by E. H. Carr A shortened version of Professor Carr's British Academy Raleigh Lecture delivered earlier this year
Professor Carr, author of A History of Soviet Russia, discusses the problem of collectivisation in Russia and, in his own words, tries to explain what happened and does not speculate on what might have happened. One of the most fundamental questions Professor Carr deals with is why, in the pursuit of rapid industrialisation, the Soviet leaders proceeded to mass-collectivisation of agriculture, and why its execution brought with it cruelty and brutality.