Reasons for collectivisation

Why did Stalin choose to implement collectivisation?

Industrialisation could only be carried out if it was supported by food surpluses. Therefore Soviet Agriculture would need to be far more efficient and productive.

What was the state of agriculture by 1928?

It was still run largely by on an individual basis by peasant households under the supervision of the mir, a body made up of village elders.

Reasons for collectivisation → Industry

Why did the Communist party feel an urgent need to industrialise?

Many feared an invasion from foreign powers. A modern economic base was seen as essential if the Soviet Union was to defend itself against an attack by capitalist powers.

Reasons for collectivisation → Industry

What did industrialisation need in order for it to become possible?

It needed to be supported by an increase in agricultural productivity as industrialisation would create an increase in urban population which would increase food demand.

The new industries would also require technology from abroad and the Soviet Union needed food surpluses to export in order to obtain foreign exchange to pay for this.

Reasons for collectivisation → Industry

What would need to happen in order for to release labourers from the countryside to work in industry?

The mechanisation of agriculture

Economic reasons for collectivisation

Re-organising farming. Why was this a reason?

Most farms were owned by peasant households with their land distributed in a piecemeal fashion which was very inefficient compared to the rest of Europe.

The formation of collective farms would be much more economically productive. Hedgerows and boundaries could be ripped out and the resulting larger units would make the use of machinery more viable and cost effective.

Economic reasons for collectivisation

Benefits of using machinery

This would enable food production to be increased and would reduce the labour requirements of agricultural production. This would release many much needed workers for the growing industrial plants.

Political reasons for collectivisation

Extending socialism into the countryside. Why was this a reason?

To ensure the survival of the revolution.

Control of the party in the countryside was weak and its support had declined since the Tambov Rising of 1921. The peasants has little enthusiasm for socialist principles.

Political reasons for collectivisation

The Land Decree of 1917. Why was this a reason?

The Bolsheviks introduced the Land Decree to take large landed estates from the aristocracy but they had never intended that the land should be the personal property of individual peasants.

Political reasons for collectivisation

The NEP. Why was this a reason?

The NEP had put aside attempts to collectivise the peasants and by 1925 less than 1% of farmland was collectivised. Therefore the principle of private ownership was maintained and the peasants used the compromises under the NEP to make a profit.

Political reasons for collectivisation

The Kulaks. Why were they a reason?

Collectivisation provided an opportunity to get rid of the Kulaks (richer peasants who gained under the NEP) who in the eyes of the communists hoarded food for their own consumption rather than providing it for industrial workers in towns.

Political reasons for collectivisation

Grain procurements and peasant attitudes. Why was this a reason?

State procurements had been falling since 1926. The peasants had become wary of growing too much food, knowing it would be seized by the state at a low price. This acted as a disincentive to raise production as did the lack of industrial goods available to buy with any profit from the surplus.

Stalin saw the solution as a forced policy of collectivisation to increase food production.