Rejoinder to Dominiak on the necessity of easements

Dominiak (2019) agrees with the Blockian proviso: homesteading in a bagel or donut format is illicit, since it allows the owner to control land (the hole, the territory in the middle) with which he has not mixed his labor. Thus, a person who does so must open up an easement allowing outside home-steaders through his property, and into this so-far virgin land. But, this author claims this proviso of Block’s does not go far enough. It should also be extended further, not only to incorporate the bagel format, but also in justification of easements through private property in emergencies, and so as to avoid entrapment. I strongly support Dominiak in his defense of the Blockian proviso against critics (Kinsella, 2007, 2009C) in the first part of his excellent paper, but find I cannot agree with this second contention of his. In short, Dominiak agrees with Block regarding easements in the bagel case, but wants to extend this concept to when property owners are encircled, and thus trapped. In my view, extending easements to cases other than the bagel is incompatible with libertarianism’s emphasis on the sanctity of private property rights. Certain positive rights (to, in this case, movement) are essential to Dominiak’s argument. And these rights do not exist. Therefore, Dominiak’s argument is unsound.

Ecological assessment of the impact of agricultural activity on the emission of carbon dioxide from the leached chernozem of the Tobol-Ishim interfluve

The purpose of this work is to study carbon dioxide emissions from the surface of virgin and arable chernozem during the growing season of the Tobol-Ishim interfluve. Methods. The study was conducted on virgin land, in pure steam, under grain crops and corn from May to October. The intensity of carbon dioxide release was determined by the method of Shtatnov with titration in the field. Results. Based on previous studies, based on scientifically based approaches, as well as our own experimental data, the relationship between carbon dioxide emission and hydrothermal conditions of the humus layer (0–30 cm) was investigated, and the degree of influence of the type of land and crops on the release of CO2 from the surface of leached chernozem was determined. It has been established that the chernozems of Western Siberia are characterized by very low biological activity in the spring and autumn periods. CO2 emissions in May averaged 1.0–1.6 kg/ha per hour with a coefficient of variation of 8 %. The peak release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere occurs in June-July (2.6–6.5 kg/ha per hour). It was revealed that under grain crops the gaseous losses of C–CO2 in the summer period amount to 4.1–6.5 kg/ha per hour, and in the area of pure steam – 2.3–3.4 kg/ha. The determining role in the intensity of carbon dioxide release is played by the soil temperature (r = 0.7). During the years of research, there were no dry periods, which did not allow us to establish a reliable effect of soil moisture on CO2 emissions, the correlation coefficient was 0.2 units. Based on the results obtained, a low degree (12.8 %) of the influence of the type of land (virgin land/arable land) and crops (cereals/corn) on the intensity of carbon dioxide release into the atmosphere from the surface of chernozem was revealed. The maximum degree of influence was in hydrothermal soil conditions (65 %), on which the activity of the soil microbiota and the root system of plants depended. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the intensity of carbon dioxide release from the surface of leached chernozem was studied for the Tobol-Ishim interfluve and the degree of influence of the anthropogenic factor against the background of the hydrothermal regime of soil was established.

RESIDENTS OF KOSTROMA REGION ON UNBROKEN VIRGIN SOIL IN 1954–1964

The virgin land campaign of 1954–1964 became a bright page in the national history and an example of the labor heroism of Soviet citizens. Its results were contradictory. On the one hand, in the difficult post-war years, the state managed to temporarily relieve food tension; on the other hand, plowing of large land plots in the east of the country resulted in an environmental disaster, which subsequently caused a new food crisis in the USSR, which led to grain purchases abroad. The lessons of the virgin epic are relevant today. In today’s rapidly changing world, the state must provide its citizens with food security, besides, Russia has a great agricultural potential. One of the main tasks of the Soviet state at the time of the new lands development was the task of providing qualified workers to the developed areas in order to get crops in a short time. Many regions of the country, under the draft of the Communist Party, were to send volunteers to empty lands. Residents of Kostroma region and other regions of the Soviet Union took an active part in the virgin land campaign and contributed to the development of the country’s agricultural sector. The study of archival materials, memoirs of campaign participants, periodicals makes it possible to establish what role the residents of Kostroma region played in implementing the virgin land campaign. The article contains excerpts from the participants’ memoirs about the course of the campaign, the working process and examines the results of the work carried out by Kostroma people on the virgin land. This information throws new light on the problem under study and gives us an opportunity to look at the events of the past years from another aspect.

The “Flight” of Soviet Elites to Opposition in the Late 1980s – Early 1990s: Macro-Sociological Analysis

The article deals with investigation into the conditions of the defection of the national Soviet party-state functionaries to opposition in the USSR (late 1980s – early 1980s) that is an important indicator of the loyalty of the national elites towards the central government. The analysis is based on comparing two contrastive cases – the Soviet elites of Latvia and those of Kazakhstan in their interactions with the central government as well as local population. Despite seemingly obvious cultural and historical differences, both cases are similar regarding some important aspects such as socio-demographic, economic as well as cultural dynamics in the late Soviet period. In both republics, the proportion of migrants in the whole population as well as in the elites was relatively high. The intensive migration in the post-war period was a result of the rapid industrialization and the Virgin Land campaign in the case of Kazakhstan. The Soviet elites both of Latvia and of Kazakhstan were loyal to the Union center, Russian-speaking and more international than national oriented. Besides, the national movements in both republics were practically nonexistent at the beginning of the perestroika. Nevertheless, many Latvian national ruling cadres joined the opposition in the late 1980s – early 1991s whereas Kazakh national elites remained mostly loyal to the Union center up to the dissolution of the USSR (Kazakhstan declared its independence only on 16 December 1991, as the last republic to leave the USSR) – although Kazakh national party-state functionaries did not have less reasons to get rid of the tough control from Moscow than national elites of Soviet Latvia. As the theoretical basis the author applies the R. Collins` state-centered theory of ethnos elaborated in the framework of the Weberian paradigm. The analysis showed that decreasing loyalty of the Latvian national elites in the late 1980s – early 1991s was due to the success of the protest movement in this republic including the violent confrontation with its rivals in January 1991 (“The Barricades”). A broad support of the protest movement striving for the reestablishment of the independence from the Soviet Union was based on anti-immigration ideological alternative to official Soviet internationalism attracting different social and ethnic groups of Latvian population. A relatively high level of the loyalty of the Kazakh national elites to the central government was caused by the effective suppression of the Kazakh youth riots in December 1986 that triggered the purge of the national ruling cadres in Kazakhstan initiated by Moscow. A relatively low social support of the protest movement in the republic was due to the lack of a broad ideological basis that could create solidarity between different social and ethnic groups that made up the population of Kazakhstan. Besides, the protest of 1986 with Kazakh students as the main participants was perceived by local population in the logic of ethno-territorial conflicts very common in the late Soviet Kazakhstan and evoked therefore not solidarity but fear and anger.

The Evolution of the Chernozems in the Central Part of Russia and their Complex Analysis in Modern Conditions

An increasing anthropogenic impact on soils leads to qualitative and quantitative changes in chernozems, the richest soils on Earth. In this regard, the understanding of modern soil-forming processes is undoubtedly relevant because it will allow predicting the future state of not only soils, but also nature as a whole. The methodology for studying the evolution of chernozems is based on a process-factor analysis of genetically conjugated and agrogenic series of chernozems of different taxonomic levels. The objects of the study were system complexes of soil series, including subtypes of virgin, arable, and irrigated chernozems in the central regions of Russia. The data obtained made it possible to identify patterns of variation in the composition and properties of virgin chernozems in a genetically conjugated series at a subtype level and in the series virgin land – arable land – irrigated arable land; we also detected the processes and factors that determine the nature and direction of changes in the composition and properties of chernozems in the studied series and determined the direction of anthropogenic evolution of chernozems. The main provisions of the work conceptually develop the theory of the chernozem-forming process and serve as a theoretical basis for the development of models for the formation of the chernozem profile. Established quantitative and qualitative indicators of humus profiles of chernozems are important diagnostic features in the classification of these soils. The nature and direction of the chernozem evolution disclosed in the work can serve as the basis for long-term forecasting of the state of these soils and the development of a set of measures for their rational use and protection.’’

ON THE TOPICALITY OF DYNAMIC VECTOR IN GEOGRAPHIES IN XXI

On the grounds of many years field researches into open landscapes within the frames of steppe genesis and reconstruction problems solution, and with examples of studies into virgin land campaign area and Central Arctic yedoma landscapes, the topicality of dynamic vector in geographies with priority of studied objects is shown.

Environmental consequences of Khrushchev’s Virgin Land Campaign in Kazakhstan (1950s–1960s)

This paper discusses issues related to environmental problems that arose as a result of the virgin and fallow lands development in Kazakhstan in the second half of the twentieth century. The authors emphasize that the level of agricultural production in the post-war years failed to meet the needs of Soviet citizens. Under these conditions, the massive plowing of land had to solve a whole range of tasks, first of all, to solve the problem of food hunger by means of a huge increase in the area for sowing grain crops. According to the authors, solid tracts of plowed soil, having a dark color, became very hot, provoking drought, which, with chronic manifestation, caused aridization of the entire steppe zone, causing significant drying up of rivers and lakes. The authors believe that large works on the virgin lands development have made serious changes in the nature of the region. Stocks of valuable hunting and game species of animals were undermined, and in some places completely destroyed. Taking advantage of the lack of control, the new settlers along with the local residents, mercilessly consumed the gifts of the environment, which gave rise to massive poaching. The methodological basis of the study was the complex use of various approaches, methods and assessments used in interdisciplinary research.