How Did Joseph Stalin's Collectivization

Collectivization was one of Stalin’s paramount methods of modernizing the Soviet Union in his “revolution from above”. Stalin sought to bring about industrialization and to streamline agricultural production through collectivization. Collectivization was not just intended to help industrialize the Soviet Union and improve agricultural efficiency but also to enhance widespread Communist control. Collectivization’s lofty goals were met through the exploitation of the peasants and industrialization had a great social impact on the people of the Soviet Union.
Collectivization was a part of Stalin’s first Five Year Plan that spanned from 1928 to 1932 (Viola 49). Stalin’s The First Five Year Plan placed a focus on converting primarily individual
Stalin believed that the elimination of the Kulak class would provide encourage the peasantry to join the collective farms and used legislation and violence as ways of dissolving the class of wealthy peasants (Shabad 205). Stalin viewed the kulaks as capitalists, who were enemies of the state (Viola 56). For example, Kulaks controlled grain prices and would often hoard their surplus to keep prices high. Lower prices were required so that urban workers could afford to buy food without receiving higher wages. Around one million kulak families, about five million people total, were deported from the Soviet Union during “dekulakization” (“Collectivization and Industrialization”). The Kulaks were forced to provide support for collectivization and industrialization. The Kulaks’ were exiled to the labor scarce territories in the Soviet hinterlands where they were worked to extract natural resources that were used in industrial efforts (Viola 56). The Kulaks’ land was also used to gain capital through property expropriations and their property ended up being used for collective farms (Viola
In 1931 and 1932, the procurement quotas were raised even higher and were based on exaggerated estimates. These quotas were met through violence, suppression, and the confiscation of peasants’ goods (Livi-Bacci 745). These extreme quotas along with agricultural production diminishing due to peasant resistance resulted in the disruption of agricultural productivity and widespread famine. Ukraine was significantly affected due to extremely high production quotas. In 1932, Ukraine was expected to meet a quota of forty five percent of their harvest (Livi-Bacci 746). The estimated death toll from 1927 to 1936 is seven million (Livi-Bacci 753). An example of the devastating effects of Collectivization can be found in a 1932 letter from Feigin to Ordzhonikidze, a friend and colleague of Stalin, that details the 1932-1933 famine and the state of peasant life in the Novosibirsk area of Serbia. Feigin visited kolkhozes in Serbia and found that they were unproductive because of, “(a huge shortage of seed, famine, and extreme emaciation of livestock)” (Feigin to Ordzhonikidze). Feigin described the poor conditions and disorganization of livestock farms that causes him to predict that the next year will have a large shortage of meats, fats, and leather. Emaciated horses, lack of machinery, and low amounts of seeds also