Kolkhoz (Russian: колхо́з; ), plural kolkhozy, is a coinage used for the rural economics of collective farming in the Soviet Union. Kolkhoz existed along with state farms or sovkhoz, plural sovkhozy.
The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство (kollektivnoye khozyaystvo), suggesting collective farm or collective economy. Whereas sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство (sovetskoye khozyaystvo), suggesting Soviet farm or collective management. (Note that the second word is the same in both cases - thus, Kol-khoz and Sov-khoz.)
Kolkhozy and sovkhozy were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to emerge in Soviet agriculture after the October Revolution of 1917, as an antithesis to individual or family farming.
The 1920s were characterized by spontaneous and apparently voluntary emergence of collective farms, which included an updated version of the traditional Russian “commune”, the generic “farming association” (zemledel’cheskaya artel’), the association for joint cultivation of land (TOZ), and finally the kolkhoz.
This peaceful and gradual shift to collective farming in the first 15 years after the October Revolution was turned into a "violent stampede" during the forced collectivization campaign that began in 1928.
Read more about Kolkhoz: Kolkhoz As A Pseudo-cooperative, Kolkhoz Life Under Stalin, Basic Statistics For The USSR, The Disappearance of The Kolkhoz After 1991, Countries Outside The USSR