Dekulakization is a process that was aimed at depriving the property rights of the wealthy peasantry and ending the exploitation of hired labor on private farms. As a result of the repressions, more than 90 thousand kulaks were confiscated and deported to remote regions of the country.
What is dispossession
"Dekulakization" is a term denoting political repression applied to local executive authorities on political and social grounds. The basis for these actions was the decision of the Politburo.
Preparatory process
In 1928, the newspaper "Pravda" published information that made public the problems of the village and the existence of a prosperous peasantry, exploitation of the poor. Cases of the exclusion of the poor and workers in the party also became known. The wealthy peasants themselves had large grain reserves. Attempts to take stocks failed, since the kulaks, deprived of motivation, simply ceased to expand crops, and the laborers were left without work. The dekulakization process was supposed to end self-righteousness on the ground and call into question the existence of the kulaks as a class.
Collectivization
In 1928-1930, massive repressions were carried out, which boiled down to the deprivation of wealthy peasants of land, means of production, mercenaries and their eviction to remote parts of the country. Counterrevolutionary activists were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps. Later, a decree was issued that prohibited the use of hired labor on the land and the lease of land. More than 70 thousand families were sent to the North, 50 thousand to Siberia, 25 thousand to the Urals.
In the areas where collectivization was carried out, cattle, household and residential buildings, fodder and food supplies, household property and cash were confiscated from the peasants. For settling in a new place, a family was given up to 500 rubles.
Almost every peasant could fall under dispossession. Also, the middle peasants and very poor peasants fell under the repression to accelerate the pace of collectivization and compilation of reports. Such a tough policy led to a large number of victims. Approximately 90 thousand dispossessed peasants died on the way to exile or died of starvation on the spot.
In 1932, this process was suspended. However, dispossession was not immediately stopped. Evictions were now carried out on an individual basis, and the number of convicts was limited. In 1934, a decree was adopted on the restoration of the rights of the former kulaks. The dispossession of kulaks was finally completed after the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, after the entry into force of which the settlers were released.
