Agricultural and Social Developments in the Countryside 1929-1941 Flashcards

1
Q

Why did Stalin commit the USSR to collective farming

A

as a result of his Great Turn of 1928

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2
Q

what had the emphasis originally been placed on

A

voluntary collectivisation - persuading peasants of the benefits of working communally through posters, leaflets and films.

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3
Q

what had brought unrest in rural areas

A

the Ural Siberian method

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4
Q

what was the Ural-Siberian method

A

the forcible seizure of grain the closing down of private markets

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5
Q

what were the statistics about collectivisation in 1929

A

less than 5 per cent of all farms had been collectivised

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6
Q

why did Stalin believe there were problems with collectivization

A

the richer kulaks were holding back supplies

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7
Q

what did Stalin announce in December 1929

A

that he would ‘annihilate the kulaks as a class’

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8
Q

when was collectivisation stage 1

A

1929-1930

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9
Q

how did the government begin collectivisation

A

they issued new procurement quotes, with punishments for peasants who did not keep up with deliveries

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10
Q

what propaganda campaign did Stalin start

A

a war against the Kulaks, in an attempt to create a rift within the peasant class between poor and better-off farmers

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11
Q

what did the government do by the end of 1929

A

the government had begun a programme of all-out, forced collectivization

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12
Q

what happened to the peasants

A

they were driven into collectives by local party members (often students from the cities, filled with fervour to create a new socialist society) with the support of the OGPU and Red Army

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13
Q

what did Stalin decide

A

that the kulaks must be ‘liquidated as a class’ and they were not permitted to join collectives

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14
Q

what were the Red Army and OGPU used to do

A

identify, executive or deport kulaks, who were said to represent 4 per cent of peasant households

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15
Q

how is it shown that it was not always easy to distinguish between peasant types

A

15 per cent of peasant households were destroyed and 150,000 peasants were forced to migrate north and east to poorer land

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16
Q

how did peasants avoid being called kulaks

A

they killed their livestock and destroyed their crops, but this only added to rural problems

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17
Q

what did Stalin announce in January 1930

A

25% of grain farming areas were to be collectivised that year.

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18
Q

what did the brutal treatment of kulaks do

A

frightened poorer peasants into joining collectives

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19
Q

what happened in March 1930

A

58% of peasant households had been collectivised through a mixture of propaganda and force

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20
Q

what did the speed at which the collectivization operation was being carried outdo

A

Stalin said that local officials were being too rigorous and confrontational in their methods

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21
Q

what was supposedly happening to party members

A

they were becoming dizzy with success

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22
Q

what was their brief return to after March 1930

A

voluntary collectivisation was permitted until after the harvest had been collected that year, and peasants were allowed to leave collectives and had their livestock returned to them, provided they were not kulaks.

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23
Q

what did the return to voluntary collectivisation do

A

it immediately reduced the collectives’ numbers; in October 1930, only c20 per cent of households were still collectivised.

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24
Q

when did collectivisation start up again

A

once the peasants had sown the spring crop, in 1931.

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25
Q

what was the rate of collectivisation gradually increased to

A

to reach 100 per cent of households by 1941.

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26
Q

what was the percentage of collectivised households aimed to be

A
1931 - 50%
1934 - 70%
1935 - 75%
1937 - 90%
1941 - 100%
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27
Q

what is the name of a typical collective farm

A

a kolkhoz

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28
Q

how were kolkhozes created

A

by combining small individual farms together in a cooperative structure.

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29
Q

what were normal kolkhozes like

A

many comprised a single village, in which the peasants lived in the same houses as before and had a plot of land of their own to work on, as well as farming in the communal fields

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30
Q

what did the average kolkhoz comprise of

A

75 families and their livestock

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31
Q

why was the creation of kolkhoz not easy

A

communal fields had to be mapped out and work parties had to join the peasants to dig new pitches, erect new fences and sometimes establish communal buildings. In some of the larger kolkhozes, schools and clinics were also established

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32
Q

what did the kolkhoz have to do

A

deliver a set quota of produce to the state. Quotas were high: up to 40 per cent of crops. A low purchase price was set by the government but the farm was not paid if the quotas were not met

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33
Q

what happened to leftover profits and goods

A

they were shared among the collective farm members, according to the number of ‘labour days’ he or they had contributed to the farming year

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34
Q

what were kolhozes able to do from 1932

A

they were able to sell any leftover produce in a collective farm market: the only free-market permitted in USSR.

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35
Q

what was the kolkhoz under the control of

A

a communist party member who acted as the Chairman of the collective.

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36
Q

what did having a communist party chairman ensure

A

communist control of rural areas

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37
Q

how were peasants forced to stay in the Kolkhoz

A

a system of internal passports (from 1932).

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38
Q

what were the state farms called

A

sovkhozes

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39
Q

what were some sovkhozes created in the 1920a

A

‘socialist agriculture of the highest order

40
Q

how did communists view the sovkhoz

A

the ideal form of farming

41
Q

what was the difference between the sovkhozes and the kolkhozes

A

they were usually larger than the kolkhozes and were created on land confiscated from former large estates.

42
Q

where did sovkhoz workers come form

A

they recruited landless rural residents and the farms were organised according to industrial principles for specialised large-scale production.

43
Q

where was the sovkhoz particularly suitable to

A

the grain-growing areas of Ukraine and southern Russian

44
Q

why was their peasant opposition to the sovkhoz

A

they did not want to become low wage labourers

45
Q

what did the peasant opposition force Stalin to do

A

he had to permit most farms to be of the kolkhoz type in the 1930s

46
Q

what was the official expectation about farms

A

that all the kolkhozes would be turned into sovkhozes in the longer term

47
Q

what was the establishment of the kolkhozes and sovkhozes accompanied by

A

a drive towards greater mechanisation and the use of more modern farming methods

48
Q

what had the use of tractors and agricultural machinery led to

A

reducing the number of peasants needed on the land

49
Q

What was set up from 1931

A

Machine tractor stations (MTS)

50
Q

what was the MTS set up to do

A

provide seed and hire out tractors and machinery to collective and state farms

51
Q

how many MTS were established

A

2500

52
Q

what was the number of MTS in 1940

A

there was only one MTS for every 40 collective farms by 1940

53
Q

what did the state farms receive

A

more and better machinery (for example combine harvesters and chemical fertilisers)

54
Q

who was implemented to advise the use of machinery and improve farming methods

A

agronomists, veterinary surgeons, surveyors and technicians

55
Q

what happened to the amount of mechanised farming

A

by 1938, 95 per cent of threshing, 72 per cent of ploughing, 57 per cent of spring sowing and 48 per cent of harvesting

56
Q

what was the MTS

A

it acted as a party prop in rural areas. Officials ensured that quotas were collected from the farms and that the correct propaganda messages were conveyed. They acted as ‘spies’ too, reporting any local troubles.

57
Q

what work was continued to be done manually

A

grain was bound by hand, weeding.

58
Q

what was there a limited number of

A

lorries in use for the transport of goods

59
Q

why happened to the number of lorries by the end of 1938

A

there were 196,000 lorries being used in Soviet agriculture compared with over a million in the USA

60
Q

what was the issue with the campaign of collectivisation

A

there was widespread and violent opposition to the process of collectivization, amounting to civil war in the countryside

61
Q

how were many peasants recruited to the collective farms

A

although some poorer peasants joined collectives voluntarily, most peasants did not.

62
Q

where were some of the most hostile peasants

A

peasants from fertile agricultural areas like Ukraine were particularly hostile.

63
Q

what did peasants do in fear of being labelled as kulaks

A

they burned their farms and crops and killed their livestock rather than hand them over

64
Q

how did the armed forces deal with unrest brutally

A

they would sometimes burn down whole villages

65
Q

what happened to resisting peasants

A

anywho resited would be classified as a kulak and a class enemy and in centres and millions of peasants were deported

66
Q

where were peasants usually deported to

A

remote areas such as Siberia, where they would be herded into labour camps

67
Q

what did dekulakisation do to the efficiency of farming

A

removed some of the most successful and skilled farmers from the countryside

68
Q

how many peasants died as the result of resistance or the effects of deportation

A

probably over 10 million

69
Q

what happened to peasants by 1939

A

about 19 million peasants had migrated to towns

70
Q

what was the comparison of peasants to urban workers

A

for every three peasants who joined a collective, one left the countryside and became an urban worker

71
Q

what were the peasants who joined the collectives left with

A

a sense of betrayal and hostility towards the regime, regarding their condition as a ‘new serfdom’

72
Q

what law was passed in August 1932

A

anyone who stole from a collective (even just taking a few ears of corn) could be jailed for ten years.

73
Q

what did further decrees give

A

ten-year sentences for any attempt to sell meat or grain before quotas were filled.

74
Q

why were internal passport controls introduced

A

largely to prevent peasants from fleeing famine-stricken areas

75
Q

what did the high number of quotas lead to

A

there was rarely any profit for the peasants and therefore little incentive to work hard

76
Q

what were most peasants only interested in

A

their own private plots, where they could keep some animals and grow vegetables not only to provide for their own families but also, from 1935, to sell in the marketplace

77
Q

what per cent of food came from the private marketplace

A

52 per cent of vegetables, 70 per cent of meat and 71 per cent of milk was produced this way by the late 1930s.

78
Q

what in effect happened to peasants in the USSR

A

they were sacrificed in the name of Soviet ideology, to meet the needs of the industry

79
Q

What happened in October 1931

A

drought hit many agricultural areas

80
Q

what led to a severe drop in the food production

A

the October 1931 drought and kulak deportations

81
Q

what started to appear by the spring of 1932

A

famine appeared in Ukraine

82
Q

what happened to the famine between 1932 and 1933

A

it spread to Kazakhstan and parts of the Northern Caucuses

83
Q

what did the famine turn out to be

A

one of the worst famines in Russian history

84
Q

why was the government responsible for the famine

A

despite the drop in grain production, the state continued to demand its requisition. Therefore, gov policy contributed to the famine

85
Q

what did Historian Robert Conquest argue about the famine

A

that there was a deliberate policy to take unrealistic grain quotas in areas that had opposed collectivization n(particularly Ukraine), condemning millions of peasants to starvation.

86
Q

when did agricultural production fall dramatically

A

during the period of peasant opposition

87
Q

when did recovery in agriculture start to take place

A

the late 1930s

88
Q

what happened to grain and livestock through peasant opposition

A

25 to 30 per cent of cattle, pigs and sheep were slaughtered by peasants between 1929 and 1933

89
Q

what happened to grain output

A

it did not exceed pre-collectivisation levels until after 1935

90
Q

how long did it take for the number of livestock to recover

A

it took until 1953 before livestock numbers were back to where they had been pre-collectivisation

91
Q

what was the issue with having the collectives run by party activists

A

they often knew nothing of farming and there were also too few tractors, insufficient animals to pull ploughs a lack of fertilisers

92
Q

what did collectivisation become seen as

A

a slow and brutal way of achieving Stalin’s economic aims

93
Q

what was the collectivisation in the first period of

A

it was the first the Soviet regime had extended its political control over the countryside, mainly through party management of the collectives

94
Q

what were the political implications of collectivisation

A

never again would peasants be able to resist the regime

95
Q

who opposed collectivisation from within the party

A

the right, Bukharin and Rykov

96
Q

what happened to those who opposed collectivisation within the party

A

they lost power and influence as the USSR moved further along the road toward Stalin’s version of socialism

97
Q

what happened to the society during collectivisation

A

class differences in the countryside were abolished and part from the existence of small private plots, any remains of capitalism, based on private enterprise, had been destroyed.