Interkolkhoz Enterprises

agricultural, construction, and industrial enterprises and organizations created by groups of kolkhozes for the purpose of making better use of their labor, material, and financial resources.

The interkolkhoz enterprises operate on a voluntary basis on the principle of the full legal and economic independence of the members. They became a mass phenomenon in the USSR in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. There are many different types, including construction enterprises and enterprises producing building materials (such as brickyards, stone quarries, and tile yards), livestock-fattening enterprises, and enterprises for the primary processing of agricultural products. In 1973 more than 5,000 interkolkhoz enterprises were in operation. They were most widespread in the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Moldavian SSR. The specific conditions in each republic affect the types of interkolkhoz enterprises. For example, in Moldavia, in addition to livestock-fattening enterprises and enterprises processing fruit and vegetables, there are interkolkhoz vaccination workshops; in Middle Asia sheep-shearing centers (in Kazakhstan) and cotton-ginning enterprises have been developed.

The capital assets of the interkolkhoz enterprises are formed out of the subscriptions of the member kolkhozes. The size of the initial share is determined by the participating kolkhozes in different ways; it may be based on the land area of the kolkhozes or the amount of work to be performed for each of them, or it may be set as a certain percentage deducted from gross or net income. The chief source of additional capital for the interkolkhoz enterprises is deductions from profits, which are distributed according to terms set by the member kolkhozes themselves.

The interkolkhoz enterprises are directed by an enterprise council, elected by the general assembly of authorized representatives of the cooperating kolkhozes. The council approves the permanent staff of the interkolkhoz enterprise, with the personnel having all the rights of production, as do office workers in state enterprises. The procedure for payment for labor in interkolkhoz enterprises is arranged in accord with the conditions prevailing in analogous state enterprises, and the manner of payment is approved by the assembly of representatives. The participating kolkhozes assign the necessary number of kolkhoz members for temporary tasks. The enterprises operate on the basis of long-term plans and current plans, which are organically linked with the plans of the participating farms. An interkolkhoz enterprise may be dissolved by a decision of the assembly of representatives of participating kolkhozes, if confirmed by the raion executive committee. The remaining assets are distributed among the kolkhozes in proportion to their subscriptions.

Interkolkhoz enterprises are usually highly efficient economically. The interkolkhoz livestock-fattening enterprises, which are increasing rapidly in number and volume of production, are superior to individual kolkhozes in average daily increase in livestock weight and have a significantly lower prime cost and expenditure of feed per unit of weight added and a higher productivity of labor. Interkolkhoz enterprises and organizations have been established by kolkhozes not only in productive spheres but also in the areas of culture, health, and welfare. Farms pool their efforts to build such facilities as interkolkhoz houses of rest, sanatoriums, laundering plants, and boarding schools. In order to coordinate the work of the interkolkhoz enterprises, improve supervision over construction, and expand interkolkhoz production ties, interkolkhoz associations have been formed.

Interkolkhoz cooperation, in various forms, is also typical of other socialist countries, such as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, and Hungary. It is one of the major preconditions for further developing the productive forces of socialist agriculture and for improving agricultural-economic relations in the countryside.