Kulak

"Oust the kulak from the kolkhoz"

Kulaks, kulaki, or the kulachestvo were wealthy landowners in the Russian Empire and early Soviet Union. They exploited the poor peasants and forced them to work on their farms. Kulaks made up 5% to 7% of the rural population.

History

Russian Empire

The kulaks emerged in the 1860s after Tsar Alexander Nikolayevich abolished serfdom. By 1903, 500,000 kulak households controlled as much land as almost ten million peasant households.

New Economic Policy

The first collective farms in the Soviet Union were created during the NEP, but the majority of peasants continued to work their own land. Kulaks controlled many farming cooperatives during this period and even took over some local soviets. In 1926, the kulaks controlled at least 20% of market wheat while collective farms only controlled 6%. Following a bad harvest in 1927, the kulaks hoarded grain in order to create a price hike. The government imposed new taxes on kulaks, restricted the number of workers they could hire, and established quotas on grain collection. Village soviets could seize kulaks' land if they did not meet these requirements. In January 1928, the Politburo unanimously decided to seize grain from kulaks to avoid famine in urban areas.

Collectivization

In 1929, the Soviet government banned renting land and private hiring of labor. It allowed peasants to expropriate kulaks and take their cattle, machines, and other farming equipment to use in collective farms. During collectivization, they burned crops and destroyed farm equipment. They also killed millions of livestock; the number of horses decreased from 30 million to under 15 million, cattle decreased from 70 million and 31 million, goats and sheep decreased from 147 million to 50 million, and hogs decreased from 20 million to 12 million. The Soviet rural economy did not recover from the kulaks' sabotage until after the Great Patriotic War. By 1936, the kulaks had been completely eliminated.