Address to the Commission of the Second All-Union Congress of Kolkhozines

15 February 1935

If you want to consolidate the artel, if you want to have a mass kolkhozine movement, which will embrace millions of households and not just odd units and groups, if you want to achieve this objective, you are compelled to take into consideration in the actual conditions, not only the communal interests of the Kolkhozine people, but also their private interests.

You do not at all take into consideration the private interests of the Kolkhozine people when you say that it is not necessary to give the Kolkhozine more than one-tenth of a hectare as his individual portion of land. Some people think it is not necessary for the Kolkhozine to have a cow, others think it not necessary to have a sow which is capable of breeding. And in general you want to stifle the Kolkhozine. This state of affairs cannot go on. It is incorrect. You are advanced people. I understand that you are very preoccupied with the Kolkhozine system and with the Kolkhozine economy. But are all the Kolkhozines like you? You are therefore a minority in the Kolkhoz. The majority think rather differently. Is it necessary to take this into account or not? I think it is necessary to take this into account.

If in your artel, your products are not yet in abundance and you cannot give to the isolated Kolkhozine family all that it needs, then the Kolkhoz cannot claim to satisfy the social and private needs of the people. It would be better to admit frankly that one aspect of your work is social and the other is private. It would be better to admit squarely, openly and frankly that in the Kolkhozine household, there is inevitably minor but very definite exploitation of the individual. It is not enough to concern yourselves only with the large scale exploitation which is admittedly great, decisive and important and the handling of it is indispensible if the social needs of the people are to be satisfied, but of equal importance with this, if the private needs of the people are to be satisfied, is the handling of the small individual exploitation. If one has a family, children, individual needs and tastes, – with your method these things are not taken into consideration. And you have no right not to take into consideration these current interests of the Kolkhozines. Without this, the consolidation of the Kolkhoz is not possible.

It is the combination of the private interests of the Kolkhozines with their social interests which will lead to consolidation. Here lies the key!

Pravda
13 March 1935