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.
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