Chapter 13: Agricultural and social developments in the countryside

Five-Year Plans required surplus grain to fund industrialisation, assert control over the peasantry who had resisted Bolshevik rule since 1917, private farming seen as capitalist whilst collective farms represented true socialism, Grain Procurement Crisis (1927-28)

Reasons for collectivisation

Peasants were hoarding grain, forcing the state to seize supplies by force.

What causes the Grain Procurement crisis(1927-28)?

Stalin initially encouraged voluntary collectivisation but peasants resisted, Stalin announced "the liquidation of the kulaks as a class"(Dec 1929), Peasants forced into collectives, March 1930: 58% of peasant households collectivised

Stage 1: Forced Collectivisation (1929-30)

Propaganda, state terror (OGPU secret police, Red Army), forced grain requisitioning, ural-siberian method

Methods of collectivisation

ural-siberian method

grain requisitioning involving forcible seizure of grain and the closing down of private markets had brought unrest in rural areas

“Dizzy with success”, March 1930

• Temporary halt in collecitivsation

• Stalin temporarily stopped forced collectivisation, blaming over-zealous officials.

• Peasants left the collectives, reducing the collectivisation rate to 20% by October 1930

less 5%

By 1929, what percentage of all farms had been collectivised?

Red Army, OGPU, 4%, 15%, 150k, north and east, livestock, destroyed, kulaks, problems

The ___ ___ and ____ were used to identify, execute or deport kulaks, who were said to represent __ of peasant households. ___ of peasant households were destroyed and ____ peasants forced to migrate _____ and ____ to poorer land. Some peasants killed their ________ and ________ their crops to avoid being labeled as ______, adding to rural _______.

1930, 25%, grain-farming, March, 58%, propaganda, force, disquiet, rigorous and confrontational, “dizzy with success”, voluntary collectivisation, harvest, October, 20%

In January ____, Stalin announced __ of _____ ______ areas were to be collectivised that year. By _____, ___ of peasant households had been collectivised via a mixture of ___________ and _____, in the face of mounting peasant ______. But the speed of this operation led Stalin to say that local officials were being too __________ and _____________ in their methods; He claimed that party members were becoming “_____ _____ _______.” Hence a brief return to _________ _________ was permitted until after the ______ had been collected that year. This immediately reduced the collectives’ numbers; in ________, only ___ of households were still collectivised

Collectivisation stage 1, 1929-30

the gov. began the campaign with the issue of new procurement(delivery) quotas, with punishments for peasants who did not keep up with deliveries. At the same time, a deliberate propaganda campaign was waged against the kulaks.

Collectivisation Stage 2, 1930-41

Stalin’s temporary climb down(‘Dizzy with Success’) was only temporary, as collectivisation resumed in 1931. By 1941, 100% of all households were collectivised

90%

By 1937, how many peasant households had been collectivised?

Kolkhoz

Created by combining small individual farms together in a cooperative structure

• Peasants worked communal land but could keep small private plots

• Had to deliver grain quotas to the state (often up to 40% of crops)

• Run by Communist Party officials to ensure control

quotas of 40% of crops, members received profit based on number of labour days, internal passports, controlled by Party member(Chairman)

What was included in a kolkhoz?

from 1931 kolkhozes were able to sell any left over produce in a collective farm market

how were kolkhozes the only free market permitted in the USSR?

sovkhoz

• State-owned and run like a factory.

• Peasants became state employees and were paid wages.

• Used for large-scale grain production (mainly in Ukraine and southern Russia).

• Expectation that all kolkhozes would be turned into this in the longer term

• Usually larger than the kolkhozes and were created on land confiscated form larger estates

‘socialist agriculture of the highest order’

Some state farms had been created in the early 1920s as an example of:

Machine Tractor Stations

• set up from 1931 to provide seed and to hire out tractors and machinery to collective and state farms

• Acted as a Party prop in rural areas.

• Officials ensured quotas were met and acted as spies, reporting any local troubles

2500 established, but only one MTS for every 40 collectives

What was the ratio of MTS to collectives by 1940?

by 1938, 95% of threshing, 72% of ploughing, 57% spring sowing, and 48% harvesting were carried out mechanically but other farm operations were less mechanised and many machines were still labour intensive

Evaluation of mechanisation of farming

By the end of 1938, 196k lorries compared with over a million in USA

How was there a limited number of lorries in use for the transport of goods?

poorer, voluntarily, fertile, Ukraine, hostile, kulaks, burned

Mostly ______ peasants joined collectives __________, but those from more _______ agricultural areas like ________ were ______. Fearing they would be labelled ______, peasants _______ destroyed their produce rather than hand them over

kulaks, deported, Siberia, labour camps, work-gangs, Dekulakisation, successful and skilled

Those who resisted collectivisation were classified as ____ and _________ to remote areas like _____, where they would be herded into _______ _____ but sometimes as ‘________’ to the new industrial towns. ___________ removed some of the most _________ and _______ farmers from the countryside.

10 million, 1939, 19 million, 3 peasants, collective, one, urban work

__ ______ peasants died as the result of resistance of the effects of deportation. By ____, about __ _______ peasants had migrated to towns: in effect, for every ____ peasants who joined a ________, ___ left the countryside and became an _____ ______

kulaks resisted, peasants burned crops, destroyed machinery and slaughtered livestock(25-30% of all livestock killed in 1929-33), sharp drop in grain and meat production

Peasant resistance to collectivisation

dekulakisation(1929-33), millions of peasants sent to labour camps or forced into industrial work, by 1939 19 million peasants had migrated to towns fuelling industrialisation

Gov. response to resistance

betrayal and hostility, new serfdom

Those peasants that joined the collectives were left with a sense of __________ and _________ towards the regime, regarding their conditions as a “___ _______”

1932, ten, sell, quotas, Internal passport, famine-stricken

By a law of August ____, anyone who stole from a collective(Even just taking a few ears of corn) could be gaoled for ___ years. Further decrees gave ten-year sentences for any attempt to ___ meat or grain before ______ were filled. ________ ________ controls were introduced, largely to prevent peasants fleeing from _______ _______ areas.

quotas were so high, thus little incentive to work hard

Why was there rarely any profit in sovkhozes?

private plots, market, 1935, legalised, 52%, 70%, 71%, late 1930s

Most peasants were only interest in their _____ ____ where they could grow food to eat and to sell in the ______. From ____ a gov. decree _______ this practice. ___ of vegetables, ___ of meat, and ___ of milk was produced this way by the ____ ______.

1931 drought, kulak deportations, destruction of food supply by peasant resistance, grain requisitioning continued taking grain even during shortages

Causes of the famine of 1932-34

5-7 million people mostly in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus, peasants banned by internal passports from fleeing famine zones

Impact of the famine of 1932-34

increase grain exports, fed workforce, peasants left countryside to work in towns

Economic success of collectivisation

agricultural production fell drastically due to peasant opposition(sometimes even to 1913 levels) and recovered only until late 1930s, grain and livestock destroyed(25%-30% slaughtered by peasants between 1929-33) and only recovered by 1953, grain output didn’t exceed pre-collectivisation levels until after 1935, party activists who helped established collectives had no farming expertise, insufficient resources

Economic failures of collectivisation

more peasants received education in collective farms, private plots allowed from 1935 produce most of the food

Social success of collectivisation

millions died from famine, repression and exile, and peasants ahd little incentive to work hard due to low payments

Social failures of collectivisation

reinforced Stalin’s control by extending political control over countryside, peasants never again would be able to resist the regime, Bukharin and Rykov loss influence in power struggle, class differences and capitalist remnants were abolished in the countryside

Political success of collectivisation

mass repression created deep hostility towards the soviet regime by the peasantry

Political failures of collectivisation