Stalin's Dictatorship - Economic Situation and Collectivisation

Stalin's Dictatorship - Economic Situation and Collectivisation

Economic situation in late 1920s:

• Lenin introduced the NEP in 1921 - peasants could own their own land and sell surplus food
• Some peasants, called kulaks, were quite well off peasants who employed other peasants
• Ordinary peasants resented kulaks
• Food production increased in 1920s but primitive methods were still being used - very little machinery so low yield
• Little development
• USSR was vulnerable to attack from Europe, so more weapons were needed, that meant that more people needed to work in industry, meaning more food would be needed to feed them
• USSR needed to buy more weapons from abroad and would pay through food
• 1929 - Stalin abandoned NEP, new policy meant taking control of industry and agriculture to increase production

Collectivisation:

• Theory - big farms are more productive than small land plots - can use machinery one them
• Stalin was aware that not many peasants were communists and he didn't know if he could rely on their loyalty
• Collectivisation in 1929 turned 25 million peasant farms into 240,000 collectives…