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Review of the political state of the USSR
Review of the political and economic state of the USSR in November 1924
December 22, 1924
WORKERS
The reporting period is characterized, on the one hand, by a sharp drop in the number of strikes (as of December 8, no more than 8 strikes took place throughout the Union against 20‐25 in previous months; in Moscow, there were two minor strikes against 9 in October); this is explained by the usual festive uplift of mood, as well as partly by the desire (in connection with the celebration of the October Revolution) of the administration and trade union organizations to eliminate possible conflicts. The mood of the workers is completely satisfactory and is characterized by a turning point for the better (in comparison with the depressed mood that was noted at the beginning of the campaign to raise labor productivity and on the basis of lower grades and prices). Against this backdrop, there is discontent over the long delay in wages among metalworkers and unskilled workers,
Metal industry. Delayed wages. As before, the main reason for dissatisfaction in the metal industry is the delay in wages, which still occurs at many of the largest enterprises of the Union significance; a consequence of this is a drop in labor productivity at a number of enterprises (at enterprises of the PRUMP of Nizhegorodskaya gubernia it reaches 15%). At the end of October, the rolling shop of the Kulebaksky plant of the Nizhny Novgorod province went on strike because of the incomplete payment of the September salary. In the Kaluga province. For this reason, the “Selmash” plant No. 1 went on strike. Striking tendencies were also noted at a number of other enterprises. On account of the salary, a small loan is issued to workers everywhere. Strong discontent at the Mytishchi plant was caused by the almost complete termination of this lending.
Lower prices and higher rates. Against the background of a long delay in wages, the campaign to raise labor productivity among metalworkers was very painful. At a number of large factories, the departure of qualified labor was observed (Maltskombinat, the Karl Marx plant in Leningrad, etc.). At the Pesochinsky iron foundry, the administration, in order to keep the skilled workers, refused to pay them. With the introduction of new rates, workersʹ earnings at a number of factories dropped significantly (at Onegzavod, workers produced 35‐40 rubles instead of 70‐80 rubles). The establishment of high production rates raises complaints. At the Podolsk Cartridge Plant (Moscow), group statements were submitted, signed by the
Communists, demanding that the previous norms be abandoned. At the Bryansk factories there were a number of statements about the impossibility of fulfilling the new norms, and the workers indicated that that these norms were met only with a 12‐hour working day. At the factories of the Zlatoust District, workers striving to increase production rates are called strikebreakers by comrades. At the Omsk Mechanic Plant No. 1, a worker who spoke about the new norms stated that ʺif now half of the workers are consumptive, then under the new norms, everything will be 100%.ʺ Strong discontent was caused by the fact that in many of these enterprises there was no simultaneous reduction in the rates of administration and employees. The workers of the Kaluga plant ʺSelmashʺ No. 1 on strike, in connection with the introduction of new norms, indicated that they would agree to them only if the administrationʹs rates were cut by 50%. At a number of other plants, demands were also made to reduce special rates. In Moscow, 25 workers of the cable shop of the Ruskabel plant No. 2 went on strike on the basis of lower prices (the workersʹ demand was satisfied).
Staff reduction. A significant factor of dissatisfaction was the downsizing in the metal industry. At the plant ʺProfinternʺ Bryansk province. 2,000 workers were laid off, of which 1,600 were production workers. At the Tula arms factories in workshops, 1015% of workers are reduced. At the Sormovo plant, it is planned to lay off 1,500 workers. The layoffs were also carried out at the Izhevsk factories (up to 600 workers have already been dismissed), the Perm gun plant, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow province, at Dalzavod (Vladivostok), etc. The workers are especially nervous that the layoffs are being made continuously. In connection with the layoff of adolescents, a handwritten proclamation was posted at the Perm gun factory, threatening the communists and the administration.
Textile industry
Dissatisfaction with new prices. At a number of factories in the Central District, there was still significant dissatisfaction with the new prices. In some factories, there was even a decrease in labor productivity on this basis (the Rykov factory with 3300 workers and the Sverdlov factory with 1480 workers). At the Kostroma factories, the transition to piecework has lowered the wages of workers, mostly unskilled workers, who make up the overwhelming majority; conflicts are expected upon payment of the November salary.
Strikes. On the basis of dissatisfaction with the new rates and norms, strikes were noted: at the ʺLeader of the Revolutionʺ factory in Moscow province. (30 workers were on strike for 2 hours, the strikers were calculated); 200 workers went on strike at the Kostroma 1st Republican F‐ke (a commission was created to check the possibility of fulfilling the new norms). Due to low prices, the peat transporters to the Arzhenovskaya cloth factory in Tambov province stopped working, the factory is threatened with a shutdown as a result.
Delayed wages and layoffs. It should be noted the observed delay in wages at the cloth factories in the Tambov and Saratov provinces, reaching 1‐2 months. At the factory ʺParis Communeʺ of the Vladimir province. there was a 20‐minute work stoppage in one of the shops due to the delay in wages for 5 days. The staff reduction was noted only in the Orekhovo‐Zuevsky trust of the Moscow province. (1100 workers out of 25000 were dismissed) and at the individual factories of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk and Yaroslavl provinces.
Mining
Delayed wages. Delayed wages remain one of the main reasons for the dissatisfaction of miners. In Donbass, only 50% of the October salary was paid, and then bonuses to cooperatives. In the coal industry of the South‐East, 200 workers of the Donetsk‐Hrushevsky mining administration went on strike on the basis of non‐payment of wages in September and October (the workers started work in connection with the threat to close the mine). In the Donbass, on this basis, a strike of 150 construction workers of the Petrovsky mining administration was noted.
In the Urals, on this basis, there is a drop in the intensity of labor in the Isovsky gold‐platinum district. Large indebtedness to workers is noted in the gold mines of the Kokchetav district. Akmola province. In Siberia and the Far East there is a large debt in the coal industry (up to 1‐1 ʹ/ 2 months, and in private mines up to 3 months).
Increasing production rates. In connection with the ongoing campaign to raise the standards, there is a departure of skilled workers from the mines. Up to 200 workers left the Mirovaya Kommuna mine in a short time. Communists also apply for resignation. At the end of October, the workers of the mine went on strike in connection with the increase in production rates (there is no information on the mining industry in Ukraine). On November 19, the workers of the mine named after V.I. The October Revolution in the form of a protest against an increase in rates by 25% and a decrease in rates by 15%.
Staff reduction. It should also be noted dissatisfaction with the layoffs carried out in connection with the campaign to raise labor productivity. More than 8,000 workers were laid off at the Donbass mines at the end of November. The reduction is carried out in the Siberian and Ural coal industry, in the Ural gold mining. In the Anzhero‐Sudzhensky mines, two mines went on strike on the basis of staff reductions (they did not work for two days).
Other industries
Timber industry. The lag in wages in the timber industry is still ongoing and is reported in all provinces. At the end of October in the Novgorod province. 1,200 workers at the Fanertrest plant went on strike with union approval. At a number of factories, salaries were not issued for 2‐3 months (Severoles factories in the Arkhangelsk and Cherepovets provinces, Dvinles, Lesbela, etc.). There are debts to peasants who are in a difficult situation due to the need to pay tax.
During the reporting period, significant staff reductions were made at a number of factories. At the Saratov factories, 30% of workers are laid off. The reduction is being carried out and planned at many plants in the North‐West region. At the Arkhangelsk factories, 1,000 workers have been laid off, and another 1,500 are planned to be laid off. The campaign to raise labor productivity caused sharp discontent at a number of factories. At a meeting of workers at the Orlee plant in Orenburg, 300 workers out of 500 who were at the meeting demonstratively left the meeting while discussing the issue of new norms. “Bagpipes” on this basis took place in Saratov province.
Chemical industry. The delay in wages continues to be noted at all glass factories and reaches 1‐2 months. Dissatisfaction with the issuance of manufactured goods on account of wages is noted. At the Porcelain Factory in Rybinsk, workers, having learned about the introduction of new downsized staff, quit their jobs. At the chemical plants in Yaroslavl and Rybinsk, labor productivity is extremely low due to salary delays. At the Chudovsky cement plant of the Novgorod province. cut 1000 workers. At glass factory # 5 in Penza, workers themselves agreed to a 30% pay cut so that the factory would not be closed.
Food industry. Long‐term salary delays have been reported in the fishing industry. In Astrakhan, workers in some trades have not been paid wages for 2‐3 months. The debt of the State Fishery Trust to workers reaches 2,000,000 rubles, and for social insurance and water transport up to 4,000,000 rubles. A similar situation is noted in Uralrybtrest: workers in the fish fleet have not been paid a salary for 3 months, those who are wintering in the north have not been paid for a year. The strongest fermentation on this soil is noted among the workers. A significant delay is also noted at the sugar factories of Ukraine and Kursk province. In some places, salaries have not been issued since August. At the Profintern sugar factory in Kursk province. there was a strike of peasant loaders. A significant deterioration is noted in the flour and oil industry. At the Saratov creameries, a significant reduction in staff is being carried out.
Workersʹ mood
The mood of workers in the reporting period no longer shows the mass discontent that was at the beginning of the campaign to raise labor productivity. In the main work centers, the number of conflicts over the revision of grades and prices has decreased compared to previous months and the mood is quite stable here. An unstable mood is observed mainly among the unskilled workers associated with the countryside in the textile, forestry and construction industries, who were affected by both the reduction of grades and prices and the reduction of staff. Among these workers, there is massive criticism of the Soviet regime, and dissatisfaction with the administration and factory committees is intensifying. Along with this, it is noted that there are lonely anti‐Soviet workers among them,
As a general phenomenon, a decline in interest in public life is noted in a number of enterprises with a predominance of unskilled workers. At the Gusev factories of the Vladimir province. out of 5000 workersʹ meetings, several dozen attended. In the Tambov province. at the cloth factories during the ceremonial meetings, a lot of notes were submitted expressing dissatisfaction with the introduction of new norms and prices. There was a fuss at the Rasskazovskaya factory when the speaker touched on the issue of increasing productivity. At the Yaroslavl factory ʺKrasny Perekopʺ during the elections to the Soviets, there was talk that the elections were just a formality, since the candidates had already been elected by the communists; in connection with the campaign to help Leningrad, there were talks that information about Leningrad was false and was being disseminated in order to make an extra deduction, that it was better to leave the party than to hear reproaches from non‐party people.
Peasant sentiments among the workers. Peasant sentiments predominate in the actions of workers with this attitude, and antiSoviet agitation is somewhat successful. The conversations among a group of anti‐Soviet workers at the ʺIII Internationalʺ factory are extremely characteristic, they foresee an imminent uprising of the peasants with the use of terraces for this, ʺthe peasants are the majority, but in fact only the workers are in charge.ʺ One of the members of the group says: ʺIt will not be that long; we will create our own IV International.ʺ A proclamation against Tersbor was posted in this factory in October. In the Ulyanovsk province. an unemployed person spoke at a solemn meeting of builders, who pointed out that the Soviet government was doing everything for responsible workers; a different list was put forward against the list of the faction in the Soviet; the meeting was dissolved. At the solemn meeting of workers of the plant No. 1 of Sevvostles (Vyatka province,
Agitation among the workers. The growing discontent is used in a number of cases by anti‐Soviet elements from among the workers. At the factory ʺRed Weaversʺ in the Yaroslavl province. the local Menshevik, in connection with the partial layoffs being carried out, is agitating that the policy of the Soviet government is leading to the fact that the factory will eventually be closed completely. At the Izhevsk factories, under the influence of rumors about layoffs, individuals are campaigning that life was better under tsarism than now, that now they are raising the norm and lowering wages, and even then they will be completely kicked out of work. At the Krasny Aksai plant (Rostov‐on‐Don), at a general meeting of the plant, 50 workers defiantly left the meeting when a member of the plantʹs board spoke, and the protest of two workers against the administration was met with thunderous applause. In the Kaluga province. at the plant ʺSelmashʺ No. 1, the initiator of the strike was a worker, previously reduced from railway transport as an antiSoviet element. Among the demands made by the instigators to the administration, there was a demand not to take repressive measures against individuals. Among the Kostroma textiles there is agitation for the fact that ʺthe peasants are offended with large taxesʺ, that ʺbread is bought from the peasants at a low price, and the worker is sold at an expensive price.ʺ Among the workers of the Leningrad Pishchetrest, there is a strong dissatisfaction with the large taxes on peasants (ʺthe tax is three times the income, the peasants have to die of hungerʺ).
Dissatisfaction with cells and factories. The growth of discontent is revealed in the deterioration of the attitude of the workers towards the cells and factories. This is noted at a number of factories in the Yaroslavl province. (textile factory ʺTulmaʺ, Porcelain factory, transport workshops); workers of transport workshops, referring to the communists, say: ʺYou, communists, undertook to rule the country, but apparently you cannot and only strive to take more responsible positions in order to get more money, but make the workers work more and pay them less for it.ʺ In the Kostroma factories, there is a lot of talk against the communists ʺwho like to take well‐paid jobs.ʺ In the Kostroma province. there is a lot of talk about the fact that the factory committees only receive money in vain, that they could do without them, since there is little assistance from them. At Rasskazovskaya factory (Tambov province), the workers of the factory and cell are called ʺunemployedʺ workers are indignant that they receive large wages, when talking to the plant manager, he was told that there are 200 workers and 160 clerks ʺunemployedʺ at the plant and that in such a situation it is impossible to raise productivity. At the factories of the Gusevsky Combine, Vladimir province. workers rarely attend trade union meetings, pointing out that the trade unions, together with the administration, protect the interests of the Supreme Council of the National Economy62, not workers. At the Woodworking Factory in Voronezh, during the re‐election of the factory committee, the workers pointed out that the trade unions did not defend the interests of the workers, did nothing, and only received high rates. In a number of cases, such sentiments are caused by the isolation of the factories from the workers, their rudeness and their use of their position. At one of the factories of the Vladimir province. the factory committee beat a weaver who had an argument with his wife; he treats the workers extremely rudely, threatening to fire them (Abelmanʹs factory). At the Petrishchevskaya convent and in the textiles of the factory committee, he expelled some of the elected delegates and ordered to re‐elect new ones; it was only thanks to the protest of the workers that the elected delegates were left. At the factory ʺKrasny Perekopʺ, Yaroslavl province. a member of the RKK expelled the workers who had come to him, the factory committee refused even to listen to the workers.
The movement of raklists and engravers in the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. It is very interesting to characterize the attitude of workers towards the trade unions, which took place in Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province, the movement of raklists and engravers for separation into an independent trade union. The initiators of the movement among the Raklists were 4 workers (two of them were former Socialist Revolutionaries). A statement was drawn up by the initiators, which was passed from one factory to another and filled in with the signatures of the workers. Among the engravers, the movement arose on the basis of the refusal of additional leave according to the order of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Labor. The provincial labor department refused the workersʹ petition, and only the intervention of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Labor hastened the solution of the issue in favor of the engravers. In connection with this fact, the mood for alliances among engravers and raklists worsened.
Dissatisfaction with large deductions. Significant dissatisfaction has recently been observed with large deductions for various purposes. This is especially discontent in the metal industry, where deductions are made from advances issued against salaries for the past months. At one of the sawmills of the Cherepovets province. deductions reach 8%. In Kostroma, deductions among textile workers reached 7% in October. In the Yaroslavl province. textile workers are outraged by the fact that the deductions for unskilled workers are almost the same in size from the deductions made by the administration and employees. In many other factories, workers claim that they do not know where the contributions are going.
Dissatisfaction with the forced distribution of flags. In industrial areas, discontent over the forced distribution of flags continues, in the past months this was noted in the Donbass, at the Tula factories and other areas. In the Yaroslavl province. The workers of the Oil Refinery expressed their strongest dissatisfaction with the obligatory order to hang the flag on the day of November 7: shopkeepers, taking this opportunity, took three times more for the red cloth, and since the owners of the houses are many workers, in this connection there were conversations: “At least sit on a hummock, and let the red flag fly over you. ʺ In Pereyaslavl u. Vladimirskaya lips. the workers were outraged by the forced distribution of flags (6 rubles per flag) in favor of the childrenʹs commission of the executive committee. The same was noted among the workers of the city of Konotop, Chernigov province, in connection with this, a rumor was spread that
The strong prevalence of drunkenness among the workers should be noted. This is especially true in sawmills. At many Severoles factories, workers have their own moonshine stills in the Cherepovets province. moonshine is brought by peasants from other counties. In Leningrad, at some factories, after the festive spree, several hundred workers do not come to the factories. The negative influence of drunkenness on the political mood of the workers is noted everywhere. At the Yaroslavl textile factories, along with drunkenness, a strong development of debauchery is noted.
PEASANTRY
Tax campaign
The tax campaign still has a number of abnormalities. In some places, the delay in delivery of salary slips dragged on until the end of October, due to which the moments of delivery of salary slips and payment of tax often coincide. But especially the massive discontent was caused by the due date of the tax. The maximum deadlines for the delivery of the tax, published in the central press, intended for the executive committees, were interpreted by the population as grace periods before the expiration of which no one has the right to demand the delivery of the tax. At the same time, considering the prices of grain low and expecting their increase, the peasantry as a whole tried to delay the delivery of the tax until these deadlines. Therefore, the announcement by local, provincial, county and volost authorities of the corresponding deadlines for the delivery of tax, differing by a month or more from the date read in the newspaper, the peasantry regarded it as an arbitrariness of the local authorities and tried to defend their right. The repressions, which became widespread in some areas, eventually created a necessary turning point in the course of the tax campaign, as the population became convinced in practice that the tax would still have to be submitted within the timeframes prescribed by the local authorities. The pace of tax collection has therefore increased significantly. However, even now its supply is far from uniform, and some regions are lagging behind.
The tax is paid mainly through the sale of primarily livestock and even partly of inventory, since the peasantry in every possible way holds back the grain until prices rise, considering the existing prices unacceptable for themselves. At the same time, his indignation is directed to the limits 63, in which it sees an attempt by the cooperatives and the state to undermine the material well‐being of the peasantry at unacceptable prices. The class line in the distribution of tax in the form of benefits to the poor and families of the Red Army is significantly blurred by the lower Soviet apparatus: reports from the localities are full of facts of ignoring benefits to the families of the Red Army, the failure to provide discounts to the poor and, on the contrary, granting such discounts to kulaks and even merchants for bribes and other abuses of the local apparatus. In addition, the tax apparatus is technically far from being at the height of the situation, due to which there are many errors in determining the tax and significant unevenness in its distribution between volosts, villages within the same volost and, finally, between individual farms. This, in turn, causes massive complaints to the volost and county commissions, sometimes reaching many thousands from one parish. Since the filing of complaints neither suspends the collection of the tax in full, nor exempts from the fine for failure to pay on time, this further increases the discontent of the population in the area where such complaints are massive. Only in some relatively few areas (Pskov, some Kirkrai provinces) does the relative lightness of the tax change the picture, and here, as a rule, the mood is much better.
In general, across the Union, tax collection is carried out mainly at the expense of middle and partly poor farms. True, in some regions (such cases were registered in Ukraine and Siberia) the kulaks surrender all 100%, hoping to thus receive political rights. However, this is rather an exception, and, as a rule, the kulaks not only in every possible way delay the delivery of the tax, but also try to organize a united front against it, not only with the middle peasants, but also with the poor, taking advantage of both the abnormalities of the tax campaign and that (in relation to the poor), that benefits to the poor on the ground often disappear completely in practice. Summing up what has been said, it should be noted that although now the delivery of the tax is going much better, since the population, under the influence of repressions, became convinced of the need to pass it,
Tax receipts by district. In the Central District, in most provinces, the first‐term assignments have been completed almost 100%. Even the fulfillment of the task is noted. Throughout the Northwestern Territory, especially in the northern provinces, where the main source of income for a significant part of the peasantry is earnings from logging, tax receipts are generally slow, which is explained in most cases by a multi‐month delay in wages on the part of logging organizations (Severoles, etc.). Low prices for flax (Pskov and Novgorod provinces) also played a role. In the Western Territory, tax receipts for the reporting period have generally increased, however, the entire task has not yet been completed. For Ukraine (despite the continued stream of applications for tax cuts), revenue has improved significantly. Here the poorest peasantry in most cases turns out to be insolvent, while the kulaks, fearing reprisals, pay taxes before the deadline, sometimes even in full. In the Volga region, along with the provinces that have almost completely fulfilled the first‐term assignment (Astrakhan, Saratov), there are provinces where the tax revenue does not exceed 30‐35% of the firstterm assignment (Penza, Samara, Ulyanovsk provinces and
Votskaya oblast). In the South‐East, the collection of agricultural tax was successful (on average, 125% of the first‐term target was fulfilled), and only in the Taganrog, Shakhtinsky and part of the Armavir districts there was a weak income. In Siberia, tax collection in some places is going well. In some districts of the Omsk and Altai provinces, the tasks are to be fulfilled in abundance. There were cases when well‐to‐do peasants paid 100% of the tax at once.
Dissatisfaction with the terms of payment. Dissatisfaction with the timing of payment is noted in all regions of the Union. Below are the most striking facts. In the Donetsk district, for example, 90% of the annual assignment was collected by November 1, and in the Armavir district, the announcement of the tax due date a month earlier from the limit read in the newspapers disrupted the sowing campaign and caused repression (in one village 400 best owners were arrested and in the midst of plowing). In a number of districts, this was complicated by the late delivery of salary sheets, as noted in previous reviews. In Omsk Gubernia, for example, in some places salary slips were handed over on October 21, and the first‐term assignment was completed by November 1.
Abuses of the tax apparatus. In the Center, there are many cases of abuse in taxation and collection of taxes. In Morshansky district Tambov lips. one of the village commissions, which made an inventory of the property of defaulters, exempted kulak farms from the inventory of property for moonshine. In the Northwest Territory in the Komi‐Zyryansk region. some VICs helped fists to hide objects of taxation (instead of 5‐6 cows, the list of objects included 2‐3 cows). In the Western Territory in the Bryansk province. in Zhizdrinsky u. the village councils incorrectly indicated the objects of taxation. In the Gomel province. and county in Svetlovichi parish. the tax was calculated with a surplus of 493 dess., which caused the peasants to refuse to surrender the tax. Across Siberia in Anzhero‐Sudzhensky region of Tomsk province. there were many cases of incorrect accounting of taxable objects (instead of 8 dess. indicated in the settlement list, 11‐12 dess. were listed on the salary sheet).
Failure to provide benefits to the poor. Along with the abuses that mostly affected the poorest strata of the village, there is a significant increase in the denial of benefits to the poor and families of the Red Army. In the Central District, cases of non‐provision of benefits to families of Red Army soldiers were noted in the Voronezh, Vyatka, Kostroma and Tambov provinces. In the Northwest Territory of the Komi‐Zyryansk region. one of the VICs of Ust‐Kulomsky district. granted him the right to reduce the tax to low‐power farms for a total of 850 rubles. applied to merchants and wealthy peasants. In the Western region (in Belarus, in the Bryansk province), in a number of cases, the Red Army families were not provided with benefits. In Ukraine, the non‐use of benefits to the families of the Red Army is a mass phenomenon (especially in the Volyn and Poltava provinces). In Yekaterinoslavskaya province. in one of the districts, there are cases of granting benefits to the kulaks at the expense of the poor. In the Volga region, the failure to provide benefits to the families of the Red Army is observed in the Saratov province. In the Urals, in the Shadrinsky District, in one of the districts, a member of the tax commission told the family of a Red Army soldier who applied for a tax discount on the basis of a certificate from the Red Army: ʺThere are many Red Army families of you, everyone has no one to take off from.ʺ In the Southeast, the same phenomenon took place in the Stavropol province, KarachayCherkess region, in the Don and Kuban districts. In Siberia, over the past month, refusals to the families of the Red Army soldiers in requests to reduce the were observed in the Tomsk province. (Anzhero‐Sudzhensky district).
Repression. Repressions against tax evaders often took an extremely ugly form and in most cases hurt the poor and middle peasants. In the Central region in the Tula province. Laptevskiy RIK issued an order prohibiting non‐payers from using the services of an agricultural station, a veterinary station, a hospital and a forestry. In the Yaroslavl province. the inventory of defaultersʹ property was widely carried out, while the inventory was being made, the peasants ran out into the street shouting: ʺHelp, they are robbing.ʺ In the Tver province. The Sandovsky VIC refused to issue peasants with travel documents until tax was paid. The chairman of the Luvininsky VIC, having received a reprimand for weak tax revenue, formed a detachment of 12 people (chairmen of village councils of the volost and other workers of soviet bodies), which by its actions and rude tax collection caused extreme anger among the peasants (there were cases of breaking barn doors and breaking chests, etc.), but in the Soviets, no work was done for 5 days. In the Oryol province. peasants complain that ʺthey even describe chests with rags and that it is worse now than under the old regime.ʺ In Ukraine, the use of repression had an extremely difficult impact on lowpower farms, often completely ruining them. In the Poltava province. mainly the families of the Red Army were subjected to tax repression. Similar phenomena were also noted in Volyn province, and in this province there were cases when the last horse and agricultural equipment were taken from the poor. In the Volga region in the Ulyanovsk province. according to Ardatovsky u. for non‐payment of tax, fines of up to 10 rubles are imposed. (the same for the kulaks and the poor) or part of the property is confiscated; on this basis, rumors were noted about the need for a revolt and cases were recorded when peasants threatened to beat up the most energetic collectors; the same dissatisfaction exists in other provinces of the Volga region. In the South‐East, in the Armavir district, non‐payers recognized as malicious are sentenced to imprisonment from 1 to 6 years by visiting court sessions.
The nature of the repressions sometimes depends on the arbitrariness of the local authorities (in this respect, the facts on the
Tula and Tver provinces cited above are very characteristic).
Claims for discounts and tax waivers. In the Central District of Tambov, Tula, Oryol, Voronezh and Ivanovo‐Voznesensk provinces, petitions for tax reductions continue to be received, sometimes from entire villages. Refusals to accept salary slips and pay tax took place in the Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Orel provinces. In the first of them, the Tolstoyans sect refused to pay taxes 64 on the grounds that the tax allegedly goes only for military needs. In the Oryol province. the tax was not paid by many poor households. In the Northwest Territory, complaints about high tax rates are common. In one of the volosts of the Cherepovets lips. 300 applications of peasants were submitted with a request for a tax discount. In the Western Territory along the Zhizdrinsky district. Bryansk province. peasants send walkers to the center to get tax cuts. In Bezhitsky u. In the same province, up to 23,000 complaints were filed with 12 VICs, and up to 3,500 complaints were filed with the UFO on improper taxation. Refusals to receive registration sheets are noted in 5 volosts of the Gomel district. and one parish of Starodubsky u. Gomel province. In Belarus, a case of refusal to fulfill the tax on the part of the village council was registered. In Pudozhsky u. Bryansk province. the poor and middle peasants refuse to fulfill the tax. In Ukraine, applications for tax cuts continue. In one of the regions of Donetsk province. requests for reduction were received from 50% of taxpayers. According to Starobelsky u. the same province received up to 5,000 petitions (in general, due to pressure from the financial apparatus for collecting taxes, the number of petitions filed has decreased compared to the previous month). In the Volga region, in the Votsk region, Samara and Ulyanovsk provinces, collective petitions of peasants for a tax reduction are noted. Cases of refusal to pay tax took place in Serdobsky district. Saratov province. There was a case when the peasants, refusing to pay the tax, threatened to set fire to the house of the pre‐village council. In the same district, there was a collective refusal to pay tax on the part of two villages under the influence of the Tolstoyan sect; the peasants of these villages responded to the inventory of property and livestock with an attempt to set fire to the hut, in which the VIC members spent the night. In the Urals, in the Troitsk District, as of November 1, 3524 complaints were filed for improper taxation, and 50% of them were recognized as subject to satisfaction. In Siberia, in the Altai province. in some areas, most of the poor flatly refuse to pay tax. On the part of the kulaks, cases of refusal to pay tax are rare. In the Omsk province. refusals of the poor to pay tax and receive salary slips were observed in the Tauride region. A small number of applications for tax cuts were noted in Irkutsk province. refusals of the poor to pay tax and receive salary slips were observed in the Tauride region. A small number of applications for tax cuts were noted in Irkutsk province.
Grain campaign and tax. The progress of grain procurements and the state of the agricultural commodity market continued to influence tax receipts. Low grain prices continued to displease peasants. In the Central region the price of rye was set at 50‐60 kopecks. In the Volga region, state producers actually buy bread from 30 to 35 kopecks. per pood (Votskaya obl.). In the Ukraine, in the Yekaterinoslav province. before the introduction of the limits, rye was sold at 80‐90 kopecks. pood, with the introduction of the latter [the price decreased] to 50‐40 kopecks, wheat decreased from 1 rub. 50 kopecks up to 70‐80 kopecks. for a pood. In the Ural region. the price of bread is 60‐70 kopecks. pood. In Siberia, Irkutsk province. state producers buy wheat at 65 kopecks. In the Tomsk province. in the Mariinsky district the price of a pood of rye fell to 22‐23 kopecks.
The reduction in the export of grain to the market in connection with low prices for bread has recently led to a slight increase in prices in almost all regions.
Mass marketing of livestock. Holding back the release of grain on the market in the hope of higher prices, the peasantry is throwing away livestock in droves, the price of which continues to show a downward trend.
In the Central Region, livestock prices are so low in places that the peasants are forced to take cattle home from the market, for it is more profitable to slaughter them than to sell them for a pittance. The price for cows does not exceed 20‐30 rubles, and in some places it reaches 10‐12 rubles. (Tula, Tambov provinces), in the Tambov province. a pound of meat costs 2‐3 kopecks, in Vyatka, Yaroslavl, Kursk and Voronezh provinces ‐ 4 kopecks. In Kursk province. 50% of cattle and 70% of pigs are thrown onto the market. In the Kaluga province. on the Shchelkanovsky market, out of 1000 head of cattle brought to the market, 50 were sold. In the North‐West region, the sale of cattle is poor and prices for it are low. In the Western Territory in the Gomel province. prices for cows are on average from 15 rubles, and in Starodubsky district. they go up to 10 rubles, the price of horses from 20 rubles. In the Volga region, complaints about low prices for livestock are noted in almost all provinces (in Astrakhan, In Saratov and Ulyanovsk provinces, a cow is valued at 17‐20 rubles, a horse at 45‐50 rubles). In Siberia, livestock prices have also dropped.
Everywhere peasant discontent is caused by the lack of purchase of livestock by state bodies, thanks to which the market is 75% in the hands of private traders, who drive down prices even more. Cooperatives and state bodies buy only raw hides (Oryol Gubernia).
Peasantsʹ attitude to tax. The attitude of peasants towards tax in general continues to be unfavorable. In the Central Region, the kulaks, themselves evading the payment of taxes, are conducting anti‐tax agitation, which has some success among the entire peasant mass. The middle and poor peasants of the village, due to their really difficult and sometimes hopeless situation, in complaints, speeches at conferences and refusal to pay tax, express their dissatisfaction with the tax and sometimes with the Soviet power. In the Tambov province. at a non‐party conference, one peasant said about the tax: ʺYou are forcing us to again take the pitchfork into our own hands and defend our cause.ʺ At other conferences, there were massive complaints from the middle and poor about the severity of the tax. In the Tula province. the poor believe that the Soviet government ʺonly in words promises protection to the poor.ʺ
Cases of anti‐tax campaigning on the part of Soviet workers were noted. In the Vladimir province. for non‐payment of tax campaigning of the pre‐village council. In the Vyatka lips. the UFO inspector traveled to the districts and convinced the peasants that they were taxed excessively. In the North‐West region the anti‐tax agitation of the kulaks is carried out on the basis of taxing cattle. The poor, who do not have money and cannot sell their livestock due to lack of marketing, also express dissatisfaction. In the Western Territory, dissatisfaction with the tax spreads across wide circles of the peasantry. Complaints about the severity of the tax from the middle peasants and the poor were noted in most volosts of the Gomel district. The kulaks in the Western Region, agitating against the tax, declare that the Soviet government will continue to raise the tax, since it does not take into account the peasantry. In Ukraine, the kulaks in most cases are the initiators of collective statements about the severity of the tax and petitions for a reduction. The poor in Ukraine are in most cases insolvent due to the severity of the tax, which is reflected in their attitude towards the tax campaign. In the Volga region, there is a tendency on the part of the poor peasants of the village to pay tax more quickly. The kulaks and some of the middle peasants are trying to delay the tax payment until the last moment. In the Urals, in the Nizhne‐Tagil district, at a meeting on the tax, the peasant mass, excited by the incitement of the kulaks, almost beat up a representative of the Soviet power. In general, in the Urals, the kulaks are very energetically agitating against the tax. In the South‐East, the reason for anti‐tax agitation on the part of well‐to‐do owners and anti‐Soviet elements is the reduction in the payment terms compared to the previous terms published in the central press. In Siberia, agitation against the tax by the kulaks has taken on particularly harsh forms and often turns into anti‐Soviet agitation and is accompanied by direct threats against the government and the communists. In the Altai lips. the kulaks openly call for the killing of communists. In another area of the same province, the kulaks urged the peasants to speak out against the tax, saying: ʺThe peasants are fools, they would have gathered and said that we will not carry the tax.ʺ In the Novonikolaevskaya province. at a meeting on tax in one village, the kulaks threatened the poor and the communists, saying: ʺAll the same, you communists donʹt have much more to live.ʺ In the Irkutsk province. in connection with the tax, there are threats from the kulaks to outweigh all the communists. A characteristic phenomenon for Siberia should be considered a negative attitude towards tax on the part of all strata of the village. In the Altai lips. the poor say: ʺThe prices for bread are low, but they demand the tax on time, they laugh at the peasants.ʺ The refusal of the poor to pay tax in a number of Siberian provinces is noted above.
Stratification of the village
Economic stratification. The ratio of the groups of the peasantry is characterized by a number of data indicating the further development of the process of economic stratification. Against the background of growing agriculture, an especially economic strengthening of the kulaks is revealed. Characteristic data on Siberia, made calculations of the amount of bread sold by different groups of the peasantry gave the following figures: poor farms buy up to 23 poods a year. grain for the farm, the middle peasant sells 66 poods, and the kulak 274 poods. In the Ukraine, a bad harvest strengthened the economic might of the kulaks and severely undermined the farms of the underpowered peasantry. The grain reserves of 50‐60% of the peasants of the Uman district (Kiev province) will only last until February ‐ March 1925. The course of the tax campaign is accompanied by a deepening of this process. A number of reports speak of the buying up of grain by the kulaks, due to low prices for it, with the aim of later selling it at inflated prices (the Volga region and the South‐East). The kulaks, on the other hand, are buying up part of the inventory sold to the poorest peasantry to pay tax.
The political stratification of the village. FROM the intensification of the process of economic stratification in the villages intensifies both the class struggle in the countryside and the differentiation of the various strata of the peasantry. In the Central Region, the poor peasants strive to prevent the spread of the influence of the kulaks, and anti‐kulak sentiments are growing: in the Kostroma lips. from a number of volosts report that ʺthe poor are trying to keep their kulaks out of action.ʺ In the Voronezh province. in Bogucharsky u. among the poor, there is talk that ʺwe must beat the kulaks.ʺ In the Volga region in the Tsaritsyn province. poor harvest sharply separated the wealthy peasants from the poor, and the latter is hostile to the kulaks. Sharp hostility between the kulaks and the poor is noted in Ukraine, especially in the elections to the Soviets. In Siberia, the kulaks, in their hatred and contempt for ʺhungerʺ and
ʺidlersʺ, identify the poor with the communists. The kulak terror, along with the communists, is directed against the poor. This circumstance noticeably arouses the desire of the poor peasants to rally around the communists to repulse the kulaks where the communists really pursue a class line. The middle peasants, especially in Siberia, are largely on the side of the kulaks. In a number of places where the kulaks have taken deep roots, they manage to lead the poor.
Re‐election of the Soviets
In the course of the campaign for the re‐election of the Soviets, the activity of the kulaks, striving to seize the lower Soviet apparatus and seeking electoral rights, is revealed everywhere; at the same time, there is a passivity and indifference towards the elections of the middle peasants and the poor in some regions of the Republic.
The activity of the kulaks. The kulaks reacted very actively to the reelections. In the Central region in the Moscow province. Attempts by kulaks to disrupt re‐election meetings were noted. In Ivanovskaya Vol. In the same province, preparatory work for the election of kulaks was noted under the leadership of a former official, 50% of kulaks passed to the district council. In Ryazan lips. in some places the kulaksʹ agitation was successful, and an antiSoviet element was elected to the Soviets. In the Kostroma province. in Bychikhinsky par. up to 20% of kulaks went to the village councils. In the Yaroslavl province. the middle peasants defended the candidacies of the kulaks, saying: ʺThe kulaks know all the rules better and will be able to justify their trust more quickly than the downtrodden poor.ʺ In Bukharinskaya Vol. In the same province, one of the kulaks said: ʺWe do not need party communists in the district councils, the RCP cells not only do not eradicate, but encourage abnormalities in the work of local authorities.ʺ In Kursk province. strong agitation of the kulaks was noted, thanks to which kulaks entered the Soviets in many villages, and the White Guards and guards took part in the elections. In the Kursk, Oryol and Kaluga provinces, fists filed applications for their restoration in voting rights.
In the Northwest Territory, the struggle for the possession of the Soviets was waged by the kulaks rather actively. The organization of the kulaks was noted in Karelia. In Ukhta district. a group of kulaks, deprived of voting rights, nevertheless nominated their candidates at an elective meeting and, despite the opposition of the party and Komsomol cells, ran their candidates. In the Pskov province. in some volosts, the kulaks campaigned against the election of communists to the village councils.
In the Western Territory, the performance of the kulaks during the re‐elections is noted in the Bryansk and Gomel provinces, in the latter the desire of the kulaks to get their candidates to the Soviets at all costs is met with opposition from the poor peasants, united around the committees of mutual assistance. There was a struggle for places in village councils and VICs because of salaries. In Bezhetskiy u. there were cases of the kulaks getting drunk on the population in order to promote their henchmen to the Soviets and agitation against the communists. In the Bryansk province. an antiSoviet element remained in many village councils.
In Ukraine, in all the provinces, a very lively struggle was waged in the elections between the kulaks and the non‐swindlers, and the former, in most cases, tried to bring their protégés from among the middle peasants and non‐swindlers to the village councils. In the Sumy district of Kharkov province. the kulaks put up their lists, and the kulaks were supported by the well‐to‐do part of the middle peasants. Non‐self‐employed in one of the districts, in order to prepare for victory in the elections, were forced to arrange preliminary meetings at night. The kulaks obtained voting rights through bribery. In one of the villages, the kulaks held an illegal meeting to designate their candidates. The rural labor intelligentsia in the elections, like the middle peasants, in this province (as well as in most of the provinces of Ukraine) took an active part in the elections, and some of them supported the kulaks and were nominated by their kulaks.
In the Volga region, the kulaks showed particular activity during the elections in the Samara, Saratov, Ulyanovsk and Astrakhan provinces. In the Saratov province. on Novo‐Uzensky district in a number of volosts, kulak groups were created, disrupting election meetings with exclamations: ʺDown with the communists, they do not want to rule us, now we will be governed ourselves.ʺ In the Ulyanovsk province. in one of the villages a handful of kulaks did not allow elections to be held, and the latter were carried out only after the arrest of 20 people. Especially strong protests were caused by the compilation of firm lists by election commissions. In the Nemrespublika and the Astrakhan province. the compilation of independent lists of candidates for the Soviets was noted.
In the South‐East, in the Armavir district, local intellectuals, white bandits, White Guards and Cossacks campaigned against the lists of election commissions. In the Maikop district, in some villages, kulaks fell into the village councils, and after the protest of these elections, the pre‐village councils were appointed administratively.
In the Urals, the kulaks resisted the lists of electoral commissions and tried to send “their own” to the Soviets; in some cases, the campaign against the nominated candidates turned into antiSoviet. In the Nizhne‐Tagil district, the kulaks at one of the elective meetings shouted: ʺNo need for communists in the Soviets.ʺ In the Perm Okrug, from the side of the kulak, a former White Guard, at an elective meeting, agitation was conducted against the Communists and Red Army men: ʺThe Communists are thieves, and the Red Army men have not yet learned to sow.ʺ In some districts, traders and even in one case a former sergeant took part in the elections. In the Ishim district, the kulaks put up their own list, which included speculators and traders.
In Siberia, in all the provinces, vigorous and sometimes organized pressure from the kulaks on the middle and poor strata of the population is noted in order to run for their candidacies. The kulaks everywhere seek to discredit the local communists and the lower Soviet apparatus. In the Novonikolaevskaya province. in with. Stone kulaks put up their list, led by local SocialistRevolutionaries. In the village. Kamenushka kulaks themselves appointed an elective meeting, at which they elected a ʺprovisional councilʺ and replaced the pre‐village council and secretary without the knowledge of the VIC. In a number of cases, the kulaks tried to draw communists into their election groups. In with. Doroninoʹs elected kulak village council refused to work due to the appointment of a communist chairman by the district executive committee, calling him a counter‐revolutionary. In the Tomsk province. at one of the electoral meetings, when the list of the electoral commission was read out, the kulaks said, that they would not obey such a Council and indicated the need to elect ʺtheir own Council.ʺ There was a case when the list put forward by fists was passed unanimously.
In the Altai lips. in a number of villages of Barnaul u., the kulaks organized preliminary illegal meetings at which they nominated their candidates. In some cases, bribery by fists of the poor was noted in order to defeat the candidacy of the election commission. In some cases, the poor supported kulak candidacies. The kulaks demanded electoral rights: ʺGive us a constitution ‐ on what grounds you deprive them of the right to vote ‐ we do not recognize the commission,ʺ they threatened to prevent the communists from joining the Soviets, demanding re‐elections ʺat the will of the people.ʺ In one case, they noted the demand of the kulaks that ʺthe salary of a Soviet worker should be appointed by the people themselves.ʺ
In general, in Siberia, we see a fierce struggle of the kulaks for the possession of the Soviets, which far from everywhere meets with active opposition from the communists and the poor. At the same time, the kulaks act on behalf of the entire peasantry as a defender of the interests of the peasantry against the communists and Soviet power.
Voter passivity. Along with the activity of the kulaks, the passivity of other strata of the countryside is manifested.
In the Central region, characteristic figures are available for the Nizhny Novgorod province. In Gorodetsky u. 11% of voters participated in the elections, in Krasno‐Bakovsky district. ‐ no more than 9%, in the Sormovsky region ‐ 6.5% of voters. In many cases, the passivity of voters was caused by the tactless behavior of the electoral commissions, who insisted on holding the planned list, as well as by the shortcomings of the previous grassroots coadministration.
In the South‐East in the Donskoy district in the station. StaroMinskaya out of 35,000 inhabitants was attended by 1,000 people, in Yeisk out of 20,000 there were 3,000 voters. In the district, the turnout did not exceed 8% of voters on average. In stts. NizhneGnilovskaya out of 3000 voters, 250 people were present at the meeting. Voter passivity is also noted in the Volga region.
Activity of the rural intelligentsia. It is interesting to note that the rural intelligentsia is also taking part in the current re‐elections. In the Tsentralny district, she is often nominated by election commissions in the lists of candidates. The intelligentsia here supports the communists.
In Ukraine, the rural intelligentsia also took an active part in the elections, and some of them supported the kulaks. In both regions, many communists were elected to the village councils. In the SouthEast, the rural intelligentsia in some places campaigned against the lists of candidates for the provincial election commissions.
Terror of the kulaks
The growth in the activity of the kulaks over the past period was manifested especially clearly in the increase in the number of its terror against the lower Soviet apparatus, the communists and the poor. At the same time, terror continues to spread strongly in the Central and other regions, which was not noted in summer and early autumn. During the reporting period, a number of cases of terror against the grassroots Soviet apparatus, communists, and village correspondents were recorded in the Central Region. In Ryazan lips. in Sasovskiy u. a forester (member of the RCP) was killed in the line of duty. In the Oryol province. there were two political assassinations in the village: the chairman of the mutual assistance committee and a communist. In the Vyatka lips. an attempt on the life of Predvik was noted, and a selkor was brutally beaten there. In the Voronezh province. the villagekor teacher was killed. In the Kursk and Yaroslavl provinces, there were cases of beating of village correspondents. Across Ukraine in the Kiev province a communist pre‐village council was killed, a village correspondent was beaten in Poltava, cases of threats to village correspondents were recorded (Poltava, Yekaterinoslav provinces). In the North‐West Territory in the Leningrad province. an izbach‐selkor was killed, a number of cases of attempts on the life of selkors (in 7 volosts) were also disclosed and a selkor was beaten. In the Komi‐Zyryansk region. the secretary of the Vollechik of the RCP was wounded. In the Western Territory in Belarus, the secretary of the RLKSM cell was mortally wounded, in the Vitebsk district and the Gomel province the murders of the poor pre‐village councils were noted. In Belarus in the Smolensk province. the village correspondents were beaten. A land surveyor was killed by fists in the Mogilev district. In the Mozyr district, a teacher was killed, who fought against the kulaks that had settled in the Council. In the Volga region in the Ulyanovsk province. Komsomolets‐Selkor was killed, and the inspirers were the chairman and secretary of the village council. In the Penza lips. killed a selkor in Tsaritsyn province. and Chuvoblast attempts on the life of selkors were noted. A selkor was beaten in the SouthEast in the Kuban District. In Siberia, unceasing kulak terror is noted on a large scale. In Novo Nikolaevskaya lips. in the village A poor man was killed by his fists in Nizhnyaya Yeltsovka. A poor villagekor was killed in Yarkakh; an employee on leave was wounded by fists from a shotgun in the village. In with. To Sidorka, addressed to a member of the RCP (b), an anonymous note with the following content was planted in the hut‐reading room: ʺIf you want to be in the world, donʹt go to the Council, if you climb, then say goodbye to the white lightʺ, signed ʺCombat organization.ʺ In the village. Berezovsky was beaten by a drunken kulak youth. In with. Uryvaev, the chairman of the village council and one poor man, who vigorously revealed the hidden objects of taxation among the kulaks, were threatened with death by the kulaks. In with Mustaevo is beaten by a communist after he was removed from the assembly with his fists, as not having the right to elect to a selfhelp committee. In Kainsky u. fist beat the poor man in the Tomsk lips. the prisoners in Shcheglovskaya prison hired kulaks for 200 rubles. recidivists‐criminals to commit an attempt on the authorized village council (member of the RCP) for his activity in conducting a tax campaign and in the fight against moonshine, the criminals confessed to their entire victim. In the Leninsky district of participation in revealing hidden bread from the kulaks. In Shcheglovsky u. in the Kemerovo region of Tomsk province. there were murders of policemen. In the Altai lips, in Barnaul district a non‐party peasant who sympathized with the Soviet regime was killed by fists.
THE STATE OF PARTS OF THE RKKA (Based on materials for the month of December 1924)
Economic situation
During the transition to a new supply system (regimental supply), the units had to face such, albeit an old, but now especially vividly raised and now serious issue ‐ the selection of personnel for household equipment. The old staff of hozaparatov, as noted in previous materials, bureaucratic and often deliberately criminally related to the case, under the new system revealed a lack of practical skills. The party staff involved in the economic apparatus is even less prepared for economic work and is trying to avoid responsible economic posts. As a result, we, for example, see only 3 members of the RCP in the ZVO for 65 district managers. Thus, the hozaparat is difficult to update and fill by specialists who are not always conscientious about their work.
This is confirmed by the practice of self‐procurement. So, in the 2nd Territorial Division of the Western Military District, an agreement was concluded for the supply of vegetables, which will cost more for parts than in the market due to the delivery distance.
In the 10th Cavalry Division of the Moscow Military District, the bacon purchased from a private trader turned out to be of poor quality. Every week the SKVO receives information about the poor quality of meat and, for example, in the 13th division there was a case of intestines with feces in cooked food. The 27th division of the Western Military District, which first concluded an agreement with the Smolensk slaughterhouse, which supplies good quality meat, was forced to renegotiate this agreement with the front‐line commission for aid to war invalids under pressure from the districtʹs suppliers. This commission, at prices higher than the market ones, delivered lean, sinewy with bruising meat, which the Red Army men refused to consume.
There are many examples of this nature. In addition, a mass of shortages in food is recorded, albeit small ones (poor quality of flour, cereals, fats, sugar, etc., and unsatisfactory food preparation), but taken in aggregate, creating an unsatisfactory nutrition. Thus, the receipt of flour infected with weevils and shashel (takes place in SKVO, LVO, PrivO), sifting of which does not give results and causes excessive consumption of flour for dust, bran, etc. where such, like flour, is infested with pests. In the 95th division of the
UVO, sugar was obtained with an admixture of powder. Substandard fodder was received in units in the LVO, UVO and PrivO.
In the material supply, it is noted that the summer uniforms for the most part did not withstand the established period of wearing. With a delay in receiving winter uniforms, some units were undressed (ZVO, SVO, MVO and UVO). The weakest side of material goods is the supply of bedding, an acute shortage of which is a ubiquitous phenomenon (ZVO, UVO, MVO, LVO, TF, PrivO, SVO). In the area of monetary allowances, there is a lag (in the reporting period due to the onset of a new operating year and the incompleteness of the old reporting) in the receipt of salaries in parts of the HEI, SKVO, ZVO, SVO, TF, as well as other types of amusement [such], the debt of which is in the districts of ZVO, LVO and SKVO.
Political condition
The political condition of the latter is also closely related to the above negative phenomena of the material situation of the units. In addition, the main points that characterize the mood of the Red Army masses are: tax attitudes and the severity of the familyʹs material and living conditions (information from the countryside), the opposition of the city to the village (the advantages of workers over the peasants), the severity of service in the unit itself (overloading with guards, different outfits, etc. work in connection with the shortage, and in terrunits ‐ due to the limited staffing of the Red Army personnel). It is on these factors that the active activity of the kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements is based. As a result, there is a desire in the units to free themselves from military service, which finds expression in mass simulation, self‐harm and even suicide.
Letters to relatives about sending fictitious documents 235
Dismissal applications submitted 280
Refusal to execute orders 130
Simulations 150
Hurt members 24
Suicide 34
There are also cases of refusal to execute orders in whole parts. So, the 2nd battery of the Ochakovsky fortified area of the UVO completely refused to carry out the order of the command to enter classes, citing the rudeness of the command staff.
Among other anti‐moral phenomena in the Red Army mass in this reporting period, an increase in anti‐Semitism and ethnic hatred is noted. Thus, in the UVO, at the location of the 15th division, leaflets were found with the slogans “Kill the Jews”, “Kill the parasites of the world”, and on the back “Makhno”. Cases of anti‐Semitic agitation are observed in the 1st Cavalry Division, 9 Bepo of the UVO, in the North Caucasus Military District, the Western Military District, etc. In the 4th cavalry brigade, there is ethnic strife between the Cossacks and Russian peasants, which is expressed in open hostile relations.
Unsatisfactory financial situation, overload due to incompleteness, the ongoing reorganization (in connection with which many of the members of the composer are demoted in positions, causes discontent among the latter, especially the junior composer).
All these conditions create nervousness in the command personnel, which increases rudeness and tactlessness with the Red Army soldiers. Thus, during the reporting period, 382 cases of rudeness and 7 cases of assault were recorded. Remained in the environment of the command staff and are noted in the reporting period: drunkenness (926 cases), groveling (62 cases).
Combat state
The reporting period with regard to drill, special, political and combat training in general is characterized almost everywhere by the suspension of such for the reasons: a) in the field units ‐ reorganization, shortage of the Red Army and command personnel, general overload of guard service and work on the restoration and equipment of winter apartments, and b) c Territories ‐ the limited staff of the cadre, which is so overloaded with orders and household jobs that it has absolutely no time to carry out classes.
Due to the lack of manpower in the units, in this reporting period, there is an unsatisfactory care for weapons (especially in the infantry) and for the consortium. Malfunction of weapons (wear, looseness, shells in the channels and swelling of the latter, rust, etc.), as noted earlier, takes place in many field and territorial units. The convoy in all parts requires major repairs, and in some the latter is so worn out that it is not able to service a part (30 and 96 Territorial Divisions).
ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES AND GROUPS
Anarchists
There is a revival among the anarchists. In the Leningrad province. the activity of the anarchist underground among students and workers is increasing. The underground organization is spreading its influence on other provinces. Preparations are underway for the convocation of the congress. Strengthening of anarchist activity was also noted in Moscow. The Black Cross strengthens assistance to prisoners and exiles. In the Ulyanovsk province. the anarchists issued a leaflet ʺCry to the workers of Ulyanovskʺ signed by H PAT with a call to fight the Soviet regime. Anarchist literature is distributed in the Perm district. Underground leaflets were found in the Mozyr District (Belarus). In the Smolensk province. the existing initiative bureau for convening a congress of the Western region. at present it has disintegrated due to the departure of the main leaders. In the Saratov province. made ex, taken 10,000 rubles. state money. In some other provinces, anarchists are also preparing exes, in some provinces, anarchists are busy with the question of organizing agricultural cartels. In the Urals (Ishim and Shadrinsky districts) they are conducting anti‐tax campaigning. The arrests in the Gomel and Bryansk provinces showed that there are significant organizations there, conducting underground work. In the Far East, in the Trans‐Baikal province. there is a desire to contact the partisans, in Amurskaya ‐ part of the anarchists intended to create a terrorist detachment, in Primorskaya lips. anarchists are smuggling. Mensheviks
As before, in the organizations of the RSDLP (m), both in the center and in the field, no open activities have been shown. Searches carried out in Moscow seized five active Mensheviks. In the localities, letters from the former Mensheviks continue to go to press about the withdrawal from the RSDLP, denouncing it in counterrevolutionary activities. This movement is especially vivid in the Moscow province. (industrial areas of Orekhovo‐Zuevo,
Yegoryevsk, Kolomna, Bronnitsy, etc.), in these areas, up to 90% of the former Menshevik workers announced a break with the RSDLP (M).
Right SRs
During the period under review, a number of arrests of the Right Social Revolutionaries were made. In Moscow, a number of active Social Revolutionaries were seized (a chapirograph was seized from one of them). A member of the Rostov‐on‐Don Committee of Right SRs and a member of the Krasnodar Committee were arrested in Rostov‐on‐Don; a former member of the Samara Constituent Assembly, Podolsky, who escaped from exile; a former member of the State Duma from Vyatka lips. Kropotov, who escaped from the convoy. In Barnaul, a political group was arrested, led by the kulaks and some right‐wing Socialist‐Revolutionaries and conducting agitation in the countryside. A small Socialist‐Revolutionary group was liquidated in the Murmansk province.
In the provinces, there has been an increase in the number of publications by members of the right‐wing Socialist Revolutionaries in the newspaper about their withdrawal from the party. This exerts strong moral pressure on the remaining members of the Right Socialist Revolutionaries, paralyzing the underground activities of the remaining insignificant groups. Some of them completely cease their activities. The ongoing disintegration among the SocialistRevolutionaries (in 1924, up to 1,500 statements about a break with the party were printed in the USSR) shows a certain departure from the Right Socialist‐Revolutionaries of the kulaks and rural intelligentsia, who, if they fight the Soviet regime, at least not with the outdated Socialist‐Revolutionary program in hands. The tendencies of the peasantry to create peasant unions that took place in the middle of this year were, along with purely economic reasons (ʺscissorsʺ, high taxes), partly and a consequence of the certain influence of the activities of the Socialist‐Revolutionary intelligentsia (the demands put forward at the peasant non‐party conferences had much in common with the Socialist‐Revolutionary program). Recently, however, fewer of these protests have been reported in the countryside.
Abroad. The activities of the Right Socialist Revolutionaries abroad continue to decline completely. The party has lost all ideological base. Many socialist‐revolutionary emigres are becoming more and more convinced that with the strengthening of the economic position of the USSR, the last hope for the restoration of the peasantry against Soviet power is lost.
At present, the Socialist‐Revolutionary organization ʺZemgorʺ seeks to develop material assistance to young party members, especially students, in order to maintain a favorable mood before the general party congress, the latter dream of convening in Russia. There are attempts to create the appearance of strengthening and expanding the party, for which a representative was sent to Yugoslavia. On the other hand, “letters from Russia” are published in all languages about the Solovetsky shootings and the struggle of the SocialistRevolutionaries against Soviet power. All this is done in order to show that there is a Socialist‐Revolutionary party in Russia, which is actively fighting against co‐government.
The propaganda activities of the AKP Foreign Delegation are carried out in the newspaper Dni, which is officially non‐partisan. The management of the newspaper belongs to two editions ‐ the official and the conspiratorial. The conspiratorial editorial board includes: Kerensky, Zenzinov, Viktor Chernov. The editorial board is made up on a parity basis from representatives of the right and left (Parisian and Prague) groups of the ZD AKP. The newspaper is guided by the directive of the Central Committee of the AKP and is conducting the most frantic agitation against the Bolsheviks under the label of non‐partisanship.
Left SRs and Maximalists
The union of the Left Socialist‐Revolutionaries and the SocialistRevolutionaries‐maximalists shows almost no signs of life. The association club is inactive, two‐week political outlooks have been canceled, the Central Bankʹs bulletin has ceased to exist due to lack of funds, ties with provincial organizations and the Foreign Delegation have been severed. The last meetings of the Central Bank decided to create an information bureau to establish broken ties and for mutual information. The bureau will be semi‐legal in nature, but depending on the further attitude towards the merger on the part of the GPU, it will be in an illegal position.
In the underground, there is a revival in student organizations. It is planned to resume the Revolutionary Avangard magazine. It is also planned to convene a congress of local groups and organizations of the Left Social Revolutionary Party of the underground, for which preparatory work is being carried out on mutual information and communication. In the Nizhny Novgorod, Oryol, Kursk, Kazan groups, work has been suspended in connection with the arrest of Nestroyev.
ZD association. The foreign delegation of the Party of Left SocialistRevolutionaries and Socialist‐Revolutionary Maximalists sent a member of Steinberg to Denmark in order to establish close ties with the group of Heglund and Tranmel and attract them to participate in the congress of the 2nd ‐ 1/2 International.
[Monarchists]
Monarchists in the USSR. Counterrevolutionary groups were identified on the territory of Ukraine (see review for October), had close ties with the transcordon monarchists, whose agents they were organized; the work of these groups was directed mainly towards the countryside, where the former white officers and kulaks were employed. There is a similar work of monarchists in the SouthEast. Among the monarchist‐minded elements in the USSR, only anti‐Soviet talk and the sowing of provocative rumors are noted. Among the Kursk monarchists, there is talk about the need to start terrorist acts in order to intimidate the representatives of the Soviet government and force them to make concessions by crashing trains and raising the dissatisfied. In the Gomel province. As a member of the Socialist‐Revolutionary Party, rumors spread that the Red Army had rebelled in Moscow.
Monarchist tactics. The tactics of foreign monarchists with regard to work on the territory of the USSR is reduced to creating their own cells and rousing the masses, primarily the peasantry, against the Soviet regime. The group leading the work in the South‐East considers fascism to be the only and main form of anti‐Soviet struggle; the struggle against Soviet power must also be carried out ideologically. The slogan of ʺone indivisible Russiaʺ is emphasized (moreover, in words, it is even possible to help the Red Army from the side of the Nazis in the event of an attempt, for example, by England to tear the Caucasus away from Soviet Russia). A group of nikolayevets outlines the organization in each province and even in the district of cells of 3‐5 people, connected with each other, as well as with the monarchists in Paris. The cells must be prepared to commit terrorist acts, which they will carry out on this signal. Strengthening of agitation by sending letters, leaflets, appeals, cartoons, etc. is stated. a wide variety of names arriving in abundance from Estonia, Bulgaria, Canada, Yugoslavia and other countries. All this was sent to various addresses in Moscow, Saratov, Kursk, Tula provinces, Ural region, etc. Characteristic is the letter from Estonia, which contained the appeal ʺThe Brotherhood of Russian Truthʺ, with the ʺ10 Commandments of the Russianʺ; The 7th commandment reads: ʺIf a task is entrusted or ordered by the commissarʹs authority and if you cannot fail to fulfill it, then execute it so that, without harming the people, confuse or nullify the commissarʹs plans.ʺ In November, about 150 appeals and 3000 monarchist and Socialist‐Revolutionary newspapers were detained through the Moscow Post Office. About 50 appeals were detained through the Leningrad Post Office, and 80 from the Kharkov Post Office.
[CLERGY]
Orthodox Church
Tikhonites. The struggle between the Tikhonites and the Renovationists is being waged with the same intensity as in previous months. The Tikhonovites preach denunciatory sermons, organize Tikhonov groups to seize renovationist churches. Another way of fighting the Renovationists is to establish the churchadministrative apparatus of the Tikhonites, to which they paid increased attention. Bishops who were the most active and firm in their convictions were sent to the vacant cathedra. Thus, one of the former organizers of the ʺHoly Crossʺ squadron under Kolchak was appointed bishop of the Urals. Diocesan administrations were created in the localities, sometimes legal (in some places no attention was paid to their legalization). The most active were the following illegal associations: Pskov Church Council, Ural Diocesan Council, Yaroslavl Council,
The Tikhonites also plan to hold a number of congresses. They managed to hold one: in the Aleksandrovsky district of Kiev province, where 10 selected priests gathered. No permission was requested for the congress; in general, the Tikhonovites have recently taken very little into account in their activities with the administrative‐state regulations and rules concerning the church, which should be explained by the too weak punishments imposed for these violations, as well as the failure to bring the perpetrators to justice at all.
Monks, especially the wandering monks, who led the unification of the laity under the slogan of fighting atheism and atheists, continue to render great help to the Tikhonites. They succeeded in organizing a number of brotherhoods and other associations of laity (Rzhev cooperation and circles of ʺzealots of church singingʺ in Moscow, Cyril and Methodius brotherhood in Kiev, etc.). In addition, associations of lay people were noted in Leningrad, the Urals and Siberia.
During the reporting period, the Tikhonites distributed appeals: Bishop Nightingale (in Cherepovets Gubernia, printed on a glass print), incriminating brochures against the Bolsheviks (in Akmola Gubernia). In Primorskaya lips. found up to 2000 copies. anti‐Soviet appeal spread by the monks of the Shchatsk Monastery. In addition, monarchist agitation was carried out in a number of places, various false and provocative rumors were spread, etc.
Renovators. The struggle between the Renovationists and the Tikhonists is aimed at stopping the growth of the success of the latter, who have significant masses of believers behind them, despite the fact that they have a small number of churches. In Siberia, for example, the Renovationists have in their hands 80% of the churches, but the Tikhonists continue to successfully fight the Renovationism, and as a result of its 15 Renovationist dioceses in Siberia, united by the Siberian Church Council, in November they sent the council only 35 rubles. mandatory contributions. The difficult financial situation of the Renovationists is the reason for their attraction to Tikhonovism. A characteristic feature of the Renovationist movement is the tendency of the majority of Renovationist congresses to end the struggle against the Tikhonists and to turn joint efforts in the struggle against atheism. Renovationists held congresses with a view to greater unification for the fight against Tikhonovism: the 2nd AllCrimean, regional South‐East, Akmola, Amur, Zabaikalsky, Vitebsk and a number of county and deaneries. The congresses decided to continue the struggle against Tikhonovism. The complete victory of the Renovationist movement is ascertained only in the Tsaritsyn and Primorsk provinces.
In order to raise the authority of the renovationist priests in the eyes of the laity, a ʺpurgeʺ was carried out and tightening them up in relation to their personal life (Penza province).
Cultists
Intensive economic activity is characteristic of various sectarian groups. The Mennonites and Baptists proved to be the most powerful in this regard, having on their farms the latest agricultural machines (tractors, for example), which are used by the surrounding population. Baptists pay serious attention to cooperation. They achieved great success in this area in Odessa province, where the Landau region is covered by their milk‐receiving and butter‐making points. In the Melitopol district, the Baptists have several breeding cattle farms. Through their economic bases, they supply the population with literature of the cooperative publishing house ʺWord of Lifeʺ. The Baptists set about organizing small production associations, such as the Kharkov cooperative association ʺKustarBudinnikʺ, which performed minor works in the metal industry.
It should be noted that in economic enterprises, a sharp line is eliminated between the various sects cooperating in them together. In this respect, an interesting phenomenon is the ʺsectarian collectiveʺ organized from 1,500 evangelists, Baptists and teetotalers. The team rented a weaving factory ʺVysokovekovaya Mruʺ in Klinsky district. Moscow province. The total factory load is 5000 workers. It is supposed not to hire workers who previously worked in the factory, but to confine themselves to sectarian workers.
Business enterprises of the sectarians are in short supply and use subsidies from foreign organizations, for which the latter get the opportunity to get acquainted with the agricultural and political life of the country and to cover it in the foreign press (the Quaker correspondent sent a number of articles to the London magazine Christian Bulletin).
A common element in the activities of all sects is work among young people. In the Pskov province. a Baptist youth circle was organized in Novo Nikolaevskaya province. an evangelical circle, a special organ ʺOur Soundsʺ began to be published here. In addition, the sectarians waged anti‐tax and anti‐militaristic agitation.
For individual sects, it is noted:
Among the Tolstoyans, the connection of the sect with the foreign non‐resistance international became stronger. His cell has been organized in Moscow. The bulletin of the foreign association was received in 11 copies. (in English). There is noticeable animation in
the work of the sect, they sent out a circular letter.
Among the Baptists, the Samara and Voronezh communities, dissatisfied with the sect, almost completely passed over to the evangelists.
The evangelicals ‐ the Tambov and Moscow district congresses have taken the side of the recognition of military service.
BANDITRY
Central District. In some provinces, criminal banditry intensified, and raids on cooperatives and civilians became more frequent. In the Oryol province. the Kudinovskaya Volkassa was robbed, up to 20,000 rubles were taken, collected from the agricultural tax. Along with this, political banditry is partially manifested (dismantling rails for the purpose of train wrecks, Moscow province).
Northwest Territory. In the foreign region, the activity of the Finnish
White Guards continues. After an unsuccessful raid on Soviet Russia, Serguchenkoʹs gangs (Finland) are supposed to be repeated with more significant forces. Along the way, the spread of proclamations in Finnish is noted in Kingisepp u. In Sebezhsky u. an unknown partisan detachment, numbering 100‐150 people, is operating, in connection with which the Latvian authorities have strengthened the protection of the border. Inside the territory, there are cases of attacks on guards and military depots.
Western edge. On the part of foreign gang groups, preparatory work is underway to create detachments for the purpose of attacks on Soviet territory. Engineer Belynin, who is in the Stolbtsy borough with 20 Balakhovtsy, received a permit from the Polish authorities to cross the border. There have been cases of unsuccessful transitions to our territory by a gang of policeman Kaminsky in the area of Cape Koydanovo and another gang of an unknown command in the Starobin area. In the hinterland, banditry is generally weakening in connection with the liquidation of the gang of student Bestuzhev‐Ryzhikov.
Southwest Territory. There is activity on the part of foreign White Guards, who form a number of sabotage gangs. A detachment of 300 men was created in the area of Polish Volyn under the leadership of Ataman Oskilko; also formed and smaller detachments under the leadership of Petliura officers, also led by ataman Oskilko. In BrestLitovsk there is a gang of 80 people, in the city of Rivne 200 people (for the formation of the latter, funds were allocated by the Polish General Staff). In the village. Vilbovo, on behalf of the Ostroh headman, is organized by a local gang.
Inside the territory of the region, the following cases have become more frequent: crashes and attacks on trains (Moscow train # 3 was robbed by Sapon Nesukaiʹs gang, train # 3 at Tarashchanskaya station was fired upon, a fast passenger train was derailed along the Odessa‐Kiev line); to the post office (the post office was robbed at Stalino station in the amount of 150,000 rubles); the murder of coworkers and party workers (the Steshenko gang killed the financial inspector and a special commissioner of the strike group for the b / w of Poltava province.); raids on cooperatives and peasant carts.
North Caucasus. There is an increase in criminal banditry in the Donskoy, Salsky and partly Tersky and Kuban districts. In connection with the events in Transcaucasia, the activity of mountain banditry is noted. In terms of activity, the political gangs of Malakhutin and Bogachev stand out in the Maikop district.
Ryabokonʹs gang was liquidated, the leader of the Shields, the main assistant of Malakhutin ‐ Tersky were killed and the leader of the gang Kiselev was wounded.
Transcaucasia. The raids on our side by bands moving from Persia and Turkey have become more frequent. Chelokaevʹs gang in the number of 22 people moved to Turkey, part of the gang remained in Ardagan, headed by Oznashvili, Chelokaev himself temporarily left for Constantinople. Two of Chelokaevʹs bandits went back to Georgia with assignments.
Volga region. There is partial decay among the gangs. Most of the bandits from Kiselevʹs gang suffer from malaria, the number of gangs is not replenished, Dergachevʹs gang has been liquidated. Turkestan. In Eastern Bukhara, there is an increase in the activity of the Basmach gangs, which in some areas (Prisurkhan, Baysun) raid our garrisons and cut telephone and telegraph wires. At the meeting of the ringleaders, Ibrahim‐bek promised to replenish the gangs with new armed detachments organized in the border zone of Afghanistan, the detachments are formed from Bukhara emigrants. By order of Ibrahim, the use of horses mobilized from the population is allowed for no more than a week, livestock and horses are returned to the population. On the left bank of the Vakhsh Ibrahim ordered the farmers to stop paying taxes and supply food to his gangs, they are also supposed to replenish their forces by mobilizing the population. Along the way, there is a transfer of Basmach gangs from Afghanistan and their receipt of weapons and ammunition from there. Among the Basmachi, there are tendencies to bring corruption to the ranks of the young Red Army soldiers, surrendering are not subject to any punishment and are awarded with gifts. Our units, in a clash with large gangs, captured Ibrahimʹs office.
Siberia. The most affected by banditry are the Irkutsk lips. and Yakutia, in the latter the number of gangs increased to 400 people. Individual criminal gangs that operated were united with the main rebel nucleus, which, instead of the old slogan ʺautonomy for the Tungusʺ, threw out a new one: ʺcapture of the entire region.ʺ The rebels captured the Petropavlovskaya, where they plundered the state‐owned trade enterprises; local authorities are not touched. There have been cases of complicity with the insurrectionary movement on the part of the American firm ʺHudson Bayʺ. There is an assumption about the support of the bandits by Japan and connections with foreign countries. The predominant composition of the gangs is the kulaks, former officers and part of the intelligentsia. Recently, banditry has intensified due to the laid‐off co‐workers, among the dismissed officers there are tendencies to get into the areas affected by banditry.
Far East. Anti‐Soviet agitation and banditry are developing throughout the interior region. This is especially noted in the Aleksandrovsky, Vladivostok and Nikolo‐Ussuriysky districts, where leaflets are distributed calling not to pay the agricultural tax, as a coup is expected soon. Not only the kulak Cossacks, but also the middle peasants succumb to this agitation. In some areas of the Amur and Primorskaya provinces, leaflets of the ʺKirillov styleʺ are being distributed. Along with this, the incidence of raids by gangs passing from the Chinese side has become more frequent. In the foreign region, a beloband of 60 people disembarked from the LiKhin steamer on the Chinese side, opposite the Innokentyevsky post. Namakonovʹs gang, 17 people in number, is in the area of the Sandik picket in China and is under the patronage of the picket chief
(see annex).
APPENDIX: on 2 pages.
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Yagoda
Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Prokofiev
With genuine true: Secretary of the Information Department
Soloviev
ATTACHMENT
LOW SOVIET APPARATUS
The material insecurity of the lower Soviet apparatus, noted in all regions of the Union, often makes it dependent on the kulak. On the basis of this dependence, and also due to the fact that in some places the lower Soviet apparatus is clogged with kulak and anti‐Soviet elements, the class policy in the countryside is often blurred and reduced to nothing. All this, as well as the wide possibilities for the arbitrariness of the lower Soviet apparatus in the countryside and the drunkenness, brawliness and other undesirable phenomena developing on this basis, cause discontent among the broad peasant masses and create fertile ground for the anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulaks against the lower apparatus and, in its person, against Soviet power.
Clogging of the grassroots apparatus. The contamination of the lower Soviet apparatus by the kulak and anti‐Soviet elements is observed in many provinces of the Union. In the Central Region, in almost all the provinces, an anti‐Soviet element and kulaks (in particular, in Moscow Gubernia) are creeping into the lower Soviet apparatus. In the Volga region in the Samara province. not only the contamination of the lower Soviet apparatus is noted, but also the penetration of anti‐Soviet elements into other state bodies. So, for example, in Gosstrakh 70‐75% of employees are former officers, officials and other anti‐Soviet elements, which causes discontent among the peasants. In Ukraine, penetration of the anti‐Soviet element into the Soviets is noted quite often. In the Odessa province. in a number of village councils and VICs, former officers and amnestied bandits are employed as secretaries and other positions, rude to peasants and taking bribes. The same is observed in all provinces of Ukraine.
Abuses of the lower Soviet apparatus. In the Central region in the Tambov province. the fact was noted when a group of Soviet workers and Komsomol members drank the money collected from the peasants in favor of the victims of the floods of Leningrad. In Kursk province. The Mylovsky village council demands from peasants a payment of 90 poods for their work. bread a month for the secretary and a hundred and fifty poods for the chairman. In the Oryol province. Predvik, having arrived in one of the villages, sent a messenger to the village 15 miles away with the order to prepare a room for him. Mismanagement, bordering on crime, is noted very often. In the Tambov province. the chairman of the Olkhovsky VIK conducts the public economy in such a way that the peasants say: ʺThis is how the owners; with such expenses they will soon plunder the whole Republic.ʺ In Kursk province. The Belovsky village council sold a public building to the sugar factory, the cost of which is 7000 rubles, for 1400 rubles. According to the peasants, the village council sold for a large sum, and put the difference in his pocket. In the North‐West region in Tolvuyskaya parish. in Karelia, the head of the land department, thanks to the mismanagement of which the semssud collected from the peasants deteriorated in the amount of 500 poods, demanded a secondary payment from the peasants. In the Western Region, the abuses of the grassroots apparatus and the rough treatment of the peasants manifested themselves during the tax campaign. In this respect, the Gomel province is characteristic. In one of the volosts of this province, there were cases of misappropriation of incoming tax amounts by the pre‐village councils, as well as arbitrary fines of those who sheltered taxation
objects and the assignment of fines. In Kholmechskoy parish. Rechitsky u. The representative of the VIC for the collection of agricultural tax said to the peasantsʹ questions about the tax: ʺThere can be no dispute here, give the money and nothing else.ʺ In another volost there was a case when a member of the VIC was beaten for rough treatment. In the Ukraine, in the Donetsk province. there were cases when the pre‐village council took bribes for issuing certificates. Cases of abuse and bribery are common in Ukraine. The same phenomena are noted in the South‐East.
Abuses directly arising from the fact of the influence of the kulaks on the grassroots apparatus and its personal connection with the kulaks are noted almost everywhere in the Union. In the Central region in the Tambov province. the Presidential Council of one village hid 140 dessiatins from tax. land of wealthy peasants, for which he collected 2 kopecks from them. a consumer to treat supposedly Vicat thus 9 / 10 the crop area in this village was not included. The chairman of another village council released the forest from the fund of the mutual assistance committee to the kulaks. In the Tula province. the chairman of the district council during the tax campaign defended the interests of the kulaks. In the Moscow province. in Dmitrovsky u. When collecting agricultural tax, the Predvik threw off 50% of the tax to the family of a Moscow merchant. In the North‐West region, connections with the kulaks of the lower apparatus and concessions to them, especially in connection with the tax campaign, were noted in many provinces. In Karelia in Pudozhsky district local authorities, when taxed, classified the farms of the kulaks in the category of the poor. The same was noted in other provinces. In the Volga region in the Samara province. there was a case when the pre‐village council, together with the pre‐committee for mutual assistance, under the influence of the kulaks, incited the peasants not to pay the tax. In Melekesskiy u. the same province of Predvik (member of the RCP), having ties with the kulak element, for a bribe with moonshine, he petitioned the county tax commission to remove the tax from the kulak. In the Southeast, in the Salsk district, the previllage council supplied cattle buyers with various certificates for bribes.
Drunkenness. The drunkenness of the grassroots Soviet apparatus is noted in all regions of the Union. In the Central District, in one village, the chairman and secretary of the village council get drunk every day, in another, local authorities get moonshine free of charge, covering the moonshiners. There was a case during the re‐election when the representative of the VIC came to the meeting drunk. In Ryazan lips. in some villages the peasants demanded the re‐election of the Soviets in order to get rid of drunks and bribe‐takers. In Verkhne‐Sosinskaya vol. Oryol lips. the peasants said about the elections to the Soviets: ʺBitter drunkards choose each other.ʺ In this province, the Presidential Council in a drunken state lost his briefcase and revolver. Drunkenness of Soviet workers is also noted in the Tula, Moscow and other regions. In the North‐West region, drunkenness and brawls on the part of members of village councils and VICs are a common phenomenon. In Kipeno‐Ropsha parish. Leningrad province. Predvika takes visitors to the pub. In Karelia in the Petrozavodsk district. in one of the volosts, a case was noted when a drunken Predvik, seeing a portrait of Lenin on a peasantʹs side, began to trample him with his feet in a marketplace abuse. In the Ukraine, in the Donetsk province. of the Presidential Council, having got drunk, forced the peasants to carry him in a wheelbarrow around the village. In the Volga region in the Samara province. The deputy chairman of the VIK in a drunken state beat a peasant. Drunkenness is also noted in the Votsk region. and the Non‐Republic. In the Southeast, increased drunkenness is noted in the Taganrog, Black Sea, Salsky and Kuban districts. In the Taganrog district of the pre‐village council, while drunk, he shot and killed a peasant boy, a supplyman. In the Black Sea district in the Tuapse region, during the election of the pre‐election committee, he came to the meeting so drunk that he could not hold the meeting and the list was failed. In another district, during the elections, the chairman deprived the peasants of the right to vote, who pointed to the drunkenness of the village council. In the Tersk district, due to constant drunkenness, hooliganism and tactlessness in religious matters on the part of local Komsomol members, the latter were failed in the elections to the village council.
ʺLawmakingʺ and arbitrariness. In addition to the indicated shortcomings of the grassroots Soviet apparatus, the publication of all kinds of ridiculous decisions without the permission of the higher authorities is often noted in various regions, as well as cases of arbitrariness. In the Central region in the Nizhny Novgorod province. to the peasants of Krasno‐Vakovsky u. it was ordered to acquire red flags for the day of the October anniversary, one in ten houses, which caused strong discontent among the peasants. In the Tambov province. Zamyatchinsky Predvik, during the volost collection, collected in addition 40 kopecks. from each peasant (according to rumors, this money is spent by him for personal needs). In the South‐East, in the Armavir district, strong indignation of the residents was caused by the behavior of the chairman of Nizhne‐Troitskaya station, who, without the consent of the Council, acquired a Ford passenger car for 550 rubles for his own needs. and, in addition, spent 200 rubles.
The indicated shortcomings of the grass‐roots soviet during the past election campaign to the Soviets in some places influenced the course of the electoral struggle in the countryside, giving a trump card in the hands of the kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements in the countryside.
Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev