Peasants under siege : the collectivization of Romanian agriculture, 1949-1962 / Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kligman, Gail.

Contributor:

Verdery, Katherine.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Collectivization of agriculture--Romania--History--20th century.

Collectivization of agriculture.

Agriculture and state--Romania--History--20th century.

Agriculture and state.

Romania--Politics and government--1944-1989.

Romania.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (533 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Other Title:

Collectivization of Romanian agriculture, 1949-1962

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1949, Romania's fledgling communist regime unleashed a radical and brutal campaign to collectivize agriculture in this largely agrarian country, following the Soviet model. Peasants under Siege provides the first comprehensive look at the far-reaching social engineering process that ensued. Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery examine how collectivization assaulted the very foundations of rural life, transforming village communities that were organized around kinship and status hierarchies into segments of large bureaucratic organizations, forged by the language of "class warfare" yet saturated with vindictive personal struggles. Collectivization not only overturned property relations, the authors argue, but was crucial in creating the Party-state that emerged, its mechanisms of rule, and the "new persons" that were its subjects. The book explores how ill-prepared cadres, themselves unconvinced of collectivization's promises, implemented technologies and pedagogies imported from the Soviet Union through actions that contributed to the excessive use of force, which Party leaders were often unable to control. In addition, the authors show how local responses to the Party's initiatives compelled the regime to modify its plans and negotiate outcomes. Drawing on archival documents, oral histories, and ethnographic data, Peasants under Siege sheds new light on collectivization in the Soviet era and on the complex tensions underlying and constraining political authority.

Contents:

Laying the groundwork

The Soviet blueprint

The village community and the politics of collectivization, 1945-62

Creating party cadres

Pedagogies of power : technologies of rural transformation

Pedagogies of knowledge production and contestation

Pedagogies of persuasion

Fomenting class war

Outcomes

The collectives are formed

The restratification and bureaucratization of rural life

Conclusion

Appendix I. Project and participants

Appendix II. Methodology

Appendix III. List of interviewers and respondents.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613163868

9781283163866

1283163861

9781400840434

1400840430

OCLC:

744616945