Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Time and social networks
Destinies of the post-war colonists in the village of Trate 105 ing war reparations. Thus, some of the expelled members of the Kulturbund started anew with even better conditions in their new country. For example one of my informants explained that his relatives were so satisfied with their situation in Austria that they prayed for Tito's good fortune in their gratefulness. But not all of them were that lucky. The position of the new colonists in the village of Trate was not favourable at all. They were given no more than 5 ha of property; they were obliged to work as farmers and were not allowed to take jobs in industry. It is obvious that this amount of property could not provide a substantial income. Therefore, they were expected to establish and join a new socialist agricultural co-operative. It is important to note, however, that land reform of this sort was not common in the socialist Yugoslavia. As a matter of fact, the socialist government did not try to confiscate all the farmers’ property to establish larger co-operative (“communal”) farms. Instead, it set limits on the size of individually owned properties. The implemented limitation on property ownership was 10 ha (plus no more than 20 ha of forests) which was, of course, quite small. The result was obvious: the process of rapid reduction of the number of people employed in agriculture (and the simultaneous industrialisation). Only for a short period of time (between the late forties and early fifties), and only voluntarily were some co-operative farms established. Among them was the co-operative farm (zadruga) in Trate, established in 1949. Most of those who joined the farm were new colonists. After two years, many families left the co-operative, and the experiment finally came to a conclusion in 1954 (more on the destiny of the co-operative and colonists in Muršič 2000b: 370-377, 394-396). In the late fifties many colonists returned the property back to the state or sold it. Only a few of them remained on their new farms and even most of these, eventually, found jobs in industry. Contrary to the pre-war agricultural settlers from Prekmurje, these people were not born as farmers. They were servants, bailiffs or people without any property, working occasionally for their landlords on fields or in vineyards. It was
