Kulaks+and+Collectivization

Soviet Collectivization and the Kulaks go hand in hand together in the history of the Soviet Union, sense the beginning of the Russian revolution till the total demise of the Kulak population in the late 30’s, early 40’s.

Collectivization was a process the Communist leaders set up to collect the agricultural products of the country. “ The idea of Collectivization was to use the massive peasant population to work together on state-owned farms…” (1) Under Collectivization, all land belonged to the government. Farmers, who worked the land, were not allowed to earn profit off their produce. All grain and produce belonged to the government, who were supposed to distribute it out to the entire nation. Five-year plans were established under collectivism and were made to set goals for a future communist utopia. There were two goals for these five year plans, to bring about industrialization at a breakneck pace, and to replace small and large privately-owned farms with state-run collective farms. (3) “Many people revolted by burning their grain and destroying their machinery. The nation suffered from food shortages and Lenin blamed it on the [insubordination] of the kulaks and declared war on them.” (1)



The Kulaks were a class of farmers that owned land while Czar Nicholas was still in power. During the Russian revolution, they supported the White army in favor of keeping the monarchy of the Czars. When the Bolsheviks won the revolution in 1917, the Kulaks were already made enemies of the state. “The collectivization of Russian farms proved to be such a dismal failure [,] that shortages would occur year after year.” (1) “Not enough grain was collected, [Lenin] blamed the Kulaks and ordered not only that the Kulaks be deprived of grain themselves, but also any seed grain.” (1) This is when the term Kulak actually came to be. “The term "Kulak" was originally intended to be derogatory. Soviet propaganda painted these farmers as greedy and standing in the way of the "utopian" collectivization that would take away their land, livestock, and produce.” (1)



“After Lenin's death, Stalin took power in the Soviet Union. He continued the policy of collectivization.”(1) Food shortages were still great and the Kulaks were again blamed for collectivization’s failure. In a speech Stalin made on November 27, 1932, he argued that all problems associated with grain [obtainment] were the work of saboteurs and wreckers[, …the Kulaks] “It would be stupid if communists," concluded Stalin, "did not answer this blow by some collective farmers and collective farms by a knockout blow.”(3) This knockout blow was Stalin’s order of mass deportation of the Kulak class to Siberia. Some were, in a way, lucky to be sent to gulags; others were left in the middle of nowhere with nothing to survive on. This began Stalin’s orders of Dekulakization, his hopes of wiping out the entire class of Kulaks, and “…the hope that formerly close-knit communities would lose their local leaders and be dependent, not on the traditions and social dynamic that existed within villages across rural Russia, but on the local soviets, who implemented Stalin’s orders.”(2)

Dekulakisation gangs were formed and many were made up of criminals and vagrants, the violence these gangs meted out against the Kulaks was barbaric and horrific. Some were forced to dig their own graves before being killed [;] others were beaten to...death (5) “The quotas of kulaks to deport had to be filled according to orders from the State, [thousands of innocent] peasants were accused of being kulaks.” (2) “ If a person had one more cow than their neighbors, they were normally labeled a Kulak.”(5) In 1933 there was an order by Stalin to blockade a portion of the Soviet Union, an area which is now the country of Ukraine, from getting any seed to grow new grain. All grain from this area was taken by the State and the peasants received none in return. Famine spread quickly throughout the land and innocent peasants were dying fast and by the thousands. This was all because Stalin wanted to stop rebellion towards collectivization and to “flex his muscle”. “ [H]e felt the peasants were waging a “war of starvation” against the workers and Red Army. Thus, in Stalin’s mind, by using the same “weapon” the peasants were using - starvation - against them would be poetic justice.” (3) He used, what is called by Michael Ellman, accusation in a mirror- “propaganda technique in which the perpetrators of certain actions (war, terror, genocide, etc.) ascribe those to their enemy and see their own actions as self-defense.” (3) Millions of people died because of his man made disease, and in the short span of 1932-1933(3). Famine was so bad, Reports of cannibalism took place in order to survive. “[peasants] confessed that they were using [body parts] as filling for the meat pies they were selling in market. college students…were selling entire corpses in order to survive.”(3) This time is known as the Holodomor by Ukraine, and is officially considered a genocide. It’s estimated that four to eight million people were killed during this time. (2)



Many know of the Holocaust that took place in the Nazi death camps during the 30's and 40's, but few know of the genocide that was going on east of these camps, at the same time. Millions died because the Soviet government was willing to defend the power of a dictator and did not care for the well being of their people. Collectivization was a failing method, it was so inconvenient that the red army was needed to plow fields and obtain grain. The Kulaks could have been a exellent contribution to the Soviet economy but Stalin was more intrested in doing things his way, and everyone suffered because of it.

References:

1. Rayment, W. J. (2012). //Indepthinfo: Information delivered in-depth//. Retrieved from [] 2.Kubilis, K. (2007, June 12).What is a Kulak?. Suite101. Retrieved from [] 3. Brothers, Eric. (2008, February 8). Holodomor: The Great Famine in Soviet Ukraine, 1932-1933. Suite101. Retreived from [|http://eric-brothers.suite101.com/holodomor-the-genocidal-famine-in-ukraine-1932-1933-a344927#ixzz1lyxI0bjA] 4. The history place-genocide in the 20th century:stalin. (2000). Retrieved from http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/stalin.htm 5. Allison, Fiona. (February 17, 2011). Dekulakisation in Stalin's Russia. History of the Soviet Union. Suite101. Retrieved from [|http://fiona-allison.suite101.com/dekulakisation-in-stalins-russia-history-of-the-soviet-union-a348797#ixzz1lyxzna3Z]