Skip to content

Collectivisation, Five Year Plans, Purges | ISC Class 11

questionbuddy.in/isc/class-11/history/rise-of-communism-under-stalin-in-russia/collectivisation-five-year-plans-and-the-purges

HistoryISC Class 11 · Rise of Communism under Stalin in Russia

Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges (ISC Class 11 History)

Updated 17 October 2026 · Draft, not yet fact-checked

From 1929 Stalin pooled peasants' land into collective farms (kolkhozy), liquidated the kulaks as a class and, with the First (1928-32) and Second (1933-37) Five Year Plans, made the USSR a heavy industrial power at a terrible human cost. The purges of 1937-38 removed rivals and part of the army and left an atmosphere of fear.

Understand Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges

Collectivisation. Reasons: grain procurement crisis (1927-28) as peasants held back grain; need to feed workers and export grain to pay for machinery; ideology; breaking the kulaks. Policy from 1929: land, animals and tools pooled into kolkhozy under state direction with delivery quotas; sovkhozy employed wage workers; Machine Tractor Stations supplied tractors and supervised; kulaks liquidated as a class (deported, imprisoned or killed). Impact: peasants slaughtered animals and burned crops (cattle numbers fell about a third between 1929 and 1931); grain output fell while procurement continued, causing the famine of 1932-33 in which millions died, especially in Ukraine and Kazakhstan; by the late 1930s nearly all farming was collectivised and the state controlled grain; agriculture stayed inefficient.

Five Year Plans (Gosplan). First Plan (1928-32): heavy industry (coal, iron, steel, oil, electricity, machinery), declared complete in four years; Magnitogorsk and the Dnieper dam; output of coal, oil and pig iron rose sharply between 1929 and 1933 (coal nearly doubled; oil and pig iron rose by about half or more), though targets were not met. Second Plan (1933-37): heavy industry with more attention to transport (railways, canals, the Moscow metro) and somewhat more consumer goods; Stakhanovite movement (1935). Methods: high targets, propaganda, piece-rates, harsh discipline, internal passports, Gulag forced labour. Results: a major industrial power able to fight World War II, but lagging consumer goods, housing and wages, poor quality and a high human cost.

Purges (1937-38). Pretext: the murder of Kirov (December 1934). Show trials (1936-38) in which Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin confessed to absurd charges and were executed. The army purged: Tukhachevsky and much of the senior officer corps (1937). Ordinary citizens, managers and minorities were arrested by the NKVD under Yezhov; hundreds of thousands executed and over a million sent to camps. Reasons: removing rivals, scapegoats, suspicion, fear of enemies within. Results: absolute power and a personality cult, fear, a weakened army and loss of skilled people.

Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges: key facts

Plans
  • First Plan 1928-32 (declared done in four years)
  • Second Plan 1933-37
  • Gosplan
Collectivisation
1927-28grain crisis
1929kolkhozy
Kulaks liquidated
1932-33famine
Purges
  • December 1934 Kirov
  • 1936-38 show trials
  • 1937 army purge
  • NKVD under Yezhov
Farm units
Kolkhozcollective farm
Sovkhozstate farm
MTSMachine Tractor Station

How to answer Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges questions

Expect 4-mark reasons and impact items for each policy and an 8-mark appraisal of Stalin's policies.

  1. 1State reasons for collectivisation in economic and ideological terms.
  2. 2Describe the system and the treatment of kulaks.
  3. 3Give impact: resistance, famine, state control.
  4. 4For plans and purges, give aims, methods, results and costs.

Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges in real life

The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Cattle numbers

Suppose a district had 900 cattle in 1929 and the number fell by a third by 1931.

Find the number lost and the number left.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Loss = 900/3 = 300.
  2. Left = 900 - 300 = 600.

Answer: 300 lost; 600 left.

Memory hook: A third of 900.

A plan declared early

Suppose a five-year plan is declared complete in four years.

Find the time saved as a percentage of the plan period.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Saved = 5 - 4 = 1 year.
  2. 1/5 x 100 = 20 per cent.

Answer: 1 year; 20 per cent.

Memory hook: Time saved over plan.

Tricks to remember Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

  • Kolkhoz collective, Sovkhoz state

    Kolkhoz members run farms; sovkhoz workers are wage earners.

    Use it when: Farm types.

  • First heavy, second transport

    First Plan heavy industry; Second added transport and consumer goods.

    Use it when: Plans.

Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges: solved examples

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.

Example 1: Farm type · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

A collective farm run by its members under state direction was a:
(a) sovkhoz
(b) kolkhoz
(c) Gulag
(d) Gosplan

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Pooled land.

Answer: (b) Kolkhoz.

Example 2: Purge facts · 3 marks · Short answerBoard level

Name the secret police, the head in 1937-38 and the prominent trial victims.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. NKVD.
  2. Yezhov headed it.
  3. Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin were tried and executed.

Answer: NKVD; Yezhov; Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin.

Example 3: Collectivisation · 4 marks · Long answerHarder board level

Explain the reasons for and impact of collectivisation.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Reasons: the grain procurement crisis, need to feed workers and export grain, ideology and breaking the kulaks.
  2. Policy: kolkhozy, quotas and liquidation of kulaks.
  3. Impact: peasants slaughtered animals; cattle fell by about a third.
  4. Famine of 1932-33 killed millions, especially in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Answer: Grain crisis and ideology led to kolkhozy; resistance and famine followed.

Example 4: Five Year Plans · 4 marks · Long answerHarder board level

Describe the aims, methods and results of the First Five Year Plan.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Aim: heavy industry (coal, iron, steel, oil, electricity, machinery).
  2. Methods: high targets, propaganda, harsh discipline and forced labour.
  3. Results: declared complete in four years; new cities like Magnitogorsk; output of coal, oil and pig iron rose sharply between 1929 and 1933 (coal nearly doubled; oil and pig iron rose by about half or more), though targets were not met.
  4. Costs: poor consumer goods and a high human cost.

Answer: Heavy industry with high targets, sharp rises in output but with a human cost.

Example 5: Appraisal · 5 marks · Case-basedHOTS / competency

Case: A historian says Stalin's policies built power at a terrible cost. (a) Give two industrial achievements. (b) Give two human costs. (c) Explain one effect of the 1937 army purge.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. (a) Heavy industrial base and cities like Magnitogorsk, readiness for World War II.
  2. (b) Famine of 1932-33 and Gulag forced labour, or the arrest of over a million in the purges.
  3. (c) Tukhachevsky and much of the senior officer corps were shot or imprisoned, weakening the army.

Answer: (a) Heavy industry; war readiness (b) famine; Gulag (c) a weakened army.

Where students lose marks in Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

  • Mistake: Treating the First Plan as complete in five years

    Claim misquoted.

    Do this: It was declared complete in four years.

    Usually costs: 1 mark.

  • Mistake: Mixing kolkhoz and sovkhoz

    Terms swapped.

    Do this: Kolkhoz: collective; sovkhoz: state farm.

    Usually costs: 1 mark.

  • Mistake: Ignoring the human cost

    Only output is given.

    Do this: Add famine, Gulag and purges.

    Usually costs: 2 marks.

Exam tips

  • Use neutral wording but state the human cost.
  • Give plan dates exactly.
  • Explain each abbreviation once.
  • Close with a balanced judgement.

Practice questions on Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

  1. Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

    The Stakhanovite movement rewarded workers who:
    (a) left farms
    (b) exceeded output norms
    (c) joined collectives
    (d) opposed Stalin

    Hint

    1935.

    Answer

    (b) Exceeded output norms.

  2. Q2 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level

    Explain why the kulaks were targeted.

    Hint

    Independent power.

    Answer

    Kulaks were better-off peasants who held independent economic power; the regime sought to break this and liquidated them as a class by deportation, imprisonment or killing.

  3. Q3 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level

    Describe the main features of the Second Five Year Plan.

    Hint

    Transport and consumer goods.

    Answer

    It continued heavy industry with more attention to railways, canals and the Moscow metro and somewhat more consumer goods, with the Stakhanovite movement from 1935.

  4. Q4 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level

    Calculate the time between the start of collectivisation (1929) and the famine (1932-33), and between the Kirov murder (December 1934) and the army purge (1937).

    Hint

    Subtract.

    Answer

    1932 - 1929 = 3 years (to 1933: 4 years); 1937 - 1934 = about 3 years.

  5. Q5 · 3 marks · Assertion-reasonHOTS / competency

    Assertion (A): The purges strengthened Stalin's personal power.
    Reason (R): They removed all possible rivals and created an atmosphere of fear.
    (a) Both true and R explains A
    (b) Both true but R does not explain A
    (c) A true, R false
    (d) A false, R true

    Hint

    Rivals removed.

    Answer

    (a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

  1. 1.Gosplan?Show answer

    The planning body.

  2. 2.First plan years?Show answer

    1928-32.

  3. 3.Famine years?Show answer

    1932-33.

  4. 4.Kirov killed?Show answer

    December 1934.

  5. 5.Show trial victims?Show answer

    Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin.

Collectivisation, the Five Year Plans and the Purges: frequently asked questions

Why heavy industry?

To build military and industrial strength quickly.

Who ran the NKVD?

Yezhov at the time of the Great Terror.

What were MTS?

Machine Tractor Stations supplying tractors and supervising farms.