Collectivization in the Soviet Union
Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a
policy pursued under Stalin, between 1928
and 1940, to consolidate individual land and
labour into collective farms (Russian: колхо́з,
kolkhoz, plural kolkhozy). The Soviet leader-
ship was confident that the replacement of
individual peasant farms by kolkhozy would
immediately increase food supplies for the
urban population, the supply of raw materials
for processing industry, and agricultural ex-
ports generally. Collectivization was thus re-
garded as the solution to the crisis in agricul-
tural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries)
that had developed since 1927 and was be-
coming more acute as the Soviet Union
pressed ahead with its ambitious industrializ-
ation program.[1]
Already in the early 1930s over 90% of ag-
ricultural land was "collectivized" as rural
households entered collective farms with
their land, livestock, and other assets. The
sweeping collectivization often involved tre-
mendous human and social costs while the is-
sue of economic advantages of collective
farms remains largely undecided.
The idea of collective farms was seen by
peasants as a revival of serfdom.[2]
Background
Following the end of Russian serfdom and
emancipation in 1861, peasants gained con-
trol of about half of the land they had previ-
ously cultivated, and began to ask for the re-
distribution of all land.[3] Aspirations to land
for all the peasants, however, would be diffi-
cult to achieve; given the simple cultivation
technology of Russian peasants at the time,
there wasn’t enough land to sustain everyone
who wanted their own farm.[3] The Stolypin
agricultural reforms between 1905 and 1914
gave incentives for the creation of large
farms, but these ended during World War I.
The Russian Provisional Government accom-
plished little during the difficult wartime
months, though Russian leaders continued to
promise redistribution. Peasants began to
turn against the Provisional Government and
organized themselves into land committees,
which toge