collectivize

Collectivize is a verb meaning to organize the production or ownership of resources into collectives—groups of people who jointly own, manage, or share the output of a project. It is commonly used to describe efforts to replace private ownership with collective or cooperative management, particularly in agriculture or industry. The corresponding noun is collectivization.

Forms of collectivization include agricultural collectives such as cooperatives or kolkhozes, worker collectives in factory settings, and state-run collectives. Collectivization can be voluntary or coercive, depending on policy and context.

Historical usage includes the Soviet Union, where in the late 1920s and 1930s the government pursued rapid agricultural collectivization, consolidating many small farms into large kolkhozes and sovkhozes. The policy involved state pressure and widespread resistance, and it coincided with drastic drops in some agricultural outputs and famines in certain regions. Similar efforts occurred in China during the Great Leap Forward (1958–1962), and in other socialist states, with varying degrees of coercion and success.

In contrast, some modern economies rely on worker-owned cooperatives and mutual-aid associations as forms of collectivization without expropriating private property.

Contemporary assessment of collectivization emphasizes trade-offs between central planning, efficiency, and individual incentives, with debates about economic and social outcomes, human rights, and political consequences.