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Colletivisation Notes

Collectivization of Soviet agriculture occurred between 1928-1941 for several reasons: (1) Communist ideology sought to abolish private property and replace it with state-run farming; (2) Communists believed large collective farms would be more efficient than small individual farms; (3) the New Economic Policy (NEP) was failing by 1928 due to falling agricultural production. Stalin also had political motivations - by moving left to support rapid collectivization, he strengthened his support base in the Communist Party and consolidated his power as undisputed leader. Collectivization was introduced in phases, starting with grain requisition in 1928 before full-scale collectivization was ordered in 1929.

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192 views

Colletivisation Notes

Collectivization of Soviet agriculture occurred between 1928-1941 for several reasons: (1) Communist ideology sought to abolish private property and replace it with state-run farming; (2) Communists believed large collective farms would be more efficient than small individual farms; (3) the New Economic Policy (NEP) was failing by 1928 due to falling agricultural production. Stalin also had political motivations - by moving left to support rapid collectivization, he strengthened his support base in the Communist Party and consolidated his power as undisputed leader. Collectivization was introduced in phases, starting with grain requisition in 1928 before full-scale collectivization was ordered in 1929.

Uploaded by

Georgia Simpson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Agricultural Collectivisation

Introduction

- Between 1928-1941, Soviet agriculture was collectivized


- Collectivisation was a process whereby small farms were merged into large farms of between 20-150
families. Simultaneously, the farmland and its resources was taken into state control

What were the causes of Collectivization?

1. Communist ideology
 For Communists, private property was the foundation of capitalism and therefore the foundation of
inequality.
- For example during the NEP , peasants with larger farms had been able to grow rich while peasants
with smaller farms had less chance.
 Therefore, all communists wanted to abolish private property, replacing it with state run farming which
would end capitalism and inequality

2. The desire for an efficient economy


 Communist believed that large farms were likely to be more efficient than small farms as expertise and
equipment could be shared to increase production.

3. The failure of the NEP

The NEP’s economic problems combined with the threat of Kulak capitalists holding the government to ransom
led Communists to believe that the NEP needed to be replaced with a more radical policy that dealt with the
Kulaks and restored economic growth

 By 1928, it was clear the NEP was falling; from 1928 agricultural production was lower than previously. This
was because there was no market for additional farmed goods so food prices fell and farmers produced
less the following year. This led to what the right wing termed as the grain procurement crisis’ where Food
supplies decreased leading to shortages in the cities and higher profits for farmers.

 Left Wing Communists described this reduction of production as the Kulak grain strike.

- They claimed that kulaks , rich farmers were putting their own profits ahead of the Soviet Union’s need
to industrialize. Radical Communists saw this as the reemergence of a class war whereby rich capitalist
peasants were deliberately obstructing the construction of socialism

4. Leadership Struggle

Stalin also had political motivations for wanting to end the NEP and collectivize agriculture.

o By the end of 1927, Stalin and Bukharin had defeated Zinoviev, Kamenev and Trotsky – the radical left
wing of the party who advocated rapid industrialization and collectivization- expelling them from the
Party.
- Their defeat meant that the left wing of the Party – which was a significant minority- had no leader
Agricultural Collectivisation

- Therefore , by moving to the left Stalin strengthen his support base within the party – by moving to the
left Stalin who retain his supporters, pick up supporter of the United Opposition and in doing so gain
more support than Bukharin
 This led to him becoming the undisputed leader of the Communist Party

The Phases of Collectivisation:

Collectivisation was introduced in a series of phases.

1. Initially - In 1928, Stalin did not propose the full-scale collectivization of agriculture.
- In 1928, Stalin effectively ended the NEP, To end the Kulak grain strike , Stalin ordered the Red Army
and the Cheka to requisition grain from the peasants.
- This grain would then be used to feed workers and sell overseas in order to raise money for
industralisation

2. However , as his new policies won support within the Party, he became bolder – In 1929 , Stalin
ordered full scale collectivization and by 1930 claimed it was a 100% success

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