To what extent was Collectivisation a success?
Collectivisation was a measure introduced by the Stalin’s’ government between 1928 and 1940, in which grain was procured by force in an attempt to socialise the land, so that it was no longer owned by individual peasants. There were 3 types of collective farms: Toz; peasants owned land, but shared machinery, Sovkhoz; owned and run by the state and Kolkhoz; land held in common and run by an elected committee. The aim of collectivisation was to create more Sovkhozes (Kolkhozes with private plots were most favoured by the Communists). It was supposed to be on a purely voluntary basis, and at a moderate pace. It was forced in 1929 due to peasant resistance.
The Communists expected that collectivization would improve agricultural productivity due to mechanisation, and would produce grain reserves sufficiently large to feed the growing urban labour force. They also believed that mechanised agriculture would require less peasants to work on farms, thus it would create a larger work force for new industries. Another hope of Collectivisation was that it would socialise peasantry; everyone would live communally and work together in a co-operative way; everyone would live in ‘Socialist agro-towns’.
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. Anyone who resisted became labelled a Kulak and under Stalin’s ‘Dekulakisation’, suspected Kulaks were deported to Siberia or sent to labour camps. Stalin’s fear of resistance which could lead to the collapse of grain production made him resort to call a halt to Collectivisation, saying that they had become ‘dizzy with success’. An end was called to the ‘voluntary’ principle, and this choice of abandoning collective farms was widely accepted and a massive number or peasants went back to farming for themselves – private plots seemed to work better rather than collectivisation; 50% of vegetables and 70% of milk came from them. However, Stalin restarted the campaign once the harvest had been gathered in. Soon after, the problem of drought and famine arose; famine spread very fast killing millions of peasants – fewer than 7 million were said to have died. Starvation soon followed as thousands were condemned to this by requisitioning gangs, who left the requisitioned grain to rot, and made it unavailable to the hungry. Those who managed to obtain some grain to eat were then punished brutally; shot and deported. Robert Conquest deemed it 'a man made famine' as it was the result of the party’s’ activists.
