Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to emerge in Soviet agriculture after the October Revolution of 1917, as an antithesis both to the feudal structure of impoverished serfdom and aristocratic landlords and to individual or family farming.
The 1920s were characterized by spontaneous emergence of collective farms, under influence of traveling propaganda workers. Initially a collective farm resembled an updated version of the traditional Russian "commune", the generic "farming association", the association for joint cultivation of land, and finally the kolkhoz. This gradual shift to collective farming in the first 15 years after the October Revolution was turned into a "violent stampede" during the forced collectivization campaign that began in 1928 as means to countering "counterrevolutionary elements".
Name
The Russian portmanteau was adopted in other languages as a Russian word, however some other languages it was adopted as part of own culture, i.e. translit=kolhósp, translit=kalhas, kolūkis, kolhoos, kolhozs.Kolkhoz as a pseudo-cooperative
As a collective farm, a kolkhoz was legally organized as a production cooperative. The Standard Charter of a kolkhoz, which since the early 1930s had the force of law in the USSR, is a model of cooperative principles in print. It speaks of the kolkhoz as a "form of agricultural production cooperative of peasants that voluntarily unite for the purpose of joint agricultural production based on collective labor". It asserts that "the kolkhoz is managed according to the principles of socialist self-management, democracy, and openness, with active participation of the members in decisions concerning all aspects of internal life".They imposed detailed work programs and nominated their preferred managerial candidates. Since the mid-1930s, the kolkhozes had been in effect an offshoot of the state sector. Nevertheless, in locations with particularly good land or if it happened to have capable management, some kolkhozes accumulated substantial sums of money in their bank accounts. Subsequently, numerous kolkhozes were formally nationalized by changing their status to sovkhozes. The faint dividing lines between collective and state farms were obliterated almost totally in the late 1960s, when Khrushchev's administration authorized a guaranteed wage to kolkhoz members, similarly to sovkhoz employees. Essentially, his administration recognized their status as hired hands rather than authentic cooperative members. The guaranteed wage provision was incorporated in the 1969 version of the Standard Charter.
Work organization
Brigade
The question of internal organization was important in the new kolkhozes. The most basic measure was to divide the workforce into a number of groups, generally known as brigades, for working purposes. By July 1929 it was already normal practice for the large kolkhoz of 200–400 households to be divided into temporary or permanent work units of 15–30 households.' The authorities gradually came down in favour of the fixed, combined brigade, that is the brigade with its personnel, land, equipment and draught horses fixed to it for the whole period of agricultural operations, and taking responsibility for all relevant tasks during that period. The brigade was headed by a brigade leader. This was usually a local man.After the kolkhoz amalgamations of 1950 the territorial successor of the old village kolkhoz was the "complex brigade", a sub-unit of the new enlarged kolkhoz.
Zveno
Brigades could be subdivided into smaller units called zvenos for carrying out some or all of their tasks.Kolkhoz conditions in the Stalin period
See collectivisation in the USSR and agriculture in the Soviet Union for general discussion of Soviet agriculture.monument.
In a kolkhoz, a member, called a kolkhoznik, received a share of the farm's product and profit according to the number of days worked, whereas a sovkhoz employed salaried workers. In practice, most kolkhozy did not pay their "members" in cash at all. In 1946, 30 percent of kolkhozy paid no cash for labor at all, 10.6 paid no grain, and 73.2 percent paid 500 grams of grain or less per day worked. In addition the kolkhoz was required to sell its grain crop and other products to the State at fixed prices. These were set by Soviet government very low, and the difference between what the State paid the farm and what the State charged consumers represented a major source of income for the Soviet government.
In 1948 the Soviet government charged wholesalers 335 rubles for 100 kilograms of rye, but paid the kolkhoz roughly 8 rubles. Nor did such prices change much to keep up with inflation. Prices paid by the Soviet government hardly changed at all between 1929 and 1953, meaning that the State came to pay less than one half or even one third of the cost of production.
Members of kolkhozy had the right to hold a small area of private land and some animals. The size of the private plot varied over the Soviet period, but was usually about. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917 a peasant with less than was considered too poor to maintain a family. However, the productivity of such plots is reflected in the fact that in 1938 3.9 percent of total sown land was in the form of private plots, but in 1937 those plots produced 21.5 percent of gross agriculture output. Kolkhozniki had to do a minimum number of days work per year both on the kolkhoz and on other government work. In one kolkhoz the requirements were a minimum of 130 days a year for each able-bodied adult and 50 days per boy aged between 12 and 16. That was distributed around the year according to the agricultural cycle. If kolkhoz members did not perform the required minimum of work, the penalties could involve confiscation of the farmer's private plot, a trial in front of a People's Court that could result in three to eight months of hard labour on the kolkhoz or up to one year in a corrective labor camp.
Basic statistics for the Soviet Union
Kolkhozes and sovkhozes in the Soviet Union: number of farms, average size, and share in agricultural production| Year | Number of kolkhozes | Number of sovkhozes | Kolkhoz size, ha | Sovkhoz size, ha | Share of kolkhozes | Share of sovkhozes | Share of households |
| 1960 | 44,000 | 7,400 | 6,600 | 26,200 | 44% | 18% | 38% |
| 1965 | 36,300 | 11,700 | 6,100 | 24,600 | 41% | 24% | 35% |
| 1970 | 33,000 | 15,000 | 6,100 | 20,800 | 40% | 28% | 32% |
| 1975 | 28,500 | 18,100 | 6,400 | 18,900 | 37% | 31% | 32% |
| 1980 | 25,900 | 21,100 | 6,600 | 17,200 | 35% | 36% | 29% |
| 1985 | 26,200 | 22,700 | 6,500 | 16,100 | 36% | 36% | 28% |
| 1990 | 29,100 | 23,500 | 5,900 | 15,300 | 36% | 38% | 26% |
Source: Statistical Yearbook of the USSR, various years, State Statistical Committee of the USSR, Moscow.
Disappearance of the kolkhoz after 1991
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the former Soviet republics became target for criminal interests and the unstable financial situation undermined any perspective for their development. The general policy of transition from the Soviet centrally planned economy to a market economy was announced. The number of kolkhozes and sovkhozes declined rapidly after 1992, while other corporate forms gained in prominence.Still, field surveys conducted in CIS countries in the 1990s generally indicated that, in the opinion of the members and the managers, many of the new corporate farms behaved and functioned for all practical reasons like the old kolkhozes. Formal re-registration only "changed the sign on the door" and did not produce radical internal restructuring of the traditional Soviet farm.
Number of kolkhozes and all corporate farms in Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova 1990-2005
Sources:
- For Russia, Agriculture in Russia, statistical yearbook, State Statistical Committee, Moscow, various years.
- For Ukraine, , IAMO, Halle, Germany.
- For Moldova, land balance tables, State Land Cadastre Agency, Chisinau, various years.