Stages	Developments
1927- first half of 1929	First stage Grain procurement crisis of 1927/28 - emergency measures to seize bread Resolution of the XVI Congress (December 1927) "On work in the countryside" - a program for the gradual involvement of peasants in collective farms Creation of machine and tractor stations (MTS) The fight against the "right deviation" in the party and the destruction of the NEP
November 1929 - 1932	Mass forced collectivization November Plenum of the Central Committee of 1929: the task of complete collectivization January 5, 1930 resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the pace of collectivization and measures of state assistance to collective farm construction” January 30, 1930 Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On measures to eliminate kulak farms in areas of complete collectivization" March 1930 Stalin's article in Pravda "Dizzy with Success" March 1930 Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks "On the fight against distortions of the party line in the collective farm movement" March 1930 adoption of the Model Charter of the Agricultural Artel
1933 - the end of the 30s.	Legal registration of the collective farm system Famine of 1932/33 The activities of the political departments of the MTS Adoption of the Charter of the agricultural artel

Initially, it was assumed that the collectivization of agriculture would be carried out gradually, as the peasants realized the benefits of cooperation. However, the grain procurement crisis of 1927/28. showed that the preservation of market relations between the city and the countryside in the context of the beginning of industrialization is problematic. The party leadership was dominated by supporters of the rejection of the NEP.
Carrying out complete collectivization made it possible to transfer funds from the countryside for the needs of industrialization. From the autumn of 1929, peasants were forcibly driven into collective farms. Solid collectivization met with the resistance of the peasants, both active in the form of uprisings and riots, and passive, which was expressed in the flight of people from the countryside and unwillingness to work in collective farms.
The situation in the countryside became so aggravated that in the spring of 1930 the leadership was forced to take steps to eliminate "excesses in the collective farm movement", but the course towards collectivization was continued. Forced collectivization affected the results of agricultural production. The tragic consequences of collectivization include the famine of 1932.
Basically, collectivization was completed by the end of the first five-year plan, when its level reached 62%. By the beginning of World War II, 93% of farms were collectivized.

Economic development of the USSR in 1928-1940.
During the years of the first five-year plans, the USSR made an unprecedented industrial breakthrough. The gross social product grew 4.5 times, the national income more than 5 times. The total volume of industrial production - 6.5 times. At the same time, there are noticeable disproportions in the development of industries of groups A and B. Agricultural production actually marked time.
Thus, as a result of the "socialist offensive", at the cost of enormous efforts, significant results were achieved in turning the country into an industrial power. This contributed to the enhancement of the role of the USSR in the international arena.

The collectivization of agriculture in the USSR is the amalgamation of small individual peasant farms into large collective farms through production cooperation.

The Grain Procurement Crisis of 1927-1928 (peasants handed over to the state 8 times less grain than in the previous year) jeopardized plans for industrialization.

The 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1927) proclaimed collectivization the main task of the party in the countryside. The policy of collectivization was expressed in the widespread creation of collective farms, which were provided with benefits in the field of credit, taxation, and the supply of agricultural machinery.

Goals of collectivization:

· increasing the export of grain to provide financing for industrialization;

implementation of socialist transformations in the countryside;

supplying fast growing cities.

The pace of collectivization:

· spring 1931 - the main grain regions (Middle and Lower Volga region, North Caucasus);

Spring 1932 - Central Chernozem region, Ukraine, Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan;

end of 1932 - the rest of the districts.

In the course of mass collectivization, the kulak farms were liquidated - dispossession. Lending was stopped and taxation of private households was increased, laws on land lease and labor hiring were abolished. It was forbidden to accept kulaks into collective farms.

In the spring of 1930, anti-kolkhoz demonstrations began (more than 2,000). In March 1930, Stalin published the article "Dizziness from Success" in which he blamed the local authorities for forced collectivization. Most of the peasants left the collective farms. However, already in the autumn of 1930, the authorities resumed forced collectivization.

Collectivization was completed by the mid-30s: 1935 in the collective farms - 62% of farms, 1937 - 93%.

The consequences of collectivization were extremely severe:

· reduction of gross production of grain, livestock;

· growth of export of bread;

· mass famine of 1932 - 1933, from which more than 5 million people died;

· weakening economic incentives for the development of agricultural production;

alienation of peasants from property and the results of their labor.

USSR AT THE END OF THE 30'S; INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT,

FOREIGN POLICY.

The domestic political and economic development of the USSR in the late 1930s remained complex and contradictory. This was due to the strengthening of the personality cult of I.V. Stalin, the omnipotence of the party leadership, and the further strengthening of the centralization of management. At the same time, the people's faith in the ideals of socialism, labor enthusiasm and high citizenship grew.

The economic development of the USSR was determined by the tasks of the third five-year plan (1938-1942). Despite the successes (in 1937, the USSR took second place in the world in terms of production volume), the industrial lag behind the West was not overcome, especially in the development of new technologies and in the production of consumer goods. The main efforts in the 3rd Five-Year Plan were aimed at the development of industries that ensure the country's defense capability. In the Urals, Siberia, and Central Asia, the fuel and energy base was developing at an accelerated pace. "Backup plants" were created in the Urals, Western Siberia, and Central Asia.

In agriculture, the tasks of strengthening the country's defense capability were also taken into account. The sowing of industrial crops (cotton) expanded. By the beginning of 1941, significant food reserves had been created.

Particular attention was paid to the construction of defense plants. However, the creation of modern types of weapons for that time was delayed. New aircraft designs: Yak-1, MiG-3 fighters, Il-2 attack aircraft were developed during the 3rd Five-Year Plan, but they failed to establish their widespread production before the war. By the beginning of the war, the industry had not mastered the mass production of T-34 and KV tanks either.

Major measures were taken in the field of military construction. The transition to the personnel system of recruiting the army has been completed. The law on universal conscription (1939) made it possible to increase the size of the army by 1941 to 5 million people. In 1940, general and admiral ranks were established, complete unity of command was introduced.

Social events were also driven by defense needs. In 1940, a program for the development of state labor reserves was adopted and a transition was made to an 8-hour working day and a 7-day working week. A law was passed on judicial liability for unauthorized dismissal, absenteeism and lateness to work.

In the late 1930s, international tension increased. The Western powers pursued a policy of concessions to fascist Germany, trying to direct its aggression against the USSR. The culmination of this policy was the Munich Agreement (September 1938) between Germany, Italy, England and France, which formalized the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.

In the Far East, Japan, having captured most of China, approached the borders of the USSR. In the summer of 1938, an armed conflict took place on the territory of the USSR in the area of ​​Lake Khasan. The Japanese grouping was thrown back. In May 1938 Japanese troops invaded Mongolia. Parts of the Red Army under the command of G.K. Zhukov defeated them in the area of ​​​​the Khalkhin-Gol River.

At the beginning of 1939, the last attempt was made to create a system of collective security between Britain, France and the USSR. The Western powers dragged out negotiations. Therefore, the Soviet leadership went for rapprochement with Germany. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was concluded in Moscow for a period of 10 years (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). It was accompanied by a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. The interests of the USSR were recognized by Germany in the Baltic and Bessarabia.

On September 1, Germany attacked Poland. Under these conditions, the leadership of the USSR began to implement the Soviet-German agreements in August 1939. On September 17, the Red Army entered Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR.

In November 1939, the USSR began a war with Finland in the hope of its quick defeat, in order to move the Soviet-Finnish border from Leningrad in the area of ​​the Karelian Isthmus. At the cost of enormous efforts, the resistance of the Finnish armed forces was broken. In March 1940, the Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was signed, according to which the USSR received the entire Karelian Isthmus.

In the summer of 1940, as a result of political pressure, Romania ceded Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR.

As a result, significant territories with a population of 14 million people were included in the USSR. The foreign policy agreements of 1939 delayed the attack on the USSR for almost 2 years.

The collectivization of agriculture in the USSR is the unification of small individual peasant farms into large collective farms through production cooperatives.

The Grain Procurement Crisis of 1927-1928 (peasants handed over to the state 8 times less grain than in the previous year) jeopardized plans for industrialization. The 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (1927) proclaimed collectivization the main task of the party in the countryside. The policy of collectivization was expressed in the widespread creation of collective farms, which were provided with benefits in the field of credit, taxation, and the supply of agricultural machinery.

Goals of collectivization:

Increase grain exports to provide financing for industrialization;

Implementation of socialist transformations in the countryside;

Supplying fast growing cities.

The pace of collectivization:

Spring 1931 - the main grain regions (Middle and Lower Volga, North Caucasus);

Spring 1932 - Central Chernozem region, Ukraine, Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan;

The end of 1932 - the rest of the districts.

In the course of mass collectivization, the kulak farms were liquidated - dispossession. Lending was stopped and taxation of private households was increased, laws on land lease and labor hiring were abolished. It was forbidden to accept kulaks into collective farms.

In the spring of 1930, anti-kolkhoz demonstrations began (more than 2,000). In March 1930, Stalin published the article "Dizziness from Success" in which he blamed the local authorities for forced collectivization. Most of the peasants left the collective farms. However, already in the autumn of 1930, the authorities resumed forced collectivization.

Collectivization was completed by the mid-1930s: 1935 in collective farms - 62% of farms, 1937 - 93%.

The consequences of collectivization were extremely severe:

Reducing the gross production of grain, livestock;

Growth of export of bread;

The massive famine of 1932-1933, from which more than 5 million people died;

Weakening of economic incentives for the development of agricultural production;

Alienation of peasants from property and the results of their labor.

13. Foreign policy of the USSR 20-30s.

The end of the First World War (the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919), the civil war and foreign intervention in Russia created new conditions in international relations. An important factor was the existence of the Soviet state as a fundamentally new socio-political system. A confrontation developed between the Soviet state and the leading countries of the capitalist world. It was this line that prevailed in international relations in the 1920s and 1930s. At the same time, the contradictions between the largest capitalist states themselves, as well as between them and the "awakening" countries of the East, intensified. In the 1930s, the alignment of international political forces was largely determined by the growing aggression of the militaristic states - Germany, Italy and Japan.

The foreign policy of the Soviet state, while maintaining the continuity of the policy of the Russian Empire in the implementation of geopolitical tasks, differed from it in a new nature and methods of implementation. It was characterized by the ideologization of the foreign policy course, based on two provisions formulated by V.I. Lenin.

The first provision is the principle of proletarian internationalism, which provides for mutual assistance in the struggle of the international working class and anti-capitalist national movements in underdeveloped countries. It was based on the belief of the Bolsheviks in a speedy socialist revolution on a world scale. In the development of this principle, in 1919 the Communist International (Comintern) was created in Moscow. It included many left-wing socialist parties in Europe and Asia, who switched to Bolshevik (communist) positions. From the moment of its foundation, the Comintern was used by Soviet Russia to interfere in the internal affairs of many states of the world, which aggravated its relations with other countries.

The second provision - the principle of peaceful coexistence with the capitalist system - was determined by the need to strengthen the positions of the Soviet state in the international arena, get out of political and economic isolation, and ensure the security of its borders. It meant the recognition of the possibility of peaceful cooperation and, above all, the development of economic ties with the West.

The inconsistency of these two fundamental provisions caused inconsistency in the foreign policy actions of the young Soviet state.

Western policy toward Soviet Russia was no less controversial. On the one hand, he sought to strangle the new political system and isolate it politically and economically. On the other hand, the leading powers of the world set themselves the task of compensating for the loss of funds and material property lost after October. They also pursued the goal of "opening up" Russia again in order to gain access to its raw material resources and the penetration of foreign capital and goods into it.

The first attempts at collectivization were made by the Soviet government immediately after the revolution. However, at that time there were many more serious problems. The decision to carry out collectivization in the USSR was made at the 15th Party Congress in 1927.

Collectivization- the process of uniting individual peasant farms into collective farms (collective farms in the USSR). It was carried out in the USSR in the late 1920s - early 1930s (1928-1933) (the decision on collectivization was made at the XV Congress of the CPSU (b) in 1927), in the western regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania collectivization was completed in 1949-1950.

On January 5, 1930, a resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was adopted, proclaiming "complete collectivization" and "liquidation of the kulaks as a class." The main means of forcing peasants to unite in collective farms was the threat of "dispossession" (according to some sources, the total number of "dispossessed" reached 10 million).

An important role in the final victory of the regime over the peasantry was played by the famine of 1932-1933. It was caused by the policy of the state, which seized all the grain from the village (the minimum number of famine victims is about 2.5 million people).

Famine of 1932-33

A sharp increase in grain exports

Violent methods of collectivization

A sharp increase in state grain procurements, up to the withdrawal of seed funds

A sharp reduction in livestock and gross grain harvest

Purpose of collectivization- the establishment of socialist production relations in the countryside, the elimination of small-scale production in order to resolve grain difficulties and provide the country with the necessary amount of marketable grain

The main reasons for collectivization were:

1) the need for large investments in industry for the industrialization of the country;

2) the "grain procurement crisis" that the authorities faced in the late 1920s.

The collectivization of peasant farms began in 1929. During this period, taxes on individual farms were noticeably increased. The process of dispossession began - the deprivation of property and, often, the expulsion of wealthy peasants. There was a mass slaughter of cattle - the peasants did not want to give it to the collective farms. Members of the Politburo who objected to harsh pressure on the peasantry (Rykov, Bukharin) were accused of right deviation.

In 1929, Stalin's article "The Year of the Great Turn" appeared in the Pravda newspaper, and a course was set for the creation of collective farms and the elimination of the kulak as a class. In January 1930, a resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b) set deadlines for collectivization for the regions. In the country as a whole, this task was to be completed by the end of the first five-year plan. But nothing was said about the means of collectivization and the fate of the kulaks. Therefore, local authorities began to resort to violence.

As part of the implementation of complete collectivization, this obstacle had to be “removed”. On January 30, 1930, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution "On measures to eliminate kulak farms in areas of complete collectivization."

But, according to Stalin, the process was not going fast enough. In the winter of 1930, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to carry out a complete collectivization of agriculture in the USSR as soon as possible, in 1-2 years. Peasants were forced to join collective farms, threatened with dispossession. The seizure of grain from the village led to a terrible famine of 1932-33, which broke out in many regions of the USSR. In that period, according to minimal estimates, 2.5 million people died.

As a result, collectivization dealt a tangible blow to agriculture. Grain production decreased, the number of cows and horses decreased by more than 2 times. From mass dispossession (during the period from 1929 to 1933 at least 10 million were dispossessed) and joining the collective farms, only the poorest sections of the peasants benefited. The situation in the countryside improved somewhat only during the second five-year plan. Collectivization was one of the important stages in the approval of the new regime.

"Bungler 100%"

In the spring of 1930, it became clear that collectivization was in danger of catastrophe. On March 2, Stalin published the article "Dizziness from Success", in which he blamed local leaders for the failures and condemned "excesses." In response, a mass exodus of peasants from the collective farms began.

Results

1) in 1932–1933 famine came to the most productive regions of the country, primarily to Ukraine, Stavropol, the North Caucasus, more than 3 million people died. Although the export of grain from the country and the volume of state deliveries were steadily growing;

2) by 1933, more than 60% of the peasants were united in collective farms, and by 1937 - about 93%. Collectivization was declared complete;

3) collectivization dealt a huge blow to the Russian countryside (reduction in grain production, livestock, productivity, sown area). At the same time, state grain procurements have doubled, and taxes on collective farms have increased by 3.5 times. This contradiction reveals the real tragedy of the Russian peasantry;

4) large, technically equipped farms had advantages. But the collective farms, which formally remained voluntary cooperative associations, in fact turned into agricultural state enterprises that had strict planning targets and were subject to directive management;

5) collective farmers did not receive passports during the reform, which in fact attached them to collective farms and deprived them of freedom of movement;

6) industrialization was carried out at the expense of agriculture;

7) collectivization turned the collective farms into reliable and uncomplaining suppliers of raw materials, food, capital, labor;

8) the social stratum of individual peasants with its culture and moral values ​​was destroyed.

24. The main periods of the Great Patriotic War, an assessment of the main events on the fronts. The meaning and price of the victory of the Soviet people over fascism.

Briefly (on 2 pages)

The history of the Great Patriotic War is divided into three stages: 1) June 22, 1941 - November 19, 1942, i.e. from the German attack on the USSR to the start of the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad - the disruption of the blitzkrieg, creating conditions for a radical change in the war; 2) November 17, 1942 - December 1943 - a radical turning point in the course of the Second World War and the Second World War, the transition of the strategic initiative to the Soviet Army ended with the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kyiv; 3) 1944 - May 9, 1945, the complete expulsion of the invaders from the territory of the USSR, the liberation of the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe by the Soviet Army, the final defeat and surrender of Nazi Germany.

Main periods of the war:

At dawn on Sunday, June 22, 1941, the German army crossed the Soviet state border, numbering about 5.5 million people and consisting of representatives of 12 countries of Western Europe. By the end of September, the enemy was already near Moscow. Assessing such a rapid retreat of the Red Army, historians point to a number of reasons: the defeat of commanding army personnel before the war; Stalin's conviction that Hitler would not dare to fight on two fronts in the near future; unpreparedness in the strength of the Soviet troops for defense; the dominance of the ideological doctrine that the Red Army will fight only on foreign territory and only with "little bloodshed"; miscalculation in assessing the direction of the main attack: it was expected on the southwestern bridgehead.

The most important achievements of the first stage of the war were the organization of the counter-offensive of the Red Army near Moscow on December 6, 1941 and the creation by the end of 1942 of the preponderance of Soviet military products over German ones. By the end of 1941, 12.4 million people were evacuated to the East, 2593 enterprises were relocated, including 1523 large ones. The tragedy of the first years of the war was the problem of Soviet prisoners of war. The bulk of them, about three million people, were taken prisoner in 1941. Order No. 270 declared all the soldiers of the Red Army who were taken prisoner as traitors.

Major battles:

Moscow battle 1941 - 1942 (Konev, Budyonny, Zhukov) There are two main stages in the battle: defensive (September 30 - December 5, 1941) and offensive (December 5, 1941 - April 20, 1942). At the first stage, the goal of the Soviet troops was the defense of Moscow, at the second - the defeat of the enemy forces advancing on Moscow.

The main events of military history were the victories of the Soviet troops at Stalingrad, Kursk, Orel and Kyiv. At this stage, the partisan movement provided great assistance to the army. For the entire duration of the war, 6,000 partisan detachments were created, and the number of their participants amounted to about 1 million people. November 28 - December 1, 1943 in Tehran, a meeting of the heads of three states - the USSR, the USA, England, adopted the "Declaration on joint actions in the war against Germany and the post-war cooperation of the three powers."

Main battles:

Battle of Stalingrad 1942 - 1943 (Zhukov, Voronov, Vatutin) Defensive and (July 17 - November 18, 1942) and offensive (November 19, 1942 - February 2, 1943) operations carried out by Soviet troops in order to defend Stalingrad and defeat a large enemy strategic group operating in the Stalingrad direction.

Battle of Kursk 1943 (Zhukov, Konev, Vatutin, Rokossovsky) Defensive (July 5 - 23) and offensive (July 12 - August 23) operations carried out by Soviet troops in the Kursk region to disrupt a major German offensive and defeat the enemy's strategic grouping. The German command, after the defeat of its troops at Stalingrad, intended to conduct a major offensive operation in the Kursk region (Operation Citadel).

3) Liberation of the territory of the USSR and European countries. Victory over Nazism in Europe (January 1944 - May 1945).
At the final stage of the Second World War, in the course of ten military-strategic operations, by the summer, Soviet troops reached the borders of the USSR borders and began their victorious march across Europe. In February 1945, a new summit meeting took place in Yalta. It decided on the organization of the UN and the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan after the defeat of Germany. On April 16, 1945, the most ambitious military operation of World War II began - the Berlin one. On April 25, Soviet and American troops met on the Elbe. On April 30, the Reichstag was taken. On May 9, the Great Patriotic War ended.

The most important operations:

Belarusian operation (June 23 - August 29, 1944). The code name is Operation Bagration. One of the largest strategic offensive operations undertaken by the Soviet high command to defeat the Nazi Army Group Center and liberate Belarus.

Berlin operation 1945 (Stalin, Zhukov, Rokossovsky) The final strategic offensive operation carried out by the Soviet troops on April 16 - May 8, 1945. The objectives of the operation were to defeat the group of German troops defending in the Berlin direction, capture Berlin and reach the Elbe to connect with the Allied forces. in the Berlin direction, the troops of the Vistula group and the Center group under the command of Colonel General G. Heinrits and Field Marshal F. Scherner took up the defense.

Full of the whole war with prehistory:

Germany before the war:

As a result of the global economic crisis, the National Socialist Party NSDAP (National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany) came to power in Germany, launching intensive preparations for revenge for the defeat in the First World War. The victorious countries in the First World War (USA, Great Britain and France) with their policy of non-intervention contributed to the fact that Germany ceased to comply with the restrictions imposed on the growth of its military potential by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany freely entered its troops into the demilitarized Rhineland and used military force in Spain to support the fascist putsch. American and British corporations actively invested in the German economy and actually contributed to the creation of a powerful military and economic potential of Nazi Germany.

In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria (Anschluss), and the Munich Treaty concluded in September of the same year between Germany, Italy, England and France. The Munich Agreement allowed the Nazis to occupy Czechoslovakia as well (with the participation of Poland).

In August 1939, the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Germany had already concluded similar agreements with Poland and some other European countries). According to the secret protocols to the pact (published in 1948 from a copy and in 1993 from the original), the USSR and Germany divided the zones of influence in Eastern Europe: the USSR received Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Bessarabia and the east of Poland (up to the Vistula), Germany - Lithuania and western Poland (in September, Lithuania was exchanged for the Lublin Voivodeship of Poland).

After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Germany occupied the western part of Poland, and the USSR occupied the eastern part (Western Ukraine and Western Belarus). In 1940-1941. Germany took over Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, parts of France, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, and Greece (together with Italy); entered into military alliances with Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia. For its part, the USSR annexed the Baltic countries, the Vyborg province of Finland, Bessarabia and Bukovina. The militarization of the economy and the entire life of Germany, the seizure of industry and strategic raw material reserves of other countries, the forced use of cheap labor from the occupied and allied states significantly increased the military and economic power of fascist Germany.

USSR before the war:

Thanks to forced industrialization in the 1930s, a powerful heavy industry, including the defense industry, was created in the USSR. Nevertheless, in the production of steel, iron, coal, electricity, and most types of chemical products, the Soviet Union was inferior to Germany. The gap became even more serious after the industry of almost all of western and central Europe fell into the hands of the Third Reich.

Despite the rapid development, the USSR lagged behind Germany in many technical areas. This was especially true for communications and radar, shipbuilding, rocket science, and the automotive industry. The majority of the Soviet population (about 66 percent) was still peasantry with a fairly low level of education - in contrast to the long-term urbanized and industrialized Germany.

And, although the USSR surpassed Germany in the production of certain types of military equipment (tanks, aircraft, artillery pieces), the overall technical equipment of the Soviet troops was lower than that of the Germans, especially in communications, modern optics, heavy vehicles (including those necessary for transportation of tanks), engineering equipment.

The defensive power was adversely affected by repressions against the commanding staff of the Red Army, miscalculations in military development, in determining the probable dates for the start of the war, and above all, the concentration of most of the army near the new state border.

In the first half of 1941, Soviet intelligence constantly reported on the impending German attack, but the Soviet leadership ignored these warnings, as they contained contradictory (and, as modern studies have shown, sometimes false) information, and in part, false conclusions were drawn from correct and fair information. (The false conclusions of the chief of the intelligence service, Golikov, were widely known). The peace treaty with Germany, as well as the constant statements of the German military about the impending landing on the British Isles, gave hope that there would be no war in 1941. Unlike all other German offensive campaigns, the war against the USSR was not preceded by political demands. Stalin believed that Germany would not attack simply because she had no chance of defeating the USSR.

June 18, 1941 in the USSR, the fleet and border troops were put on alert. A similar order was issued to the ground forces of the Red Army only on June 21.

The theory of preparing an attack on Germany by Stalin was first voiced by Hitler in a speech about the beginning of an attack on the USSR addressed to the Germans. In the 90s, it became the subject of discussion among professional historians due to the publication of books by Viktor Suvorov, in which the author actively proved the theory of preventive war. However, as further studies have shown, Suvorov's writings contain many frauds, false quotations and technical absurdities.

Collectivization This is the process of uniting small individual peasant farms into large socialist farms based on the socialization of property.

Goals of collectivization:

1) The creation of collective farms in a short time in order to overcome the dependence of the state on individual peasant farms in the matter of grain procurement.

2) Transfer of funds from the agricultural sector of the economy to the industrial sector for the needs of industrialization.

3) The liquidation of the kulaks as a class.

4) Providing industrialization with cheap labor due to the departure of peasants from the countryside.

5) Strengthening the influence of the state on the private sector in agriculture.

reasons for collectivization.

By the end of the recovery period, the country's agriculture had basically reached the pre-war level. However, the level of its marketability remained lower than before the revolution, because. large landowners were destroyed. The small peasant farm provided mainly its own needs. Only large-scale farming could lead to an increase in commodity production, or an increase in marketability could be achieved through cooperation. Credit, marketing and supply, consumer cooperatives began to spread in the countryside even before the revolution, but by 1928 they were not enough. The involvement of the broad masses of the peasantry in collective farms allowed the state, firstly , to implement the Marxist idea of ​​transforming small peasant farms into large socialist farms, Secondly to ensure the growth of commodity production and, third, take control of stocks of grain and other agricultural products.

The 15th Congress of the CPSU (b) in December 1927 proclaimed a course towards the collectivization of the countryside. However, no deadlines and specific forms of its implementation have been established. The party leaders who spoke at the congress unanimously noted that the small individual peasant economy would exist for quite a long time.

It was supposed to create various forms of industrial cooperation:

§ Commune - a large degree of socialization of production and life.

§ Artel (collective farm) - socialization of the main means of production: land, inventory, livestock, including small livestock and poultry.

§ TOZ (association for cultivation of the land) - General work on the cultivation of the land.

But the grain procurement crisis of 1927/1928 changed the attitude of the party leadership towards the individual peasant economy.. Violent discussions broke out in the party (see the topic "Industrialization").

1) One way out was offered I. Stalin. He spoke in favor of the maximum concentration of resources due to the tension of the entire economic system, the transfer of funds from secondary industries (agriculture, light industry).

2) N. Bukharin insisted on a balanced development of the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy on the basis of a market form of communication between the city and the countryside, while maintaining individual peasant farms. N.I. Bukharin spoke out against the imbalance and disruption of proportions between industry and agriculture, against directive-bureaucratic planning with its tendency to organize big leaps. Bukharin believed that under the conditions of the New Economic Policy, cooperation through the market would include ever larger sections of peasants in the system of economic ties and thereby ensure their growth into socialism. This was to be facilitated by the technical re-equipment of peasant labor, including the electrification of agriculture.

N.I. Bukharin and A.I. Rykov suggested the following way out of the procurement crisis of 1927/28:

§ increase in purchase prices,

§ refusal to apply emergency measures,

§ a reasonable system of taxes on the village upper classes,

§ deployment of large collective farms in grain regions, mechanization of agriculture.

The Stalinist leadership rejected this path , regarding it as a concession to the kulak.
Seizure of surplus grain began in the image and likeness of the period of “war communism. Peasants who refused to hand over grain at state prices were prosecuted as speculators.

Simultaneously, the forcing of collectivization began ( 1928). In some places, peasants were forced to join collective farms, declaring those who resisted were enemies of Soviet power.

In 1928, the first machine and tractor stations (MTS) began to appear, which provided peasants with paid services for cultivating the land with the help of tractors. The tractor demanded the elimination of the boundary between the peasant stripes, therefore, the introduction of a common plowing.

Forced collectivization.

In November 1929, at the Plenum of the Central Committee, Stalin spoke with the article “The Year of the Great Turning Point”, where he stated that a "radical change" had occurred in the collective farm movement: middle peasants had already gone to the collective farms, they were being created in large numbers. In fact, this was not the case, since only 6.9% of the peasants joined the collective farms.

After the statement about the accomplished "radical change" the pressure on the peasants to force them to join the collective farm increased sharply, "complete collectivization" began to be carried out ( 1929). The party organizations of the main grain-growing regions declared areas of complete collectivization (the Lower and Middle Volga regions, the Don, and the North Caucasus) began to take obligations to complete collectivization by the spring of 1930, i.e., in two or three months. The slogan "frantic pace of collectivization" appeared. In December 1929, a directive followed to socialize cattle in areas of complete collectivization. In response, the peasants began to slaughter cattle en masse, which caused catastrophic damage to livestock.

In January 1930, the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was adopted "On the pace of collectivization and measures of state assistance to collective farm construction." In the main grain-growing regions of the country, it was proposed to complete collectivization by the autumn of 1930, in other regions - a year later. The resolution declared that the main form of collective farming was not the agricultural artel, but the commune (the highest degree of socialization) . Unlike the artel, the commune socialized not only the means of production, but all property. Local organizations were asked to launch a collectivization competition. Naturally, in this situation the pace of collective-farm construction increased sharply. By March 1, 1930, almost 59% of households were in collective farms.

The main means of forcing the peasants to join the collective farms was the threat of dispossession. Since 1928 a policy of restricting the kulaks was pursued. It was subject to increased taxes, state lending to kulak farms was prohibited. Many wealthy peasants began to sell their property and leave for the cities.

Since 1930 dispossession policy begins. dispossession - these are mass repressions in relation to the kulaks: deprivation of property, arrests, deportations, physical destruction.

On January 30, 1930, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted a resolution "On measures to eliminate kulak farms in areas of complete collectivization." The fists were divided into three groups :

Ø counter-revolutionary kulak asset - were subject to dispossession, arrest and imprisonment in camps, and often - the death penalty;

Ø the largest fists - Moved to remote areas

Ø all other fists - were evicted from collective farm lands.

The property of the dispossessed was placed at the disposal of the collective farms.

The dispossession was carried out not by the judiciary, but by the executive branch and the police, with the involvement of the communists, the local poor and workers-agitators specially sent to the village of the communists ("twenty-five thousandths"). There were no clear criteria for who should be considered a kulak. In some cases, rural rich people were dispossessed, on whose farms several laborers worked, in others, the presence of two horses in the yard became the basis for dispossession. Often the campaign to "eliminate the kulaks as a class" turned into a settling of personal scores, into plundering the property of wealthy peasants. On the whole, 12-15% of households were dispossessed across the country (up to 20% in some areas). The real share of kulak farms did not exceed 3-6%. This indicates that the main blow fell on the middle peasantry. Those dispossessed and evicted to the North were considered special settlers. Special artels were created from them, the working and living conditions in which were not much different from the camp ones.

The following methods and forms of dispossession were used:

ü administrative coercion to participate in collective farm construction;

ü exclusion from cooperation and confiscation of deposits and shares in favor of the fund for the poor and farm laborers;

ü confiscation of property, buildings, means of production in favor of collective farms;

ü inciting by the party and Soviet authorities of the poor strata of the population on the prosperous peasantry;

ü the use of the press to organize an anti-kulak campaign.

But even such repressive measures did not always help. Forced collectivization and mass repressions during dispossession provoked resistance from the peasants. In the first three months of 1930 alone, more than 2,000 demonstrations related to violence took place in the country: arson and breaking into collective farm barns, attacks on activists, etc. This forced the Soviet leadership to temporarily suspend collectivization. Stalin March 2, 1930 spoke in "Pravda" with the article "Dizziness from success", where coercion to join the collective farm and the dispossession of the middle peasants were condemned as "excesses". The blame for this rested entirely with local workers. The Exemplary Charter of the collective farm was also published, according to which the collective farmers received the right to keep a cow, small livestock, and poultry on their personal farmstead.

March 14, 1930 issued a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) "On the fight against distortions of the party line in the collective-farm movement". Those who joined the collective farm under pressure received the right to return to individual farming. A mass exit from the collective farms followed. By July 1930, 21% of households remained in them, compared to 59% by March 1. However, a year later, the level of collectivization again reached the March level of 1930. This is due to higher taxes on individual farmers, the difficulties they encountered in trying to get back the plots, livestock and equipment transferred to the collective farms.

In 1932-1933, in the grain regions, which had just survived collectivization and dispossession, there was a severe famine. The year 1930 was fruitful, which made it possible not only to supply the cities and send grain for export, but also to leave a sufficient amount of grain for the collective farmers. But in 1931, the harvest turned out to be somewhat below average, and the volume of grain procurement not only did not decrease, but even increased. This was due mainly to the desire to take as much grain as possible abroad in order to obtain currency for the purchase of industrial equipment. Bread was confiscated, leaving the peasants not even the necessary minimum. The same pattern was repeated in 1932. The peasants, realizing that the bread would be confiscated, began to hide it. Grain procurements, especially in the main grain regions, were disrupted.

In reply the state resorted to cruel punitive measures. In areas that did not fulfill the tasks for grain procurement, the peasants were taken away all the available food supplies, dooming them to starvation. The famine covered the most fertile grain regions, for example, the Lower and Middle Volga regions, the Don, and Ukraine. Moreover, if the villages were dying of exhaustion, then in the cities there was only a slight deterioration in supply. According to various estimates, from 4 to 8 million people became victims of the famine.

In the midst of hunger On August 7, 1932, the law "On the protection and strengthening of public (socialist) property" was adopted, known in everyday life as the "law of three (five) spikelets." Any, even the smallest theft of state or collective farm property was henceforth punishable by execution with a replacement of ten years in prison. The victims of the decree were women and teenagers who, fleeing from starvation, sheared ears of corn with scissors at night or picked up grain spilled during the harvest. In 1932 alone, over 50,000 people were repressed under this law, including more than 2,000 who were sentenced to death.

During the famine, the process of collectivization was suspended. Only in 1934, when the famine ended and agricultural production began to grow again, did peasants resume joining the collective farms. The ever-increasing taxes on individual farmers and the limitation of their field plots left the peasants no choice. It was necessary either to join the collective farms, or to leave the village. As a result, by 1937, 93% of the peasants became collective farmers.

Collective farms were placed under the strict control of the Soviet and party organs. Purchase prices for agricultural products were set at extremely low levels. In addition, the collective farms had to pay for the services of the MTS with their products and pay the state tax in kind. As a result, collective farmers worked virtually for free. Each of them, under pain of criminal punishment, was obliged to work out a certain minimum of workdays on the collective farm field. It was impossible to leave the village without the consent of the collective farm board. peasants did not receive passports introduced in 1932. The main source was personal household plots.

Results and consequences of collectivization.

1) Solving the country's socio-economic problems for a long period at the expense of agriculture, the village (the collective farm system is a convenient form of withdrawing the maximum volume of agricultural products, transferring funds from the countryside to industry, to other sectors of the economy).

2) Elimination of a layer of independent, prosperous peasants who wanted to work without dictate from the state.

3) The destruction of the private sector in agriculture (93% of peasant farms are united in collective farms), the complete nationalization of agricultural production, the subordination of all aspects of rural life to the party-state leadership.

4) Cancellation in 1935 of the rationing system for the distribution of products.

5) Alienation of peasants from property, land and the results of their labor, loss of economic incentives to work.

6) Lack of qualified labor force, youth in the countryside.

Thus, collectivization inflicted heavy damage on agriculture, brought down famine and repression on the peasants. In general, there was a slowdown in the growth of agricultural production, and there was a constant food problem in the country.