Return to serfdom: Lukashenko banned dismissals from state farms and kolkhozes

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, unrecognized by the West, intends to sharply “tighten the screw” in state farms and kolkhozes, de facto restoring the equivalent of serfdom in the republic’s agriculture.

Speaking at a harvest campaign teleconference on Friday, July 21, Lukashenko demanded that agricultural workers be banned from resigning from their jobs, from managers and specialists to milkmaids and machine operators.

“Today, not a single specialist, not a single farm manager can be transferred to another job or leave without the decision of the chairman of the district executive committee,” Lukashenko is quoted by his press service. “He resigned and no one in the country can hire him until he presents a certificate from his previous job, which is a normal feature.”

No chairman of the district executive committee and other officials also have the right to leave work, Lukashenko continued: “The same – not a single machine operator, milkmaid, etc. at an agricultural enterprise can take a step left or right without the decision of the boss.”

Thus, according to Lukashenko, a “closed vertical” will be created and “responsibility” will appear.

As BelTA notes, even before the start of the harvest, Lukashenko set himself the task of collecting 9.5-10 million tons of grain. But weather conditions thwart these plans: the harvest forecast is 9 million tons, even if rapeseed, maize, canola and other crops are included. Belarus, as Lukashenka said, decided to buy grain in Russia. “Today’s grain is like gold and foreign exchange reserves. Always useful and constantly increasing in price,” he said.