There is a Chinese folk saying called "holding a golden bowl to eat rice", which describes having a good foundation of conditions, but not making good use of it, and actually wanting to eat rice. The folk saying of the mainland is very appropriate to the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union is rich in land, the population is not large, the huge problem of high-quality and fertile land is too easy to feed the small population, but the Soviet Union in the seventies and eighties of the last century there were agricultural problems, why agricultural problems?
Today we talk about the outstanding problems of Soviet agriculture during Gorbachev's agricultural supervision, and we may find the answer.
The Politburo of the USSR was the highest leadership of the USSR and consisted of more than 20 members. And Soviet leaders were made from among these people, and of course, state decisions were made by more than 20 people. The last President of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, also entered this leadership, but how did Gorbachev enter?
Gorbachev was able to enter the core leadership of the Soviet Union by agriculture. But the farmer ultimately lost to the builder (Yeltsin).
01
Gorbachev's promotion was assisted by many nobles, the first of whom was Gorbachev's old leader in the Stavropol region, Kukokov. Gorbachev's career was basically closely followed by Kulakov, with the guidance of the old leader, and the career was smooth.
In the early 1970s, at kulakov's initiative, Gorbachev took over as the head of stavropol Krai and was successfully elected as a member of the Central Committee of the COMMUNIST Party of the Soviet Union, a "stepping stone" to the core leadership of the Soviet Union.
In 1978, Kulakov died suddenly. Gorbachev was saddened by the sudden death of his mentor, and he had to find a new patron from then on. Kurakov's death, at that time in the Soviet Union, there were many rumors, some people said that Kurakov was responsible for too many agricultural problems, by the Soviet Union from all walks of life to blame, Kulakov committed suicide. The Soviet Union held a state funeral for Kurakov, and Gorbachev also delivered an important speech at the funeral. But soviet heavyweights at the time: Brezhnev, Chernenko, Kosygin, Suslov did not attend the funeral.
When there was a vacancy in the Soviet Committee in charge of agriculture, who would succeed Kulakov?
Andropov, who was good at making personnel arrangements at the top of the Soviet Union, thought of one person at this time, that is, Gorbachev. Gorbachev was an expert in agriculture, but this agricultural expert was obtained by Gorbachev in advance. Under the guidance of the old leader Kulakov, Gorbachev, who studied law, attended a correspondence course at the local agricultural school. Farming is hard and tiring, and no one pays attention to it. But Gorbachev did not learn for agriculture, but for his career. Stavropol Krai was an important grain-producing region of the Soviet Union, and Gorbachev, as the leader of the oblast, had the addition of agricultural expertise and the support of the old leader, and his goal was to follow the Kulakov Road and enter the upper echelons of the Soviet Union. Therefore, Andropov decided to let Gorbachev succeed Kulakov in charge of agriculture.
Why did Andropov, who was in charge of the KGB, still meddle in the personnel arrangements?
Although Andropov was a member of the KGB, he had high prestige at the top of the Soviet Union, was also trusted by Brezhnev, and was recognized as his successor. Andropov installed many of his own people in some important posts in the Soviet Union, plus the KGB had a special ability to recognize and employ people.
Why did Andropov admire Gorbachev?
Because Andropov often went on vacation to the Caucasus, Gorbachev received Andropov when he was the leader of Stavropol. In his dealings with Gorbachev, Andropov admired Gorbachev's conversation and cleverness, most notably because he was clean, of rural origin, and without corruption.
In Andropov's eyes, Gorbachev was a strong personality, and when the two discussed, Gorbachev could see the problems existing in the Soviet Union. Ahn considered Goech loyal to the Soviet Union. He thought Gorbachev was a very good man who could handle the heavy burden. But Ahn looked away.
02
At the end of August 1978, Andropov went on another vacation to Stavropol, and this time the vacation was extraordinary, this time he was selected for Gorbachev's last interview.
Before the holiday, Andropov negotiated with Suslov, who was in charge of personnel affairs, about the appointment of Gorbachev, and Suslov of course agreed, since Suslov had also served in the Stavropo District and had close relations with Kurakov.
But to promote Gorbachev, there is another important hurdle, and that is Brezhnev. Nothing Andropov could not have imagined, and he decided to create a place where Brezhnev would meet with Gorbachev.
Brezhnev was accompanied by Chernenko to Baku on the Caspian Sea, a Muslim state. Brezhnev liked Baku because every time he came, he would award Brezhnev honorary titles, hand out a bunch of medals, send him a bunch of silly words, and a lot of gifts.
On September 19, 1978, when Brezhnev's train passed through the mining water city of Stavropol Krai, Andropov and Gorbachev went to the station to greet Brezhnev. The train departed two hours late, but at this time the four leaders who decided the fate of the Soviet Union gathered. In fact, this was an important interview that Andropov arranged for Gorbachev.
Two months later, Gorbachev was transferred to Moscow to become a commissioner in charge of agriculture and a member of more than 20 top leaderships. Gorbachev was only 47 years old at the time.
03
After Gorbachev became the secretary in charge of agriculture, it can be said that the wind was smooth, and at the end of the year, the Soviet Union's grain production reached 237 million tons, which was mainly due to the smooth wind and rain of the Soviet Union, but the Soviet agricultural problems were still not solved.
New officials always have to make some achievements when they take office. Gorbachev found that the Soviet Union invested heavily in agriculture every year, but grain imports increased dramatically, and by the end of the 1970s, the money spent on importing grain had become a burden on Soviet finances.
Where did the money go?
Gorbachev believed that to solve the problem, we had to see where the money went. After investigation, Gorbachev found that from 1970 to 1980, the Import of Food in the Soviet Union increased by 10 times, and the agricultural situation in the Soviet Union continued to deteriorate. The reason why the money invested did not bear fruit was mainly due to the negligence of Soviet officials at all levels and the lack of food storage facilities, resulting in direct losses. The loss is enormous.
We all know that it is dangerous not to have food reserves, and if there is a war and there is no food, it is just over.
Gorbachev found that one-fifth of Soviet grain and one-third of potatoes were rotten. The cause of this problem was poor transport, when there were too few roads to the countryside, which were difficult to navigate, causing damage to transport vehicles.
The Soviet Union produced 550,000 tractors a year, but the number of tractors in the collective farms did not change, mainly because agricultural equipment was not cherished. No more land, more food production, but serious waste, will also cause a food crisis.
In 1979, after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the Carter administration of the United States imposed restrictions on the export of Grain to the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union suddenly panicked, and they urgently needed to find a source of food.
The Soviet Union had to use its few grain reserves, and in 1981, it imported another 46 million grains from Canada, Australia, Argentina and other countries. But that year, there was a sudden severe food shortage in the Soviet Union, and the grain imported by the Soviet Union was shipped to Poland, because of the local Solidarity and government confrontation crisis, which prevented food from entering the Soviet Union.
The agricultural problems in the Soviet Union at that time were very strange, and there were also western seed problems. But it was more caused by the Soviet Union itself, Gorbachev was in charge of agriculture, and in the face of many problems, all he could solve was to provide the supreme leader with an investigation report, and even if there were suggestions, he could not solve the problem. If this kind of problem is not solved, a crisis will break out when it accumulates more.
Image source network, copyright belongs to the original author.