This paper considers the potato as an agent in social history, its role within an underdeveloped civil society dominated by the state. It uses guidance from previous studies, extending its research edge and focus to Belarus. Using qualitative methods, it shows that authoritarianism encourages work on subsidiary allotments to make workers economically and socially inactive. The paper investigates manifestations of “potato-induced” weaknesses of civil society, workings of governmental policies, and prospects for public resistance.
It finally hypothesizes on the re-feudalizing perils for people subsisting on the potato but calling it “second bread.”