collectivization

Collectivization is the consolidation of individual landholdings and labor into collective or state-owned farms. In agriculture, it usually involves forming kolkhozes (collective farms) owned by members who share in the output, and sovkhozes (state farms) owned and managed by the state.

Historically the most prominent example is the Soviet Union during the late 1920s and 1930s, under Joseph Stalin. The policy sought to expand agricultural productivity, secure grain for urban industry, and break the political power of the peasantry by dissolving private landholdings. Implementation relied on state pressure, coercive enrollment in collectives, and grain requisitioning; many peasants resistant to collectivization were labeled kulaks and subjected to repression, deportation, or forced labor.

The transition caused major disruption in agricultural production and storage, contributing to a severe famine in 1932-33, especially in Ukraine, the North Caucasus and parts of Kazakhstan and Russia. The famine's scale is debated, but it is widely linked to forced collectivization and government policy. In subsequent years, production patterns shifted toward larger, centralized farms, with varying success; critics point to inefficiency, bureaucratic mismanagement, and the loss of peasant incentives, while supporters emphasize increased state planning and the elimination of private control.

Collectivization was also attempted in other communist contexts, notably in China during the 1950s and 1960s with the creation of people's communes and later adjustments; similar systems existed in several Eastern European states and other regimes through the late 20th century.