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Collectivization in the Soviet Union

Collectivization was a tactic used by the Soviet Union in effort to control productivity primarily in rural areas during the era of industrialization. This was done through seizure of property, often violently, in order to create cooperative farms which were placed under central control. As a result, crop yields and production were severely disrupted during the early stages of collectivization, which led to several famines. In addition, the persecution of rural farmers, particularly wealthy "kulaks" also contributed to food shortages associated with the policy. Overall, the era of collectivization drastically affected political, social, and cultural cohesion among rural and urban populations, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Soviet citizens. Despite this, many Soviet leaders of the time viewed collectivization as vital to the successful rapid industrialization the Soviet Union experienced in the 1930s.

Background

During the late 1920s the Soviet Union was faced with emerging crisis in that there was a significant shortage of grain for the urban populations. Stalin developed the idea of collectivization in that peasants would be forced from their farms and required to work on collective farms to restore the supply of grain. The process of collectivization went into full swing during Stalin's first 5-year plan. This was done in effort to rapidly industrialize the country as a whole, which had been ravaged by three years of world war, revolution, and its subsequent civil war. Between 1929-1933, much of the Russian rural farmlands were seized by the government, effectively forcing peasant farmers and kulaks from their lands. The need to collectivize kulak farms was especially desirable for Stalin, since many bolsheviks viewed successful kulaks as hoarders and exploiters of labor. In turn, peasant lands would be consolidated and formed into "kolkhozes." The hope for Stalin's leadership was to supply the newly industrialized cities with food, which had chronic shortages exacerbated from years of war and internal instability. Due to the vastness of fertile land within Russia, certain areas of the country were disproportionately affected by Soviet collectivization, particularly Ukraine. As a result, collectivization played a major role in the famine of 1932-33.

Not only was the collectivization meant to fund industrialization, but it was also a way for the Bolsheviks to systematically attack the Kulaks and peasants in general.  Stalin was incredibly suspicious of the peasants, he viewed them as a major threat to socialism.  Stalin’s use of collectivization served to not only address the grain shortages but his greater concern of control over the peasants. It was made illegal to sell consumer goods for profit and was punishable by imprisonment of up to five years and confiscation of the property being sold. Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe : Comparison and Entanglements, edited by Constantin Iordachi, and Arnd Bauerkamper, Central European University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/lib/asulib-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3137370.

Crisis of 1928

During the Russian Revolution and World War I there was an abundance of grain stored by Kulak farmers. This abundance of grain allowed the Soviet Union to export large amounts of grain to gain foreign currency to purchase capital goods. By 1928 the amount of grain produce did not reach similar totals of years past and caused a panic with the Soviet leader. Stalin claimed the grain had been produced but was being hoarded by "kulaks." When in reality the farmers were holding on to their grain because the prices were below market price. Stalin tried to appear as being on the side of the peasants, but it did not help, the peasants as a whole started to resent the grain seizures.  The peasants did everything they could to protest.Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe : Comparison and Entanglements, edited by Constantin Iordachi, and Arnd Bauerkamper, Central European University Press, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/lib/asulib-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3137370.

Paragraph 6 Peasants that were willing to conform and join the Kolhozys were rewarded with higher quality land and tax breaks, where as peasants unwilling to join the kolkhozes were punished with the poor quality land and higher taxes. Livi-Bacci, Massimo. "On the Human Costs of Collectivization in the Soviet Union." Population and Development Review 19, no. 4 (1993): 743-66. doi:10.2307/2938412.

Peasant Resistance and the Famine of 1932-33

Due to the sizable population of farmers, heavy resistance of land seizures occurred throughout the Soviet Union. The peasants argued with the collectors, they wrote letters to their children in the military, and they even sowed less grain.  The party officials tried to promise the peasants tractors and tax breaks if they would conform to the collective farm model but the government was unable to meet the promises made by party officials. When these promises were left unfulfilled, the peasants quickly became irritated with the party officials and would begin to protest collectivization.

One of the ways in which the peasants protested collectivization was by doing minimal amounts of work on farms resulting in much less grain being harvested. The result of this was an intense famine in 1932, in which the Soviet government seized a majority of the grain production and left the Soviet people with a very minimal amount of grain for themselves.

Results

Resistance to collectivization and consequences

paragraph 2 The methods Stalin used to eliminate the Kulaks was dispossession, deportation and execution. The term Ural-Siberian Method was coined by Stalin the rest of the population referred to it as the "new method". The legal code that allowed for dispossession of peasant grain was Article 107.

paragraph 3 For peasants that failed to make the quota of grain were fined five times the quota. If the peasant continued to be defiant his property and equipment would be confiscated by the state. If none of the previous measures were effective the defiant peasant would be deported or exiled. The practice of deportation and exile was made legal by 1929 under article 61. For peasants who remained on farm lands, increased grain quotas from the government led to massive shortages at home. In 1932, Stalin demanded an increase of grain quotas by over forty percent and such quotas must be met before any grain could be distributed to the collective farmers. Any person who was caught unlawfully taking grain from the collective farm was to be shot. Since industrialized areas of the country were to be serviced for grain first, rural and collective farm regions were devastated. This resulted in the famine of 1932-33, which swept through Ukraine, the Northern Caucasus, and Volga regions. Death tolls vary, however six to seven million people died as a result of starvation in Ukraine alone between 1932 and 1933.

Ukraine

End of last paragraph Other sources even claim that the Ukrainian death toll was as high as six to seven million people.

Decollectivization under German occupation

Attempts at decollectivization weren't all that peaceful, as Kulaks clashed with peasants who favored collectivization and kolkhozes over the redistribution of land and livestock.