Compare And Contrast The Role Of Collectivization In Russia Between 1928 And 1941

Between the years 1928 and 1941, both the Five Year Plans and Collectivisation were in their early stages . The reason for the eradication of the NEP and the creation of the Five Year Plans is that, even though the first Five Year Plan did increase production in factories, there was a large unpopularity for the plan from the peasantry and some workers, as they believed they were being treated unfairly. The two first Five Year Plans focused solely on improving heavy industry, which, at that time, was coal, oil, steel and electricity. In addition to this, there is clear evidence to support the success of the first two Five Year Plans. For instance, between the years 1928 and 1937, coal production increased from 36 million tonnes to 130 million
tonnes, which is a clear example of how successful and crucial the Five Year Plans were to Russia in making it a more independent country. However, it is clear that the industry of coal and electricity were far more important to Russia than agriculture was in the Five Year Plans.
In 1927, Collectivisation was introduced in Soviet Russia, and was made compulsory in 1930.
Collectivisation was a new way of reforming Russian agriculture. One of the many reasons for introducing this new process is that all harvests in 1927, 28 and 29 were poorer than the harvest in 1926. The evidence to support this is that in 1926, 77 million tonnes of grain were harvested, which is far more than the 72 million tonnes harvested in 1927. Even though more grain was harvested in 1926 compared to later years, other areas of agriculture showed an increase in amounts harvested over the years. For instance, 6 million tonnes of sugar beet was harvested in 1926, which is 4 million less than the amount harvested in 1927. These figures prove that grain was the only part of agriculture in Russia at that time that was struggling, which soon led to the overall figures going down. This decrease in production also led to prices of agricultural products being forced up. In addition to this, the decrease in grain production affected the standard of living for urban workers, as well as badly affecting the Soviet government by the amount rice surpluses decreasing, meaning there were less to sell abroad to provide resources for industrialisation. In larger context, Collectivisation led to large farms increasing efficiency, as well as meaning fewer people would be needed to work on the farms, which obviously would have resulted in the peasants working on the farms being less than
happy.
The process of Collectivisation took a few years to complete, as by 1932, 62% of all state farms were collectivised, by 1937, 93% were collectivised and all peasant farms were collectivised in 1941.
This means it took a total of 14 years to fully collectivise all farms in Russia. The other successes made by Stalin through Collectivisation are that, by 1937, grain production rose to nearly 100 million, as opposed to the 72 million tonnes harvested at the beginning of the process. Another success made by Stalin was the liquidation of the Kulaks. The reason why this was important for Stalin is because 'dekulakisation' signified the end of Capitalism and independent farming in Russia. Furthermore, it quickly increased the speed of Collectivisation, as, to begin with, Stalin proposed that only 30% of all farms would be collectivised, however, 'dekulakisation' led to the complete collectivisation of all farms in Russia. One final positive impact that collectivisation had on Russia in the mid 30's was the increase of technology on the collective farms. For instance, in 1927, there were only 2500 Machine Tractor Stations that supplied machinery to the different farms, and by 1932 there were 75000 MTS providing machinery to the collective farms in
Russia.
However, there is a substantial amount of evidence that supports the failures of agriculture in Russia between the period 1928-1941. Even though the economical effects of collectivisation were beneficial to Russia and Stalin, the human cost was far worse, even though it was not as broadly focused on as the successes of collectivisation were by the Soviet government. One popular example of this is the liquidation of the kulaks. Dekulakisation was crucial to Stalin, as it meant he could deflect the blame of collectivisation onto the kulaks. One of the main reasons for dekulakisation, according to Stalin, was because he believed they were class enemies who opposed the modernisation of the Soviet Union, which was crucial for Russia if it didn't want to continue being a backward state. In addition to this, there was a substantial amount of resistance from the peasants who were completely against collectivisation. In Siberia, there was over 150 peasant riots, whilst the area of crops were reduced by the peasants so there was less grain for the government to take. This then lead to collectivisation being forced from the years 1930 - 1936. Not only did the peasants riot, but they slaughtered their animals, burnt their crops and destroyed their tools. They were clever with their strategies, as they placed the women at the front of the crowds, knowing that the government couldn't fight the women. The slaughter of their farm animals resulted in a 25% drop in productivity.