Stalin Essay Research Paper Thesis Statement Stalin

Stalin Essay, Research Paper

Thesis Statement: Stalin’s plan of collectivization did not help but rather hurt Russia’s

chances of becoming an affluent nation, free of agricultural plights.

Outline

I. Introduction

II. Collectivism and it’s problems

A. Stalin’s declaration of collectivism

1. Procedures within the system

B. The Kulaks

C. ‘Dekulakization’ (the disposing of the kulaks)

1. Clearing them away from collectivism

D. Problems of collectivism after the Kulaks

1. The famine

E. Results of famine

1. Government reaction

2. Peasants reaction

III. Stalin’s feelings on occurrences during collectivism

IV. Failure of the early years of collectivism

A. Advantages of collectivism for Stalin

B. Stalin’s reasoning for collectivism

C. Collectivism as a waste

V. Conclusion

Abie Heiney

W. History Term Paper

3/27/’97

Mrs. Glickman

Collectivism Under Stalin

Collectivism, ‘a political or economic theory advocating collective control over production and distribution’ (Conquest 146), in Stalin’s mind, was the key to curing the agricultural ailment in Russia and in turn making Russia a more successful and powerful nation. Stalin’s plan to collectivize did not help but rather hurt Russia’s chances of becoming an affluent nation, free of agricultural plights. His methods were so inhumane that any morally correct person would never condone his outrageous behavior.

In May of 1928 Stalin decided that he wanted to take on a new form of agriculture, that which was collectivized. It required the peasants “to move lock, stock, and barrel to new farms which would be owned equally by every member, run cooperatively, and forced to hand over a certain amount of grain to the state each year.” The government felt that with the modern machinery they would be capable of producing more food with fewer workers. Individuality no longer remained in the world of agriculture in Russia, no independent selling, and no more New Economic Policy (N.E.P.), which was issued by Lenin in reaction to the post-revolution setbacks in agriculture and was considered capitalistic. It was a successful program which Stalin decided to do away with to help support his plans. Stalin said “The pause has finished, and we are returning to socialism and communism” in reaction to the N.E.P (Lewis 59-61).

There was only one thing that stood in the way of Stalin pursuing his dream and that was the Kulaks, who were the wealthier class peasants. The Kulaks, unwilling to give up the grain, which they had produced, to the Bolsheviks, started to assiduously hide it (Radzinsky 141). They did not support the plan of collectivism since they would end up having to give up their hardly acquired land and let the Soviet government become their landlords which they found to be unjust. The Kulaks were also ordered to sell the grain to the government at a low price, but they refused and Stalin felt that something had to be done about these troublesome people (Conquest 147).

Stalin’s decision on how to deal with the disagreeing Kulaks was extremely immoral. He made a plan of ‘Dekulakization’, which was the dispersing of all Kulaks from the collective farms along with anything that had to do with the plan of collectivization. In reaction the Kulaks destroyed all their crops and livestock in protest. Many of the Kulaks were forced into labor camps while others had to face their fate in the horrible death camps. The anti-kulak campaign death toll came to a rough three million people (McNeal 129-131). “Just as the German’s proclaimed that Jews are not human beings. Thus did Lenin and Stalin proclaim, Kulaks are not human beings (Conquest 160).”

Now that the Kulaks were no longer a problem Stalin thought that everything would begin to run smoothly, but he was wrong. Along with the Kulaks went the extreme farming skills they had acquired which the lower class peasants did not possess. In result the lack of efficient farmers lead to the lack of grain, and finally a devastating famine broke out among the collective farms which in no way helped the agricultural dilemma but rather deepened the predicament (Lewis 65).

There was total chaos among the peasants. Many people died every day.

A schoolgirl stated “In 1933 it really was frightening. Every day somebody did not show up for school. The children were very scared and all swollen up. I’ll never forget this. There were a lot of them who died in our class (Lewis 66).”

Around the mid-1930’s peasants started to realize that all of their hard work did not pay off because all of their produce was taken by the government and in reaction they ceased in the amount of effort they put into the collective farming (De Jong 236).

The government did not care about the people during the famine. A lot of the grain that they had, they exported, and all the leftovers were left in granaries to spoil or given to feed city workers. They made it illegal to eat any crops in the field and if one happened to violate this law they would be deported to a prison camp in Siberia. The people consumed anything that seemed edible that they could possibly get their feeble hands upon. One man even resorted to killing his own

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