1936 Soviet Lithograph Map of Crimea and its Collective Farms

This is a c. 1936 Tipo-Lithografia map of Crimea, Ukraine, highlighting collective farms and machine tractor stations - a key element of Stalin's 'Dekulakization', Stalin's 'genocide' against the Ukrainian Kulak (prosperous farmer) class.

A Closer Look

Depicting the entirety of Crimea, then known as the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), the map uses symbols to identify the collective farms and communal large-equipment depots, called 'machine tractor stations or M.T.C.' Red-and-white circles mark the M.T.C. stations. Other symbols identify tobacco, grain, sheep, and poultry farms, among others. Crimea's road network and rail lines are also illustrated.

The map identifies many locations by Crimean Tatar toponyms, later replaced by Russian names as part of Stalin's Sürgün or 'Detartarization' ethnic cleansing. These includes Karasubazar (Belogorsk), Biiuk-Muskomiia (Shirokoe), Ak-Sheikh (Razdolnoe), and Biiuk-Onlar (Oktyabrskoe). In time, the Sürgün even expunged the term Crimean Tatar from the Russian-Soviet lexicon.

Stalin's Genocide through Collectivization

Collectivization of farms in the Soviet Union began in the late 1920s as a response to grain shortages and consequent protests - especially in cities. Stalin believed that replacing privately-owned farms with large collectives would increase overall production. This in turn, he hoped, would ease urban food shortages potentially allow grain exports. Increased exports would in turn foster industrialization. Collectivization was also the key to Stalin's 'Dekulakization' program, arguably a 'genocide' against Ukraine's land owning farmer class, generally known as 'Kulaks'. (Technically, a genocide cannot be committed against a social class, but only a race, religion, or nationality. However, many modern scholars argue that a broader definition of the term is required.) As the Dukulakization progressed, the definition of 'Kulak' also progressed, eventually reaching the point where owning so much chicken, was mark a family as 'Kulak' and target them for elimination. Kulaks were rounded up en mass and deported to work camps in Siberia and other far-off locations, where under horrific conditions, most died. (On this topic, we highly recommend Normal M. Naimark's 2011 book, Stalin's Genocides, published by Princeton Univeristy Press.)

The entwined Collectivization, Dukulakization, and Detartarization processes met with wide resistance throughout the Ukraine. Initially, Stalin hoped that incentives (like the machine-tractor stations) would inspire the non-Kulak Ukrainian peasantry to join the Soviet Communist cause, but the opposite occurred, leading to violent resistance. Protests against collectivization took many forms, including the mass slaughter of livestock. Between 1928 and 1932, Ukraine farmers slaughtered 3.8 million head of cattle, rather than allow them to be seized by the collective farms. In response to these riots, the Soviet government blamed 'greedy' Kulaks, increased the Dekulakization, and forced collectivization.

Famine

One aspect of Collectivization specifically in Ukraine was the ever-increasing production quotas placed on Ukrainian farms. In 1930, the government seized 7.7 million tons of a 23.1-million-ton harvest. The following year, due to inefficiencies and protests surrounding collectivization, only 11 - 13 million tons of grain were harvested. Yet, Moscow maintained the 7-million-ton quota and seized that much, leaving Ukrainians with only 112 kg per person. This created a famine, which began in the spring of 1932. Another poor harvest in 1932 was compounded by the famine, and yet Moscow demanded a 6.6-million-ton quota and successfully seized 5 million tons. This meant that Ukrainians were left with 83 kg of grain per person to survive, deepening the famine. To put this in perspective, Ukraine's harvest was 27% of the Soviet Union's total harvest, but Ukraine's quota was 38% of the Soviet Union's total quota. For a detailed history of the famines in Ukraine, we recommend Red Famine by Anne Applebaum.

Sürgün: The Deportation and Exile of the Crimean Tatars

In April 1944, the Soviet Red Army liberated Crimea after a 2.5 year occupation by the Nazis. At that time, 19.4% of the population of Crimea were Crimean Tatar, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority, while 50% of the population was Russian. Within a month of liberation, the Crimean Tatar population was forcibly deported and exiled from Crimea on false charges of having collaborated with the Nazis. 180,014 Crimean Tatars were deported over the course of three days in May 1944 and Crimean Tatars serving in the Red Army were arrested and sent to labor camps in the Ural Mountains or Siberia. Thousands died during the deportations and tens of thousands more perished because of the horrific living conditions they were forced to endure upon arriving at their destination. Crimean Tatars were not 'pardoned' during Nikita Khrushchev's condemnation of Stalin's ethnic deportations, and thus remained in Central Asia until the 1980s, during the era of Perestroika, when they were finally allowed to return to Crimea.

Publication History and Census

This map was lithographed by Tipo-Lithografia KPT in Simferopol c. 1936. The map had a circulation of 30,000, but it is an extremely ephemeral piece and this the only known survivor - although we see one digitized version online.