Stalin’s Five Year Plan Collectivisation

Stalin’s Great Turn – Why? NEP not Communist enough for rank and file communists (who Stalin depended upon) Peasantry becoming too powerful vis-à-vis Urban Proletariat Conspicuous consumption by Nepmen Unemployment rising in the Worker’s Paradise Speculative Hoarding 1928 War Scare – Not enough strategic materials Allows Stalin to isolate Rightist rivals 15th Party Congress - Stalin Declares Collectivisation First Five Year Plan The 5YP depended upon the success of Collectivisation

We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make up this gap in ten years. Either we do it or they crush us. Stalin 1931 The Five Year Plans Stalin believed that industry could only develop through state control. Under GOSPLAN, three Five Year Plans set targets between 1928-1941 to increase production. Russian industry changed enormously. New towns such as Magnitogorsk grew up and large projects such as the Dnieper hydroelectric dam were developed. The USSR became a major industrial country. The human cost was high. Forced labour killed millions, working conditions were poor and hours of work were long.

Throughout history Russia has been beaten again and again because she was backward… to slow down industrialisation would mean falling behind and getting beaten. Russia was beaten by British and French capitalists and the Japanese too. Lenin has said: ‘Either die or overtake and outstrip the advanced capitalist countries’. We are 50 to 100 years behind them. Either we make good the difference or they crush us.” Stalin speaking in 1931 How does this source help you to understand why the Five-Year Plans were introduced in 1928?

Propaganda of the Five Year Plans

Question Why agriculture?

Cash Crisis For 5YP Money was required To invest in or purchase: Factories/Plant Machines Workers/Wages Raw Materials

Possible sources of money Tax Soviet citizens Not a rich society – hit by war, Civil war, exile, confiscations, war communism, hiding of assets from Communists Borrow money from abroad Reneged on Tsarist loans Capitalists unlikely to lend to nationalising communists Encourage greater grain production How?

Grain converted into Hard Cash Encourage greater grain production Sell grain on open market Collectives would allow: Access to expensive new machinery to improve efficiency Mechanisation would allow surplus workforce to migrate to towns Update farming techniques by learning from experts Economies of Scale larger units of production brought efficiencies Easier for State to collect Socialist answer to USSR’s problem Easier political control of hostile peasant classes

Collectivisation In the late 1920s, Russia suffered a food crisis. To feed starving workers, Stalin ordered the seizure of grain from the farmers. The peasants hid food or produced less.

Stalin in 1928 Reasons for Collectivisation Agriculture is developing slowly, comrades. This is because we have about 25 million individually owned farms. They are the most primitive and undeveloped form of economy. We must do our utmost to develop large farms and to convert them into grain factories for the country organised on a modem scientific basis.

Collectivisation In 1929 Stalin announced the collectivisation of farms. The most common was the Kolkhoz in which land was joined together and the former owners worked together and shared everything. Stalin persuaded peasants to join by attacking the Kulaks, peasants that had grown as a result of the NEP.

The Kolkhoz No wages Quotas Prices set by State State Support Holidays, board and lodging in return for labour The collective’s profit would be shared out equitably at the end of the year Quotas Prices set by State State would sell in cities as slight profit State Support Machine and Tractor Stations Had to pay 20% of produce to access machinery Private Plots Once collective duties completed

Question How is this close to the concept/idea of communism?

Collectives Anyone? Few Peasants willing to move into collectives Conservative Peasants: The NEP seemed to be working fine for them Unfamiliar working practices Suspicious of new machinery and techniques Memories of War Communism and forced requisitioning Little sympathy for plight of urban poor

The Pressure Builds 1928/9 Grain Procurement Crisis Stalin’s Pressures Not enough grain to allow 5YP to proceed Food shortages in Cities Price rises – inflation Stalin’s Pressures Credibility attached to success of 5YP Urban workers support base for Stalin Power struggle not yet complete Urals –Siberian experiment Long term goal of Industrialisation of Agriculture Ideological distrust of peasant class Stalin’s Solution Requisitioning Forced Collectivisation

Forced Collectivisation Rural Communist parties resisted collectivisation quotas Too unpopular Special Urban party activist task force created 25,000 attended special Two Week courses Tactics Root out Kulaks? Confiscate goods Would become basis of new commune ‘Persuade’ remaining peasants to volunteer to join a collective Tools used Propaganda Controlled all sources of information Force OGPU, Police, Military Terror Denunciations, Executions of Kulaks, ‘Necessary Measures’ 10 Million deported Siberia and Labour camps Quotas

Collectivisation - Propaganda

Collectivisation - Propaganda

De-Kulakisation Class warfare declared on Kulaks Communist classification of peasants: Kulaks – better off Peasants –hired help Middle Peasants – moderate incomes Poor Peasants - landless “We will hit the Kulaks so hard that the middle peasants will snap to attention before us” Ukraine targeted for being less reliable than Russian areas Ukrainian nationalism

Anti Kulak Poster

Kulak Dispersal

Stalin’s agricultural collectivisation “Look at the Kulak farms: their barns and sheds are crammed with grain. They are waiting for prices to rise. So long as there are Kulaks there will be sabotage of our grain needs. The effect will be that our towns and industrial centres, as well as the Red Army, will be threatened with hunger. We cannot allow that. We must break the resistance of this class and deprive it of its existence.” Stalin speaking to Siberian party officials after the grain crisis of 1927 How does this source help you to understand why collectivisation was introduced in 1928?

Peasant Resistance Riots Armed Resistance Peasants destroyed own goods rather than hand them over to the State Mass slaughter of livestock Raids on Collectives to liberate goods and livestock All women raids made troops reluctant to shoot to kill

Results of Collectivisation 23 Million tonnes of grain seized in 1931 Enough to feed urban areas 5 million tonnes of grain sold overseas However Desolated rural areas Famine 1932 – 1934 Millions died of starvation in rural areas 7 Million according to Robert Conquest Ukraine particularly hard hit

Results of Collectivisation Fall in production 1930 - 1934 Not enough livestock to do work Best farmers annihilated as Kulaks Russia was producing the same amount of food as it had in 1928 Pre-collective era grain production not reached until 1937

Cultivate Vegetables! Grain 1928 = 73.3 million tons Cattle 1929 = 70.5 million 1934 = 42.4 million Pigs 1928 = 26 million 1934 = 22.6 million Sheep and goats 1928 = 146.7 million 1934 = 51.9 million

Results of Collectivisation But Stalin content to see the end of the ‘accursed problem’ of the peasant class Demonstrates power of Communist Party Confirms Stalin’s control of Communist Party Gulag Labour increased massively Migration of peasants to cities By 1939, Collectivisation was clearly a disaster and the problem was even worse as its population had increased by 20 million - all of whom needed feeding.

At the same time, he carefully cultivated a fatherly image, to assure the people he was there to protect them.

Results of Collectivisation “Dizzy with Success” temporary climb down by Stalin 1930 Claims over eager officials getting carried away

‘Sacking Grain’, an oil painting by the Soviet artist Tatyana Yablonskaya At roughly what date, and for what purpose would this picture have been painted?

Say Something Significant Choose a sentence-starter and make the most complex statement you can about collectivisation. Cause and effect: “The main reason …..” Pattern: “Throughout Stalin’s rule in Russia, people kept ….” Turning point: “Everything changed when …..” Simple judgement: “The smartest choice was ……..”

Activity Use the sources and information to complete the table. Ways in which collectivisation was economically successful for the government? Ways in which collectivisation was politically successful for the government Ways in which collectivisation was an economic failure The human cost of collectivisation

Question Collectivisation was a political success but an economic failure and a human disaster. Discuss. How convincing is the argument that collectivisation was an ‘ideological triumph but an economic disaster’? In what ways did the living conditions of the peasants change as a result of collectivisation? Collectivisation was ‘all very bad and difficult – but necessary.’ Is this a fair assessment?

Say Something Significant Choose a sentence-starter and make the most complex statement you can about collectivisation. Cause and effect: “The main reason …..” Pattern: “Throughout Stalin’s rule in Russia, people kept ….” Turning point: “Everything changed when …..” Simple judgement: “The smartest choice was ……..”

Industrialisation Collectivisation was only a means to an end The food grown could be sold on the world market to allow investment in industry Soviet Industry was designed to provide for the State (not the consumer) Hence, very little produced that would be wanted by world market

What’s the significance here?

Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, 1936

Long live the great Stalin 1938 The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 When Germany attacked the USSR in 1941, Stalin used the same ruthlessness to defend his country. The defence of the USSR was the bloodiest war in history and cost the lives of millions of people and the destruction of thousands of villages, towns and cities. The final victory in 1945 was, like everything else, put down to the personal leadership of Stalin by the Soviet propaganda machine. After the war, Stalin built up the USSR as a superpower, in opposition to the USA. This conflict was known as the Cold War. Stalin died in 1953. Long live the great Stalin 1938