Agricultural collectivisation and its impact (Stalin)

• • Stalin implemented grain requisitioning against Kulaks.
  • Opposition to grain requisitioning led Stalin to adopt policy of deKulakisation.
  • Collectivisation caused widespread famines.
• • 1.5 million peasants sent to labour camps as a result of dekulakisation.
  • By 1941, 96% of farms were collectivised.
  • Grain production rose to 23 million in 1933, but most of this was exported for money.
  • During WW2, bread rations fell by 40% and potato rations fell by 80%.
• Dekulakisation

  • Peasants responded to requisitioning with violence.
  • Requisitioning being one of the most hated aspects of War Communism
  • Stalin initiated “Liquidation of Kulaks”
  • Meaning to take farms and equipment from the richer peasants.
  • However, in practice it meant that many peasants were killed or deported if they resisted government policies.
  • 1.5 million Peasants sent to labour camps as a result of the dekulakisation campaigns
• Agricultural Collectivisation

  • Introduced in 1929.
  • Farms forcibly merged
  • Equipment taken away from richer peasants and given to the poorer.
  • Peasants who worked in collective farms were allowed to keep a small proportion of grain to live off of.
  • Rest of the food used to feed workers in the city or sold abroad to fund industrialisation.
  • Ruined soviet agriculture; but funded industrialisation.
  • From 1929-1930, there was a drive to ensure all farms were collectivised which led to chaos and therefore Stalin halted collectivisation temporarily.
  • By 1941, almost all farms were collectivised.
• Destruction of Soviet Farming during Collectivisation

  • Peasants responded to requisitioning/Collectivisation by destroying their crops, animals and machinery.
  • Many peasants would prefer to destroy over help the government.
  • Stalin’s policies led to the destruction of:
  • 17 Million horses
  • 26 Million cattle
  • 11 Million pigs
  • 60 Million Sheep and goats.
• Famine during Collectivisation

  • Collectivisation led to famine in the Ukraine
  • Ukrainian farmers were often unable to meet government targets for farm production
  • Resistance to collectivisation had been at it’s fiercest in the Ukraine.
  • Stalin punished the farmers by seizing their grain and livestock.
  • Used famine to end resistance in the Ukraine
  • Although he was offered support internationally, declined.
• Mechanisation under Collectivisation

  • Collectivisation was accompanied by mechanisation,
  • Government allowed farms to hire tractors from machine tractor stations, across the country.
  • 75,000 tractors they provided had little impact on soviet agriculture.
• Grain Procurement under Collectivisation

  • Collectivisation allowed the government to procure more grain than the NEP in 1928.
  • In 1928, the government procured 10.8 million tons of grain from the peasants.
  • Grain rose to 22.6 million by 1933
  • Grain export rose too from 1 million to 4.7 million from 1928-1930.
• Agriculture during WW2

  • Consistently unable to meet needs of the soviet people and the army during WW2.
  • Soviet government relied on US imports to provide almost a fifth of the calories consumed by the Red Army.
  • Harvests decline from a pre-war high of 95.5 million tonnes to 46.8 million tonnes by 1945.
  • Bread rations fell by 40%
  • Potato rations fell by 80%