Agriculture & Collectivisation Flashcards
(33 cards)
What was collectivisation?
Stalin’s policy from 1928 to 1933 to replace private peasant farming with state-run collective farms (kolkhozes), solve food shortages, modernise farming, and challenge NEP and Bukharin.
What triggered collectivisation in 1927?
A grain procurement crisis — grain production fell below levels needed to feed Soviet cities.
Why was NEP a problem for Stalin and communists?
It favoured individual profit
Benefited kulaks
Seemed capitalist, not socialist
Workers paid more for food while kulaks profited
How did Stalin’s views on ideology influence this policy?
Communism was meant to be built by the urban working class, not rich peasants
Collectivisation would enforce socialist values
How was collectivisation politically useful for Stalin?
Bukharin supported NEP
Stalin used NEP’s failures to attack Bukharin and consolidate power
What were the problems with peasant farming under NEP?
Low productivity
Still relied on horses and centuries-old methods
Peasants refused to modernise or increase grain output
What was a kolkhoz?
A collective farm where:
The state owned land, tools, and produce
The state set production targets
How did the state control kolkhozes?
Set quotas
Paid low prices for grain
Determined what each farm must grow
How were workers managed on kolkhozes?
Split into brigades
Worked set hours
Supervised by secret police from Machine Tractor Stations (MTS)
What were MTS (Machine Tractor Stations)?
Centres that supplied tractors and machinery
Monitored farms and reported any resistance
What was mechanisation like on collectives?
Farms were given tractors and combine harvesters
These were managed and maintained by MTS
What happened in 1927–28?
Grain taken by force from peasants
Peasants pressured into kolkhozes by the Red Army
Those who resisted were labelled kulaks
What happened in 1929?
Stalin launched dekulakisation
Called for the liquidation of the kulaks as a class
What happened in 1930?
Around 30,000 kulaks died
Peasants continued to resist
Stalin halted collectivisation briefly
What happened in 1931–32?
Stalin revived collectivisation
Widespread famine struck the USSR as a result
How did the Red Army support collectivisation?
Enforced the policy
Forced peasants into kolkhozes
Helped with deportations and violence against kulaks
By 1933, what percentage of farmland and peasant households had been collectivised?
83% of arable land
64% of peasant households had been collectivised
What was the extent of collectivisation by 1935?
90% of farmland had been collectivised
How did MTS improve farming?
Before MTS there was very little mechanisation — MTS brought new machinery and tractors.
How did education in farming improve?
Many young people from rural areas went to agricultural school to learn modern farming techniques.
What happened to rationing and grain production by 1934–35?
Rationing of bread and other food ended by 1934
Grain production began to recover by 1935
How did collectivisation help Soviet industry?
Grain exports increased, earning money for industrial investment
Huge numbers of peasants moved to cities, providing an industrial workforce
How was collectivisation a political success for Stalin?
It gave Stalin control over the countryside
Reduced the power of the peasantry, which many Communists had distrusted
How did it help the state control the economy?
Collectivisation was an efficient way to control grain
The state could use food supplies to fund industrialisation
