Zakhar Pichurgin: The Collective Farm at Work (1930)



Stalin and Collectivisation – Overview Stalin and Collectivisation – Key timeline1927Stalin announced collectivisation – peasants are asked to take part voluntarily. Ignored1928Food shortages. Police confiscated food and took it to towns.1929Stalin announced compulsory collectivisation, enforced by army. The peasants burned their crops, and barns and killed their animals.1930Famine. Stalin paused collectivisation. Peasants were allowed to own a small plot of land.1931Collectivisation is re-started. By 1932 two thirds of villages had been collectivised. More resistance, burning/killing. Meanwhile, the government took more food for towns1932-3Leads to more famine, esp. Ukraine (where 5 million died). Stalin blamed, and declared war on the Kulaks – their land was taken and they were shot/sent to labour camps in Siberia/whole villages surrounded and killed.1934All 7 million kulaks ‘eliminated’.193999% of land collectivised; 90% peasants lie on one of 250,000 (1/4 million) kolkhoz; 4,000 state farms. Farming run by government officials.Key statistics in redKey people and places:Kulaks – Wealthy Russian farming peasants, who strongly opposed collectivisation, many were killed by StalinKolkhoz – A collective farmCauses (Why adopt a policy of Collectivisation?):Soviet agriculture was backwardFood was needed for workers in the townsNEP (New Economic Plan, set up by Lenin) was not working: By 1928, the USSR was 20 million tons of grain short to feed the townsTown-workers were needed: If the USSR was to become modern/ industrial, peasants needed to migrate to work in the towns.Cash Crops were neededKulaks opposed CommunismConsequences:SuccessesFailuresQuarter of a million kolkhoz collectivised; 99% of Russia collectivisedStock fellAgriculture is modernised with new technologies, fertilisers, large-scale produce and new attitudes adopted (trying to produce as much as possible)Famine in 1932-33, millions diedGrain - By 1937, 97 million tonnes were produced PLUS cash crops for export.Kulaks were eliminatedIncrease in town workers - 17 million peasants left the countryside to work in the towns, 1928–37Communism gain complete control as officials ran the farms and peasants obeyed them out of fear or enthusiasmSources: Source AnalysisBBC GCSE Bitesize History: Main points included on the site:Collectivisation in practice (timeline)Why Stalin collectivised farms?How successful it wasA well-known site that is used by many GCSE students and contains information on most historical topics, including the soviet union, therefore it is one of the first search results that comes up in Google when one is looking for information on the soviet union.However the content of this site is made for younger students and therefore only give basic information on this topic and little in-depth analysis of key events. :Whereas the first source is from a liable and credible organisation, the BBC, this source is less known and possibly from amateur origins. However, the website contains much more detail on Russia than BBC bitesize. Main points on collectivisation focus on:Collectivisation timelineCauses for Stalin’s decision to adopt a policy of collectivisationDefining CollectivisationSuccesses and FailuresLinks to other sources on collectivisationAs the site is less-known, it may be harder to find than other sources.Academic Article on Collectivisation by the SEVENTEEN MOMENTS IN SOVIET HISTORY Website article covers why Stalin adopted a policy of collectivisation and how he did it (e.g. use of propaganda and terror). The article also makes clear links in Stalin’s motives for collectivisation and addresses the consequences of collectivisation for the economy, the people as well as the government. The article is useful because it is a well written, analytical and detailed summary of collectivisation throughout the years under Stalin. It also entails more links to examples of collectivisation propaganda posters as well as links to related articles on collectivisation and soviet history on the website.Publication details:Website: SEVENTEEN MOMENTS IN SOVIET HISTORYArticle title: Collectivisation: The Liquidation of the Kulaks as a ClassAuthor: Lewis Siegelbaum (Professor at Michigan State University)Website launched 2007/08Visual SummaryIu. Ganf: Kulak Cunning (1928)Kill the first, buy the second, get the third drunk, then reign in the village soviet.Source: Abramskii: Vragi i druz'ia v zerkale Krokodila, 1922-1972. Moscow: Pravda. 1972. Zakhar Pichurgin: The Collective Farm at Work (1930)Source:Victoria Bonnell: Russian Posters, 1914-1953. 2001. Smite the Kulak (1930) We will smite the kulak who agitates for reducing cultivated acreageSource:?Peter Paret, Beth Irwin Lewis, Paul Paret: Persuasive Images: Posters of War and Revolution from the Hoover Institution Archives. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1992. Maria Voron: Shock-brigade Reaping for a Bolshevik Harvest (1934)This poster promotes mechanization of agriculture on large collective farms. Peasants were urged to work in brigades, as in industry, to increase productivity. The poster visualizes an ideal of disciplined workers in ordered fertile fields. The robust figures give no hint of the actual crop failures and famine in 1931-32 that resulted from forced collectivization.Source:?Peter Paret, Beth Irwin Lewis, Paul Paret: Persuasive Images: Posters of War and Revolution from the Hoover Institution Archives. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1992. Main source for this document: Stalin and Collectivisation: BOOK ‘STALIN A BIOGRAPHY’ SUMMARYAuthor: Robert ServiceTitle: Stalin A BiographyPublisher: MacmillanPages: 266-7The book focuses on Stalin and his decisions; therefore it is limited, in that, little room is provided to explore the views of the people and how collectivisation affected them. However on page 266, the process of collectivisation is explored. Service also explores how Stalin used terror to implement this policy and it explores attitudes towards the policy.More pages on Collectivisation and the NEP (New Economic Policy) can be found in 258-257.Quote:‘An article by Stalin on 7 November, the anniversary of the October Revolution, contended that many rural households saw the advantage of collective farms without the need for the state to compel them.’This quote is useful in helping assess whether the people actually liked the collective farms; how far propaganda was effective in creating the illusion that the peasants were content or to what extent was terror important in making the peasants conform. ................
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