Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In 1949, Romania's fledgling communist regime unleashed a radical and brutal campaign to collectivize agriculture in this largely agrarian country, following the Soviet model. This book provides the ...
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In 1949, Romania's fledgling communist regime unleashed a radical and brutal campaign to collectivize agriculture in this largely agrarian country, following the Soviet model. This book provides the first comprehensive look at the far-reaching social engineering process that ensued. The book examines how collectivization assaulted the very foundations of rural life, transforming village communities that were organized around kinship and status hierarchies into segments of large bureaucratic organizations, forged by the language of “class warfare” yet saturated with vindictive personal struggles. Collectivization not only overturned property relations, the book argues, but was crucial in creating the Party-state that emerged, its mechanisms of rule, and the “new persons” that were its subjects. The book explores how ill-prepared cadres, themselves unconvinced of collectivization's promises, implemented technologies and pedagogies imported from the Soviet Union through actions that contributed to the excessive use of force, which Party leaders were often unable to control. In addition, the book shows how local responses to the Party's initiatives compelled the regime to modify its plans and negotiate outcomes. Drawing on archival documents, oral histories, and ethnographic data, the book sheds new light on collectivization in the Soviet era and on the complex tensions underlying and constraining political authority.Less
In 1949, Romania's fledgling communist regime unleashed a radical and brutal campaign to collectivize agriculture in this largely agrarian country, following the Soviet model. This book provides the first comprehensive look at the far-reaching social engineering process that ensued. The book examines how collectivization assaulted the very foundations of rural life, transforming village communities that were organized around kinship and status hierarchies into segments of large bureaucratic organizations, forged by the language of “class warfare” yet saturated with vindictive personal struggles. Collectivization not only overturned property relations, the book argues, but was crucial in creating the Party-state that emerged, its mechanisms of rule, and the “new persons” that were its subjects. The book explores how ill-prepared cadres, themselves unconvinced of collectivization's promises, implemented technologies and pedagogies imported from the Soviet Union through actions that contributed to the excessive use of force, which Party leaders were often unable to control. In addition, the book shows how local responses to the Party's initiatives compelled the regime to modify its plans and negotiate outcomes. Drawing on archival documents, oral histories, and ethnographic data, the book sheds new light on collectivization in the Soviet era and on the complex tensions underlying and constraining political authority.
Burnett Bolloten
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624464
- eISBN:
- 9781469624488
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624464.003.0050
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter returns to the spring of 1937, when the collectivization movement was coming under attack. Encouraged by the October 1936 decree which gave legal status to expropriations carried out at ...
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This chapter returns to the spring of 1937, when the collectivization movement was coming under attack. Encouraged by the October 1936 decree which gave legal status to expropriations carried out at the inception of the Revolution—but exempting from confiscation properties belonging to landowners who had not identified themselves with the military rebellion—many owners who had been forced to accept collectivization were now demanding the restitution of their land. Furthermore, the Communists used the decree to encourage tenant farmers and sharecroppers to recover their former parcels. Entering the picture was the Anarchist-dominated Regional Defense Committee of Aragon that had been established in October 1936 to direct the Revolution in the area of Aragon occupied by the anti-Franco forces. It would later be dissolved by the central government in 1937.Less
This chapter returns to the spring of 1937, when the collectivization movement was coming under attack. Encouraged by the October 1936 decree which gave legal status to expropriations carried out at the inception of the Revolution—but exempting from confiscation properties belonging to landowners who had not identified themselves with the military rebellion—many owners who had been forced to accept collectivization were now demanding the restitution of their land. Furthermore, the Communists used the decree to encourage tenant farmers and sharecroppers to recover their former parcels. Entering the picture was the Anarchist-dominated Regional Defense Committee of Aragon that had been established in October 1936 to direct the Revolution in the area of Aragon occupied by the anti-Franco forces. It would later be dissolved by the central government in 1937.
V. P. Danilov
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198278665
- eISBN:
- 9780191684227
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198278665.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter focuses on Bukharin's policy towards the peasantry. It discusses the rural aspects of Bukharin's co-operative collectivization, his alternative to the Stalinist methods of ...
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This chapter focuses on Bukharin's policy towards the peasantry. It discusses the rural aspects of Bukharin's co-operative collectivization, his alternative to the Stalinist methods of collectivization. It also examines the more general features of Bukharin's views before and during the New Economic Policy (NEP).Less
This chapter focuses on Bukharin's policy towards the peasantry. It discusses the rural aspects of Bukharin's co-operative collectivization, his alternative to the Stalinist methods of collectivization. It also examines the more general features of Bukharin's views before and during the New Economic Policy (NEP).
Alexander V. Prusin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199297535
- eISBN:
- 9780191594328
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297535.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
This chapter traces the history of the borderlands under the Soviet rule at the beginning of World War II. To recast the borderlands into the ‘socialist’ mold, the Soviet administration used a ...
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This chapter traces the history of the borderlands under the Soviet rule at the beginning of World War II. To recast the borderlands into the ‘socialist’ mold, the Soviet administration used a variety of methods, which ranged from the co‐opting the nationality groups that deemed fitting into the new political order to mass terror, which engulfed large segments of the population.Less
This chapter traces the history of the borderlands under the Soviet rule at the beginning of World War II. To recast the borderlands into the ‘socialist’ mold, the Soviet administration used a variety of methods, which ranged from the co‐opting the nationality groups that deemed fitting into the new political order to mass terror, which engulfed large segments of the population.
Alexander V. Prusin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199297535
- eISBN:
- 9780191594328
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297535.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
The chapter concentrates on the second Sovietization of the borderlands, which simultaneously involved two processes: military conquest and socio‐economic reconstruction via deportation, population ...
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The chapter concentrates on the second Sovietization of the borderlands, which simultaneously involved two processes: military conquest and socio‐economic reconstruction via deportation, population exchange, and collectivization. Facing a determined anti‐Soviet resistance of the nationalist guerrillas, the government concentrated on the complete destruction of the insurgents and the speedy integration of the borderlands into the Soviet economic, ideological, and administrative structure.Less
The chapter concentrates on the second Sovietization of the borderlands, which simultaneously involved two processes: military conquest and socio‐economic reconstruction via deportation, population exchange, and collectivization. Facing a determined anti‐Soviet resistance of the nationalist guerrillas, the government concentrated on the complete destruction of the insurgents and the speedy integration of the borderlands into the Soviet economic, ideological, and administrative structure.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This introductory chapter provides a background of the collectivization of agriculture in Romania. The collectivization of agriculture was the first mass action, in largely agrarian countries like ...
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This introductory chapter provides a background of the collectivization of agriculture in Romania. The collectivization of agriculture was the first mass action, in largely agrarian countries like the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Romania, through which the new communist regime initiated its radical program of social, political, cultural, and economic transformation. Collectivizing agriculture was not merely an aspect of the larger policy of industrial development but an attack on the very foundations of rural life. By leaving rural inhabitants without their own means of livelihood, it radically increased their dependence on the Party-state. It both prepared and compelled them to be the proletarians of new industrial facilities. Moreover, it destroyed or at least frayed both the vertical and the horizontal social relations in which villagers were embedded and through which they defined themselves and pursued their existence.Less
This introductory chapter provides a background of the collectivization of agriculture in Romania. The collectivization of agriculture was the first mass action, in largely agrarian countries like the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Romania, through which the new communist regime initiated its radical program of social, political, cultural, and economic transformation. Collectivizing agriculture was not merely an aspect of the larger policy of industrial development but an attack on the very foundations of rural life. By leaving rural inhabitants without their own means of livelihood, it radically increased their dependence on the Party-state. It both prepared and compelled them to be the proletarians of new industrial facilities. Moreover, it destroyed or at least frayed both the vertical and the horizontal social relations in which villagers were embedded and through which they defined themselves and pursued their existence.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses the Soviet blueprint, which established the technology of collectivization that East European leaders followed, with variations, during the 1950s. As the first country in the ...
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This chapter discusses the Soviet blueprint, which established the technology of collectivization that East European leaders followed, with variations, during the 1950s. As the first country in the world to be founded on Marxist–Leninist principles, the Soviet Union had myriad problems to solve. The leaders' ambitious program of social engineering required developing a variety of techniques for carrying out specific tasks, such as obtaining food requisitions, collectivizing agriculture, and so on. These techniques formed the basis for creating “replica” regimes in Eastern Europe following World War II, in a process of technology transfer of almost unparalleled scope. This technological package may be called “the Soviet blueprint,” of which collectivization was a major part. Although the results varied considerably, each East European country was pressed into adopting more or less the same package. Nowhere, however, did the blueprint fully succeed against recalcitrant local realities—not even in the Soviet Union itself.Less
This chapter discusses the Soviet blueprint, which established the technology of collectivization that East European leaders followed, with variations, during the 1950s. As the first country in the world to be founded on Marxist–Leninist principles, the Soviet Union had myriad problems to solve. The leaders' ambitious program of social engineering required developing a variety of techniques for carrying out specific tasks, such as obtaining food requisitions, collectivizing agriculture, and so on. These techniques formed the basis for creating “replica” regimes in Eastern Europe following World War II, in a process of technology transfer of almost unparalleled scope. This technological package may be called “the Soviet blueprint,” of which collectivization was a major part. Although the results varied considerably, each East European country was pressed into adopting more or less the same package. Nowhere, however, did the blueprint fully succeed against recalcitrant local realities—not even in the Soviet Union itself.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter describes the village social organization that collectives were to displace and the process of Romania's collectivization, from the 1945 land reform through the final celebrations in ...
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This chapter describes the village social organization that collectives were to displace and the process of Romania's collectivization, from the 1945 land reform through the final celebrations in April 1962. At the beginning of the process, some peasants had no land at all, but most had at least a hectare, most worked it with family labor, and most did so largely for subsistence, with some marketing on the side. Both they and their fellow villagers considered them good and worthy people if they worked very hard and controlled their own labor process, not having to work for others. By the end, nearly all Romanian villagers owned no land at all; the small piece they worked for themselves was accorded to them only conditionally, not in permanent ownership; they were able to market very little if anything; and hard work in the collective gained them less admiration than did slacking off and stealing from the collective for their families.Less
This chapter describes the village social organization that collectives were to displace and the process of Romania's collectivization, from the 1945 land reform through the final celebrations in April 1962. At the beginning of the process, some peasants had no land at all, but most had at least a hectare, most worked it with family labor, and most did so largely for subsistence, with some marketing on the side. Both they and their fellow villagers considered them good and worthy people if they worked very hard and controlled their own labor process, not having to work for others. By the end, nearly all Romanian villagers owned no land at all; the small piece they worked for themselves was accorded to them only conditionally, not in permanent ownership; they were able to market very little if anything; and hard work in the collective gained them less admiration than did slacking off and stealing from the collective for their families.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on the Party and Securitate cadres who implemented collectivization, describing aspects of their recruitment, their work, and their life as activists. Party cadres had the task ...
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This chapter focuses on the Party and Securitate cadres who implemented collectivization, describing aspects of their recruitment, their work, and their life as activists. Party cadres had the task of bringing the imported engineering project to life; they were the ones entrusted with the power to construct a new social order and also to construct the very forms of power that would sustain it. The chapter then argues that because the Party achieved power without an adequate number of prepared and ideologically committed cadres, certain compromises followed. First, their work would rely more on force than on persuasion, and therefore peasants would end by joining collectives only pro forma rather than from conviction. Second, the exigencies of cadres' work led them to develop networks, which protected them while making the bureaucratic apparatus more personalistic.Less
This chapter focuses on the Party and Securitate cadres who implemented collectivization, describing aspects of their recruitment, their work, and their life as activists. Party cadres had the task of bringing the imported engineering project to life; they were the ones entrusted with the power to construct a new social order and also to construct the very forms of power that would sustain it. The chapter then argues that because the Party achieved power without an adequate number of prepared and ideologically committed cadres, certain compromises followed. First, their work would rely more on force than on persuasion, and therefore peasants would end by joining collectives only pro forma rather than from conviction. Second, the exigencies of cadres' work led them to develop networks, which protected them while making the bureaucratic apparatus more personalistic.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter presents some of the language the Party created to carry out its mission—including categories that named classes, types of “enemies” and political insurgents, acceptable vs. suspect ...
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This chapter presents some of the language the Party created to carry out its mission—including categories that named classes, types of “enemies” and political insurgents, acceptable vs. suspect religions, and ethnonational groups—as well as some of the techniques employed: various forms of propaganda, modeling by example, denunciation and unmasking, and petition writing. Through teaching peasants to denounce and unmask enemies and to communicate with the benevolent paternalist Party in its own terms, these techniques inculcated new rules for producing truth and for understanding the world. There were, of course, other forms of reaction to the pedagogies of collectivization, which have been emphasized in earlier chapters: violent uprisings, attacks on cadres, overt acts of sabotage, and so on.Less
This chapter presents some of the language the Party created to carry out its mission—including categories that named classes, types of “enemies” and political insurgents, acceptable vs. suspect religions, and ethnonational groups—as well as some of the techniques employed: various forms of propaganda, modeling by example, denunciation and unmasking, and petition writing. Through teaching peasants to denounce and unmask enemies and to communicate with the benevolent paternalist Party in its own terms, these techniques inculcated new rules for producing truth and for understanding the world. There were, of course, other forms of reaction to the pedagogies of collectivization, which have been emphasized in earlier chapters: violent uprisings, attacks on cadres, overt acts of sabotage, and so on.
Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149721
- eISBN:
- 9781400840434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149721.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This concluding chapter summarizes the main points of this analysis and seeks to extend it by addressing broader comparative questions about the socialist variant of modern state-making. The Soviet ...
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This concluding chapter summarizes the main points of this analysis and seeks to extend it by addressing broader comparative questions about the socialist variant of modern state-making. The Soviet Union exported the revolutionary technology of collectivization to its satellites, providing the blueprint along with Soviet advisors to guide them. This blueprint set out the parameters for establishing collectives: new methods to improve agricultural production, a new institutional infrastructure, and an arsenal of pedagogical techniques with which cadres were to enlighten peasants and discipline dissenters. However, collectivization was not carried out in a uniform manner anywhere. Blueprints may provide a plan, but social practices are not so easily hammered or welded into place. Romania's small and weak Communist Party, dependent on the Soviet Union, faced a largely agrarian population that offered heavy resistance. Complicating their task was the ongoing strength of the country's interwar fascist movement in both rural and urban areas, among all social strata.Less
This concluding chapter summarizes the main points of this analysis and seeks to extend it by addressing broader comparative questions about the socialist variant of modern state-making. The Soviet Union exported the revolutionary technology of collectivization to its satellites, providing the blueprint along with Soviet advisors to guide them. This blueprint set out the parameters for establishing collectives: new methods to improve agricultural production, a new institutional infrastructure, and an arsenal of pedagogical techniques with which cadres were to enlighten peasants and discipline dissenters. However, collectivization was not carried out in a uniform manner anywhere. Blueprints may provide a plan, but social practices are not so easily hammered or welded into place. Romania's small and weak Communist Party, dependent on the Soviet Union, faced a largely agrarian population that offered heavy resistance. Complicating their task was the ongoing strength of the country's interwar fascist movement in both rural and urban areas, among all social strata.
Charles H. Feinstein, Peter Temin, and Gianni Toniolo
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195307559
- eISBN:
- 9780199867929
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307559.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
The central themes in this chapter are the disintegration of the international economy — de-globalization — which followed the onset of the Great Depression, and the path to recovery in the main ...
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The central themes in this chapter are the disintegration of the international economy — de-globalization — which followed the onset of the Great Depression, and the path to recovery in the main areas of the world. Cooperation was desperately needed to mitigate the effects of the slump, but it was not forthcoming. The European nations and the United States displayed disharmony and rivalry at the World Economic Conference of 1933. Each country had its own agenda and priorities; the world economy broke up into separate trading areas. The sterling area fared the best as a result of Britain's devaluation. India and Latin America are special cases within the sterling area. The gold bloc retained the gold standard and fared the worst. The United States and Soviet Union pursued opposite policies toward recovery.Less
The central themes in this chapter are the disintegration of the international economy — de-globalization — which followed the onset of the Great Depression, and the path to recovery in the main areas of the world. Cooperation was desperately needed to mitigate the effects of the slump, but it was not forthcoming. The European nations and the United States displayed disharmony and rivalry at the World Economic Conference of 1933. Each country had its own agenda and priorities; the world economy broke up into separate trading areas. The sterling area fared the best as a result of Britain's devaluation. India and Latin America are special cases within the sterling area. The gold bloc retained the gold standard and fared the worst. The United States and Soviet Union pursued opposite policies toward recovery.
Ho-fung Hung
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231164184
- eISBN:
- 9780231540223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164184.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Asian Politics
Mao era development actualized the aspirations of generations of Chinese state builders who sought state-directed industralization since the late nineteenth century. The chapter also explores how ...
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Mao era development actualized the aspirations of generations of Chinese state builders who sought state-directed industralization since the late nineteenth century. The chapter also explores how legacies of the Mao era laid the foundation for the China boom .Less
Mao era development actualized the aspirations of generations of Chinese state builders who sought state-directed industralization since the late nineteenth century. The chapter also explores how legacies of the Mao era laid the foundation for the China boom .
Burnett Bolloten
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624464
- eISBN:
- 9781469624488
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624464.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter describes how the peasant owners, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers fared during the collectivization movement that had shaken the small bourgeoisie discussed in the previous chapter. It ...
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This chapter describes how the peasant owners, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers fared during the collectivization movement that had shaken the small bourgeoisie discussed in the previous chapter. It also presents the views held by the CNT, UGT, and the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) on the virtues of collectivization. Rural collectivization in particular had become the foundation of the new regime of anarchist, or libertarian communism, as it was called, for the CNT-FAI members. Libertarian communism would be a regime without classes, based on labor unions and self-governing communes, that would be united into a nationwide confederation, and in which the means of production and distribution would be held in common.Less
This chapter describes how the peasant owners, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers fared during the collectivization movement that had shaken the small bourgeoisie discussed in the previous chapter. It also presents the views held by the CNT, UGT, and the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) on the virtues of collectivization. Rural collectivization in particular had become the foundation of the new regime of anarchist, or libertarian communism, as it was called, for the CNT-FAI members. Libertarian communism would be a regime without classes, based on labor unions and self-governing communes, that would be united into a nationwide confederation, and in which the means of production and distribution would be held in common.
Sarah Cameron
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781501730436
- eISBN:
- 9781501730443
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501730436.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This book examines the Kazakh famine of 1930-33, one of the most heinous and poorly understood crimes of the Stalinist regime. As part of a radical social engineering scheme, Josef Stalin sought to ...
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This book examines the Kazakh famine of 1930-33, one of the most heinous and poorly understood crimes of the Stalinist regime. As part of a radical social engineering scheme, Josef Stalin sought to settle the Kazakh nomads and force them into collective farms. More than 1.5 million people perished as a result, a quarter of Soviet Kazakhstan’s population, and the crisis transformed a territory the size of continental Europe. Drawing upon a wide range of sources in Russian and in Kazakh, the book brings this largely unknown story to light, revealing its devastating consequences for Kazakh society. It finds that through the most violent means the Kazakh famine created Soviet Kazakhstan and forged a new Kazakh national identity. But the nature of this transformation was uneven. Neither Kazakhstan nor Kazakhs themselves became integrated into the Soviet system in precisely the ways that Moscow had originally hoped. Seen from the angle of the Soviet east, a region that has not received as much scholarly attention as the Soviet Union’s west, the Stalinist regime and the disastrous results of its policies appear in a new light.Less
This book examines the Kazakh famine of 1930-33, one of the most heinous and poorly understood crimes of the Stalinist regime. As part of a radical social engineering scheme, Josef Stalin sought to settle the Kazakh nomads and force them into collective farms. More than 1.5 million people perished as a result, a quarter of Soviet Kazakhstan’s population, and the crisis transformed a territory the size of continental Europe. Drawing upon a wide range of sources in Russian and in Kazakh, the book brings this largely unknown story to light, revealing its devastating consequences for Kazakh society. It finds that through the most violent means the Kazakh famine created Soviet Kazakhstan and forged a new Kazakh national identity. But the nature of this transformation was uneven. Neither Kazakhstan nor Kazakhs themselves became integrated into the Soviet system in precisely the ways that Moscow had originally hoped. Seen from the angle of the Soviet east, a region that has not received as much scholarly attention as the Soviet Union’s west, the Stalinist regime and the disastrous results of its policies appear in a new light.
Martha Lampland
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226314600
- eISBN:
- 9780226314747
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226314747.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, European Cultural Anthropology
In this book it is argued that the commodification of labor in a modern economy relies on complex technical procedures and an extensive institutional infrastructure that precede, and may in fact ...
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In this book it is argued that the commodification of labor in a modern economy relies on complex technical procedures and an extensive institutional infrastructure that precede, and may in fact replace, the role of market forces. The history of evaluating labor in capitalist work science and socialist wage policy in Hungary between 1920 and 1956 illustrates the means by which labor is transformed from a generic activity to discrete units of value accrued over time in a hierarchically structured workplace. This account situates the analysis in the broader context of rationalizing work and business in the mid-20th c. By adopting an alternative periodization to analyzing the scientific transformation of wages across two economic regimes it is possible to challenge several longstanding assumptions in the historiography on the transition to socialism in Hungary: the degree to which the new Marxist-Leninist party/state altered the ways state planning was conducted; how the Soviet Union did, and did not, influence collectivization; who actually crafted new socialist policies; and what class warfare looked like in the countryside. Theoretical debates in Science Studies over the performativity of economics, technology and infrastructure, and the pragmatics of quantification are at the heart of the analysis.Less
In this book it is argued that the commodification of labor in a modern economy relies on complex technical procedures and an extensive institutional infrastructure that precede, and may in fact replace, the role of market forces. The history of evaluating labor in capitalist work science and socialist wage policy in Hungary between 1920 and 1956 illustrates the means by which labor is transformed from a generic activity to discrete units of value accrued over time in a hierarchically structured workplace. This account situates the analysis in the broader context of rationalizing work and business in the mid-20th c. By adopting an alternative periodization to analyzing the scientific transformation of wages across two economic regimes it is possible to challenge several longstanding assumptions in the historiography on the transition to socialism in Hungary: the degree to which the new Marxist-Leninist party/state altered the ways state planning was conducted; how the Soviet Union did, and did not, influence collectivization; who actually crafted new socialist policies; and what class warfare looked like in the countryside. Theoretical debates in Science Studies over the performativity of economics, technology and infrastructure, and the pragmatics of quantification are at the heart of the analysis.
A. W. Price
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198248996
- eISBN:
- 9780191681172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198248996.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter considers how Plato intends communism to transform the guardians, and how he expects that effect to carry through the artisans so that the whole city becomes a community of friends. ...
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This chapter considers how Plato intends communism to transform the guardians, and how he expects that effect to carry through the artisans so that the whole city becomes a community of friends. Plato justifies that in abolishing (among the guardians) the private household and family, he expects to abolish also the private joys and sorrows. His goal is the collectivisation not only of externals but also of emotions. The ideal is a community in respect of pleasure and pain, in which all citizens grieve and rejoice at the same things. Everyone is to identify with everyone else's success and failure and thus the notion ‘mine’ is more dramatic than that of ‘brother’ and the like as it is more communal.Less
This chapter considers how Plato intends communism to transform the guardians, and how he expects that effect to carry through the artisans so that the whole city becomes a community of friends. Plato justifies that in abolishing (among the guardians) the private household and family, he expects to abolish also the private joys and sorrows. His goal is the collectivisation not only of externals but also of emotions. The ideal is a community in respect of pleasure and pain, in which all citizens grieve and rejoice at the same things. Everyone is to identify with everyone else's success and failure and thus the notion ‘mine’ is more dramatic than that of ‘brother’ and the like as it is more communal.
Khalid Malik
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198078838
- eISBN:
- 9780199081646
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198078838.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter describes the two major periods of reforms in China—the initial reforms (1978–92) and the period of deepened reforms (since 1993). After the chaotic phase of Cultural Revolution, ...
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This chapter describes the two major periods of reforms in China—the initial reforms (1978–92) and the period of deepened reforms (since 1993). After the chaotic phase of Cultural Revolution, extensive reforms were needed to push forward economic and social progress. Thus, powerful reforms were introduced, which led to phenomenal changes. Agricultural production, along with growth of light and consumer goods industries shot up. However, it suffered from many complexities and contradictions. These were eliminated in the second phase of the reforms. Market liberalization and decentralization were introduced in this period, keeping certain characteristics of a socialist economy intact. A significant reform in this period was the World Trade Organization accession, integrating China with the rest of the world, unlike ever before.Less
This chapter describes the two major periods of reforms in China—the initial reforms (1978–92) and the period of deepened reforms (since 1993). After the chaotic phase of Cultural Revolution, extensive reforms were needed to push forward economic and social progress. Thus, powerful reforms were introduced, which led to phenomenal changes. Agricultural production, along with growth of light and consumer goods industries shot up. However, it suffered from many complexities and contradictions. These were eliminated in the second phase of the reforms. Market liberalization and decentralization were introduced in this period, keeping certain characteristics of a socialist economy intact. A significant reform in this period was the World Trade Organization accession, integrating China with the rest of the world, unlike ever before.
Burnett Bolloten
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624464
- eISBN:
- 9781469624488
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624464.003.0024
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter considers how, in the field of agriculture, the Communist party had sought to find a backing for itself among the middle layers of the population and use them to offset the power of the ...
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This chapter considers how, in the field of agriculture, the Communist party had sought to find a backing for itself among the middle layers of the population and use them to offset the power of the revolutionary segment of the anti-Franco camp and to assure its own hegemony. Aided by their control of the ministry of agriculture, the Communists had gained a substantial foothold on the countryside and were able to influence greatly events therein. Yet, in their efforts to win the support of the rural middle classes, both right-wing and Republican, the Communists were forced to restrain the collectivist tendencies not only among the left Socialists and Anarchosyndicalists, but even within their own youth movement.Less
This chapter considers how, in the field of agriculture, the Communist party had sought to find a backing for itself among the middle layers of the population and use them to offset the power of the revolutionary segment of the anti-Franco camp and to assure its own hegemony. Aided by their control of the ministry of agriculture, the Communists had gained a substantial foothold on the countryside and were able to influence greatly events therein. Yet, in their efforts to win the support of the rural middle classes, both right-wing and Republican, the Communists were forced to restrain the collectivist tendencies not only among the left Socialists and Anarchosyndicalists, but even within their own youth movement.
Burnett Bolloten
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624464
- eISBN:
- 9781469624488
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624464.003.0038
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter turns to Catalonia as a site of military insurrection and social revolution. In May 1937, an armed conflict erupted in Barcelona, the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia and ...
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This chapter turns to Catalonia as a site of military insurrection and social revolution. In May 1937, an armed conflict erupted in Barcelona, the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia and the largest industrial center on the peninsula. Tensions in Barcelona had been mounting ever since the defeat of the military insurrection in July 1936, when the CNT and FAI had emerged virtual masters of the region and the driving force of the Revolution. The Catalan population became dissatisfied with the changes implemented by the CNT and FAI, such as the requisitions, the disruption of trade, the lack of financial resources, and the collectivization movement. The resulting tensions created an opportunity for the Communists—now empowered by their alliance with the moderate Socialists—to bring the conflict with Largo Caballero to a head.Less
This chapter turns to Catalonia as a site of military insurrection and social revolution. In May 1937, an armed conflict erupted in Barcelona, the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia and the largest industrial center on the peninsula. Tensions in Barcelona had been mounting ever since the defeat of the military insurrection in July 1936, when the CNT and FAI had emerged virtual masters of the region and the driving force of the Revolution. The Catalan population became dissatisfied with the changes implemented by the CNT and FAI, such as the requisitions, the disruption of trade, the lack of financial resources, and the collectivization movement. The resulting tensions created an opportunity for the Communists—now empowered by their alliance with the moderate Socialists—to bring the conflict with Largo Caballero to a head.
