collectivisation

Why was Stalin ultimately successful in becoming the successor to Lenin?

1. Convinced everyone Lenin’s testament shouldn’t be published

2. Funeral Manipulation (1924): Stalin tricked Trotsky into missing Lenin’s funeral by misleading him anbout the date.

3. Triumvirate with Zinoviev & Kamenev: Worked together to sideline Trotsky in 1924–25. They accused him of factionalism, ambition, and “Bonapartism” (military dictatorship). They discredited him about being arrogant, disloyal and anti party and exploited hisTroskys Jewish background and elitist persona to alienate him from the rest of the party. Trotsky theory of worldwide revolution was unpopular.

4. Defeating the Left Opposition: Expelled Trotsky (1927), Zinoviev, and Kamenev from the party. Zin and kam opposing Stalin’s views about NEP and growing influence created the united opposition in 1926. Stalin accused them of factionalism banned since 2021. Alliance with Bukharin (1926–28): Used Bukharin to crush the Left, then turned on him.

5. By late 1927, Stalin faced a grain procurement crisis. Peasants were hoarding grain due to low prices. Stalin used this crisis to argue the NEP was failing and pushed for rapid industrialisation and collectivisation. This directly opposed Bukharin’s NEP-based policies. Stalin portrayed Bukharin’s ideas as “right deviation” — accusing him of holding back socialism. Bukharin was defeated. By 1929 Stalien was the undisputed leader of the USSR..

What are Stalins economic aims?

• Rapid industrialisation to modernise the USSR and catch up with the West.

• Increase military strength for future conflict (especially with rising threats abroad).

• Make the USSR self-sufficient, especially in heavy industry and agriculture.

• Consolidate power by controlling the economy and eliminating capitalist elements (kulaks and NEPmen).

• Ideological motivation: Build socialism through state-directed economy.

What were Stalins reasons for industrialisation?

• Failures of the NEP:
  

  • Inefficient, encouraged inequality (kulaks, NEPmen).

  • Grain procurement crisis (1927–28): peasants hoarded grain, resisted selling at low prices.

  • Seen as a retreat from true socialism.

• Need for economic security: USSR feared war and needed a strong industrial base.

• Desire to prove communism worked: show the world the superiority of the Soviet system.

What is gosplan?

Stat planning committee coordinating how much each region, factory worker should produce.

Collectivisation?

1. Ending the NEP (1928)

• Stalin abandoned the NEP, which allowed peasants to farm independently.

• He saw it as ideologically flawed and economically unreliable, especially after the grain procurement crisis.

2. Forced Collectivisation Begins

• Kolkhozes (collective farms) and Sovkhozes (state farms) were established.

• Peasants were forced to surrender their land, tools, and livestock to the collective.

• Promised benefits like access to Motor Tractor Stations (MTS) for machinery and assistance.

3. Dekulakisation (1929–1932)

• Kulaks (wealthier peasants) were blamed for resisting collectivisation.

• Stalin launched a brutal campaign to “liquidate the kulaks as a class”:
  

  • Many were deported, imprisoned, or executed.

  • Estimated millions affected.

4. Propaganda and Coercion

• Propaganda praised collectivisation as modern and patriotic.

• Stakhanovite-style stories promoted “model” collective farms.

• Those who resisted faced fines, beatings, imprisonment, or worse.

5. State Requisitioning

• The state set grain quotas and took large portions of harvests, often leaving peasants with little to no food.

• Grain exports were used to fund industrialisation.

6. Widespread Resistance

• Peasants resisted by burning crops, killing livestock, or refusing to join.

• Stalin responded with brutal crackdowns.

7. Great Famine (1932–1933)

• Especially devastating in Ukraine (Holodomor).

• Caused by:
  

  • Over-requisitioning.

  • Poor planning.

  • Repression of resisting regions.

• Estimated 4–7 million deaths.