In GCSE History students will look at Russia in the first half of the 20th Century. One aspect studied is the collectivisation of agriculture in Russia under Stalin's rule.
Stalin decided that he would have to forcibly nationalise agriculture and food production in Russia, in order to feed the huge population, and to carry out Marx's ideas on state control and social equality. This process became one of Stalin's main achievements - the collectivisation of his country's agriculture.
Discover more about the collectivisation of farms under Stalin's rule in this quiz.
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Russia was slower to experience the take off into an industrial society than, say, Germany, France or Great Britain. Stalin, however, was determined to reduce the agricultural labour force, and to send the surplus workers into the towns to help to implement his Five Year Plans
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Many peasants had done well since the freeing of the serfs in 1861 - by hard work, shrewd judgement, ambitious purchases and advantageous marriages. However, they had no place in Stalin's scheme of things, as he wanted to impose total state control over the land. The peasants were bound to resist this, and serious violence seemed likely
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Stalin hoped that this new sort of farm would reduce production costs and lower prices. Part of the surplus could then be used to provide communal facilities like schools and clinics. Surplus employees could easily pick up jobs in the expanding towns and cities
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The densest network of these camps was along the Kolyma River in North East Siberia: an extremely remote area that enjoyed a very severe arctic climate. Being sent here was akin to a death sentence, for few of the inmates ever returned to European Russia
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It is difficult to estimate the numbers of prisoners, so the options above are approximate. Official Soviet figures may also be unreliable
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Lenin was anxious to keep this region as part of the USSR, partly for strategic reasons and partly because of its huge economic importance to the Soviet Union
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Famine and resistance to the collectives policy held the programme up to an extent after its initiation in 1929, but it was eventually carried out successfully
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Grain production was one of the principal barometers of agricultural success. Peasants did destroy much grain in the early stages of enforced collectivisation, but Stalin's response was savage. Yet famine, engendered partly by natural factors, partly by resistance on the part of peasants and partly by Stalin's ruthlessness, certainly played its part in slowing the rise in cereal production
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These stations served several farms each. Tractors and other equipment were expensive, and they also required frequent professional maintenance
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Some years after the most difficult years of collectivisation Stalin was prepared to speak frankly about the horrors of his farm policy. He and his visitor were alone - with an interpreter - enjoying a late night drink
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