The Resumption of Collectivisation

Abstract

In the summer and autumn of 1930, after three years in which industrial expansion was accompanied by low harvests and grain crisis, the fortunes of industry and agriculture were unexpectedly—though temporarily—reversed. The harvest of 1930 was good, but the performance of industry was unexpectedly poor. In the last quarter of the economic year, July–September 1930, industrial production declined, and as a result the ambitious annual plan for industry was not fulfilled. The upheaval in agriculture was partly responsible for these difficulties. The supply of labour from the countryside, though still increasing, for the first time was insufficient to satisfy the growing demands of industry. Poor food supplies in the coal-mining areas were partly responsible for a large exodus of miners to their villages; the uncertain situation in the countryside resulting from collectivisation encouraged peasants to remain at home, or to return there, to look after their land and crops; the good harvest in itself attracted otkhodniki back to the villages to cope with it. At the same time the claims of agriculture on industry increased.