundia. After 1945, through an ironic turn of history, they became a unique stronghold of individual peasant property in the areas which remained under Polish control. In contrast, in the areas subjected to Soviet rule, collectivization was quickly imposed ; after 1991, a landscape devoid of lords as well as of peasants suddenly emerged, where, for lack of agrarian reform, vast latifundia lay fallow in expectation of a yet hypothetical « transition ». Placed in a long-term historical perspective, this dual heritage of Soviet times helps us to understand the complex relations between shifts in patterns of land control and the singular versatility of collective identities.

Who Owns the Land in Transylvania ? In Transylvania, which became Romanian following World War I, the agrarian question has for centuries been a source of controversy in a context of particularly strong interethnic tensions. Neither the reforms conducted during the interwar period nor the collectivization imposed by the communists settled these problems. National and nationalist interests, which have fanned ever smoldering conflicts between speakers of German, Hungarian and Romanian, have always determined Translyvanian land policy, in particular under Ceauşescu.

Land Reforms in Lithuania : Faithful to Tradition ? The author compares the major land reforms conducted in Lithuania from 1557 to 1991 in socio- historical perspective and highlights certain analogies between various statutes. This continuity may be explained in part by trends specific to Lithuanian society, where the individualistic organization of the « civilized west » has long co-existed with the communitarian system of the « Russian east ». The 1991 reform was intended to mark « a return to Europe ». Yet, faithful to their tradition of ambivalence, country-dwellers and reformers reprivatized farming without dissolving the collective farms set up under the Soviet system. These units, though now private, still function along collectivist lines.

Agrarian Transitions in Central Europe The transition toward a market economy requires that social actors adapt to new means of economic and social regulation. In accordance with the hypotheses that not all individuals have the same capacity for learning and that determinants linked to society, culture and locality may intervene in the process of differentiation, a survey was conducted among 367 persons working in cooperative or state farms in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. This field work has brought to light the ideal models borne by workers as well as the characteristics and modes of operation of the new social forms of production.

Small Farmers in Communist Poland Three forms of landed property - private, collective and state - coexisted under the communist government in Poland. Following the period of accelerated industrialization and the 1956 uprising, two land policies were successively implemented. Till 1970, middle-sized structures in the primary sector were reinforced. Afterwards, the government favored very small, marginal farmers while bolstering the potential of those who owned more than 10 hectares. As a result, minifundia were reduced to simple family garden plots. Before 1989, the communist government practiced a policy of «repressive tolerance » toward peasants. Afterwards, there reigned an « oppressive freedom » which led to splitting up the peasantry as a political force, as proven by the multiplication of peasant parties.

Stakes in the Privatization of Land in the Former German Democratic Republic Following German reunification, a phase of leasing preceded the privatization of land in the new Lander. This was necessary in order to solve the problems raised by the restitution of « people's land ». Claimants who applied for leases were classified in six categories, and the duration of these rentals was established in view of locally prevailing land pressure. The results of this policy, which largely prefigured privatization, account for the diversity of regional rationales applied in setting up new farmers.

Bulgaria : Land Reform without Peasants In 1991, the Bulgarian government adopted a land act (modified in 1992 and, again, in 1995). This reform aimed at restituting land to the pre-1946 owners and thus implied a return to small holdings. Successive governments have thus sought to « de-communize » the countryside. This study examines how the 1991 act has been applied in the Dobruja region of northeastern Bulgaria. It shows that, contrary to expectations, the members of the formerly communist local elite have managed to profit well from « transition ». They quickly became « big tenant farmer-managers » (arendatori) to whom new owners entrust their land in exchange for a moderate rent.

« Everyone Tills the Land as He Can » : A Village in Great Poland Faces Transition Since 1989, in Dziekanowice, part of the land belonging to the old state farm has been rented out to farmers, and the rest to a private agricultural company. The village's population comprises four social categories : intellectual workers (employees of the local museum), the farming proletariat (former state farm employees), the rural proletariat (landless families) and farmers (who both own and work land). The market economy has caused traditional conflicts to flare up again between groups of villagers while at the same time creating new ones.

Mecklenburg Farmers : The Survival of Know-How After the Berlin Wall fell, the western model of small family holdings, advocated by the federal government, did not take hold in eastern Germany. In the Mecklenburg region, where field work was conducted, an original agrarian system has gradually arisen that maintains a cooperative structure legally adapted to the market economy. This situation effectively marginalizes small farmers and farm laborers.

A Cooperative Is Reborn in Transdanubia Until 1945, the village of Hollofôldje, in southwestern Hungary, was mainly populated by « ethnic Germans ». During the period of collectivization, these families allied themselves to a group of Hungarians repatriated from Slovakia and thus retrieved the political and economic influence they had lost in recent years. As of 1975, the central planners decided to merge and concentrate the area's co-operatives. Hollóföldje fell under the administrative authority of the Kossuth-Keskeny co-operative. Yet, thanks to the determination of the mayor, the farmers succeeded in dissolving this structure and refounded their former co-operative.

Women of Thuringia In a study carried out in Thuringia after the fall of the German Democratic Republic, former employees described how their collective farms were suddenly dismantled and restructured. Forced onto unemployment or early retirement rolls, they explained their strategies for negotiating new working conditions. They also evaluated the prospects for their villages and discussed the problems specific to women after the fall of the Berlin Wall. They thus look back on what has happened and work out their opinions about the Wende or « turning point ».

The Germans of Siberia Are Back Since the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe, immigrants of German origin have come back from Russia to settle in Germany. These « repatriates » (Aussiedler) come from rural areas. At times when they suffered discrimination as a minority in the Soviet Union, they declared their faithfulness to values that supposedly symbolized «Germanity » and their attachment to the German « nation ». Upon arrival in Germany, they discovered that they were perceived and treated not as German citizens but rather as foreigners. They developed xenophobic attitudes toward other immigrants. Integration has been less of a problem in rural areas where the way of life somewhat resembles the conditions with which they were familiar in the Soviet Union.