What is a collective farm?

Initially, a collective farm resembled an updated version of the traditional Russian obshchina "commune", the generic "farming association" ( zemledel’cheskaya artel ’ ), the Association for Joint Cultivation of Land (TOZ), and finally the kolkhoz.

When did collective farming start in the Soviet Union?

The Soviet Union introduced collective farming in its constituent republics between 1927 and 1933. The Baltic states and most of the Eastern Bloc (except Poland) adopted collective farming after World War II, with the accession of communist regimes to power.

What did Soviet leaders expect from collective farms?

The Soviet leadership confidently expected that the replacement of individual peasant farms by collective ones would immediately increase the food supply for the urban population, the supply of raw materials for the processing industry, and agricultural exports via state-imposed quotas on individuals working on collective farms.