How did the Soviet Union help collectivize the countryside?
What were the Soviet peasants?
What were the kulaks in the Soviet Union?
How many people joined collectivized farms in 1930?
Why were landless peasants the biggest beneficiaries of collectivization?
When did Soviet agriculture become collectivized?
When did the Soviet Union start collecting?
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What is Soviet collectives?
collectivization, policy adopted by the Soviet government, pursued most intensively between 1929 and 1933, to transform traditional agriculture in the Soviet Union and to reduce the economic power of the kulaks (prosperous peasants).
What does collectivization mean?
collectivization. noun [ U ] us/kəˌlek·tə·vəˈzeɪ·ʃən/ politics & government. the organization of all of a country's production and industry into government ownership and management.
What is meant by collective farming?
The concept of Collective farming is to identify small and marginal farmers in a contiguous area and group them as Farmer's Interest Groups (FIG) with 20 farmers. 5 FIG's would be integrated into Farmer Producer Group (FPG) with 100 farmers.
Does Russia still have collective farms?
Today, roughly 7 percent of the planet's arable land is either owned by the Russian state or by collective farms, but about a sixth of all that agricultural land — some 35 million hectares — lies fallow.
When did collectivisation end in Russia?
The Soviet Union introduced the collectivization (Russian: Коллективизация) of its agricultural sector between 1928 and 1940 during the ascension of Joseph Stalin. It began during and was part of the first five-year plan.
What is meant by collective forms?
1 : denoting a number of persons or things considered as one group or whole flock is a collective word. 2a : formed by collecting : aggregated. b of a fruit : multiple. 3a : of, relating to, or being a group of individuals. b : involving all members of a group as distinct from its individuals a collective action.
What is a collective farm Stalin?
As part of the first five-year plan, collectivization was introduced in the Soviet Union by general secretary Joseph Stalin in the late 1920s as a way, according to the policies of socialist leaders, to boost agricultural production through the organization of land and labor into large-scale collective farms (kolkhozy) ...
Why did Stalin make collective farms?
This collective farm system would supply the county with basic food needs as well as provide a much needed export for financial gain. This new collectivization of agriculture also aimed to rid the country of the peasant class, which accounted for eighty percent of the Soviet Union's population.
What is the benefit of collective farming?
The produce from the collective farming provides food for the family for atleast 15 days in a month. Weeds harvested in collective farms is also being used as fodder for the livestock. The farmers collectives are also getting support from their neighbouring landholding farmers.
Do Russian farmers own their own land?
Ukraine and Russia have privatized land under the land share system, with the exception of household plots, which are fully privatized in the sense that the owner possesses a demarcated parcel. Of the 41.9 million ha. of agricultural land in Ukraine, 26.7 million ha.
Why was collectivisation a failure?
Socially, it can be said that, Collectivisation was a failure. It provoked much resistance and violent opposition to, and in an attempt to not hand over their crops and livestock, farmers burnt their crops and killed their livestock.
Why did collective farms fail?
Blaming shortages on kulak sabotage, authorities favored urban areas and the army in distributing what supplies of food had been collected. The resulting loss of life is estimated as at least five million. To escape from starvation, large numbers of peasants abandoned collective farms for the cities.
What was the purpose of collectivization?
The ultimate goal of collectivization was to resolve "grain problems" of the late 1920s. In the early 1920s only 3% of the peasantry of the Soviet Union were collectivised. Within the first five-year plan 20% of peasant households were to be collectivised, although in Ukraine the number was set at 30%.
Why was collectivisation a failure?
Socially, it can be said that, Collectivisation was a failure. It provoked much resistance and violent opposition to, and in an attempt to not hand over their crops and livestock, farmers burnt their crops and killed their livestock.
Why was collectivization a failure?
Failure of collective farms to meet procurement quotas had dire consequences for their members. It meant that no matter how many labordays (the unit of accounting according to which collective farmers were paid) kolkhozniks worked, there was nothing to pay them.
What is collectivization China?
In a process of collectivization that started in 1953, the farmers were first organized in so-called mutual help teams. These were gradually merged into lower agrarian cooperatives. During the Great Leap Forward, these lower forms of cooperatives would be merged into huge People's Communes.
Collectivisation Causes, Impact, History, Facts & Worksheets
Collectivisation Facts & Worksheets Collectivisation facts and information plus worksheet packs and fact file. Includes 5 activities aimed at students 11-14 years old (KS3) & 5 activities aimed at students 14-16 years old (GCSE).
collectivization | Definition & Facts | Britannica
collectivization, policy adopted by the Soviet government, pursued most intensively between 1929 and 1933, to transform traditional agriculture in the Soviet Union and to reduce the economic power of the kulaks (prosperous peasants). Under collectivization the peasantry were forced to give up their individual farms and join large collective farms (kolkhozy).
Stalinism and Collectivization in The Soviet Union
The Soviet leadership took a confident course towards industrialization in the mid-1920s. Collectivization was one of the programs designed for a country’s rapid development.
What is the Russian communal mindset?
An important element in the Russian communal mindset is a strongsense of egalitarianism. This does not just refer to fairness and equal opportunity, but a deeply held conviction that wealth should be equally distributed. In contrast to the Western drive to work hard and be as successful as possible, Russians traditionally believe that a financial focus is ill suited, particularly if it is at the expense of others.
What are the characteristics of a collectivist society?
The marks of a collectivist society include interdependence, an emotional connection to the group, and a desire from group harmony. Russian collectivism can be described as being horizontal collectivism. The self is part of the in-group and everyone holds a similar status.
What are the failings of individualistic and collectivist cultures?
Both collectivist and individualistic cultures have their failings. People in individualist cultures are susceptible to loneliness, and people in collectivist cultures can have a strong fear of rejection.
What are the two types of cultures?
Cultures are typically divided into two categories: collectivist and individualist. Individualist cultures, such as those of the United States and Western Europe, emphasize personal achievement at the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition. Collectivist cultures, such as those of China, Russia, and Japan, emphasize family and work group goals above individual needs or desires.
What is the interdependence of Russian culture?
The interdependence found in Russian culture reflects a biblical worldview. Russians can be viewed as "being" as opposed to "doing". "Doing" cultures assess value by how much people accomplish while "being" cultures are more concerned about their relationships and tend to live for the moment and take life as it comes.
Is Russia a collectivist country?
Russia is a collectivist society. The origins of Russian collectivism can be seen from prehistoric times. Members of early Russia worked as a group in order to survive under harsh conditions.
What was the Soviet Union's policy of collectivism?
Collectivization, policy adopted by the Soviet government, pursued most intensively between 1929 and 1933, to transform traditional agriculture in the Soviet Union and to reduce the economic power of the kulaks (prosperous peasants). Under collectivization the peasantry were forced to give up their individual farms and join large collective farms ...
Why did Soviet leaders want to create collective farms?
Some Soviet leaders considered collective farms a socialist form of landtenureand therefore desirable; but they advocated a gradual transition to them in order to avoid disrupting the agricultural productivity necessary to stimulate industrial growth. Other leaders favoured rapid industrialization and, consequently, wanted immediate, forced collectivization; they argued not only that the large kolkhozy could use heavy machinery more efficiently and produce larger crops than could numerous small, individual farms but that they could be controlled more effectively by the state. As a result, they could be forced to sell a large proportion of their output to the state at low government prices, thereby enabling the state to acquire the capital necessary for the development of heavy industry.
What happened to the peasants in the Kolkhozy?
But the peasants objected violently to abandoning their private farms. In many cases, before joining the kolkhozy they slaughtered their livestock and destroyed their equipment. The losses, as well as the animositytoward the Soviet regime, became so great that Stalin decided to slow down the collectivization process. On March 2, 1930, he published an article, “Dizzy from Success,” in which he shifted the blame to local officials, whom he characterized as overzealous in their duties. Immediately, many peasants left the kolkhozy. In March 1930 approximately 58 percent of the peasant households had been enrolled in kolkhozy; by June only about 24 percent remained. In the southwestern “black earth” region the figure dropped from 82 percent in March to 18 percent in May.
How did collectivization affect the countryside?
Despite these great costs, the forced collectivization achieved the final establishment of Soviet power in the countryside. Through collectivization agriculture was integratedwith the rest of the state-controlled economy, and the state was supplied with the capital it required to transform the Soviet Union into a major industrial power. See alsokolkhoz.
When did collectivization begin?
Intensive collectivization began during the winter of 1929–30. Stalin called upon the party to “liquidate the kulaks as a class” (December 27, 1929), and the Central Committee resolved that an “enormous majority” of the peasant households should be collectivized by 1933.
What percentage of the population left the Kolkhozy in 1930?
Immediately, many peasants left the kolkhozy. In March 1930 approximately 58 percent of the peasant households had been enrolled in kolkhozy; by June only about 24 percent remained. In the southwestern “black earth” region the figure dropped from 82 percent in March to 18 percent in May.
Why did Soviet leaders advocate a gradual transition to collective farms?
Some Soviet leaders considered collective farms a socialist form of land tenure and therefore desirable; but they advocated a gradual transition to them in order to avoid disrupting the agricultural productivity necessary to stimulate industrial growth.
What is collective leadership in Soviet society?
According to Soviet literature, the Central Committee and not the Politburo was the heart of collective leadership at the national level. At a sub-national level, all Party and Government organs were to work together to ensure collective leadership instead of only the Central Committee. However, as with many other ideological theses, the definition of collective leadership was applied "flexibly to a variety of situations". Making Lenin the example of a ruler ruling in favour of a collective can be seen as proof of this "flexibility". In some Soviet ideological drafts, collective leadership can be compared to collegial leadership instead of a leadership of the collective. In accordance with a Soviet textbook, collective leadership was:
What is the ideological justification of collective leadership in the Soviet Union?
Hence, the ideological justification of collective leadership in the Soviet Union was easy to justify. The physical insecurity of the political leadership under Stalin, and the political insecurity that existed during Khrushchev's reign, strengthened the political leadership's will to ensure a rule of the collective, and not that of the individual. Collective leadership was a value that was highly esteemed during Stalin and Khrushchev's reigns, but it was violated in practice.
What did the Soviet leadership set up to ensure the continuity of the Soviet Union?
The historian T. H. Rigby claimed that the Soviet leadership was setting up checks and balances within the Party to ensure the stability of collective leadership. One anonymous historian went so far as to claim that collective leadership was bound to triumph in any future Soviet political system. Professor Jerome Gilison argued that collective leadership had become the "normal" ruling pattern of the Soviet Union. He argued that the Party had successfully set up checks and balances to ensure the continuity of the Soviet leadership. Khrushchev's rule was, according to Gilison, proof that the one-man dominance in Soviet politics had ended. As he noted, Khrushchev "was forced to retreat from unceremoniously from previously stated positions". The "grey men" of the party bureaucracy, Gilison believed, were to become the future Soviet leaders. Dennis Ross, an American diplomat, believed the late Brezhnev-era leadership had evolved into a "rule by committee", pointing to several collective Politburo decisions as evidence. Grey Hodnett, another analyst, believed that "freer communication" and "access to relevant official information" during the Brezhnev Era had contributed to strengthening the Politburo's collective leadership.
What was the leadership of the Soviet Union?
The leadership was usually referred to as the "Brezhnev–Kosygin" leadership, instead of the collective leadership, by First World medias. At first, there was no clear leader of the collective leadership, and Kosygin was the chief economic administrator, whereas Brezhnev was primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the party and internal affairs. Kosygin's position was later weakened when he introduced a reform in 1965 that attempted to decentralise the Soviet economy. The reform led to a backlash, with Kosygin losing supporters because many top officials took an increasingly anti-reformist stance due to the Prague Spring of 1968. As the years passed, Brezhnev was given more and more prominence, and by the 1970s he had even created a "Secretariat of the General Secretary" to strengthen his position within the Party. At the 25th Party Congress, Brezhnev was, according to an anonymous historian, praised in a way that exceeded the praise accorded to Khrushchev before his removal. Brezhnev was able to retain the Politburo's support by not introducing the same sweeping reform measures as seen during Khrushchev's rule. As noted by foreign officials, Brezhnev felt obliged to discuss unanticipated proposals with the Politburo before responding to them.
What did Robert Osborn say about collective leadership?
Robert Osborn wrote in 1974 that collective leadership did not necessarily mean that the Central Committee, Politburo and the Council of Ministers were political equals without a clear leading figure. Baylis believed that the post of General Secretary could be compared to the office of Prime Minister in the Westminster system. The General Secretary in the Soviet political system acted as the leading broker in Politburo sessions and could be considered "the Party leader" due to his negotiation skills and successful tactics which retained the Politburo's support. In other words, the General Secretary needed to retain Politburo consensus if he wanted to remain in office.
What is collective leadership?
Collective leadership ( Russian: коллективное руководство, kollektivnoye rukovodstvo ), or Collectivity of leadership ( Russian: коллективность руководства, kollektivnost rukovodstva ), was considered the ideal form of governance in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and other socialist states espousing communism. Its main task was to distribute powers and functions among the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as well as the Council of Ministers, to hinder any attempts to create a one-man dominance over the Soviet political system by a Soviet leader, such as that seen under Joseph Stalin 's rule. On the national level, the heart of the collective leadership was officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Collective leadership was characterised by limiting the powers of the General Secretary and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers as related to other offices by enhancing the powers of collective bodies, such as the Politburo.
What did Khrushchev say about Stalin?
During the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Khrushchev criticised Stalin's rule and his "cult of personality". He accused Stalin of reducing the Party's activities and putting an end to Party democracy among others. In the three years following Stalin's death, the Central Committee and the Presidium (Politburo) worked consistently to uphold the collective leadership lost under Stalin. Khrushchev's rule as First Secretary remained highly controversial throughout his rule in the Party leadership. The first attempt to depose Khrushchev came in 1957, when the so-called Anti-Party Group accused him of individualistic leadership. The coup failed, but Khrushchev's position weakened drastically. However, Khrushchev continued to portray his regime as a "rule of the collective" even after becoming Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier), replacing Nikolai Bulganin.
Why were collective farms important?
Collective farms, as opposed to private rural estates, were thought to be a necessary tool in fostering industrialization in what, at that time, was still a mostly agrarian state with a predominantly rural population. The collectivization was implemented at the expense of the peasants’ natural self-organization and lifestyle.
Who made the photos of the Soviet farm?
The above photo of a female collective farm worker was made by Soviet photographer Georgy Petrusov.
Who was the photographer of the Soviet Union?
Varfolomei Teterin. This photo of deer herders was captioned by Varfolomey Teterin, who was a well-known influential photographer working for the Soviet regime. Employed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Teterin could afford to bend rules and regulations, if it meant he could stage a great picture.
Who was the first female tractor operator in the Soviet Union?
This picture by celebrity Soviet photographer Yevgeny Khaldei, famous for taking the iconic photograph of a Soviet soldier raising the flag of the USSR over the Reichstag, depicts Praskovya Angelina, a celebrated worker recognized as one of the first female tractor-operators in the country.
Who took the photo of the Russian North?
The Russian North was the photographer’s main territory. This photo of a happy female farmworker — titled ‘New harvest’ — was taken by Ivan Shagin, who would later become a war photographer and one of the leading experts in color photography in the USSR.
Why did Soviet photographers bend reality?
Renowned Soviet photographers often had to bend reality to capture the ideal facade of complicated rural life in Soviet Russia.
How did the Soviet Union help collectivize the countryside?
To assist collectivization, the Party decided to send 25,000 "socially conscious" industry workers to the countryside. This was accomplished from 1929–1933, and these workers have become known as twenty-five-thousanders ("dvadtsat'pyat'tysyachniki"). Soviet officials had hoped that by sending the twenty-five thousanders to the countryside that they would be able to produce grain more rapidly. Their hopes were that key areas in the North Caucasus and Volga regions would be collectivized by 1931, and then the other regions by 1932. Shock brigades were used to force reluctant peasants into joining the collective farms and remove those who were declared kulaks and their "agents".
What were the Soviet peasants?
Illustration to the Soviet categories of peasants: bednyaks, or poor peasants; serednyaks, or mid-income peasants; and kulaks, the higher-income farmers who had larger farms than most Russian peasants. Published in Projector, May 1926.
What were the kulaks in the Soviet Union?
Although the income gap between wealthy and poor farmers did grow under the NEP, it remained quite small, but the Bolsheviks began to take aim at the kulaks, peasants with enough land and money to own several animals and hire a few labourers. Kulaks were blamed for withholding surpluses of agricultural produce. Clearly identifying this group was difficult, though, since only about 1% of the peasantry employed labourers (the basic Marxist definition of a capitalist ), and 82% of the country's population were peasants. According to Robert Conquest, the definition of "kulak" also varied depending on who was using it; "peasants with a couple of cows or five or six acres [~2 ha] more than their neighbors" were labeled kulaks" in Stalin's first Five Year Plan.
How many people joined collectivized farms in 1930?
Between September and December 1929, collectivization increased from 7.4% to 15%, but in the first two months of 1930, 11 million households joined collectivized farms, pushing the total to nearly 60% almost overnight. To assist collectivization, the Party decided to send 25,000 "socially conscious" industry workers to the countryside.
Why were landless peasants the biggest beneficiaries of collectivization?
Theoretically, landless peasants were intended as the biggest beneficiaries of collectivization, because it promised them an opportunity to take an equal share in labour and its rewards, such as jobs, land, and produce. In fact, however, rural areas did not have many landless peasants, given the wholesale redistribution of land following the Revolution. Alternatively, for those with property, collectivization meant forfeiting land up to the collective farms and selling most of the harvest to the state at minimal prices set by the state itself. This, in turn, engendered opposition to the idea. Furthermore, collectivization involved significant changes in the traditional village life of Russian peasants within a very short time frame, despite the long Russian rural tradition of collectivism in the village obshchina or mir. The changes were even more dramatic in other places, such as in Ukraine, with its tradition of individual farming, in the Soviet republics of Central Asia, and in the trans-Volga steppes, where for a family to have a herd of livestock was not only a matter of sustenance but of pride as well.
When did Soviet agriculture become collectivized?
According to Martin Kitchen, the number of members of collective farms dropped by 50% in 1930. But soon collectivization was intensified again, and by 1936, about 90% of Soviet agriculture was collectivized.
When did the Soviet Union start collecting?
The Soviet Union implemented the collectivization ( Russian: Коллективизация) of its agricultural sector between 1928 and 1940 during the ascension of Joseph Stalin. It began during and was part of the first five-year plan.
Overview
Results
Due to the high government production quotas, peasants received, as a rule, less for their labour than they did before collectivization, and some refused to work. Merle Fainsod estimated that, in 1952, collective farm earnings were only one-fourth of the cash income from private plots on Soviet collective farms. In many cases, the immediate effect of collectivization was the reduction of output an…
Background
After the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, peasants gained control of about half of the land they had previously cultivated and began to ask for the redistribution of all land. The Stolypin agricultural reforms between 1905 and 1914 gave incentives for the creation of large farms, but these ended during World War I. The Russian Provisional Government accomplished little during the difficult World War I months, though Russian leaders continued to promise redistribution. Peasan…
Crisis of 1928
This demand for more grain resulted in the reintroduction of requisitioning which was resisted in rural areas. In 1928 there was a 2-million-ton shortfall in grains purchased by the Soviet Union from neighbouring markets. Stalin claimed the grain had been produced but was being hoarded by "kulaks." Stalin tried to appear as being on the side of the peasants, but it did not help, and the peasants as a whole resented the grain seizures. The peasants did everything they could to prot…
All-out drive, winter 1929–30
The situation changed quickly in the autumn of 1929 and the winter of 1930. Between September and December 1929, collectivization increased from 7.4% to 15%, but in the first two months of 1930, 11 million households joined collectivized farms, pushing the total to nearly 60% almost overnight.
To assist collectivization, the Party decided to send 25,000 "socially conscious…
"Dizzy with Success"
The price of collectivization was so high that the March 2, 1930 issue of Pravda contained Stalin's article Dizzy with Success (Russian: Головокружение от успехов, lit. 'Dizziness from success'), in which he called for a temporary halt to the process:
It is a fact that by February 20 of this year 50 percent of the peasant farms throughout the U.S.S.R. had been collectivized. That means that by February 20, 1930, we had overfulfilled the five-year …
Peasant resistance
Communist efforts to collectivize agriculture and eliminate independent property account for the biggest death toll under Stalin's rule. Some peasants viewed collectivization as the end of the world. By no means was joining the collective farm (also known as the kolkhoz) voluntary. The drive to collectivize understandably had little support from experienced farmers.
Progress of collectivization, 1927–1940
Sources: Sotsialisticheskoe sel'skoe khoziaistvo SSSR, Gosplanizdat, Moscow-Leningrad, 1939 (pp. 42, 43); supplementary numbers for 1927–1935 from Sel'skoe khoziaistvo SSSR 1935, Narkomzem SSSR, Moscow, 1936 (pp. 630, 634, 1347, 1369); 1937 from Great Soviet Encyclopedia, vol. 22, Moscow, 1953 (p. 81); 1939 from Narodnoe khoziaistvo SSSR 1917–1987, Moscow, 1987 (pp. 35); 1940 from Narodnoe khoziaistvo SSSR 1922–1972, Moscow, 1972 (pp. …