who were kulaks in russia

Kulaks were a class of relatively wealthy peasants in Russia who emerged primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were typically peasants who owned over 3 hectares (about 8 acres) of land and often employed hired labor. These former peasants became landowners and credit-loaners after the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and due to agricultural reforms such as the Stolypin reforms of 1906-1914 aimed at creating profit-minded farmers. The kulaks lent money, provided mortgages, and played influential roles in village social and administrative affairs. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Soviet government branded kulaks as class enemies of poorer peasants and obstacles to socialism because they were seen as capitalists who exploited the labor of others. During Stalin's rule in the late 1920s and 1930s, kulaks faced harsh repression under the policy of "dekulakization," which involved arrests, deportations to remote regions, executions, and confiscation of property to eliminate them as a class and push collectivization of agriculture. This campaign caused widespread suffering and the death of many kulaks and their families.