State act on the perpetual use of land collective farms

As a result of the 1920-1930s conducted in the USSR collectivization instead of sole peasant farms agricultural artels (collective farms) and state farms were created. The exemplary Charter of the agricultural artel adopted in February 1935 which formulated the goals and objectives of the artel, defined the rights and obligations of its members, along with the USSR Constitution confirmed the inviolability of nationalization of the land as the basis of the land system and the principle of sustainability of collective farm land use. The land was state property, i.e. national property. The land occupied by collective farms was assigned to them for free and indefinite use, i.e. forever. In confirmation of this, each collective farm was issued a State Act for the indefinite (eternal) use of land, indicating the exact boundaries and areas of land use.

The procedure for obtaining the act was as follows: the land management project was discussed at a general meeting of collective farmers, then approved by the executive committee of the district council, and after that the external borders were fixed with boundary signs; then the State Act on the Perpetual Use of Land was drawn up in duplicate, which indicated the total area of ​​land assigned to the land user, as well as the area of ​​main agricultural land in this area, contained a plan of the land plot and a description of its borders. One copy was signed by the chairman of the district executive committee, the head of the district land department and the senior land surveyor of the district land department in a festive atmosphere (at a meeting of collective farmers) issued to the collective farm, and the second remained in storage at the district executive committee.

The exhibition presents a copy of the Act for the perpetual use of land, issued on December 22, 1935 by the agricultural artel "The Second Five Year Plan" of the village of Kotlyany of the Polotsk District. In addition to the main borders of the territory of the artel, the boundaries of the land plot assigned to the farm in December 1937 were additionally plotted.