The All-Out Drive, January–February 1930

Abstract

The resolution of January 5 was not a precise programme. Its function was rather to sanction and offer encouragement, in somewhat vague terms, to the officially-inspired collectivisation drive. But the avalanche began well before the adoption of the resolution. The number of households in kolkhozy increased by I million in the four months June–September 1929 and by a further 2 1/2 million in the three months October–December (see Table 16 below and pp. 180–1 above). Collectivisation continued to gather momentum during January and February 1930. By March 10, 1930, the date on which it reached its peak in almost all regions, 79 per cent of households were reported as collectivised in the North Caucasus, 64 per cent in the Ukraine, and 57 per cent in the Central Volga region.¹ Rapid increases also took place in other grain-surplus regions, including the Urals, Siberia and the Central Black-Earth region, which scored a record 83 per cent. In many of the grain-deficit regions, intended for a much slower rate, collectivisation was even more rapid.² The most astonishing rate of growth took place in the Moscow region, where the percentage rose from 14 on January 1 to 74 on March 1 (see Table 17). In the USSR as a whole, the number of households recorded as collectivised rose from about 5 million on January 1 to 8.1 million on February 1, 14.3 or 14.6 million on March 1 and a peak of 15.0 million on March 10.³