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
What were some features of the Sovkhozes?
Sovkhozes were usually larger and were created on land confiscated from former large estates
Sovkhoz workers were recruited from landless rural residents and the farms were organised according to industrial principle for specialised large scale production
What were the Sovkhozes deemed particularly suitable for and why didn’t it happen?
The grain growing areas of the Ukraine and southern Russia but peasant opposition to becoming wage labourers forced Stalin to permit most farms to be of the Kolkhoz type in the 1930’s
What was the official expectation of collective farms?
That all Kolkhozes would be turned into Sovkhozes in the longer term
As collective farms intended to improve efficient farming what was their establishment accompanied by?
A drive towards greater mechanisation and the use of more modern farming methods
What was a bonus of the use of tractors and agricultural machinery?
It reduced the number of peasants needed on the land therefore releasing them to work in the industrial cities
What were MTS?
Machine tractor stations were set up from 1931 to provide seed and to hire out tractors and machinery to collective and state farms
How many MTS were established?
2500 - although there was still only one MTS for every 40 collective farms by 1940
Who generally received more and better machinery?
The state farms e.g. combine harvesters and chemical fertilisers
In what other area were the state farms offered more support?
Agronomists, Veterinary surgeons, surveyors and technicians were sent to the countryside to advise on how to use the machinery and improve farming methods and the state farms were offered the most support
By 1938 how much farming was being done mechanically?
95% of threshing 72% of ploughing 57% of spring sowing 48% of harvesting (other farm operations were less mechanised and the machines that were used were still labour intensive)
What was the problem with the type of harvesting reapers generally used on collective farms?
They merely cut grain which was then removed by the reaper and bound by hand
What were two other problems with collective farms?
Jobs such as weeding continued to be largely manual work
There were also a limited number of lorries to use for the transport of goods- by the end of 1938 there were 196,000 lorries being used in Soviet agriculture compared with over a million in the USA
What did MTS act as in rural areas?
A party prop - officials ensured that quotas were collected from the farms and that the correct propaganda messages were conveyed. They also acted as spies reporting any local troubles
What was the reaction to collectivisation and where was particularly hostile?
There was widespread and violent opposition amounting to civil war in the countryside as although some (mainly poorer peasants) had joined collectives voluntarily, most had not
Fertile, agricultural areas like Ukraine
What did peasants do in fear of being labelled Kulaks?
Burned their farms and crops and killed their livestock rather than hand them over
How did the armed forces deal with the unrest?
Brutally - sometimes burning down whole villages Any peasant who resisted was classified as a Kulak and a class enemy Millions of peasants were deported- usually to remote areas like Siberia where they would be herded into labour camps although sometimes 'work gangs' to the new industrial towns
What did Dekulakalisation do?
Removed some of the most successful and skilled farmers from the countryside
How many peasants died as a result of resistance or the effects of deportation?
Probably over 10 million
By 1939 how many peasants had migrated to towns?
About 19 million - for every three peasants who joined a collective, one left the countryside and became an urban worker
What did peasants that joined the collectives feel a sense of?
Betrayal and hostility towards the regime, regarding their condition as a ‘new serfdom’
What law was brought in in August 1932?
Anyone who stole from a collective (even just an ear of corn) could be gaoled for ten years, this was later made a capital crime
What were the further decrees put in place?
A ten year sentence for any attempt to sell meet or grain before quotas were filled
Internal passports also introduced, mainly to prevent peasants fleeing from famine stricken areas
Why did the peasants have little incentive to work hard?
Although they were supposed to receive a share of the profits of their collective farm, quotas were so high that there rarely was any profit
Why were most peasants more interested in their private plots?
They could keep some animals and vegetables not only to provide for their family but from 1932 to sell in the market place
Since food was desperate what did a government decree allow?
Peasants focusing on their private plots to keep some for their families and from 1935 to sell- that had previously been happening illegally to continue - it has been estimated that 52% of vegetables 70% of meat and 71% of milk in the SU was produced this way by the late 1930’s
What had the peasants ultimately been sacrificed for?
In the name of Soviet ideology, to meet the needs of industry
While some peasants benefitted from more education, rural Russia was the poorer relation of the new urban USSR
What happened in October 1931?
Drought hit many agricultural areas
Combined with deportation of the kulaks what did this drought cause?
A severe drop in food productions and by the spring of 1932, famine appeared in Ukraine
Over 1932 and 1933 the famine spread to Kazakhstan and parts of northern Caucasus - this was one of the worst famines in Russian history - in some areas continuing until 193
Did the state achieve its purpose in promoting collectivisation?
The industrial workforce was fed and exports of grain increased and many peasants left the countryside to swell the workforce in the towns
What were the achievements of collectivisation at the expense of?
The peasants who at best endured upheaval destroying a way of life and at worst were forced to starve and die in the interests of economic socialisation
What happened to production during the period of peasant opposition?
Agricultural production fell dramatically (sometimes even to 1913 levels) and recovery did not take place until the late 1930’s
What happened to grain and livestock between 1929 and 1933?
They were destroyed - 25-30% of cattle, pigs and sheep were slaughtered by peasants in this time
When did grain output exceed pre-collectivisation levels?
Not until after 1935 - while it took until 1953 for livestock numbers to be back where they were pre-collectivisation
What were other weaknesses of the farms?
They were poorly organised in the early years - the party activists who helped establish them knew nothing of farming
Too few tractors, insufficient animals to pull ploughs and lack of fertilisers so collectivisation proved a slow and brutal way of achieving Stalin’s economic goals
What was equally as important as the economic impact for Stalin?
The political impact - for the first time the Soviet regime had extended its political control over the countryside (mainly through Party management of the collectives so peasants would no longer be able to resist the regime therefore reinforcing his control in the USSR and over the communist party
What happened to those on the right who opposed collectivisation?
Those such as Bukharin and Rykov lost power and influence as the USSR moved further along the road towards Stalin’s version of socialism
What were abolished in the countryside?
Class differences and apart from the existence of small private plots, any remains of capitalism, based on private enterprise had been destroyed
Did the government have any responsibility for the famine?
Despite the drop in grain production the State continued to demand its requisitions so government policy therefore contributed to the deaths of the famine
Some believe there was a deliberate policy to take unrealistic grain quotas in areas that had opposed collectivisation (particularly Ukraine) thus condemning millions of peasants to starvation
