Marx-Engels | Lenin | Stalin | Home Page
Transcripts from Soviet ArchivesVolume XI - 1931
V. City. Working class.
Special report No. 7 of the OGPU SOU on the mood in industrial enterprises and in workersʹ districts. March 23, 1931
No. 1
Top secret
I. Unhealthy moods due to food shortages
Ivanovo industrial region. Among the seasonal workers and workers of individual industrial enterprises of the region, a number of conflicts were noted in connection with a decrease in the bread norm for March.
Shuya. More than 250 people did not work at the buildings of the dispensary and the post office due to the decrease in the bread norm; a group of workers (poor peasants) left for the countryside.
Gusevsky district. On March 9, at the Sverdlov Glass Factory, a group of workers ‐ 7 people ‐ did not go to work. On March 10, 40 workers of guttas (connected with agriculture) and four jars 51 did not go to work. After the explanation, the workers of the gutta got down to work, and the canners, who categorically refused to work, were fired. In the same place, 30 carpenters stopped their work, demanding the issuance of rations according to the old rate and the issuance of the manufactory. At the general meeting (March 9) on the issue of allocating a brigade for logging, some speakers said: ʺYouʹre lying, there is no compulsion, give me bread, then letʹs go to work.ʺ The meeting was disrupted.
Yaroslavl. At the Parizhskaya Kommuna sawmill, a group of workers (20 people) came to the factory office and announced: “If you don’t add more bread, we’ll leave work.” The initiators (two people) immediately submitted applications demanding the calculation. Following them, 10 more people filed similar applications.
Pistsovsky district. At a meeting of the workers of the Scribe Factory, sharp statements were made on the issue of food difficulties. One apprentice (anti‐Soviet), addressing those present, said: ʺAll foreign harbors are filled up with goods from the USSR, everything is sent abroad, but nothing is left behind.ʺ These speeches from the party members of the factory did not meet with resistance.
Rybinsk district, Abakumovskaya farm of the Central Recreation Center. Due to the decrease in the bread ration to 500 grams, sawing workers (40 people) did not work on March 11. The workers demanded to increase the bread ration to 700 grams per day. The initiators of the strike are one dispossessed and one individually taxed.
Ukrainian SSR
Sawmill named after Bogdanov (Kherson). On March 4, a general meeting of workers was held, at which a representative of the district made a presentation on food difficulties. The report was not completed due to the speeches of a number of anti‐Soviet persons who disorganized the meeting. One of them said: “We don’t need any reports, let the speaker better tell us why they cut our bread ration and the workers of the Petrovsky plant were not cut; if they don’t give us more bread, then we will all quit work as one and go with a demonstration to the workers of the Petrovsky plant”. The unskilled laborer who spoke behind him said: ʺIf bread is not given, then we will organize a protest demonstration ‐ we are not afraid of your machine guns.ʺ The speeches were accompanied by exclamations “right”. One of the workers, going up to the speaker, said: ʺGet out of the factory immediately, otherwise the hungry people will tear you to pieces.ʺ Surrounding the district representative, a group of workers tried to beat him. At the meeting, none of the workers of the plant organizations was present.
Kazakhstan
Meat Processing Plant (Uralsk). On March 11, 140 workers stopped working due to dissatisfaction with the decrease in the bread supply. The workers demanded that the previous rate be maintained. The work began after the requirement was satisfied.
Ural printing house. The removal of some of the workers from supply created a tense atmosphere at the enterprise. Local organizations, under pressure from the workers, delegated their representatives to the regional organizations. A flying meeting was convened at the printing house, at which a resolution was passed ‐ to cut the norm by 100 grams for those who remained on the supply in favor of those who did not receive bread.
II. Strike in connection with a decrease in wages
Ivanovo industrial region
Shuisko‐Novinskaya factory, Shuisky district. With the transition from the water duck to the mule 52, the labor productivity of workers decreased with a simultaneous significant increase in the percentage of rejects. Due to a decrease in wages, workers (565 people) on March 14 did not work for half an hour. We got down to work after the explanation of the district party and trade union workers.
III. Discontent with delayed wages
LVO
Construction at the Printing House Printing House. On March 10, 200 workers stopped working, demanding the payment of wages for February. They started work after they were promised to be paid their salaries for the first half of February. Didnʹt work for 2 hours 30 minutes.
Moscow region
Nikolsky Combine (Orekhovo‐Zuevsky District). Among the workers in most of the plantʹs factories, there was strong dissatisfaction with the non‐payment of January wages. On March 6, a group of workers (up to 70 people) came to the director of the weaving factory No. 3 and demanded the immediate payment of money. Several workers refused to pay for breakfast. There was talk about the need to stop work. One weaver, in the presence of the secretary of the cell and a group of workers, said: “The workers have been completely crushed, there is nothing to eat, they are not giving money. Everything goes right for you, but everything was right with Ramzin. ʺ Group walks demanding the payment of wages were also noted in other factories of the plant.
IV. Conflict at the Krasny Profintern factory
Ivanovo industrial region
Factory ʺKrasny Profinternʺ (Vychugsky district) ... On March 8, 350 workers of the second shift refused to start work in the new weaving department. The reason was the change in the order of work of shifts. The specified second shift, which started work on March 8 at 9 pm, had to leave again on March 9 at 1 pm. More than 300 workers in the first and third shifts were also gripped by discontent. The new structure of shift work was introduced by administrative means without coordination between departments. The question was also not clarified to the workers. A group of female workers (including several anti‐Soviet ones) stopped the female workers on their way to the department, urging: “The communists have tortured us enough, they mocked our sister, they don’t give food, money too, but they strangled us with their work. Letʹs stand here until the reasons for this confusion are explained. ʺ There were statements: “You told us that the culprit is Kruglikov, so why are you covering for him. In the old days he sucked the last blood out of us, but now he is in good standing in the party ʺ(Kruglikov, head of the Starotkiy department, formerly a big kulak, until 1917 sympathized with the Mensheviks, joined the party in 1927, is extremely rude to the workers). The conflict was eliminated after the explanations of the district committee secretary. The factory director was ordered to be reprimanded and Kruglikov removed from his job. (The issue of workersʹ dissatisfaction with the nomination of Kruglikov for the post of head of the weaving factory was previously discussed at the bureau of the Vychugsky district committee of the CPSU (b); it was decided to reconsider the decision of the factory party collective to nominate Kruglikov).
V. Downsizing at the Yartsevskaya Textile Factory
Western Region
Yartsevskaya textile factory. At the factory, from April 1, it is planned to reduce to 500 workers due to the lack of raw materials (cotton). Among the workers of the factory, in recent months, the question of expanding work at the factory (on the transition from autumn to three shifts and on the involvement of more than two thousand workers in production) has been worked out. Due to the unpreparedness of workers for the upcoming layoffs, complications are possible at the factory.
Vi. Anti‐Soviet leaflets
According to the data for March 11‐22, 19 anti‐Soviet leaflets were found in the cities and industrial regions of the Union: five in Ukraine, four in the NVK and the Moscow Region, three in Leningrad, two in the NGOs and one in the Western Region. In terms of content: nine ‐ of an insurrectionary nature, two leaflets ‐ Menshevik (about the trial of the Union Bureau of the RSDLP), two ‐ in connection with food difficulties, the rest ‐ of different content.
Leningrad
Factory ʺProletarian Victoryʺ. A leaflet with the following content was found: “Comrades. The Grohman trial ended in Moscow, Shera 53and others. The Bolsheviks tried to discredit the RSDLP, accusing it of sabotage. The only argument is the unanimous confession of the defendants, but this confession itself is suspicious since people who had been in the party for many years could not change their beliefs four days after their arrest. Moreover, the punishment turned out to be strangely mild [...]. The Social Democrats consider sabotage to be the wrong method of struggle, since they are fighting not against the development of the economy, but against the exploiters who develop the economy at the expense of the peopleʹs sweat and blood. Soviet power is not a dictatorship of the proletariat, but a dictatorship over the proletariat; it is not building socialism, but state capitalism — the vilest form of capitalism. The Soviet government, under the guise of socialism, speculates in scarce goods, tears the last piece from the worker with deductions, binds the peasants to the land, and the workers to the factories, sets the arbitrariness of the chiefs. The worker cannot express his discontent freely, since he is threatened by the GPU, prison, Solovki [...]. The Social Democrats are fighting against these convicts for the freedom and well ‐being of the masses not by sabotaging the masses, but by uniting and exposing the fascism of the Bolsheviks. From this it is clear that the accused have nothing to do with Social Democracy. Do not trust the ruling speculators and deceivers. The main wrecker is the Soviet regime. ʺ A leaflet of the same nature was found in a mailbox on Konnaya Street. The leaflet ends with an appeal: “All honest and courageous, unite in underground alliances in the name of a new revolution, in the name of freedom and democratic socialism, which denies dictatorship and tyranny. Down with communists, blood drinkers, down with Stalinʹs oppression. denying dictatorship and tyranny. Down with communists, blood drinkers, down with Stalinʹs oppression.
Ukraine
Konstantinovskiy chemical plant... Found six leaflets with the following content: “Comrades workers. To what we have lived. We already see that the crash has come. And we want to expect something good. You, comrades, partisans, are awake, it is time to wake up, calls on all the Bureau. ʺ At the Dnepropetrovsk station and on the railway track near the Mezhevoy station of the Yekaterinoslavskaya railway, five copies of the leaflet were found with the following content: “Comrades workers and peasants, until when will we endure the bullying of the communists, they correctly write abroad about forced labor. The communists are forcibly forced to go to collectives, and the people suffer from hunger and cold. They ruin poor farms, demand bribes, communists enjoy unlimited rights. Comrades, it is high time to understand that the communists are leading the poor to destruction, they have taken bread and cattle from the poor and gave everything to the communes. Rise up until itʹs not too late. Remember, peasants, that you will be eternal slaves, the communists will ride on your backs. They took the bread in order to create a famine. ʺ
Moscow
Hammer and Sickle plant. An anti‐Soviet leaflet was found in the rolling shop with the signature ʺHungry Workerʺ: ʺDear comrades! We are all equal brothers, workers and peasants, we can probably confirm that we have not only fairy tales, that there is forced labor. Worse than under Catherine in serfdom. The peasant class is almost dying of hunger. It comes down to the last cow, which is taken away from the yard for unbearable taxes or for the appropriation imposed by our bodies of Soviet power. Where is that Marseillaise, which was sung in 1917 ‐ we will divide mother earth, we will not pay taxes, but it turned out the other way around. Get up for the Soviet, all the peasant and working people, otherwise serfdom will take you again. ʺ
Moscow region
Factory ʺKrasnaya Zvezdaʺ, Kimrsky District. At the factory and near the building of the Promkredsoyuz house, over 200 copies of a note with the stamp “Down with Soviet power” were found.
Ivanovo industrial region
Yaroslavl. Five letters of anti‐Soviet content were sent to the editorial office of Severny Rabochy with the signatures ʺWorker of theʺ Stubborn Labor ʺfactory,ʺ ʺWorker of theʺ Proletarskaya Svoboda ʺfactory. Here are excerpts from the letters: “You are taking out ordinary Trudovik peasants. The defenders of the working peasantry are imprisoned by the Soviet government”; ʺWe now have violence, intimidation everywhere, they drag them to collective farms on a rope, take away bread, hay, etc.ʺ; “We must hang the communists”; ʺAll the Bolsheviks have already been rewritten, the time will come, we will transfer everyone.ʺ
Western Region
The working village of Myatlevo, Bukharinsky district. In early March, during the maneuvers of the Red Army units, notes were scattered at the FZS school with the words: ʺThere will be war.ʺ In the same school, a leaflet was found with the following content: “Cut collective farmers, Komsomol members. Run away, organizations. Minsk has been taken; an offensive is underway on Smolensk. Notes of similar content were sent by mail from Myatlevo to different cities. The authors of the leaflet are three students of the FZS school (two of them are the sons of the disenfranchised, the third is the son of an officer expelled by the OGPU).
Vii. Incident at the construction of the Moscow region radio station
3rd site for the construction of the radio station, Noginsk district. On March 14, construction workers of two artels (up to 200 people), who were drunk on the day off, fought among themselves. The workers beat the commandant, who was trying to stop the carnage. The shooters of the militarized guards of the Elektrostal plant were called in after the workers had dispersed to the barracks.
A group of workers (7 people) resisted when trying to arrest the ringleaders. Under the influence of the call of one of the ringleaders (previously he was sued for hooliganism): ʺBeat the Red Army, we will not surrender aliveʺ, the workers again attacked the commandant and tried to beat the riflemen of the paramilitary guard. The shooters fired several shots into the air. During the shooting, one worker was killed and another was wounded. The instigators of the fight and five shooters were arrested in the case.
VIII. Poisoning
Ivanovo industrial region
South textile factory. On March 12, up to 70 people were poisoned by poor‐quality food (fish) in the canteen of the factory. Of these, 30 were sent to the hospital for treatment. 4 people were arrested in the case. An investigation is underway.
IX. Fires
Ukrainian SSR
On March 8, a fire broke out at the Kramatorsk machine‐building plant in the “Shamot” workshop; the fire destroyed the molding department, internal transmissions, etc. The loss is 130 thousand rubles. An investigation is underway.
Deputy Head of SOU OGPU Agranov
51 Jars are workers at a glass factory.
52 Switching from water duck to mule duck ‐ the water duck differs from the mule duck in the number of spindles, in addition, the mule spindles took up less electricity.
53 The trial of Groman, Sher and others ‐ this refers to the trial of the so‐called
Union Bureau of Mensheviks in 1931, where V.G. Groman and V.V. Cher. Both were sentenced to lengthy prison terms and died in custody. Memorandum of the PP of the OGPU in the Ministry of Defense on anti‐Soviet and counter‐revolutionary activities at industrial enterprises. 1931 g.
Number 3
Top secret
Anti‐party and counter‐revolutionary manifestations among members and candidates for members of the CPSU (b)
The socially alien and hostile elements infiltrating the ranks of the party are clearly subversive and counter‐revolutionary work, using for this the difficulties in certain sectors of socialist construction.
The materials at our disposal record the anti‐party and counterrevolutionary activities of groups and individuals in the following areas:
1. Terrorist tendencies and insurrectionary sentiments of lone individuals, who are the spokesmen for the most embittered and activist aspirations of the class enemy.
2. Illegal organizational work aimed at creating counter‐revolutionary formations of a right opportunistic nature.
3. Obviously anti‐Party and counter‐revolutionary work of doubledealing Trotskyists who returned to the Party with the aim of continuing their previous work in its ranks.
4. Organizing and participating in individual strike conflicts and workersʹ bagpipes.
5. Anti‐Soviet agitation, expressed in resistance to the partyʹs measures in the field of organizing labor in industry and against the socialist reconstruction of agriculture
Terrorist tendencies and insurgency
The case of a member of the CPSU (b) Lashin
A member of the CPSU (b) Lashin (an employee of the cooperation) in November last year, entering a store, in the crowd led an obviously pogrom, counter‐revolutionary agitation with threats to kill Stalin. After being arrested, Lashin in his testimony gave a detailed picture of his right‐wing opportunist views, with which he justified his terrorist mood. “I believe that the pace taken by the party will not only not give positive results, but will lead to a decline in agriculture, to the disruption of construction and an increase in workersʹ discontent. I regard the food difficulties as a result of the Partyʹs policy towards the collectivization of agriculture. We must first put shoes on and clothe the worker, and then demand from him the pace of work. How can heavy industry be developed when light industry is poorly developed? This is my fundamental disagreement with the policy of the CPSU (b). I consider the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and, in particular, Stalin to be the culprit of the current state of affairs. My hostile attitude towards the party policy and Stalin was especially vividly manifested in the second half of November, when I, being in a shop among the visitors, said: “Stalin brought us to the point where there was nothing to eat. Stalin would not lead us to a good life, I would He strangled Stalin with his own hands ʺʺ (testimony of Lashin). Lashin was expelled from the ranks of the CPSU (b).
The case of a member of the CPSU (b) Mazov
A member of the CPSU (b) Mazov, head of the rusk workshop No. 1, in the company of his close acquaintances: Govorov, a former Komsomol member, Serezhnikov, the son of a former manufacturer and Platov, a former Socialist‐Revolutionary, read his essay during a drinking binge:
“A message to Stalin on the fiftieth anniversary of his anniversary ʺ:
From factories, factories and villages,
Krasnokremlevskiy bandit,
We carry to brother Stalin
We are workers by greetings.
Who drove the peasants of Russia?
Terror into serfdom,
Greetings from the bottom of my heart
You, the robber and the hero of the day.
Your deeds are pleasant to us,
Your falsely boorish look is pleasant,
Follower of the Venetian,
The country is in blood before you.
Under the fear of your sword
He does not raise his heads.
And dragging poverty in slavery,
ʺHelloʺ we send you. ʺ
Mazov in 1930 was sent to the village at the expense of ʺ25,000ʺ and, returning from the village, told his friend Shchipilev [who was] exiled to a concentration camp in 1931 by order of the OGPU): “Stalin himself wrote orders ‐ to rob the peasants, and then he blamed it all on our heads. We, according to the directive of the Central Committee, robbed the Lapotniks 57, calling them kulaks, and the kulaks came to us barefoot and hungry. ʺ
“Collective farms ‐ serfdom and an open campaign of banditry, they took a horse from me to the collective farm, and after a while they kicked me out into the street; the horse has disappeared, and the collective farm under the yoke of violence is experiencing general peasant calamities, poverty, etc. ʺ (Serezhnikovʹs statement on November 17 this year).
ʺThe Soviet government is robbing the peasants with grain procurementsʺ (statement by [Komsomol member] Govorov).
Statements of a socially alien element infiltrating the village
“In the so‐called Soviet country, forced labor has been introduced everywhere; Volkhovstroy and Kuznetskstroy grow on the blood, on the corpses of prisoners. Thatʹs why factories grow so quickly, thatʹs why living people are turned into corpses. The entire Russian intelligentsia was torn to pieces in the dungeons of the Lubyanka cellars” (Platovʹs speech).
“The Communist Party is a caste organization similar to the former nobility. They go to the party only to create a good life. The policy of the party and the Soviet government is wrong, the dictatorship has pressed everyone. The working class is not a class, but a geek who will not be able to do anything without the intelligentsia. I will never agree that this system will hold out. If the dictatorship of the party shakes a little, then let it not be offended, I will chop off the heads of the communists, I will rip off their skin on gloves” (candidate of the AllUnion Communist Party of Bolsheviks, student of the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute Tyupich).
“What kind of power, what kind of order. They want to cut our wages, but prices have increased for all products, what kind of life is it at the moment? Let the war, I would be the first to mobilize and put a bayonet against this power ʺ(member of the CPSU (b) Platonov, worker of the Paris Commune factory).
“I still cannot understand why we have nothing. Weʹll all have to rebel, then everything will appear at once, and the workers are afraid of something and suffer an undeserved need” (VKP (b) candidate Filatov, Kolomna Plant).
“Look how the Soviet government takes care of the workers ‐ money is not even given on time, and everyone is silent. Although I am a party member, I am against this government, and everyone will say that the government deceives the workers, only promises, but does not give. Well, to hell with her, this party. The end will come soon, and I think it wonʹt get any worse. I will not go to the collective, and I will not give a single piece of Soviet power. Let me be exiled to Solovki, I made a fortune, I will live with them. But I will not give this shantrapa, and I will not allow anyone who dares to touch my farm without a fight” (VKP (b) member Naumov, Kolomna Plant).
Participation of members and candidates of the CPSU (b) in rightwing opportunist counter‐revolutionary groups
Grouping at the Kauchuk plant (Moscow). On November 8, 1931, the
16th frontier detachment detained the workers of the Kauchuk plant (Moscow) while attempting to cross the border to the Polish side: Vasiliev, a candidate of the CPSU (b), and Suslyakov, a former member of the CPSU (b), expelled for active Trotskyist activities ... The investigation established that Vasiliev, while working at the Kauchuk plant, created a group into which he involved Suslyakov and the candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Suvorov, a worker of the same plant.
The members of the group, proceeding from their right‐wing opportunist views, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to flee abroad. In their testimony, the defendants fully developed their differences with the general line of the party and stated that, having moved abroad, they had as their goal to contact any political organization or party that has an illegal branch in the USSR, and then return back to the Soviet Union. for underground work. In addition, Vasiliev intended to work abroad to expose through the press the allegedly difficult situation of the working class in the Soviet Union.
Counter‐revolutionary group ʺOrganization of Russian National Freedomʺ (Naro‐Fominsk)
In May last year, a counter‐revolutionary group called the Organization of Russian National Freedom was liquidated, the initiator and leader of which was the worker of the Naro‐Fominsk factory, Mironov. The group had its own program and set as its immediate task ‐ the creation of favorable conditions for the overthrow of the Soviet regime and the proclamation of a ʺRussian national republicʺ. As one of the forms of struggle against Soviet power, Mironov admitted the need to use individual terror against the leaders of the party and, in particular, took practical steps to prepare a terrorist act against comrade. Kalinin. Along with a number of active members of the group, the main nucleus of which were former kulaks, employees, etc., the candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Andriashin was directly involved in the activities of the group.
Grouping at the Geofizika plant (Moscow)
At the Geofizika plant (Moscow), a group of anti‐Soviet workers, led by a member of the CPSU (b) Khrenov and a former member of the CPSU (b) Morozov, are actively manifesting themselves. Khrenov for 7 months did not pay membership fees in order to leave the party, declaring his disagreement with its policy. Among the workers Khrenov is conducting a systematic anti‐Soviet agitation, saying: “Now there is real serfdom. All the leaders are officials, all the nominees are selfish, the worse it gets, the better, the sooner the end will come. ʺ
Right group at the 5th sausage factory (Moscow)
At the 5th sausage factory (Moscow), a group was identified, in which members and candidates of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks take part: Ryndin, Rastorguev and Gusev. The group is headed by the former candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Mazayev, who was expelled from the party for his rightwing criticism. Systematically gathering at the apartment of a member of the CPSU (b) Ryndin, the members of the group are engaged in discussing the policy of the party, and they regard it in a clearly rightwing opportunist spirit. In particular, Mazayev declares that he does not agree with the partyʹs policy, ʺsince too high rates have been taken in collectivization.ʺ
Right‐wing opportunistic speeches by members of the CPSU (b)
The Sassaparilla case
A former associate professor at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute and a teacher of historical disciplines at the Kaluga Soviet Union School, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks since 1920, Sassaparel Lev Iosifovich in his classes carried out a number of pronounced anti‐party attitudes. Analyzing the question of ʺwho will whomʺ, he said that this question had been resolved in connection with the 60% collectivization, and today it had been removed, and, consequently, the question of further struggle against the kulak had also been removed. Sassaparilla found a likeminded person in the person of cadet Makarov, who, after Sassaparilla left Kaluga, systematically conducted anti‐party conversations at a party meeting and among cadets. On November 1 of this year, Makarov said at a party meeting that he supported Sassaparillaʹs statement that the issue of fighting the fist had been removed. On November 2 of this year, Makarov, summoned for explanations at the bureau of the party collective, said, that the party is mistaken on all issues, and motivated it as follows: ʺThe party has a bourgeois class in the leadership in the person of Stalin, Voroshilov, Kalinin and others, and their policy is reduced not to building socialism, but to building capitalism.ʺ On November 3 this year, at a closed party meeting, where the question of his expulsion from the party was discussed, Makarov said in his speech: “I, farm laborer, worked for 14 years for hire; opposed. He left the front because he did not want to fight and did not want to be killed. I joined the party in 1925, but I consider myself an insufficient communist. I read books about the CPSU (b) and found that there was something dubious about them. I think that now instead of socialism something else is being built in our country. How Zubatov was in the police58, and now we have the police. The party was created artificially, only on paper, and we are building not socialism, but capitalism. ʺ
“Sassaparilla said the party was wrong. I agree with Sassaparilla. It is not the proletariat that is in power, but the capitalists. The bourgeoisie is in the leadership of the party, and I do not deny this now. All work experience is taken from capitalist countries. The opposition and the industrial party are fictitious organizations. The party has swollen, careerists are drawn to it ‐ to take warm places and continue the old good life. Everyone is forced to vote because they are overwhelmed by fear, our society is a rabbit who is afraid of everything. ʺ
On November 5 of this year, at a meeting of the troika of the district party committee, Makarov answered the questions asked as follows:
Question: Is the party as a whole wrong?
Answer: Yes.
Question: What about the opposition?
Answer: The opposition is created artificially from above, power in our country is not workers, it is only a mark of workers, it is clear to everyone whether I can be in power since I am illiterate.
Question: Is there a difference between social fascism and communism?
Answer: No.
Question: Do you regret being a party member?
Answer: It happens that I regret it.
Question: Why did you join the party?
Answer: I overestimated her then.
The meeting of the troika was attended by over 200 people, of which 50% were non‐partisan. The mood of those present was healthy, no one spoke in defense of Makarov. The message of the chairman of the troika about the expulsion of Makarov from the ranks of the CPSU (b) was greeted with thunderous applause. Makarov was expelled from the party. Sassaparilla was placed at the disposal of the Moscow Committee of the CPSU (b).
The Vinogradov case
The cashier of the Dorokhovskoy settlement office of the Vereya branch of the State Bank, a member of the CPSU (b) since 1920, Aleksey Konstantinovich Vinogradov, paying money to the arriving peasantsgrain suppliers, was engaged in systematic anti‐Soviet agitation aimed at disrupting grain procurements. The most striking case of Vinogradovʹs agitation took place in the village of Tatishchev of the Sekirinsky village council, where the peasants, 50 miles away, were brought to hand over their grain. Vinogradov ridiculed the peasants who came for the settlement, declaring to them: ʺWell, you are fools, you carry bread and potatoes 50 miles away, but you get a penny for it, one carriage costs ten times and more and more expensive than you get.ʺ After Vinogradovʹs aforementioned statement, the peasants of the village of Tatishchevo, when the court brigade visited them at the village council, declared: “Here, you, comrades, are attracting those who did not bring bread to criminal responsibility, calling them malicious non‐executors, while your other comrades (pointing directly to the cashier Vinogradov) laugh at us, considering us fools, that we hand over bread for such a paltry price. ʺ Following the anti‐party sally, Vinogradov submitted two applications to the local district committee of the CPSU (b), in which he stated his right‐wing views, asking to be expelled from the party.
Right‐wing opportunistic sentiments of individuals
“I believe that the life of the workers is now much worse than in prerevolutionary times. However, it is impossible to talk about this now, since there is a complete suppression in the party, and if the communist tells the truth, they will sew several deviations on him. Thanks to such a policy, the party now has no influence on the workers” (testimony of a member of the CPSU (b) Nikolayev, a worker at the Vyshne‐Volotsk factory).
“The worker and peasant feel themselves to be the master of the situation. In power, undoubtedly, are: Stalin, Kalinin and others who are holding on to their portfolios. If we raise the question of assessing the last ten years, then the worker and peasant can say that they have received nothing real during this time. In this regard, there is a decline in political activity among the workers. Socialist competition and drumming 59are nothing more than government methods to improve worker productivity. Mass collectivization actually violated the new economic policy and is at odds with Leninʹs principles. As a result of collectivization, the position of the peasantry deteriorated. The party stands above the working class. The very same party is run by the Politburo. Ordinary party members do not speak out, but are silent, although many now do not agree with the current policy” (testimony of VKP (b) member Vytovtov, arrested for counter‐revolutionary agitation).
“The workers are deceived all around. We talked about socialism, but in fact, what we see: prices have increased, but prices have been lowered. If you express this at a meeting, they will sew you a right or left deviation” (VKP (b) member Mashkov ‐ worker of the Kalinin plant).
“The worker will not carry out the five‐year plan with an empty belly. The cooperatives live at our expense and know how to siphon only money” (member of the CPSU (b) Khokhlushkin ‐ worker of the Voroshilov plant).
“I consider it sabotage to give firm assignments to the peasants, this happens only because the country needs money. The expulsion of peasants under the guise of kulaks is carried out in order to create conditions for the organization of collective farms and to provide labor for those areas where they are in short supply. We are as far from socialism as we were 14 years ago” (member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Andreev ‐ head of the accounting department of the brigade leaders).
“The village is dissatisfied with the laws of the party. They are dispossessing of kulaks and taking away the last cow from the poor. The peasantry is embittered against the Soviet regime. I believe that the party is doing wrong, and I will give my party card” (candidate of the CPSU (b) Popushin ‐ worker of the Moselectric plant).
Trotskyist activities of individual members of the CPSU (b)
Trotskyist group at the enterprises of the city of Podolsk. When working on the letter to Comrade Stalin 60 in the party organizations of the enterprises of the Podolsk region, Trotskyist speeches took place on the part of individual members of the CPSU (b). Member of the CPSU (b) Vakhromeev in the circle of current policy for the party activist of plant No. 17 while working out the letter to comrade. Stalin said in his speech: “In 1905 I took part in the work of the Social Democratic Party, and then there was no mention of the Bolsheviks and Lenin, but only of the Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries. It is not true that Lenin became known only in 1914 ‐ I know that it was already known about him in 1912. Lenin then interpreted the peasant question, like the Social Revolutionaries. So, then the Bolsheviks interpreted. Do people today write the history of the party the way they want, or how they need it? We need to proceed from these documents. ʺ
Members of the CPSU (b) Andreev and Soloviev tried to take Vakhromeev under protection, declaring: “He admits it out of unconsciousness. It is necessary to correct those who are mistaken, people point to the incorrectness of history, and they begin to be reaped for it. ʺ
When discussing this issue at a meeting of the plantʹs party committee, a member of the CPSU (b) Tikhonenko again tried to defend Vakhromeev. The bureau of the district committee of the CPSU (b) in its resolution qualified Vakhromeevʹs speech as counter‐revolutionary and Trotskyist and decided to expel him from the CPSU (b). The district committee decided to remove the secretary of the party committee of the plant for trying to smear the political significance of these speeches, and reprimanded members of the CPSU (b) Andreev, Solovyov and
Tikhonenko for conciliation.
At a meeting of the mechanical repair shop of the IES plant, when discussing the letter from Comrade Stalinʹs party member Shtanin defended Trotsky, saying: ʺTrotsky was a very useful person, and the party after Leninʹs death was unable to use him.ʺ The party meeting reacted conciliatory to Shtaninʹs speech, did not give his speech a proper rebuff, and did not make any decision. At the party committee of the plant, Shtanin admitted his mistake and refused his speech.
In the woodworking shop of the State Mechzavod, when discussing the letter to Comrade. Stalin, at a closed workshop party meeting, a member of the CPSU (b) Shcherbik (graduated from the Forestry Institute) made the following slander against the party: ʺI think that Slutskyʹs article was placed in the interests of the party to develop discussion of issues of the history of Bolshevism.ʺ Speaking a second time at the end of the meeting, Shcherbik repeated his initial speech.
In the varnishing shop of the same plant, two candidates of the CPSU (b), associated with the village, when discussing the letter of Comrade Stalin in their speeches said: ʺIn our village, everyone says that the party in the village is pursuing a Trotskyist policy.ʺ
Trotskyist group at the Kolomna plant
At the Kolomna plant, a member of the CPSU (b) Zhulev (expelled from the party for Trotskyism) takes an active part in the activities of the growing Trotskyist group. Zhulev says about his political views: “Just as I adhered to Trotskyʹs platform, I will remain faithful to it, although I have achieved restoration in the party. The workers are currently in poor conditions, deception is everywhere. If we consider the general line of the Central Committee to be correct, this will be tantamount to deceiving oneself and others, let others do it. ʺ
Groups of former Trotskyists in the town of Orekhovo‐Zuevo
In Orekhovo‐Zuevo, former active Trotskyists (who returned from exile) are trying to restore ties and intensify their activities. A member of the VKP (b) Khazov (expelled from the party for Trotskyism), a member of this group, says: “We continue in the old way, we are still gathering little by little and working. It’s more interesting to work now, when everyone has gone underground. Isnʹt there a little of our brother left, after all, they have not been expelled. ʺ
Trotskyist sentiments of loners
“It becomes impossible to work and live at all, let them do what they want ‐ I will gladly throw away my party card. The people are opposed to the policy of the Soviet government and Stalin, and if you tell the truth, then you will leave the party. Trotsky rightly said that Stalinʹs policy is disastrous. All of Leninʹs books were reprinted in their own way. The best party members are expelled from the party, and its ranks are filled with self‐seekers. The shock workers bend their backs due to better rations and advancement, trade union organizations have turned into appendages of party bodies and do not pay attention to any statements of workers ʺ(member of the CPSU (b) Ermakov, former Trotskyist, worker of the Kauchuk plant),
“We have nothing in the Soviet republic, the necessary foodstuffs are absent. We, the Trotskyists, fought to improve the lives of the workers, and for this struggle many of us were removed from power, and now only self‐seekers are appointed to the leading work, but they do not have long to command, their time is numbered ʺ(VKP (b) Kovalev, a former active Trotskyist).
ʺIt is necessary to study the history of Trotsky, since there is a lot of good and useful in him, in addition, Stalin is not entirely right in the fact that Lenin criticized the leftist mistakes of Rosa Luxemburg in his writingsʺ (member of the CPSU (b) Bolkhovitinov, former Trotskyist from. Kaluga).
Distribution of Trotskyist literature by members of the CPSU (b)
December 13 last year to the secretary of the WATO party cell comrade Nomyrev was approached by a member of the CPSU (b) Shporty (works at the Yenukidze plant as an assistant director) and offered Comrade. Nosyrev to read Trotskyʹs book ʺMy Lifeʺ. At subsequent meetings with Comrade Nosyrev, Shporty promised to give him Trotskyist literature, received from abroad, for familiarization. Shporty is closely associated with a member of the CPSU (b), engineer Vladievsky, who also worked at the Budyonny plant and was dismissed for legal practice. In the Lebed sanatorium among the sick, a member of the CPSU (b) Kudinov, an instructor of the Serpukhov Council, organized collective readings of Trotskyʹs book ʺMy Lifeʺ. It was established that the source of distribution of this book is Konnikova, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party of
Bolsheviks, who is undergoing treatment (head of the nursery at the Krasnoe Znamya factory),
Trotskyist agitation
“Now I joined the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, deceived all Stalinist spies and took up a selfish question. Stalin achieved that he became a dictator, oppressing the masses, making them slaves for his own purposes. You will see, as soon as the war begins, the workers and peasants will show how pleased they are with the Soviet regime. Stalin is leading the country to ruin. The workers are starving, the army is arming, the last shirt is taken off the workers” (member of the CPSU (b) Afanasenko, former Trotskyist, worker of the ROMO tool factory).
“Soon we will all work 12 hours a day, and we workers will be enslaved like peasants in collective farms, otherwise Stalin will fail with his fiveyear plan. Now Stalin is holding a five‐year plan on end, taking advantage of Trotskyʹs idea of industrializing the country. He will not be able to carry it through to the end if he does not squeeze the last juices out of the workers. At present, Stalin ascribes to himself the rights of a dictator, and holds the apparatus in his hands worse than Mussolini. Everyone complains and cries that there is nothing, taxes are invented every time, loans will be until the end of the five‐year plan. I would very much like the workers to be pressed even more, then they would know who was right: Stalin or Trotsky” (member of the CPSU (b) Lunin, former Trotskyist, worker of the 1st print factory).
Participation of members of the CPSU (b) in strikes
At the Novo‐Noginsk factory (Noginsk district) on November 4, 1930, workers in the weaving department learned that wages were delayed by one day, which caused sharp discontent among the workers. At 10 oʹclock in the morning, 200 weavers, on the initiative of a member of the CPSU (b) Lyustochkin, quitting their job, came to the director with a demand for an explanation of the reasons for the delay in wages, and only after the director explained they resumed work.
At the Krasny Oktyabr confectionery factory, due to the introduction of new production standards on September 11, 1930, 90 workers stopped working, protesting against the new standards. Among those who quit their jobs were members of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and Komsomol members. At Trekhgornaya Manufaktura, on the basis of low prices in the warehouse department, since December 15, 1930, an ʺItalianʺ strike was held for almost a whole week, involving 17 workers. Three members of the CPSU (b) also took part in the
ʺItalianʺ.
At plant No. 19 (Skhodnensky district), a group of members of the CPSU (b), headed by the bureau of the Besfamilny cell, in an organized manner opposed the triangleʹs action to organize working off for leisure activities in connection with the flood and defiantly did not go to work.
At the Kolomna plant on November 14, 1931, a group of woodworking shop workers, numbering 12 people, headed by a member of the CPSU (b) Klyuev, refused to work on ancillary work in the construction shop. Klyuev said among the workers: ʺThe Zavkom did not defend us, letʹs get out of here, the party protects careerists, not workers.ʺ
Zeal and threats to strike by members of the CPSU (b)
At the Dzerzhinsky spool factory (Moscow) in October 1931, in a grinding shop, a group of workers on the basis of low wages, on the initiative of Pavlovʹs shop cell, submitted an ultimatum demand to the plant management to increase wages, otherwise threatening a strike.
At the Dulevo Porcelain Factory (Orekhovo‐Zuevsky District), due to the delay in issuing overalls, a group of 300 workers, at the initiative of the candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Lyulyaev, arbitrarily gathered a general meeting of workers and presented the administration with a demand to immediately issue overalls, threatening otherwise to stop work ...
At Mosgorboyn (Moscow), in connection with working off a one‐day salary for the countryʹs defense, the candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Alipov agitated among the workers against this decree, saying: “My first brigade will not work. This decree is nothing more than forced labor. ʺ
At the Krasny Proletary plant (Moscow), in the repair shop because of low wages, deliberate absenteeism is made in order to obtain the dismissal of up to 70 workers from the plant. Among the hard‐core absentees, there are five members and candidates of the CPSU (b) and
10 Komsomol members.
At factory No. 2 Mostrikotazh (in the knitting department) the candidate of the CPSU (b) Ashmarov said among the workers: “The Communists invented the five‐year plan to enslave the workers. The worker tries to fulfill the five‐year plan, but comes home ‐ there is nothing to eat. This five‐year plan sits on the workerʹs neck. Under such conditions, we can only declare a strike and not go to work. ʺ
Anti‐Soviet agitation
“The party has a bourgeois class in the leadership represented by Stalin, Voroshilov, Kalinin and others. Their policy is not reduced to building socialism, but to building capitalism. I read books about the VKP and found that there was something dubious about them. We are building socialism only on paper. The party has swollen, careerists are drawn to it ‐ to take warm places. Everyone is forced to vote because they are overwhelmed by fear. Our society is rabbits who are afraid of everything” (member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Makarov ‐ student of the Soviet party school).
“They said that under the Soviet regime the food would be good, but in reality there is nothing. What the devil do I need then Soviet power. I understand the Soviet government as follows: if you eat well, the government is also good” (member of the CPSU (b) Arbuzov, foreman of the Molotov plant).
ʺThe Soviet power would rather end, otherwise there is nothing now, and in the future we will die of hungerʺ (candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Garulev, worker of confectionery factory No. 7).
“Our government is worse than the fascist, they strangled all the workers, they want to starve to death. Communists are bandits. I, being a candidate for membership in the CPSU (b), saw all this abomination and leave the party with disgust for the Bolsheviks (the candidate of the CPSU (b) Mikhailova is the conductor of the Bukharinsky tram fleet). “Life has come to be the lousiest. If I had been free, I would have left the Soviet Union, I would have abandoned everything I have here, and I would not have regretted my homeland in the least” (member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Yermilov, worker of
Moskvoshvey factory No. 15).
“I donʹt want to be a party member anymore. I do not agree with the line of the Central Committee on the collectivization of agriculture. In general, it is hard for me to look at the life of the working class” (member of the CPSU (b) Ulyanov, worker of the Tula arms factory).
Anti‐party and counter‐revolutionary actions of the Komsomol members
In a number of cases, an active counter‐revolutionary element in enterprises manages to influence the least politically stable part of the Komsomol members and involve them in active counter‐revolutionary activities. Politically unhealthy and anti‐Soviet manifestations on the part of the Komsomol members went along the following main lines: a) participation in strikes; b) speeches of a right opportunistic character; c) participation in counter‐revolutionary groups; d) distribution of counter‐revolutionary leaflets; e) political hooliganism; f) manifestation of anti‐Semitism; g) anti‐Soviet agitation.
Participation in strikes
Podolsk Cement Plant (Podolsk). On January 1, 1931, at the initiative of VLKSM member Vinogradov, a group of workers in the construction department in the amount of 32 people went on strike, demanding an increase in prices.
Tver Carriage Works (Tver). At the FZU school on March 25, 1931, in the foundry, 24 students, including 24, filed a collective application demanding higher wages, full overalls, and higher food supply standards, threatening to quit work in case of refusal. Among those who signed the statement are 14 Komsomol members. The initiators of the application were the members of the Komsomol Bakireva, Pavlov, Fonichkin and Savelyev.
Thermal Engineering Institute (Moscow). On August 4, 1930, 17 workers, including 7 members of the Komsomol, submitted a collective application demanding an increase in wages from 80 to 125 rubles a month, otherwise threatening to leave. The initiators are members of the Komsomol.
Factory ʺProletaryʺ (Serpukhov). At the Proletary factory in Serpukhov, a group of five workers in the spinning department, including four members of the Komsomol, demonstratively quit their job because of the poor quality of the roving.
Construction of the Fraser plant. A group of Komsomol members came to the office three times during the season and threatened to be absent from work due to delayed payment of wages. The Komsomol cell did not take any measures on time. In August, 15 machine operators, on the initiative of a member of the Komsomol Zakharyin, quit their work two hours earlier due to the non‐delivery of the manufactory.
Construction of a bicycle factory (Moscow). On October 10, a group of 11 carpenters quit their jobs, motivating them with low earnings. The bagpipe was initiated by Komsomol member Agapov.
Plant named after Vladimir Ilyich. On the proposal of the transport brigade ‐ to voluntarily go to work on November 7 and 8, a Komsomol worker Bogdanov spoke up and said: ʺGive us 10 rubles a day and we’ll leave, and if not, thank you, and thatʹs enough, we worked for nothing.ʺ
Right‐wing opportunistic speeches
Komsomol worker Borisenkov, a digger in the Lyubertsy irrigation fields, wrote to Comrade. Stalinʹs letter is clearly opportunistic in content. In the letter, Borisenkov accuses the party of allegedly ʺpursuing a policy of breaking the alliance between the worker and the peasantry.ʺ The partyʹs slogan ʺto turn an agrarian country into an industrial and collectivizationʺ ‐ considers it a waste of party energy, ʺArab fairy tales.ʺ
“I know very well that you will call my statement “right screams”, but Iʹm not afraid. I will not put up with the party and the Komsomol, but, on the contrary, I will fight to the last. The time is approaching when the whole Party will say that its path is wrong, that its path is leading to an exacerbated situation between the workers and peasants. Her path led to a complete death hunger strike and poverty. If in a short time the party does not admit its mistakes, then expect the armed forces of the proletariat, especially the peasantry, who will oppose the party leadership. The masses are just waiting for the war, then they will unanimously shout ʺDown with the party.ʺ Comrade is
right. Bukharin, who indicated the path of life for the Soviet state, but his party did not want to understand. You will hardly find five out of a hundred people who would follow the party. Your path is complete collectivization, the elimination of the kulak, as a class, a five‐year plan in four years is only a slogan. The party has enough impudence to tell the proletariat that its life is good and that it will be better, how can you believe it? [...] I am not alone, we are many old Komsomol members who have abandoned the path of the party, and there are a lot of us with us. In our region, it is not the party that is successful, but the ideas of Comrade Bukharin. I will vigorously fight against the path of the party until victory [...]”.
Counter‐revolutionary activities
Grouping
In early December last year, the students of the 13th group of the Aviapribor plant, most of them members of the Komsomol, organized a group that called itself the Young Organization of Proletarian Critics and set itself the task of ʺcriticizing all articles and reports published in our press.ʺ The organizer of the group ‐ a member of the Komsomol Ibrayev, during the study of the 16th party congress at one of the groupʹs sessions said: “Speech by comrade. Stalin was wrong at the 16th Party Congress. The material situation of the working class is getting worse and worse. ʺ A member of the Bekker group said that ʺthe main support of Soviet power in the countryside is the kulak.ʺ
Distribution of leaflets
The carpenter of the Tsvetmet Institute (Moscow) Ippolitov, a member of the Komsomol (born in 1912), distributed anti‐Soviet leaflets written by him to the workers. “The Bolsheviks were able to deceive the workers and peasants. The workers and peasants are half‐naked, barefoot and hungry. Everyone is put in Butyrki and shot there. All workers and peasants must raise their voices against the dictatorship of the Bolsheviks,” and so on. Ippolitov, being arrested, in his testimony does not deny the fact of distribution of leaflets, motivating him with dissatisfaction with the existing system.
Former student of the higher civil engineering school Cheprunova P.I. wrote and read among students poems of a counter‐revolutionary nature. Cheprunova, a former member of the Komsomol from 1925 to 1929, left the Komsomol voluntarily ‐ according to her testimony, ʺunder the influence of decadent sentiments.ʺ Of the poems written by her, the most characteristic are: ʺSoviet Moscowʺ and ʺSoviet Poskonnikiʺ.
In ʺSovetskaya Moskvaʺ Cheprunova calls for the defeat of the Kremlin, the government and for reprisals against Comrade. Stalin. Here is an excerpt:
“All over Russia, but after my mother,
Along the Kremlin walls
It would not hurt, guys,
Give us a shot at the thieves ʺand so on.
The poem ʺSoviet Poskonnikiʺ is also sharply counter‐revolutionary in content and is directed against collectivization and the liquidation of the kulaks as a class. About her political convictions and the reasons that prompted the compilation of counterrevolutionary poems, Cheprunova showed: “Discontent and disappointment were especially aggravated and deepened in connection with collectivization and dispossession of kulaks, since I did not see the voluntary movement of the bulk of the peasantry to collective farms. I reflected such sentiments in a poem of a counter‐revolutionary nature, where I called for an armed uprising against the Soviet regime. ʺ
Political hooliganism
On the night of November 7, 1931, in a number of districts of Moscow, there was a massive breakdown of posters with portraits of Lenin and Stalin. Among those arrested in this case was the Komsomol member Yegorov, a student of the FZU of the Compressor plant. During the investigation, Yegorov testified that he was tearing down the posters at the direction of the former officer Moskvin (arrested), from whom he received money for this.
Anti‐semitism
At the ʺProvodnikʺ factory on November 4, 1931, a group of Komsomol members drunk tried to disrupt the evening dedicated to the October celebrations. Komsomol members Sokov and Grishin, meeting on the same night a worker Erukhimov (a Jew) going to work, beat him severely. Factory organizations, not giving this fact due attention, did not carry out explanatory work among the workers, but transferred the case to the prosecutorʹs office. During the visiting session, the perpetrators were sentenced to imprisonment for a period of one and a half years. On the day after the trial, signature lists were distributed among the workers with an appeal to the Moscow Regional Court to mitigate the sentence. Communists Golyuvinov, Himimonchikov, Kulaginov, Ivanov, Borodin and candidate Bakanov took an active part in this matter. Party member Golyuvinov went to the prosecutor, hired defense lawyers and actively promoted the case.
Anti‐Soviet agitation
“The peasants are again forcibly driven into collective farms and everything is taken away, they are imposing large taxes ‐ it’s not for nothing that they write abroad that the Soviet power only rests on violence” (Komsomolets Galkin, Kalinin factory).
“The peasants were forcibly driven to collective farms under the threat of execution, but in our factories, isnʹt there violence? Do we volunteer in shock brigades and socialist competitions? Syrtsov was right when he said that we have no enthusiasm, but one decline, and everything is going according to a template. The communists plundered everything, and even now they still plunder by issuing loans. Communists rip off the last skin from the workers ʺ(Komsomol member Ivanova, plantʺ
Borets ʺ),
“Thanks to the distortion of policy, deviation from the precepts of Lenin, our country lagged behind by five years at once. Also, thanks to the wrong policy pursued by the party in the countryside, there were several uprisings, where punitive detachments were sent to pacify the peasants. Soviet power in the form of revenge shot 60 peasants and exiled 100 people to Solovki ʺ(Komsomol member Myasnikov,
Electrozavod),
“We need to hang all the communists on a rope. They feed us only rotten herrings. Communists laugh at the workers. All of them must be shot” (Komsomol member Balashova, building of the TSH).
“We have forced labor. The workers are forced to work. The workers are being clamped down. Wages are being cut, prices are falling, and workersʹ lives are getting worse every day. We are too busy with the pace, having forgotten about the life of the workers, which is getting worse” (Komsomolets Lukashevich).
“The Party made the difficulties on purpose in order to starve the workers. The bread is taken from the peasants by force. There is as much of our goods abroad as you want, but we have nothing. The workers are starving. Deception is everywhere. The partyʹs policy is aimed at worsening the position of the working class” (Komsomolets Oneshin, Kaluga).
“The peasants are forced to go to collective farms by force. And those who do not want to go are taken away from those without exception, and there is no food in the village. And if any of the peasants wants to tell the truth, then they are considered a fist or a fist and sent to exile ʺ(Komsomolets Barbatov,ʺ Electrozavod ʺ),
“Go to hell with your loans, you are just fighting the skin of the workers. And so, they tortured us, you donʹt know where to sign up. We sit hungry anyway” (Komsomol member Cherenkov).
Trotskyists
The materials at our disposal on the active Trotskyist groupings liquidated over the past year and currently existing show that counterrevolutionary Trotskyist activities were carried out in the direction of:
1. Putting together and organizing the remnants of the defeated counter‐revolutionary Trotskyist underground.
2. Attempts to establish underground technology and release illegal materials to propagate Trotskyist views.
3. Disguised penetration into the ranks of the CPSU (b) in order to disintegrate the ranks of the party and create conditions conducive to Trotskyist work.
4. The increased activity of Trotskyist groups and individuals in connection with the discussion of the letter from Comrade Stalin, manifested in speeches at open party, trade union meetings and circles of party education.
5. Everyday Anti‐Soviet agitation with the use of difficulties and shortcomings in the supply of workers and individual distortions in the field of tariffication, up to attempts to organize collective performances and bagpipes in this regard at industrial enterprises. The main core of active Trotskyists were and still are those who returned from political isolation and exile.
Of the total mass of Trotskyists who were in exile and imprisoned in political isolation cells, 1,421 people returned back throughout the Soviet Union. Of the total number of returnees, about 1,000 people settled in Moscow. Of the Trotskyists who returned to Moscow, 645 people were reinstated in the party. The latest data, of a top‐secret order, indicate that the increased Trotskyist activity at this time is explained by the organized preparations for the 17th Party Conference. Counter‐revolutionary Trotskyist groups
Trotskyist group of Gorodetsky (Moscow). In December 1930, Gorodetskyʹs Trotskyist group was liquidated in Moscow, the group consisted of 30 people. The group prepared a number of anti‐party documents for publication and arranged the distribution of directive letters from Trotsky, Rakovsky and other leaders. She also restored ties with the remnants of Trotskyist groups at enterprises, established ties with the Leningrad, Kharkov and Rostov Trotskyists.
Trotskyist group Bezgin (Moscow)
In December 1930, the active counter‐revolutionary group of Bezgin was also liquidated, formed from the number of Trotskyists who had returned from isolation wards and exiles.
The group organized equipment to issue leaflets and Trotskyist documents and began recruiting new individuals from among those who had left the opposition. The group pursued an exceptional tactic of double‐dealing, setting itself the task of joining the party, corrupting it from within and creating a new Bolshevik party, believing that the ʺVKP (b) is a corpse.ʺ The new party, according to the group, was supposed to lead the workersʹ discontent, based on the difficulties of the current situation.
Trotskyist group of Nikolaev‐Pelevin (Moscow)
At the end of 1930, the Trotskyists Nikolayev, Ponomarev, Manchev,
Pelevin and the decist Pshenichnikov, who had returned from exile, organized a counter‐revolutionary Trotskyist group, which set itself the task of establishing Trotskyist work among the workers of TsAGI and restoring ties with Trotskyist groups in the industrial regions near Moscow (Noginsk).
The group met in the apartments of its members and discussed plans for its counter‐revolutionary activities. During the collective agreement campaign, the group decided not to speak, but to make proposals:
a) on strengthening the supply of the factory canteen; b) on improving the work of plant security; c) to increase wages by 50%. It was also decided to organize a mutual assistance fund.
The group paid special attention to obtaining and distributing Trotskyist literature. Some members of the group (Pelevin) expressed clearly terrorist sentiments against the party leadership and, in particular, comrade. Stalin. “About two months ago, Pelevin and I, being in his yard at Stromstroy, talked about the general political situation in the country. Pelevin and I came to the conclusion that a fight is inevitable, up to and including the use of terror. I said that Stalin is the culprit for everything that is happening. Pelevin confirmed this and said that first of all it is necessary to kill Stalin” (Elkinʹs testimony).
The group was liquidated on December 18, 1930.
ʺUnion of Revolutionary Communistsʺ
Ginzburg‐Vorobyov Group (Moscow)
In November 1931, an illegal group of Trotskyists was liquidated in Moscow, in which Ginzburg (Soyuzsredmash trust), Vorobiev (student of the Energy Institute) and Ostrogov (student of the Engineering and Economic Institute) played the leading role. The group tried to restore old ties and infiltrate enterprises by creating Trotskyist workersʹ circles. The leaders of the group gave the following instructions on the issues of current policy: “The international movement, thanks to the Stalinist Comintern, is failing. The Spanish revolution was lost just like the Chinese one. ʺ “The revolution has now been thrown back 25 or more years. If we fail to take the masses under our leadership, then the revolution will drag on even more, thanks to the fact that Stalin dispersed the Comintern, and the communist parties of other states disintegrate. ʺ
The group assessed the position of the working class in the USSR as follows: “Our socialism is one‐sided, since the rights won from the worker are being taken away from the worker every day. The five‐year plan is being pumped in and a new one has been prepared, which will be even harder for the worker. Udarniki is nothing but the squeezing of the last juices from the workers, their disorganization. ʺ
The group set its immediate goal to cobble together old cadres and recruit new like‐minded people. After this preparatory work, according to the group, it would be necessary to move on to organizing economic and political strikes. On this occasion, the leaders of the group gave the following instructions:
“Our task is to explain to the workers their position and to issue the following slogans:
1) broad proletarian democracy and freedom of speech;
2) cancellation of the night shift;
3) improvement of the housing issue;
4) cheaper prices for consumer products;
5) increase in real wages;
6) the fight against piecework. ʺ
The group appropriated to itself the name “Union of Revolutionary Communists” and set the task ‐ to create a new party. On the 20th of
October, the group issued a bulletin entitled “Against the Current”. Trotskyist group at the 3rd factory of the Moskvoshvey (Moscow)
At the 3rd factory of the Moskvoshvey (Moscow) there is an active Trotskyist group consisting of members of the CPSU (b) and former members of the CPSU (b) (Trotskyists), some of whom returned from exile. Members of the group are trying to infiltrate various public organizations (housing construction, a wall newspaper), take command posts there and unite Trotskyist elements around them. During the elections to the new composition of the factory committee, the Trotskyists nominated the former Trotskyist Gorchakova, who received 65 votes, but did not pass in the factory. In conversations among themselves, the group members discuss the activities of the party and government in a clear anti‐Soviet spirit. Thus, on the question of the internal party position, a member of the group says: “Stalin is a dictator and is pursuing his line, disregarding Leninism.
Trotskyist group at the Paris Commune factory and at the Burevestnik factory (Moscow)
A group of Trotskyists working at the Parizhskaya Kommuna factory and at the Burevestnik plant maintain contact with each other and with the exiled Trotskyists. When they get together, they exchange views on the partyʹs policy and on the tasks of the Trotskyists at the present time.
They assess the current situation in the following way: “At the head of the party is now a handful of very incapable people who do not have their own principled views, but only politically robbing the right or left opposition. For example, they took the Trotskyist directive in the field of industrialization and collective farm construction, but they are taking these measures late and ineptly, as a result of which they brought the country to an economic crisis. ʺ ʺUnder the current leadership there can be no way out of this impasse.ʺ
On the question of tactics: “There are two opinions in the ranks of the Trotskyists: first, you need to join the party and try to implement your tendencies from within; second, it is not necessary to join the party, but rather to beat in order to gain prestige among the masses of workers through a good attitude to production, explaining to the workers every single mistake as a result of incorrect political leadership, without posing as a Trotskyist and thus concentrating their strength ʺ.
Trotskyist group ʺReturnersʺ (Moscow)
A group of Trotskyists who returned from exile to Moscow regularly gathers in private apartments, where they conduct talks on political topics, criticizing the partyʹs activities.
The future prospects of the group members are defined as follows:
“Many of the retreating Trotskyists harbor anger toward Stalin and his apparatus, not less, but more. At the slightest hesitation of Stalin, all the withdrawn Trotskyists will develop their activities, and they are ready to start it, if the situation allows, since the Stalinist policy will persecute those who have departed to the grave.
Members of the group evaluate the letter from Comrade. Stalin in the journal Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya as follows: “This is a terrible article, it takes the form of a hooligan trick, theoretical illiteracy and the disloyalty that Lenin once wrote about; here, as never before, myopia and dishonesty are felt. ʺ
Speech by Comrade Voroshilov, with an interview in the foreign press, is qualified by the members of the group as the short‐sightedness of the Central Committeeʹs policy: “If you accuse L.D. [Trotsky] in his speech in the foreign press, then it is necessary with all determination to condemn Voroshilovʹs illiterate speech in the bourgeois newspapers, who makes it possible to use himself in bourgeois newspapers for the empty profit of bourgeois speculators. What does it mean when a class enemy praises and raises to the skies a member of the Politburo Voroshilov? Isnʹt that myopia; we must resolutely fight against this, as with the short‐sightedness of politics”.
Trotskyist group at the Bobrikov construction site (Bobriki)
A former member of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) who arrived at the Bobrikovsky construction site from Moscow, an active Trotskyist, having gathered a group around him, launched an active activity: he regularly gathers members of the group in his apartment, where he studies the letters of Rakovsky, Muralov and other Trotskyist materials, introduces and gives to read Trotskyʹs letters on the expulsion from the CPSU (b) Ryazanov, working with members of the group on the internal party position and so on. At group meetings and in conversations with individual members, the following guidelines are given:
“Our task is to outwardly agree with the general line of the party in order to be able to join the ranks of the party and again carry on the work of destroying it. Only those tasks that Trotsky puts forward are correct, and only if they were carried out would we arrive at socialism. Now they began to build a lot, but there is no sense at all, and all this construction will go to hell. Large funds and labor are spent on construction”.
The current internal party situation is assessed as follows: “At the head is Stalin the dictator, next to him is a number of people loyal to him, and the rest of the mass is stamping people who take on faith everything that is given to them from above. Among the main shortcomings of the current internal party situation, I consider the lack of free discussion on many issues.
Trotskyist group in Kaluga
In the city of Kaluga, at the end of 1930, a counter‐revolutionary group was organized, consisting of Nedomekov, a Trotskyist, a former member of the CPSU (b); Vanin, a former member of the CPSU (b), a Trotskyist who returned from exile;
Kontak, a former member of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), who was convicted of belonging to the Trotskyist opposition and expelled in 1930 for a right deviation; Kolesnikov, a member of the CPSU (b). The group set itself the task of organizing Trotskyist cells at enterprises, conducting counter‐revolutionary agitation among the workers, organizing strikes at enterprises in the city of Kaluga. A mutual aid fund was also created. Organizers of cells by enterprises were selected from among the members of the group. In January 1931 the group was liquidated.
An attempt to issue Trotskyist leaflets (Tula)
In December 1930, an attempt was discovered to organize an underground printing house for printing counter‐revolutionary Trotskyist leaflets in the city of Tula. The organizer of this case was Salikov, a non‐partisan worker of the Tula arms factory (who in the past was ideologically affiliated with the Trotskyists), who, with the help of his brother A. Salikov, a worker of the Tula press, stole typographic type and typed anti‐Soviet leaflets. On the reason that pushed Salikov to organize a printing house and conduct counter‐revolutionary work, Salikov showed the following:
“The idea of the need to issue counter‐revolutionary leaflets calling for the overthrow of the Soviet regime came to my mind in connection with my general dissatisfaction with the policy of the Soviet regime and the party. Discontent with the partyʹs policy arose long ago, around 19271928, on the basis of general difficulties and under the influence of the discussions taking place at that time in the CPSU (b). As a non‐party member, I shared the point of view of the Trotskyists. ʺ
Case of Trotskyist Danilovich (Ryazan)
The Trotskyite Danilovich living in the city of Ryazan in exile established contacts with her associates in various cities of the USSR. In the correspondence maintained with them, there was an exchange of views on current political issues and mutual information about the position of the link. At the beginning of 1930, Danilovich established a connection with the Trotskyists who were abroad (Trotskyʹs son), and tried to extend this connection to those exiled Trotskyists with whom she corresponded. Along with this, Danilovich, both from abroad and from the exiled Trotskyists, received counter‐revolutionary documents, which she copied and distributed among like‐minded people who corresponded with her. In his testimony, Danilovich declares that he remains entirely with his Trotskyist views.
Activity of Tula Trotskyists (Tula)
On the part of a number of Trotskyists who returned to Tula from exile, revival is again observed in their activities. The groupʹs activity intensified in connection with the receipt of a letter from Leningrad from a former active Tula Trotskyist with the instructions: to establish communication at enterprises and with the countryside, to use the slogan ʺFor land against unbearable taxesʺ in work in the village, to purchase a typographic print and organize circles at enterprises.
The group members compare the position of the USSR with the Paris Commune, concluding that: “The situation in the USSR at this time is in many respects similar to that of France ‐ at that time the commune died thanks to Thermidor. We see this in our country, in the USSR. The CPSU (b) is being reborn into a handful of intelligentsia, which leads the workers and deliberately separates them by introducing various categories, shock books, etc. By this the working class is divided. ʺ
Anti‐Soviet speeches of singles
Along with attempts at group activity, there are facts of active protests at enterprises among workers on the part of individual Trotskyists.
Trotskyite performance at the Krasnaya Polyana factory (Communist district)
At the Krasnaya Polyana factory (Communist District), a non‐partisan engineer Burutin, who works in the factoryʹs rationalization bureau, tried to organize a mass dispute to discuss Comradeʹs letter. Stalin to the editorial office of the magazine ʺProletarian Revolutionʺ.
On December 27, 1931, a class was scheduled for the current policy circle, where the letter to comrade was to be worked out. Stalin. At this lesson, members of the CPSU (b) Emelyanov M.M., Brazhnikov Ya.I. were to act as speakers. and the candidate of the CPSU (b) Chistyakov. Burutin prepared to act as an opponent in defense of Slutskyʹs article.
The upcoming activity of the circle with an indication of the topic was widely advertised throughout the factory. On December 27, engineers, technicians, schoolteachers, and others came to the classes.
Speakers appointed to speak by letter from Comrade Stalin, they were not prepared, but Burutin, who was supposed to defend Slutsky, prepared well. Upon learning of this, the secretary of the party committee of the Kazakhs factory made a proposal to cancel the lesson, due to the unpreparedness of the speakers. Burutin spoke out against, insisting on conducting a lesson.
The question was put to a vote, and the majority were in favor of canceling the lesson. On the part of the individual Trotskyists, the following statements were recorded: A. About returning to the party
ʺIn my opinion, there is a directive on the part of Trotsky that all those expelled from the party now try to penetrate again into the ranks of the CPSU (b).ʺ
ʺThe party has now disintegrated, and by joining the opposition party it is necessary to further disintegrate itʺ (Trotskyist, worker of the Frunze plant No. 24, Moscow).
ʺI will join when the Politburo is made up of ours who are currently in prisonʺ (Trotskyist, worker, Tver).
B. About the attitude towards the five‐year plan
“We decided to do a lot ‐ to fulfill the five‐year plan, but they spend it on the working neck. Now we are sitting hungry, by the end of the fiveyear plan we will completely die; and we, the workers, sit and remain silent, terrified to the extreme. At meetings we clap our hands, unconditionally accept everything that they will present to us. Soon we, if we are silent, will be completely strangled ʺ(Trotskyist, worker, Mr. Serpukhov).
“I would strangle all the communists for their exorbitant pace. Trotsky was right when he opposed the five‐year plan. And now we have lived that there are no bulbs in the shop. It would be nice if there were no them in the whole Union, so that the lights went out everywhere, then they would know how to build” (Trotskyist, plant‐VTUZ, Moscow)
“The five‐year plan will destroy everyone with all kinds of loans from the workers. This is done by Stalin to destroy Russia. I want to go to England; I have already applied to the embassy [for] a visa. If they don’t give it, I’ll cross the border, but I won’t stay with these barbarians” (Trotskyist, Noginsk).
B. Attitude towards collectivization
“Although they say that Trotsky pursued a wrong line towards the peasantry, in any case, he did not do what the “true Leninists” are doing now ‐ Stalin, Molotov and others, who dispossess and expel the middle peasants who do not want to go to collective farms. They brought the peasantry to a state of complete impoverishment and incited the peasantry against themselves to such an extent that if a war breaks out, the peasants drafted into the Red Army, first of all, will turn their bayonets on their oppressor‐communists. ʺ
“If Trotsky was in power, he, as a far‐sighted person, would not have done this. An example of this is Trotskyʹs attitude towards the peasantry during the Civil War. Everyone remembers his order, in which he wrote: ʺWe will shoot those who offend the peasants.ʺ And now what is being done: the alliance of the proletariat with the peasantry no longer exists, and no one cares about it” (Trotskyist, worker, Mr. Serpukhov).
“The peasants are robbed, they take away everything that they have, and whoever does not obey them, are exiled to Solovki and other places. It is clear that they want to drive all the peasants into the collective farm” (Trotskyist, plant named after Budyonny, Moscow).
Fists at factories and new buildings
A number of counterrevolutionary kulak groups liquidated at enterprises and new buildings show that one of the most widespread methods of penetration of the kulak into the working class is the use of fictitious documents received by kulaks from village councils in their homeland.
In some cases, the issuance of fictitious certificates by the village council to the kulaks fleeing deportation and dispossession of kulaks takes on a mass character. Kulaks infiltrating enterprises and new buildings in order to disguise their real social face are enrolled in shock workers, forcing their children to enter the Komsomol. There are isolated facts when, due to the lack of vigilance of local social‐party organizations, the kulaks manage to penetrate the ranks of the party.
A number of facts have been recorded when kulaks, penetrating to work in new buildings, buy horses and, selecting artels from the poor and collective farmers‐fellow countrymen, widely exploit the latter. In its counterrevolutionary activities, the active kulak element, not confining itself to systematic anti‐Soviet agitation, in a number of cases transfers the forms of the class struggle in the countryside to new buildings, organizing terrorist attacks against social workers, disrupting mass cultural work, etc. Particularly noteworthy are the facts of counter‐revolutionary activities of some kulak groups and lone kulaks of a clearly rebel nature (agitation for the need to create rebel organizations, for organizing demonstrations, threats, reprisals against communists, etc.).
Facts have been recorded when kulaks organized resistance to representatives of the police and authorities in the performance of their official duties.
Applying for work on fictitious documents
In December 1931, an active counterrevolutionary group of kulaks and dispossessed people (some of them were participants in counterrevolutionary uprisings), hiding from the dispossession and fleeing exile, was liquidated in Moscow.
In the course of the investigation, it was established that all the members of the group got a job in Moscow, thanks to the false documents they received from the secretary of the Gavrilovsky village council (Spassky district of the Moscow region) Pankrashkin. Members of the group conducted systematic counter‐revolutionary agitation among the workers. The group began to show itself especially actively in connection with the events in the Far East, which allowed the kulaks to openly express their hopes for an early war and the overthrow of Soviet power.
ʺAfter cleaning Manchuria, Japan will come to cleanse Russia in the spring, then we will heal.ʺ
“The food crisis is increasing every day. The war is brewing more and more. ʺ
“This year the Bolsheviks will definitely leave power. The Soviet power will be over, then we will live to glory. Now we are not yet known who we are, but we will live and prove who we are. ʺ
In Zeleny Gorodok (Pushkino), during the construction of houses of Glavsotsstrakh in December 1931, an active counter‐revolutionary kulak group headed by the dispossessed Rodionov was liquidated. Rodionov himself lived at the construction site according to the documents of the poor man, issued to him by the village council at the place of his homeland. Gathering dispossessed people from the same locality as him on other buildings, Rodionov organized a kulak artel from them. Along with systematic anti‐Soviet agitation, the group organized a strike in order to disorganize production, presenting clearly meek demands.
The former landowner Motherland (before the revolution had 400 acres of land) and dispossessed Maslennikov managed to get a job as workers at the Lyubertsy plant of agricultural machinery thanks to information received from the Mostinsky village council (Ukholovsky district of the Moscow region) that they were middle peasants. Rodin and Maslennikov were arrested for counter‐revolutionary activities.
The dispossessed Churikov (a member of Antonovʹs gang) received a certificate from the Volkovsky village council (Moscow region) that he was not dispossessed and was not deprived of his voting rights. With this help Churikov managed to get a job at the printing house of the ʺKrestyanskaya Gazetaʺ.
Churikov was arrested for active counter‐revolutionary activities.
Penetration into shock workers, the Komsomol and the party
The dispossessed Kochetov, the leader of the counter‐revolutionary uprising, got a job at the Kleytuk plant. Kochetov, who also hid from the eviction, arranged for his family to work, and his two sons joined the Komsomol. Kochetov carried out systematic anti‐Soviet agitation at work and tried to kill a public worker because the latter intended to expose Kochetov as a kulak. Kochetov was arrested.
The dispossessed Maslennikov and the former landowner Rodin who got a job at the Lyubertsy plant were enlisted as shock workers and were in good standing with the shop organizations. Maslennikov, shop organizations as an exemplary shock worker were scheduled to be drawn into the ranks of the party.
At the construction site of the Voskresensk Chemical Combine last summer, an active counter‐revolutionary group of dispossessed people, kulaks and former traders, headed by the former trader Sharshavov, was liquidated. The members of the group, in order to mask their disorganizing actions, declared themselves shock workers, but they repeatedly presented the administration with urgent demands for an increase in wages and organized two strikes. Along with this, the group led anti‐Soviet agitation among the workers:
ʺThe Soviet government is plundering individual farmers, taking their last cow from them.ʺ
ʺSoon their lordship will end, let us hand them over like puppies, such exploitation of workers and exploitation of peasants cannot continue for a long time.ʺ
The exploitative activity of the kulak in the city
At the Krasny Stroitel cement plant (Voskresensky District) last summer, a counter‐revolutionary group was liquidated, which was engaged in systematic anti‐Soviet agitation among the workers.
The group was headed by the dispossessed Sokolov, who had his own horses, did not work as a carter himself, but hired a farm laborer for himself. The money received from the construction for the work of the laborer Sokolov completely appropriated to himself, for months without paying the salary to the laborer. When the laborer tried to expose Sokolov as an exploiter, the latter persuaded his two sons to beat the laborer.
At the construction site of the Gigant cement plant (Voskresensky district), the former kulak merchant Shkavron, having made himself a fake stamp of the Rusakovskaya artel of grabbers, prepared a document for himself as an authorized artel. In fact, Shkavron had four horses, hired carters for work, whom he passed off as members of his artel and appropriated the wages due to them. Along with exploitation, Shkavron conducted a vicious anti‐Soviet agitation among the workers. Shkavron is arrested.
At the Lopatinsky mine (Voskresensky district), the kulak Geraskin, having recruited an artel from the poor and collective farmers, declared himself the headman of this artel. Receiving wages for the entire artel as headman of the artel, Geraskin made systematic calculations of the members of the artel, appropriating the lionʹs share of the earnings for himself. The artel, assuming that the office was cheating them, declared a strike and did not go to work all day.
Disruption of community service and persecution of community workers
At the construction of the Sharikopodshipnik plant (Moscow) in April 1931, an anti‐Soviet group of kulaks and dispossessed people (11 people), who were employed in the construction as workers, was liquidated. Kulaks among the seasonal workers carried out systematic anti‐Soviet agitation, corrupted labor discipline and disrupted cultural and educational work. During lectures, conversations, newspaper readings, the kulaks made fights, made a fuss, kicked out the speakers. While trying to stop another brawl on April 11 last year, the commandant of the building (a member of the CPSU (b)), a policeman and an activist worker were beaten with fists.
At the construction site of Transstroy (Moscow), a counterrevolutionary group headed by the kulak Nagornev was created from the kulaks and dispossessed people. The group, along with the antiSoviet agitation, terrorized the poor villagers living with them in the same barracks, threatening to deal with them for dispossession of kulaks carried out in their homeland. The poor activist Ovsyannikov was beaten with fists. The group was liquidated.
In the hostel of the Gorky Railways unskilled workers, dispossessed Karpushkin, a former member of the CPSU (b), organized a group of kulaks who fled from exile. On December 23, 1931, the group carried out an organized beating of the former chairman of the village council, Fomin, who was dispossessing these kulaks in the village. In September 1931, an active counter‐revolutionary group of kulaks, who had fled from their homeland (Mordovia Oblast) and got a job in various seasonal jobs, was liquidated in Moscow. The group was headed by the dispossessed Zakharov, in whose house the members of the group regularly gathered, and, moreover, they were clearly pogrom conversations: “We were all robbed, we need to organize and act against the communists. There are many of us here, we need to arm ourselves and arrange the St. Bartholomewʹs Night for the communists. Everyone who dispossessed us wonʹt leave, weʹll get to them, only we need to act in an orderly manner. ʺ The group organized several attacks on worker activists. Thus, active workers of the Mordovian district Savkin, Safonov, Bodrov, and others were beaten with fists.
Rebel tendencies
At the construction of the Meat Processing Plant (Moscow), an active kulak group, using the moment of eviction from the barracks of those workers who quit this construction, openly called for resistance and pogroms.
ʺIf you are kicked out of the barracks, you must defend yourself with all you might and not leave the barracks.ʺ
ʺIf you are evicted, you will have to immediately organize an uprising and kill all those who will evict us.ʺ
At the Mosselprom plant (Kashirsky District), a former large trader Savostyanov, who works as a worker, is talking about the need to get weapons and organize gangs in case of an uprising against Soviet power. Savostyanov says:
“Anyway, they wonʹt give us life, it is better to die so that we are remembered, and for this we need to select reliable guys to fight to the death. To recruit 500‐600 people and raid the GPU, the power plant and the railway. ʺ
In the fall of 1930, a counter‐revolutionary group of dispossessed kulaks was liquidated at the construction site at the arms factory (Mytishchi district). The initiator of the group was the son of a former volost foreman, a participant in the counter‐revolutionary uprising in the village of Ponory. The members of the group, along with anti‐Soviet agitation, organized two strikes with the presentation of eager demands.
Once, after the police seized several hooligan kulaks from the barracks, the group gathered a crowd of 70 seasonal workers and attacked the police, beating several police officers. When the kulaks attacked, they shouted: ʺWe are being robbed, workers abroad are revolting, we must also revolt.ʺ
Among the kulak elements infiltrating enterprises are notorious White
Guards, members of the punitive detachments of the White Army. GI Donetskiy, a former white officer of Denikinʹs army, the son of a deacon who was shot for counter‐revolutionary activities, worked as an assembly fitter at the Electrozavod. In September 1931, a cell of the AllUnion Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was accepted as a party candidate. Donetsk showed that he had shot up to 70 Red people without trial or investigation:
“There were cases when the suicide bombers begged me for pardon and with tears in their eyes threw themselves on their knees, but the law of war was cruel, it did not spare anyone. Those who did not walk had to be dragged by the hands to the place of execution. ʺ
Explanatory note to the table of strike conflicts for 1931
In 1931, 823 strike conflicts with 24 463 participants were registered in enterprises and new buildings in Moscow and the region, and the bulk of conflicts (75%) took place among seasonal workers ‐ 666 conflicts with 20 908 participants.
The conflicts recorded were extremely short‐lived and involved small groups of workers.
On average, there were participants per conflict:
1) workers of the main industries ‐ 20 people;
2) for seasonal workers ‐ 31 people.
By quarters of the year, conflicts are distributed:
1 quarter ‐ 93 conflicts
2 ‐ ʺ‐ ‐ 268 ‐ʺ ‐
3 ‐ ʺ‐ ‐ 290 ‐ʺ ‐
4 ‐ ʺ‐ ‐ 171 ‐ʺ ‐
Thus, the greatest increase in strike conflicts is observed in the 2nd and 3rd quarters ‐ the period of the greatest development of seasonal work. The main reason for the strikes was dissatisfaction with the existing wages ‐ 44% of all conflicts. Wage arrears were the cause of 12% of conflicts, interruptions in food and goods supply ‐ 10% of conflicts, mainly among seasonal workers.
Deputy PP OGPU for MO Katsnelson Head of SOU PP OGPU for MO Deutsch
Head of SPO PP OGPU for MO Radzivilovskiy
57 ʺThey took bast shoesʺ ‐ bast shoes ‐ the one who makes bast shoes; trader in bast shoes; who walks in bast shoes, peasant, peasant.
58ʺHow Zubatov was in the policeʺ ‐ Zubatov Sergei Vasilievich (1864‐1917) ‐ statesman. In 1884 he was a clerk in the Moscow noble wardship. In 1885, he was the head of the Moscow security department. In 1886 he was transferred by the police to the post of telegraph operator of the 3rd category of the Moscow Central Telegraph Station, then he worked at the stations ʺSlavyanskiy Bazarʺ and ʺDistrict Courtʺ. On June 13, 1886, he was recruited as a paid agent of internal surveillance. He betrayed four revolutionaries, three of whom later died in prison. In 1889 he was seconded as an official to the Police Department. Since 1896 he was the head of the Moscow Security Department with the rank of collegiate secretary. In 1896‐1903. developed a system of political investigation: introduced a system of registration and photographing of those arrested. In 1896 g. on his initiative, a ʺSpecial Detachment of Observing Agentsʺ was created, which had the authority to arrest in Moscow, Odessa, St. Petersburg and Kharkov. In 1901, he came up with the idea of creating legal workersʹ organizations under police supervision. In 19011902. under his control in Moscow, the Society for the Mutual Assistance of
Workers in Mechanical Production, the Council of Workers of Mechanical Production in Moscow, the Society for Mutual Assistance of Textile Workers, and others, with a total number of 1800 people, were created. The movement is headed by recruited former members of the social democratic organization ʺMoscow Workersʹ Unionʺ. In 1902 he was transferred to St. Petersburg under the control of the Minister of Internal Affairs. In August 1903 he was again in Moscow; established contacts with former employees and agents, for which in October 1903 he was exiled to Vladimir, and on November 17, 1903. dismissed from service with the prohibition to participate in political activities, live in capitals and metropolitan provinces. In December 1904 he was fully restored to his rights and received a pension. Revolution of 19051907 regarded as the collapse of ʺpolice socialism.ʺ In 1917, upon learning of the abdication of Emperor NicholasII, committed suicide.
59 Shock work is a shock movement, one of the first and most widespread forms of socialist competition between the working people of the USSR for increasing labor productivity, reducing production costs, and for high rates of labor. At different stages of socialist and communist construction, shock workers were enriched by the creative initiative of workers, collective farmers, scientific and engineering‐technical intelligentsia in accordance with the tasks put forward by the Communist Party. Found also spread in a number of other socialist countries.
60 Letter from Stalin ‐ we are talking about Stalinʹs letter to the editorial board of the journal Proletarskaya Revolyutsiya ʺOn Certain Questions of the History of Bolshevism,ʺ published in the magazines Bolshevik No. 19‐20 and
Proletarian Revolution No. 6 for 1931.