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  Transcripts from the Soviet Archives VOLUME XIV SECRET REVIEWS 1934

GPU STR on the number of Orthodox churches in the USSR. April 26, 1934
Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 30. L. 65. Original
April 26, 1934
Top secret
Before the revolution, there were 50,000 churches. Currently, there are about 15,000 churches in operation. In addition, there are 50006000 churches not formally closed, but not functioning.
Before the revolution, there were 608 churches in Moscow. Now there are 82 churches left.
Head of the 3rd branch of the SPO OGPU
Polyansky

F. 3. Op. 1.D. 30. L. 65. Original.

Memorandum on the counterrevolutionary Trotskyist group in the universities of Omsk. May 19, 1934
Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 641. L. 1‐2. Script
May 19, 1934
No. 69
To the secretaries of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), comrade Stalin, comrade Kaganovich, comrade Zhdanov
In the medical and pedagogical institutes of Omsk, Dr. Trotskyist grouping consisting of Esaulov (member of the CPSU (b), student at the pedagogical institute), Afanasyev (member of the CPSU (b), student at the pedagogical institute), Koreshenkov (formerly a Komsomol member, student of the medical institute), etc. A group of Trotskyists led by Esaulov and Afanasyev during 1933‐1934. led clearly counter‐revolutionary Trotskyist activities aimed at discrediting the general line of the party and the leaders of the party. Through Koreshenkov (headed the academic sector of the 42nd group of the medical institute), Trotskyist ideas were promoted among the students ‐ Komsomol members of the instu [stit] that (Mizzev is the Komsomol organizer of the 42nd group, Odintsov is the trade union organizer of the same group, Grebennikov, Knyazev and etc.). For dragging through K. R. Trotskyism, they used classes in social disciplines. Esaulov, Afanasyev, and Koreshenkov organized illegal meetings in their apartments, at which they subjected Ph.D. criticized the most important decisions of the party. Some members of this group raised the question of using terror against the leaders of the party (Koreshenkov).
The Bureau of the Omsk State Committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks expelled Esaulov and Afanasyev from the party and suggested that the KSM State Committee consider the issue of expelling Mizeev, Odintsov, Grebennikov and
Knyazev from the Komsomol.
The department of leading party organizations of the Central
Committee considers it necessary to promptly propose to the Zap [adno] ‐Siberian regional committee to conduct a deep examination of all party work in Omsk universities, as well as the entire organization of educational work in them.
Deputy head department [elom] of the leading] party organs of the
Central Committee of the CPSU (b)
Shcherbakov
Instructors of the department of the leading] party organs of the
Central Committee of the CPSU (b) Steshova
Mironov
F. 3. Op. 1.D. 641. L. 1‐2. The original.


Special message from the PP of the OGPU on the AChK to the OGPU on the activation of the church‐sectarian underground in connection with the drought. May 22, 1934
Archive: F. 3. On. 1.D. 431. L. 10‐17. Script
May 22, 1934
Top Secret
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU t. Agranov
At the same time, I am sending material, noting the activity of the church‐sectarian counter‐revolution in the region in connection with the drought.
PP OGPU for AChK
Rud
Priests, sectarians and, especially the so‐called. The ʺwanderersʺ, using the negative sentiments of the collective farmers in connection with the drought, are deploying an active candidate‐r. activities on the line:
1) disorganization of collective farm production, pushing collective farmers to quit collective farms, go to work, and give up collective farm work;
2) the introduction of decadent, panic moods through widespread provocation about the death of all crops, the impending famine, etc
3) wide agitation for the need to organize mass prayers, processions, open churches, strengthen prayers and repentances: ʺDrought is Godʹs punishment for sinsʺ, ʺIf we pray and open inactive churches, it will rain.ʺ
Specifically, the activities of Ph.D. church and sectarian activists are sent:
Prayer services and religious processions
In Rostov, priests Domnich and Lazarev on May 5, 1934 (on a day off) posted an announcement to the believers about a general prayer service for ʺsending rainʺ (the prayer was prevented).
In stts. Staro‐Minsk priest Bitkin performs prayers for the rain, and on his behalf deacon Minashin, a former merchant, going around the houses of collective farmers, collecting money, agitating:, where can. They angered the Lord God with their collective farms, he does not give us rain, and now there will be hunger and pestilence on the earth. Before itʹs too late, pray to God. ʺ In Krasnodar, for 6 days, prayers for rain were performed in all churches, attracting a large number of believers.
In the Matveyevo‐Kurgan region along Bolshe‐Kirsanovsky, Matveyevo‐Kurgan, Anastasievsky and Latonovsky village councils, priests, using the dry weather, are actively drawing collective farmers into the church. Recently, there has been a large influx of praying not only old people, but also young people. Clubs do not work there, newspapers are not read, nobody visits the red corner. In the first two village councils, a group of women asked the priest to go out into the field and serve a prayer service. ʺOtherwise, we will have to starve this year,ʺ they said.
In the Aleksandrovskoe r / s, Deacon Serebets and the church head Vakhtin, a former kulak, conduct Ph.D. agitation among collective farmers, explaining the Bible in this direction: “Collective farms are a gang, they rob people, and neither we nor them have anything. 1934 will be the last, as the scripture says, and whoever survives this year will live well. There is no rain, and there will not be, there, in the scripture, it is said: ʺI will punish that they know their feet.ʺ
The appearance of ʺwanderersʺ
There is a significant movement along the edge of wandering monks and nuns under the guise of ʺdivine wanderersʺ, ʺprophetessesʺ who are actively conducting c. agitation among the population, increasing the elements of decay among the collective farmers.
In the city of Rostov detained at the bazaar Tykich Evdokia, a former kulachka, whose brother was shot for k. ‐r. activity posing as a ʺprophetessʺ and ʺmessenger of God.ʺ The latter, conducting among the population, visiting collective farmers, an active candidate‐r. agitation, she said: “Soviet power was given to people as punishment for sins, the time of hunger and illness will come. The drought was given as a punishment for people to die” (investigation is underway).
In stts. Sovetskaya of the Armavir region, the individual owner Rodenko, a monk without specific occupations and residence, agitating among the collective farmers, spreads the following rumors: “Today the holy elder spent the night with me, prayed to God all night, at midnight he took me out into the street and showed me three crosses standing in heaven above the church, explaining that these crosses mean: the first cross ‐ war and blood, the second ‐ drought, the third ‐ hunger and death. God demands from the Orthodox to throw bread out of the church and ask God for petitions and prayers. ʺ
In the Yeisk district in the village. Shabelsky, a wandering ʺwandererʺ appeared, predicting: ʺThere will be no rain for two months, after which frosts will come, last year will come again, there will be no rain, everything will perish, you will have to die.ʺ
Wonders
The reactionary clergy, in order to strengthen their K. R. influences on the masses stage all sorts of ʺmiraclesʺ in the form of the appearance of the ʺMother of Godʺ and ʺholy eldersʺ who heal from diseases, etc. According to the Timashevsk MTS, a case was recorded of the appearance of the ʺMother of Godʺ, where active clergymen and monastics in the person of the nun Degtyarenko Evdokia, living on the territory of the collective farm, Panchenko Semyon ‐ a collective farmer who was convicted of stealing collective farm grain, Chernyavsky Tikhon ‐ a collective farmer, inspired by the local kolkhoz, distributed rumors named MTS, which boiled down to the following: ʺA cryingʺ Mother of God ʺappeared in the closed church, chasing the secretary of the Galich party group.ʺ
Collective farmer Panchenko Semyon said in a conversation with the collective farmers: “They have done business, closed the church, the Mother of God is angry and crying, and there is no rain. For this now the whole people will suffer. ʺ Nun Degtyarenko, arranging secret meetings of collective farmers, mostly women, reading the Bible to them, explains: “It will not rain because churches are being closed. The Mother of God cries and demands the opening of the church. ʺ On May 10, 1934, monastics brought to the FominoSvechnikovskaya MTS a “sick old man,” posing as a “saint,” who attracted a large number of female collective farmers, among whom he campaigned: “This year there will be a severe drought, there will be no harvest. We must pray to God. ʺ
Distribution of K. R. appeals
The kulak‐whiteguard element, blocking the church‐sectarian counter‐revolution, uses the drought in the K. R. insurrectionary purposes, spreading K. R. appeals calling for an open struggle against the Soviet regime.
Near the village. Tenginka of Tuapse region was pasted up to 30 handwritten proclamations with the following content: ʺDear brothers, repent and repent before your injured God, and you will find him, and ask him about your delusions and sins, he will forgive you everything.ʺ
ʺSort out, you fools, in your life and work, sort out all the words of the International, what his words said, and what his oath was, and why, in general, he was screwing up.ʺ
“Citizens! On May 6, listen, a man of the morning will sing, and after that you will hear crying and sobbing. ʺ
It was established that the proclamations were prepared and disseminated by Andrey Chernobab, the son of a shot kulak, sentenced to 10 years and fled from the place of exile. Chernobab Andrey has been living illegally since 1933. He also staged singing and crying. By the measures taken, Chernobab was seized in the mountains, where his refuge was found and in the latter firearms, ammunition and food for 2‐3 months (an investigation is underway).
Agitation and propaganda of the ideas of fascism
The presence of an extremely tense situation in the region due to the drought is used by the clergy and sectarians in the direction of strengthening the c. heat, expressing aspirations and hopes for the imminent fall of Soviet power, relying on fascism. In the cities of Rostov, Taganrog, Shakhty, Sulin,
Bataisk, as well as at the mines of Nesvetaevsky and Vlasovsky, sectarian evangelicals widely disseminate fascist literature among the workers, in particular, a book entitled ʺThis awaits youʺ, published in Poland and obtained illegally in the USSR: ʺBolshevism is the trial of Russia.ʺ “The wonderful future of the state, which the socialists dream of, will not come before the millennial reign of peace”, “The power of Mussolini and fascism: he has his own wellarmed and organized army. He enjoys the sympathy and approval of the national struggling forces on land and sea. ʺ ʺThe Mussolini case proves extraordinary willpower and great courage.ʺ ʺThe spirit of fascism will pass from Italy to the rest of Europe, including Germany.ʺ
In Veshensky district of the Northern region. monastics, spreading provocative rumors among the collective farmers, say: “The Soviet power is running out, it failed with the building of socialism, everything was destroyed, the people were put together in collective farms, of which there is no use. Things are going to ruin. This year there must be something” (conversations of priest Demchuk).
“The Bible says that we will live under the rule of the Antichrist only until 1934, in which there must be a change ‐ the Soviet regime will perish, and [with it] the collective farms. Russia will become Orthodox again, and we will live again as in the old days” (agitation of the nun Gosheva Gideona).
In stts. Novo‐Minskaya Starominskiy district kulachka, deprived, wife of the former white colonel Galushko Maria, an active churchwoman, says: “Everything will be for the time being, some powers are preparing for war, maybe the war is already going on, but we do not know speak, and will not speak until the last end, they know what to say. So here the women will stand up with the stags in order to get rid of this yoke. ʺ
In stts. Staro‐Minskaya in the same district, priest Bitkin, who came to him to the activist Karlash to collect obligatory state payments in the presence of the individual farmer Kanonenko, defiantly declared: ʺYou are all fighting people, and when you stop all this, because people already have no spirit,ʺ this time he tore off the cap from Karlash, saying: “Well, how sorry you are for your cap, so people feel sorry for theirs. Well, okay, you are fighting our brother today, but the time will come ‐ we will not fight your brother like that, but better. ʺ
He, Bitkin, conducting a conversation in a group of individual farmers in his apartment, said: ʺWell, tell me, in which country is the best government of the people?ʺ To which one of those present replied: ʺOf course, in Germany.ʺ Bitkin, satisfied with the answer, said: ʺAha, you see.ʺ Addressing the company: ʺI understand that.ʺ
In stts. Monastic Rodenko speaks among collective farmers in the Soviet Armavir region as follows: “The collective farm is the devilʹs nest, which is outliving its last days. The collective farm will be burnt with fire, which came from the east by the ʺmessenger of St. Gabriel.ʺ

Pop Bolyne‐Krepinsky s / s Matveyevo‐Kurgan region Gusenev, in a conversation with collective farmers, declares: “Things will be bad if nothing changes, but it cannot stay that way, although the communists are surrendering peacefully, but this will not end there anyway. They say one thing and do another. They repeat the words: ʺWe will not give up our land,ʺ but we gave the CER and Siberia without any help. Kamchatka and half of the Urals have already been cut off by the Japanese, and now troops are being brought in there ‐ there will be a war. ʺ
In stts. Podgornaya Tsimlyanskiy district, Abbot Voronin Nifont, who graduated from the Theological Academy in the special discipline ʺBuddholamismʺ, is carrying out intensive work among the believing Cossacks on the transition from Orthodoxy to Buddhism.

It has been established that Voronin is widely practicing illegal, socalled. “Conversations with believers”, arranged in huts, at which, in addition to popularizing the ideas of Buddhism, he conducts an active anti‐collective farm agitation: “As a rule, we chose a house, the owners announced this in advance, the believers collected bread and other products among themselves, in the house cooked borsch; having gathered, they served a prayer service. I usually read them an akathist, and then some life of the saint, then dined, sang divine chants at dinner, and also talked about how to alleviate the difficulties of life, often discussed the collective farm issue. I look at collective farm construction as a utopia that will never yield positive results. ʺ
As a result, there is a systematic absenteeism from 200 to 300 collective farmers to work, who are hiding in sheds and cellars.
In order to suppress K. R. activities of clergy and sectarians, we have carried out the following specific activities:
1. During April and the first half of May, undercover developments were liquidated along the edge for 6 c.‐r. sectarian‐church groups, which actively carried out the Ph.D. work in collective farms with a total number of participants up to 100 people, of which organizers and activists were withdrawn ‐ 78 people.
2. Through authoritative church‐sectarian agents, we suppress the performance of any kind of ʺprayersʺ and ʺprocessions of the crossʺ in connection with the drought.
3. The most typical investigative cases, with appropriate preparation, are considered by a show trial on the ground.

Head of SPO PP OGPU for AChK
Zhupakhin
Head of the 3rd department of the SPO OGPU
Parfimovich
F. 3. On. 1.D. 431. L. 10‐17. The original. Special message of the OGPU about the arrest of the poet Mandelstam O.E. June 1, 1934
Archive: F. 3. On. 1.D. 38. L. 84. Copy.
June 1, 1934
Top Secret
Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) t. Stalin
The OGPU arrested the poet Osip Emilievich Mandelstam. Before the revolution, Mandelstam was the spokesman for extreme rightwing bourgeois trends in literature. The same tendencies persisted in his works published in the early years of the revolution (autobiographical book ʺThe Noise of Timeʺ).
In recent years, Mandelstam has actually stopped publishing his works.
The grounds for the arrest were the information received that Mandelstam wrote and reads to his friends a number of poems written by him and / or, incl. brightly to. ‐r. libel on the leaders of the revolution. According to Mandelstam, he destroyed the manuscript because ʺThis thing might be worth a head.ʺ
During interrogation, Mandelstam confessed that he was the author of this Ph.D. libel and described it as a work in which ʺa huge force of social power, poison and political hatred are concentratedʺ and which has ʺthe qualities of a propaganda poster of great effective power.ʺ
Mandelstam also showed that he had read this libel to the poetess Anna Akhmatova, her son Lev Gumilyov, the poet V. Narbut, the poetess Petrov M.S. and other acquaintances.
Note: Mandelstam Osip Emilievich, born in 1891 a native of Warsaw, from a bourgeois family. The beginning of his literary career dates back to 1908, when his poems were first published in Apollo. In the literature, he is known as one of the representatives of the reactionary poetic group of Acmeists, which included Nikolai Gumilyov, Anna Akhmatova, V. Narbut, M. Zenkevich and others.
Mandelstam, by a resolution of the OGPU Collegium, was exiled to the Urals for 3 years.
Deputy OGPU Chairman Agranov
F. 3. On. 1.D. 38. L. 84. Copy.


Village, Peasantry
Special message of the OGPU PP on the SVK on the preparation for wintering livestock in collective farms, according to data on December 30, 1933 January 5, 1934
Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 64. L. 57‐60. Certified copy
January 5, 1934
No. 145553
Top secret
Head of SPO OGPU T. Molchanov
The condition of draft animals on the edge continues to be unsatisfactory. Until recently, a significant part of collective farms did not have insulated cattle yards and stables, as a result of which the livestock continues to be in half‐open buildings or scattered across collective farmyards, which is one of the main causes of diseases of working cattle, miscarriages of pregnant queens and cows. In many collective farms, the placement of livestock is done in such a way that horses, cows and small livestock are together in the same room, in particular, divisions are made between the pregnant queens and the rest of the livestock.
The construction of cattle yards is partially slowed down due to a lack of building materials, and in most cases due to the inactivity of workers in village councils and collective farm leaders. Thus, most of the collective farms in the Chembarsky district are not ready for wintering livestock.
On the collective farms of the villages of Ulyanovka, Olshanka, Nevezhkino, Kulikovka, V [olchiy] Enemy and other stables for horses and cows were made hastily, there are no insulated rooms for foal queens. In a number of collective farms, horses, cows and small livestock are kept in the same building. Almost all collective farms lack isolation wards for sick cattle. Stockyards and stables are scattered throughout the villages, and there is no proper control over livestock by both foremen and livestock breeders.
In with. None of the three existing collective farms has equipped stables in Limonovka, the horses are in a draft. The situation is the same in the rest of the villages. In a number of collective farms in the St [aro] ‐ Kulatkinsky district, cattle yards and stables are not insulated, some of the cattle and horses are left in open yards, as a result of which there have been cases of diseases of horses and frostbite of the nipples of cows. In with. Govorovo tax is used by anyone and anyhow, as a result 20 pregnant queens were thrown off. The same was noted in Stalin, Sorochinsk, Stavropol and other regions.
Despite the cleansing of the grooms, the latter in a number of collective farms still have socially alien elements who are sabotage to livestock, steal fodder, and so on.
Theft of fodder is very common, being one of the reasons for the overfilling of the horse population. The fight against plunderers of fodder supplies is not being carried out enough; in most cases, the perpetrators are limited to light collection or are transferred from one brigade to another. In St [aro] ‐Kulatkinsky district, fodder theft by grooms is widespread.
In with. St [araya] Fedorovka the fodder received by the grooms for feeding livestock is partly squandered and partly taken away for personal needs. Knowing this, the collective farm board does not take any measures. In the village. For Salovka, the tax is fed with poor‐quality forage, which causes a disease in horses ‐ swelling of the legs. Systematic theft of forage is also noted on the collective farms of Stalin, Buzuluk and a number of other regions.
Poor body condition of livestock is also largely due to the lack of concentrated feed. Lack of fodder puts many collective farms, especially in the left‐bank regions, at risk of disrupting the preparation of the tax for spring sowing. In the breeding farm named after Stepan Razin, Stavropol region lacks 18 thousand 258 centners of feed. Concentrated feed requires about 17 thousand centners, and the state farm has only 1 thousand centners. Lack of feed causes disease in livestock.
The collective farms of the Pogrominskaya MTS of the Buzuluk region were left completely without concentrates this year due to crop failure. Horses are given only one straw and chaff. During the period of summer and autumn work, the horses turned out to be very emaciated, the lack of concentrated feed and a lack of forage did not make it possible to prepare the tax for spring sowing. A similar situation is noted in Gorodishchensky, Borsky and other districts.
Despite a significant reduction in the number of facts of epidemic diseases in comparison with the summer period, such diseases as anthrax, scabies and partially meningitis are still developed in some places. The fight against these diseases is hampered by the lack of veterinary staff and medicines. A number of regional organizations do not take appropriate measures to provide collective farms with the required number of veterinarians and their high‐quality selection (Gorodishchensky, Baryshevsky, Stavropol and other districts).
Revitalization of the activity of Ph.D. The kulak element is going along the line of deliberately creating unfavorable conditions for wintering livestock, disrupting the construction of insulated cattle yards and stables by delaying work, deliberately infecting livestock with epizootic diseases, using the method of butchering livestock instead of treating it, etc.
So, in the state farm. Maksim Gorky, Orsk district, senior livestock technician Mayer drew up a wrecking plan for the placement of livestock for the winter, as a result of which the livestock supplied to some farms was not provided with either a watering hole or feed. The management of the state farm proposed to Mayer to revise the plan, but the latter did not make any significant changes, and the plan in this form was released from the farm.
In the Mainsky district, the veterinarian of the pig farm Akhmatov, instead of treating sick cattle, cuts him. Several deaths have been reported due to misuse of drugs. An investigation is underway.
On the collective farm ʺRed Armyʺ of the Stalin region, as a result of the sabotage attitude of the senior groom, the kulak Kiryukhin, draft power is greatly depleted. In addition, the latter is engaged in systematic theft of forage, as a result of which some of the horses are currently not able to get up, but climb on ropes. Kiryukhin is brought to justice. No. 9/97482.
Zdorovtsev
Correct:
Makovetskaya
Dispatched:
1) Stalin; 2) Kaganovich; 3) Molotov.
F. 3. Op. 1.D. 64. L. 57‐60. Certified copy.



Special message of the PP of the OGPU in the Uzbek SSR about food difficulties in certain regions of the republic. March 9, 1934 at the earliest
Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 73. L. 233‐235. Certified copy
Top secret
To the head of the SPO OGPU T. Molchanov
In 26 districts of Uzbekistan (Khankinsky, Besh‐Aryksky, GalyaAralsky, Baysunsky, Stalinsky, Sary‐Assiysky, Aimsky, Termez, Mitansky, etc.), there are difficulties in 250 collective farms with a total of 10,780 farms and 38,217 eaters.
On the basis of industrial difficulties, widely used by K. R. kulak‐bai elements in order to discredit collective farm construction and disrupt spring sowing, there are facts of sale of property, slaughter of livestock, unorganized seasonal work and exits from the collective farm, emigration sentiments are increasing in the border areas (Sary‐Assi, Termez districts).
A particularly tense food situation is noted in collective farms that have not fulfilled their cotton harvest plans. The bread is not fully issued for the delivered cotton. For example, the collective farmers of the Pioner collective farm in the Khanka District eat oil cake, and the delivery point delays the delivery of 30 centners of wheat due to the collective farm for the cotton delivered. In the collective farms ʺPakhtakorʺ, ʺTolkunʺ and some others in the Besh‐Aryk region, 146 people came out on the basis of industrial difficulties. The debt to these collective farms for the delivered cotton is expressed in 200 centners of wheat. A number of facts of a shortage of grain were also noted on collective farms that fully fulfilled the plan of cotton procurement.
On the part of some collective farmers of the Yangi‐Turmysh collective farm, which fully fulfilled the cotton harvesting plan and did not receive 220 centners of wheat for the cotton handed over, in connection with which individual farms consume various substitutes for food, the following statements are recorded: “If you do not fulfill the cotton harvesting plan, it is bad, if you do it ‐ even worse, there is no good to wait, bread is not given, forcing us to starve ”(Stalin district of the Fergana Valley).
Along with the tension of grain resources in Central Asia, a significant role in aggravating the food situation in individual collective farms is often played by bureaucracy, indiscriminateness, equalizing distribution of available grain resources without taking into account the needs of individual collective farms, deliberate delay in the distribution of available grain by anti‐Soviet elements who have penetrated into collective farms. Thus, in the collective farm ʺKizyl‐Abadʺ of the Khanka region, 2 cases of death and 12 cases of swelling due to hunger were registered, while in the warehouse there were 30 centners of bread to be distributed according to workdays.
The 5 tons of bread allocated by the Khorezm District for supplying the urgently needed collective farmers were distributed by the regional leadership and the MTS at the rate of 1 kg per eater without taking into account the need. The management of the MTS prohibited the issuance of advances to urgently needed collective farmers until the final preparation and approval of the annual report. As a result, on the collective farm. Kalinin, 3 collective farmers died and 17 collective farmers were swollen.
In the ʺUzgaryshʺ collective farm of the Mitan region, in the presence of bread at the procurement points, 8 collective farmers swelled from malnutrition. The decision of the regional party committee to give the collective farm a 10% advance for cotton of the 1934 harvest was not implemented within 10 days. Similar facts were registered in Aim and Termez districts. Recently, there has been an influx of villagers to the city for commercial bread. Zalin
Correct: Commissioner of the 5th branch of the SPO OGPU
Vselyubskaya
F. 3. Op. 1.D. 73. L. 233‐235. Certified copy.
A special message from Kiev about the state of crops in Ukraine, as of June 10, 1934 June 17, 1934
Archive: F. 3. Op. 1.D. 61. L. 20‐23. Certified copy
June 17, 1934
No. 50869
Top secret
To the head of the SPO OGPU T. Molchanov
Recently, in the overwhelming majority of regions of all regions of Ukraine, there have been rains, which significantly improved winter and spring crops, as well as crops of sugar beet and garden crops. The rains had a particularly favorable effect on spring crops. It rained in most areas of the Dnepropetrovsk region, all areas of the Odessa region, in the Kiev region. ‐ mainly in the regions of Polesie, 30 regions of the Kharkov region and 30 regions of the Vinnitsa region. In a number of places, yellowed crops, which were under threat of death, revived and turned green. In some areas, where due to dry weather for a long time the crops did not germinate and were considered dead, shoots appeared after the rains.
In the southern beet‐growing areas of the Kiev region. there were some minor rains, which did not have a special effect on winter and spring crops, but the state of the sown sugar beet improved significantly. In some areas of the former Uman District, after the rains, seedlings appeared on those beet plantations that were considered dead and were scheduled for reseeding. Many collective farms, where, due to the dry weather, there was a decadent mood and mass absenteeism, there is now a significant production boom, characterized by full exits to work.
However, in a number of places where there was insignificant rainfall or dry weather continues, the state of the crops remains unsatisfactory, and some of them are under immediate threat of death. Winter crops are especially in poor condition. In these places, the decadent moods of collective farmers and individual farmers are still noted. low labor discipline on collective farms. The leaders of some collective farms do not sow late crops, waiting for the rains.
The rise in prices for bread does not stop. In some cities, there is an influx of peasants to purchase grain at commercial prices.
K. R. kulak elements and clergy are still active, especially in areas where dry weather continues. In some areas, there is still a widespread trend towards the organization of prayers and processions. In the Boryspil region, there were minor rains. The condition of winter and spring crops remains unsatisfactory. The boards of a number of collective farms are delaying the sowing of late spring crops. Such tendencies are especially common among individual farmers. Religious sentiment is on the rise due to dry weather. May 26 in the village. Gnedyn at the religious holiday was attended by about 3 thousand people who came from the surrounding villages.
In the collective farms of the villages of Boryspil, Rogozov, Aleksandrovka, Dudarkov and Voronkov, the number of times collective farmers have to work has decreased. Many collective farmers go to Kiev to buy commercial grain.
There was no rain in the Stavishchansky district throughout the spring. Minor rains occurred on May 20‐21. Early spring crops are in satisfactory condition. Under the threat of death, the crops of barley and oats, which turned yellow and stopped further growth.
There is an increase in the activity of the churchmen. In with. Antonovka, the former church head Kalinchuk, groups women and campaigns to send delegations to regional organizations with a petition to open a church and allow mass prayer services in the fields. In with. Stavische on May 26, a prayer service was held in the church, after which a group of religious people, up to 30 people, carried consecrated water to the cemetery, pouring it over coffins and wells. There was no rain in the Dymer district after May 20. Winter crops began to turn yellow from the root. Crop condition is especially bad on sandy soil. Spring crops began to dry up in some places. In the gardens, the appearance of pests ‐ ʺbearʺ, flea, etc. is noted. In the villages of Kazarovich, Nikolaevka, groups of collective farmers and individual farmers applied with a petition to the REC and village councils for permission of prayers and religious processions.
In the Alekseevsky district, due to the lack of rain, the state of the crops remains unsatisfactory. Watering and weeding crops is extremely poor. In the Yanushpol region, the state of spring and winter crops is unsatisfactory. Barley and oats turned yellow in places.
The facts revealed by our bodies of exaggeration by the regional land departments of data on the death of crops are noteworthy: in the Donetsk region. According to the approximate data of the oblzu, 41 thousand hectares of crops perished in the group of districts of Starobelitsin and 66 thousand hectares in some areas of the region. The check made it was found that the data of land departments on the death of crops does not correspond to reality, being exaggerated. In the Belovodsky district, the district administration reported to the district organizations about the death of 7 thousand 760 hectares of winter crops, and the acts registered the death of 6 thousand 452 hectares. These acts are drawn up on the basis of measurement data. The district does not have any documents for 1 thousand 306 hectares. This number is included in the summary on the basis of verbal statements by representatives of the collective farms. In the Novo‐Pskov region, according to the okrz, 4 thousand 257 hectares of winter crops died, and according to the agronomist of the district ‐ only 2 thousand 600 hectares. Moreover, the agronomist Kulik claims that this figure is also incorrect since collective farms did not give information about the death of crops and workers of the district administration in all collective farms were not. On the collective farm ʺChervona Ukraineʺ, the district administration showed in the summary the death of winter wheat on an area of 155 hectares. When checking, it was found that 49 hectares actually died. There are no documents on the death of crops in the district. According to the Melovsky District District, 3 thousand 840 hectares of winter crops died. This was reported to the district organizations. When checking, it was found that there is no data on the death of crops in the district.
Similar facts were noted in Lugansk, Grishinsky and other districts. On the facts of discrepancy between these land departments and the actual death of crops, an investigation is underway, the perpetrators are brought to justice. No. 109594.
Reshetov
Dispatched:
1) Stalin; 2) Kaganovich; 3) Zhdanov; 4) Molotov.

F. 3. Op. 1.D. 61. L. 20‐23. Certified copy.