In many collective farms the peasant is allowed to maintain one cow in his courtyard. In the Stalin collective farm where I stayed, the socialisation had made greater strides, and all cattle, pigs, and sheep had become the property of the community.
The dvor (farmyard) was empty, and this was tragically strange to the peasant who from his birth had been accustomed to his animals in the farmyard. “Our dvor is empty,” says the peasant sadly, and he cannot reconcile himself to the ghostly silence behind his hut. He bewails also the lack of food and clothing on the farms.
On the Stalin farm women receive ten pounds of black bread a month and cabbage soup, while those who remain at home receive nothing at all.
In the Ukraine, in one collective the ration was 20 lb. The peasants complain: “Come and see the grain, rotten grain: that is what they keep for us. All the best grain is sent to the nearest town for export, and we do not get enough to eat. Poor Mother Russia is in a sorry plight. What we want is land and our own cows.” In some villages the government seizure of grain has lead ton fighting between the peasants and the Communist authorities.
To the peasant accustomed to till his own strips of land and milk his own cow whenever he wishes, the system is irksome. The collective farm is divided into a number of brigades, each commanded by a brigadier, who in general is young Communist. The kolkhoz administration decides how many worker shall take part in the threshing, how many in the ploughing, or how many in the milking.
One peasant expressed his feelings towards the system in the following words: “It is like being in the army when one is sent out with the brigade.”