SOCIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPEAN PEOPLE'S DEMOCRACIES

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• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600390567-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 567
• Publication Date: June 8, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
REPORT
CD NO.
COUNTRY
Satellites
DATE OF
INFORMA
TION
1950
SUBJECT
HOW
Economic - Ags?icul.tl're, cocperat.vos,
land reform
DATE DIST.
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
Semimonthly periodical
Hamburg
NO. OF PAGES
9
DATE
PUBLISHED 10 Oct 1950
LANGUAGE
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
vile "C MINT COR1MOS IEPEEAT10o uncnN THE"""" 1. so
u TEE 11111E $TATn 1101E IEE SWIM Or E$/IOEUE ACT M
O. E. C.. 111 All 11.11 AEEEEL5. ITS TEAENUE.o* of TEE 1111T1LA1101
F In 010171111 BT E LAW O In IIPANY EOi1CCI EIO EI a nl{ FEEOaMOEiM 1i u M} 19
SOURCE Weltkartei der Wirtschaftsresse., No 34, 1950,
SOCIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE
IN EUROPEAN F OFJ..E'ti D lO RAC.t 5
The following article by A. Petrushov was taken from.Planovoye Eliozyeystvo,
No 3, May. = June 1950.
One of the most important revolutionary mass-area An the European People's
Democracies was the effecting of land reforms by which the class of large
landowners was liquidated and every'.form of aerfdcm abslished.
Before the establisammnt of the People's Democraoies, the land in the
respective countries was for the.moet part in the hands of estate owners and
kulaks (peasants with large holdings of land). These, in Poland before the
World War II, farms ffarm" will be used throughout this article for any plot
of land cultivated by a peasant household, although such a plot may vary con-
siderably in size and make-up from the individual farm in the L7 of 5 hec-
tares or less represented 64,6 percent of the total number of agricultural
units, but only 14.8 percent of the entire land area. The corresponding
figures for Rumania were 74.9 and 28 percent; for Czechoslovakia, 70.9 and
15.5 percent; for Hungary (farms up to 5.7 he=tares), 85 and 19.4 percent; and
Bulgaria, 63.1 and 30 percent. In contrast, the large farms of 50 hectares
or more in Poland amounted to only 0,9 percent of the total number of units,
but covered 47.3 percent of the entire land area. The corresponding figures
for Rumania were 0,8 and 32,2 percent; for Czechoslovakia, 1 and 43.4 percent;
for Hundary (farms of 57 hectares or more), 0.8 and 48 percent; and for
Bulgaria, 0.1 and 1.6 percent.
In addition, various forms of serf labor at1 existed to a considerable
extent on small, leased plots of land and in countless small enterprises.
Every spot of land is exploited to the point of exhaustion, as in every piece
of equipment and every draft animal.
World War II led to an even greater deterioration of the peasantry's
situation. For instance, in Poland the loss of horses, dhli'ing the liar amokhted
to 55 percent; of cattle, to 67 percent; of other animal, to 83 percent;
STATE
ARMY
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and of agricultural b:rild.ings. tc 20 pe7::en'., Tn Hungary the number of horses
declined 71 percent from 1940 to 1945, the number of cattle, 60 percent; hog',
80 percent; and sheep, 81 percent.
The basis for land reform was furn'ehed by a decree of the Polish National
Liberation Committee on 6 September 1.944. The expoop tatipo without compensa-
tion of the large estates was proclaimed. All tracts of land containing over
50 hectares of cultivated land or 100 hectares total area, as well as the
entire land property of Germans, war criminals, etc., were taken over by the
land reform fund. The entire property of these landcaner categories, buildings,
equipment, cattle, etc., was confiscated along with the :i,and.
In Czechoslovakia, the land and other property of Germans and national
traitors was confiscated by a decree of 21 June 1945. A national land fund
was formed, which took over the expropriated landed property. However, this
was only the beginning of the agrarian reform. The passage and execution of
the law of 11 June 1947, concerning the cev!.eion of the agrarian reform of
1916, followed. Finally, after the events of February 1948, a radical land
reform was carried out by which hundreds of thousands of hectares of former
estate property were transferred to the peasants. By a de.?ree of 21 March
3,948, the maximum limit for land prcpe:.r'ty was pet at 50 hectares; all land
above this maximum was bought by the ;tale and divided among the peasants.
In Hungary all land, regardless of etra, and ether proper , of Fascist-,
war criminals, and national traitc,ra; was confiscated by a decree of 15 March
1945. In addition, all propertir_ of over 57 hectares 100 cadastral yokes)
had to be surrendered against compensation.
In Rumania, by a law of 20 March 1945,, all land of Germans, people's
enemies, and national traitors, as well as all land in excess of 50 hectares,
was confiscated. Church'an`d cloister lands were exempted from the 50-hectare
limit. After the overtbrcnr of the monarchy, the royal lands also vent into
the national land fund. In 1949, when the property owners who had been given
50 hectares of land each were alleged to be sabotaging agriculture, their
plots of land were likewise confiscated and nationalized..
In Bulgaria, by the law of 12 March 1946, the agricaltral land property
was limited to 20 hectares and to 30 hectare3 in a large port of southern
Dobrudzha. All land in excess of this limit was transferred to the land
fund against 3-percent government bonds ieeued expressly for this purpose.
In addition, a portion of state and public land was transferred to the fund.
In Albania, the landed estates, including all equipment, cattle, and
buildings,, were confiscated by a law of the Anti-.Fascist National Liberation
Council on 29 August 1945.
In all these countries the land was divided among landless and poor
peasants, agricultural workers, and migrants,
In Rumania and Poland, people who obtained such. land had to give the state,
in exchange, prcdu)ce amounting to an average annual :rleld, 1,000.1,500 kilo-
grams of rye or wheat per hectare, or had -to pay the equivalent in cash. The
first payment of 10 percent was to be made immediately after obtaining the land,
and the remainder paid in installments. For peasants, with very little land,
the installments were to be paid within 10 years, and for landless peasants
and agricultural workers, within 20 years. In individual cases, the first
payment was postponed 3 years. In Hungary, the new owner had to pay an amount
equal to 20 times the net profit recorded at the land registry office, under
the same payment terms as described above. This I.s a very minimal amount,
because the land-registray net profit at the end of the previous century was
determihed by the property owners themselves, who strove to keep it as law as
possible to conceal their actual income from the tare bureaus.
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The land was transferred to the. pea3an..s free of debts and obligations.
Extent of land Partition
Czecho?-
Polayd Hun a7- Rumania ylovakia:Bulgarie Albania
Number of landless
and poor peasants,
and agricultural
workers provided
with land (in 1,000) 1,100 550 E'.50 250 128.8 172.7
Amount of 'and
divided (in 1,000
he)
ti~,a~o 3r 9- + 1,100 u~.A00 150.0 320.0
The total a,iount of land expropriated from estates, the greater part of
which has been nationalized.
The greatest increase in landed pyepe.rtles, as a result of the land reform,
was to be noted in the number of farms up to 5 hectares. In Rumania, for 'x-
ample, farms of this size included in 1930, 28 percent of the arable land; in
1948, 57.7 percent, In Hungary, private landoorus.s having up to 10 cadastral
yokes (5,7 hectares) worked 19.4 percent of the entire land area before the
reform, and after the reform, 49 percent.
A part of the land in the Psople's Democracies became state or national
property. Forests., a part of the arable :sand, mining regions, bodies of wa-
ter, etc., fell into this category.
The newly established farms were allocated cattle, agricultural machines,
equipment, etc., along with the land. Tract-::rs and combines were put at the
disposal of the state fa,-ms, the agricultural machine stations, and the agri-
cultural cooperatives.
The agrarian reform prepared the ground fo.e the s?ibsegluent socialistic re-
organization of the small, private, peasant households. As a result of the
measures adopted, a great shift occurred in the p::vP:: balance in rural areas.
The class of large landowners had been liquidated, and the medium-sized house-
holds received, and continue to receive, state support in the strengthening of
their operations and in their consolidation into lsrge=.scale collectives. The
peasants were also exempted from payment of runt.
The nationalization of the banks led to freeing the peasantry from their
mortpge debts. In Hungary, these amounted to 120 million pengos. The h.ilak
class still exists, to be sure, and utilizes every onportunity to increase its
exploitation of the poorer peasants and agricultural workers,
Contrary to the prediction that agricultural production would decline as
a result of the land partition, the land reforms in all the People's Democracies
have actually led to an increase in land cultivated. Thus, in Rumania, the
area sown to wheat was already greater in 1948 than before the war. In Poland,
despite the heavy war damage, the hectare yield in 1948 reached the prewar
level, and in the case of rye actually exceeded that level. In Hungary, the
cultivated area in 1948 - 1949 had almost reached the pravar level. In
Albania, the cultivated area by 1947 had already surpassed the 1938'level by
77 percent. In Bulgaria, agricultural production had reached 103 percent
of the prewar level by 1948, and catt,.ebreeding, 91 percent.
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The industrialization of the People's Democracies, and particularly the
expansion of those branches of '_ndlatry which make production equipment for
agriculture, was of the greatest importance in accelerating the socializatioi:
process. The Polish Six-fear Plan (19.50 - 1955) aims at an increase in the
total value of industrial production to 214 percent of 1949. In agricultural
production, an increase to 145 percent of 1949 is forecast. In 1955, 18
billion kilowatt-hours of electric pawner, four and a half times as much as
in 1938, are to be produced, as ?well as 4 million tens of steel, 11,000
tractors, and 13,000 trucks, The production of agriczl.tural machines is to
be seven times that of 1938.
In Hungary, the 1949 production of trucks was twice that of 1938; of
'bicycles, freight cars, and steamships, 3 times; of tractors, 5 times; of
motorcycles, 7 times; of locomotives, 8 times; and of machine tools, 30 times.
According to Czechoslovakia's Five?-'Y'ear Plan (1.949 .. 1953), 336.2 billion
crowns are to be invested in the national econcmw, 131.9 billion of this in
industry and 26.8 billion in ag lcultu.e. The induatr.ialization of Slovakia,
an area which very recently was a bsclc4ard, purely agrarian region, will be
especially promoted.
The industrialization of the People?s Detiiccracies and the deliveries
by the Soviet Union of agricultural machines and tractors? particularly to
Bulgaria and Albania, whose own industry If only very little developed, are
creating the basis for carrying through the =coperative plan on the Soviet
pattern. The winning of the peasantry for the cooperative movement is being
accomplished by degrees tha?4ugh the development of' various transitional
cooperative forms such as, marketing and consumer cooperatives, credit unions,
machine cooperatives, farm workers' cooperatives, ccllectiye agricultural
enterprises, etc.
Marketing and Consumer Cooperatives
The marketing and'consumer cocperateras are of great tWortance in the
collectivization of the peasantry. In Poland, is the fall of 1949, about 2
million owners of peasant enterprises were members of cooperative groups.
In mid-1950, there were over 3,000 ?o-~perative groups in the Union of Peasant
Self-Help Cooperatives. In Czechoslovakia, at the end of 1949, there were
3,230 Unified Agricultural Cooperatives and working committees for establish-
ing such cooperatives. In Bulgaria, at the beginning of 1.949, there were
agricultural cooperatives in 3,000 villages, with 634,00o members. By the
end of October 1949, membership had reached 1.3 million.
The agricultural cooperatives handle a considerable_part of the turnover
of goods in the People9s Democracies. For example, In 1948, in Hungary,
1,700 agricultural coope-itivea participated in handling the wheat harvest;
'700 cooperatives bought eggs; and 800 cooperatives bought wool. By order of
the government, every village was permitted to establish an agricultural
cooperative. In the first half of 1949, there were over 3,000 general agri-
cultural cooperatives, which were merged into the National Association of
Cooperatives. In Bulgaria, in 1948, 50 percent of the grain, 90 percent of
the milk and milk' products, 100 percent of thw"rniit, vegetable, and-egg--
production, and 90 percent of the wool. and raw bides were bought through
agricultural purchasing cooperatives. At the same time, over 70 percent of
the industrial goods destined for the rural market watt through the bands of
the cooperatives. In Rumania, the state contracted with the cooperatives for
agricultural products and also organized the purchase and export of these prod-
ucts through-;.the cooperatives. Thus, in 1949, the cooperatives procured
70,000 tone of potatoes, 13,700 ?tons of French beins,,18,3OO tofis'of=hay li't?.
27,700 tons of cabbage, 75,000 tons of fruit, and 6,500 tons of dried fruit.
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The cooperative merger of the peasant enterprises in the field of market-
ing and procurement is only the first step in the development of the coopera-
tive project and creates the prerequisites for transition to most important
stage of the plan, the creation of producers' cooperatives.
Forms of Producers' Cooperatives
The process of socialistic reorganization of agriculture has a particular
complexion in the People's Democracies in that there the peasants still con-
trol private property. This doubtless renders the socialization of individual
peasant enterprises more difficult. The merging into producers' cooperatives
is accomplished in these countries by the socialization of all important means
of production. Under this method, the land brought into most of the producers'
cooperatives remains the property of the cooperative member; in addition, a
part of the net profit is divided according to the size of the land plot. Of
course, that does not mean that the building up of socialism in the People's
Democracies will be possible without the complete nationalization of the land.
Producers' cooperatives in the People's Democracies are merely a transitional
form between individual peasant enterprise and socialistic production.
In the People's Democracies, there are several types of producers' coopera-
tives. One of these is the union for communal cultivation of the land, in
which the principal means of production and the tilling of the 'and are social-
ized. The work is done communally; 60-75 percent of the net profit is divided
according to days of work done and 25-30 percent according to the land portion
contributed. The Hungarian cooperatives,the Bulgarian farm workers' c.,pera-
tives, a number of the Polish, and a a-a eat number of the Czechoslovak coopera-
tives are of this type. There are also producers' cooperatives in which the
means of production are socialized and the net profit divided completely on
the basis of workdays. The Albanian and Rumanian collective enterprises, a
great number of the Polish, and a number of the Czechoslovak producers' coopera-
tives are of this latter type, '
In the Bulgarian farm workers' cooperatives, 60 percent of the income is
divided according to the number of workdays, and, at the moat, 30 percent
according to the amount of land contributed. The remaining 10 percent is given
directly to the cooperative's fund and for public use. The second national
onferehce of the farm workers'. cooperatives held at the beginning of April
950, approved the model statute for cooperatives of this type.
In Hungary, the statute on agricultural cooperatives laid down by the
government distinguishes among three types of prcd:a:ers' cooperatives for
farming activities.
1. Unions for communal working of the land.
2. Production groups in which the work is donL collectively but the har-
vest divided according to the amount of arable land contributed by each member.
3, Independent producers' cooperatives, which provide for common working
of the land, socialization of production, and division of 75 percent of the
net profit according to workdays and 25 percent according to the land portion.
In December 1949, 2.6 percent of the cooperatives belonged to the first
group; 3 -ercent to the second; and 94.4 percent to the third. This means
that even in this development phase the most advanced cooperative form already
predominates. The enrollment of rich peasants as cooperative members is for-
bidden by the new Hungarian statute for producers' cooperatives.
In Rumania, the model statute for collective economic enterprises was set
down in 1949. By this statute all important means of production were social-
ized, as was the land, with the exception of small private plots. The profit
is divided only according to workdays,
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Agricultural'Machine Stations
In the transition from marketing to producer's' cooperatives, a great role
is played by the agricultural machine stations, which are organized on the
pattern of those in the USSR.
In Hungary, in April 1949, there were 132 agricultural machine stations
with 1,300 tractors; at the beginning of 1950, there were 271 with 4,450
tractors. Under the Five-Year Plan, the number is supposed to reach 500,
with 21,000 tractors, In addition, 3,000 tractors a year are to be built.
The agricultural machine stations, with their tractors, work the land of
the producers' cooperatives at a 30-percent discount, whereas cooperatives
in which the peasants are not united into producers' groups receive only a
10-percent discount. Since 1949 - 1950, the agricultural machine stations
are no longer paid in cash, but receive a certain part of the harvest as
payment in kind.
In Poland, on 1 March 1949, there were =,368 cooperative machine and
tractor stations and machine rental stations. At the end of 1949, there
were 3,000. In March 1950, in Poland, there were already 70 state-owned
agricultural machine stations with 1,000 tractors. While tractors were not
formerly produced in Poland, they arse now being made by the Uraus factory,
which built 2,500 in 1948 and 1949, These went principally to the state
farms and agricultural machine stations. In Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1951
the agricultural machine stations had 5r799 tractors, 2,753 automatic binders,
103 combines, and 80 threshing machines, In Bulgaria, in 1948,_there were
70 agricultural machine stations with 3,500 tractors; in 1949, 86 with 4,754
tractors. The agricultural machine stations work 20 percent more cheaply
for the farm workers' cooperatives than for. individ" peasants. According
to the Five-Year Plan, there should be 150 stations with 10,000 tractors by
1953.
With the help of the USSR, independent tractor production facilities
have been set up in Rumania. The Soviet-Rumanian aesociation "Sovromtractor"
produced the first 1,000 tractors in 1948. In 1949, production was con-
siderably increased, and by 1952, a monthly production of 300 tractors is to
be reached. In mid-1949, there were in Rumania 80 agricultural machine sta-
tions with 2,289 tractors, 1,839 tractor plove, 1,968 threshing machines, and
749 seed drills. At the beginning of 1950, there were 118 agricultural
machine stations.
In all the People's Democracies, the agricultural machine stations
accelerate a merging of individual peasants Into producers' cooperatives,
and therewith, a transformation of small, backward peasant enterprises into
large, efficient,- mechanized, collective enterprises.
State Farms
The state agricultural enterprises are of great importance in the
socialization of agriculture, In Rumania, by September 1949, about 800
state farms with an area of over 700,000 hectares had been formed. At the
beginning of 1950, the state farms in Hungary comprised over 4 percent of
the total cultivated land area; in Poland in 1948, 10 percent, In Bulgaria,
in the fall of 1949, there were 91 state farms with 90,000 hectares of land.
In Czechoslovakia, the state farms at the beginning of 1949 comprised over
400,000 hectares, or 7 percent of the total cultivated area, in March 1950,
over 530,000 hectares.
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Development of the Producers' Cooperativea
Special privileges were introduced for the agricultural producers' coopera-
tives. Thus, in Bulgaria, the newly created farm workers cooperatives were
exempt from all taxes for 3 years. In 1946, they received government loans
amounting to 471 million leva; in 1948, over one billion leva in cesh subsidies
,.arid ;1.7 billion levy for the construction and import of agricultural machinery.
'Peasants belonging to farm vorxe73' associations receive a 40-percent price
discount on land obtained through the land reform.
At the beginning of 1945, the number of producers' cooperatives in Bulgaria
amounted to 110; at the beginning of 1948, to 580; and at the and of 1949, to
1,605. Their membership rose from 7,200 in 1945 to 200,000 at the end of 1949;
the cultivated lard area from 25,700 to 560,,000 hectares, constituting over 11
percent of the entire cultivated area. Although most of the cooperatives are
made up of poor-peasant enterprises, more peasants w1 th m,, diim'sized holdings
have joined since 1948. In 1953, the end of the current Five-Year Plan, the
number of farm workers' cooperatives is to reach 4,000 with an arable land area
of 3 million hectares. Together with the state fsrms,'a'hich are to operate
120,000 hectares by 1953, the socialized sector of agriculture will be deliver.
ing 60 percent of the gross and 72 percent of the market production of grain.
In Hungary, in April 1950, there were 1,760 agri:.'alt'aral producers',coop-
eratives with 80.000 members (peasant hotseh:o1da); and a''o'at 360,000 cadastral
yokes of land (over 200,000 hectares). Thia caneti.ites 4 percent of the
arable land area.
In Albania, in November 1948, lpl66 holdings vere merged into 56 agricul-
tural producers' cooperatives, which operated, at the beginning of 1949,
10,870 hectares, or 3.4 percent of the entire land area, All the land is
socialized and the net profit divided according to workdays.
In Poland, the first 170 producers' cooperatives were formed in 1949. By
10 January 1950, their number had increased to 283, 60 percent of which were,
according to their statutes, of the most. advanced social atic type. In this
?ype, the entire profit is divided according to workdays. By March 1950,
there were already 726 cooperatives in Poland, +aniting 17,433 peasant farms.
In Rumania, 184 collective enterprises had Leen formed by March 1950,
comprising 10,000 small and medium-rized farms, He;vever, the total number of
peasants who had joined in communal use of trac-t`ya amounted to over 100,000.
In Czechoslovakia, at the beginning of 1950, work cooperatives existed
in 3,000 villages, and in 1,500 villages committees were making preparations
for forming producers' cooperatives.
Since a direct knowledge of conditions in the Soviet kolkhozes is of
,r eatest importance for the expansion of producers' cooperatives in the People's
Democracies, delegations of Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Albanian, Rumanian, and
Hungarian peasants were sent to the Soviet Union to study the operations of
the kolkhozes.
In Bulgaria, in June 1950, the party declared that under no circumstances'
might the voluntary principle be violated. A special government commission
studied the regions in which violations in this respect were reported, and
measures were immediately introduced for remedying these abuses and for punish-
ing the guilty. In addition, an attempt was made to strengthen the personal
interest of the peasants, particularly those with larger holdings, in increas-
ing agricultural production and in increased efficiency.
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In IM -and 1949, in Bulgaria, he hectare earnings of the farm workers'
cooperatives amounted to 2530 percent more than correspond_Ing earnings, of
individual peasants. In Hungary, in.1949, the cooperatives harvested 200-
400 kilograms more per cadastral yoke than did individual farmers. In Albania,
the productivity of the cooperatives was likewise 2530 percent greater than
that of the individual peasants. In addition to food production, the cultiva-
tion of such crops as tobacco, vegetable oils, rice, and essential oils was
expanded.
Credit Grants
The newly created agricultural enterprises are supported by the governments
of the People's Democracies with equipment, credit, etc. Thus, agriculture in
Poland during the years 1945 . 1948 was granted credits amounting to over 53
billion:zlccys. This does not include the 2.7 million to::.s of synthetic ferti-
lizer, over 300,000 tons of seed potatoes, and about 500,000 tons of seed grain
also provided. In contrast to 100 units of synthetic fertilizer used on each
hectare of cultivated land in Poland before the war, 17C.4 un.'?.ts were being
used by 1948. The small and medium-sized enterprises were provided with 39,000
tons of graded and select seed and 590,000 tons of synthetic fertilizer. In
Slovakia, 8-10 times as many agricultural machines and two and a half times as
much synthetic fertilizer were received as before the war.
Suppression of Kulaks
Rich peasants ere being systematically suppressed and limited in their
importance by the state authorities of the People's Democracies. At present,
the production of rich peasants still represents a considerable part of the
whole agricultural picture. The cooperative basis on which this portion is
to be taken over by large collective enterprises has not as yet been established.
In Rumania, in 1948, 250,000 day-laborer families worked on farms of rich
peasants. In Hungary, the large farms comprise about 3 million cadastral yokes,
1.71 million hectares. In 1946 -. 1947, 40,000.45p000 permanent workers and
about 150,000 seasonal workers, day laborers, movers, etc., were employed. In
additior., large number of day laborers are employed by rich peasants in Poland,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Albania. The gradual suppression of the kulaks
is carried out by various methods, by the system of forced deliveries, by
price regulations, general and special taxes, compulsory sale of their agricul-
tural machines, and by regulating labor and wage conditions for day laborers
by means of collective agreements, etc.
The large farms must fulfill higher delivery quotas at lower prices. For
example, in Hungary the large farms of 40 cadastral yokes must deliver three
and a half times as much wheat per cadastral yoke as the small farms of 5
cadastral yokes. Farms of over 40 cadastral yokes must fulfill even higher
quotas for grain and other products. In addition, the rich peasants must de-
liver grain for the agriculture development fund.
In all the People's Democracies, fob-protection measures for day laborers
are being instituted. In Hungary, where; the kulake discharged activists among
the day laborers in great numbers, the Council of Ministers, in March 1949,
ordered that rich peasants would not be allowed to discharge their permanent
workers, that any discharges after 1 January 1949 were invalid, and that the
dischargees must be rehired. In addition, the work hours have been regulated
and equal pay has been set for men, women, and children doing the same work.
In Bulgaria, a law of 18 February 1948, orde:?ed the compulsory purchase
of all tractors-and large agricultural machines in private hands.- Attempts
on the part of the rich peasants to hide some of the machines or to damage the
equipment were foiled by the government. A graduated income tax has been in-
stituted to hasten -the taxing away of the revenue of the large farms, and a
one-time property tax further limits the formation of new capital.
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600390567-0
In Rumania, the rich peasants must pay taxes amounting to one third of
their income. At the discretion of the people's councils, the taxes can be
raised another 20-25 percent. Under the system of grain deliveries to the-
state, the large farms are subject to progressively larger deliveries commen-
surate with i,neir prosperity. The state and the labor unions compel the rich
peasants to guarantee the agricultural workers favorable working conditions.
In Poland, a large number of the small farms are exempt from the land tax, the
principal burden of which is imposed on the rich peasants.
The land divided among the poor and landless peasants by the land reform
cannot be bought by the rich peasants, since the sale and purchase, partition,
or giving away of such land is prohibited. Also, the renting of such land by
the rich peasants is rendered impossible by stringent rental regulations.
By using its rent privileges, the state in Hungary has brought together
into rent cooperatives all agricultural workers landless and poor peasants who
have not as -et received land. Landowners who have over 40 cadastral yokes of
land must, if they do not work the land themselves, transfer this land, under
direction of the state, to a rent cooperative. In such cases, the rental sum
Is determined by the state. In this manner, by the and of 1948, 60,000 day
laborers and poor peasants in rent cooperatives has obtained 232,800 cadastral
yokes of land from rich peasants and landowners.
In Bulgaria, in December 1948, the Icng-term leasing of land and cattle,
sharecropping, and the so-called Antichres, a usurious form of exploitation
by which a creditor has rights to the income from the debtor's property until
the loan is paid, were prohibited by law. Only peasants cultivating the land
themselves are now allowed to rent land. Hired labor is forbidden on rented
land. The rental rate is determined by the people's councils on the basis of
the price scale of the state land fund.
In Rumania, the renting of a farm for half of the produce is prohibited
by law. In addition, a law of June 194? proclaimed that all sales of land
under 5 hectares in the arid regions were nval'd. ?t wa!+ felt that such
sales, conducted under economic pressure, indicated exploitation by the rich
peasants of the poor peasants' poverty. The same law pronibits any private
purchase of land without special permission from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Where the permission is given, the state enjoys the right of pre-emption.
In Hungary, the sale of land is possible only with the permission of the
Commission of County Land Administration, whereby the state has the right of
pre-emption at prices set by the commission. Only persons selling a maximum
of 2 cadastral yokes obtain permission to sell land. Buyer and seller must
both be peasants. Through this virtual prohibition of free land sale, and
through the creation of rent cooperatives, the land is to be gradually taken
away from the rich peasants and landowners and transferred to the poor and
landless peasants and to agricultural workers.
CONFIDENT!
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600390567-0