Stalinism in a Russian Province: A Study of Collectivization and Dekulakization in Siberia

288 Pages·1996·15.739 MB·English

by  James Hughes

Stalinism in a Russian
Province
A Study of Collectivization and Dekulakization in
Siberia
James Hughes
STALINISM IN A RUSSIAN PROVINCE
AlsobyJames Hughes
STALIN, SIBERIA ANDTHECRISIS OFTHE NEW ECONOMIC
POLICY
Stalinism in a Russian
Province
A Study of Collectivization and
Dekulakization in Siberia
James Hughes
Lec/llrerinRussianPOlilics, DeparlmenlojGol'ernmell1
LOlldonSchoolojEconomicsandPolilicedScience
in association with the
Centre for Russian and East European Studies
University ofBirmingham
* ©JamesHughes1996
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Contents
List ofTables viii
Preface IX
List ofAbbreviations xii
Map ofthe Siberian Krai in 1930 xiii
Introduction 1
Capturing the Peasantry 7
2 Mobilizing Social Influence 33
3 The Search for a New Method 52
4 The Ural-Siberian Method 73
5 Volynki: The Russian Jacquerie 92
6 A Prologue ofRepression 111
7 Stalin's Final Solution 136
8 Barshchina and Maroderstvo 160
9 The Great U-turn 183
Conclusion 204
Notes 217
Appendix: Documents 249
Bibliography 258
Glossary 264
Index 266
List of Tables
4.1 The piatikratniki: compulsory registrations and compulsory
auctions of peasant property in Siberia (March-May 1929) 74
4.2 A comparison of procurement levels in Siberia in
March-April 1928 and 1929 85
6.1 Compulsory grain quotas on peasants in Siberia in 1928/9
and 1929/30 123
6.2 Punishment policy under Article 61 in Siberia in 1929/30 126
7.1 Siberian OGPU statistics on dekulakization, to
24 February 1930 154
9.1 The level of collectivization in Siberia, 1 July 1929 to
1 May 1930 195
9.2 Siberian OGPU statistics on the deportation of Category
Two kulaks, to 24 February 1930 200
Preface
Stalin designated 1929 the year of the 'great breakthrough' in Russian
history.Thecataclysmoftheself-declared 'revolutionfrom above' marked
the decisive turning point where Stalin propelled the country into a dash
for growth: a planned 'great leap forward' that would stake out the con
struction ofthe Stalinist state. Itarticulated and released the pressures for
changeto thestatusquoofthe New EconomicPolicy(NEP) thathadbeen
building up in the Communist Party during the 1920s. The Stalinist revo
lution was an attempt to smash a conjuncture ofeconomic, political and
contingentconstraints obstructing the realization ofthe Bolshevikideal of
amodernizing transformationoftheSovietUnion. Afterthegraincrisisof
1927/8,the Stalinistshadcometo view theexistenceofa marketoriented
free peasantry underNEPas themainconstrainton the buildingofsocial
ism.Thesuccessofamodernizingcrashindustrializationprogrammehinged
on a resolution ofthe question ofwho would control the countryside, the
peasantorthestate. For, given theSovietUnion's backwardness, whoever
won this battle would dictate the nature and pace of the development of
the country.
This study is acontinuation ofthe author's previous work, Stalin, Sibe
ria and the Crisis ofthe New Economic Policy, that investigated the re
lationship between contingency, Stalin's personal experiences ofSiberian
conditions and the abandonment of NEP during the grain crisis. In this
book the focus of analysis has been taken forward to examine the after
math of the grain clisis and the evolution of the primary programmatic
pillar of the Stalin revolution: the formation and implementation of the
policiesofforced collectivizationanddekulakization.Itwas theresolution
ofthe peasantquestion which shaped the entire modernization process in
Soviet Russia, for collectivization subordinated the peasant economy to
the demands ofthe state-ledrapid industrialization which was the founda
tion of the Stalinist state.
In preparing this book I have sought to build on the strengths of my
expertise on one Russian province, Siberia, as well as attempting to be
responsivetocriticismsofstructuralfaults in myearlierworkthatfocused
on its non-archival source base. The revolution in historical investigation
inRussiathathasoccurredfollowing thedisintegrationofcommunismhas
beendriven notonly by muchfreer access to archivespreviouslyclosedto
foreign scholars, but also by the unbrokered exchange ofideas and mate
rials through personal, scholar-to-scholar contacts. The new environment