Collectives and kulaks

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More than 6 millions personns were killed, of whom 4 to 5 millions were Ukrainians, 1 million in the North Caucasus and Kazaskasthans lost almost a third of its population.

The kulaks, the so known « rich peasants », were sent to Siberia, and the others, the poor ones like the person who was interwieved in the document B, were left to starved.

An other example of the suffering endured during the Soviet Regime is the « Gulag camp ». The gulag camps were Soviet forced labor camps, that existed from the 1930's to the 1950's, basically during the Stalin area. Stalin used those camps to elimnate all the kulaks, this campain was called Dekulakization. Survivors from the great famine were sent to Gulag camps, to work.

8 millions Russians were arrested, criminals, rapists, thieves, but also innocents. .

Let's take the exemple of a women, Maria Tchebotarevo, during the famine, she stole three pounds of seeds to feed her 4 children, but she stole it from her former farm, that was confiscated because of the collectization system. According to the Law of Spikelets, the peasents are not allowed to eat their own crops so she was sent to Gulag for 10 years, but even when she finished her sentence, she was not allowed to go home, and was forced to live near her Gulag Camp. She was free to go, after the death of Stalin.

One of the most massive projet of the Gulag, was the « White Sea Baltic Canal », more than 100000 prisonners were forced to dig a 500 km canal with simple tools, during 20 months. But this project was a total desaster, because the canal was acually too small, too narrow. This project caused many deaths.

The people were caught in an oppressed regime, that were notallow to do anything. There were not the masters of themselves anymore, they had to obey to very strict rules, or they would go straight to their death. They lost all kind of freedom, they were traped in a « souvereign authority », they were powerless, they were not aware of the events they were engaged into. This alienation was actually an idea of Karl Marx, which ideas were used to found the Soviet Union system.

- ECHEC

a) The food production in the USSR from 1928 to 1932 was constantlly decreasing

because of collectivation programm. The grain production went from 73.3 million tons in 1928 to 69,6 million in 1932 ; same thing with the cattle production, 70,5 million in 1928 to 40,7 in 1932 ; the pig production was touched and went from 26,0 million to 11,6 million. But the most critical, the most alarming downturn was for the sheep and goats production, that was iniatlly 147 million in 1928 and was in 1932 52,1 million, a drop of 94.9 million. Those enormous drops in the food production from 1928 to 1932 were the results of the creation of collective farms, for instance the peasants would rather kill their farm animals and send them to slaughters than to give them up to the government. The diminution of the food production led to the Famine that caused more than 6 million deads.

b) The collectivation system was a real disaster when it comes to Agriculture, with the system of sovkhoves and kolkozes, that caused a real disruption in the Soviet Union. The population was suffering and according to an SPD (State Political Directorate) report, the poor peasants, the Muzhiks, claim that the workers, were above them, that the the goverment took their bread away to give it to the workers for example. The peasant felt angry against the workers and the townspeople, and this feeling became even more stronger with the actions made by the govermnement such as the gulags. But, when it comes to the industry, this isn't the same thing.

Stalin had a duty, turn USSR into a global industrial power. Stalin gave priority to the industry and the « heavy-industry », that helped the country during WW2 and totally put agriculture aside. And it was a total success, USSR was the 3rd most industrial country of the world, the country totally changed and a succession of large projects, such as skyscrapers, the Moscow Metro came up. But like everything there were pros and cons, the waste of energy and ressources were colossal, and many of the projects were faillures.

To conclude, Stalin’s policy was marked by the suppression of freedom, the violence of repression and a strict control of the state economy. The collectivization caused many famines and led to a huge number of deaths. Moreover, this collectivization disorganized the USSR economy, so the main purpose of the first five-year plan was not reach. Nevertheless, this has not stopped the significant growth of the industry in the country.