Figure 1.--Here in Turkmenu=istan, local authorities turned to school girls to help with the cotton crop. Cotton was not just used to make uniforms, but was also used n the production of gun powder. |
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The Soviet agricultural sector was devestated by colectivization and the attacks on the kulacks, especially in the Ukraine. Some clame collectivization enabled the Soviets to more effectively resist the the NAZIs. I am not sure about this. Soviet agricultural production was impaired by the man power needs of the army. This was only partially resolved by mobilizing other labor sources such as school children. The war effort also shifted production away from the agricultural sector. The production of farm vehicles was vurtually terminated as was the production of fertilizer. An even greater prblem was the NAZI seizure of huge areas of some of the most roductive farm land in the Sioviet Union. The NAZIs seized much of the Ukraine in 1941 and the rest in th1942. Even when these lands were liberated during 1943-44, farms were damaged by the Soviet scoarched earth effort (1941-42) and the NAZIs destroyed buildings and equipment, especially as they retreated (1943-44). We are unsure how Russia survived without the Ukranian bread basket. America provided substantial food supplies, but this was primarily used for the military. Nor do we have details on how the NAZIs used and exploited the agricuktural lands that they seized and exploited (1941-42).
The Soviet agricultural sector was devestated by colectivization and the attacks on the kulacks, especially in the Ukraine. The campaigns against the kulacks became essentially an attack on successful peasants who wrer good managers or worked more diligently. [Solzhenitsyn, p. 56.] In the Ukraine the campaign against the kulacks became an effective way of attacking Ukranian nationalism.
Some claim collectivization enabled the Soviets to more effectively resist the the NAZIs. I am not sure about this.
Soviet agricultural production was impaired by the man power needs of the army. This was only partially resolved by mobilizing other labor sources such as school children. The war effort also shifted production away from the agricultural sector. The production of farm vehicles was vurtually terminated as was the production of fertilizer.
An even greater prblem was the NAZI seizure of huge areas of some of the most roductive farm land in the Sioviet Union. The NAZIs seized much of the Ukraine in 1941 and the rest in th1942. Even when these lands were liberated during 1943-44, farms were damaged by the Soviet scoarched earth effort (1941-42) and the NAZIs destroyed buildings and equipment, especially as they retreated (1943-44). We are unsure how Russia survived without the Ukranian bread basket.
America provided substantial food supplies, but this was primarily used for the military.
We do not yet have details on how the NAZIs used and exploited the agricuktural lands that they seized and exploited (1941-42). We know that large quantities of food stuffs were shipped back to the Reich. The German World War I war effort was crippled by falling farm production and the dreadful food situation in Germany by the last years of the war. Germany when Worlkd War I began produced about 80 percent of its food requirement. The Allied naval blockade and poor Government planning resulted in the food crisis. Not well understood is that in part because of NAZI policies, German farm production declined and when World War II broke out, German was more dependent on food imports than was the case in World War I. The long term plan was to Germanize agricultural lands. The NAZIs began this process in occupied Poland. The German plan for the Ukraine was essentially genocide. Reduce the Slavic population and bring in German colonists. In the short term it was in Germany's interests to maximize agricultural production in the occupied East. German policy, however, appears to have been focused primarily on seizing food and shipping it back to the Reich. We do not have detailed information on actual NAZI occupation policies. We note reports of brutal actions against Ukranians rather than efforts to try to win the loyalty of the local population and to promote production. We are now looking for a good source of information on this subject.
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. Te Gulag Archipelago 1918-56: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (Harper & Row: New York, 1973), 660p.
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