Kolektywizacja rolnictwa w powiecie bytowskim

• Authors: Czaja Gerard

Title variants

EN

The Collectivisation of Agricultural Production in the Bytów District

• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The collectivisation of agricultural production in the Bytów District in 1948–1956 was one of the main policy directions of administration authorities and security apparatus. In this article the author has examined the political, economic and social determinants of the collectivisation process and the relations between the authorities and the rural population of Bytów District in the period. Very little has been written on the issue of collectivisation of agricultural production in the Bytow District until now. It has not been adequately refl ected in the publications devoted to the history of the region, either. It has been mentioned only in the publication Dzieje ziemi bytowskiej (The History of the Land of Bytów) edited by Stanisław Gierszewski. However, the information provided therein is hardly critical and contributes to creating a glorious myth of the emergence and activity of cooperative production in Bytów District. The author shows various aspects of the efforts of the Bytów authorities to infl uence the organisation of the cooperative production units, pointing out the variety and gradual evolution of the methods introduced. Another fi eld of research is the reactions of the Bytów peasants to the activity of the authorities, ranging from passivity to active resistance against collectivisation. The author describes the attitude of the security forces towards the Bytów District peasants between 1948–1956 using the material stored in the state archives of Szczecin, Koszalin and Gdansk, as well as the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance in Gdansk and Szczecin. Among the latter, it is worthwhile mentioning in particular the periodical reports of the 4th Department of the District Public Security Offi ce in Bytów and decrees of the Ministry of Public Security. The analysis of the surviving archives shows similarities and differences in the Bytow District as compared to the situation in Gryfice District or Drawsko District. The documents produced by the administration and party offi cials, who were ordered by the central authorities to pay attention to “distortions of the party line”, show the dramatic fate of the inhabitants of collectivised Bytów villages. Analysis of the source material reveals that as a result of a thorough indoctrination in the Stalinist times a signifi cant part of the party, administration and security apparatus considered collectivisation as one of the major political tasks of the party until October 1956.

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
• Journal: Przegląd Zachodniopomorski
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 19-46

Contributors

author

Czaja Gerard