4.1 Collectivisation Flashcards
What is meant by the term “Collectivisation”?
The act of joining multiple private farms together so that they can be controlled by the state.
What were Toz farms?
Farms where peasants owned their land but shared machinery and cooperated in sowing and harvesting.
They were disliked by Stalin.
What were Sovkhoz farms?
State farms in which peasants earned a wage instead of a harvest yield.
They were larger than Kolkhozes but less numerous.
It was the idea that all Kolkhozes would become Sovkhozes
What were Kolkhoz farms?
A typical collective farm, in which peasants each “own” a plot of land and had to deliver a set quota of produce to the state. (up to 40% of crops).
What was the Holodomor Famine of 1932-33?
This was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine which killed 3.5 to 5 million people.
This was deliberately engineered by Stalin to remove the strong Ukrianian resistance to his regime.
However, the plan backfired to some degree as some party members saw the famine as proof Stalin’s economic policies were not effective. This weakened Stalins position and may have contributed to need for the Purges.
What were Machine Tractor Stations?
Set up from 1931, the stations provided seed and hire for tractors and machinery to be used by state farms.
2500 were established but there was only still one MTS for every 40 collective farms by 1940.
What was the response to collectivisation?
In 1930 there were 13,754 outbreaks of mass unrest.
2.5 million peasants were involved in riots, demonstrations and full scale uprisings.
What was dekulakisation?
Kulaks (rich peasants), were divided into 3 categories:
Counter-Revolutionaries: Were shot or sent to forced labour camps
Active Opponents: Were deported to Siberia
Those expelled from farms: Forced to work on poorer land
What was the effect of dekulakisation?
320,000 victims by 1930.
1.8 million were deported to other areas of the USSR.
390,000 were sent to labour camps.
21,000 were shot.
How successful was Collectivisation?
During the period of peasant opposition production fell drastically (to 1913 levels in some places).
25-30% of livestock were slaughtered by peasants between 1929-1935.
Grain output did not exceed pre-collectivisation levels until 1925.
Livestock levels did not recover until 1953.
The farms were disorganised, as the Party members could not relate to the peasants. There were not enough tractor etc.
For the first time ever, the Soviet regime had control over the countryside. It was impossible for peasants to rebel.
