Collectivisation
Collectivisation dealt with the agricultural problems the USSR was faced with. The idea was to merge smalls holdings and farms belonging to peasants to form large collective farms called "Kolkhoz" which would be jointly owned by peasants. There were two main reasons behind this solution:
- the existing system of small farms was inefficient but large farms under state direction and using machinery such as tractors and combine harvesters would increase grain production.
- I wanted to eliminate the class of prosperous peasants ( called "kulaks" or "nepmen") which the New Economic Police (NEP) had encouraged. I believed that they were standing in the way of progress and that they were the enemy of communism. In fact, I have been quoted for saying: "We must smash the Kulaks so hard that they will never rise to their feet again". Well said I think.
The policy was launched in 1929 but there was so much resistance in the countryside that it had to be carried out by brute force. All the peasants who owned any property, whether they were kulaks or not, were opposed to the plan. They had to be forced to join by armies of party members who urged poorer peasants to seize cattle and machinery from kulaks which were then given to the collectives. Rather than allow the state to take their land, the kulaks reacted by slaughtering cattle and crops. Peasants who refused to join the collectives were either arrested and taken to labour camps or shot.
Unfortunately, total production gain did not increase at all except in 1930. Less had been made in 1934 than in 1928. In fact, from 1932 to 1933, famine had spread to many areas of the Soviet Union, it was especially present in Ukraine. It did however allow greater mechanisation. By 1937, 90% of the farmland had been collectivised but the livestock didn't recover until 1953.
- the existing system of small farms was inefficient but large farms under state direction and using machinery such as tractors and combine harvesters would increase grain production.
- I wanted to eliminate the class of prosperous peasants ( called "kulaks" or "nepmen") which the New Economic Police (NEP) had encouraged. I believed that they were standing in the way of progress and that they were the enemy of communism. In fact, I have been quoted for saying: "We must smash the Kulaks so hard that they will never rise to their feet again". Well said I think.
The policy was launched in 1929 but there was so much resistance in the countryside that it had to be carried out by brute force. All the peasants who owned any property, whether they were kulaks or not, were opposed to the plan. They had to be forced to join by armies of party members who urged poorer peasants to seize cattle and machinery from kulaks which were then given to the collectives. Rather than allow the state to take their land, the kulaks reacted by slaughtering cattle and crops. Peasants who refused to join the collectives were either arrested and taken to labour camps or shot.
Unfortunately, total production gain did not increase at all except in 1930. Less had been made in 1934 than in 1928. In fact, from 1932 to 1933, famine had spread to many areas of the Soviet Union, it was especially present in Ukraine. It did however allow greater mechanisation. By 1937, 90% of the farmland had been collectivised but the livestock didn't recover until 1953.
Farmers campaigning
The slogan reads: "We kolkhoz farmers are liquidating the kulaks as a class, on the basis of complete collectivization."
A propaganda poster for Collectivisation
The slogan reads: " Poor and middle class, increasing crops, establishing a technological culture"