Collectivisation

Question 1

what is collectivisation ?

Answer 1

where the peasantry were forced to give up their individual farms and join large collective farms

Question 2

What were the key aims of collectivisation ?

3 factors

Answer 2

• support rapid industrialistaion
• removal of the kulaks
• eradicate peasant backwardness

Question 3

Evidence that

dekulakisation was the main aim of collectivisation

5 points

Answer 3

can argue that the removal of the kulaks was not the main aim of dekulakisation but was seen as a positive impact by stalin however some may disagree
- eg stalins words “dekulakisation … integral part of the creation of collectivisation”
- 1.8 million kulaks had been deported by 1941
- ostracisation of kulaks as the enemy of progress eg propaganda campaign which was the driving factor in the national push such as the fake parties which were made up eg ‘labouring peasant party’
- ukraine had a heavily kulak population as the ‘bread basket’ of the soviet union - were targeted and led to the holodomor which killed 3.9 mill poeple in a year - stalin was aware of the famine and made it worse by punishing the peasants for not meeting their quotas
- use of OGPU and the Red Army suggested that dekulakisation was a state focussed process eg internal passports preventing peasants from leaving

Question 4

evidence that the main aim was

The eradication of peasant backwardness

5

Answer 4

• Stalin viewed the peasants as holding Russia back from becoming a superpower, with peasants still farming using archaic strip farming and quotas never being met
• since as early as the 1920’s state farms (sovkhoz) had been being trialed to test more efficient methods - this was seen as the more ideal method and this is evident from the priority these state farms recieved eg technicians which were sent to advise
• mechanisation was integral to making the sytem more efficient eg there was 1 tractor per 40 farms
• 1931 rural children had to attend 4 years of school ( this could only happen in collectives
• the peasant response to collectivisation was the slaughter their cattle and hoard their grain, the soviet gov wanted to avoid this - 10 year prison sentence - thus holding russia back

Question 5

evidence that the main aim was

Rapid industrialisation

Answer 5

• stalins main aim was to precure grain to sell as a major export in order to fund industrialisation
• collectivisation indirectly led to rise in the urban workforce as - 1 in 4 peasant left the countryside for the cities to aviod the collectives
• collectivisation was also needed to feed this growing urban population and build cities eg 590,000 peasants sent to forced labour camps -example- in Magnitogorsk 40,000 kulak families were sent

Question 6

conclusion

what was the main aim of collectivisation ?

Answer 6

The main aim was to support rapid industrialistaion
- grain was needed to feed the population and sell as an export to fund industrialisation
- make the peasants meet their quotas and make farming more efficient who were seen as holding russia back
- alterior motive in removing the kulaks in order to subdue the peasant population in order to ensure that the soviet union progressed

Question 7

How successful was the Communist regime in modernising Russian

Successes:

4

Answer 7

• the NEP was ended and collectivisation introduced from 1928, with collective farms and state farms. The
  traditional village Mir were replaced by the Kolkhoz (or Sovkhoz) administration. 62% had been collectivised
  by 1932, 93% by 1937 and all peasants collectivised by 1941.
• the grain seized from peasants helped to support the growth in industrialisation and the Five Year Plans,
  which in turn led to the greater mechanisation of agriculture. Grain seizure doubled between 1928 and
  1933.
• those who refused to join collective farms, or were viewed to be profiting from their farms were labelled as
  Kulaks. De-Kulakisation helped removed opposition and speed up collectivisation through land seizures and
  expulsion.
• there was greater use of machinery in the countryside from the mid-1930s. 2500 Machine Tractor Stations
  supplied machinery from 1928 and 75000 tractors had been supplied by MTSs to Soviet collective farms by
  1932.

Question 8

How successful was the Communist regime in modernising Russian

Failures:

4

Answer 8

• there was massive resistance to collectivisation through assassination of officials and sabotage (burning
  crops, killing livestock) and by the end of 1941 livestock had been reduced by 60% and grain stocks by 40%.
• there was a national famine between 1932 and 1933 and starvation persisted in many parts of the Soviet
  Union throughout the 1930s killing millions (Conquest estimates the figure at 7 million).
• the mass movement of peasants from rural to urban areas before the introduction of internal passports in
  1933 deprived the collectives of young able-bodied peasants and this limited the success of the collectives.
• the Machine-Tractor Stations rarely had enough machinery to meet demand and peasants avoided their use
  or destroyed the machines as they viewed the stations as instruments of Government interference.

Question 9

how to answer a source question

5

Answer 9

1. Content
   What is the centralargument of the source? What evidence does it provide to support this?
2. Purpose/provenance
   Who wrote the source and why? Are they likely to exaggerate,mislead or lie about events?
3. Emphasis/Tone
   Does the source use emotive language or emphasise key terms? Does this impact its meaning?
4. Context
   What events are happening before and at the time of the source? Will this impact the source content or the author’s perspective?
5. Accuracy
   Does the description of the events match your own historical knowledge of them?