The Dynamics and Legislative Mechanisms of the Collectivisation of Agriculture in Romania. Case Study: The Evolution of the Process of Collectivization in the Former Administrative Region of Cluj (1949-1962)

Abstract

Carried out after the model offered by the Soviet Union, the collectivization of agriculture in Romania has been achieved
between 1949-1962. The subordination of the rural world by the Communist regime, through the collectivization of agriculture, was
achieved, on the one hand, by abolishing private ownership of land and the establishment of cooperative agricultural units (Collective
Agricultural Farms, Agricultural Associations of Peasants, Agricultural Production Cooperative) and on the other hand, through a series
of abuses of those responsible for collectivization (quotas, taxes, threats, intimidation, expulsion of children from school if their parents
did not agree to join the collective farm household or firing the parents for the same reason). The collectivization of agriculture in Cluj
region has experienced three distinct phases: 1949-1952 – the emergence of the first Collective Agricultural Farms and Agricultural
Associations of Peasants; 1953-1958 - the period characterized by a slowdown in the process of collectivization and 1959-1962 - period
characterized by an intensification of the collectivization of agriculture, process perceptible through the number of families placed in
these units and also through the many Agricultural Associations of Peasants transformed or merged into Collective Agricultural Farms.
This process of intensification of the collectivization is also visible through the merge of various Collective Agricultural Farms in order to
facilitate the establishment of larger agricultural units.