Recollections of collectivization in Uzbekistan: Stalinism and local activism

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2-2017

Abstract

Collectivization of agriculture in Uzbekistan demanded the efforts of many local agitators who called on Uzbek dehqons to join kolkhozes, and who stimulated a local version of class warfare. In oral history interviews with those who experienced mass collectivization’s first moments, we find both the brutality of change imposed from above and a social transformation led by local Uzbek activists. We argue that Uzbek agitators allowed many dehqons to identify with this project to change rural land ownership, and that their offers of tangible benefits, such as advance payments for cotton crops and distribution of food, provided strong incentives for joining. Class rhetoric was important as activists divided the poor from the kulak and used threats of dekulakization, as well as incentives, to promote rapid collectivization.

DOI

10.1080/02634937.2016.1221381

Publication Title

Central Asian Survey

Volume Number

36

Issue Number

1

First Page

55

Last Page

72

ISSN

02634937

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