FEMINISM+Collectivization

Collectivization

BETWEEN 1928-1940

Emerging in the soviet union from and during Stalin’s ‘Five Year Plan’, collectivisation was an ideo-political movement, driven by Stalin’s marxist theorems, designed to transform the agrarian structure of the soviet union into a socialist model and secure the Communist Party's authority, though it was simultaneously used to serve the economic goals of stalin.

Cause - lenin’s ideals

The Communist Party (CPSU) viewed private agriculture as a source of capitalism and an opposite of the communist republic. Lenin argued that small-scale production "gives birth to capitalism and the bourgeoisie

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Apart from ideological goals, Joseph Stalin also wished to embark on a program of rapid heavy industrialization which required larger surpluses to be extracted from the agricultural sector and kulaks in order to feed a growing industrial workforce and to pay for imports of machinery (by exporting grain).

AIM:

Turning the soviet union into an entirely socialist model, preventing privatisation in all sectors of society.

• Targetting the agricultural economy through transforming independent peasants into state-employed workers

Social and ideological goals would also be served through the mobilisation of the peasants in a co-operative, state-controlled enterprise that would provide social services to the people and empower the state.

• Stalin believed that the peasants were not to be trusted, since they would not willingly conform to the product and implementation of socialism in the soviet republic = THEY WERE A THREAT

He possesed a concern over the peasants' willingness to conform to the collective farm system, and state mandated grain acquisitions.

Actions:

Crisis of 1928:

Between 1929 and 1932 there was a massive fall in agricultural production resulting in famine in the countryside.

Stalin and the CPSU blamed the prosperous peasants, referred to as 'kulaks', who were organizing resistance to collectivisation. Allegedly, many kulaks had been hoarding grain in order to speculate on higher prices, thereby sabotaging grain collection.

Stalin resolved to eliminate them as a class.

The methods Stalin used to eliminate the kulaks were

• dispossession,

• deportation,

• and execution.

Women’s suffragette movement

1930’s-1950

In britain, through acts of parliament in 1832 and further in the late 19th century had been passed to allow universal male suffrage. However, women at the outbreak of World War One, all British females continued to be excluded from the national political process of becoming MPs (members of parliament) or voting in an election.

Although they were employed in the industrial revolution to aid the economic prosperity of britain, women were still seen as incompetent and inferior to men in all aspects.

Even Queen Victoria, a significant figure in women’s history, believed women to be inferior enough to men to not deserve suffrage.

Key players: NON-MILITANT & PEACEFUL RESISTANCE

NUWSS: National Union for Women’s suffrage societies - MILLICENT FAWCETT

• Believe in non-cooperative, peaceful protesting for women’s suffrage.

• Fought a non-volent conflict through peaceful campaigning

• Placed considerable pressure on government through a display of strength, and legal involvement in non-violent protests.

PEAKING IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY (PRE-1920’S): Mass rallies

• Mud March" (the Procession of Women) of 1907

Fawcett organised a massive procession from Hyde Park to Exeter Hall in London, involving over 3,000 women from various suffrage societies, including non-militant suffragists and some suffragettes.

It was the first large-scale, orderly procession organized by the NUWSS

• It was a deliberate, disciplined display of peaceful solidarity that demonstrated the serious desire for suffrage among a vast number of women. It showed that the movement was growing, organised, and popular.

• Fawcett lived to see the final success of the movement, attending the parliamentary session for the Representation of the People Act 1928

KEY PLAYERS: MILITANT WING

WSPU: Women’s social and political union - EMMELINE PANKHURST

• Believed in non-cooperative, violent protestation for women’s suffrage

• Fought a militant purpose through violent actions

• Placed considerable pressure on government through a display of active, imposition and female strength

orchestrated window-smashing campaign in London, particularly in 1912:

• Under the slogan "Deeds not words", Pankhurst declared WSPU members were to march through high-profile areas like Oxford Street in London, destroying public property and government structures.

• This campaign moved suffragette tactics beyond symbolic disruption into direct, widespread destruction of property to inflict economic damage, effectively bringing PUBLICITY to the CAUSE

• Result: The campaign led to the arrest of over 1,300 women, including Pankhurst, during this peak period, forcing the issue of female suffrage to the top of the government's agenda through mass incarceration and subsequent protest (hunger strikes).

PEAK: EARLY 20TH CENTURY

PURPOSE

To highlight the grievances and inequalities of the working women in Britain and the lack of suffrage in 19th and 20th century Britain on par with men who had gained considerable advantages despite income in terms of suffrage by the mid 1800’s.

Consequence

Women became about a third of the electorate, and it was the first time the voting public had a working-class majority.

It was not until the mid-20th century that the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act of 1928 was to finally give women the parliamentary vote on equal terms with men.