The agricultural and social developments of the countryside

Question 1

what were the reasons for wanting to collectivise

Answer 1

• the grain procurement in the winter of 1927 to 1928
• the need for increased food supplies to support the expansion of the industrial workforce for the five year plan
• the ideological conviction that collection was the right pathway to socialism, rich peasants in the way

Question 2

How did voluntary collectivization work and what effect did this have?

Answer 2

this was done through propoganda such as posters leaflets and films however this had a limited effect. by 1929 only 5% of farms collectivised.

Question 3

what was involved in stage 1 of forced collectivisation?

Answer 3

• quotas set up
• peasants into forced collectives by local party members
• the use of the OGBU and the red army
• the propoganda was much better.
• kulaks not allowed to join collectives- ‘sabotage’.

Question 4

By march 1930 what percent was collectivized?

Answer 4

58% - dizzy with success

Question 5

However by October collectivization had fallen to what percent?

Answer 5

20%

Question 6

What was stage 2 of collectivization?

Answer 6

• once the peasants had sown the spring crop collectivisation began to speed up again.
• by 1941 100% of household collectivised

Question 7

What was the Kolkhoz

Answer 7

• created by combining small individual farms together in co-operative structures
• communal fields mapped out and work parties joined to dig ditches, erect fenses
• each kolkhoz had to deliver set quota to the state. quotas high up to 40%.
• shared any profits or goods left after procurement

Question 8

what was the sovkhov?

Answer 8

• entirely state run
• traditional communist
• larger that kolkhovs and created on land confiscated from former larger estates.
• became predominate type of farm
• small wage directly from the government

Question 9

What was the impact of collectivisation on the peasants?

Answer 9

• most enterprsing peasanst had been shot or deported.

- agricultural production had been disrupted and animals slaughtered

Question 10

What caused the fammine of 1932-34?

Answer 10

• by the end of 1931 the state had collected 22.8 millions of tons of grain.
• this was enough to feed cities and export to finance industrialization.
• however problem occurred when huge drop of production of grain cause by
• chaos and upheal of collectivisation
• activists lack of farming knowledge
• not enough animals to pull the plough
• drought over a large area of USSR 1931

Question 11

where did the famine appear in spring 1932?

Answer 11

Ukraine and other areas of the USSR. Late 1934 USSR subject to fammine that killed millions (up to 7 million)

Question 12

What were the consequences of the fammine

Answer 12

• millions of deaths in multiple areas
• conclusion of the famine was that it was man made, government had set quotas taking regardless.
• death of kulak class meant highest level farmers not in country

Question 13

what was the state of the countryside by the end of 1934?

Answer 13

• 70% peasant household collectivised
• grew to 90% by 1936
• grain production recovering slowly not until 1935 did they reach pre collectivisation levels.
• private plots important- earned for themselves and could sell at markets. sold fruit and veg