Full Description
The policy, launched by Stalin in 1929, of consolidating individual peasant farms into state-controlled collective farms (kolkhozy and sovkhozy). Presented as voluntary, collectivisation was in practice enforced through mass deportation, violence, and the targeting of “kulaks” (wealthier peasants) as class enemies. The resulting disruption of agricultural production contributed directly to the Soviet famine of 1932–33, which killed millions, particularly in Ukraine (the Holodomor).
Critical Perspective
Collectivisation was not a policy failure — it achieved its primary goals of extracting grain to fund industrialisation and breaking the peasantry as an independent social class. That millions died in the process was understood and accepted by Stalin’s regime. Debates about whether the Ukrainian famine constitutes genocide hinge on whether intent to destroy a national group can be inferred from the policy’s disproportionate impact.
Leave a Reply