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Images:
A staged photo (`1921) extolling the virtues of agricultural collectivism.
In reality, most peasants fiercely opposed this system in which
they were forced to give up their own private farms and move to
cooperatively owned and run farms, where a certain amount of each
harvest was seized by the State. As
a result of their opposition, several
million peasants met death by an engineered famine and genocide.
It is said that Stalin did not want to improve the harvests or the
peasants' lives, but saw collectivism as a means of consolidating
his power, since a free peasant and master of his land was perceived
as a threat to this power.
(photo credit: Novosti Press
Agency, London) This impressive dam
was completed under Stalin's Five Year Plan for modernizing Soviet
industry, an undertaking inextricably linked with agricultural
collectivization. Other massive projects included the building
of the Volga Canal and the industrial city of Magnitogorsk. With
Stalin at the controls, technology was a "god", feverishly
embraced for the Party in the name of Marx, Engles, and Lenin.
Although many projects were successfully completed and moved the
Soviet empire into modern times, goals often exceeded the available
resources. Those who dared point this out were called "wreckers",
accused of treason, and punished. By accusing "wreckers"
of thwarting the plans of the State, Stalin was able to divert
attention from the real reasons for the failure of his schemes.
(credit: National Archives, USA) "Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want For reason in revolt now thunders And at last ends the age of can't. Away with all your superstitions Servile masses arise, arise We'll change henceforth the old tradition And spurn the dust to win the prize. So comrades, come rally And the last fight let us face The Internationale unites the human race. etc." |
(c) 1999 John Borneman & Linda Fisher, All Rights Reserved