A2 FP1 : Process and impact of collectivisation Flashcards
(19 cards)
Describe the first stage of collectivisation.
A deliberate propaganda campaign was launched against the Kulaks in order to create a rift between the poorer peasants and the Kulaks. Stalin decided that the Kulaks must be liquidated as a class. However, peasants and local officials were often unwilling to denounce the Kulaks.
By the end of 1929 the Government had begun a campaign of all out forced collectivisation . Peasants were driven into collectives by local party members with 250,000 urban party activists being sent to the countryside to forcibly collectivise agriculture.
What was the outcome of the first stage of collectivisation?
c15% of peasant households were destroyed and c1500 peasants were forced to migrate north or east to pooerer land. A decree of February 1st 1930, gave local party organisations the power to use “necessary measures against the Kulaks”.
- The brutal treatment of the Kulaks frightened poorer peasants into joining the collectives and by March 1930 58% of peasant households had been collectivised.
What was the resistance like during the first stage of collectivisation?
- Riots and resistance, one riot lasted 5 days.
- Grain, live stock and property were destroyed rather than hand it over.
What was the “Dizzy with Success” Article?
Stalin was aware that mounting resistance may lead to a fall in agricultural production, Stalin claimed that local officials had been “overzelous” and wrote an article scapegoating the blame. Consequently there was a voluntary return to collectivisation. However, after the harvest had been collected there was an immediate return to forced collectivisation.
How many peasant households had been collectivised by 1931?
51%
How many peasant households had been collectivised by 1934?
70%
How many peasant households had been collectivised by 1935?
75%
How many peasant households had been collectivised by 1937?
90%
How many peasant households had been collectivised by 1941?
100%
By 1938 what percent of threshing, ploughing, spring sowing and harvesting were done mechanically?
By 1938 95% of threshing, 72% of ploughing, 57% of Spring Sowing and 48% of harvesting were done mechanically.
What percentage of total animals in the USSR were slaughtered by peasants in resistance to collectivisation?
25%-30% of all animals in the USSR
How many peasants died as a result of collectivisation?
Probably 10 million peasants died as a result of collectivisation. By 1939, 9 million peasants had migrated to the towns, and those left on the collectives saw it as a “new serfdom”.
What was the law of August 7th 1932?
The law of seven-eighths made it so that anyone who stole from a collective would be gaoled for ten years, eventually this was made into a capital punishment.
Due to the food crisis, the government allowed collectives to have private plots. By 1941 what percent of vegetables, milk and meat were provided by private plots?
By 1941, 52% of vegetables, 70% of meat and 71% of milk were provided by private farms.
The Great Famine
Despite the ongoing famine, how much grain was requisitioned in 1931, and how much was exported in 1933?
In 1931, 22.8 million tons of grain was requisitioned.
In 1933, 1.73 million tons of grain was exported.
The Great Famine
How many peasants died during the Great Famine?
Robert Conequest puts the number at 7 million.
The Great Famine
What do Corin and Fiehn say about the Great Famine?
“That all historians accept that the scale of human suffering was enormous.” and that “it is difficult to reach any other conclusion than that the Famine of 1932 to 1934 was man-made.”
The Great Famine
What were the causes of the great famine?
- Ukraine nationalism led it to be singled out, its quotas were much higher with an expected 7 million tons of grain a year.
- Requistioned Grain, however, was left to rot by railways in Ukraine.
- Direct result of collectivisation, the purging of the peasants, poor organisation, lack of machinery and fertilisers, the lack of know-how, and the resistance of peasants who burnt crops, slaughtered animals and refused to work the land. Compounded by government policy that continued to take excessive amounts of grain from the worst hit areas and export it abroad to pay for industrial equipment.
The Great Famine
How many people died in Ukraine alone during the famine?
Nearly 25% of the population, 3 million children included.
