Grain Collections from the 1931 Harvest

Abstract

On April 13, 1930, Sovnarkom decreed that the ‘delivery norms’ for kolkhozy would amount to one-quarter to one-third of the harvest in grain areas, and no more than one-eighth of the harvest elsewhere. The remainder would be ‘at the full disposal of the kolkhozy’ (see vol. 1, p. 343). During the collections from the 1930 harvest these relatively benevolent provisions were almost entirely disregarded. Other, more effective, decrees insisted that all ‘marketed production’ (tovarnaya produktsiya) of grain should be transferred to the state. In practice, kolkhozy were required to deliver the state grain quota imposed on them, irrespective of the size of their harvest.