Collectivisation

Under collectivisation peasants were forced to work to government targets and share resources. Any profits after state demands were met were shared equally among members of the kolkhoz.

Initial problems with collectivisation

Both richer and poorer peasants resented the government interference in their lives. It was not only kulaks who opposed the change.
Peasants frequently destroyed their crops to avoid handing it over to the communists.

Collectivisation paused

Because of this, collectivisation was paused in 1930.
Stalin accused party officials of being overzealous (too forceful) in their attempts to force peasants to give up their produce (even though they were just following orders). This slowed down the collectivisation campaign.

Starvation

By 1933, at the end of the campaign, a famine led to 1.3 million deaths in Kazakhstan and 1 million in Russia.
- 5.7 million died across the whole country during the collectivisation years.
Yet the Communist Party now controlled the countryside.

Oppression

Ukraine was a nation with rich farmland that was part of the Soviet Union. Lots of Ukrainians refused to join collective farms.
The people who resisted were brutally oppressed. Stalin wanted to smash Ukrainian nationalism and culture.

Kolkhoz and motor tractor stations

To mechanise collectivisation, state-owned machinery (motor tractor stations) was rented to kolkhozy.
In return, the motor tractor stations became an instrument for collecting grain for the state.
The motor tractor stations became tools for the Communist Party to maintain control over the countryside.

The Successes and Failures of Collectivisation

Though collectivisation led to widespread famine and oppression, Stalin saw some successes.

Successes

Stalin saw the policy as a political success because it meant he was now in control of the countryside.
Each Machine Tractor Station had a secret police officer to control the area.
Grain which could be sold abroad was used to pay for the Five-Year Plans, which Stalin sold as an economic success.

Failures

Overall yields saw no significant increases during collectivisation, and only small amounts of grain could be sold overseas.
Russia’s agricultural technology did not improve, the policy was hugely unpopular, and resulted in a huge loss of life.
Food supplies to the cities remained poor because of the chaos in the countryside.

Holodomor

The starvation which happened in the Ukraine was known as ‘Holodomor’. This means ‘extermination by hunger’.
Stalin refused foreign assistance, and denied that the famine existed.
Some historians have suggested that the death toll was as high as 3.3 million people. By June 1933, 28,000 people were dying each day.

1The Leadership Struggle, 1924-1929

1.1Struggle for Power 1924-28

1.1.1Stalin & his Rivals

1.1.2The End of Lenin & Stalin

1.1.3Stalin & the Communist Party

2Five Year Plans & Collectivisation

2.1Changes in Industry

2.1.1Industrialisation & Gosplan

2.2Agriculture & Collectivisation

2.2.1Five Year Plans & Grain Hoarding

2.2.2Collectivisation

2.2.3Kulaks

3Purges, Show Trials & The Cult of Stalin

3.1The Use of Terror in the 1930s

3.1.1Purges

3.1.2NKVD

3.1.3Show Trials

3.1.4Labour Camps

3.2Propaganda & Censorship

3.2.1Art & Religion Under Stalin

3.2.2Media & the Cult of Stalin

3.2.3The Cult of Stalin

3.2.4History

4Life in the Soviet Union, 1924-1941

4.1Life in the Soviet Union

4.1.1Living Conditions & Ethnic Minorities in the USSR

5The Second World War, 1941-1953

5.1USSR in the War

5.1.11941-1942

5.1.21943-1945

5.2Stalin & WW2

5.2.1Stalin's Popularity

5.2.2Post-War Consolidation

5.3Post-War Recovery

5.3.1Economic Recovery

5.3.2The USSR by 1953

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