The Kulaks

 Kulak was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned over 8 acres (3.2 hectares) of land towards the end of the Russian Empire. In the early Soviet Union, particularly in Soviet Russia and Azerbaijan, kulak became a vague reference to property ownership among peasants who were considered “hesitant” allies of the revolution. In 1930-31 in Ukraine also existed a term of pidkurkulnyk (almost wealthy peasant).

The word kulak originally referred to former peasants in the Russian Empire who became wealthier during the Stolypin reform of 1906 to 1914, which aimed to reduce radicalism amongst the peasantry and produce profit-minded, politically conservative farmers. During the Russian Revolution, the label kulak was used to chastise peasants who withheld grain from the Bolsheviks.

According to MarxistLeninist political theories of the early 20th century, the kulaks were considered the class enemies of the poorer peasants. Vladimir Lenin himself described them as “bloodsuckers, vampires, plunderers of the people and profiteers, who fatten themselves during famines,” declaring revolution against them to liberate poor peasants, farm laborers, and proletariat (the much smaller class of urban and industrial workers).

During the first five-year plan, Stalin’s all-out campaign to take land ownership and organisation away from the peasantry meant that, according to historian Robert Conquest, “peasants with a couple of cows or five or six acres more than their neighbors” were labeled kulaks. mgpe 008 solved assignment

However, in 1929, Soviet officials officially classified kulaks according to subjective criteria, such as the use of hired labour. Under dekulakization, government officials seized farms and killed some resisters, deported others to labor camps, and drove many others to migrate to the cities following the loss of their property to the collectives. 

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