Sentence:  Was it the party 's intention , for example , to abolish gradually the kolkhoz system and replace it by uniformly wage-earning sovkhozes , i. e. , state farms ( which <WSD>were</WSD> , moreover , to be progressively `` urbanized '' ) ? 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)