Collectivisation and it’s impact

Why did Stalin choose to implement collectivisation?

Stalin recognised that 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 which Stalin felt could be done through collectivisation.

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

1928: a new direction in agriculture- Why?

Stalin had become convinced that the state of agriculture and the attitudes of sections of the peasantry were holding back industrial progress.

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.

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.