What happened to the villages of Russia. Sergei Slepakov The extinction of small towns and villages in Russia: the “fencing” of the 21st century

The Russian village is slowly dying out. This is relatively weakly noticeable in the south, very noticeable in the middle zone and obvious in the north. During a trip to Vologda region I was personally very struck by the huge two-story log houses, abandoned with all their utensils and already partly looted, standing in the middle of the wild gardens of old villages. The kingdom of desolation and silence. Dead village. A neighboring village burned down in the spring with grass fire, when there was only one inhabitant left.

Pal came from the outside, and the remaining grandfather could not do anything. While I was trying to put out other houses, my own house caught fire. I didn’t even have time to pick up my passport, so everything burned down. The remains of the stoves - scrap bricks - were dismantled for construction sites, and in place of the houses only low, gentle mounds of earth remained, on which stood the bed frames that had fallen from the second floor, crumpled and burnt. This grandfather greatly missed his once populous village. The children took him to the city, but for the summer he returned without listening to anyone. He built a hut in his old garden under the apple trees, in the hut there is a bed and a shelf, next to the entrance there is a small fireplace, under the canopy lie a smoked kettle and a saucepan... While it’s warm, he lives there every summer, wandering under his native tall poplars, under which he ran as a child , sits on the bank of the river and remembers a once large, noisy village, and for the winter he leaves for the city in a cramped apartment, where for him there is no life, and only existence remains.

There are, of course, villages where two or three residential buildings remain, in which the last grandmothers are living out their lives. Some were taken to the city by their children and grandchildren, while others remain on their land. Near cities, the process is not so noticeable, since houses and plots are often used as summer cottages. But for most of the year, silence reigns there too. And if you drive away from the cities and from the highway, then it immediately becomes clear that there has been no one there for a long time: lonely leaning poles of extended electricity, rickety houses, streets overgrown with grass and... silence...

Why is this happening? Does a country need a village? Is it possible to stop the degradation process? We will try to answer these difficult questions to the best of our ability.

Why do you need a village: agricultural products

First, let's try to figure out the question - why do we need a village at all? Does anyone really need it?

There is a fairly widespread belief that the population rural areas plays a small role in the life of countries. At best, it is ignorance of important facts.

Ivan Rubanov (“Expert” No. 22 (611) for 2008) writes:

“A glance at agricultural statistics is like a shot in the head. Since the beginning of this decade, the value of imported food has increased annually by approximately 30% per year, and by last year it reached almost $30 billion. The once leading agricultural power now buys no less food than it produces itself.”.

In fact, we are “fighting” for first place in the world in food imports with Japan. At the same time, Japan is in a unique situation - the Japanese, in a sense, have no other choice: the population there is larger than in Russia, and the territory is two orders of magnitude smaller. Those. It is physically extremely difficult for them to produce large quantities of agricultural products. Our sharp increase in net food imports is mainly due to an increase in oil prices. Below is a graph of food import growth by year:

Interestingly, if Japan ranks first in the world among developed countries to support (subsidize) our agriculture, our support for it is rather weak, and the level of support is constantly decreasing:

Source: “Expert” No. 22, 2008

Russia was once a leading agricultural power, and Currently, more food is imported than is produced domestically. In fact, this means exchanging non-renewable resources for renewable ones. Agricultural imports are almost equal to the cost of Russian gas exported to Western Europe.

One of the significant disadvantages Soviet Union The depressingly low efficiency of agriculture and, in particular, high losses at the stage of processing agricultural products were often cited. According to official statistics alone, more than half of the potatoes, for example, rotted on the way to the consumer. During the liberal reforms of recent years, the situation has worsened dramatically. Firstly, direct state support fell by about 30 times (!). As a result, if in the mid-80s you could buy 3 tons of diesel fuel per ton of grain, then in the late 90s it was 10 times less. This had a dramatic impact on profitability, and hence on the interest of farms in agricultural production. Imagine a situation if, for example, before you had an income that was not too big, but which allowed you to feed your family, clothe them, put them on shoes, buy a car, and travel to relatives in other cities, and then your salary was reduced 10 times. What's the point of going to such a job? People stopped doing this. But when the former collective and state farms ceased to exist, this caused the degradation of the entire surrounding infrastructure. For example, there was no one to clean the roads in winter (indeed, there was no one to support the equipment that was able to do this). And being left without a road in winter is not a test every family can handle. As a result, the remaining people left the villages en masse.

However, let's return to the state level. Industrial food production fell at an alarming rate. Since the situation had to be saved somehow, customs duties on food imports into Russia were radically reduced, which caused a wave of imports. Big number companies have taken up this new business, the results of which can be seen in any grocery store today. Even in rural areas today, shops sell Polish apples, Chinese pears and Finnish cheeses. Bananas have long been cheaper than cucumbers.

Russia is dying:

Table 1. Comparison of customs import duties by country.

*Except for cocoa - 50%. Sources: Serova E.V., IPC, APE

As you can see, on average, duties are lower only in the United States, but there are several very well-thought-out programs to support agriculture, making the United States the largest food exporter in the world. Those. not only feed their own population, twice the population of Russia, but also export food on a large scale. In this sense, emulate the United States in the area of ​​openness of agricultural customs barriers, with the diametrically opposite domestic policy in the field of agriculture - an extremely unwise approach. By the way, even in such a situation, the United States uses prohibitive duties on agricultural products (more than 300%), while the use of prohibitive duties by Russia is clearly too strict a measure in relation to Western producers.

Since it has become fashionable for us to refer to the Americans, let us quote their scientist Marion Ensminger:

“Food is both a responsibility and a weapon. Responsibility because one of the most important rights is the right to food and its consumption in abundance. On the other hand, it is a weapon, since in politics and economics food plays a huge role and has more power than guns or oil.”.

IN Lately it is openly admitted that the USSR was defeated by these weapons - food shortages seriously undermined people's faith in the efficiency of the government. It is all the more surprising that modern Russia is confidently following the same path.

Often, trying to justify the low efficiency of Russian agriculture, they blame everything on the climate, saying that we have a risky farming zone. At the same time, they somehow forget that Russia is in 4th place in the world in terms of arable land area (in first place, by the way, is the USA). Moreover, in our country, about 40% of the world's black soil is concentrated - soils with the highest natural level of fertility (!). Also, when studying statistics, it is easy to notice that one of the world's largest food exporters is Canada, whose climate is very harsh, especially compared to the south of Russia.

I once had the opportunity to fly on a plane from Seattle (northwest USA) to New York (northeast USA). At some point, looking down, I was surprised by the even square grid of roads with a pitch of about a kilometer, between which there were plowed fields. Here and there, as a rule, on the corners of neat squares, trees grew and farmers' houses stood. And such a picture stretched as far as the eye could see. I looked down and thought - what a powerful state will this is. Most likely, there were already some fields and houses there. But someone came, said, drew roads using a ruler on the map - and everything was embodied on the ground over a vast territory. A convenient network of roads raised above the fields has been laid down, passable at any time of the year, from which the fields are relatively easily accessible. And this picture dragged on and on. Near the cities, farmland ended briefly, but soon continued along the same grid. One state replaced another, but this only led to a change in the grid step (state laws allow themselves certain liberties regarding the general policy). And this picture below lasted about an hour and a half, i.e. something about 1500 kilometers.

When you take off by plane from Moscow, a completely different picture opens up. Yes, there are fields too, but it is immediately noticeable that most of them are not plowed. Moreover, plowed ones gravitate towards roads. It is interesting that from above the state border of Russia and Belarus is clearly visible. Immediately upon leaving Russia, you can see that literally everything, every piece of land, has been plowed. There are, of course, nuances related to the efficiency of agriculture (at the state level everything needs to be plowed up), but we are talking about state policy, i.e. what the state wants. And three examples were given above, showing how you can see a fundamental difference in government policy, as they say, with the naked eye. I would just like to pay attention.

What conclusions can be drawn:

• From the point of view of national security, Russia today is in a situation that it has never been in before in history, and which is much worse than the situation during the assassination of the USSR. More than half of the food is imported; there are no significant reserves. In the event of conflicts, it has become much easier to put pressure on Russia - just close the borders. Our position in this regard compared to the USA and major European countries- radically worse, in fact, from the point of view of food security, we are at the opposite end of the scale from them.
• The world's population is increasing by 80 million people per year, while the area of ​​the world's agricultural land not only stopped growing (all available land was plowed), but has been gradually decreasing since 1985 (soil depletion, land drying out). As a result, the area of ​​agricultural land per one inhabitant of the Earth has been steadily declining for many years, despite the fact that the yield has not actually changed. As a result, a significant increase in food prices and, possibly, serious shocks in lean years are predicted for the coming decades (not all countries can afford to purchase food). In this situation, the United States, even if the dollar depreciates, will act as a country that chooses who to provide food assistance to. Russia is a country that will seek opportunities to purchase food (agriculture cannot be restored in a short time).

Village and land

In a situation where agricultural products began to cost less than the fuel needed to collect these products, the only value that large agricultural enterprises had was land.

With the adoption of the new Land Code, which allowed land trade, many farms located near highways and near cities were either immediately bought up, or went bankrupt and were bought up. Agricultural activity either ceased or was left only as a “cover.” The highest value in Russia is not agricultural land, but development land. Transferring land to a category that allows development is a complex procedure that requires time and money. At the same time, the law formally requires agricultural land to be cultivated, and if the land is not cultivated for 3 years, it must be confiscated. The severity of our laws is compensated by the flexibility in their implementation. As a result, only part of the land is plowed (usually the fields that are visible from the highway), which allows you to reduce the size of all types of costs and not think about cultivating fields located in the interior of the territory (i.e., most of the land). As a result, even in central Russia there is a large percentage of fields that have not been cultivated for 15, and in some places for 20 years.

The main blow in this situation was not even on agriculture, but on rural areas. If earlier there was a bad owner here, now he has been replaced by an outright temporary worker. Land trading is a real Klondike. Prices in some places near cities have risen tens of thousands of times. In such market conditions, it turns out to be profitable to “hold” the land for as long as possible, which is what the vast majority of owners do. At the same time they have running costs- the same land tax, and some residents remained, workers of former farms. If you don't feed them, they will start writing letters, etc. Therefore, it is advisable to give some kind of income. As a result, people are encouraged, for example, to cut down the remaining surrounding forests. Everyone, including workers, understands that this approach has no prospects in the middle zone (where there is a shortage of forests). The only consequence is that people are more likely to go on a binge.

Conclusions:

• The overwhelming majority of modern landlords, who own large territories through Moscow companies, are not interested in the development of these territories and behave like “temporary workers” whose task is to somehow “get by” before selling the land. Availability local residents For them, it is rather a disadvantage and a burden on the territory, which affects their priorities and decisions.

Village and administration

Contrary to popular belief, the local administration at some point ceased to be interested in the development of rural areas. People, incl. passionate about creating new rural projects, thanks to which the number of people in the villages will increase, they think that they should be supported. But that's not true.

More precisely, at the level of personal relationships, a specific head of a district or village administration may support some project, but one must clearly understand that from the point of view of the local budget, they, as a rule, are not interested in such projects.

As has been mentioned more than once above, the production of agricultural products for the most part has long been below the level of profitability. This is not an accident, but a pattern due to a number of completely objective factors. Almost every district head has more than once observed another promising project, which, instead of the planned large return, either barely teetered on the edge of profitability or was closed completely. Low confidence in new projects is based on real experience.

At the same time, village residents must be provided with school, medical care, telephone, fire brigade, repair the road, hire equipment to clean the road in winter, repair the power line, pay for the lights that are burning in the village at night, pay for losses in the line and in the transformer, etc. And if the village ceases to be a populated area or everyone leaves, then these very significant expenses for the meager local budget need not be made. As a result, to destroy a village as a populated area, it is now enough that there simply is not a single registered resident left in the village, and the local municipality will be more likely to be interested in this situation.

To be fair, we note that this is not the first serious reduction in the number of villages. If in the 18th and 19th centuries peasants often settled next to cultivated fields in villages and settlements, then in the 20th century there were two waves. One is collectivization in the 20s and 30s, the other is the consolidation of collective farms in the 50s. Small villages then ceased to exist. Now, after a catastrophe in Russian agriculture that lasted for 20 years, villages are disappearing catastrophically.

Conclusion:

• The rural administration is placed in a situation where it has a financial interest in reducing the number of villages, which leads to a decrease in the number of rural settlements. When a former village ceases to be a populated area, reviving life in it becomes noticeably more difficult, since the administration is not only not obliged to facilitate this, but often resists it.

Conclusion

Someone not too familiar with the subject might say:

“Some kind of too gloomy picture has been painted, this cannot happen. After all, someone fed the 140 million population of Russia in the 90s, incl. after the default, when we couldn’t buy food?”

How can you answer this... Below is a diagram of the structure of agricultural products by category of farms (in actual prices; as a percentage of the total).

The problem of the extinction of the Russian village is one of the most pressing socio-economic problems modern Russia. The Center for Economic and Political Reforms has studied this issue, relying on statistical data, the results of sociological research, as well as the work of demographers. We tried to answer the question: how and why are Russian villages dying out?

Over the past 15-20 years, the number has been constantly decreasing. rural population– both due to natural population decline (mortality exceeds birth rate) and due to migration outflow. The process of depopulation of rural areas is so active that the number of abandoned villages is constantly increasing, as well as the number of rural settlements with a small number of inhabitants. In some regions of the Russian Federation, the share of depopulated villages exceeded 20% - mainly in the regions Central Russia and North. Between the 2002 and 2010 censuses alone, the number of depopulated villages increased by more than 6 thousand. More than half of all rural settlements are home to between 1 and 100 people.

At the same time, the process of depopulation in the territorial context is uneven. There is a concentration of the rural population around individual “foci” while simultaneously expanding areas of depressed rural areas, which are characterized by constant depopulation.

The main reasons for the decline in the rural population lie purely in the socio-economic plane. First of all, rural settlements are characterized by a lower standard of living and relatively high level unemployment, including stagnant unemployment. An active part of the working-age population leaves for cities, which in turn contributes to further socio-economic stagnation, degradation and depopulation of rural areas. Another problem, which is one of the reasons for the outflow of the rural population from the country, is the lower quality of life of the rural population due to the low availability of social infrastructure (educational, medical, leisure, transport) and basic services (primarily state and municipal services), and living conditions and insufficient provision of housing and communal services.

In particular, it was revealed that over the past 20 years, rural settlements not only did not increase, but also largely lost their social infrastructure due to the processes of “optimization,” which particularly affected rural areas. Over the past 15-20 years, the number rural schools decreased by approximately 1.7 times, hospital organizations - 4 times, outpatient clinics - 2.7 times.

The process of depopulation of rural areas is not a unique Russian phenomenon; it is in many ways similar to similar processes in other countries. At the same time, the processes of depopulation and emptying of rural areas are proceeding in Russia according to a relatively negative scenario, associated with the hyperconcentration of the population in the capital and large cities and more typical for the countries of Asia and Latin America.

Today, separate measures to curb the depopulation of rural areas in Russia are provided at the level government programs. However, it should be recognized that the general direction of government policy leads to the concentration of finance, jobs and, as a result, population, in the capital and other large cities. Attempts to maintain the rural population and stimulate population migration to rural areas do not work, since targeted measures fail due to the virtual absence of conditions for the development of rural areas.

WITH detailed results The research conducted can be found here.

Photographers saw the unsightly side of Russia, which contrasts sharply with the luxury and grandeur of Moscow, with its beautiful decoration and magnificent architecture. A series of photographs show the harsh reality of people who live in abandoned Russian villages northeast of Moscow.

“Pictures from Russian Life” are quite creepy: abandoned villages in the Moscow region and Kostroma region were photographed by Liza Zhakova and Dima Zharov from St. Petersburg during a trip to “ Russian desert" In the photo published by the publication Daily Mail, poverty, unemployment and drunkenness of the last surviving village residents.

Sasha is trying to restore his house, which is falling apart in the almost abandoned village of Elyakovo
Photographers Lisa Zhakova and Dima Zharov from St. Petersburg published a photo chronicle of their journey through the “Russian desert”. They report that it is not at all uncommon for an entire village to have only one resident left. Lisa and Dima published full cycle photos on Zhakovazharov.ru.

Lesha is a former miner, lives in the village of Spirdovo; fills his day with hunting and drinking in an empty village

There is no electricity in Lesha’s house (with fellow hunters)
Photographers told the Daily Mail they believe Russian government left these villages on purpose in order to force people to move to other places.

The publication Roads and Kingdoms reports that the population of the entire Kostroma region is 660,000 people. This area covers 23,000 square miles, which is roughly the size of West Virginia.
Russia's wealth is mainly concentrated in large cities. This means that people living in villages suffer from unemployment, low wages and a lack of social security compared to those living in cities.

Hunter

Village hunter, friend of Lesha

There is no electricity in the house

Lesha has 10 children from three different wives, all of them left the village
One of the people left in the village is a man named Lesha, who now lives alone in the village of Spirdovo. Photographers spoke with a former miner who receives a minimum pension payment. He does not have to pay electricity bills, which reduces his costs.
Lesha said that he is the father of ten children from three different women. He also detailed his relationship with alcohol: “I’ve been on a binge for 10 days. I drank 6-7 bottles, and I’m already out of firewood. It makes no difference whether I die today or 10 years later - it makes no difference.”

Another person with whom the photographers spoke is called Sasha, he is from the village of Elyakovo. He also hunts for food and says he has noticed a decline in the number of wild animals.
But Sasha is not interested in moving. He said: “I don’t like cities at all, I can go there for four days, but no more - I can’t stand it there any longer.”

Sasha lives alone in the village of Yelyakovo; he doesn’t want to go to the city.

Zoya Timofeevna and her husband are the last residents of the village of Asorino
Alexey Fedorovich and Zoya Timofeevna Chernov are the last residents of the village of Asorino. The husband and wife keep livestock, but have stopped working. Like Lesha, they also talked about drunkenness. They told the photographers: “Binges happen, if you think about it, they happen. The problem is, we have a lot of time. If there's still some alcohol left and I need to work, damn it, I'll work. If you drink again and again, you need more and more. And how can you work when you’re drunk..."

Alcoholism is a problem in rural areas of Russia as well as urban areas. The Lance study found that 25% Russian men die before the age of 55, and primarily due to excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco.

Rachkova Tatyana

Each person has his own corner of the earth, dear to his heart, where he was born, saw the light of the sun, took his first steps, studied, and received a start in life. We live in the village of Sotnikovskoye, Stavropol Territory. And in our village everything fewer inhabitants. Why is the share of the rural population becoming smaller and smaller? This is a problem not only for our region, but for all of Russia. Goal: firstly, try to find out the reasons for the extinction of Russian villages and villages, using various information sources. Secondly, to study the demographic situation of the village of Sotnikovskoye in order to understand whether our village is also in danger of extinction.

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1. Introduction…………………………………………... 2-3 pp.
2. The problem of extinction of villages.......................... 4-7 pp.

1. Identifying features of rural settlements
2. Problems of rural settlements and the reasons for their occurrence

1. Demographic problem in the village of Sotnikovsky... 7-9 pp.
2. Conclusion……………………………………………. 9-10 pp.
3. List of sources used…………………….. 10 p.
4. Appendix………………………………………….. 11-12 pages.

I.Introduction:

" Motherland! When we say this word, a great power with its wealth and labor achievements appears before our mind’s eye. However, every person has his own corner of the earth, dear to his heart, where he was born, saw the light of the sun, took his first steps, studied, and received a start in life.” 1 .

Love to native land- a powerful feeling. And the people in their creativity have always reflected this very figuratively. The songs and poetry of our contemporaries also very emotionally convey that attitude towards the Fatherland, which we proudly call patriotism. But how much sadness can now be found in modern lyrics about Russian villages and villages. A striking example Nikolai Melnikov’s poem can serve this purpose:

Build a monument to the village

on Red Square in Moscow,

there will be old trees,

there will be apples in the grass.

And a rickety hut

with the porch crumbling to dust,

and the mother of the killed soldier

with a shameful pension in hand.

And two pots on the palisade,

and an inch of unplowed land,

as a symbol of an abandoned field,

long lying in the dust.

And let him sing in anguish and pain

drunken accordion player

about the incomprehensible “Russian share”

accompanied by quiet crying and wind whistling.

Erect a monument to the village,

to show at least once

how submissively, how without anger

the village is waiting for its death hour.

Put up a monument to the village!

On Red Square in Moscow!

There will be old trees

and there will be apples in the grass.

1 . Zhemerov V. Slavgorod.Minsk: Belaya Ros, 2000-p.232

The peasants have always lived in harmony with nature; they were able to carry through the centuries the features of our Slavic Russian culture. And today villages are dying out, taking with them a part of the Russian people. The choice of the topic of my research was not accidental, after I. Laznikov’s speech at a school conference(Appendix 2) about the demographic situation in Russia, I thought: “Why is the share of the rural population becoming smaller and smaller?” This is a problem not only for our region, but for all of Russia. Goal: firstly, try to find out the reasons for the extinction of Russian villages and villages, using various information sources. Secondly, to study the demographic situation of the village of Sotnikovskoye in order to understand whether our village is also in danger of extinction. For me, born and raised here, this is a very important and relevant study. It is difficult to convey the feelings that you experience when you see abandoned houses, rickety from time to time; they, like abandoned children, evoke feelings of bitterness and regret.

2. The problem of extinction of villages.

2.1.Identifying features of rural settlements.

"Rural locality“This is a point where the population is less than 12 thousand people and most of the adult population works in agriculture.” 2

Nowadays, sometimes the line between city and countryside is blurry. Buildings on the outskirts big city With wooden houses and cottages are very similar to the countryside. But even in villages today, you can see entire streets of multi-storey buildings. How is a village different from a city? Modern scientists believe that cities arise from trade and exchange, from production, from the management of regions and countries

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those. on external relations. A village can live on its own, using forests, fields, and meadows. The countryside preserves traditions, the city spreads new things. Most rural settlements are agricultural, but many modern villages contain small industrial enterprises, railway stations, river piers, holiday homes and sanatoriums, hospitals, etc. This makes such rural settlements economically sound. Sight various groups people's ability to use the same area can be very different. It is important that the people in power responsible for the choice remember that it is necessary to choose such types of use of the countryside that would not contradict each other, preserve the richness of the land and the beauty of the landscape, its aesthetic value and at the same time were cost-effective and profitable. Before the revolution, 97% of Russia's inhabitants lived in rural areas. Currently, the share of the rural population in the Stavropol Territory is 47.8%. Agriculture has been and remains the main occupation of the population of the Stavropol Territory. Nature has always been a life support environment for the peasant. She determined the way of life and activities. Under its influence, culture and traditions developed, but according to statistics, there are fewer and fewer villages in Russia.

2.2.Problems of rural settlements and the reasons for their occurrence.

The main problem of the village is the problem of extinction. Thousands of villages disappeared during the period of urbanization in Russia. In villages that are living out their last years, there were elderly people left, mostly women...

The disappearance of villages in turn gives rise to a number of problems: Economic – unplowed lands fall into disrepair, become overgrown, and this has a negative impact on agriculture. Abandoned fields mean a lack of grains and other plant products. Abandoned fields are a lack of raw materials for many industrial enterprises. Abandoned villages mean a shortage of workers on collective and state farms, which means a lack of agricultural products. Livestock farming is dying, which means Russia will be forced to purchase animal products abroad. There is a shortage of agricultural products, which means the danger of modified food products that negatively affect our health.

Moral.

National culture is dying along with the villages. In dead villages remains small Motherland of people. People are losing their roots, and it’s bad to become “Ivans who don’t remember their kinship.”

The village has always been strong in conscientiousness, hard work, and love for family. Traditions of agriculture and moral principles were preserved in rural areas. But now the fields are falling into disrepair, overgrown with grass and bushes. Without traditions and national culture no people can exist. Why do villages keep shrinking, disintegrating, disappearing? Having conducted a series of studies of information sources: newspapers, Internet sites, we can identify several main reasons.

Firstly, "urbanization – growth in the share of the urban population, the process of spreading the urban lifestyle, increasing the number of cities, forming a network of cities" 3 .

Ancient Rus' was a country of cities, the Normans called it “Gardarika”. The first cities arose in the 1st millennium AD. In the 9th century, chronicles mention the cities of Novgorod, Rostov the Great, Smolensk, and Murom. By the 12th century there were already about 150 cities, and before the Mongol invasion there were already about 3,000 cities in Rus'.

During the time of Peter I, many new cities were founded. Everyone knows about the “window to Europe” - St. Petersburg. Under Catherine II, the territorial division of Russia was changed, 500 counties were created, for which county centers were established. 165 villages received city status.

In the 19th century cities, as strongholds, were formed on the borders Russian Empire: on Far East(Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk), in the Caucasus (Grozny, Vladikavkaz). More than 600 cities were formed after the Great October revolution. Most industrial centers arose in Siberia, the Far East, and the North. In the middle of the twentieth century. Near major cities cities of science “science cities” arose (near Moscow - Dubna, Reutov, Zelenograd, etc.). Resort towns grew in Crimea and on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (Sochi).

Cities appeared - centers of military industry, the so-called closed cities. Abolition of serfdom, during the industrial revolution in Russia - construction railways, then the industrialization of the 30s - these are the main reasons for urbanization.

Secondly, population decline. The birth rate has decreased and the mortality rate is high.

Third, people's desire to improve their quality of life. Everyone wants to live in comfort and have the opportunity to improve their cultural and educational level. This also pushes many to move to the city.

I conducted a small sociological survey, asking only two questions to the children of our school: how do you plan your future life, in a village or in a city? Why?

Opinions were divided. Of the 45 respondents, 23 people are going to live in the city. 22 – in the village. Working, preliminary conclusions are as follows: you can live well both in the city and in the countryside. But the lack of motivation for rural work, lack of comfort, low wages, and lack of prospects frighten young people, and they try to leave for the city, which attracts with the seeming ease and carefreeness of life. Generation after generation over the course of a century, young people have been leaving for the city. Parents are trying their best to somehow accommodate their children in the city. “Just so you don’t crawl around in manure all your life like me” is the main argument of rural residents.

Chapter 3. Demographics of the village of Sotnikovskoye.

I am very concerned about the question: is our village in danger of extinction?

Is it possible and how to prevent this problem?

Having studied very carefully historical sources, I will draw conclusions...

“Sotnikovskoye was founded in 1833, then it had 3,120 residents; births - 328, deaths - 110 marriages - 62. In 1873 - 426 households with a population of 1.3 thousand men, 1.2 thousand women. 1897 - 800 households with a population of about 6,000 thousand souls. According to the 1920 census, the Sotnikovsky volost included the village of Sotnikovskoye and the Zvenigorodsky farm. 8,749 people lived in 1,502 households. According to the Sotnikovsky census village council In 1926, 8,613 residents lived in Sotnikovsky" 4

We see that during this period the population increased. But it was not always so. During the Great Patriotic War The population decreased significantly, more than 2,000 village residents went to the front, and not all returned. The villagers also died at the hands of the Nazis who occupied the village. In the 90s, life in the village was difficult, the country was undergoing reforms, perestroika, inflation... The infrastructure collapsed...

The collective farm was downsizing, there was not enough money, people were leaving Sotnikovskoye in search of work. Many families in the village survived only by household. The birth rate has fallen and the mortality rate has increased. And despite the fact that by the end of the 90s the village was replenished with forced migrants from Chechnya, the population in Sotnikovskoye has been declining to this day. I will give exact sociological data from 2006: number of inhabitants -5026, birth rate - 40, death rate - 98 people, natural increase: -58;

2007: inhabitants -4968, birth rate - 40, death rate -87, natural increase: - 47; 2008: inhabitants - 4879, birth rate - 34, death rate -83; natural increase: - 49; 2009: inhabitants - 4476, birth rate -36, death rate - 77, natural increase: -41; 2010: inhabitants -4449, birth rate -36, death rate - 86, natural increase: - 50.

Terrible data! The problem of extinction directly concerns our village. The houses are empty. Young people are leaving their small homeland.

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4 . Directory of the Stavropol province. Stavropol, 1921 - p.

CONCLUSION

My research showed that we all need to think about what to do to solve a situation that has not arisen today, but still remains unresolved. Some believe that the problem of village extinction can be solved by populating empty villages with migrants from the North, refugees and internally displaced persons. There are already quite a lot of them in Sotnikovsky, but migration has not solved the demographic problem. Moreover, new ones are emerging: employment, social security, interethnic relations... Sociological research on the territory of our school once again confirmed the importance and significance of this work. My classmates, having heard about the study and some of its results, decided this problem bring it up for discussion at our discussion club and invite the chairman of the village administration, N.N. Astakhov, parents and teachers. The debate took place. We, of course, did not solve the problem, but I am sure that the conversation was useful for everyone, because each of us was convinced that the problem exists and it requires a solution. And also our participation in its solution.

Annex 1

Discussion of Melnikov’s poem “Establish a monument to the village”, slide from the presentation for the debate.

Appendix 2

Presentation of Ivan Laznikov with a project on the demographic situation of Russia.

Recently, more and more villagers are trying to move to big cities. Forgotten villages are emptying, residents are fleeing in search of better life. It’s difficult to say how many such villages there are throughout Russia. Why are ancient settlements disappearing, what forced the owners to leave their homes? Each uninhabited village has its own tragic story.

Problems of the Russian village

The village has always been the main symbol of the Russian spirit. She is the cradle great culture And best traditions our country. In our time forgotten villages Russia is not uncommon. More and more often you can see abandoned villages that amaze with their sad landscapes. Rural youth strive for a better life; in conditions without government support it is difficult to achieve success. A whole range of measures aimed at improving the rural economy will help correct the deplorable situation.

Causes

Sociologists have long been speculating about the reasons for the decline of the Russian hinterland. Many small settlements ceased to exist for similar reasons. Many different factors contributed to the degradation of the Russian village:

• exhaustion natural resources(for example, a reservoir that local residents used for their needs dries up);
• relocation of residents due to the proposed construction of important structures;
• military action (mobilization of men who subsequently did not return);
• the merger of small villages of the 60-70s of the last century (the goal of the Khrushchev program was to consolidate collective farms);
• undeveloped infrastructure;
• lack of jobs (this is how old abandoned villages appear, from where people left in search of work and a better life);
• low prices at high costs for the products it can produce;
• villages living out their days (a small number of local residents, mostly elderly: young people who went to study in the city no longer return to their small homeland).

Each forgotten place has its own unique story, the 20th century in Russia was rich in events, which for the most part had a negative impact on the Russian village. Lembolovo in the vicinity of the northern capital was destroyed to the ground during the Great Patriotic War. After the victory of our troops, the settlement was moved to the north. A new railway station arose, to which the historical name was transferred. The small abolished village of Pitkyamaki in the Leningrad region is now part of the larger settlement of Myaglovo.

Despite their neglect and decay, forgotten villages are a natural source of inspiration for some enthusiasts who brave the challenges. There are people who move from big cities closer to nature. What is it - the call of blood or the desire to escape from the bustle of the city? Whatever the reason for the development of abandoned villages, perhaps thanks to these settlers there will be a revival of the Russian village.

Cultural values

There are regions on the map of Russia where there are many abandoned objects cultural heritage. Ancient landowner estates, hastily abandoned by their owners during the October Revolution, beautiful churches and monasteries, where no services were held for many years. The interior has long been plundered; many objects remain in picturesque ruins. Rich story, the spirit of former times attract local historians and connoisseurs of antiquity.

In the vicinity of St. Petersburg there is an abolished village of Kummolovo, so ancient that the first mention of it is found in scribe books of the 16th century. Located in an abandoned area manor house Blumenthorst. The once luxurious building of the architect Beretti is now visible only thanks to the ruins. The remains of an overgrown park with former plantings of fruit trees, swampy ponds where trout were bred, rocky placers on the sites of numerous former buildings have preserved the historical border of the settlement. The reason for the destruction of the village was the occupation.

Interest in the village in our time

Nowadays, uninhabited forgotten villages are of genuine interest to many travelers. This direction may become good resource tourism development. Some ancient churches and the manorial estates have survived to this day. The desolation and gloom of abandoned places especially attract extreme sports enthusiasts and treasure hunters. Do not forget that walking through deserted areas can be quite dangerous. In addition to old wells and decrepit buildings, snakes and wild animals can await the traveler.

Unfortunately, the number of old abandoned settlements is growing every year. Perhaps someday this problem will be solved, and Russia will be proud of its prosperous villages. And on this moment forgotten villages can only be of interest to a group of enthusiasts and stalkers.