'How did collectivism and industrialisation affect the lives of the people in the Soviet Union during the 1930's?'
             Stalin's approach 'socialism in one country', created a great need for developing the industrial and military might of the Soviet Union. However his plan to industrialise Russia could only be carried out if they were able to import machinery from the West. This capital would have to be paid for, so it was decided funding would be generated by the exportation of one saleable item the country possessed at the time, food. In order to collect enough capital to engage in his speedy industrialisation plan, Stalin brought in the three five years plans in which collectivisation occurred in the first. Collectivisation, caused by the need for rapid industrialisation put enormous pressures on the Soviet people, and had catastrophic effects for them.
             In 1928, famine threatened the people of the Soviet Union once again. The production of food was not keeping up with the population's demand and Stalin's industrialisation programme for the country could only be carried out if it were able to import machinery from the west, in effect squeezing investment capital out of the peasantry. Partly because of the weather and partly because of a reduction in sown area due to lack of technology, the harvest of 1928 was devastatingly poor. Bread rationing was re-introduced and by 1929 the miniscule grain stockpiles were causing anxiety amongst the peasantry. When the people learnt that the grain which had been forced from them was being left to rot in unprotected storage, extensive peasant violence and riots rapidly spread across the nation, so collectivisation was introduced as an action to control the riotous peasants and help push the country towards industrialisation. This process involved the State seizing the land from its owners and dividing it up into a number of government and family ow...