Allemann, L. The sami of the Kola Peninsula : about the life of an ethnic minority in the Soviet Union / Lukas Allemann ; [transl. by Michael Lomax]. - Rovaniemi : University of Lapland Printing Centre, 2013. - 151 p. : ill., map, portr. ; 25 см. - (Senter for samiske studier, Skriftserie ; 19).

Lukas Allemann Q: Let's get back to the Soviet authorities. Do you think the Soviet authorities were supportive of your lifestyle or were they opposed to it? A: You mean in Soviet times? No, I don't think they were opposed to it. As far as I remember, they were supportive of it. For instance, our reindeer herds were all insured by the state which paid sort of indemnity for them. When their reindeer died, a reindeer technician or brigade leader would write a memo and submit it to the collective farm which would send it on to Murmansk and get compensa­ tion to make good the losses. Nothing of the sort exists nowadays. Today, herdsmen are only paid what they have earned. We were paid the so-called 13th salary which was very good money. When herdsmen fulfilled the meat plan [mjasoplan], they were paid the 13th salary .152 It is especially this implicit social contract between the state and collective/state farm employees during the Soviet period, in which employees were able informally to pursue their own interests within the collective economy, that many people mourn today. Rather than in terms of opposition of private vs. collective, one can, following Konstantinov, understand the Soviet system with the formula 'the private within the collective'. Thanks to this formula the reindeer herders were able to maintain a small number of private reindeer without, however, having to bear the risks of a sole pro­ prietor, since, as the private animals were staying in the same herd as state ones, lost reindeer could easily be written off as a state-owned. Furthermore, alongside this institutionalized theft there was a stable monthly salary, and private activities could be pursued in the tundra, without having to bear the cost of transportation, materi­ als, etc. In those days the state sent a helicopter, today there is no money to run the snowmobiles .153A risk-free existence is no longer guaranteed .154 Nevertheless, there were, in objective terms, even in this 'golden age', numerous defects that were a direct result of the policy of the past - a policy which had consist­ 152Jur'eva interview, lines 238-248. 153Cf.: Robinson/Kassam 1998, 77. 154See,especially: Konstantinov 2002,171; Konstantinov/Vladimirova 2002,1; Konstantinov/Vladimirova 2006, 124; Konstantinov 2007, 2-7, 14-19; Konstantinov 2006, 3, 10-12. Senterfor samiske studier, Skriftserie nr. 19 94