1. MATCH THE DEFINITION Word Definition 1. Communism
A. The policy making committee of the Communist Party
2. Cominterm
B. the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bodies.
3. Politburo
C. A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.
4. Lenin's Testament
D. Short for Communist International, set up to assist and encourage communist revolutions in other countries

2. Key Terms Collectivisation – grouping farms together
Gosplan – The State Planning Authority
Kolkhoz – state collective farms
Stakhanovites – followers of Alexei Stakanov who were dedicated to hard work
NEP- New economic policy
Kulak - Rich farmer

3. Collectivisation in the USSR

4. Getting you thinking timed pair share
In pairs, study the pictures of Russia on the following 12 slides, they show the economy under the Communists just before the fall of Communism, what do they tell you about the economy under this system?

5. Siberians line up outside a shop in Novokuznetsk, Russia
in a sign of the economic decline that had beset the country in the final years of communist rule

6. Russians must wait in food lines to get whatever goods are available in Moscow
Hoping for anything: Russians must wait in food lines to get whatever goods are available in Moscow.

7. A woman stands near the back of a queue for a market in hope
Putting on a brave face: A woman stands near the back of a queue for a market in the Russian capital.

8. Queuing for bread

9. Russians waiting in food lines to get the goods are available today
Russians must wait in food lines to get whatever goods are available in November 1991, just a month before the collapse of the USSR.

10. Queuing in Novokuznetsk for bacon and other meat from the butcher at a state-run market
A long queue forms in Novokuznetsk for bacon and other meat from the butcher at a state-run market

11. Getting the bare essentials: Shoppers and vendors in a food market in Kaluga
Getting the bare essentials: Shoppers and vendors in a food market in Kaluga in November 1991

12. People stand in line with cans for food supplies in Tula, Russia
Signs of desperation: People stand in line with cans for food supplies in Tula, Russia, in November 1991.

13. Exchanging empty vodka bottles for small change
Small comfort: Women stand next to several vodka bottles which they are exchanging for small change at a recycling point.

14. Female miners take a break from their work in the town of Novokuznetsk
No smiles: Female miners take a break from their work in the town of Novokuznetsk, Russia, in June 1991.

15. Childhood in a coal-mining and steel-manufacturing community in Siberia
Two dirty children look out the window in a coal-mining and steel-manufacturing community in Siberia enduring widespread economic hardships.

16. Siberian men relax outside a shack in the town of Novokuznetsk
Taking their minds off things: Siberian men relax outside a shack in the town of Novokuznetsk, which was hit hard by widespread economic problems in the early 90.

17. Feedback
Copy and complete the following sentence: “The Russian economy under the Communists was….”

18. When I came to power I introduced NEP (New Economic Plans
When I came to power I introduced NEP (New Economic Plans. These weren’t too popular but were relatively successful.
Lenin

19. NEP
Whilst the NEP was successful in increasing the production of grain and heavy industry, it did have its failings
It wasn’t Communist
Peasants were able to sell grain at a profit
A new class of peasants emerged = Kulaks (rich farmers)

20. LETS CHANGE THIS

21. Read the sources below and find at least three reasons why Stalin wanted to transform the Soviet economy and society. Source A – Stalin, writing in Pravda, 5 February 1931 To lower the tempo of industrialisation means falling behind those who fall behind to get beaten. But we don’t want to get beaten. The history of old Russia consisted, amongst other things, in her being beaten continually for her backwardness. She was beaten by the Mongols, Turks, Poles, Lithuanians, English, French and Japanese. She was beaten by all of them because of her backwardness, her military backwardness, cultural backwardness, political backwardness, industrial and agricultural backwardness. We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or we shall be crushed. Source B – Stalin, in an article entitled ‘Year of the Great Breakthrough’, Pravda. 7 November 1929 From small, backward, individual farming to large-scale, advanced, collective farming. The new and decisive feature of the peasant collective farm movement is the that peasants are joining the collective farms not in separate groups, but in whole villages, whole regions, whole districts, and even in whole provinces. We are becoming a country of metal, an automobilised country, a tractorised country. And when we have put the USSR on an automobile, and the peasant on a tractor, let the esteemed capitalists, who boast their ‘civilisation’, try to overtake us.

22. What was Collectivisation?
Collectivisation was when a group of farms came together to form one, big farm. Most common farm was the kolkhoz
This farm would be run by a committee
Everything in the farm was shared. Animals, tools and all the food was produced
The food which a collectivized farm produced would be sold to the state at a low price

23. According to Source A, why does Stalin favour collectivisation?

24. Why?
Collectivisation was more Communist than the NEP- Everything was to be shared within the commune
It was easier to collect grain from a collectivised farm than individual farms
Agriculture was still backward in Russia - Farmers still used strip farming with wooden ploughs, Collectivisation would modernise farming
More efficient farming meant that more peasants could work in industry
Stalin wanted to avoid such famines as the winter famine of

25. IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?
I think this is a good/bad idea because….

26. How was it implemented? Why do you think that was?
In May 1929, Stalin announced to the Party that he intended to collectivise all the farms by
At the beginning, peasants were given the option to join a collectivised farm. In exchange they were given new machinery such as tractors
However, not many joined originally.
Why do you think that was?

27. When Stalin realised that not many peasants were going to sign up, he sent Party officials and the secret police to ‘persuade’ them to join
The kulaks had their machinery taken from them and it was given to the collectivised farms
Kulaks in turn were shot, deported or sent to labour camps. This was known as the ‘liquidation of the kulaks’

28.
Try and come up with one positive and one negative thing about collectivisation.

29. Make a flow chart of the process of collectivisation

30. Key word bingo Politburo Kulak Collectivisation Liquidation NEP Lenin
Stalin
Right wing
Left wing
Labour camps
Communism
Russian revolution
Comintern
Gosplan
Kolkaz
Trotsky
Stakonivite
Key word bingo

31. Effects of Collectivisation

32. Use the sources around the room to make your mind up
Ways in which collectivisation was economically successful for the government
Ways in which collectivisation was politically successful for the government
Ways in which collectivisation was an economic failure
The human cost of collectivisation

33. Effects of Collectivisation
Many of the peasants did not want to sign up to collectivisation. In response, they burnt their crops, tools and houses and slaughtered their livestock which led to armed resistance
As a result of this, Stalin called a temporary halt to collectivisation. Collectivisation began again after the harvest was collected
In 1932, a famine struck the USSR. Stalin continued to export food to other countries during the famine

34. Peasants who refused to join a collectivised farm were branded Kulaks
Peasants who refused to join a collectivised farm were branded Kulaks. As a result, they were dealt with accordingly
Peasants used collectivisation as a chance to settle scores with their neighbours. If someone had wronged them, they claimed that person was a Kulak

35. Which source do you think was the most reliable? Why?
Which source do you think was the least reliable and why?
Agricultural Policy - Collectivisation
Collectivisation was thought to be the solution to the USSR’s agricultural problems for a number of reasons:
Larger units of land could be farmed more efficiently through the use of mechanisation. Tractors and other machinery would be supplied by the state through huge machine and tractor stations (MTS). State experts could help peasants farm in more modern ways using metal ploughs and fertilisers. Therefore there would be higher food production.
Mechanisation would release labour for the new industries
State procurement of grain for export and the cities would be easier
Collectivisation would socialise the peasantry. They would live in social apartment blocks, leave their children in government nurseries, they would be bussed out to the fields to work. Collectivisation would therefore create a social revolution.
The implementation of collectivisation
Force, terror and propaganda were the main methods employed in carrying through collectivisation. The traditional policy of identifying a ‘class enemy’ was employed. The aim of identifying the kulak as a class enemy was to frighten the middle and poor peasantry into joining the kolkhozes (collective farms). An army of 25,000 urban party activists was enlisted to root out the kulaks and enforce collectivisation. The ‘Twenty-five Thousanders’ had no idea how to organise or run a collective farm, but they did know how to wage class warfare. Peasants resisted collectivisation, there were riots and outbreaks of armed resistance. Peasants burned crops, slaughter livestock, destroyed tools and houses rather than hand them over to the state.
Impact of collectivisation on the peasantry
In February 1930 the Communist Party declared 50% of all peasant households collectivised
Up to 6 million kulaks (the most enterprising and successful peasantry) had been shot
Millions of peasants had been deported
25-30% of animals had been slaughtered by the peasantry in protest
Famine (principally in the Ukraine, the north Caucasus and Kazakhstan) was a direct consequence of collectivisation. It is estimated that up to 7 million died. The historian Robert Conquest believes that collectivisation became the weapon to break peasant resistance and the way to break the peasant problem once and for all
By the end of % of peasant households were in collectives, this rose to 90% by 1936
The death sentence was passed on anyone found stealing ‘socialised’ property i.e. food from the collective farms
Internal passports restricted the movement of peasants from the famine hit areas, ultimately condemning them to death by starvation
Peasants practised a form of passive resistance shown in apathy, neglect and petty insubordination
Peasants could still work on their private plots of land and sell the surplus at markets. The state did not stop them because it is estimated that these private plots provided 52% of vegetables, 57% of fruit, 70% of meat and 71% of milk, butter, honey and wool to soviet consumers

36. Was Collectivisation a Success?
Farming methods were modernised
Grain output rose from 69 million tons in 1933 to 95 million tons in 1940
The Kulaks, as a class, were wiped out
Stalin had complete control of the peasants and the farms
In February 1930 the Communist Party declared 50% of all peasant households collectivised

37. Negatives
At least 5 million people died. But can the famine be blamed on collectivisation?
Overall, at least 13 million people died as a result of collectivisation
Most of the grain collected by the State was exported to foreign countries
Up to 6 million kulaks (the most enterprising and successful peasantry) had been shot
25-30% of animals had been slaughtered by the peasantry in protest

38. Describe one effect that collectivization had on the USSR.

39. Plenary

40. Lenin died in 1924
True

41. Kulak is a rich farmer
True

42. Loads of peasants wanted to sign up for collectivisation
False

43. Collectivisation caused a famine that killed 6 million
False 5 million

44. NEP was more communist that collectivisation
False – the was one of the key reasons for changing it

45. FALSE – it was LENIN
Stalin set up the NEPs

46. Grain output rose from 69 million tons in 1933 to 95 million tons in 1940
True

47. Famine struck in 1933
It was in 1932

48. Collective farms were run by a manager
False they were run by a committe

49. Machinery taken from the kulaks was destroyed
False it was given to the farms

50. Overall, at least 13 million people died as a result of collectivisation
True

51. USSR did not export
False- most of the grain was exported