Agricultural Developments Flashcards
Reasons for collectivisation
The launch of the programme in 1929 coincided with the launch of the first five year plan for industry
The success of the five year plan relied on regular supplies of food to support town workers and plenty of grain for export to finance industrial development
Collectivisation stage 1 1929-1930
The government began the campaign with the issue of new procurement quotas, with punishments for peasants who did not keep up with deliveries
By the end of 1929 the government had begun a programme of all-out, forced collectivisation. Peasants were driven into collectives by local party members with the support of OGPU and Red Army
In January 1930 Stalin announced that 25% of grain farming areas were to be collectivised that year
A brief period of voluntary collectivisation was permitted until harvests had been collected in 1930 to relax confrontational methods
Dekulakisation
Stalin declared the kulaks must be ‘liquidated as a class’ and they were not permitted to join collectives
The red army and OGPU were used to identify, execute or deport kulaks, who were said to represent 4% of peasant households
However it was difficult to identify kulaks and in practice 15% of peasant households were destroyed
Many tried to avoid being labelled as a kulak by killing livestock which in turn led to famine
Percentage of collectivised households per year
1931- 50%
1934- 70%
1935- 75%
1937- 90%
1941- 100%
Collectivisation stage 2 1930-41
The climb down was only a temporary tactic
Once the peasants had sown the spring crop in 1931 the process of collectivisation speeded up again and the rate of collectivisation gradually increased
The kolkhoz
Created by combining small individual farms together in a cooperative structure. Many comprised a single village, in which peasants lived in the same houses as before and had a plot of land of their own to work on, as well as farming the communal fields. The average kolkhoz comprised of 75 families and their livestock
Creation wasn’t easy- communal fields had to be mapped out and work parties had to join the parties to dig new ditches etc
What was expected of each kolkhoz
Deliver a set quota of produce to the state- quotas were up to 40% of crops
Share any profits or goods left after procurement among the collective farm members according to the number of labour days they had contributed
They were under the control of a communist party member that acted as chairman of the collective
Forbade peasants from leaving through internal passport systems (1932)
The sovkhoz
Relatively small number of farms ran as state farms
Labourers were classified workers rather than peasants and they were paid a wage directly by the state
Larger the kolkhozes and we’re created on land confiscated from former large estates
Sovkhoz workers were recruited from landless rural residents and the farms were organised according to industrial principles for specialised large-scale production
Machine tractor stations
Since the collectives were intended to provide more efficient farming there was a drive towards greater mechanisation and the use of more modern farming methods
The use of tractors meant reducing the number of peasants needed on the land
MTS were set up from 1931 to provide seed and to hire out tractors and machinery to collective and state farms
State farms generally received more and better machinery
The impact of collectivisation on the kulaks and other peasants
There was widespread violent opposition to the process of collectivisation amounting to civil war in the countryside
Armed forces dealt brutally with unrest, sometimes burning whole villages
Any peasants who resisted were labelled kulaks and deported to Siberia and put in labour camps
Over 10 million peasants died as a result of dekulakisation and resistance
The famine of 1932-1934
In October 1931 drought hit many agricultural areas. Combined with kulak deportations this brought a severe drop in food production and by the spring of 1932 famine appeared in Ukraine. Over 1932 to 1933 the famine spread to kazakhstan and parts of north Caucasus
Despite the drop in grain procurement the state continued to demand its requisitions so the government contributed to deaths from famine
