Collectivisation

How did Stalin become the sole leader of the Soviet Union?

Stalin spent four years of political manoeuvring

When did Stalin become the leader of Russia?

In 1928

What did Stalin carry out when he became leader 1928?

He was able to carry out the policies which he thought would not only create a communist state but also enable him to secure and maintain his position

What were the two things that Stalin introduced to modernise the Soviet Economy?

A series of Five-Year Plans that transformed industry and a policy of collectivisation which brought major changes to agriculture

What was farming like before collectivisation?

Farming had not changed for hundreds of years and many farms still followed the medieval system of farming strips if land using horse-drawn wooden ploughs

Soviet peasants used old-fashioned inefficient farming methods

Agriculture was still based on small peasant plots with little use of machinery

When did Stalin introduce the policy of collectivisation?

In 1928

What was collectivisation?

Peasants had to give up their own small plots of land in order to pool their land with those of other families

This would make a farm large enough to use modern machinery and the peasants would have to provide the state with a fixed amount of produce and earn a wage for doing so

What was the aim of collectivisation?

The idea was to create a surplus if food to feed the industrial workers in the towns and to sell abroad and to use to profit made from the land to finance a programme of industrialisation

Name some of the reasons why Stalin decided to collectivise the forms in Russia

Stalin’s rationale was based on a combination of economic and political factors that were linked by a fear of foreign invasion

He believed that if the Soviet Union was to compete with the industrialised nations of the world, then the only way to do this was by state intervention, which would also lead to greater control over the people of the Soviet Union

He made it clear that workers would have to accept personal sacrifices in pursuit of these targets

Name some of the economic reasons why Stalin decided to collectivise the forms in Russia

Disappointing output of industrial production

Industrialisation

Disappointing output of industrial production

Soviet industrial production remained disappointingly low

Stalin felt that central direction and control would enable him to direct the economy and ensure a rapid expansion in heavy industry in order to outstrip the developed nations

Agriculture and grain production under the NEP had failed to produce enough to feed Soviet industrial workers and therefore Stalin felt that state control was needed

Soviet industry was plateauing under NEP

In 1927, grain collection fell below levels needed to feed the cities

Industrialisation

If the Five-Year Plans were to be successful, agriculture had to produce surpluses that would be sold abroad and finance the initial stages of the Five-Year Plans

Mechanisation was crucial, because it would release large numbers of peasants to work in the towns and cities

There would be fewer farms workers in the country side

The remaining ones would have to produce enough for the growing urban population

They also had to produce enough food to sell abroad to bring in foreign currency to allow investment in materials for new factories

Sometimes there was insufficient food for the whole population

It was a difficult problem for Stalin to solve- unless some could starve

Name some of the political reasons why Stalin decided to collectivise the farms in Russia

Fear of invasion

Communist principles

Leadership

Control of the people

Fear of invasion

The help given by Britain, France and the USA of the Whites during the civil war of 1918-1921 seemed to confirm Stalin’s fears of an attack from the West

Modernisation of agriculture and the industry was essential if the Soviet Union was to be sure of victory in any future war, as it would enable the armed forces to be built up and supplied

There were several war scares in USSR in the late 1920s and a growing feeling of diplomatic isolation among many leading politicians

Communist principles

Collectivisation fitted in with communist ideas of common ownership

Marx taught that communism was built by proletarian workers: peasant farming should have disappeared

In 1925, as a result of the New Economic Policy, less than one per cent of the land was collectivised

By creating and sharing wealth among the Soviet people he hoped to create a strong state based on communist principles, where the state controlled economic activity

Stalin thought that the NEP was allowing the farmers to make large profits and he did not want this to continue

NEP favoured individual peasant farmers selling grain for profit- this looked like capitalism

Leadership

Introducing collectivisation would consolidate Stalin’s push for leadership of the Soviet Union

The right-wing members of the Communist Party’s Politburo- Bukharin, Tomsky and Rykov- were in favour of keeping the NEP

The launching of collectivisation would enable Stalin to discredit and remove these leading figures

If they could be removed as a result of the debate over agricultural policy, then he would strengthen his position as leader of the Party

Control of the people

As well as wanting to modernise the Soviet Union, Stalin also sought to control the people, especially the peasants, by means of collectivisation

This would give Stalin control over the countryside and the peasantry, something that Lenin had failed to achieve

Stalin did not trust the peasants

He saw them as natural enemies of communism and he was aware of how close they had come to destroying Lenin during the time of War Communism

He believed that by taking away the peasants’ independence he could remove any threat from them once and for all

Name the problems of the NEP

Even under the NEP, farmers were not producing enough food for the workers in the cities

After 1926, the amount of surplus grain given to the government by the peasants had been falling

The peasants had become wary of growing too much food, knowing it would be seized by the state at a low price

Many Communist Party members hated that kulaks were benefiting most from NEP while workers were having to pay more food

NEP was encouraging private peasant farms run for profit in opposition to communism

Agriculture was not modernising

There was a grain procurement in 1927-1928 and not enough grain was collected to feed the urban populations

Explain the grain crisis of 1927-1928

There was a war scare in 1927 and, as a result, some of the peasants began to hoard grain

Stalin saw this as an attempt to force up the price of grain and sabotage the work of the Bolsheviks

Stalin was keen to ensure adequate supplies for workers in the cities and therefore stated that kulaks had to produce specificc quotas of grain for 1928

The kulaks reduced production because they would not receive as much money

Though the grain crisis was short-lived, it convinced Stalin that the kulaks would have to be controlled in the future and the best way to do this was by collectivising agriculture

Who were the kulaks?

The wealthier peasants who had become richer during the NEP

Why was there increasing pressure from some Bolsheviks to remove the kulaks?

They were accused of being capitalists and hoarding food for their own consumption rather than providing it for industrial workers in the towns

Collectivisation would get rid of them as a class

What happened to peasants who didn’t volunteer for collectivisation?

Collectivisation was supposed to be undertaken on a voluntary basis, but within a year it was being imposed on the peasants

Anyone who opposed the process was labelled as a kulak and an enemy of the state, and deported to Siberia and Urals

What is the Russian word for a collective farm?

Kolkhoz and it replaced the mir or village commune

What were the key features of a Kolkoz?

It had a chairman who was the most important figure- a Communist Party member usually from the nearest town

Once established, the kolkhoz would then claim ownership of animals, grain supplies and buildings in the village

The state owned the land, the equipment and everything the land produced

The state told each collective farm what fo farm and set it a production target

The state paid a set price when it took this

All collective farm workers were organised into brigades and worked set hours

Collective farms were mechanised- tractors and combine harvesters were allocated from Machine Tractor Stations

Secret police kept an eye on each collective farm from the MTS

Each collective farm was also set a quota of produce that it was allowed to keep in order to feed its workers

How many kolkhoz were there by 1940?

240,000

What were kolkhoz usually made up of?

80 or so peasant families who farmed around 500 hectares of land

What is the difference between peasants and kolkhoz?

The peasant families had to provide a fixed amount of food for the state at very low prices and peasants received a small wage

The peasants could keep any surplus

Members of the kolkhoz also had their own private plots of land

What were the key features of a MTS?

Mechanisation of farming was developed

The state provided each collective farm with machinery especially a tractor, other tools and seeds

the Machine Tractor Stations were set up

There was normally one of these for every 40 collective farms

Tractors and drivers from the MTs moved between the collectives to carry out the ploughing

By 1933, there were some 2900 MTS, which controlled more than 120,000 tractors

Members of the secret police were employed in some of the first MTS

This was another means by which Stalin was able to gain political control over the peasants

What were the Key Features of a Sovkhoz?

A type of farm created from the old, large estates

In the sovkhoz, all land was owned by the state and all produce was taken by the state and all produce was taken by the state

The sovkhoz was usually about 3,600 hectares and unlike the kolkhoz had its own tractors

The peasants worked as paid labourers and were referred to as workers

One historian has called the sovkhoz ‘a factory without a roof’

How did many peasants react to collectivisation?

There was fierce opposition to collectivisation especially in the agricultural areas of the Ukraine and Caucasus

Many peasants set fire to their farms and slaughtered their animals rather than hand them over to the state

The scale of the slaughter was staggering from a total of 60 million cows, 30 million were killed, and 16 million horses died out of a total of 24 million

What did Stalin do in response to this?

By sending in de-kulakisation squads- Party members from the towns and the OGPU- to round up opponents of his policy

It is impossible to find an accurate figure, but possibly as many as ten million people were deported in the war against the kilaks

Did the opposition force Stalin to change his plans?

Yes, 1930

Indeed, he blamed over-keen Party officials for the problems in carrying out his policy and, during the spring and summer of that year, there was some reversal of the process

He also made some concessions, including allowing members of the collectives to have some animals and a small garden plot for their own use

However in late 1930, collectivised, and five years later the number had increased to 93%

Produce a list of reasons why collectivisation could be considered a success

By 1933, 83% of all arable land and 64% of all peasant households had been collectivised

By 1935, 90% of farmland had been collectivised

Prior to the MTS there had been very little mechanisation in farming, so the MTS did bring improvements

Many more young people from the rural areas went to agricultural school and learned about modern farming methods

Rationing of bread and many foods was ended by 1934; by 1935, the steep fall in grain production had begun to recover

The USSR increased its grain exports to other countries, which earned the USSR money to invest in industrialisation

Huge numbers of peasants left the land and move to the cities

These people provided the workforce for the USSR’s rapid industrialisation

Getting control over the countryside was a political success for Stalin: many in the Communist Party had disliked the power NEP gave the peasantry

Benefits

The aim of producing enough food to feed the towns and the Red Army was achieved

Life on the collective farms was not all bad

For example, there were schools and hospitals on some collectives for the workers

The MTS were quite successful and the mechanisation of farming did speed up in the years after 1935

By 1936, more than 90% of land had been collectivised and tractors were introduced on a large scale

Greater control

Collectivisation was also a success for Stalin and the communists

They had finally secured control of the countryside

The peasants never again openly rebelled against communist rule

Stalin had also ensured that he had a secure supply of food for the towns and workers for the factories

Produce a list of reasons why collectivisation could be considered a failure

The famine of 1932-1933: peasants who had destroyed their crops and livestock had nothing to eat

Stalin refused to help because of peasant’s opposition to collectivisation

At least 3.3 million people died

The ‘liquidation of the kulaks’ policy killed or removed many of the most experienced farmers from Soviet agriculture

Stalin allowed kolkhoz peasants to keep their own small private plots: about 30% of the USSR’s food products came from the private plots, although they made up 4% of the farming area

There were too few tractors and most were poorly made and constantly needed to be repaired

Because so many peasants fled to the cities, internal passports were introduced: this made it very difficult to leave the collective farms

Kolkhozniks did as little work as they could get away with

Soviet agriculture was still very inefficient with low productivity

Human cost of collectivisation

The human cost of collectivisation was enormous

There was a serious famine from 1932-1933 which caused the death of somewhere between six and ten millions peasants

In the Ukraine and northern Caucasus about five million people died

Falling production of collectivisation

Economically, the collectivisation had mixed results

Peasants opposition led to a serious decline in grain production from 73.3 million tonnes in 1928 to 67.6 million in 1934

The impact on the countryside was worsened by the government policy of seizing grain

The rural population starved in order to provide for the needs of industry and peasants moved to the towns in search of food

Such movement was stopped when the government introduced passports simply for moving around the country

The peasants thus became tied to the collectives and were little better off than the serfs of tsarist Russia

Inefficient farming of collectivisation

Farming remained inefficient, with Soviet farmers producing less per head than farmers in the USA or western Europe

Until the mid-1930s, there was not enough good grown for the whole Soviet population and some had to be purchased from abroad

The worst years were 1932-1933 when a national famine occured

It was not until 1940 that figures for grain production matched those of 1914

Historians have found little evidence that collectivisation provided surplus food to sell abroad hte strategy therefore failed to provide adequate foreign capital for Stalin’s investment programme

Explain the attack on kulaks 1927-1928

Grain was taken by force from peasants because of the grain crisis

Peasants were forced to join kolkhozes with Red Army pressure

Many refused and were lablled ‘kulaks’

Explain the attack on kulaks 1929

Stalin launched a campaign of dekulakisation: ‘liquidation of kulaks’

Peasants were shot or exiled to Siberia

Explain the attack on kulaks 1930

30,000 kulaks died between 1930 and 1931

Peasants continued to resist collectivisation

Stalin halted the scheme and peasants returned to their farms

Explain the attack on kulaks 1931-1932

Stalin revitalised the collectivisation campaign

Famine struck USSR

Explain the famine in Ukraine, 1932-1933?

The Red Army had defeated Ukrainian nationalists in the Civil War

Many Ukrainian peasants refused to join collective farms because they saw it as a new form of serfdom

To help crush the resistance to collectivisation, the state took more and more grain away from Ukraine, even as the people there were starving

All the time, the Soviet government denied there was any famine and refused foreign aid

Around 3 million Ukrainians are thought to have died in this deliberate famine