---
title: "Kulaks — AP Euro Definition, Stalin & Collectivization"
description: "Kulaks were land-owning peasants Stalin labeled class enemies and liquidated during collectivization. Core to AP Euro Topic 8.6 and the Ukraine famine."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-euro/key-terms/kulaks"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP European History"
unit: "Unit 8"
---

# Kulaks — AP Euro Definition, Stalin & Collectivization

## Definition

Kulaks were the land-owning peasants of the Soviet Union whom Stalin branded class enemies and "liquidated" during collectivization in the late 1920s and 1930s, a centerpiece of the human cost of his rapid economic modernization (AP Euro Topic 8.6, KC-4.2.I.E).

## What It Is

Kulaks (Russian for "fists") were the wealthier peasants of the [Soviet](/ap-euro/unit-8/russian-revolution-effects/study-guide/NLQ5ffQbY6V7jTD9nB7F "fv-autolink") countryside, the ones who owned land, livestock, or hired labor. They weren't aristocrats or even especially rich by Western standards. They were just successful enough to have something to lose, which made them the natural opponents of [Stalin](/ap-euro/key-terms/stalin "fv-autolink")'s plan to merge all private farms into state-run collectives.

When Stalin launched collectivization alongside the Five Year Plans, kulaks who resisted handing over their land were declared enemies of the state. The regime's answer was "liquidation of the kulaks as a class," meaning mass deportation to labor camps, execution, and confiscation of everything they owned. Millions were affected, and the destruction of the countryside's most productive farmers helped trigger the devastating famine in Ukraine. The [AP Euro](/ap-euro "fv-autolink") CED names this directly in KC-4.2.I.E as part of the "high price" of Stalin's economic modernization.

## Why It Matters

Kulaks live in [Unit 8](/ap-euro/unit-8 "fv-autolink") (20th-Century Global Conflicts), Topic 8.6 (Fascism and Totalitarianism), under learning objective 8.6.B, which asks you to explain the consequences of Stalin's economic policies and totalitarian rule. The kulaks are your single best piece of evidence for that LO. They show how Stalin's modernization wasn't just an economic program but a campaign of state [terror](/ap-euro/key-terms/terror "fv-autolink") against his own population. The CED bundles the liquidation of the kulaks with the Ukraine famine, the purges, and the creation of an oppressive political system, so knowing the kulaks lets you explain the whole causal chain from collectivization to mass death. They're also a go-to example whenever the exam asks how totalitarian regimes treated perceived internal enemies.

## Connections

### [Collectivization (Unit 8)](/ap-euro/key-terms/collectivization)

Dekulakization was the enforcement arm of [collectivization](/ap-euro/key-terms/collectivization "fv-autolink"). To force every peasant onto state-run collective farms, Stalin first had to destroy the peasants with the most reason to resist, and that was the kulaks.

### [Famine in Ukraine (Unit 8)](/ap-euro/key-terms/famine-in-ukraine)

Wiping out the most productive farmers while seizing grain quotas helped produce the catastrophic Ukrainian famine of the early 1930s. The CED lists the kulak liquidation and the famine side by side as consequences of the same policy.

### [Five Year Plans (Unit 8)](/ap-euro/key-terms/five-year-plans)

Stalin needed grain exports to fund rapid [industrialization](/ap-euro/unit-6/context-industrialization/study-guide/giIfSjTUSAVm82neDXdT "fv-autolink"). Collectivized farms were supposed to deliver that grain, so the kulaks were sacrificed to pay for factories, dams, and steel mills.

### Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany (Unit 8)

Topic 8.6 covers both fascist and Soviet totalitarianism, and a classic comparison move is scapegoating. [Hitler](/ap-euro/key-terms/hitler "fv-autolink") defined enemies by race; Stalin defined them by class. The kulaks are the Soviet half of that comparison.

## On the AP Exam

Kulaks show up most often in multiple-choice questions tied to Stalin's economic policies. Typical stems ask why Stalin targeted the kulaks during economic modernization, which group was harmed most by collectivization, or what the anti-kulak campaign reveals about totalitarian regimes. The expected reasoning is always the same. Kulaks owned land, collectivization required abolishing private farms, so the state branded them class enemies and destroyed them. No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but kulaks are strong specific evidence for an LEQ or DBQ on the consequences of Stalin's rule or on how interwar regimes used terror against internal enemies. Name the group, the policy (collectivization), and the consequence (liquidation and famine) and you've earned your evidence point.

## kulaks vs Serfs

Serfs were unfree peasants legally bound to the land under the old Russian Empire, emancipated by Alexander II in 1861. Kulaks were the opposite problem for the state. They were free peasants who had become relatively prosperous landowners after emancipation. The tsars worried about peasants having too little; Stalin attacked the peasants who had too much. Don't write "Stalin liquidated the serfs" on an FRQ. Serfdom had been gone for nearly 70 years by then.

## Key Takeaways

- Kulaks were the land-owning peasants of the Soviet Union, prosperous enough to own farms and livestock but nowhere near aristocratic wealth.
- Stalin targeted them because their private landholding stood in the way of collectivization, the forced merger of farms into state-run collectives.
- The 'liquidation of the kulaks as a class' meant deportation, execution, and confiscation, affecting millions of people.
- Destroying the most productive farmers contributed directly to the devastating famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.
- The CED (KC-4.2.I.E) lists the kulak liquidation alongside the Ukraine famine and the purges as the human cost of Stalin's rapid economic modernization.
- On the exam, kulaks are your prime example of a totalitarian regime manufacturing an internal enemy and using state terror against its own people.

## FAQs

### What were kulaks in AP Euro?

Kulaks were the land-owning peasants of the Soviet Union whom Stalin labeled class enemies and liquidated during collectivization in the late 1920s and 1930s. They appear in Topic 8.6 as evidence of the human cost of Stalin's economic modernization.

### Were kulaks actually rich?

No, not in any Western sense. Most kulaks were simply peasants who owned a bit more land or livestock than their neighbors, or who hired occasional labor. The Soviet state stretched the label to cover almost anyone who resisted collectivization.

### Why did Stalin liquidate the kulaks?

Collectivization required abolishing private farms, and the kulaks were the peasants with the most to lose, so they resisted. Stalin declared them class enemies and eliminated them through deportation to labor camps, execution, and property seizure to clear the way for collective farms feeding his Five Year Plans.

### How are kulaks different from serfs?

Serfs were unfree peasants bound to the land, emancipated in Russia in 1861. Kulaks were free peasants who became modestly prosperous landowners afterward. Stalin's campaign targeted kulaks in the 1930s, decades after serfdom ended.

### Are kulaks connected to the famine in Ukraine?

Yes. Liquidating the kulaks destroyed the countryside's most productive farmers while the state kept seizing grain, which helped cause the devastating Ukrainian famine of the early 1930s. The CED pairs the two as consequences of collectivization.

## Related Study Guides

- [8.6 Fascism and Totalitarianism](/ap-euro/unit-8/fascism-totalitarianism/study-guide/VQVaBr0CgJX93gGI6iYe)

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