Agricultural and Social Developments in the Countryside Flashcards
Stage 1 of Collectivisation was when?
1929-1930
What happened to peasants who failed to meet Stalin’s grain quotas?
They were punished.
How did Stalin try to stir up hatred for the Kulaks?
Propaganda campaigns were launched against them,
By 1929, what was the situation like regarding Collectivisation?
Forced collectivisation for all peasants had begun, but was not completed yet.
What did the Red Army and the OGPU do to Kulaks under Stalin?
Identify, deport or execute Kulaks.
Between 1929 and 1930, how many peasants were forced to migrate North and East after being labelled Kulaks?
150,000
What percentage of grain farms were to be collectivised in January 1930? Stalin announced it.
25%
How many farms were collectivised by January 1930?
58%
Stalin announced that local officials were being too harsh with the collectivisation in January 1930. What did Stalin then do?
He announced a brief return to voluntary collectivisation.
When Stalin announced a brief return to voluntary collectivisation in January 1930, what was the outcome?
Bad for Stalin. By October 1930, only 20% of peasants farms were collectivised.
When was Stage Two Collectivisation?
1930-1941
What did Stage Two Collectivisation enforce?
Massive emphasis on collectivising all farms.
How many peasant farms were collectivised by 1934?
70%
How many peasant farms were collectivised by 1941?
100%
What was a Kolkhoz? How was it created?
The typical collective farm.
Created by combining small individual farms together in a cooperative structure. Peasants lived in the same houses as before and had their own land to work on as well as a communal area too.
How many families did the average Kolkhoz consist of?
75 and their livestock too.
Which percentage of produce did each Kolkhoz have to give to the state? What happened if they didn’t produce enough?
40%. If they didn’t produce enough, the farm was not paid.
What happened to left over produce from Kolkhozes?
From 1932, they could sell it in a ‘left-over produce market’. This was the only free market allowed in the USSR.
Who oversaw the Kolkhozes production?
There was a Communist Party member which oversaw each farm.
How was work on the Kolkhoz enforced?
Internal passports stopped people from leaving these farms.
What was a Sovkhoz?
A ‘State’ farm.
These were the ideal socialist farms. A peasant was referred to as a ‘worker’ and they were paid a fixed wage by the State.
Where were Sovkhoz workers typically recruited from?
Landless rural residents.
Why was there peasant opposition towards Sovkhozes?
Because the Sovkhozes got wages and the Kolkhozes didn’t.
Which machine became very important in the development of modern farming methods that could produce grain at a quicker rate?
The Tractor.
What was a Machine Tractor Station? How many were originally established?
A station that hired out tractors and machinery to collective and state farms. 250 originally established.
Who received better machinery - state farms or collective farms? What did the favoured farm receive?
State farms got better machinery (combine harvesters) and chemical fertilisers.
By 1938, which percentage of threshing (separating grain from the crop) was done mechanically?
95%.
What was the peasantry’s reaction to forced collectivisation?
They weren’t happy. Terrified that they’d be labelled Kulaks, some burnt their crops and livestock in response to the new measures
What happened to any peasant who resisted collective farming?
They were labelled a Kulak and were deported to remote areas such as Siberia.
Why did Dekulakisation create an issue in agriculture?
Removed the most skilled farmers from the countryside.
How many peasants are estimated to have died as a result of resistance to collectivisation/deportation?
10 million.
How many peasants migrated from the countryside to towns due to collectivisation?
19 million.
What did a law in August 1932 establish as a punishment for taking even just a handful of corn from a collective farm?
Prison for 10 years.
Due to quotas being so high on collective farms, what did peasants do?
Focused on growing their own stuff and maintaining their own livestock on their individual farms to feed their families.
By the late 1930s, what percentage of meat was produced on private plots and sold in the ‘left over’ market?
70% of meat. This shows that collectivisation was shit and didn’t work.
The peasantry were sacrificed in the name of the Bolshevik ideology, while the urban workers were given a new purpose; to work relentlessly.
This is just a comment really. The book says it not me.
Overall, did collectivisation succeed in increasing grain exports and feeding the cities?
It managed to achieve that, but it killed a lot of peasants in the name of ‘economic socialisation.’
What was the result of peasant opposition to collectivisation?
Grain production fell to 1913 levels and didn’t recover entirely until the late 1930s
In which year did grain output finally succeed pre-collectivisation levels?
1935.
What was the main political outcome of Collectivisation?
Stalin had extended his brutal control over the countryside through Party management of the collective farms.
What happened to class differences in the countryside?
Destroyed, none left. Everything was collective farming.
