Bukharin's alternative to Stalin: Industrialisation without forced collectivisation

Abstract

Was the Bukharin alternative feasible? It is first shown that with the improvement in the Soviet economy, his ideas changed considerably from the pro‐kulak stance of the mid‐1920s. Next, we focus on his concrete proposal, eschewing forced collectivisation, to overcome the crucial grain procurement crisis of 1927–29. Then follow counter‐factual exercises, drawing also on the experiences of contemporary developing and other late industrialising countries, on the prospects of Soviet industrialisation in the 1930s, within the NEP framework; the pace of development need not have slackened. Finally, the contemporary relevance of some of Bukharin's ideas is also underlined.