22. To Feed Industrial Workers in the Cities Cheaply, Soviet Authorities Screwed the Peasants in the Countryside
A key factor leading up to the Terror Famine disaster was the Soviet authorities’ decision to ignore the incentives driving the peasants. Collectivization sought to increase the grain available to feed the steadily growing industrial proletariat population in the cities, and to do so at as low a cost as possible. The low cost to consumers in the cities was only made possible by paying the peasants a state-mandated pittance for their produce, unrelated to its true market price.
The peasants, knowing that would not personally benefit from the increased agricultural output, had little incentive to go along. Many viewed collectivization as a “second serfdom”. Especially since they were forced into the collective farms against their will, and did not have the right to leave and seek employment elsewhere without the authorities’ permission – permission that was often denied.