(in Russia after 1906) a member of the class of peasants who became proprietors of their own farms. After the October Revolution the kulaks opposed collectivization of land, but in 1929 Stalin initiated their liquidation
Word origin
C19: from Russian: fist, hence, tightfisted person; related to Turkish kol arm
kulak in American English
(kuˈlɑk; ˈkuˌlɑk)
noun
a well-to-do peasant farmer in Russia who profited from the labor of poor peasants and opposed the Soviet collectivization of the land