Economic Impact

Soviet Union was an agriculturally backward country , as a communist state , Stalin wanted to modernise USSR to make it economically and militarily strong so that USSR could stand up against to the more advanced democratic countries . Stalin wanted to achieve this through two measures , rapid industrialisation and collectivisation of agriculture .

Collectivisation

Propaganda Poster for collectivisation

Collectivisation was to consolidate many small farms into larger farming units called Kolkhozy.
Government would supply new farms with seeds , tools and machinery .
In return , 90% of products were sold to the state at low prices.
Stalin felt that this was necessary in order to increase farm output to meet the needs of the rapid industrialising country
Under collectivisation , the land was owned by the state and peasants worked on the farm for a fixed income
Collectivisation also made farming more efficient by the use of modern machinery .
The increased level of mechanisation of farms would mean that more farmers can work in the factories in the city .

Impact Of Collectivisation

Many peasants and Kulaks killed their own livestock and burnt their grains , collectivisation was met with great resistance as they did not want their produce to be taken away by the state
Bad harvest and food shortages caused Great Famine of 1932-1933 which many died of starvation
Stalin gave orders to eliminate Kulaks as a class , many Kulaks were either killed for resisting or sent to labour camps to slave labour
As a result , thousands of kulaks were killed.
The farmers also rioted and engaged in armed resistance to attempt to stop forced collectivisation .
However Stalin responded by killing 17 million horses used in farming so that farmers would be forced to use tractors . But there was not enough tractors to replace the horses that had been killed .
Peasants who could not meet production targets were punished severely .
Instead of distributing stockpiled grains to the starving people , Stalin exported grain to foreign countries to raise funds to buy machinery needed for industrialisation .

First Five year plans (1928-1933) was introduced to rapidly industrialise Soviet Union
Modern machines were introduced to farms to increase food production in order to supply the cities and factories