Motor Tractor Stations

• Motor Tractor Stations were set up to allow peasants living on collective farms to be able to 'rent out' farming machinery to use.

  This was to promote one of Stalin's main aims: To modernise the farming sector.
• By 1940, there was one motor tractor station per each 40 farms.
• These MTS had quite a few faults:

  1. There was never enough machinery/tractors to meet demand.
  2. Tractors were unreliable as they had either been badly built, or were badly maintained.
  3. It was expensive to hire out the machinery and peasants were already receiving very low wages.
• Due to their faults therefore, many peasants chose to stick to traditional farming methods, such as hand-picking grain.

  This went against Stalin's aims when creating the MTS.
• Many MTS were also hated by peasants because the officials who ran them were responsible for ensuring collective farm inhabitants handed over their grain quotas.

  They each had a political department aimed to spy on, and spread communist propaganda to peasants.

  These political departments were also responsible for making sure farm 'trouble makers' - often those withholding grain - were arrested quickly.