Stalin, Collectivisation and the Grain Crisis 1927-8

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Explaining History, Nick delves into the critical years of 1928-1929, exploring the mindset of the Soviet leadership on the eve of the Great Famine. Drawing from Robert Conquest’s seminal work The Harvest of Sorrow, we examine how Stalin’s paranoia and Marxist-Leninist ideology filtered his understanding of the peasantry.

Why did the Bolsheviks view grain reserves as evidence of a "Kulak war" against the state? How did faulty statistics and a fundamental misunderstanding of village life lead to catastrophic policy decisions? We unpack the tragic logic...