1929-1934 - Collectivisation

• Only 50% of expected grain was requisitioned in 1926 and the kulaks were blamed for this.
• The grain crisis of 1927 threatened industrial progress which led Stalin to urge collectivisation at the Party Congress.
• A continued grain shortage occurs in 1928 and the "Ural-Siberian method" of grain requisitioning was introduced.
• The NEP ended in 1929 and there was an extensive use of the "Ural-Siberian method".
• In December 1929, Stalin launched forced collectivisation and his intention to "annihilate the kulak class".
• The kulaks were estimated to be 4% of the peasant population but 15% of peasant households were destroyed and about 150,000 richer peasants were forcibly moved north on to inferior land.
• Peasants killed livestock and destroyed crops to avoid being labelled as kulaks.
• The target of 25% collectivisation in 1930 was a massive achievement as 58% of peasant households has collectivised through propaganda and force by March 1930.
• Stalin's "dizzy with success" accusation against local party members led to mass opposition and a return to voluntary collectivisation.

  • The number of collectivised farms fell back to 20%.
• Dekulakisation was a brutal policy and counterproductive as 10 million kulaks were removed from their farms.
• In removing the kulaks, the Communist Party removed 10 million of the best farmers.
• Peasants killed 25-30% of sheep, cattle and pigs.

  • This did not return to the previous level until 1953 which led to a lack of draft animals and fertiliser.
• Stupidly high quotas meant peasants were handing over almost all of their grain and grain did not return to its previous level until 1935.
• Party activists who ran many farms had no farming experience.
• Despite the MTS's there were not enough tractors.

  • This was not helped by the fact that many tractors that were produced were idle due to a lack of transport to bring them to the countryside.
• The famine of 1932-33 was one of the worst in Russian history and although a drought in October 1931 helped cause this, it was largely man made.
• The state was determined to get the necessary supply of grain from the peasants in order to feed the cities.

  • The peasants on the other hand resisted the demands of the quota.
• Party machinery was mobilised on a war footing to take the full quota of grain from each region of the USSR.
• Stalin dispatched his leading Politburo members to regions to oversee grain requisitioning.
• With the support of the Red Army and the secret police, the Politburo members forced the peasants to hand over their grain.
• On 7 August 1932, the Communists introduced the "Law of Seven-Eights".

  • This was nicknamed after the date it was passed.
• Stealing, including a few ears of corn gave a sentence of 10 years of hard labour and later increased to the death penalty.
• Millions of peasants did not have enough grain to feed their families.
• Between 1932 and 1934, there was a chronic famine in many areas but particularly in Ukraine and the Caucasus regions.

  • Historians estimate the death toll at 7 million.