The Economy (1924 - 41): Collectivisation

Question 1

How many tractors did Stalin require made every year?

Answer 1

50,000

Question 2

In the 1920s, what did Stalin want to transform Russia into?

Answer 2

From an agrarian country into an industrial one. He wanted to modernise the nation.

Question 3

What was the first step in industrialisation?

Answer 3

Collectivising agricultural production

Question 4

What is collectivisation?

Answer 4

The policy of transforming ownership of farmland to the state.

Question 5

Which year in particular had a terrible harvest and caused bread to be rationed in cities?

Answer 5

1928

Question 6

What did the terrible harvest of 1929 cause?

Answer 6

Bread rationing in the cities.

Question 7

What did Stalin want to prevent, in terms of agriculture?

Answer 7

Grain involvement crises.

Question 8

What would prevent grain crises?

Answer 8

A reliable, consistent food supply from the countryside to feed urban workers. Also so money could be made on surplus grain for industrialisation.

Question 9

Whose plan was collectivisation initially?

Answer 9

Lenin’s. He attempted in during civil war.

Question 10

Were industrialisation and collectivisation wants of the mass population?

Answer 10

No. It was imposed by elites.

Question 11

What did Stalin call the industrialisation and collectivisation policies?

Answer 11

The ‘second revolution’.

Question 12

When did Stalin announce compulsory collectivisation?

Answer 12

1929

Question 13

Who did he accuse of hoarding produce and monopolising land?

Answer 13

The Kulaks

Question 14

What did Stalin accuse the Kulaks of?

Answer 14

Hoarding produce to keep food prices high and monopolising the best land.

Question 15

Like Lenin, what did Stalin attempt with the rural kulaks?

Answer 15

To create class warfare in the countryside so that kulaks would be blamed for policies.

Question 16

Did Kulaks actually exist?

Answer 16

No. They were simply harder working and more successful peasants.

Question 17

What did Stalin announce in Dec 1929?

Answer 17

Liquidation of the kulaks as a class.

Question 18

What job were activists of the OGPU given regarding the liquidation of the kulaks?

Answer 18

Used as means of finding and destroying kulaks. They stormed villages and shot or deported kulaks.

Question 19

Who were the OGPU?

Answer 19

Joint State Political Directorate

Question 20

Why did Stalin enforce a culture of fear and terror on the countryside (using the OGPU)?

Answer 20

It would be easier to enforce collectivisation on them.

Question 21

How many urban activists were involved in collectivisation?

Answer 21

> 25,000

Question 22

What did the urban activists force kulaks to do?

Answer 22

Sign a register demanding to be collectivised.

Question 23

Between Dec ‘29 - Mar ‘30 how many farms were collectivised?

Answer 23

Almost half of all peasant farms

Question 24

What was a Kolkhoz?

Answer 24

A collective farm in which all peasants worked the land for the good of collectivism. They owned nothing. All their animals, equipment, land, produce and belonging was under the state’s ownership.

Question 25

In the Kolkhoz, how much land could peasants hold?

Answer 25

Up to one acre.

Question 26

What were Sovkhozes?

Answer 26

State farms where workers were paid wages

Question 27

What was the end goal of Kolkhozes?

Answer 27

To become Sovkhozes.

Question 28

What did peasants do in rebellion to collectivisation?

Answer 28

Burned crops, tools, barns and houses and slaughtered animals. Refused to sow grain and organised riots and armed resistance.

Question 29

How many cases of arson occurred within three months of peasant rebellion to collectivisation?

Answer 29

30,000

Question 30

Who led most organised riots of peasants?

Answer 30

The peasant women

Question 31

How were peasant riots ended?

Answer 31

By troops brought in by the government.

Question 32

Who did Stalin blame openly blame for the violence towards peasant rebellions?

Answer 32

The activists, who were ‘over-enthusiastic’. Due to the peasant rebellions, he ended the collectivisation.

Question 33

How did peasants react to end of collectivisation?

Answer 33

Many returned to sowing fields.

Question 34

When did Stalin return to collectivisation?

Answer 34

After peasants returned to sowing the fields. This time, progressively.

Question 35

What was the punishment for peasants (adults and children) getting caught taking ‘even a handful’ of grain?

Answer 35

Death or deportation.

Question 36

By how much did Stalin raise Ukraine’s grain procurement quotas by?

Answer 36

44%

Question 37

What did Soviet law mean for peasant food supply? (1932-1934)

Answer 37

Soviet law required the government’s quota to be met before peasants got their own share of grain so there was not enough for the peasantry to live on.

Question 38

How many deaths did collectivisation cause?

Answer 38

About 12 million

Question 39

How many died from starvation in Ukraine as a result of collectivisation between 1932-34?

Answer 39

7 Million

Question 40

What other problems prolonged the damage caused by collectivisation?

Answer 40

Many plough animals had been killed. The Kulaks had been purged. Activists brought in to work the land knew little about farming. Grain requisition continued.

Question 41

When did the collectivisation-caused famine occur?

Answer 41

Between 1932-34

Question 42

By 1932, how many farms had been collectivised?

Answer 42

2/3 of farms

Question 43

When had virtually all peasants been collectivised?

Answer 43

Late 1930s.

Question 44

How many Kolkhozes were there in total?

Answer 44

250,000

Question 45

How much of the peasantry lived on kolkhozes?

Answer 45

90%