AbstractA Soviet historian reconsiders the history of the collectivisation of Soviet agriculture in the context of today'sPerestroika. His focus is on alternatives developed during the 1920s, under NEP. Detailed discussion is provided of Lenin's conception of the role of cooperation in socialist construction, A. V. Chayanov's analysis of ‘cooperative collectivisation’, and (using newly‐opened archives) the position of Bukharin and his followers. The article concludes with a critique of forms of collectivisation pursued after abandonment of the original goals of the first Five Year Plan in