Stalin's economic policies: Collectivisation and the Five Year Plans

Stalin's Economic Policies

Collectivization:

What was it?

- The process by which agricultural industries were merged and taken over by the state. 

Why did Stalin want collectivization?

• Political motivations: the communist party wanted to abolish private property, collectivization gave him Stalin the perfect excuse. 
• Stalin hoped that if it was successful it would promote socialist ideas and gain support.
• Stalin wanted to use growth in the agricultural sector to fund industrial expansion
• More personally, Stalin wanted to eradicate the kulaks- the wealthy peasants who had benefitted from the NEP.

What did Collectivising actually look like?

State farms and collective farms.

- State farms: contained peasants working directly for the state who received a wage from the state. 

- Collective farms: were run as co-operatives, in which the peasants pooled their resources and shared their labour and wages. 

Between 50 to 100 holdings would be grouped together into one farming unit. 

What did Stalin hope would be the result of collectivization?

- Stalin hoped that improved farming would decrease the number of rural workers needed, enabling them to migrate to the city to work in factories to help with industrialisation. 

Who were the…