Agricultural and social developments in the countryside Flashcards
What had emphasis initially been on after Stalin committed the URRS to collectivisation in the Great Turn of 1928?
Voluntary collectivisation- persuading peasants of the benefits of working communally through posters, leaflets and films but this approach had limited effect
What was the alternative method and what had this caused?
The ‘Ural-Siberian’ method of grain requisitioning, involving the forcible seizure of grain and the closing down of private markets had brought unrest to rural areas
By 1929 what proportion of farms had collectivised and what did Stalin resultantly state?
Less than 5% of all farms had been collectivised
Stalin believed that some of the grain procurement problems had been caused by the richer Kulaks holding back supplies so in December 1929 Stalin announced he would ‘annihilate the Kulaks as a class’
When did the first stage of collectivisation take place?
1929-1930
How did the government begin the campaign?
With the issue of new procurement quotas, with punishments for peasants who didn’t keep up with deliveries and at the same time a deliberate propaganda campaign was waded against the Kulaks in an attempt to create a divide in the peasant class between the poor and the better off farmers
By the end of 1929 what had the government began a policy of?
All-out, forced collectivisation - peasants were driven into collectives by local party members (often students from cities keen to create socialist society) with the support of the OGPU and the Red Army when necessary
What did Stalin declare about the Kulaks and what did he prevent them from doing?
They must be ‘liquidated as a class’ and they were not permitted to join collectives
What were the OGPU and Red Army used to do?
Identify, execute and deport Kulaks who were said to represent 4% of the peasant household
Due to it not being easy to distinguish between peasant types in practice what happened?
15% of peasant households were destroyed and 150,000 peasants were forced to migrate north and east to poorer land
To avoid being labelled Kulaks some killed their livestock and destroyed their crop but this only added to the rural problems
In January 1930 what did Stalin announce?
That 25% of grain-farming areas were to be collectivised that year
What was the brutal treatment used on Kulaks used to do and did it work?
Scare poorer peasants into joining collectives
By March 1930 - 58% of peasant households had been collectivised through a combination of propaganda and force
What did the speed with which this operation was carried out lead Stalin to say and what was the consequence?
That local officials were being too rigorous and confrontational in their methods, Party members he wrote were becoming ‘dizzy with success’
Consequently a brief return to voluntary collectivisation was permitted until after the harvest had been collected that year and peasants were allowed to leave their collectives and had their livestock returned to them provided they were not Kulaks
What happened as a consequence of Stalin’s temporary lenience?
The number of collectives were immediately reduced - in October 1930 only 20% of households were still collectivised
When did collectivisation stage 2 take place?
1930-1941 (the climb down had only been a temporary tactic)
What happened once peasants had sown the spring crop?
In 1931 - the process of collectivisation sped up again with the rate gradually increasing to reach 100% of households by 1941
How did the percentage of collectivised households increase 1931-41?
1931 - 50% 1934- 70% 1935 - 75% 1937- 90% 1941 - 100%
Why did Stalin collectivise?
It coincided with the launch of Stalin’s first Five Year Plan, the success of which depended on regular supplies of food to support town workers and plenty of grain to export to finance industry development
For Stalin it was as much a social as an economic crusade
What was the typical collective farm?
Known as a Kolkhoz they were creating by combining small individual farms together in a cooperative structure. 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
What did the average Kolkhoz consist of?
75 families and their livestock
Why was the creation of Kolkhoz not easy?
Communal fields had to be mapped out and work parties had to join the peasants to dig new ditches, erect new fences and sometimes establish new buildings, in the larger Kolkhozes schools and clinics were also established
What were the four basic principles for each Kolkhoz?
Had to deliver a set quota of produce to the state- quotas were high, up to 40% of crops and a low purchase price was set by the government but the farm wasn’t paid if the quota wasn’t met
Shared any profit or goods left after procurement with the collective farm members based on the number of ‘labour days’ she or he had contributed to the farming year
Was under control of a communist party member who acted as chairman of the collective (ensured communist control of rural areas)
Forbade peasants from leaving the Kolkhoz through a system of internal passports (from 1932)
From 1932 what were Kolkhozes allowed to do?
Sell any ‘left over’ produce in a collective farm market, the only free market permitted in the USSR
What was the alternative type of collective farm?
Sovkhozes - a relatively small number of farms were run as state farms - some had been created in early 1920’s as an example of socialism agriculture of the highest order and they were still seen by communist purists as the ideal type of farming
How did Sovkhozes work?
In these, the labourers were classified as ‘workers’ rather than peasants and were paid a wage directly by the state but their movement was just as restricted as the Kolkhoz peasants
