| Publication |
2009.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
This article uses the transcripts of the Central Committee Plenums from December 1928 to November 1929 to re-evaluate James Millar's three propositions concerning collectivisation and the net agricultural surplus. It finds that the debate between Stalin and Bukharin was indeed consistent with Millar's analysis and it supplies new information on the role of markets, repression and primitive accumulation. I examine these questions against the backdrop of the Central Committee transcripts to determine whether the principals truly aimed to increase the agricultural surplus as defined by Millar, their respective positions on coercion, and the role of Marxist ideology in their decision making. The aim is to discover what the actual decision makers expected from collectivisation and the extent to which they (or their critics) were aware of the possible unanticipated consequences of their actions.
|