Collectivization and "dekulakization"
The goal of collectivization was to consolidate individually-owned land and individual or family labor into a single farm collectively owned and operated by a village that was called a kolkhoz (Russian) or kolhosp (Ukrainian). This was consistent with the Bolshevik approach to private property, and was seen as promoting the elimination of "enemies of the working class".
Despite an intense campaign, early efforts at voluntary collectivization were not embraced by village farmers in Ukraine: as of early 1929, less than 4% of arable land in Ukraine was collectivized. In fact, the idea of the collective farm was seen by many rural Ukrainians as a new form of serfdom.
In early 1929, methods changed from a voluntary to administrative enrollment, and in December 1929, a decree was issued on the collectivization of livestock within a 3-month period, which drove many peasants to slaughter their animals. A growing threat of revolts in rural regions caused the Moscow leadership to dial back "fast-track collectivization" and return to a "voluntary" model, though that involved "shock brigades" and coercive measures such as the expropriation of property and deportation of private "wealthy" landowners known as kulaks (Russian) or kurkuls (Ukrainian).
At first defined to be owners of more than 8 acres of land, the term kulak/kurkul gradually became more and more vague, and eventually came to mean almost any land-owning peasants who might be antagonistic to or hesitant allies of the Bolsheviks. They were considered to be class enemies of poorer peasants, and were described by Lenin as "bloodsuckers, vampires, plunderers of the people and profiteers". Despite this, Lenin did not pursue widespread suppression of the kulaks/kurkuls in favor of an approach that emphasized persuasion and willing participation.
With Stalin's First Five Year Plan, an all-out effort to "liquidate kulaks as a class" was begun. This included execution or imprisonment; internal exile to Siberia, the North, the Urals, or Kazakhstan; and/or confiscation of property and eviction. The "dekulakization" process had major impacts on the Soviet Union in general, and in Ukraine in particular. It caused major economic disruptions as some of the most productive farmers were forcibly removed from their land, and it led to the deportation and death of millions of people.
