Kolkhoz

A kolkhoz (Russian: колхо́з; IPA: [kɐˈlxos], Russian plural kolkhozy, anglicized plural kolkhozes) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz (plural sovkhozy or sovkhozes). These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to emerge in Soviet agriculture after the October Revolution of 1917, as an antithesis both to the feudal structure of impoverished serfdom and landlords and to individual or family farming.

The 1920s were characterized by spontaneous emergence of collective farms, under influence of traveling propaganda workers. Initially a collective farm resembled an updated version of the traditional Russian "commune", the generic "farming association" (zemledel’cheskaya artel’), the association for joint cultivation of land (TOZ), and finally the kolkhoz. This gradual shift to collective farming in the first 15 years after the October Revolution was turned into a "violent stampede" during the forced collectivization campaign that began in 1928.

The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство (kollektivnoye khozyaystvo), suggesting collective ownership. On the other hand, sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство (sovetskoye khozyaystvo), suggesting state ownership.

As a collective farm, a kolkhoz was legally organized as a production cooperative. The Standard Charter of a kolkhoz, which since the early 1930s had the force of law in the USSR, is a model of cooperative principles in print. It speaks of the kolkhoz as a "form of agricultural production cooperative of peasants that voluntarily unite for the purpose of joint agricultural production based on [...] collective labor". It asserts that "the kolkhoz is managed according to the principles of socialist self-management, democracy, and openness, with active participation of the members in decisions concerning all aspects of internal life".

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