ABSTRACT
In analyzing the fluctuations in the collectivization movement attention must be drawn to the factors that caused the collapse of a policy in Hungary and Poland that was being carried out simultaneously in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania. Collectivization policy went through the same fluctuations that characterized the rest of state policy during the years of official disarray. State attention focused on organizational problems on the farms. Corruption by management within the collectives was closely scrutinized. The drain on agriculture meant that the inducements that were intended to make the collectives more attractive to the peasantry never materialized. The Collectivization as Class Struggle Model suggests that the collectivization efforts of the government might have failed because of resistance from the rural wealthy. When Khrushchev's speech denouncing the crimes of Stalin led to an easing of coercive pressures on societies throughout Eastern Europe, Hungarian peasants were ready to demonstrate their disapproval of state policy.
