collectivism

What was collectivism?

Stalin’s programme from 1929 forcing peasants to give up individual farms and join collectively owned state farms

What were the main aims for collectivism?

• Power and control

• Ideology

• Improve food supplies

• Personal reputation

How did collectivism mean that Stalin could gain power and control?

-Stalin wanted control over remote areas of the USSR

-Dissent and unrest were common in Tsarist Russia+under Lenin

How did Collectivism support Lenin’s ideology?

-It would implement socialism

-Reduce Kulak power

Why would collectivism improve food supplies?

-Stalin wanted to resolve Russia’s longstanding issues with agriculture

-Exporting grain income to fund 5 year plan in order to advance technology

How would collectivism improve Stalins reputation?

-He wanted to develop a reputation of being a great leader

-Developing agriculture would be used as propaganda

How did collectivization work?

-Most peasants were placed in a kolkhoz and any surplus that was produced would be shared among the families

-Harsh laws kept peasants tied to the collectivized farms as passports were issues in 1932

What happened to Kulaks during collectivization?

-Stalin blamed them for the grain shortages claiming that they were hiding back supplies to drive the prices up

-150,000 forced to migrate north

-Across the campaign, dekulakisation removed around ten million of the most successful farmers

Impacts of dekulakization

-Stripped land of most experienced and producive farmers

-Not only done to punish Kulaks but also to scare poorer peasants

What did peasants do to Livestock?

-Destroy property/livestock rather than handing it over to the state

-Between 1929 and 1933, around 25-30% of cattle, pigs and sheep were slaughtered

• Livestock numbers did not return to their pre-collectivization levels until 1953

Economic impacts of collectivisation

• The state achieved its central aim of controlling the grain supply

  • Grain procurement and exports rose

  • This helped fund and feed industrialization

• Agricultural productivity stayed low for years as farms were badly organized and run by party activists who knew little about farming

• Grain output remained weak

  • It did not exceed its pre-collectivisation levels until after 1935

Social impacts of collectivization

Peasants resisted collectivization throughout the campaign

The famine of 1932-33 was one of the worst in Russian history where 5-8 million died

Political impacts of collectivization

• Collectivisation gave the state firm control over the countryside

  • MTS staff and Party officials monitored the villages closely

  • By 1941, the peasantry had lost its independence

  • The state controlled the food supply