which joined the collectives in three of the chief agri- 
cultural regions: 
Percentage of Peasant Holdings Joining Collective Farms 
June 1, June 1, June 1, Oct. 1, May 1-15, 
Region 1927 1928 1929 1929 1930 
Northern Caucasus... 1.6 5.2 7.3 10.0 55.2 
Lower Volga cw. 1.6 21 5.9 18.3 84.8 
Steppe Region of 
Ukraine ev. 1.6 38 8.6 16.0 45.4 
The collective farm movement has made big strides 
throughout the U. S. S. R., extending from the grain 
regions of the south and embracing to an ever greater 
extent the central and northern regions of the country. 
VIII 
What has led to such an enormous growth in the 
collectivization of agriculture in the U. 8. 8S. R.? The 
answer to this question lies in those advantages of 
large-scale collective production which were disclosed 
in the process of collectivization in the first years of 
the formation of large-scale collective farms. First of 
all the collectivization of peasant holdings eliminated 
boundary strips, and, in connection therewith, increased 
the utilization of the means of production in the large- 
scale farms thus formed. An enormous role in this 
uniting of the small peasant strips into the large tracts 
of the collective farms has been played by the national- 
ization of land in the U. S. S. R. and by the abolition 
of private ownership in land. This has provided the 
indispensable basis for combining the many thousands 
of small scattered strips of land, constituting the 
peasant holdings which entered into the collective 
farms, into the large land tracts of the collective farms, 
organized in conformity with the topographical condi- 
tions, with the nature of the soil, and with the best 
20