The collectivization of Russian farms was the cornerstone of Soviet agricultural policy during the 1930s. This study about Soviet forced collectivization and its impact on the Russian village, explores the dramatic transformation of peasant life caused by collectivization. It is based on new and unknown material from recently-opened Soviet archives. The author analyzes the peasants' strategies of resistance and survival in the state-inflicted drama of the collectivized village. He shows the real people behind the facade of the Soviet propaganda account of the happy "Potemkin village". The regime's own strategy involved humiliation and violence towards the peasants. Fitzpatrick's study relates the traumatic experiences of this long-suffering underclass.