Write a few lines to show what you know about: (i) Kulaks (ii) The Duma (iii) Women workers between 1900 and 1930 (iv) The Liberals (v) Stalin’s collectivisation programme

Write a few lines to show what you know about: 

(i) Kulaks
(ii) The Duma
(iii) Women workers between 1900 and 1930
(iv) The Liberals
(v) Stalin’s collectivisation programme

Ans.

(i) Kulaks : It is the Russian term for well-to-do peasants. Stalin believed that the Kulaks were hoarding grains to gain more profit. By 1927-28 the towns in Soviet Russia were facing an acute problem of grain supplies and the Kulaks were thought to be partly responsible for this. To develop modern farms and run them along industrial lines with machinery, it was necessary to eliminate Kulaks.

(ii) The Duma : During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an elected consultative Parliament or Duma. It was initially thought to be an advisory organ.

(iii) Women workers between 1900 and 1930 : Women made up 31 per cent of the factory labour force by 1914, but were paid almost half and three-quarters of a man’s wage. In the February Revolution it were the women workers who led the way to strikes.

(iv) The Liberals : The liberals wanted a nation which tolerated all religions. They also opposed the uncontrolled power of dynastic rulers. They argued for a representative, elected parliamentary government, subject to laws interpreted by a well trained judiciary that was independent of rulers and officials. They were of the view that only men of property should have the right to vote.

(v) Stalin’s collectivisation programme : 
(a) Stalin felt that collectivisation would definitely solve the problem of shortage.
(b) From 1929, the Party forced all peasants to cultivate in collective farms (kolkhoz).
(c) The bulk of land and implements were transferred to the ownership of collective farms.
(d) Peasants worked on the land, and the (kolkhoz) profit was shared.
(e) Enraged peasants resisted the authorities and destroyed their livestock. Between 1929 and 1931, the number of cattle fell by one-third.