The Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe: Comparison and Entanglements

Published by Central European University Press 2014

The Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe

Comparison and Entanglements

Edited by: Arnd Bauerkämper and Constantin Iordachi

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633860489

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book explores the interrelated campaigns of agricultural collectivization in the USSR and in the communist dictatorships established in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe. Despite the profound, long-term societal impact of collectivization, the subject has remained relatively underresearched. The volume combines detailed studies of collectivization in individual Eastern European states with issueoriented comparative perspectives at regional level. Based on novel primarysources, it proposes a reappraisal of the theoretical underpinnings and research agenda of studies on collectivization in Eastern Europe.The contributions provide up-to-date overviews of recent research in the field and promote new approaches to the topic, combining historical comparisons with studies of transnational transfers and entanglements.

Author / Editor information

Bauerkämper Arnd :

Arnd Bauerkämper is Professor of Modern European History at the Freie Universität Berlin. Author of: Ländliche Gesellschaft in der kommunistischen Diktatur. Zwangsmodernisierung und Tradition in Brandenburg 1945–1963. Cologne: Böhlau, 2002; Die Sozialgeschichte der DDR. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2005; Das umstrittene Gedächtnis. Paderborn: Schöningh, 2012.

Iordachi Constantin :

Constantin Iordachi is a Professor at the History Department of Central European University and President of the International Association for Comparative Fascist Studies.

Reviews

"Dans une perspective historiographique élargie et renouvelée, l’ouvrage entend « transcender le paradigme national » en étudiant le transfert d’un modèle collectiviste formé dans le contexte du projet stalinien et appliqué, deux décennies plus tard, à d’autres réalités politiques et sociales. Sous l’égide de l’histoire croisée, les auteurs veulent éclairer la complexité des interactions qui relient les diverses expériences nationales de transposition de la version soviétique du collectivisme en agriculture. Conduites selon des formes similaires de recours à la coercition économique, à la terreur politique, à la violence de la « dékoulakisation », les campagnes de collectivisation progressent selon un tempo qui varie d’un pays à l’autre. L’exploitation de nouveaux matériaux d’archives autorise l’établissement d’une chronologie plus fine de la préparation et de la mise en oeuvre des opérations, rythmées par des avancées accélérées, des reculs tactiques, puis des reprises plus soucieuses de pragmatisme. Le rappel de l’enchaînement des transformations – la réforme agraire de l’immédiat après-guerre, la nationalisation des biens fonciers, les étapes de la collectivisation – est sans aucun doute utile et pertinent. Ces données permettent de mieux appréhender les contextes politiques et institutionnels des phases d’accélération (1929-1935, 1945-1947, 1948-1965) et de répit (1935-1945, 1953-1956), et de cerner les raisons du succès et de l’échec des méthodes employées pour collectiviser des paysanneries majoritairement réticentes mais dont certaines composantes ont été manipulées au nom de la lutte des classes."

"The publication of The Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe by two main editors, Constantin Iordachi and Arnd Bauerkämper, is the result of a highly ambitious project with clearly defined goals and methodology. While the collectivization of agriculture is a subject that has been under research in many Central and Eastern European countries, existing studies are written mostly just from the perspective of individual states and nations and most authors just aim at presenting a critical assessment of these countries' communist past. Methodological problems such as the social or environmental impact of collectivization thus tend to remain overshadowed by political history. Constantin Iordachi and Arnd Bauerkämper try to escape this stereotypical view of collectivization in Central and Eastern Europe and successfully."

"The volume helps to patch the hole in contemporary examinations of the change of systems that often overlook a legacy of rural transformation, and opens the way for additional anthropological and sociological studies. References and copious footnotes make for a comprehensive bibliography of the agrarian question under communism. Summing up: recommended."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Maps Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction
The Collectivization of Agriculture in Eastern Europe: Entanglements and Transnational Comparisons Arnd Bauer Kämper and Constantin Iordachi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. The Interwar Soviet Model and its Post-1945 Application in the Newly Annexed Territories
Collectivization in the Soviet Union: Specificities and Modalities Lynne Viola Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
The Collectivization of Agriculture in the Baltic Soviet Republics, 1944–1953 David Feest Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
II. Land Collectivization in Central Europe
The Collectivization of Agriculture in Poland: Causes of Defeat Dariusz Jarosz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Ideology and Asymmetrical Entanglements: Collectivization in the German Democratic Republic Jens Schöne Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Collectivization in Czechoslovakia in Comparative Perspective, 1949–1960 Jan Rychlík Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
The Forced Collectivization of Agriculture in Hungary, 1948–1961 József Ö. Kovács Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
III. Land Collectivization in Southeastern Europe
The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania, 1949–1962 Constantin Iordachi and Dorin Dobrincu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Collectivization in Yugoslavia: Rethinking Regional and National Interests Melissa K. Bokovoy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Collectivization and Social Change in Bulgaria, 1940s–1950s Mihail Gruev Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	329
“Any Other Road Leads Only to the Restoration of Capitalism in the Countryside:” Land Collectivization in Albania Örjan Sjöberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	369
IV. Axes of Differentiation: Center and Periphery, “Class Struggle,” Social and Ethnic Cleavages
Collectivization as Social Practice: Historical Narratives and Competing Memories as Sources of Agency in the Collectivization Campaign in the GDR Arnd Bauer Kämper Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	401
The Appropriation and Modification of the “Soviet Model” of Collectivization: The Case of Hungary Zsuzsanna Varga Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	433
Collectivization at the Grass Roots Level: State Planning and Popular Reactions in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and the GDR, 1948–1960 Gregory R. Witkowski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	467
Eastern European Collectivization Campaigns Compared, 1945–1962 Nigel Swain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	497
V. Appendix
About the Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	535
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	543

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 570
Keywords: Agriculture; Collectivization; Communism; Political studies; Central and Eastern Europe

eBook

Published: February 20, 2014
ISBN: 9789633860489