Question

Who were the kulaks? Give example.

Answer 1

The kulaks formed as a class in Russia after the peasant reform of 1861. By the 20th century they were the most numerous stratum of capitalist exploiters: about one-fifth of the peasant households fell into the kulak category. The kulaks’ accumulations resulted from merciless exploitation of the countryside, particularly of the poor peasants and agricultural laborers. The kulaks greeted the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 with hostility. However, while the liquidation of the pomeshchik estates was proceeding (until the summer of 1918), the kulaks stood united with the rest of the peasants.