Collectivisation

Question 1

What were Stalin economic policies?

Answer 1

Stalin wanted to make the USSR a great military power through rapid industrialization

In 1928 he said “we are fifty years behind the capitalists, we have ten years to catch them up”

The NEP had improved had improved the Russian economy since 1922 but too slowly for Stalin liking. To achieve hi stains he developed economic policies that were very different to policies in other countries

Question 2

What did Stalin need for industrialization ?

Answer 2

Capital: to start industry, but foreign banks would not lend him money as Lenin had repudiated earlier loans made to the tsar government and the communists took over foreign banks

Factory workers, but most Russians were peasant farmers and preferred to work on their own farms

Some way of feeding factory workers: Russian agriculture was very backward . There were about 25 million tiny farms, which produced barley enough to feed the peasants themselves

Question 3

What were the reasons for the collectivisation of agriculture?

Answer 3

Stalin decided that the solution to these problems was the collectivisation of agriculture. Ment combing the tiny farms into large state state owned farms

For Stalin collectivisation had many advantages:

• peasants who lost their farms would go work in the new industries
• The big collective farms would be more efficient because they could use modern machinery. Produce enough food to feed workers in towns
• The money the state earned from selling food from collective farms could be invested in industrialization

Question 4

How was collectivisation enforced?

Answer 4

At first Stalin thought collectivisation could be voluntary, but by 1929 when peasants would not give up their land it was brutally enforced

Peasants resisted collectivisation. They killed animals and destroyed equipment rather than give them to the state

Between 1929 and 1933, crops were not sown and many horses, cattle and sheep were destroyed

Most resistance came from the slightly richer peasants “kulaks”. Communist officials called kulaks “enemies of the workers” and encouraged pooer peasants to turn on them

The secret police round up kulaks. About 5 million were deported to Labour camps were many died

This helped overcome peasant resistance, as anyone who resisted could be labelled a kulaks and arrested

The conflict over collectivisation caused a man-made famine in 1931-1932, millions died. It was particularly severe in Ukraine, where in amounted to genocide

In 1931 Stalin pulled back a little, blaming officials for being “overzealous”. He agrees to let peasants keep a small a small plot for growing vegetables

Question 5

What were the results of collectivisation?

Answer 5

At least 10 million disappeared during collectivisation- died from famine or in Labour camps

By 1937, over 90% of Russian was in state owned collective farms. As resistance went away food production rose and animal numbers recovered

On each collective farm 75 peasant families using modern machinery like tractors. Each famillie was paid a wage to work a fixed number of days per year

Peasants worked hardest on their own plots. More food was produced on these than the collective farms