kolkhoz

Kolkhoz, short for kollektivnoye khozyaistvo (collective farm), was a form of agricultural production in the Soviet Union and some other socialist states. In a kolkhoz, peasants pooled land, labor, and resources to work collectively on land owned by the state or by the kolkhoz enterprise, and to share the harvest.

A kolkhoz was governed by elected bodies, including a general meeting of members, a kolkhoz council, and an executive committee. Daily operations were directed by a chairman and administrative staff. Land and major means of production were owned by the state on behalf of the kolkhoz.

Members contributed labor and received remuneration in the form of a fixed wage and a share of the farm's surplus. The kolkhoz produced goods to meet state procurement quotas, with any remaining output distributed among members or sold on local markets.

Collectivization began in the late 1920s and was accelerated in the 1930s under Joseph Stalin, replacing individual peasant plots with large collective units. The policy reshaped rural society and had enduring political and economic consequences across the Soviet Union.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many kolkhozes were dissolved, privatized, or reorganized as agricultural cooperatives or private farms. The term remains part of historical discussion of Soviet agriculture and is used in some post-Soviet states to refer to former collective farms.