Source A

Adapted from a speech by Stalin, December 1929.

The question is this: either back to capitalism, or forward to socialism. There is no third way. During the last year Soviet power has launched an offensive against capitalist elements in the countryside, with very positive results. We have passed from a policy of restricting the exploitative tendencies of the kulaks to the policy of liquidating the kulaks as a class. Now we have the material base to break their resistance and replace their output with that of collective and state farms. The expropriation of the kulaks is vital to the formation and development of collective farms. It is ridiculous to go on about the expropriation. You do not lament the loss of the hair of one who has been beheaded. There is another question: should kulaks be permitted to join the collective farms? Of course not, for they are sworn enemies of collectivisation.

Source B

Adapted from an article by Stalin in Pravda, March 1930.

Even enemies have been forced to recognise our major successes in the collective farm movement. The fundamental turn of the countryside towards socialism can be considered achieved. But successes have their dark side. They sometimes lead to a spirit of self-importance and conceit: ‘We can do anything. Nothing can stop us.’ People’s heads become dizzy with success, with no room for concern about how to consolidate the successes. The success of our policy is based on the voluntary nature of collectivisation and taking into account the diversity of conditions in various parts of the USSR. collective farms should not be imposed by force. One must not lag behind the movement, which would separate us from the masses. But one should not race ahead, which means to lose contact with the masses.

Source C

From a modern historian’s account.

Collectivisation led to famine, shortages and the ‘crippling’ of Soviet agriculture. As well as being a disaster, collectivisation was also a historic turning point in Russia’s evolution, perhaps more so than the revolution of 1917. Stalin had made a decisive turn towards industry and modernisation. In so doing, he had well and truly shredded the smychka (alliance between workers and peasants).

Adapted from C. Read, The Stalin Years: A Reader (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 ISBN 0 333 96343 1) final paragraph p. 85, second paragraph p. 86