Agricultural and social developments in the countryside Flashcards
When was Stalins ‘war against the kulaks’ speech?
1929
When were peasants forced into collective farms?
December 1929
When was the ‘Urals-Siberian Method’ expanded to all grain-producing regions in USSR?
May 1929
Who opposed the Urals-Siberian Method?
Bukharin
Who did Local Party officials call on to identify Kulaks?
poorer peasants - would get to use richer land
How many party activists were sent to help dekulakisation?
25,000 in Nov 1929
Who assisted the 25,000ers in dekulakisation?
local police, OGPU and Red Army
How were people persuaded to join collective farms?
fear that they’d be called kulaks if not
What % of farms were collectivised in 1929?
5%
What percentage of peasant households were identified as kulaks?
15% - 150,000 deported to Siberia
When did Stalin announce that 50% of farms had been collectivised?
March 1930
Who did stalin blame for the violence of collectivisation?
the Party officials for their ‘overzealousness’
allowed brief return to voluntary collectivisation
what % of households were collectivised after it was voluntary in Oct 1930?
only 20%
When was collectivisation reinforced after the return to voluntary collectivisation?
after spring 1931
When where all farms collectivised?
1941
How did kolkhozes differ from sovkhozes in terms of land?
Kolkhozes - small individual farms combined
Sovkhoz - tsarist-era estates, ran by state
What was the difference in K and S on who worked thee?
Kolkhoz - farms already existed, up to 75 families in a village
Sovkhoz - members recruited from landless labourers.
how were kolkhoz members paid compared to sovkhoz?
kolkhoz - divided farm earnings by number of days contributed
Sovkhoz - classified as workers, paid a wage
How private were Kolkhoz farms compared to Sovkhoz?
Kolkhoz - communal fields, small private plots
Sovkhoz - large-scale production, also small plots allowed
What could be said about the farm quotas?
set to be low - so workers can be fed cheaply and make money off of exporting grain
How were Kolkhozniks and Sovkhoz workers restricted from leaving?
internal passports - 1932
When were Machine Tractor Stations (MTS) set up?
1931
How many MTS per farm was there in 1940?
1 MTS : 40 farms
How many tractors were around by the start of 1933?
75,000
Who were stationed at MTS to help efficiency of farms?
Agronomists, vets, surveyors and technicians.
What was a disadvantage around the efficience of MTS?
only improved efficiency in some areas due to machines only completely part of a process
how did peasants oppose the process of collectivisation?
through killing livestock and destroying machines
How did the armed forces respond to the unrest?
brutally - deporting those who resisted - maybe even burning villages
How many people were deported as kulaks under stalin?
10 million.
how were collective farms treated badly?
targets high, nothing if quotas not met.
how many peasants migrated to towns and cities by 1939?
around 19 million
How many people died of famine between 1932-1933?
6-8 million people.
What was collectivisation a failure in accomplishing?
increasing agricultural productivityHo
How far did livestock numbers fall due to peasant intervention?
25-30%
How was collectivisation successful in achieving social aims for farming
Dekulakisations and collectivisation - farming under state control.
capitalism eradicated
What % of peasant households were collectivised in 1941?
100%
What did the urban population of the USSR increase to between 1922 and 1940?
from 22 million to 63 million
how many people died due to famine?
6-8 million
What did the grain exports increase to from 1928 to 1931?
30,000 to 5 million
What provided stalins justification for the ‘Great Turn’?
the USSR succeeding in grain export aims
