Afanasyeva, A. Forced relocations of the Kola Sámi people: background and consequences / by Anna Afanasyeva. - Tromsø: University of Tromsø, 2013. - 82 p.: ill., map, portr.

28 The period from the 1950’s -1970’s was determined by the policy of economic centralization introduced by Khrushchev. 88 The Khrushchev policy was characterized by amalgamation of small cooperatives and collective farms into larger units. It literally meant “work on economic strengthening” of the collective farms. In order to achieve the aim of centralization of the local resources, it was decided to rearrange all small collective farms into a new joint form of the state farm – ‘ sovhoz’ 89 . It presupposed that by joining several ‘kolhoz’ into one unit ‘ sovhoz’, small unpromising , unprofitable farms were to be eliminated together with the settlements. The situation with populations settled, dispersed, and scattered around the huge territories 90 created additional inconvenience in the state’s attempts to control and subsidize the small settlements. Thereby, the high concentration of a population in the territory of one settlementwould allow for an easier restructuring economy, avoiding additional problems and further investments in managing the organization of these settlements. The population was to be resettled to the larger locations. 91 The idea of reducing the amount of settlements was based on implication of having fewer problems with coordination and products distribution for these settlements. 92 The above-mentioned policies affected not only indigenous peoples, but all populations in the Soviet Union. The policies of collectivization and centralization are especially known for their consequences which touched to a varying degree almost every individual in the country. Therefore, the implemented policies were not based on ethnic principles or nationalistic considerations towards the Sámi people, but rather were grounded on assumptions of purely economic profitability. However, the relocation policies and liquidation of unpromising villages were implemented in all regions inhabited by indigenous peoples. 93 Thus, liquidation of small nation’s villages sufficiently affected their traditional way of life and cultures. 94 Due to the fact that the same political principles and the same measures were carried out over the whole territory of small indigenous peoples in Russia 95 , all these peoples share common situations and face similar consequences, such as a decline in their economies, negative 88 The Secretary General of RSFSR. 89 A joint unit of several kolhozes. 90 Odzial 2008: 44-45. 91 Allemann 2010:75; Gustol 2007:6. 92 Grant 1995:124-125. 93 ibid:125. 94 Kolpakova 2006:151. 95 small indigenous peoples is the term applies to population numbers less than 50.000 people.