Closed letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) on the tasks of collective farm construction in connection with the consolidation of small collective farms

April 2, 1951

Source: Stalin I.V. Works. - T. 18. - Tver: Information and Soyuz Publishing Center, 2006, pp. 676–685 

Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, regional committees, regional committees, district committees, city committees and district committees of the party .

The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union is addressing this letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, regional committees, city committees and district committees of the party due to the fact that there is a misunderstanding among some of the party and Soviet workers, or an erroneous idea on a number of important issues of collective farm construction at the present stage.

Some leading workers, especially in connection with the measures being taken to enlarge the small collective farms, make serious mistakes and distortions of the Party line in collective farm construction.

The Soviet government and the Communist Party have achieved major successes in the development of socialist agriculture. These successes have been achieved as a result of the creation of a large-scale socialist industry and the collective farm system. They have been achieved on the basis of the consistent implementation of the Party's policy in collective-farm construction. Steady implementation of the Party line in collective-farm development is the most important condition for the further advancement of socialist agriculture.

In the system of measures to ensure a further rise in the productive forces of socialist agriculture, the consolidation of small collective farms is of great importance. In recommending to the collective farmers to enlarge the small collective farms, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks proceeded from the need to create the most favorable conditions for the successful accomplishment of the main task in the field of agriculture. Such a main task is a significant increase in the yield of all agricultural crops, a rapid increase in the social number of livestock with a simultaneous significant increase in its productivity. Only with the successful solution of this main task will we achieve that in our country there will be an abundance of food, light industry will be in full measure provided with raw materials (cotton, flax, beets, etc.), sufficient state food and raw materials reserves will be accumulated, all our collective farms will become prosperous and the collective farmers will live richly.

Many years of experience in collective-farm development has shown that the most successful development of the social economy is on the large collective farms, which have significant advantages over the small collective farms.

On large collective farms on large tracts of land, tractors, combines and other complex agricultural machines, as well as collective farm means of production, are used much more productively.

Large collective farms have the opportunity to conduct a developed diversified economy based on correct field and fodder crop rotations and advanced agricultural technology, and to obtain higher crop yields.

Large collective farms can more successfully develop highly productive public animal husbandry by improving the maintenance of livestock, feeding and caring for them, building improved buildings, mechanizing work in animal husbandry, correct organization of labor, introducing fodder crop rotations, increasing the productivity of meadows and pastures, etc.

With sufficient labor and financial resources at their disposal, large collective farms can carry out the construction of reservoirs, lay irrigation and drainage canals, that is, expand the material and technical base of the social economy in every possible way. On large collective farms great opportunities open up for the construction of collective-farm hydroelectric power plants, as well as thermal power plants using local fuel, since only large collective farms will be able to make significant capital investments for the purchase of electrical equipment and the construction of an irrigation network for the development of irrigated agriculture based on the use of electric energy.

Finally, on the large collective farms it is possible to make fuller and more correct use of agricultural specialists and cadres educated by the collective-farm system and capable of skillfully directing collective-farm production.

It would seem that the question of the main task in agriculture and the ways of solving it, which has been set out many times in the resolutions of the Party and government, is clear enough and does not require additional clarification. However, the facts show that in this respect the situation is not entirely favorable.

1. Some of our party and Soviet workers have an incorrect, consumer-oriented approach to the questions of collective farm construction, which is expressed in the substitution of the main, namely, production task in agriculture, for the task of immediately reorganizing the life of collective farmers, which should divert the main forces and means of collective farms from solving the most important production tasks, should lead to the disorganization of the collective-farm economy and, consequently, to harm the entire cause of socialist construction.

These comrades forget that production plays the main and decisive role in the development of any social system. This fully applies to the new, still young collective-farm system, because the production of collective farms, the degree of development of this production, also determine the way of life and the cultural level, i.e., all other aspects of collective farm life.

The mistake of these comrades lies in the fact that they forget about the main, production tasks of the collective farms and bring to the fore the consumer tasks derived from them, the tasks of home improvement on the collective farms, housing construction in the countryside. Everyday tasks are undoubtedly important, but they are still derivative, subordinate, and not the main ones. Forgetting or belittling the main, production tasks may lead all our practical work in the countryside down the wrong path, hinder the further development of the collective farms, and thereby cause serious harm to the collective farm system.

2. Proceeding from the wrong, consumerist approach to questions of collective farm construction, some of our Party and Soviet workers, in connection with the enlargement of small collective farms, erroneously propose to forcefully carry out the mass resettlement of villages in large collective farm settlements, to put all the old collective farm buildings and houses of collective farmers into scrap and not taking into account the consequences of the hasty resettlement of villages and villages, to create large "collective-farm settlements", "collective-farm cities", "agro-cities" in new places, considering this as the most important task of organizational and economic strengthening of collective farms.

Such a formulation of the question is fundamentally wrong. If this erroneous policy in matters of collective-farm development were granted the rights of citizenship, it would inevitably lead to a slowdown of the rates of expanded reproduction on the collective farms, to the diversion of the forces and means of the collective farms and the Soviet state from solving the main tasks of further advancing agriculture.

3. The erroneous proposal for the accelerated resettlement of villages and the construction of large settlements is connected with the incorrect position of some workers regarding the reduction of household land of collective farmers.

The charter of the agricultural artel proceeds from the fact that, along with the public economy of the collective farm, which is the main strength of the collective farm, there must be a personal household plot of the collective farmer, as an auxiliary. This expresses the well-known position of Marxism-Leninism, which requires a combination of the personal interests of the collective farmer with the public interests of the artel. That is why, along with the social economy, there is a small subsidiary farm of the collective farm yard in the artel to meet some of the personal needs of the collective farmer, since these needs cannot yet be fully satisfied at the expense of the artel economy.

Therefore, the proposal to reduce the size of the backyard plot of a collective-farm yard in a collective-farm settlement to 10 or 15 hundredths of a hectare and to move the rest of the backyard plot outside the village must be considered completely wrong. Proposing the allocation of two plots of land for a collective farm yard means giving the collective farmer the wrong impression that they are going to take away his personal plot. It is clear that this can only bring harm to the entire collective-farm business.

These are the main mistakes made by some of our comrades in the matter of amalgamating the collective farms.

It should be noted that similar errors were also made in the well-known article by Comrade Khrushchev “On Construction and Improvement in Collective Farms”, who fully recognized the fallacy of his article (see this document. - Ed .).

The following tasks of the Party follow from what has been said.

First, to put an end to the wrong, consumer-oriented approach to the questions of collective-farm construction and to carry out work to strengthen the mobilization of our Party and Soviet cadres in the countryside, the collective-farm activists and all collective farmers for the successful solution of the main task in collective-farm construction - to further increase the productivity of agricultural crops, to development of public animal husbandry and increase of its productivity.

Capital investments of funds and labor of collective farmers must be directed primarily to the development of the public economy - the construction of livestock buildings, the construction of irrigation and drainage canals, reservoirs, the uprooting of land from shrubs, the planting of shelterbelts, the construction of outbuildings, collective farm power plants, etc.

Secondly, to put an end to the incorrect attitude that the most important thing in collective-farm construction is the settlement of small villages into single collective-farm settlements. Party organizations should proceed from the fact that the amalgamation of small collective farms does not necessarily mean the creation of a single settlement on each collective farm by resettling villages. New cultural and community construction should be carried out in the artels in accordance with the resources available to the public collective farm economy.

Thirdly, it is necessary to resolutely suppress attempts to reduce the size of the household plot of the collective farm yard and to move part of the household plot outside the settlement, as unacceptable and harmful.

Further, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks considers it necessary to draw the attention of the Party organizations to those shortcomings in their work that manifest themselves in carrying out large and important work to enlarge the small collective farms.

Some excessively zealous Party and Soviet workers show excessive haste in carrying out the work of uniting the small collective farms, do not follow the instructions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks that the work of uniting the small collective farms should not turn into a campaign, into competition. In many enlarged collective farms, production activity is slowly being established, work is not being carried out to introduce crop rotations, labor is poorly organized, production teams have not been strengthened, and the construction of livestock and other farm buildings is being unsatisfactorily carried out. The presence of these shortcomings prevents the collective farms from making full use of the advantages of large-scale farming. Many regional and district party workers do not take into account that the creation of large diversified collective farms increases the responsibility of the Party organizations for managing the social economy of the collective farms and requires more careful, skillful and qualified leadership from the Party organs.

These shortcomings must also be eliminated more quickly when the collective farms are enlarged.

The work of amalgamating the small collective farms must be carried out without forcing and haste, in no case should it be turned into a campaign, strictly observing the principle of voluntariness in this matter. The consolidation of small collective farms must be preceded by serious preparatory work. In view of the special importance of measures to enlarge the small collective farms, it is necessary that the Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, the krai and oblast committees of the party take over this great work, bearing in mind that it is beyond the power of the raion party committees alone.

The Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, the krai, oblast, and raion committees of the party are also obliged to seriously improve the management of enlarged collective farms and to focus their attention on solving the main task in agriculture - a significant increase in the yield of all agricultural crops, a rapid increase in the total number of livestock, while at the same time a significant increase in its productivity. It is especially important in enlarged collective farms to solve the questions of selecting leading cadres, introducing correct crop rotations, locating livestock farms on the territory of the collective farm, and recruiting production teams.

It is necessary to ensure the further strengthening of the collective farms with leading cadres, primarily in the enlarged collective farms, considering this one of the most important and urgent tasks of the Party organizations. The staff of collective farm chairmen should be strengthened, first of all, by selecting and nominating for this job politically and business-proven specialists with higher and secondary agricultural education.

It is also important to strengthen the composition of foremen of production teams and heads of livestock farms, since their role in enlarged collective farms is growing significantly. Experienced and authoritative collective farmers who know production well and have organizational skills, and, where possible, agricultural specialists, must be nominated for this work.

Based on the specific conditions of an enlarged collective farm, livestock farms of each type of livestock and poultry, by decision of collective farm meetings, can be located in one or more settlements, depending on the availability of premises, natural forage land, watering places for livestock and taking into account  prospects for the development of social animal husbandry and poultry farming. When the collective farms are enlarged, all necessary measures must be taken to further increase the number of social livestock and raise their productivity. Under no circumstances should losses be allowed in animal husbandry from mortality and the squandering of livestock from the livestock farms of enlarged collective farms.

It is necessary to strengthen in every possible way the production brigade as the basic and main form of organization of collective farm labor. The composition of the field-growing brigade of the collective farm must be sufficient to carry out all the agricultural work in the brigade in a timely manner and to carry out general collective farm work. When recruiting brigades and enlarged collective farms, one should take into account the place of residence of the collective farmers and the location of the fields. As part of the field-growing brigades, it is necessary to create links for the cultivation of sugar beet, cotton, sunflower, corn and other tilled crops, since the production of these crops is not yet sufficiently mechanized. Recommend to the collective farms to work out and approve at general meetings new increased output rates, taking into account the achieved level of labor productivity of the advanced part of the collective farmers.

The enlargement of the collective farms created opportunities for the more productive use of tractors, combines and other agricultural machines, both in agriculture and in animal husbandry. However, the Party and Soviet bodies are still unsatisfactorily engaged in improving the use of equipment of the MTS and collective farms. If we take into account that at present the majority of field work is carried out by tractors, combines and other machines, it becomes clear that the further development of agriculture is directly connected with the improvement of the work of the MTS, with the highly productive use of machinery. The struggle for the fullest use of technology in agriculture is one of the most important means of further advancing all branches of collective-farm production. The Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, the krai, oblast and raion committees of the party must achieve a serious improvement in the use of equipment of the MTS and collective farms, as the most important means of raising labor productivity on collective farms, raising crop yields and further developing animal husbandry.

The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks proposes to discuss this letter at a special meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, regional committees, regional committees, district committees and at plenums of district party committees and take practical measures to implement the instructions set out in the letter.

April 2, 1951

Central Committee

All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)