Q. Consider the following statements with respect to the collectivization of agriculture in Soviet Russia:

1. The well-to-do peasants, called ‘kulaks’, were particularly targets during this period.
2. Kolkhoz were the collective farms in which all peasants were forced to work.

Which of the above is / are correct?
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Notes: By 1927-1928, the towns in Soviet Russia were facing an acute problem of grain supplies. The government fixed prices at which grain must be sold, but the peasants refused to sell their grain to government buyers at these prices. Stalin introduced firm emergency measures. He believed that rich peasants and traders in the countryside were holding stocks in the hope of higher prices. Speculation had to be stopped and supplies confiscated. In 1928, Party members toured the grain-producing areas, supervising enforced grain collections, and raiding ‘kulaks’, the name for well-to-do peasants. So, statement 1 is correct. As shortages continued, the decision was taken to collectivize farms. After 1917, land had been given over to peasants. These small-sized peasant farms could not be modernized. To develop modern farms, and run them along industrial lines with machinery, it was necessary to establish state-controlled large farms. What followed was a collectivization programme. From 1929, the Party forced all peasants to cultivate in collective farms (kolkhoz). The bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms. Peasants worked on the land, and the kolkhoz profit was shared. So, statement 2 is correct.