Stalin Collectivization Essay

Many historians consider the dominating force behind the collectivisation in Russia during Stalin’s period of power to be a “revolution from above.” This would indicate that it was led by an elite class of the society, and the majority of people did not agree with it. In contrast, some think of it as being dictated by “actions from below.” This would indicate that actions taken by the peasant masses actually controlled the change. Both viewpoints will be evaluated in this essay. To start the first viewpoint will be discussed.
There are lots of examples of how collectivisation was a “revolution from above”. One of these is the fact that many people’s lives changed for the worse. As stated in source E, many people were opposed to collectivisation, but were forced to agree. Even beyond this, those who disagreed often had to move to cities in order to find work. Another example of this is the forced labor camps that were created. These were largely created to educate workers in order to create a skilled workforce. The problem was that no

One of these is the Scissors Crisis. As discussed in source D, this was caused by industrial product prices rose dramatically, while agricultural product prices dropped dramatically. This led many to think that something had to be done, and in the end collectivisation di fix this problem. Another example is the grain crisis. Here a severe drop in grain harvest led to many starving. This caused many to support Stalin’s position expressed in source B, that the capitalist kulaks were to blame. Stalin claimed that collectivisation was to fix this, so some did support it. The final example is the capitalism of the kulaks. With the NEP and peasant farming many people worked in collective farms under kulaks. For some, this was prosperous, but for others it was not. For those who were put out by this, collectivisation may have seemed like a better