Agriculture and Collectivisation Flashcards
What were the 5 main reasons for Collectivisation?
- Falling grain production under NEP: 1927 - grain collection fell below levels needed to feed cities
- Communist ideology - Marx taught that Communism built by proletariats : peasant farming should have disappeared
- Concerns about NEP being too Capitalist
- Stalling industrial production - plateauing under NEP: no cheap grain to feed workers
- Attack on Bukharin: who supported NEP, Stalin attack him by attacking NEP
What were the problems of the NEP?
- Many hated that the kulaks benefitted most, while workers had to pay more for food
- NEP encouraged Capitalism, against socialism + communism belief of collective efforts for everyone’s benefit
- Peasant agriculture not modernizing : farming using centuries-old tradition (ploughed with horses)
- in 1927-28: caused a grain procurement crisis - not enough grain collected to feed urban population
How were collectives set up?
- The state owned the land, equipment and produce on the land
- State set production targets and what to farm for each collective farm (Kolkhoz)
- The state paid a set low price for produce
- All collective farm workers were organised into brigades + worked set hours
- Machinery was allocated by Machine Tractor Stations (MTS). Secret police watched over farm from the MTS
- Each farm was set a quota of produce they could keep to feed workers
What was the Soviet word for a collective farm?
Kolkhoz
Time line of the Attack on Kulaks
1927 - 28:
- grain taken from peasants by force because of grain crisis
- peasants forced to join kolkhozes
- Many refused and labelled as ‘kulaks’
1929:
- Stalin launched a campaign of dekulakisation: ‘liquidation of the kulaks’ –> peasants shot or sent to Siberia
1930:
- 30,000 kulaks died between 1930 - 1931
- peasants continued to resist collectivisation
- Stalin halted scheme and peasants returned to farms
1931-32:
- Stalin revitalised collectivisation campaign –> Famine struck USSR
What were the successes of Collectivisation?
- By 1933: 83% of agricultural land had been collectivised
- MTS provided a major boost in mechanisation / modernization in farming
- Education increased as kids from rural areas went to agricultural school
- 1934:Bread and other food rationing ended, by 1935: steep fall of grain production began to recover
- Grain exports increased to other countries –> earning money for industrialisation
- Many peasants left the land and moved to cities–> increase workforce for rapid industrialisation
- Getting control of the countryside was a political success for Stalin: many in Communist Party had disliked the power NEP gave peasantry
What were the failures of Collectivisation?
- Famine of 1932 - 33: At least 3.3 million died of starvation
- ‘Liquidation of kulaks’ removed most experienced farmers
- About 30% of USSR food came from private plots of kolkhoz peasants –> made up 4% of agricultural land
- Too few tractors, with too many quality issues , often needed replacing
- Kolkhozniks did as little work as they could get away with –> agriculture still inefficient + low productivity
- Internal passports had to be introduced : so many peasant fled to the city, now difficult to leave collective farms
Describe the Famine in Ukraine, 1932 - 33
- Red Army defeated Ukraine nationalists in Civil War
- many Ukraine peasants refused to join collective farms, saw it as form of serfdom
- State took more grain from Ukraine, hoping to crush resistance to collectivisation
- Soviet denied that there was any famine + refused foreign aid
- 3 million Ukrainians died due to his deliberate famine
