Collectivization in the Soviet Union

Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms (колхо́з, kolkhoz, plural kolkhozy). The Soviet leadership believed that the replacement of individual peasant farms by kolkhozy would increase the food supply for urban populations, the supply of raw materials for processing industry, and agricultural exports. Collectivization was thus regarded as the solution to the crisis of agricultural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries) that had developed since 1927.

In the early 1930s over 90% of agricultural land was collectivized as rural households entered collective farms with their land, livestock, and other assets.