Peasants and Power: State Autonomy and the Collectivization of Agriculture in Eastern Europe by Joan Sokolovsky

Author:Joan Sokolovsky [Sokolovsky, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781000314700
Google: mKiaDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 46180365
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-05-28T12:02:54+00:00

The First Wave Begins

The Communists consolidation of their hold on power in 1948, coincided with the radicalizaron of Com inform agrarian policy. According to Orban (1972:71) collectivization was placed on the regime's agenda in March 1948 as a result of a letter written by Stalin and Molotov to the Hungarian leaders. On August 20, 1948, Party leader Matyas Rakosi inaugurated Hungary's collectivization campaign, stating:

Two roads are open to the Hungarian peasantry. The old order of individual cultivation is ruled by the principle that 'might is right:' the kulaks are ruining the poorer working peasantry... the working peasantry chooses the road to co-operation (quoted in Dumont 1970:485-86).

In September, three forms of cooperatives were officially sanctioned by the government. In the first type, plowing and sowing were performed collectively in a consolidated farm but harvesting was controlled by individual households on their assigned plots. In the second type, all agricultural work was done collectively but profits were apportioned with reference to contributed land. The third type was modeled after the Soviet kolkhoz. Except for an assigned household plot, all land, draft animals and major equipment became the property of the collective and profits were divided according to work units (Spulber, 1958: 142-44). On a local level, cooperatives were organized under the control of village councils. A network of village cooperative stores organized in 1947 helped to facilitate the process (Coulter, 1959).

As in the rest of Eastern Europe, a range of economic sanctions were applied to spur collectivization and destroy the position of the wealthier peasants. In Hungary, the major weapons were forced deliveries, land taxes and "peace loans." The state instituted a system of deliveries at low prices of agricultural produce soon after liberation. However by 1949 these deliveries covered only 9% of the total of marketed crops (Bell, 1984:115). At that time, quotas rose considerably and became heavily weighted against larger holdings. Land was assigned to one of seven categories by means of consideration of fertility and yield and the quota was calculated on the basis of size and value of the holding (Coulter, 1959:541).

Bell (1984:115-16) describes the functioning of the forced delivery system in one village:

It should be made clear that even if a peasant did not produce anything in a particular category he was required to fill that quota or face penalties. Thus in Lapos neighbors and relatives banded together to insure each the necessary amounts of every product specified in the quotas. One family might slaughter a cow and barter the meat in excess of the quota with a neighbor for other products required but not raised, so that each could fulfill quotas in areas in which they did not produce enough. Sometimes families even bought produce at market prices only to sell it at much lower prices to meet their quotas.

Peasants were also subject to land taxes, various types of village taxes and compulsory crop insurance. In addition, the state required villages to subscribe to "peace loans." Village councils could distribute the burden among local households at their discretion (Coulter, 1959:541-42).

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