Srđan Milošević

HOUSEHOLD PLOT (OKUĆNICA) OF THE COLLECTIVIZED HOUSEHOLDS IN YUGOSLAVIA (1945–1953) 

Abstract: The paper deals with the organizational and practical issues related to the household plot of the collectivized households in Yugoslavia. This household plot was in the regime of individual property. This structure originated from the Soviet kolkhoz, but had different characteristics in the Yugoslav context. Besides having been an additional source of agricultural products to satisfy the needs of the collectivized households, the products grown on these plots were also allowed to enter the market. The household plot had a disproportionally large impact on the overall agricultural production, since the peasants intensified the use of this plot. This came as a consequence of the dysfunctional and unpopular organizational characteristics of the agricultural cooperatives. 

Keywords: household plot, agricultural cooperatives, collectivization, Yugoslavia 1945–1953, ownership 

Summary: Historiography has not hitherto developed an interest for a detailed analysis of the peasant working cooperatives and their organizational structure. One of those structures that 30 requires thorough investigation is the household plot (okućnica), the piece of land that remained within the individual property regime. This was an additional source of agricultural products for the collectivized households, apart from the income (in money and kind) they were expected to gain from the cooperative itself. We can trace the origin of this structure back to the Soviet-style kolkhoz. However, households in the kolkhoz were granted the right to use the plot, while in the Yugoslav case there was the right of ownership over the plot. The household plot existed in each of the four types of peasant working cooperatives in Yugoslavia. Its size was, according to the Basic Law on Agricultural Cooperatives from 1946, determined by the Soviet model (from 1⁄4 to 1 hectare), but the law of 1949 left the lower limit undefined, while the upper remained the same – 1 hectare. In addition to the ​​land, the household plot also included the necessary inventory, the prescribed number of large cattle and an unlimited number of poultry and other small animals. From the very beginning we can recognize the two conflicting tendencies in the PWC: determining either too small or too large a plot, depending on whether the cooperative was dominated by “sectarian” or “opportunistic” elements. For collectivized peasants, the household plot was a base of existential security, since the production conditions in the PWCs were characterized by uncertainty, due to organizational failures and poor logistics. The organization of production was extremely poor, so the household plot was the only certain source of the agricultural products. The peasants intensified this plot as much as they could, producing market surpluses as well. This phenomenon of fleeing to the household plot and greater dedication to the individual rather than cooperative farming was the result of the weaknesses of the PWCs and the individualistic aspirations of the peasantry. The Yugoslav party and state leadership, as well as lower-ranking officials and “cadres”, occasionally dealt with the issue of the household plot, in an effort to work out and impose the “proper approach” to its determination and usage. Recognizing the weaknesses that came as a result of organizational failures, ambiguities and mistakes “on the ground”, they also pointed out the individualistic tendencies among the peasant as an obstacle to collectivization.  Those tendencies were perceived as a thick layer of backwardness, and lack of the socialist ideological awareness.