439,969 views
9 votes
9 votes
Why is the great famine considered the worst failure of collectivization?

User Tjarvstrand
by
2.6k points

1 Answer

12 votes
12 votes

Answer:

Explanation:Failure of collective farms to meet procurement quotas had dire consequences for their members. It meant that no matter how many labordays (the unit of accounting according to which collective farmers were paid) kolkhozniks worked, there was nothing to pay them.

Output fell, but the government, nevertheless, extracted the large amounts of agricultural products it needed to acquire the capital for industrial investment. This caused a major famine in the countryside (1932–33) and the deaths of millions of peasants.

As aforementioned, collectivisation was used to move resources from the rural areas to urban areas, thus 'sucking the agricultural economy dry' to allow rapid industrialisation. However, there was no real surplus created to expend on industry, and much grain was seized by the state.

User Jordani
by
2.7k points