ABSTRACT
The standard story then turns from the dilemma of New Economy Policy to the grain crisis of 1927–1928. Revolution and civil war brought economic life almost to a standstill and destroyed the old social structure. In any case, the ‘standard story’ has always focused on the First Five-Year Plan, not the Second, and it is already a significant revision of the standard theory to say that the contribution of agriculture was postponed until after 1932. Collectivization was a necessary step if the Soviet Union was to achieve the rate of industrialization that it did in the 1930s. In the countryside, a state of major crisis and warfare existed between the government and the peasants. Marketings of grain were off sharply at this time, and ‘emergency measures’ were taken in 1928 to confiscate hoards of grain from the peasantry. In addition to insecurity of income, the peasants were denied the benefits of social security that state guaranteed its workers and employees.
