3B

Remowal of field Boundaries: Land Consolidation

Land consolidation was presented as a technical triumph and a necessary condition for the deployment of heavy machinery. Propaganda celebrated the elimination of the traditional network of field strips, boundaries, and paths as the removal of outdated remnants of the past that hindered efficient farming. Contemporary materials portrayed the creation of vast open fields as a symbol of modern, scientifically managed agriculture, while selective comparisons of yields were used to “prove” the productivity of these new expansive areas. This rhetoric, however, deliberately concealed a harsher reality: remowing of field boundaries was not merely a technical adjustment of the terrain, but above all a tool for the definitive dismantling of property relations and the violent destruction of centuries old traditions of private farming in the Czech lands.