State farms and mechanisation (13) Flashcards
(14 cards)
What was run instead of kolkozes?
A relatively small number of farms were run as state farms rather kolkozes.
When were some state farms created?
In the early 1920s as an example of “socialist agriculture of the highest order” and they were still seen by communist purists as the “ideal” form of farming.
What would happen if the laborers were classified as “workers” rather than “peasants”?
They were paid a wage directly by the state.
What were the sovkhozes?
They were usually larger than kolkhozes and were created on from landless rural residents and the farms were organised according to industrial principles for specialised large scale production.
What was the type of organisation?
It was deemed particularly suited to the grain-growing areas of the laborers forced Stalin to permit most farms to be of the kolkhoz type in the 1930’s.
What was the expectation with kolkhozes?
That they would be turned into sovhozes in the longer term.
What added a bonus of reducing the number of peasants needed on land?
The use of tractors and agriculture machinery.
What was set-up from 1931?
Machine Tractor Stations (MTS) were set up from 1931, to provide seed and to hire out tractors and machinery to collective and state farms; 2500 were established although there was still only one MTS for every 40 collective farms by 1940).
What did the state farms receive?
Generally more and better machinery and chemical fertilisers.
Who was sent to the countryside and why?
Agronomists, veterinary surgeons, surveyors, and technicians were sent to advise on how to use the machinery and improve farming methods; again the state farms were offered the most support.
By 1938 what were the percentages for threshing, ploughing, sowing and harvesting?
Threshing- 95%
Ploughing- 72%
spring sowing- 57%
Harvesting- 48%
What was the type of harvesting used in collectives?
Merely cut grain which was then removed from the reaper and bound by hand.
What tasks were continued to be used largely manual work?
Weeding
What was there a limited number of?
Lorries to transport goods- By the end of 1928, there were 196,000 lorries being used in Soviet agriculture compared with over a million in the USA.
