The term was first used in the 19th century as a pejorative to refer to wealthier peasants who owned land and offered credit to poorer peasants. Soviet terminology divided the Russian peasants into three broad categories: Bednyak, or poor peasants. Serednyak, or mid-income peasants. Kulak, the higher-income farmers who had larger farms.

kulak, (Russian: “fist”), in Russian and Soviet history, a wealthy or prosperous peasant, generally characterized as one who owned a relatively large farm and several head of cattle and horses and who was financially capable of employing hired labour and leasing land.

The Politburo resolved to liquidate kulak landownership in those parts of the USSR where collectivization was being imposed on all peasant households. The 30 January Resolution set out “dekulakization quotas” for three categories in each of the USSR ’s many regions and republics.

The official goal of kulak liquidation came without precise instructions, and encouraged local leaders to take radical action, which resulted in physical elimination. The campaign to liquidate the kulaks as a class constituted the main part of Stalin's …

The word “kulak” means “fist,” and Soviet Communists used this word to refer to the wealthiest fifth of the peasantry. To many it might seem strange to use the word “wealthy” with “peasantry,” but the Russian peasants ranged from very poor to …

Kulaks Kulak, in Russian, means a "fist." When used for rich peasants, it alludes to their alleged fist-like hold on their poorer brethren. Vladimir Lenin saw the kulak as a "village bourgeoisie" that would be crushed by a socialist revolution.

The meaning of KULAK is a prosperous or wealthy peasant farmer in 19th century Russia.

The peasant rebellion of Sorokino, [3] officially called the Kulak Rebellion of Sorokino[4] by the Soviet Russian authorities, was a popular uprising against the Soviet policy of war communism in Altai Krai and Kuzbass in central Russia.

I kulaki (talvolta italianizzato in culachi, sing. culaco[1], dal plurale di kulak, in russo кула́к? ascolta ⓘ, "pugno") erano la categoria dei grandi proprietari terrieri presente negli ultimi anni dell' Impero russo, e nei primi della neonata Unione Sovietica, finché nel 1924, con la morte di Lenin, prese il potere Stalin, che nel ...

Feb 14, 2012 · From the Russian word meaning “fist”, the term kulak was used in Soviet-era Russia to designate certain elements of the peasant population as “enemies of the state.”