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Kulaks

History: Edexcel IGCSE USSR, 1924-1953, topic 2.2.3

Kulaks

Kulaks were one of the supposed enemy groups of the regime. They were 'wealthy' peasants who had benefited from the New Economic Policy (NEP).

Who were kulaks?

Who were kulaks?

  • Bolsheviks believed that the NEP had led to kulaks emerging.
  • Kulaks were peasants who benefited more than others from the grain trade.
  • They were also known as 'Nepmen' after the New Economic Policy.
Very few kulaks

Very few kulaks

  • Historians have found that almost no peasants actually held large amounts of extra grain.
  • The small improvements in nutrition in Russian villages led to the Bolsheviks accusing those with extra grain of trying to sabotage communism.
Land ownership

Land ownership

  • Many peasants believed that they should be left alone on the land they had seized in 1917.
  • They did not want the state to interfere in their farming.
Finding kulaks

Finding kulaks

  • Many revolutionaries believed that the government should do more to bring villages under control.
  • This led them to look for more kulaks to use as examples of enemies of communism.
  • Overall, this caused peasants to be even more sceptical of outside interference.

Test yourself on Kulaks

  • What does NEP stand for?

  • Who were kulaks?

  • Were there really any kulaks?

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