After the coup d'etat of February 1948 the ruling Communist party of Czechoslovakia began to implement its ideas of agricultural policy using all accessible means. The process of collectivisation, which took place during 1949 – 1960, was meant to contribute to the reconstruction and modernisation of agriculture, but in the end it destroyed the social and cultural background of village society and disrupted all its traditional systems of values. It was forced on the peasants from above, without their consent.
