Process of Collectivisation and outcomes

The process of collectivisation

What happened at the 15th party congress in December 1927?

They decided on a programme of voluntary collectivisation

The process of collectivisation

What happened in 1928? What was the Ural Siberian Method?

In 1928 there were food shortages which led the government to carry out forced requisitioning of grain as a temporary emergency measure. This measure was termed the ‘Ural Siberian’ method

The process of collectivisation

What was Stalin’s changed attitude towards the Kulaks?

Stalin now wanted to ‘liquidate’ the Kulaks as a class instead of just limiting their tendencies.

The process of collectivisation

What was the role of local party officials?

They went into villages to announce the organisation of a collective farm (Kolkhoz) and to lecture the peasants on the advantages of forming a collective.

The process of collectivisation

What were machine tractor stations (MTS)?

Government run centres that supplied farm machinery such as tractors to the collectives. They also provided advice on farming techniques and political lectures to persuade the peasants of the benefits of socialism and collectivisation.

The process of collectivisation

What was the government’s approach to the Kulaks?

Any peasant who refused to join a collective was labelled a Kulak and class enemy who was to be deported to Siberia and the Urals.

The process of collectivisation

What was the peasant/kulak reaction to collectivisation?

Violent opposition particularly in the richer agricultural areas of Ukraine and the Caucasus region.

Rather than hand over their property to the state many kulaks set fire to their farms and slaughtered their animals. Party officials were sometimes murdered on arrival in the villages.

The process of collectivisation

What were the De-kulakisation squads? What did they do?

• ‘Twenty-five thousanders’→ Party members who were sent from the cities to help forcibly organise collectives

• The OGPU→ The secret police who were used for rounding up kulaks and other peasants who refused to co-operate and deport them to remote regions of the USSR, often to labour camps

• The Red Army→ used to quell unrest, some troublesome villages were bombed out of existence by the air force

The process of collectivisation

How did Stalin react to the peasants/kulaks opposition?

In March 1930 Stalin issued his article ‘Dizzy with Success’ blaming overzealous party officials for ‘excesses’.

The process of collectivisation

What concessions were offered to the peasants?

Members of the collectives were allowed to have some animals and a small garden plot for their own use

The process of collectivisation

What percentage of peasant households had been collectivised by 1932?

62%

The process of collectivisation

What percentage of peasant households had been collectivised by 1937?

93%

How did the slaughtering of animals by the kulaks impact the number of livestock?

Between 1928 and 1933 the number of cattle halved and this was not fully recovered until 1953.

This caused a shortage of meat and milk

How much did grain production fall by?

It declined from 73.3 million tonnes in 1928 to 67.6 million in 1934

How did the governments seizure of food impact the peasants?

There was widespread famine in 1932-33 particularly affecting the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Caucasus region

How did the peasants try to cope with the famine?

• Peasants started to move into towns in search of food until the government introduced a passport system to prevent peasants leaving the collectives

• Some peasants resorted to eating their own children to survive

How many Kulaks were estimated to have been killed?

Historians estimate the number of deaths range from 5 to 10 million

What was the holodomer?

The argument that collectivisation was Stalin’s deliberate genocide against the Ukrainian people as Ukraine bore the brunt of the shortages.