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kulak
kulak The Russian term originally applied to moneylenders, merchants, and anyone who was acquisitive. It then came to apply specifically to wealthy peasants who, as a result of Stolypin agrarian reforms, acquired relatively large farms and were financially able to employ labour. A new section in the rural community had thus emerged which was marked by efficiency in cultivation and management, as well as wealth. The redistribution of landholdings in the agrarian reforms of 1917–18 reduced their numbers considerably, so that it is doubtful whether in following years they continued to form a distinctive social group. By contrast, during the 1920s, for Stalin, a kulak was a wealthy peasant with property in the original sense and, effectively, any other peasant who resisted (or was charged with resisting) Communist policies. These groups were thus one of his central ‘bourgeois’ enemies. From 1928, he destroyed these kulaks through expropriation (collectivization), mass deportations of around six million people to less fertile lands (often Siberia), and executions.
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JAN PALMOWSKI. "kulak." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAN PALMOWSKI. "kulak." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-kulak.html JAN PALMOWSKI. "kulak." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-kulak.html |
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kulak
kulak (Russian, “fist”) Moneylenders, merchants, and anyone considered to be acquisitive. The term became specifically applied to wealthy peasants who, as a result of the agrarian reforms of STOLYPIN (1906), acquired relatively large farms and were financially able to employ labour. As a new element in rural Russia they were intended to create a stable middle class and a conservative political force. During the period of Lenin's NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (1921) they increasingly appeared to be a potential threat to a communist state, and Stalin's COLLECTIVIZATION policy (1928) inevitably aroused their opposition. Between 1929 and 1934 the great majority of farms were collectivized and the kulaks annihilated.
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Cite this article
"kulak." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "kulak." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-kulak.html "kulak." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-kulak.html |
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kulak
kulak a peasant in Russia wealthy enough to own a farm and hire labour. Emerging after the emancipation of serfs in the 19th century the kulaks resisted Stalin's forced collectivization, but millions were arrested, exiled, or killed.
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Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "kulak." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "kulak." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-kulak.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "kulak." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-kulak.html |
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kulak
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•tamarack • anorak
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Cite this article
"kulak." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "kulak." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-kulak.html "kulak." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-kulak.html |
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