Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village After Collectivization

by Shelia Fitzpatrick, Sheila Fitzpatrick

Release Date: January, 1996

Edition: Paperback

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Excellent social history of rural Soviet life in the '30's

Stalin's Peasants is the pre-cursor to Fitzgerald's "Everyday Stalinism". While the focus of the later is soviet urban life the focus here falls squarely on the agrarian Soviet Union in the 1930's.

This is an eye-opening look at the effect of collectivization at the village level. The famine of the early '30's- not the main focus- is shown to have been more the case of poor planning, beauracratic ineptitude and peasant reactions against collectivization rather than a diabolical program of systematic starvation.

Post Soviet studies into the Stalinist era confirm the fact that non-party and non-technocratic wrokers who were not Kulaks were much safer from the pograms raging around them. The effect of this was that Kholhozes were constantly replacing managers and technicians caught up in the latest round up of wreckers, this in turn led to confusion and declining morale among the peasants.

The peasants are contrasted with the urban vanguards who flooded the rural kholhoz's who were filled with communist fervor. These vanguards were resented and looked down upon as interlopers and outsiders by the local farm workers. Fitzgerald does great work showing how peasants retained their religious beliefs in the face of communist pressure and their passive resistance to constant pressures from the central government to accomodate the latest decrees.

Just as in Everyday Stalinism, Fitzgerald's work here is excellent. This isn't for the novice reader but a great resource for those who are already knowledgeable on the Soviet Union in the 1930's.

Life as it really was - interesting lesson

Fitzpatrick presents a view of Soviet collective farms that many of us may have guessed at, but never really knew or understood. As an amateur researcher of the former Soviet Union and now Russia, particularly the rural and agricultural sectors, I found the book to be very intriguing. It lays out the precursors to and development of the collective system. Provides insight and commentary on political decisions affecting and resulting from the same. And throughout, manages to allow a glimpse into what really happened from the vantage point of the people on the farms themselves - how they managed to survive despite living under a system so flawed as to almost be designed to see them fail.

If you don't mind a long history and political science lesson, I highly recommend this book.