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Collectivization in the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union introduced forced collectivization (Коллективизация) of its agricultural sector between 1928 and 1940 during the ascension of Joseph Stalin. It began during and was part of the first five-year plan. The policy aimed to integrate individual landholdings and labour into nominally collectively-controlled and openly or directly state-controlled farms: Kolkhozes and Sovkhozes accordingly. The Soviet leadership confidently expected that the replacement of individual peasant farms by collective ones would immediately increase the food supply for the urban population, the supply of raw materials for the processing industry, and agricultural exports via state-imposed quotas on individuals working on collective farms. Planners regarded collectivization as the solution to the crisis of agricultural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries) that had developed from 1927. This problem became more acute as the Soviet Union pressed ahead with its ambitious industrialization program, meaning that more food would be needed to keep up with urban demand.

In October 1929, approximately 7.5% of the peasant households were in collective farms, and by February 1930, 52.7% had been collectivised. The collectivization era saw several famines, as well as peasant resistance to collectivization.

Background
After the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, peasants gained control of about half of the land they had previously cultivated and began to ask for the redistribution of all land. The Stolypin agricultural reforms between 1905 and 1914 gave incentives for the creation of large farms, but these ended during World War I. The Russian Provisional Government accomplished little during the difficult World War I months, though Russian leaders continued to promise redistribution. Peasants began to turn against the Provisional Government and organized themselves into land committees, which together with the traditional peasant communes became a powerful force of opposition. When Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia on April 16, 1917, he promised the people "Peace, Land and Bread," the latter two appearing as a promise to the peasants for the redistribution of confiscated land and a fair share of food for every worker respectively.

During the period of war communism, however, the policy of Prodrazvyorstka meant that the peasantry was obligated to surrender the surpluses of agricultural produce for a fixed price. When the Russian Civil War ended, the economy changed with the New Economic Policy (NEP) and specifically, the policy of prodnalog or "food tax." This new policy was designed to re-build morale among embittered farmers and lead to increased production.

Leon Trotsky and the Opposition bloc had advocated a programme of industrialization which also proposed agricultural cooperatives and the formation of collective farms on a voluntary basis. According to Fitzpatrick, the scholarly consensus was that Stalin appropriated the position of the Left Opposition on such matters as industrialisation and collectivisation. Other scholars have argued that the economic programme of Trotsky differed from the forced policy of collectivisation implemented by Stalin after 1928 due to the levels of brutality associated with its enforcement.

The pre-existing communes, which periodically redistributed land, did little to encourage improvement in technique and formed a source of power beyond the control of the Soviet government. Although the income gap between wealthy and poor farmers did grow under the NEP, it remained quite small, but the Bolsheviks began to take aim at the kulaks, peasants with enough land and money to own several animals and hire a few labourers. Kulaks were blamed for withholding surpluses of agricultural produce. Clearly identifying this group was difficult, though, since only about 1% of the peasantry employed labourers (the basic Marxist definition of a capitalist), and 82% of the country's population were peasants. According to Robert Conquest, the definition of "kulak" also varied depending on who was using it; "peasants with a couple of cows or five or six acres [~2 ha] more than their neighbors" were labeled kulaks" in Stalin's first Five Year Plan.

The small shares of most of the peasants resulted in food shortages in the cities. Although grain had nearly returned to pre-war production levels, the large estates which had produced it for urban markets had been divided up. Not interested in acquiring money to purchase overpriced manufactured goods, the peasants chose to consume their produce rather than sell it. As a result, city dwellers only saw half the grain that had been available before the war. Before the revolution, peasants controlled only 2,100,000 km2 divided into 16 million holdings, producing 50% of the food grown in Russia and consuming 60% of total food production. After the revolution, the peasants controlled 3,140,000 km2 divided into 25 million holdings, producing 85% of the food, but consuming 80% of what they grew (meaning that they ate 68% of the total).

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union had never been happy with private agriculture and saw collectivization as the best remedy for the problem. Lenin claimed, "Small-scale production gives birth to capitalism and the bourgeoisie constantly, daily, hourly, with elemental force, and in vast proportions." Apart from ideological goals, Joseph Stalin also wished to embark on a program of rapid heavy industrialization which required larger surpluses to be extracted from the agricultural sector in order to feed a growing industrial workforce and to pay for imports of machinery (by exporting grain). Social and ideological goals would also be served through the mobilization of the peasants in a co-operative economic enterprise that would provide social services to the people and empower the state. Not only was collectivization meant to fund industrialization, but it was also a way for the Bolsheviks to systematically exterminate the Kulaks and peasants in general in a back-handed manner. Stalin was incredibly suspicious of the peasants, viewing them as a major threat to socialism. Stalin's use of the collectivization process served to not only address the grain shortages, but his greater concern over the peasants' willingness to conform to the collective farm system and state mandated grain acquisitions. He viewed this as an opportunity to punish the Kulaks as a class by means of collectivization.

Crisis of 1928
This demand for more grain resulted in the reintroduction of requisitioning which was resisted in rural areas. In 1928 there was a 2-million-ton shortfall in grains purchased by the Soviet Union from neighbouring markets. Stalin claimed the grain had been produced but was being hoarded by "kulaks." Stalin tried to appear as being on the side of the peasants, but it did not help, and the peasants as a whole resented the grain seizures. The peasants did everything they could to protest what they considered unfair seizures. Instead of raising the price, the Politburo adopted an emergency measure to requisition 2.5 million tons of grain.

The seizures of grain discouraged the peasants and less grain was produced during 1928, and again the government resorted to requisitions, much of the grain being requisitioned from middle peasants as sufficient quantities were not in the hands of the "kulaks." The impact that this had on poorer peasants forced them to move to the cities. The peasants moved in search of jobs in the rapidly expanding industry. This, however, had a fairly negative impact upon their arrival as the peasants brought with them their habits from the farms. They struggled with punctuality and demonstrated a rather poor work ethic, which hindered their ability to perform in the workplace. In 1929, especially after the introduction of the Ural-Siberian Method of grain procurement, resistance to grain seizures became widespread with some violent incidents of resistance. Also, massive hoarding (burial was the common method) and illegal transfers of grain took place.

Faced with the refusal to hand grain over, a decision was made at a plenary session of the Central Committee in November 1929 to embark on a nationwide program of collectivization.

Several forms of collective farming were suggested by the People's Commissariat for Agriculture (Narkomzem), distinguished according to the extent to which property was held in common: Also, various cooperatives for the processing of agricultural products were installed.
 * Association for Joint Cultivation of Land (Товарищество по совместной обработке земли, ТОЗ/TOZ), where only land was in common use;
 * agricultural artel (initially in a loose meaning, later formalized to become an organizational basis of kolkhozes, via The Standard Statute of an Agricultural Artel adopted by Sovnarkom in March 1930);
 * agricultural commune, with the highest level of common use of resources.

In November 1929, the Central Committee decided to implement accelerated collectivization in the form of kolkhozes and sovkhozes. This marked the end of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which had allowed peasants to sell their surpluses on the open market. Peasants that were willing to conform and join the kolkhozes were rewarded with higher quality land and tax breaks, whereas peasants were unwilling to join the kolkhozes were punished with being given lower quality land and increased taxes. The taxes imposed on the peasants was primarily to fund the industrial blitz that Stalin had made a priority. If these lesser forms of social coercion proved to be ineffective then the central government would resort to harsher forms of state coercion. Stalin had many kulaks transported to collective farms in distant places to work in agricultural labour camps. In response to this, many peasants began to resist, often began arming themselves against the activists sent from the towns. As a form of protest, many peasants preferred to slaughter their animals for food rather than give them over to collective farms, which produced a major reduction in livestock.

Collectivization had been encouraged since the revolution, but in 1928, only about 1% of farmland was collectivized, and despite efforts to encourage and coerce collectivization, the rather optimistic first five-year plan only forecast 15 per cent of farms to be run collectively.

All-out drive, winter 1929–30

The situation changed quickly in the autumn of 1929 and the winter of 1930. Between September and December 1929, collectivization increased from 7.4% to 15%, but in the first two months of 1930, 11 million households joined collectivized farms, pushing the total to nearly 60%.

To assist collectivization, the Party decided to send 25,000 "socially conscious" industry workers to the countryside. This was accomplished from 1929 to 1933, and these workers have become known as twenty-five-thousanders ("dvadtsat'pyat'tysyachniki"). Soviet officials had hoped that by sending the twenty-five thousanders to the countryside that they would be able to produce grain more rapidly. Their hopes were that key areas in the North Caucasus and Volga regions would be collectivized by 1931, and then the other regions by 1932.

Collectivization sought to modernize Soviet agriculture, consolidating the land into parcels that could be farmed by modern equipment using the latest scientific methods of agriculture. It was often claimed that an American Fordson tractor (called "Фордзон" in Russian) was the best propaganda in favour of collectivization.

The agricultural means of production (land, equipment, livestock) were to be totally "commonalised" ("обобществлены"), i.e. removed from the control of individual peasant households.

"Dizzy with Success"
The zeal for collectivization was so high that the March 2, 1930, issue of Pravda contained Stalin's article Dizzy with Success (Головокружение от успехов), in which he called for a temporary halt to the process:

"It is a fact that by February 20 of this year 50 percent of the peasant farms throughout the U.S.S.R. had been collectivized. That means that by February 20, 1930, we had overfulfilled the five-year plan of collectivization by more than 100 per cent.... some of our comrades have become dizzy with success and for the moment have lost clearness of mind and sobriety of vision."

After the publication of the article, the pressure for collectivization temporarily abated and peasants started leaving collective farms. By 1930 only 23.6% of peasants were collective farms, i.e., the numbers dropped by 50%. But soon collectivization was intensified again. In particular, March 1931 decrees  "О совхозном строительстве" and "О колхозном строительстве" forbade peasants to leave collective farms. By 1936, about 90% of Soviet agriculture was collectivized.

Later a number of authors suggested that this Stalin's article was picking scapegoats, putting the blame on rank-and-file functionaries for his own excesses and quenching the rising discontent.

Peasant resistance

Stalin's efforts to implement agricultural collectivization played a significant role in the overall mortality figures attributed to his regime, notably evidenced by the Ukrainian famine, a single famine responsible for 3 to 5 million deaths. Some peasants viewed collectivization as the end of the world. By no means was joining the collective farm (also known as the kolkhoz) voluntary. The drive to collectivize understandably had little support from experienced farmers.

The oversimplified intent was to withhold grain from the market and increase the total crop and food supply via state collective farms, with the surplus funding future industrialization. The kulaks were coerced into giving up their land to make way for these collective farms or risk being killed, deported, or sent to labor camps. Inexperienced peasants from urban areas would then replace the missing workforce of the agriculture sector, which is now considered overstaffed, inefficient and import-dependent. Under Stalin's grossly inefficient system, agricultural yields declined rather than increased. The situation persisted into the 1980s, when Soviet farmers averaged about 10 percent of the output of their counterparts in the United States. To make matters worse, tractors promised to the peasants could not be produced due to the poor policies in the Industrial sector of the Soviet Union.

When quotas were not met, Stalin enforced collectivization by sending special regimes to confiscate any food they can find. The kulaks argued to the collectors that starvation was inevitable, but they still seized everything edible from the kulaks to make up for the quotas, regardless if the kulaks had anything for themselves. Although there were recorded instances of people hiding food, this was out of survival. One notable instance was a mother hiding flour under her baby's cradle. When the brigade found it, she cried and beg saying her baby would die of hunger without it. The brigade took it anyway. Stalin falsely denied there even was a famine and prohibited journalists from visiting the collective farms. In order to cover up for the poor harvests, the Soviet government created a fierce propaganda campaign blaming the kulaks for the famine. The propaganda said they were creating an artificial food shortage by hiding crops only to sell them when prices were high.

Collectivization as a "second serfdom"
Rumors circulated in the villages warning the rural residents that collectivization would bring disorder, hunger, famine, and the destruction of crops and livestock. Readings and reinterpretations of Soviet newspapers labelled collectivization as a second serfdom. Villagers were afraid the old landowners/serf owners were coming back and that the villagers joining the collective farm would face starvation and famine. More reason for peasants to believe collectivization was a second serfdom was that entry into the kolkhoz had been forced. Farmers did not have the right to leave the collective without permission. The level of state procurements and prices on crops also enforced the serfdom analogy. The government would take a majority of the crops and pay extremely low prices. The serfs during the 1860s were paid nothing but collectivization still reminded the peasants of serfdom. To them, this "second serfdom" became code for the Communist betrayal of the revolution. To the peasants, the revolution was about giving more freedom and land to the peasants, but instead, they had to give up themselves, with any land or livestock they had to the centrally controlled ‘collective farm’ in accordance with the state's policies.

Women's role in resistance
Women were the primary vehicle for rumours that touched upon issues of family and everyday life. Fears that collectivization would result in the socialization of children, the export of women's hair, communal wife-sharing, and the notorious common blanket affected many women, causing them to revolt. For example, when it was announced that a collective farm in Crimea would become a commune and that the children would be socialized, women killed their soon-to-be socialized livestock, which spared the children. Stories that the Communists believed short hair gave women a more urban and industrial look insulted peasant women. After local activists in a village in North Caucasus actually confiscated all blankets, more fear dispersed among villagers. The common blanket meant that all men and women would sleep on a seven-hundred meter long bed under a seven-hundred-meter long blanket. Historians argue that women took advantage of these rumours without actually believing them so they could attack the collective farm "under the guise of irrational, nonpolitical protest." Women were less vulnerable to retaliation than peasant men, and therefore able to get away with a lot more.

Peasant women were rarely held accountable for their actions because of the officials' perceptions of their protests. They "physically blocked the entrances to huts of peasants scheduled to be exiled as kulaks, forcibly took back socialized seed and livestock and led assaults on officials." Officials ran away and hid to let the riots run their course. When women came to trial, they were given less harsh punishments as the men because women, to officials, were seen as illiterate and the most backward part of the peasantry. One particular case of this was a riot in a Russian village of Belovka where protestors were beating members of the local soviet and setting fire to their homes. The men were held exclusively responsible as the main culprits. Women were given sentences to serve as a warning, not as a punishment. Because of how they were perceived, women were able to play an essential role in the resistance to collectivization.

Religious persecution

Collectivization did not just entail the acquisition of land from farmers but also the closing of churches, burning of icons, and the arrests of priests. Associating the church with the tsarist regime, the Soviet state continued to undermine the church through expropriations and repression. They cut off state financial support to the church and secularized church schools. Peasants began to associate Communists with atheists because the attack on the church was so devastating. The Communist assault on religion and the church angered many peasants, giving them more reason to revolt. Riots exploded after the closing of churches as early as 1929.

Identification of Soviet power with the Antichrist also decreased peasant support for the Soviet regime. Rumors about religious persecution spread mostly by word of mouth, but also through leaflets and proclamations. Priests preached that the Antichrist had come to place "the Devil's mark" on the peasants and that the Soviet state was promising the peasants a better life but was actually signing them up for Hell. Peasants feared that if they joined the collective farm they would be marked with the stamp of the Antichrist. They faced a choice between God and the Soviet collective farm. Choosing between salvation and damnation, peasants had no choice but to resist the policies of the state. These rumours of the Soviet state as the Antichrist functioned to keep peasants from succumbing to the government. The attacks on religion and the Church affected women the most because they were upholders of religion within the villages.

Dovzhenko's film Earth gives example of peasants' skepticism with collectivization on the basis that it was an attack on the church. Coiner of the term genocide, Raphael Lemkin, considered the repression of the Orthodox Church to be a prong of genocide against Ukrainians when seen in correlation to the Holodomor famine.

Consequences

Due to the high government production quotas, peasants received, as a rule, less for their labour than they did before collectivization, and some refused to work. Merle Fainsod estimated that, in 1952, collective farm earnings were only one-fourth of the cash income from private plots on Soviet collective farms. In many cases, the immediate effect of collectivization was the reduction of output and the cutting of the number of livestock in half. The subsequent recovery of the agricultural production was also impeded by the losses suffered by the Soviet Union during World War II and the severe drought of 1946. However, the largest loss of livestock was caused by collectivization for all animals except pigs. The numbers of cows in the USSR fell from 33.2 million in 1928 to 27.8 million in 1941 and to 24.6 million in 1950. The number of pigs fell from 27.7 million in 1928 to 27.5 million in 1941 and then to 22.2 million in 1950. The number of sheep fell from 114.6 million in 1928 to 91.6 million in 1941 and to 93.6 million in 1950. The number of horses fell from 36.1 million in 1928 to 21.0 million in 1941 and to 12.7 million in 1950. Only by the late 1950s did Soviet farm animal stocks begin to approach 1928 levels. Peasant slaughter of livestock was significant, for instance in the Central Black Earth Region 25% of cattle, 55% of sheep, 53% of pigs and 40% of chickens were slaughtered within the first three months of 1930.

Despite the initial plans, collectivization, accompanied by the bad harvest of 1932–1933, did not live up to expectations. Between 1929 and 1932 there was a massive fall in agricultural production resulting in famine in the countryside. Stalin and the CPSU blamed the prosperous peasants, referred to as 'kulaks' (Russian: fist), who were organizing resistance to collectivization. Allegedly, many kulaks had been hoarding grain in order to speculate on higher prices, thereby sabotaging grain collection. Stalin resolved to eliminate them as a class. The methods Stalin used to eliminate the kulaks were dispossession, deportation, and execution. The term "Ural-Siberian Method" was coined by Stalin, the rest of the population referred to it as the "new method". Article 107 of the criminal code was the legal means by which the state acquired grain.

The Soviet government responded to these acts by cutting off food rations to peasants and areas where there was opposition to collectivization, especially in Ukraine. For peasants that were unable to meet the grain quota, they were fined five-times the quota. If the peasant continued to be defiant the peasants' property and equipment would be confiscated by the state. If none of the previous measures were effective the defiant peasant would be deported or exiled. The practice was made legal in 1929 under Article 61 of the criminal code. Many peasant families were forcibly resettled in Siberia and Kazakhstan into exile settlements, and some of them died on the way. Estimates suggest that about a million so-called 'kulak' families, or perhaps some 5 million people, were sent to forced labour camps.

On August 7, 1932, the Decree about the Protection of Socialist Property proclaimed that the punishment for theft of kolkhoz or cooperative property was the death sentence, which "under extenuating circumstances" could be replaced by at least ten years of incarceration. With what some called the Law of Spikelets ("Закон о колосках"), peasants (including children) who hand-collected or gleaned grain in the collective fields after the harvest were arrested for damaging the state grain production.

During the Famine of 1932–33 it's estimated that 5.7 to 8.7 million people died from starvation. The implication is that the total death toll (both direct and indirect) for Stalin's collectivization program was on the order of 12 million people. There is a popular story that at the 1945 Yalta Conference when Winston Churchill asked Joseph Stalin how many died in the famine, the Soviet leader responded with a shrug, a gesture that on account of Stalin's raised hands having 10 fingers, has been cited by historians as a direct admission that ten million people perished as a result of collectivization.

Siberia
Since the second half of the 19th century, Siberia had been a major agricultural region within Russia, espеcially its southern territories (nowadays Altai Krai, Omsk Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, Kemerovo Oblast, Khakassia, Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast). Stolypin's program of resettlement granted a lot of land for immigrants from elsewhere in the empire, creating a large portion of well-off peasants and stimulating rapid agricultural development in the 1910s. Local merchants exported large quantities of labelled grain, flour, and butter into central Russia and Western Europe. In May 1931, a special resolution of the Western-Siberian Regional Executive Committee (classified "top secret") ordered the expropriation of property and the deportation of 40,000 kulaks to "sparsely populated and unpopulated" areas in Tomsk Oblast in the northern part of the Western-Siberian region. The expropriated property was to be transferred to kolkhozes as indivisible collective property and the kolkhoz shares representing this forced contribution of the deportees to kolkhoz equity were to be held in the "collectivization fund of poor and landless peasants" (фонд коллективизации бедноты и батрачества). A notable uprising against collectivisation in Siberia occurred in Buryatia, where a revolt was put down by the Red Army in 1929.

It has since been perceived by historians such as Lynne Viola as a Civil War of the peasants against the Bolshevik Government and the attempted colonization of the countryside.

Central Asia and Kazakhstan
In 1928 within Soviet Kazakhstan, authorities started a campaign to confiscate cattle from richer Kazakhs, who were called bai, known as Little October. The confiscation campaign was carried out by Kazakhs against other Kazakhs, and it was up to those Kazakhs to decide who was a bai and how much to confiscate from them. This engagement was intended to make Kazakhs active participants in the transformation of Kazakh society. More than 10,000 bais may have been deported due to the campaign against them. In areas where the major agricultural activity was nomadic herding, collectivization met with massive resistance and major losses and confiscation of livestock. Livestock in Kazakhstan fell from 7 million cattle to 1.6 million and from 22 million sheep to 1.7 million. Restrictions on migration proved ineffective and half a million migrated to other regions of Central Asia and 1.5 million to China. Of those who remained, as many as a million died in the resulting famine. In Mongolia, a so-called 'Soviet dependency', attempted collectivization was abandoned in 1932 after the loss of 8 million head of livestock.

Historian Sarah Cameron argues that while Stalin did not intend to starve Kazakhs, he saw some deaths as a necessary sacrifice to achieve the political and economic goals of the regime. Cameron believes that while the famine combined with a campaign against nomads was not genocide in the sense of the United Nations (UN) definition, it complies with Raphael Lemkin's original concept of genocide, which considered destruction of culture to be as genocidal as physical annihilation. Historian Stephen Wheatcroft criticized this view in regard to the Soviet famine because he believes that the nominally stated high expectations of central planners was sufficient to demonstrate their ignorance of the ultimate consequences of their actions and that the result of them would be famine. Niccolò Pianciola goes further than Cameron and argues that from Lemkin's point of view on genocide all nomads of the Soviet Union were victims of the crime, not just the Kazakhs.

Ukraine
Most historians agree that the disruption caused by collectivization and the resistance of the peasants significantly contributed to the Great Famine of 1932–1933, especially in Ukraine, a region famous for its rich soil (chernozem). This particular period is called "Holodomor" in Ukrainian. During the similar famines of 1921–1923, numerous campaigns – inside the country, as well as internationally – were held to raise money and food in support of the population of the affected regions. Nothing similar was done during the drought of 1932–1933, mainly because the information about the disaster was suppressed by Stalin. Stalin also undertook a purge of the Ukrainian communists and intelligentsia, with devastating long-term effects on the area. Many Ukrainian villages were blacklisted and penalized by government decree for perceived sabotage of food supplies. Moreover, migration of population from the affected areas was restricted. According to Stalin in his conversation with the prize-winning writer Mikhail Sholokhov, the famine was caused by the excesses of local party workers and sabotage, "I've thanked you for the letters, as they expose a sore in our Party-Soviet work and show how our workers, wishing to curb the enemy, sometimes unwittingly hit friends and descend to sadism. ... the esteemed grain-growers of your district (and not only of your district alone) carried on an 'Italian strike' (sabotage!) and were not loath to leave the workers and the Red Army without bread. That the sabotage was quiet and outwardly harmless (without blood) does not change the fact that the esteemed grain-growers waged what was in fact a 'quiet' war against Soviet power. A war of starvation, dear com[rade] Sholokhov. This, of course, can in no way justify the outrages, which, as you assure me, have been committed by our workers. ... And those guilty of those outrages must be duly punished."

About 40 million people were affected by the food shortages including areas near Moscow where mortality rates increased by 50%. The center of the famine, however, was Ukraine and surrounding regions, including the Don, the Kuban, the Northern Caucasus and Kazakhstan where the toll was one million dead. The countryside was affected more than cities, but 120,000 died in Kharkiv, 40,000 in Krasnodar and 20,000 in Stavropol.

Whilst there is no comprehensive official account of famine deaths known of, historians R. W. Davies and Stephen G. Wheatcroft used official archival soviet 'registered death' statistics of 2,577,065 deaths from all causes in Ukraine to extrapolate an 'excess registered mortality' of 1,544,840 from 1932 to 1933. Alec Nove claims that registration of deaths largely ceased in many areas during the famine. However, it's been pointed out that the registered deaths in the archives were substantially revised by the demographics officials. The older version of the data showed 600,000 fewer deaths in Ukraine than the current, revised statistics. In The Black Book of Communism, the authors claim that the number of deaths was at least 4 million, and they also characterize the Great Famine as "a genocide of the Ukrainian people".

Latvia
After the Soviet Occupation of Latvia in June 1940, the country's new rulers were faced with a problem: the agricultural reforms of the inter-war period had expanded individual holdings. The property of "enemies of the people" and refugees, as well as those above 30 hectares, was nationalized in 1940–44, but those who were still landless were then given plots of 15 hectares each. Thus, Latvian agriculture remained essentially dependent on personal smallholdings, making central planning difficult. In 1940–41 the Communist Party repeatedly said that collectivization would not occur forcibly, but rather voluntarily and by example. To encourage collectivization high taxes were enforced and new farms were given no government support. But after 1945 the Party dropped its restrained approach as the voluntary approach was not yielding results. Latvians were accustomed to individual holdings (viensētas), which had existed even during serfdom, and for many farmers, the plots awarded to them by the interwar reforms were the first their families had ever owned. Furthermore, the countryside was filled with rumours regarding the harshness of collective farm life.

Pressure from Moscow to collectivize continued and the authorities in Latvia sought to reduce the number of individual farmers (increasingly labelled kulaki or budži) through higher taxes and requisitioning of agricultural products for state use. The first kolkhoz was established only in November 1946 and by 1948, just 617 kolkhozes had been established, integrating 13,814 individual farmsteads (12.6% of the total). The process was still judged too slow, and in March 1949 just under 13,000 kulak families, as well as a large number of individuals, were identified. Between March 24 and March 30, 1949, about 40,000 people were deported and resettled at various points throughout the USSR.

After these deportations, the pace of collectivization increased as a flood of farmers rushed into kolkhozes. Within two weeks 1740 new kolkhozes were established and by the end of 1950, just 4.5% of Latvian farmsteads remained outside the collectivized units; about 226,900 farmsteads belonged to collectives, of which there were now around 14,700. Rural life changed as farmers' daily movements were governed by plans, decisions, and quotas formulated elsewhere and delivered through an intermediate non-farming hierarchy. The new kolkhozes, especially smaller ones, were ill-equipped and poor – at first farmers were paid once a year in kind and then in cash, but salaries were very small and at times farmers went unpaid or even ended up owing money to the kolkhoz. Farmers still had small pieces of land (not larger than 0.5 ha) around their houses where they grew food for themselves. Along with collectivization, the government tried to uproot the custom of living in individual farmsteads by resettling people in villages. However this process failed due to lack of money since the Soviets planned to move houses as well.

Progress of collectivization, 1927–1940
Sources: Sotsialisticheskoe sel'skoe khoziaistvo SSSR, Gosplanizdat, Moscow-Leningrad, 1939 (pp. 42, 43); supplementary numbers for 1927–1935 from Sel'skoe khoziaistvo SSSR 1935, Narkomzem SSSR, Moscow, 1936 (pp. 630, 634, 1347, 1369); 1937 from Great Soviet Encyclopedia, vol. 22, Moscow, 1953 (p. 81); 1939 from Narodnoe khoziaistvo SSSR 1917–1987, Moscow, 1987 (pp. 35); 1940 from Narodnoe khoziaistvo SSSR 1922–1972, Moscow, 1972 (pp. 215, 240).

The official numbers for the collectivized areas (the column with per cent of sown area in collective use in the table above) are biased upward by two technical factors. First, these official numbers are calculated as a per cent of sown area in peasant farmsteads, excluding the area cultivated by sovkhozes and other agricultural users. Estimates based on the total sown area (including state farms) reduce the share of collective farms between 1935 and 1940 to about 80%. Second, the household plots of kolkhoz members (i.e., collectivized farmsteads) are included in the land base of collective farms. Without the household plots, arable land in collective cultivation in 1940 was 96.4% of land in collective farms, and not 99.8% as shown by official statistics. Although there is no arguing with the fact that collectivization was sweeping and total between 1928 and 1940, the table below provides different (more realistic) numbers on the extent of collectivization of sown areas.

Distribution of sown area by land users, 1928 and 1940 Source: Narodnoe khoziaistvo SSSR 1922–1972, Moscow, 1972 (p. 240).

Decollectivization under German occupation
During World War II, Alfred Rosenberg, in his capacity as the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, issued a series of posters announcing the end of the Soviet collective farms in areas of the USSR under German occupation. He also issued an Agrarian Law in February 1942, annulling all Soviet legislation on farming, restoring family farms for those willing to collaborate with the occupiers. But decollectivization conflicted with the wider demands of wartime food production, and Hermann Göring demanded that the kolkhoz be retained, save for a change of name. Hitler himself denounced the redistribution of land as 'stupid.' In the end, the German occupation authorities retained most of the kolkhozes and simply renamed them "community farms" (Общинные хозяйства, a throwback to the traditional Russian commune). German propaganda described this as a preparatory step toward the ultimate dissolution of the kolkhozes into private farms, which would be granted to peasants who had loyally delivered compulsory quotas of farm produce to the Germans. By 1943, the German occupation authorities had converted 30% of the kolkhozes into German-sponsored "agricultural cooperatives", but as yet had made no conversions to private farms.

title: Collectivization in the Soviet Union


text:
Dumbo, Brooklyn

Dumbo (or DUMBO, an acronym for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass") is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It encompasses two sections: one situated between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another extending eastward from the Manhattan Bridge to the Vinegar Hill area. The neighborhood is bounded by Brooklyn Bridge Park to the north, the Brooklyn Bridge to the west, Brooklyn Heights to the south, and Vinegar Hill to the east. Dumbo is part of Brooklyn Community Board 2.

Dumbo has historically been known by several names, including Gairville, Rapailie, Olympia, and Walentasville. The area was originally a ferry landing, characterized by 19th- and early 20th-century industrial and warehouse buildings, Belgian block streets, and its location on the East River by the imposing anchorage of the Manhattan Bridge. A large number of the buildings in Dumbo were bought by developer David Walentas and his company Two Trees Management in the late 20th century, and remade into an upscale residential and commercial community—first becoming a haven for art galleries, and currently a center for technology startups.

Dumbo earned the nickname "the center of the Brooklyn Tech Triangle" thanks to its thriving community of tech startups. This designation coincided with its rise to become Brooklyn's most affluent neighborhood and the fourth-wealthiest community in New York City; this is owing in part to its large concentration of technology startups, its close proximity to Manhattan, and its large number of former industrial buildings that have been converted into spacious luxury residential lofts. The neighborhood contains the corporate headquarters for e-commerce retailer Etsy and home furnishing stores company West Elm.

History
The name is an acronym of "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass". The area has been known variously as Rapailie, Olympia, and Walentasville; the developer who began its current gentrification is Two Trees Management, led at the time by David Walentas. The "Olympia" name came from Comfort and Joshua Sands, who bought the land in 1787 and were planning to develop the land as a summer place for New Yorkers. Through the 18th and 19th centuries, the area now known as Dumbo was considered part of Vinegar Hill.

In the 1890s, the western portion of the neighborhood was known as Fulton Landing, after the ferry stop that connected it to Manhattan before the Brooklyn Bridge opened. At that time, it was primarily a manufacturing district, with warehouses and factories that made machinery, paper boxes, spices and Brillo soap pads. The cardboard box was invented in the Robert Gair building on Washington Street by Robert Gair, a Scottish emigrant; because of Gair's fame, the area was known as Gairsville for a long time. The Gair building is now home to Etsy.

The Jay Street Connecting Railroad ran through Dumbo's waterfront from circa 1904–1906 through 1957. It ran from rail yards beneath the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges to buildings near the waterfront in Dumbo and Vinegar Hill. At the height of operations, it had spurs into several buildings, a car float bridge on Bridge Street, and a yard with capacity of 120 cars. The tracks were abandoned in 1959, though the railroad's tracks are still visible on streets in Dumbo. In 1968, there was a proposal to relocate the Fort Greene Meat Market to Dumbo, though the market was ultimately moved to Sunset Park instead.

With the deindustrialization of New York City, Dumbo began to become primarily residential; artists and other young homesteaders seeking relatively large and inexpensive loft apartment spaces for studios and homes began moving there in the late 1970s. The acronym "Dumbo" arose in 1978, when new residents coined it in the belief such an unattractive name would help deter developers.

Near the end of the 20th century, as property became more and more expensive in Manhattan, Dumbo became increasingly gentrified. Even so, the acronym "Dumbo" was largely unknown as late as 1997, and the area itself was very inclusive, serving mainly as an enclave for artists located along the East River and under the Manhattan Bridge. At this stage there were still many air conditioner repair shops, auto shops, and "seedy back alleys and wharves"; and, because the neighborhood was still gentrifying from its industrial past, it lacked even a bookstore, coffee shop, or laundromat. The efforts of Joy Glidden, the Founding Director of the Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) and co-founder of the Dumbo Art Under the Bridge Festival, achieved successful development in Dumbo, which is now a model for similar waterfront developments around the world. Glidden stated of Dumbo's gentrification, "It may be one of the last of what could be considered a true arts community in New York."

The DUMBO Historic District, a historic industrial complex and national historic district in Dumbo, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It consists of 95 contributing buildings; the manufacturing concerns located in this district included Benjamin Moore & Co. (paint), Arbuckle Brothers (coffee and sugar), J.W. Masury & Son (paint), Robert Gair (paper boxes), E.W. Bliss (machinery), and Brillo (soap pads). The district includes the earliest large-scale reinforced concrete factory buildings in America. On December 18, 2007, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate Dumbo as the city's 90th historic district. The Dumbo historic district consists of properties bounded by John Street to the north, York Street to the south, Main Street to the west, and Bridge Street to the east.

Art, business, and leisure
The area has emerged as one of New York City's premier arts districts, with a cluster of for-profit art galleries such as the Klompching Gallery, and such not-for-profit institutions as the St. Ann's Warehouse and the A.I.R. Gallery.

Chef Jacques Torres opened a chocolate factory in Dumbo in December 2000. Other culinary businesses in the area include Grimaldi's, Ample Hills Creamery, Almondine Bakery, and the River Café, all clustered in Fulton Landing, also home to Bargemusic, a floating venue for classical music. John Fluevog, a Canadian shoe designer, opened a store on Main Street in November 2017.

The first public space in the neighborhood was Fulton Ferry, followed by Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park. The first six acres of Brooklyn Bridge Park, a joint state/city venture under development, were opened in March 2010. The Cliffs at DUMBO is a 7,800 square foot outdoor climbing gym located in the Main Street section of Brooklyn Bridge Park, and is the largest outdoor bouldering gym in North America.

The building at 200 Water Street, which the Brillo Manufacturing Co. once occupied, is being renovated as a high-end condo building.

The DUMBO Archway is a popular location for film shoots, art exhibitions, live music, large-scale events, and watch parties for events like the World Cup. The trailer for Joker, the 2019 film by Todd Phillips, features actor Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker running through the archway. The Archway also hosts the Brooklyn Flea every Sunday from April to October. The outdoor market features 80 vendors, and the products range from secondhand goods to custom-made jewelry.

Gleason's Gym, located on Water Street, is the oldest boxing gym in New York. Many champions have trained there, including Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. The gym has been located in DUMBO since the 1980s. It moved from 77 Front Street to its current location at 130 Water Street in 2016. The legendary boxing coach Hector Roca still teaches at the Water Street location. In addition to boxing champions, Roca has trained many actors, including Wesley Snipes, Hilary Swank, Jennifer Lopez, and John Leguizamo.

The renovation of Empire Stores on Water Street was completed in 2017. Previously, it had been a Civil War era coffee warehouse. It was converted to mixed-use retail and office space, and it includes West Elm's global flagship store. Other retailers in Empire Stores include Detroit-based watchmaker Shinola and the café and accessories store, FEED Projects. In May 2017, the Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) opened a new branch in Empire Stores (its main location is in Brooklyn Heights). BHS features exhibits and artifacts relating to DUMBO's industrial past. In May 2019, Time Out Market opened in Empire Stores. The food hall features 21 local vendors, including the Breads Bakery and DUMBO's renowned pizzeria, Juliana's.

Tech hub
Dumbo has New York City's highest concentration of technology firms by neighborhood. Dumbo is home to 25 percent of New York City-based tech firms. Within a 10-block radius are 500 tech and creative firms that employ over 10,000 people. It also contains the corporate headquarters for e-commerce retailer Etsy and home furnishing stores company West Elm.

The City of New York, in conjunction with New York University, installed an incubator in Dumbo to support development of tech start-ups. Dumbo's average office rent of US$25 per square foot ($269/m2) made it (as of 2013) more attractive to start-ups than Manhattan, where rents averaged $40 per square foot ($431/m2) in 2013. The area has been compared to the Silicon Roundabout area in Shoreditch, East London, as well as to Manhattan's Silicon Alley.

Housing
The neighborhood contains the Farragut Houses, a group of ten towers managed by the New York City Housing Authority.

Transportation
New York City Subway stations are located at York Street on the IND Sixth Avenue Line, and High Street  on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. New York City Bus service is provided by the.

Ramps and staircases connect the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge walkways to Dumbo.

In June 2011, NY Waterway started service to points along the East River. On May 1, 2017, that route became part of the NYC Ferry's East River route, which runs between Pier 11/Wall Street in Manhattan's Financial District and the East 34th Street Ferry Landing in Murray Hill, Manhattan, with five intermediate stops in Brooklyn and Queens. One of the East River Ferry's stops is at Fulton Ferry in Dumbo.

Public library
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)'s Adams Street branch is located at 9 Adams Street, between John and Plymouth Streets. The 6000 ft2 Adams Street branch, designed by WORKac, occupies a former factory. The branch started construction in 2020 and cost $7 million to build. It opened in October 2021 and was the first BPL branch to open in Brooklyn since 1983.

In popular culture

 * Jerry Seinfeld referred to Dumbo during an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman, joking that it stands for "Down Under Manhattan Bridge", but that New Yorkers added the "O" at the end because they did not want to live in a neighborhood called "Dumb".
 * The neighborhood is parodied in Grand Theft Auto IV as BOABO ("Beneath the Off-ramp of the Algonquin Bridge Overpass").
 * It is featured as a filming location in the films Killer's Kiss (1955), The French Connection (1971), and Vanilla Sky (2001). It is also featured in Big Bang's music video Blue (2012), the music video for "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama (1983) and the opening credits of Rescue Me (2004).
 * It is the residence of the Humphrey family in the television series Gossip Girl. The view from Washington Street appears very often to inform the viewer of the scenario change from Manhattan to Brooklyn.
 * Dumbo is featured prominently in the Sergio Leone drama film Once Upon a Time in America as the location for one of its scenes.
 * Dumbo appears in several episodes of Gotham Season 2.
 * Dumbo appears in the show Orange Is the New Black in the episode "Toast Can't Never Be Bread Again", the fourth season's finale, as part of a flashback sequence of Poussey Washington's past, in which she is separated from her friends and meets some drag artists who take her to a party in a club in Dumbo.
 * Dumbo is referenced on the Jay-Z track The Story of O.J. on the album 4:44, as Shawn Carter raps about a missed opportunity when he was younger to purchase a now valuable building in the neighborhood.
 * The block surrounded by Adams Street, Washington Street, Water Street and Plymouth Street underneath the Manhattan Bridge is a playable map in the video game XDefiant, under the name "Dumbo".
 * Dumbo is one of the most Instagrammed neighborhoods in America . The view of the Manhattan Bridge at the corner of Washington St. and Water St. is the most Instagrammed location in the neighborhood.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Dumbo, Brooklyn


text:
User:Zaphod Beeblebrox

Who I am
Zaphod Beeblebrox - "Three hands, two heads and one big ego..."

aka

30 year old analyst programmer in living in West Yorkshire.

I tend to be a little suspicious of any anonymous edits and can often be found trawling the | Recent Changes page looking for vandalism that needs to be reverted.

My hobbies
My interests include going to live music events, archery, fencing and astronomy. I am also a member of CAMRA.

Articles I have contributed to
I have a great interest in British television and radio series - mainly in the science fiction and comedy areas ; I will be looking to considerably expand on Wikipedia's coverage of the topics by providing detailed entries of any unlinked articles.

TV Series

 * A Bit of Fry and Laurie
 * Doctor Who
 * Marion and Geoff

Radio Series

 * The Children's Hour (Note to self - this radio series needs to be fleshed out with writing credits, character descriptions and plot summaries)
 * Delve Special
 * The Men from the Ministry

People

 * Dave Jones
 * Bernard Levin
 * Will Hay

Music

 * British Sea Power
 * Catatonia

Astronomy

 * Blink comparator
 * Saturn's natural satellites (confirmed the correct nomenclature of three satellites with the IAU)

Towns and cities

 * Brighouse
 * Wolverhampton
 * York

Sport

 * Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. club honours
 * Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics (major contributions to layout and content)

West Yorkshire
Whilst constructing the list for the West Yorkshire category, I noticed that most of the articles are at best one-line stubs ; must do some work on improving the quality of these articles.

English cricketers
A number of articles on the life and achievements of various cricket players seems very sparse indeed. Expand some of these articles to make them more informative.

British radio/television comedy
I am a great follower of British radio and television comedy. A number of articles need to be created in this area (particularly for the radio comedy genre). Will also try to create some biographical articles for members of the cast if they do not already exist.

Work in progress
This isn't really meant for public consumption - it's just where I keep my "rough work" before saving it into the main encyclopedia:

User:Zaphod Beeblebrox/Work In Progress

Personal bookmarks
Pages which I find useful - others may find them interesting as well ; but these are referenced primarily for my own benefit:

Image copyright tags - A list of tags to be used by the Untagged Images Project ; I am currently trying to work my way through the sub-page : User:Looxix/untaggedimages-ab ; feel free to come and help me!

title: User:Zaphod Beeblebrox


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Cultural Quarter, Northampton

The Cultural Quarter of the town Northampton, England, is a local council initiative to promote the area of the town centre which contains the theatre and museum. Part of it was referred to as Derngate, the name of a gate in the old town walls.

The re-branding was launched in early 2013. It encompasses the Northampton Museum, theatre complex Royal & Derngate, a historic house 78 Derngate, an art gallery NN Contemporary Art and a cinema, the Errol Flynn Filmhouse. Bars, restaurants, pubs, hair salons and fashion shops, housing and offices are included. Northampton High School for Girls was once located in the zone. Its site has since been sold for housing.

78 Derngate
78 Derngate is a Grade II* Listed Georgian house, noted for its interior, which was extensively redeveloped in 1916-7 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for local businessman and modelmaker, Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke. It has been open to the public since 2003.

Errol Flynn Filmhouse
The Errol Flynn Filmhouse opened in June 2013, named after actor Errol Flynn, who worked at Northampton's Royal Theatre in his early career. The 88-seat venue, in Albion Place, is part of the Royal & Derngate theatre complex. It screens art-house, world films and documentaries alongside some mainstream films. The development was part of the Northampton Alive regeneration project.

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery
Northampton Museum and Art Gallery dates back to 1884. It was refurbished in 2012.

NN Contemporary Art
NN is an independent contemporary art space in the centre of Northampton. The gallery works with artists at all stages of their careers to present an international programme of contemporary art and multi-disciplinary events. The gallery is run by the Northampton Arts Collective, which moved in 2012 from the old Fishmarket, later demolished to make way for a new bus station. NN Cafe, a café and performance venue, opened upstairs in October 2013 and ran until 2016. The Artist Table took on the Cafe space opening in spring 2017. In 2014 NN was awarded charitable status by the charities commission. and was awarded National Portfolio Organisation status by Arts Council England in June 2017 for the period 2018–22.

In 2003 a group of artists and practitioners came together to form Northampton Arts Collective (NAC). The group's first flagship project was Fishmarket, which launched in 2006 as an independently run, not-for-profit visual arts space in the former abandoned Fishmarket building off the market square in central Northampton. This building housed the largest gallery space outside a city in the UK, alongside retail units and café. From 2006–2011 it presented changing exhibitions of contemporary art featuring artists such as Jamie Shovlin, Bill Drummond, and CJ Mahony, and interdisciplinary events including music and spoken word performances by artists such as Alan Moore, Lyric Lounge, and Don Letts.

NAC now forms the board for NN in the new space at Number Nine, which is run by curatorial and operational staff.

The NN Contemporary Art space is to move into new facilities at 24 Guildhall Road, former offices used by Northamptonshire County Council.

Royal & Derngate
Royal & Derngate is a theatre complex which is formed of the Royal Theatre, a 583-seat producing house, and the Derngate Theatre, a 1,200-set multi-purpose performance space. The Royal opened in 1884, followed 99 years later by the Derngate in 1983, which was built on the site of Northampton's former Derngate bus station. The two theatres merged as one organisation in 1999, closed in 2005 to undergo an 18-month £14.5m redevelopment, and re-opened as Royal & Derngate in 2006. The Stage hailed Royal & Derngate as the Regional Theatre of the Year (2010) in its inaugural Stage 100 Awards for "its artistic quality and connections it has with local audiences."

Food and drink

 * V&B – French-inspired beer, wine and cheese bar
 * John Franklins
 * Haycock and Tailbar Associates
 * The Mailcoach
 * The Artist Table
 * Pizza Express
 * The Vineyard
 * The Wine Connection

Hair and fashion

 * Berties
 * Dapper Chaps
 * The Guild
 * Montague Jeffery
 * Outcast
 * Salon Forty-Six
 * Wedding Wardrobe

Recent developments
St John's Hall of Residences, a block of 462 student flats for the University of Northampton, opened in January 2014. The building is on the site of a former open air car park and prior to that the Northampton St. John's Street railway station, part of the former Bedford to Northampton Line.

A new Premier Inn hotel was built in Albion Place in 2015 and opened in 2016. Two properties adjacent to Royal & Derngate are set to be turned into a hotel and restaurant. Newspaper House on Derngate is expected to be turned into luxury flats.

Several previously industrial buildings will be turned into a 'Vulcan Works'. Work on the project started in 2015 and is expected to be finished in 2017. A project to construct more headquarters for Northamptonshire County Council started in February 2015. It is expected to be finished in 2016.

title: Cultural Quarter, Northampton


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Stephon Marbury

Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who is the head coach for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). After his freshman year with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, he was selected as the 4th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, but was traded shortly thereafter to the Minnesota Timberwolves. A two-time All-Star and two-time member of the All-NBA Team, Marbury played in the NBA from 1996 until 2009. He then played in the CBA until his retirement in 2018.

Early years
Marbury has often gone by the nickname "Starbury", a name created during his youth. Marbury, the sixth of seven children, was born and raised in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. He attended elementary school, PS 329. During his teenage years, he starred at NYC powerhouse Abraham Lincoln High School, After his senior year Marbury was named New York State Mr. Basketball, after averaging 27.4 points, 8.3 assists and 3 steals per game. He was often heralded as the next great NYC point guard, expected to follow the success of NBA stand-outs Mark Jackson and Kenny Anderson.

While still attending Abraham Lincoln High School he was one of the subjects of Darcy Frey's book The Last Shot, which followed three seniors and Marbury, a freshman, through the early months of his first season with the school's team. In high school, he played for the renowned AAU team the New York Gauchos.

Recruitment
He was named a 1995 McDonald's All-American along with future NBA All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Antawn Jamison. Marbury was listed as one of the top five recruits in the country that year and was pursued by Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets coach Bobby Cremins, with whom he eventually committed.

Georgia Tech
At Georgia Tech, Marbury took over the starting point guard role left vacant with Travis Best's departure. Teaming with future NBA players Matt Harpring and Drew Barry, Marbury led Georgia Tech to a 24–12 record en route to the Regional Semi-final game of the NCAA tournament, where the Yellow Jackets lost to Cincinnati 87–70. For the season, Marbury averaged 18.9 ppg and 4.5 assists and was named a Third Team All American by the Associated Press, along with several conference honors. Following the season he declared himself eligible for the 1996 NBA draft.

Minnesota Timberwolves (1996–1999)
He was selected fourth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1996 NBA draft, then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the draft rights to Ray Allen (who was drafted immediately after him) and a future first-round pick. In his first season in the league, Marbury averaged 15.8 points and 7.8 assists per game and was named to the 1997 All-Rookie Team. He and second-year player Kevin Garnett led the Timberwolves to the NBA playoffs in 1997 and 1998. During the 1997 NBA Playoffs, Marbury led Minnesota in scoring with 28 points during a first round Game 1 loss to the Houston Rockets.

During the lockout-shortened 1999 season, Marbury's agent, David Falk, demanded a trade. Marbury said he wanted to be closer to his family and friends. Other reports said he wanted to go to a market that would provide more endorsement opportunities, while others suggested that Marbury genuinely disliked Minnesota and was jealous of Kevin Garnett's new contract. Marbury was ultimately traded to the New Jersey Nets, alongside Bill Curley and Chris Carr of the Timberwolves and Elliot Perry of the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-way trade where the Timberwolves acquired Terrell Brandon, Brian Evans and draft considerations and the Bucks acquired Sam Cassell and Chris Gatling.

New Jersey Nets (1999–2001)
While in New Jersey, Marbury blossomed into an All-Star. Marbury made the All-NBA 3rd Team in 2000 and was selected as a reserve for the 2001 All-Star Game, where he hit 2 clutch threes to win the game. Marbury also scored a career-high 50 points on February 13, 2001, in an overtime loss against the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite his individual accolades, the Nets never made the playoffs during Marbury's time with the team.

Phoenix Suns (2001–2004)
Marbury was traded to the Phoenix Suns along with Johnny Newman and Soumaila Samake in the 2001 offseason for Jason Kidd and Chris Dudley. On November 30, 2002, Marbury scored a season-high 43 points, including 26 in the 4th quarter, to lead the Suns to a 94–87 win over the San Antonio Spurs. As a Sun, Marbury made his second All-Star team and the All-NBA 3rd team in 2003. Teamed with Rookie of the Year Amar'e Stoudemire and All-Star Shawn Marion, the trio took the team to the playoffs, but the Suns were ousted by the Spurs in the first round.

New York Knicks (2004–2009)
Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybański were traded to the New York Knicks on January 5, 2004, for Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Antonio McDyess, Maciej Lampe, draft rights to Miloš Vujanić, a first-round 2004 draft choice, and an additional future first-round draft choice. This brought Marbury full circle, as he grew up in New York and was a lifelong Knicks fan.

Marbury played for the U.S. in the 2004 Summer Olympics, the first of the U.S. teams composed of NBA players to fail to win the gold medal at the Olympics. He and his teammates returned with bronze. Despite the disappointment, Marbury scored a U.S. team Olympic record 31 points in a game against Spain (since eclipsed by Carmelo Anthony in 2012).

During the 2005–06 season Marbury feuded with head coach Larry Brown. Towards the end of the 2005–2006 season, the Knicks' poor performance combined with Marbury's public spats with his coach led to a severe decline in Marbury's popularity, with Frank Isola and Michael O'Keefe of the New York Daily News stating that Marbury is "the most reviled athlete in New York."

The public feud between Marbury and Brown was one of the reasons Larry Brown was fired at the end of the 2005–06 season. Isiah Thomas took over the coaching role and the Knicks were slightly more successful during the 2006–2007 season, surpassing the previous year's 23 wins, 54 games into their 82-game season, before falling off and finishing with only 33.

In September 2007, Marbury testified at the trial of a sexual harassment lawsuit that had been filed against the Knicks and Isiah Thomas. At the trial, Marbury testified that he and a Knicks intern had "got[ten] together" in his car outside a strip club in 2005.

The start of the 2007–08 season found the Knicks again floundering and Marbury again involved in a public feud, this time with Thomas. The pivotal incident involved Marbury leaving the team after learning that Thomas planned to remove him from the starting lineup. There were reports that Marbury and Thomas actually came to blows on the team plane, and that Marbury threatened to blackmail Thomas for taking him out of the starting lineup—both in the presence of Knick teammates. Following the incident and Marbury's return to the team in mid-November after one missed game, Knick fans consistently chanted "fire Isiah" at home games and constantly booed virtually all of the Knicks, especially Marbury. The dysfunction and drama were accompanied by 8 straight Knicks losses, and several newspapers reported that Isiah's job was in jeopardy. There were also rumors that the Knicks wanted to trade Marbury to another team. However, this proved difficult for the Knicks to accomplish, in view of the two years and approximately $42 million remaining under his contract with the Knicks. Following a season-ending ankle surgery in February 2008, which was reportedly deemed unnecessary by the team, but which Marbury elected to undergo regardless, Isiah Thomas hinted that Marbury could have played his final game in a Knicks uniform. However, in April 2008, it was Thomas who was removed from his position; first as president, being replaced by Donnie Walsh, and then as coach, being replaced by Mike D'Antoni.

After D'Antoni took over, the Knicks signed Chris Duhon, leading to speculations over Marbury's future in New York. Marbury arrived to training camp, and competed with Duhon for the starting point guard job, which Duhon won. When D'Antoni told Marbury that he had an opportunity to play approximately 35 minutes in a game if he wanted to, Marbury, apparently feeling he and the Knicks had gone their own ways, allegedly refused. Following that, on December 1, Marbury was banned from attending any Knicks' practices or games.

Boston Celtics (2009)
On February 24, 2009, the Knicks and Marbury agreed to a buyout after much speculation. He cleared waivers two days later, making him a free agent. Marbury had been speculated to join the Boston Celtics by many NBA analysts since late 2008, and on February 27, 2009, Marbury signed with the Celtics. In his debut, he played against the Indiana Pacers, adding 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting, and 2 assists in 13 minutes. Marbury wore the jersey number 8, as No. 3 had been retired in honor of Dennis Johnson.

Marbury was offered a one-year contract by the Celtics for the 2009–10 season for the veteran's minimum. However, he did not agree to the contract. He later announced that he would take a year off from basketball to attend to his business interests.

Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons (2010)
In January 2010, it was announced that Marbury had signed with the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association. In his first game, Marbury, suffering from jet lag, contributed 15 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals in 28 minutes of action. He averaged 22.9 points, 9.5 assists and 2.6 steals in 15 games, but Shanxi eventually failed to advance to the playoffs. Marbury later participated in the CBA All-Star match between the North and the South teams, contributing 30 points and 10 assists for the North team. He won the MVP title for the All-Star game. In July 2010, Marbury agreed to a three-year deal to remain with the Brave Dragons. However, he left the team in December 2010

Foshan Dralions (2010–2011)
In December 2010 Marbury joined the Foshan Dralions. Like the previous season, Marbury played in the starting five of the 2011 CBA All-Star match, but his team failed to make the playoffs.

Beijing Ducks (2011–2017)
During the 2011–2012 season, the Beijing Ducks, led by Stephon Marbury, started out the season with a 13–0 record. Like the previous two seasons, Marbury played in the starting five for the 2012 CBA All-Star match, but unlike the previous two years, his team made the playoffs. Averaging 45 points per game during the Shanxi series, Marbury led Beijing to their first ever CBA Finals match-up against the 7-time champion Guangdong Southern Tigers. Marbury then led his Beijing Ducks Team to the 2011–2012 season CBA championship. Following the team's championship, in May 2012, a statue of Marbury was unveiled on the lawn of the MasterCard Center, the 2008 Olympic basketball arena, in Beijing. Dennis Rodman spoke at the ceremony.

Writing in the state-run China Daily, Marbury credited the success in his life to Chinese culture which he described as one "filled with love, compassion, and care".

In the second game of the 2012–13 CBA season, Marbury tallied 13 assists in a victory over the Jilin Northeast Tigers. This was the highest number of assists Marbury had produced in a single game since his tenure with the Ducks began. He then scored 32 points in an away game against Liaoning. Beijing won that game by 4 points. He was named the CBA Foreign MVP for the season.

On March 30, 2014, Marbury won a second CBA championship with the Beijing Ducks. On March 22, 2015, he won his third CBA championship with his team, as well as his first official CBA Finals MVP award.

On February 25, 2017, Marbury announced he would retire at the end of the 2017-18 CBA season.

On April 24, 2017, the Ducks officially parted ways with Marbury.

Beijing Fly Dragons (2017–2018)
On July 19, 2017, Marbury announced that for his last season, he would play for the Beijing Fly Dragons. He later posted that after his season with the Fly Dragons concluded, he'd look to try and finish his career with an NBA team. However, on February 11, 2018, Marbury played his final game in the CBA, scoring 20 points in a 104–92 win over the Jiangsu Dragons, and announced his retirement from basketball.

Coaching career
On June 24, 2019, Marbury was named head coach of the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He helped turn around the team's performance.

On March 8, 2020, Marbury warned NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to stop the 2019–2020 season, saying, "the game won't be fun if people die." He specifically asked Silver to "be the one to make the hard, easy decision." This request was made three days before the first NBA player tested positive for the coronavirus and Silver suspended the season.

Family
Stephon's father Don died on December 2, 2007, during a game between the Knicks and the Phoenix Suns.

Stephon's brother Zach has played professional basketball in Venezuela. Marbury is a cousin of former professional basketball player Sebastian Telfair. He is also a cousin of former Providence College star and former NBA journeyman Jamel Thomas. In a book, Thomas claimed Marbury's selfish actions in Minnesota prevented Thomas from signing a contract with the Timberwolves.

Stephon and his wife Latasha married on September 14, 2002. They divorced in 2023. He has three children: Xaviera, Stephon II, and Stephanie.

Legal issues and controversies
Marbury was jailed 10 days for DUI after being stopped and arrested for driving 40km above the speed limit. At the time of his arrest, he registered more than twice Arizona's legal limit of blood alcohol level.

In 2007, Marbury admitted in federal court for having affairs with an intern after a group outing to a strip club in 2005.

Philanthropy
In 2001, Marbury donated $250,000 of the money derived from Pepsi sponsorships to help victims of the September 11 attacks.

In 2005, Marbury donated between $500,000 and $1,000,000 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In 2007, Marbury donated $4,000,000 to New York City, $1,000,000 each to the NYPD, FDNY, EMT, and New York City Teacher's Fund.

In 2014, Marbury was named one of the Top 10 Model Citizens for Beijing due to his commitment to the Beijing community and the charity work he provided for it. He became the first international citizen to earn such an honor since its inception by the Beijing government.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Marbury worked with a China supplier to sell millions of masks at cost to assist first responders and hospital workers in New York City.

Fashion
In 2006, Marbury partnered with Steve & Barry's to promote a line of shoes and clothing bearing his nickname, "Starbury". The line of shoes he endorsed sold for $14.98, far less than many other shoe lines. The reason for doing so, he stated at the time, was to provide kids a way to get fashionable basketball shoes for a reasonable price, and avoid the problem of having expensive shoes that are the target of theft. Marbury was not paid to endorse the shoes, but was compensated based on sales of the shoes. Since then, but not due to business with Marbury, Steve & Barry's filed for bankruptcy and closed all stores. Shortly after Steve & Barry's closed, Marbury opened Starbury.com to sell his shoes and an expanded product line through a partnership with Amazon.com. Starbury has also announced plans to open dozens of stores and a distributorship in China. In May 2017, Marbury expressed interest in helping Big Baller Brand partner with a Chinese sports apparel company.

In popular culture
Marbury is on the cover of the Midway video game NBA Ballers. He has been named to The Sporting News list of "Good Guys in Sports" three times.

In the Spike Lee movie He Got Game, fictional Brooklyn high school star Jesus Shuttlesworth (played by Ray Allen) mentions Stephon Marbury as one of the great New York City legends to make it out of Coney Island to the NBA. The high school in the movie, Abraham Lincoln, is where Marbury attended high school.

In 1999, Marbury, alongside fellow former Georgia Tech point guard Kenny Anderson, appeared in the video for Big Pun's single "Whatcha Gonna Do" which was produced by Juju of The Beatnuts. In the video, Marbury and Anderson play a 2 on 2 game versus Terror Squad members Fat Joe and Cuban Link.

In 2007, Marbury co-authored his first children's book with Marshall Dean entitled The Adventures of Young Starbury: Practice Makes Perfect. The book was illustrated by Ryan Nakai.

In March 2008, wrestler Montel Vontavious Porter said in an interview that he based his wrestling persona on Marbury. M.V.P. said he had an encounter with Marbury when he was a doorman at a club.

In July 2009, Marbury began a live-streaming broadcast, a format not yet commonplace, for 24 hours, where he answered questions from fans, openly wept, and ate vaseline to soothe a sore throat. He would later admit that he was depressed and suicidal at the time.

Marbury appeared in the 2014 musical I Am Marbury, which is allegorically based on his life.

In 2017, Marbury starred in his own autobiographical movie titled My Other Home, alongside Jessica Jung.

A documentary about Marbury, A Kid from Coney Island, was released in 2019.

China permanent residence permit
In 2015, Marbury applied for and received a Chinese "green card", or Permanent Resident ID Card (外国人永久居留身份证). He is the fifth American basketball player to receive a green card in China. He also earned the nickname Commissar Ma for his role as a mentor to the teammates and younger players while playing in China.

Sports team owner
On October 20, 2017, it was announced that Marbury had reached an agreement to become the owner of the Beijing Lions of the China Arena Football League.

Filmography

 * 1997: Big Bad Mamma Music Video by Foxy Brown (rapper) – Fairy Godfather
 * 2000: ‘’The Jersey’’ - Himself (Episode: “Elliot and Goliath”)
 * 2000: Between the Lions – Himself (Episode: "Hug, Hug, Hug")
 * 2004: NBA Ballers - Himself
 * 2017: My Other Home — Best New Actor at 14th China Movie Channel Media Awards
 * 2019: A Kid From Coney Island Documentary – Himself

title: Stephon Marbury


text: User talk:80.3.160.6

title: User talk:80.3.160.6


text:
Hotep Idris Galeta

Hotep Idris Galeta (7 June 1941 – 3 November 2010) was a South African jazz pianist and educator. His legal name at birth was Cecil Galeta, but according to local custom he was more commonly known as a child and young man as Cecil Barnard, his father's first name being used instead of a last name.

Early years
In his teens he played with some of the best jazz musicians in South Africa; Abdullah Ibrahim (then known as Dollar Brand) and Lami Zokufa introduced him to bebop and hard bop. In 1961 he left South Africa clandestinely, following many other South African performers to the United Kingdom (severe restrictions on public gatherings following the Sharpeville massacre had made entertainment careers impossible for any but white artists, and the already poor quality of life for non-whites was deteriorating rapidly as apartheid became ever stricter). After a year in the United Kingdom, he moved to the United States.

In the US
In the United States, he played and recorded with Herb Alpert, John Handy, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones, Hugh Masekela, Jackie McLean, Mario Pavone, Joshua Redman, and Archie Shepp. Outside jazz he performed and recorded with David Crosby and the Byrds. In 1985, Jackie McLean invited him to teach at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford, where he taught until his return to South Africa in 1991, following the collapse of apartheid.

Return to South Africa
After his return, he recorded, performed, and taught in South Africa. His teaching engagements included four years on the faculty of the University of Fort Hare, the musical directorship of a national music education program for high schools, and co-ordination of music outreach programs in Cape Town. He was also Project Manager for the establishment of a school of jazz and a multimedia audio visual production center at the University of Fort Hare's new urban campus in the east coast South African city of East London in the Eastern Cape Province.

Death
Galeta died in Johannesburg on the 3 November 2010, following an asthma attack.

As leader

 * Heading Home (The Sun, 1990)
 * Malay Tone Poem (Sheer Sound, 2002)

As sideman
With John Handy
 * Hard Work (ABC/Impulse, 1976)

With Bobby Hutcherson
 * Bobby Hutcherson Live at Montreux (Blue Note, 1974)

With Jackie McLean
 * Dynasty (Triloka, 1988)
 * Rites of Passage (Triloka, 1991)
 * The Jackie Mac Attack Live (Birdology, 1991)

title: Hotep Idris Galeta


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New Japan Pro-Wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (新日本プロレスリング株式会社) (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently owned by card game company Bushiroad, while TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Hiroshi Tanahashi has served as the president of the promotion since December 2023.

Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest and longest-running professional wrestling promotion in Japan. Their biggest event is the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show (currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner) held each year since 1992.

The promotion was owned by Yuke's from 2005 until 2012. It was then sold to Bushiroad in 2012, which parlayed its entry to the world of professional wrestling into a best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling, and appearances from NJPW stars in its various franchises.

NJPW was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points in its history. NJPW also had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around the world; including WWE, World Championship Wrestling, American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, WAR, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, UWFi, Ring of Honor, Pride Fighting Championships, and All Elite Wrestling.

Formation and early history (1972–2000)
The promotion was founded by Antonio Inoki on January 13, 1972 after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. The first NJPW event, titled Opening Series, took place on March 6, 1972, in the Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, to a crowd of 5,000. The following year, NJPW signed a television deal with NET TV, now known as TV Asahi. The company launched its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP); and in 1983, Hulk Hogan became the first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion by defeating Inoki. However, this championship was later abandoned and the current version of the championship was established in 1987. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, when he was succeeded by Seiji Sakaguchi.

On April 24, 1989, NJPW hosted Battle Satellite, its first show in the Tokyo Dome. The promotion was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW was briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the late 2000s to the early 2010s as well. On January 4, 1992, NJPW partnered with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to produce Super Warriors, the first ever January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, an event that would become an annual tradition for NJPW and is considered their biggest event of the year and comparable to WWE's WrestleMania event. In April 1995, NJPW and WCW held the two-day Collision in Korea event at the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. The event was the first professional wrestling event held in North Korea and holds the record for most attended wrestling event of all time, with 355,000 people packing the stadium over the two days.

Decline and Inoki's departure (2000–2011)
In the early 2000s, the burgeoning popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) in Japan was noticed by Inoki, who wanted to integrate elements of shoot wrestling to make the company appear more realistic. The company would partner with martial arts organization K-1 and begin to insert wrestlers into MMA fights, with the goal of pushing NJPW in a more realistic direction and to make it appear as an actual sport. The company's new management was criticized by critics and fans. Inoki later departed NJPW in 2005 after selling his share of the company to Yuke's, and began his own promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), in 2007. After his departure, Inoki's son-in-law Simon took over the company, before Naoki Sugabayashi was appointed president in 2007 after Simon also left NJPW to join Antonio in IGF. After the departure of the Inoki family, the company began to reintegrate its prior puroresu style of wrestling.

Also in 2007, NJPW hosted its first ever pay-per-view (PPV) event Wrestle Kingdom I.

The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming New Japan talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion. On January 4, 2011, New Japan officially announced the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast, the promotion's first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, as well as cross-promotion with American independent group Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW). As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

Acquisition by Bushiroad and expansion (2012–2020)
On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro-Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥500 million ($6.5 million).

New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view, the fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax, on August 5, 2012. The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream. On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine the inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012.

In February 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with Ring of Honor (ROH), which saw the promotion return to North America the following May to present two supershows; Global Wars in Toronto and War of the Worlds in New York City. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to produce four more supershows; War of the Worlds '15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia and Global Wars '15 on May 15 and 16 in Toronto.

In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American Global Force Wrestling (GFW) organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett. In November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014, the American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi. The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, leading to AXS TV and TV Asahi signing a multi-year deal to continue airing the show. In June 2016, the show was also acquired by the Canadian Fight Network. On December 1, 2014, NJPW and TV Asahi announced NJPW World, a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events.

On July 18, 2015, NJPW announced the "New IWGP Conception", a global expansion strategy centered on their international partnerships with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), GFW, ROH, Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as well as holding more shows in Thailand, Singapore, and Taiwan. Also announced was the Lion's Gate Project, which would feature NJPW rookies as well as up-and-coming outsiders working trial matches in an effort to earn a spot in the promotion. Finally, it was announced that there were plans to take the company public with a listing on the stock market within three to five years.

On December 21, 2015, NJPW announced the creation of its seventh active title and the first six-man tag team championship in the promotion's history, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On January 5, 2016, NJPW announced a partnership with the Amuse talent agency with the goal of making the promotion's wrestlers internationally recognized stars in the vein of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

In March 2017, NJPW partnered with the New Zealand-based Fale Dojo, a pro wrestling training facility run by NJPW performer Bad Luck Fale. NJPW will utilize the partnership as an opportunity to scout talent from Oceania. The following month on April 24, 2017, it was announced that NJPW would co-present the Japanese qualifiers for the Pro Wrestling World Cup tournament hosted by the British What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) promotion.

On May 12, 2017, NJPW announced the creation of a new title: the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, with the inaugural champion to be crowned during the promotion's G1 Special in USA shows in Long Beach, California on July 1 and 2. Four days later, NJPW held a press conference to announce plans to establish a subsidiary company, including a dojo, in the United States. A Los Angeles office was scheduled to be opened before the end of 2017, with a dojo scheduled to be opened at the start of 2018. NJPW's second American event, Strong Style Evolved, took place on March 25, 2018, also in Long Beach. In November 2017, NJPW signed a television deal with Discovery Communications, which would see the company's programming brought to 70 million Indian homes through DSport.

In January 2018, NJPW announced the four-show Fallout Down Under tour, the promotion's inaugural tour of Australia spanning from February 16–19. In March 2018, New Japan opened the NJPW LA Dojo with Katsuyori Shibata serving as head trainer and ROH wrestler Scorpio Sky serving as assistant trainer. On May 13, 2018, New Japan hired its first foreign president, Dutch businessman Harold Meij.

In February 2019, NJPW re-established their partnership with the NWA and entered into a new partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre; both partnerships ended later in 2019. On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of a new American subsidiary of the company, named New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA). In 2019, they had run a record 13 shows in the United States, with plans to run double that in 2020. It was reported at the same time that NJPW and ROH had no joint shows planned for the future.

On October 31, 2019, Super7 announced the first line of NJPW action figures.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022)
Amidst from the Japanese onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, NJPW decided to cancel all scheduled shows from March 1 through March 15. On March 10, NJPW announced that they were cancelling all shows through March 22, which meant that they cancelled the 2020 New Japan Cup as well. World Wonder Ring Stardom is owned by Bushiroad, also made adjustments to their scheduled, cancelling shows from February 18 to March 14. Their March 8 show in Korakuen Hall was held without any spectators in attendance, instead streaming live on their YouTube channel. On March 23, NJPW would later cancel the 2020 Sakura Genesis event that was originally scheduled to take place in on March 31.

On April 8, NJPW would cancel more events from April 11 through May 4, which mean both nights of 2020 Wrestling Dontaku were cancelled as well. On May 6, NJPW cancelled their annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament. The next day, NJPW postponed their Wrestle Dynasty event to 2021, which was to take place in Madison Square Garden in New York. On June 9, NJPW announced their return with special show with mystery match card called Together Special on June 15 and the return of the New Japan Cup would now be held from June 16 until July 11, with the final being held at Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka alongside Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall being rescheduled to July 12.

On September 29, NJPW announced that Meij would no longer be appointed president of the promotion and was replaced by Takami Ohbari on October 23, who is the current CEO of New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America.

In 2020, NJPW partnered with Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Major League Wrestling (MLW), with both promotions sending wrestlers to the Super J-Cup tournament. On July 31, NJPW announced a new weekly series titled NJPW Strong, with its initial episodes to feature matches from the inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. As part of NJPW's expansion into the United States, the series would be produced by NJoA. In February 2021, it was reported that NJPW had entered into partnerships with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling. On November 19, 2021, NJPW would re-establish a relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event.

During Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January 2022, it was announced that NJPW programming, including new programs and reruns of past English broadcasts, would return to AXS TV and Fight Network in the United States and Canada. Reruns will begin airing on AXS starting January 20, with all new content to premiere on March 3. On the April 20, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite, it was announced that New Japan and AEW would co-promote a supershow called AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door. The event would take place on June 26, 2022, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

During September 2022, NJPW announced NJPW Tamashii, an Oceania-based brand that would stage events throughout the region.

Post-COVID and new partnerships (2022–present)
On October 1, 2022, NJPW's founder Antonio Inoki died from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis at age 79. On January 4, 2023, NJPW held their Wrestle Kingdom 17 event in Inoki's honor.

In October 2023, NJPW and sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom established the Asia Pacific Pro-Wrestling Alliance, an interpromotional governing body that seeks to connect wrestling promotions across Asia. On January 5, 2024, the alliance was renamed the Asia-Pacific Federation of Wrestling (APFW). The inaugural event sanctioned by APFW, NJPW's Wrestling World in Taiwan, took place on April 14 in Taipei.

In early December 2023, NJPW was announced as a founding member of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling (UJPW) alliance. The inaugural UJPW event took place on May 6, 2024, in the Nippon Budokan arena. On December 23, NJPW announced that Takami Ohbari had stepped down as the promotion's president, with Hiroshi Tanahashi replacing him as NJPW president and representative director.

On April 23, 2024, NJPW announced that it would fully acquire sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom on June 28. The acquisition was completed on June 28, with Stardom Co., Ltd. becoming a subsidiary of NJPW.

Contracts
Up until the 1980s, NJPW signed its workers to multi-year contracts, before changing to a system where the promotion signed its wrestlers to one-year deals that expired at the end of every January. Following the departures of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, NJPW chairman Takaaki Kidani announced in February 2016 that the promotion was returning to the multi-year contract system. The contracts forbid negotiations with other promotions. After All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was launched by wrestlers working for NJPW, they started signing foreigners to guaranteed deals as well. Any side contracts or agreements offered to wrestlers under NJPW contracts, need the promotion's approval before being signed. NJPW currently has partnerships with several promotions across the world, for which NJPW wrestlers can also perform for.

Championships and accomplishments
The promotion has its own fictional governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, shortened as IWGP.

At the top of NJPW's championship hierarchy for male wrestlers is the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Secondary titles include the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship, the NJPW World Television Championship, and the KOPW (King of Pro Wrestling) Championship.

For tag teams, there is a traditional championship for two-man teams (the IWGP Tag Team Championship), and one for three-man teams (the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship).

There are two championships in NJPW for junior heavyweight wrestlers - a singles title (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship) and one for tag teams (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship).

In New Japan's United States based NJPW Strong brand, there are two championships for male wrestlers - the Strong Openweight Championship for singles wrestlers, and the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship for tag teams.

There are two championships for female wrestlers in NJPW, the IWGP Women's Championship and the Strong Women's Championship.

Marquee events

 * Wrestle Kingdom
 * New Year Dash!!
 * The New Beginning
 * NJPW Anniversary Show
 * Sakura Genesis
 * Wrestling Dontaku
 * Dominion
 * Destruction
 * Power Struggle

Collaborated events

 * Fantastica Mania (with CMLL)
 * All Together (with UJPW)
 * Forbidden Door (with AEW)
 * Historic X-Over (with Stardom)
 * Multiverse (with TNA)

Greatest 18 Club
The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first hall of fame, being established in 1990 during Antonio Inoki's career 30th anniversary. Additionally, Lou Thesz also debuted a new Greatest 18 Club Championship, awarding it to Riki Choshu.

Greatest Wrestlers
The Greatest Wrestlers is New Japan's hall of fame, established in 2007 to honor wrestlers who have wrestled for the promotion. From 2007 to 2011, the inductions begin on March 6, the anniversary of the promotion's founding.

Broadcasters
Domestic: International (former): International (current): Worldwide:
 * TV Asahi (1973–present, currently broadcasting weekly highlights show World Pro-Wrestling and live specials)
 * Fighting TV Samurai (1996–present, currently broadcasting live specials, retrospective shows and magazine show NJPW Battle DX)
 * Abema (2014–present, online linear television service, live-streaming episodes of World Pro-Wrestling)
 * Eurosport (mid '90s–2007, Europe, dubbed episodes of World Pro-Wrestling and major shows for various continental markets)
 * The Wrestling Channel (2002–2005, UK & Ireland, dubbed and undubbed broadcasts of major shows)
 * 1Sports (2020, Indian Subcontinent, broadcast the AXS version of World Pro-Wrestling)
 * DSport/Eurosport (2017–2020, 2021, Indian Subcontinent, broadcast the AXS TV version of World Pro-Wrestling, Season 3–5)
 * J-One (May 2018 – 2020, France, dubbed with French commentary)
 * FX (2019–2020, South Korea, broadcasting the AXS TV version of World Pro-Wrestling)
 * AXS TV (2014–19, 2022–present, United States, Canada, broadcast World Pro-Wrestling and major shows, dubbed with English commentary)
 * The Roku Channel (2021–present, United States, United Kingdom and Canada broadcast World Pro-Wrestling and major shows, dubbed with English commentary)
 * Fight Network (2016–2019, 2022–present, Canada, broadcasting the AXS version of World Pro-Wrestling)
 * Extreme Sports Channel (2023–present, Europe, broadcast World Pro-Wrestling and major shows for various continental markets)
 * NJPW World (streaming service, in partnership with TV Asahi, broadcasting most NJPW shows live, as well as on-demand classic, documentary and anime content, as well as content from other promotions, beginning with promotional partners CMLL's weekly Super Viernes and AEW's weekly Dynamite and Rampage shows)
 * FITE TV (for Wrestle Kingdom and Dominion LIVE)

title: New Japan Pro-Wrestling