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Review of the political state of the USSR
Review of the political economy of the USSR in October 1924
November 22, 1924
WORKERS
In October, a very significant discontent of workers in the largest industries continues on the basis of delayed wages (metalworkers, miners) and measures taken to raise labor productivity (textile workers). In other industries, dissatisfaction on this basis is noted to a lesser extent.
Metalworkers
Delayed wages. The most important reason for the metalworkersʹ dissatisfaction is the delay in wages. It is noted at most of the largest metal plants: in Moscow it covers 30,000 metalworkers, mainly from the GOMZ plants, in Leningrad ‐ at Krasny Putilovets, in Nizhny Novgorod province ‐ at Krasny Sormovo and 10 factories of PRUMP; in the Ural region ‐ at the factories of Perm autorepair, Gormet and a number of others; in Ukraine ‐ at the plants Yugostal and M etallo of the Yekaterinoslavskaya province, ʺUkrselmashʺ, the Steam locomotive of the Kharkov province. and a number of small metal works in different provinces. The delay in wages usually reaches two weeks ‐ one month, and in the Ural factories up to 2 months. In most cases, the reason for non‐payment of wages is non‐receipt of funds from the center; at the enterprises of PRUMP, the delay in wages was caused by the weak sale of stocks of goods in the amount of 700,000 rubles. In the Ural factories, due to delayed wages and weak lending in the workersʹ cooperatives, jobs are starving. At the Nadezhda plant, visiting workers are starving and stealing from each other.
Low rates and higher production rates. Dissatisfaction with the low rates, especially in connection with the revision of the production rates, is quite significant among metalworkers. It is most typical for military factories (Tula, Perm, Ulyanovsk, Izhevsk). At the Izhevsk factories, many workers worked out 10‐15 rubles. At the Perm Arms Plant, the earnings of some workers with the introduction of new wage rates dropped to 25‐30 kopecks per piece. per day (due to the incomplete workload of workers). The increase in production rates at the Ulyanovsk cartridge plant caused a strong fermentation, the rates were deliberately not worked out, cries of ʺthis is serfdomʺ were heard. The workers of the sheet‐rolling shop of the VerkhIsetsky plant (Ural) suggested to the head committee to revise the rates in the direction of their increase within a month, threatening otherwise with a strike, the salary was increased by 10%. At the Kolchugino plant of Glavtsvetmet, an increase in production rates caused workers to leave the plant and strike tendencies, which were noted even among the communists. At the plant them. Trotsky (Samara), skilled workers are leaving because of low rates. Discontent on the same basis was noted at the Leningrad factories ʺKrasnaya Zaryaʺ and Telephone‐Telegraph, at the plant named after Petrovsky in Yekaterinoslavl (on this basis there was a strike), at the automobile plant named after Zinoviev in Yaroslavl and others. at the car plant them. Zinoviev in Yaroslavl and others. at the car plant them. Zinoviev in Yaroslavl and others.
Strikes. In October, 4 strikes were registered among metalworkers. A steam repair plant in Moscow (1200 workers for 4 hours) and a plant ʺSelmashʺ No. 1 in Kaluga province were on strike because of delayed wages. On the basis of an increase in production rates, workers of the steel workshop of the plant named after V.I. Petrovsky in Yekaterinoslav (the requirements were not met). On the basis of abnormal working conditions, workers at the Dubensk iron foundry went on strike, demanding better working conditions; in view of the abandonment of the previous conditions, 5% of the workers left the plant.
Textile workers
Lower wages and higher production rates. Ferment among textile workers over the ongoing revision of output rates, often accompanied by declines in actual wages, remains strong. It was noted throughout the central textile region and was accompanied by a number of strikes (Moscow province, 5 strikes were noted on this basis). With the end of the conclusion of new collective agreements, fermentation begins to subside from the second half of October. At the factories of the Vladimir Cotton Trust, workers declared that it was impossible to work at such low rates, and there was talk of the need to go on strike. The workers of the ʺRed Profinternʺ pointed to the bloated staff of employees (the trust has 150 employees in Moscow, buys cars). At the spinning mill, due to the general discontent of the workers, a meeting of workers on issues of aid to Leningrad and the Chinese events could not have taken place for failure to appear. The extremely difficult situation of workers is noted at all enterprises of the Vladimir flax‐growing plant, in view of the reduction of rates. At the Yaroslavl factories, there is dissatisfaction with the reduction in rates only for the lower ranks (Red Weavers No. 1, 2, Tulma) and the difference rates at different factories (Zarya Socialism, whose workers sent a delegation to examine the situation of the Kostroma textile workers). Dissatisfaction with the transfer of workers to the lower ranks was noted at the Tver factories ʺProletarskaya Manufakturaʺ, the former Morozov and the Vagzhanovskaya F‐ke (at the latter the rate is much lower than at the ʺProletarskaya Manufakturaʺ). At the Rolma factory, Yaroslavl province. the decline in rates caused an increase in the theft of manufactured goods.
Low salary. Dissatisfaction with low wages is noted at a number of factories in Ivanovo‐Voznesensk Gubernia, at the Bolshoi Shuiskaya factory, workersʹ earnings are 50‐70 kopecks. in a day. At the Bolshaya Dmitrovskaya conservatory, in October they worked out only 9 rubles, which is why the administration added 8 rubles for idle time. 25 kopecks (average earnings of factory workers 27 rubles). At the Malaya Kokhomskaya Linen Mine, the workers filed a collective application demanding an increase in the tariff. The real salary of Kostroma textile workers is 35% of the pre‐war level.
Delayed wages. Delay in wages is typical for the cloth trusts working for the Military. Discontent on this basis is especially acute among the workers of the Tambov cloth factories (10,000 people). At the end of September, the workers ʺItalianʺ, transferring the belts to idle. Lack of funds makes it impossible to prepare food for the workers. The cloth received by the workers on account of their wages is bought up for next to nothing by speculators.
Strikes. In October, there were 6 strikes among textile workers, 5 of which were in Moscow province. The latter were caused exclusively by a decrease in wages. Four factories of the BogorodskoShchelkovsky trust went on strike (on October 1, 3,300 workers went on strike for two hours at the Balashinskaya paper‐spinning mill and 200 people for two days on October 3‐4, 200 workers at the Glukhovsky convent for 5 hours and at the Reutov 230 workers during the day and 16 workers carrying the foundations of the Pavlovo‐Pokrovsk factory). In addition, 80 female workers of the Shuya district of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province went on strike, demanding an increase in prices.
Miners
Delayed wages. Discontent among miners is mainly due to delayed wages. In Donbass, most enterprises in Donugol experienced delays in August and September salaries. Dissatisfaction was aggravated by the lack of products from the workersʹ cooperative and strike tendencies were noted in places (Rykovsky mine, Shcheglovskoye, Chistyakovskoye and Gorlovskoye mining administrations and Bokovo‐anthracite bush). In the Shakhty district, discontent was caused by the issuance of bonuses to the cooperative, in which there are no salable goods, on account of the salary. Recently, there has been a strong dissatisfaction among workers with the reduction of staff (at the mines of the Petrovsky plant, 700 workers were dismissed, at the Gorlovsky mining administration ‐ 1500). A significant delay in wages (up to 2 months) is noted at the Pobedinsky coal mines of Ryazan province, at the mines of the North Vyatka mountain district, at the Spassky copper mines of Akmola province, at the oil fields in Fergana. In the latter, wages were not issued for 3‐4 months, which is why there is an exodus of skilled workers, more than 600 workers who have served 10 or more years in the fields quit the Santo fields in a year.
Strikes. In late September and early October, 4 strikes took place at the enterprises of Donbass (at the Yuny Kommunar mine ‐ 100 people due to non‐distribution of work clothes, at the Krasny Oktyabr mine ‐ 120 miners due to salary arrears, at the Karl mine
Marx ‐ on the basis of delayed wages and at the Makeyevka
Combine ‐ 25 stokers for an unclear reason).
Forestry workers
As before, there is a delay in salaries in almost all forest trusts
(Kostromles, Tverles, Verkhne‐Volgoles, Ukrles, Dvinles,
Sevvostles, Bashorles, Lesbel, etc.). In all trusts, the debt reaches 1‐2 months. Kostromles has rafting debts to logging. Bashorles did not pay the workers for 4 months, EPO refuses a loan to the workers. At the enterprises of Verkhne‐Volgoles, no payments were made for 23 months. At the plywood factories of the Novgorod province. the salary for 3 months was not issued, the workers were denied a loan, a strike was supposed to be declared with the approval of the gubernia trade council.
Strikes. In October, there were 2 strikes at sawmills (Neisky, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province and ʺProletaryʺ of the Tatrespublika), both on the basis of wage arrears.
Food workers
Wage arrears continue to be reported at all sugar factories. In the Voronezh province. the workers of the Ertil Sugar Refinery have not received wages for 2‐3 months. At the sugar factories of the Podolsk province. the salary has not been issued since the second half of August due to the non‐expulsion of funds from Sukharotrest. At the Ulyanovsk sugar plant in Odessa province. salary not issued for 2 months, in the Poltava province. day laborers (1,500 people) have not been issued for more than a month, workers in the 3rd category receive 12 rubles. per month. In the Kiev province. the delay in the wages of the sugar factories reaches 2 months, the wages of the Mironovsky sugar factory have been cut (the average wage for a worker is 22 rubles). At the Gribanovek sugar factory in the Tambov province. workersʹ wages are paid in kind (molasses, from which workers drive moonshine). At the sugar factories of Kursk province. dissatisfaction with low rates is noted. Significant dissatisfaction is also noted in the milling industry of Ukraine due to the reduction in the supply of grain (a partial reduction of staff is being carried out). In October, one strike of 90 workers of the Odessa slaughterhouse was noted among food workers, caused by a proposal to work above the norm; In this connection, the workers made a demand to accept the previously dismissed workers when they were going to work in the artel. For two days, only communists and Komsomol members worked, on the third day the workers started to work with the exception of 5‐6 ringleaders.
Chemists
Delayed wages. The plight of the glass industry is causing persistent grievances over wage delays. At the Blagoveshchensk glass factory in the Vladimir province. October salary has not been paid since June. The same was noted at glass factories in Tver, Kaluga, Volyn provinces, the Urals, Tatrespublika, and others. Striking tendencies were noted at the enterprises of Uralchem on the basis of delayed wages.
Increasing production rates. At the enterprises of Gus‐Khrustalny, there was strong dissatisfaction with the increase in production rates and the limitation of earning in: there were attempts to go on strike. At the Natalinsky glass plant (Ural), workers refused to accept higher rates without a corresponding increase in wages. Communists present at the meeting are deprived of the right to vote.
Builders
Strikes. In the reporting period, there were 4 strikes among builders, of which 2 were in Moscow at the works of Standardstroy. On October 15, 170 workers on the construction of a village for the Dux plant went on strike for 4 hours on the basis of delayed wages (the salary was immediately paid), on October 28, 141 workers went on strike to build a village on the Glukhovskoy convent for the same reason. In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. On October 9, 120 workers of the Gosstroy 60 went on strike at the 5th of October factory, demanding an increase in rates; the workersʹ demand was partially satisfied due to the threat from them to quit their jobs. In the Volyn province. On October 6, 45 workers on the construction of a bridge in Zhitomir went on strike on the basis of low rates.
Printers
Renewal of the collective agreement. In the printing industry in Moscow, there was an acute issue with a decrease in categories and an increase in production rates. On this basis, dissatisfaction was noted at 15 enterprises with a total number of workers of about 5000 people. In some printing houses, new collective agreements were adopted with some amendments towards increasing rates. In the 1st Exemplary Printing House of the Mospoligraf (workers 2320 people), in this regard, there was a strong decrease in labor productivity.
Staff reduction. ʺItalianʺ. In October, Moscow printers also noted dissatisfaction with the layoffs. On October 3, workers and employees of the engraving department of the Goznak factory No. 2 arranged an ʺItalianʺ in protest against the dismissal of 3 specialists from the department due to the reduction of staff. ʺItalianʺ lasted an hour and a half.
Other groups of workers
Among the conflicts among other groups of workers, strikes should be noted: 1) the carriage shop of the depot st. The basis of the Kharkov province. on the basis of restrictions on earning money (eliminated by the intervention of the trade union); 2) 280 workers of the shoemakerʹs workshop in Kiev Sorabkop (due to the nonissuance of liquidation workers during the transfer of the workshop to the introduction of the labor department); 3) the fire brigade of the Gusya‐Khrustalny district of the Vladimir province. on the basis of low rates (a new team of party members and unemployed was recruited, and the strikers were dismissed) and 4) 120 workers of the state farm named after Petrovsky, Yekaterinoslavskaya province. due to poor nutrition (requirements are met). In total, 22 strikes took place in October (see the appendix ‐ table on strikes in October).
Anti‐Soviet agitation among workers
The plight of the workers in the state industry is used by anti‐Soviet elements to rouse the workers against Soviet power. The campaign is mostly covert; more or less open agitation among the workers was conducted by the ukapists, especially in connection with the reelections of the Soviets. At the Tula military factories, the Mensheviks spread rumors that our factories were preparing shells for the German government, which would use them against its workers; individual speeches were noted at meetings and in conversations of anti‐Soviet elements from among the kulaks. In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. at the Petrishchevskaya convent there was a tendency of engravers and recists to create ʺtheir own trade unionsʺ. At the Rybinsk Porcelain Factory, demagogic speeches at meetings of a clear Menshevik character are noted (“The Communist Party has completely pressed the workers”). In the Vladimir province. at one of the factories of Alex [Androvsky] at. discovered was a proclamation against Terbour, in which he is called ʺserfdomʺ, the signature of the ʺBureau of Propagandaʺ. In the Oryol province. (Yelets), handwritten proclamations were circulated against raising labor productivity with the following content: “Comrades, workers, if you want to be free and equal, as one, so that the factories and plants are really yours, and the land of the peasants, then do not waste time, prepare a new one. true revolution destroy Jews and false communists who fill their pockets with our labor sweat. Edition ‐ ʺThe True Underground Party of Communistsʺ. who fill their pockets with our labor sweat. Edition ‐ ʺThe True Underground Party of Communistsʺ. who fill their pockets with our labor sweat. Edition ‐ ʺThe True Underground Party of Communistsʺ.
In the Odessa province. anti‐Soviet agitation is being conducted by screamers on the basis of the plight of the workers, the increase in production rates and the reduction of staff (Nikolayevsky district); a leaflet ʺBeat the Jewsʺ was distributed throughout the city. There is an increase in anti‐Soviet sentiments. Anti‐Soviet agitation was carried out at the Berdichev sugar factory with a call for a strike. At some enterprises in Kiev and Yekaterinoslavskaya provinces. the speeches of ukapists were noted. In the conflict at the Kiev sewing and shoe factory of Sorabkop, where there were tendencies to go on strike due to non‐payment of liquidation funds when the factory moved to the labor department, the initiators were the ukapists. During the re‐elections to the City Council, the ukapists tried to influence the elections in the ʺArsenalʺ, at the 1st and 2nd State Mills and a number of small enterprises. Everywhere the ukapists were thwarted; one of the ukapists who was spreading the appeal was beaten by the workers. The appeals are campaigning against the leaders of the local party organization and the privileges of the communists. In Yekaterinoslavskaya province. the activities of the UCP in connection with the elections to the Soviets intensified. In the electrical shop of the plant. Petrovsky, the arrest of members of the UCP caused some excitement.
Unemployed
Cleaning of labor exchanges. The purge of the unemployed reduced the total number of those registered at labor exchanges by 3070%. Mostly not members of unions are removed from the register, to which unskilled workers express special discontent (Poltava province). When re‐registering, there are massive non‐attendance of the unemployed, which reaches 50% in some labor exchanges, and there are also cases that, having learned about the cleansing, some of the unemployed, mainly employees, apply for their deregistration. So, in Novocherkassk, up to 300 such applications were submitted.
Rising unemployment. In connection with the end of seasonal work, as well as an influx from villages, there is an increase in unemployment. Especially it should be noted in this respect, the E boat ino ate the century and the Odessa province. In the latter, the total number of unemployed registered at the labor exchange increased from 40,800 to 46,000, with 300‐400 registered daily. A significant reduction was carried out in Donetsk province. (miners, metalworkers) and in the Poltava province. (tobacco growers).
Demobilized Red Army soldiers. The demobilized Red Army soldiers are among the unemployed. So, at the Kiev Labor Exchange, the demobilized Red Army soldiers achieved the convocation of a general meeting of their section, where there were attacks against the labor exchange, as well as the heads of institutions. At the Berdichev labor exchange on the day of the 60th anniversary of the First International, the demobilized, having appeared at the Glukhov kaolin plant, made a brawl, demanding work.
Mood. In some provinces (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya, Vyatka, Penza), rumors were spread about the alleged recruitment of workers to Kamchatka by Americans, and groups of applicants were organized, reaching 75 people (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya gubernia), and requests were also made to Moscow (VSNKh, Russko ‐Asian concession in Kamchatka).
Among the unemployed, there is dissatisfaction with protectionism, which is reinforced by the existing premises for the work of former shopkeepers, speculators, etc. (Podolsk, Volyn provinces). In Kursk province. in Lgovsky u. the unemployed tried to put up posters: ʺDown with protectionism, long live the correct distribution of labor at the labor exchange.ʺ
PEASANTRY
Tax campaign
During the reporting period, the focus of the peasantryʹs attention was mainly on the tax campaign. The campaign is almost universally met with dissatisfaction among wide circles of the peasantry. Tax receipts are extremely slow and are hampered by excessive taxation in some provinces, poor preparation for tax collection, unsuccessful policy of regulating grain prices (low limits) with inconsistency and abuses of grain procurers, abnormalities of the tax apparatus and, finally, anti‐tax agitation of the kulaks.
Excessive tax
Tax increase compared to last year. In some areas, it is noted that the tax this year is much heavier than last year. So, in the Central region, this is noted in the Moscow province. (for Orekhovo‐Zuevsky district tax is 120% higher than last year), in IvanovoVoznesenskaya province. (in some volosts the tax is 65‐85% higher); in the Yaroslavl province. (farms that paid 5‐10 rubles last year, now have to pay 20‐25 rubles). In Tataria and Bashkiria (Volga region), the severity of the agricultural tax is confirmed by the cases of filing applications for a reduction in the categories of tax commissions, which established that the tax was really heavy. In Akmola province. The peasants of the Kyrgyz Republic calculate that for three tithes of sowing they will have to pay or 100 poods. bread or a cow.
Tax reduction petitions. The severity of the tax is reflected in the mass petitions of peasants for tax cuts. In the Central Region, this is observed in the provinces of Orel, Voronezh, Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Tambov; there were cases of sending walkers to the center with a petition for a tax reduction. There were collective decrees on tax cuts in Tambov province; in the same place, the tax department of the Sampur VIC received 1,800 individual applications for tax cuts for various reasons, moreover, petitions were received from local communists. In Ukraine, applications for a reduction in the agricultural tax are especially numerous, they were noted in the provinces of Yekaterinoslav, Odessa (400 applications were received in one district alone), Donetsk (up to 20,000 applications were received in the Mariupol district, up to 5,000 were received in the Starobelsk district, of which 2,500 were collective), in Chernihiv, In
Kiev provinces in a number of districts, peasants are organized in 512 villages to send a walker to the center with a petition for a discount. Walkers, mostly fists, behave extremely defiantly in the finorgan. In the Western Territory in the Gomel province. applications are received from entire villages asking for tax benefits. The same is observed in the Northwest Territory in the
Novgorod province. and Karelia.
Tax waivers. Along with the application for a tax reduction, there are also cases of direct refusal to accept salary slips and pay tax due to the severity of the tax. In the Tsentralny region, refusals to accept registration sheets took place in the Tambov and Oryol provinces. In Ukraine, refusals to accept salary slips and to pay taxes were noted over the past month in Odessa, Poltava, Kiev provinces. In the Western Territory, similar refusals took place in Belarus (Minsk district), in the Bryansk and Gomel provinces (in Rechitsa district, there were cases of refusal of entire villages to accept salary sheets). In Turkestan in the Dzhetysu region. dissatisfaction with taxes is so strong that when the tax is collected, refusals to pay it and active opposition to the collectors are expected.
The severity of taxes for the poor. A number of facts continue to be noted that indicate that the tax burden falls heavily on poor households. The growth of the tax burden in the central provinces comes at the expense of the poor. The taxation of the kulak economy increased to a lesser extent than that of the poor. In the Tambov province. the poor are in opposition to the tax; in one of the volosts, there were cases when poor peasants, when a representative of the authorities appeared with salary sheets, locked their houses and left themselves; there were many cases when the poor, unable to pay the tax, left their farms and went to other provinces. In the Vladimir province. there is a case where a widow with 4 children and one cow was taxed in the amount of 35 rubles. In the Voronezh province. in two districts, the poor people noted increased brewing of moonshine to pay the tax. In the Yaroslavl province. a case is noted when a tax of 22 rubles is collected from a poor man who does not have livestock and farm laborers all year round, and from a kulak who has 20 dessiatins. land, livestock and a well‐equipped farm ‐ 21 rubles. In the Volga region in the Bashrespublik, horseless peasants with a small crop must pay 12‐20 rubles. tax. In Tataria, in some places the poor are dissatisfied with the fact that they have to pay for the area that was rented by the kulaks. In the Northwestern Territory in Karelia along Povenetsky u. there is a 2‐3‐fold increase in tax for poor farms compared to last year and a decrease for kulaks. In the South‐East in the Donskoy district, the poor are dissatisfied with the fact that they take less tax from the kulaks.
Local budget surcharges. Dissatisfaction with the tax is aggravated by the presence of various fees and surcharges on the local budget, the latter being a significant percentage in comparison with the agricultural tax. In the Central region ‐ Tver, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk and Kostroma provinces, the allowances are 45% of the agricultural tax, in Vyatka ‐ 58‐70%. In the Volga region in the Ulyanovsk province. in some places the tax surcharge reaches 60%. In the South‐East in the Don District, dissatisfaction is caused by a 40% tax surcharge, and the surcharge is distributed incorrectly, and it is often less in crop areas than in lean ones. In addition, in the Salsk district, 50 kopecks are charged for local needs. from the head of cattle. In the Circassian‐Adyghe region. there is also an incorrect distribution of the allowance, which ranges from 20 to 40%. In the Northwestern Territory, the supplement for local needs ranges from 30 to 60% (in Karelia from 15 to 50%). In the Western Territory along the Bryansk province. the allowance is from 23 to 40%, in Siberia in Novo Nikolaevskaya province. the surcharge reaches 30% of the tax.
Fees for local needs in the eastern regions. Many abnormalities in collecting for local needs are noted in the eastern outskirts. In Transcaucasia, a number of abuses in the collection of local taxation have been noted. In Georgia, in Dusheti district. a case was noted when collectors, instead of 500 heads of cattle, described 800. In Armenia, in Echmiadzin district, where taxes on the local budget twice exceeded agricultural tax, when collecting arrears, the peasantry was arrested and held in custody until they paid, and he had to sell property. In Turkestan in the Samarkand region. there was a case of collecting 1800 rubles from the population of two districts. local taxation, and all of them were appropriated by collectors. In the Syr‐Darya region. in one of the counties, in view of the refusal of one of the auls to pay the incorrectly distributed tax, the pre‐VIK, having collected 70 people, attacked the aul and defeated it.
Tax campaign abnormalities
Delay in preparatory work for the tax. In many provinces and regions of the Union, the receipt of the tax was delayed by the delay in preparatory work for collecting the tax. In the Tsentralny district, the salary slips were late or not yet distributed in the Yaroslavl and Ivanovo‐Vonesensk provinces; in the latter, the male population went to work outings before receiving the salary sheets, which delays the payment of the tax. In the Volga region, the delivery of salary sheets is later celebrated in Tsaritsyn province. In the SouthEast in the Rostov District, by the end of September, the accounting of taxable objects had not yet been completed everywhere. In Siberia and the Far East, the accounting of taxable objects has not yet been completed.
Abnormalities with timing. The peasantsʹ dissatisfaction with the current tax campaign, in addition to these reasons, is caused by a number of abnormalities of the tax campaign ‐ the lack of administration, incorrect taxation, too harsh repressive measures in relation to non‐payers, non‐observance of the established benefits for the poor. A number of abnormalities took place with the setting of the deadline for the delivery of the tax. In the Central District, the deadlines for tax collection were not entered on the payroll. In the Kaluga province. the salary slips indicated the deadline for November 1 without specifying the starting date, while the tax began to be levied on September 25. In the Tula province. in one of the volosts, the first payment deadline was November 1; the authorities offered to collect 5,000 rubles by October 1. In Orlovsky u. Oryol lips. there was an order to pay 45% of the tax within 3 days.
Tax calculation abnormalities. Incorrect taxation, confusion, and mistakes in salary slips are common throughout the Union. In the Central region in the Yaroslavl province. a number of errors were noted in the salary sheets that distort the size of the tax. In the Tver province. equal farms are taxed differently. In Vyatka lips. there was a case when a farm that did not have draft animals and did not exceed the rate of arable land was not exempt from 50% of the tax, which is relied on by the regulation. In the Yaroslavl province. in adjacent lean villages, an unequal decrease in discharge is noted. In Ukraine, the incorrect establishment of taxation ranks was noted in the Odessa and Volyn provinces. In the Western Territory in the Bryansk province. ‐ registration of surplus land and livestock to individual farms. The same is observed in the Crimea. In the SouthEast in the Donskoy district (station Dolzhanskaya, Yeisk district), from one fist with 12 cows, 8 horses, 50 sheep and a large, cultivated area, tax is taken as from having 1 horse; in the NizhneKundryuchinsky region of the same district, which suffered greatly from a poor harvest, the VIK refused to apply for a full exemption from the tax to a poor peasant woman, leaving it in the amount of 89 kopecks.
Non‐observance of benefits for families of Red Army soldiers. Particularly noteworthy is the non‐observance of benefits to the families of the Red Army soldiers, despite the existing legal provisions. In this respect, Ukraine stands out, where in all 9 provinces there are very frequent cases of non‐compliance with benefits. The local authorities do not take into account the certificates sent from the Red Army units at all and overwhelm the families of the Red Army soldiers. In the Kharkov and Kiev provinces, there was a case of taxing the Red Army men themselves. In the Volyn province. repressions for pumping out the tax are mainly applied to the families of the Red Army soldiers. In the Western Territory, the failure to provide benefits to families of Red Army soldiers is noted in the Bryansk province.
The unsatisfactory nature of the grassroots financial apparatus. A number of abnormalities in the campaign are due to the unsatisfactory nature of the lower financial apparatus (abuse, negligence, etc.). In the Volga region in the Ulyanovsk province. in some places the rudeness of the collectors (including the party members) is noted. In the Bashrespublik, in one of the volosts of the Belebey canton, the commission for identifying the yield, after a binge with fists, reduced their actual threshing figures. Especially many abnormalities in the conduct of the tax campaign are noted in the South‐East. In the Salsk district, in some villages, kulaks got into the commission on tax discounts, who reduced the tax to the local wealthy; in the same place one of the pre‐village council demanded payment of 50 kopecks from the peasants. from the heart for taking tax money to RFO.
In the Donskoy District, a big murmur among the peasants was caused by ignorance of the instructions on taxes on the part of the representatives of the district authorities who came for information about the tax. In one of the districts of the same district, the local authorities announced to the peasants completely different tax rates. In the Far East in the Amur Bay. there is a lack of guidance material on tax.
Tax repression. The repressions in order to increase tax receipts cause strong discontent among the peasants. Tax repressions are observed in all provinces and regions of the Union. The use of repression took the most severe forms in some provinces of the Central Region and in Ukraine. In the Central region in the Yaroslavl province. sharp discontent of the peasants is caused by the inventory of property. In Velikoselskaya parish. there were cases when peasants ran out into the street when registering their property, shouting: ʺHelp, they are robbingʺ; there is also an agitation among local militiamen in the spirit that they do not go to describe the property, since ʺthe people are extremely indignant against such measures of the Soviet government.ʺ In Ukraine, in the Volyn province. the village council unharnessed the horse of a peasant woman during work and sent it off for sale for non‐payment of tax; in one of the villages of the same province, agricultural implements and household utensils are taken away from non‐payers. Many farms did not sow their sowing area since they took cattle and equipment to pay the tax. In Donetsk province. in the Mariupol district in September the property of 356 defaulters was described. Arrests and inventory of property are also observed in Podolsk, Poltava, Yekaterinoslav and Odessa provinces.
Tax receipts. As a result of the noted abnormalities of the tax campaign, as well as an unsatisfactory grain procurement campaign (see below), the tax revenue at the beginning of the campaign was negligible. In the Central region on October 15, it was collected: in the Ryazan province. 2.4% (even less in individual counties), in Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. 0.49% (50% of the tax must be submitted by November 1), in Kaluga province. ‐ 5.1%, in Voronezh ‐ 8.8%, in Kursk province. ‐ 6%, in Vyatskaya ‐ 30% of the first‐term assignment. In the Moscow province. collection of tax in all counties is weak. In the Volga region, a weak tax revenue is observed in the provinces of Saratov (in mid‐October, 29% of the first‐term assignment was received), Penza (in some counties, no more than 19% of the first‐term assignment was collected). In the South‐East in the Stavropol District from the beginning of the campaign to October 7, 22.6% were received, in the Kuban district up to 40% of the first‐term assignment. In the Western Territory in Belarus, by October 23, 45.8% of the first‐term assignment was received. In Ukraine, by provinces, from 20 to 35% of the annual assignment was collected. Tax is received poorly in the Urals. By the end of October, 46% had been received on the first‐term assignment in the Tyumen District, 38.2% in the Shadrinsky District, 56‐84% in the Irbitsky District, and 16% in the Yekaterinburg District. In Siberia, a particularly insignificant tax receipt is noted in Irkutsk Gubernia, whereas of October 1, only 54 rubles were received throughout the gubernia. tax.
Grain harvesting campaign
Campaign abnormalities. The grain procurement campaign, which was supposed to be carried out in parallel with the tax campaign, went extremely bad everywhere, especially in Ukraine. This was a consequence of the unsatisfactory implementation of the limit policy at the local level, as well as competition between state procurers. Limits diverged significantly from market prices and, moreover, changed frequently. Along with this, significant loans were presented to private procurers. In competition with government agencies, prices often rose above the limits, although this was sometimes not due to any market considerations. As a result, grain procurement was poor everywhere. In the Central region, the weakness of procurement is noted in the Ryazan, Vyatka and Oryol provinces (in the latter, 8‐10% of the assignment was prepared in September). In the Volga region in the Vot region. the plan for grain procurement will not be fully implemented. In the Ulyanovsk province. procurement of bakery products are poor. In the South‐East in the Rostov District, grain procurement is proceeding slowly due to the daily decrease in prices for it by procurement agencies. In the Volga region in the Vot region. the limit prices dropped several times and the peasant, having learned that the price was lowered again, often takes the grain back.
Discrepancy between limit prices and market prices. The discrepancy between limit prices and market prices is quite large almost everywhere. In the Central region in the Nizhny Novgorod province. market prices at the beginning of grain procurement were 80‐90 kopecks. per pood, the limit is 60‐65 kopecks. In Vyatka lips. the limit price for rye is 50 kopecks, the market price is 80‐90 kopecks. In the Ural region, the limit price for wheat is 72 kopecks, the market price is 1 ruble. 05 kopecks In the Volga region in the Ulyanovsk province. the limit prices for a pood of bread are 60 kopecks, but in fact government agencies buy bread at 53 kopecks. and even 40 kopecks. per pood, while private buyers give more than 15‐6 kopecks. above the limit. In the Tatrespublika in the Tetyushsky canton, Gostorg pays 45 kopecks. for a pood, a buyer for 15 kopecks. more. In Ukraine, in the Kiev province. the limit price for rye is 55 kopecks, a private supplier pays 90 kopecks. In the Volyn province. the limit is 55 kopecks, on the market 75‐90 kopecks. In the Podolsk lips. limits 85 kopecks., a private procurer pays 1 rub. In the Odessa province. the limit price for wheat is 78 kopecks, the buyers give ‐ 1 rub. 20 kopecks
Low limit prices are observed in Siberia. Yen [Iseyskiy] gubernial union announced prices for rye 35‐40 kopecks. for a pood, for wheat 55‐60 kopecks, for oats 35‐40 kopecks. The peasantry of the Yenisei province. He does not want to hand over bread for the indicated prices. In the Irkutsk province. the limit prices for rye are 40 kopecks, for wheat ‐ 50 kopecks.
Low prices for bread. In connection with the policy of limits carried out in this way throughout the Union, there is a significant drop in the prices of grain and the strongest discontent on this basis of the peasants. This makes the wealthy strata of the peasantry hold back their grain, waiting for the price to rise by the spring, or sell it to private buyers, while the poor and middle peasants sell livestock and even dead implements in order to amass money to pay taxes. Low prices for bread and agricultural products are noted in the central provinces (in the Tambov pood of bread ‐ 50 kopecks, in the Nizhniy Novgorod region ‐ 60‐65 kopecks, in the Kostroma province, a measure of potatoes is 15‐20 kopecks, in the Volga region, in the Chuvash republic, rye is sold at 45 kopecks). In Bashkiria, prices for bread in certain regions fell to 35 kopecks. per pood, and the peasants are afraid that rye will reach 10 kopecks. for a pood. In Siberia, under the influence of the establishment of low limits, the price of wheat dropped from 90 kopecks. up to 35 kopecks, and rye from 60 kopecks. up to 22‐24 kopecks. per pood (Altai province). The same is observed in other provinces.
In the South‐East of the Kuban, the price of bread in cooperatives fell by 50%. In Ukraine, in the Kiev province. a pood of bread fell to 50 kopecks, the same price in Chernigov province.
Abuse by government manufacturers. Along with these places, the peasants are outraged by the behavior of the state grain procurers. In the South‐East in the Don region, state grain procurers delay the payment of money for the handed over grain for months, and the peasants cannot pay tax on time. Local branches of Khleboprodukt managed to procure a little more bread than other government agencies, paying 5 kopecks for each pood. above the limit, but the ʺgenerosityʺ of the procurers is explained by fraud: the peasants were weighed on scales unfamiliar to them from 1 pood to 5 poods, and the fraud was discovered when one peasant was weighed when delivering 100 poods. bread ‐ 30 pounds; often, the acceptors of the Khleboprodukt, EPO and Gostorg charge high percentages for contamination. In the Volga region in Tataria, the attitude of the peasants to the grain procurement campaign is hostile. The peasants refuse to sell grain at fixed prices, due to which some cooperatives have stopped purchasing. The same phenomenon was noted in Bashkiria and in the South‐East in the Karachay‐Cherkess region.
Bread pumping out by private buyers. The abnormalities of the state procurement campaign were largely taken advantage of by private buyers. Government agencies themselves often resorted to their services in their competitive struggle. Every wrong step of state producers was used by them to consolidate their position and influence on the grain market. Private capital was often provided primarily with rolling stock, and thus it could profitably sell its bread (this, of course, did not do without ʺlubricationʺ). Due to the discrepancy between the limit prices and market prices, there is a massive purchase of bread by private buyers and pumping it out from the producing provinces. In the Central region, private procurers buy 75% of grain at prices 10% higher than the limit. In the Volga region in the Ulyanovsk province. the grain market is entirely in the hands of private trade: by the end of September, up to 300,000 poods were bought and exported by private traders. bread, thanks to the seizure of the grain market by traders, the price of white bread and white flour increased. In the Samara province. private entrepreneurs often buy grain from peasants for next to nothing and even on credit since the latter do not want to sell to state producers at low prices. In the Votsk region. private buyers send grain in significant quantities to other provinces. In the abovementioned Tetyushsky canton of the Tatrespublika, there is a large influx of grain buyers from the upper Volga. In Bashkiria, speculators partially use the setting of limit prices by government agencies. There have been cases when traders told peasants who came to the market that they could not buy above such and such a price, since the authorities forbid it (South‐East). Most of the procurers buy up sunflowers because few grain crops are exported to the market, at the same time, private buyers send up to 25 wagons of grain from the district every day. In Siberia, Irkutsk province peasants, in view of the imposition of extremely low limits in areas remote from the dumping points (35‐40 kopecks per pood of wheat), organize entire villages to sell grain in Irkutsk, where market prices are 80 kopecks.
The threat of supplying cities with bread. As a result of this situation, an extremely difficult situation is created with the supply of large industrial centers (especially Leningrad and Moscow) with grain. The supply was reduced to 5‐10 thousand poods. per day against the need for 50‐60 thousand poods. Some improvement should come as a result of the decisions of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and SRT 61 on the fight against private grain procurers and the imminent establishment of a sled route, with which the supply of grain will increase and prices for it will fall to normal levels.
Strengthening livestock sales. Hopes for an increase in grain procurement with the start of the tax campaign have so far come true. The peasantry everywhere sharply reduced the supply of grain, pointing to low limits. Instead of bread, the sale of livestock and other agricultural products is increasing. The created cattle market, which is exceptional in its favorableness, is also used too little by state producers. At the same time, private capital profits from the livestock trade.
Falling livestock prices. In the provinces of the Central Region, the sale of livestock is massive. In the Oryol province. livestock sales significantly exceed demand; a cow costs 18‐25 rubles, a horse costs 40‐50 rubles. (last year 80‐90 rubles). Private purveyors buy livestock for 3 kopecks. per pound of live meat; in some areas of this province, a cow weighing 5 poods. sold for 5‐6 rubles, in other areas for 12‐15 rubles. Cattle are sold not only extra, but also necessary. In the Nizhny Novgorod province. a cow is sold for 30 rubles, a nest of chickens for 50 kopecks, in Ryazan lips. a cow costs 20 rubles, in Tambov province ‐ 15‐30 rubles, meat is sold for 3‐5 kopecks. per pound, sheep 1‐2 rubles, chicken 20 kopecks, goose 50 kopecks. (at the same time, rye costs 90 ‐ 1 rub. 10 kopecks. pood.). In many cases, peasants, without selling their livestock in the market, abandon them on the road from the bazaar (the result, in part, of crop failure). In the Kaluga province. a peasant cow costs 20 rubles. (pood of rye 80‐95 kopecks.). In the Volga region in the Samara province. the markets are flooded with cattle. In the Chuvash region. in Yadrinsky. a cow costs 15 rubles. In the SouthEast, a large sale of livestock is observed in the Kuban District. In the Salsk district, the sale of livestock decreased. In the Caucasus, in Georgia, in the Akhaltsykh u. livestock prices dropped by half (to 20 rubles per cow). In Kyrgyzstan, in some places a cow costs 18 rubles.
There is also a massive sale of livestock in Ukraine. In the Kharkov province. a cow costs 25‐30 poods. of bread. In the Volyn province. ‐ 20‐25 rubles, horse 50‐75 rubles. In the Poltava province. in the Krasnograd district the price for a cow fell to 15 rubles, for a horse to 40 rubles. In the North‐West Territory, the sale of livestock for next to nothing is noted in the Pskov and Leningrad provinces, a good cow costs 20 rubles. In some cases, the sale of livestock allows the peasant to gain only 50% of the required amount to pay the tax. In the Leningrad province. there is a massive purchase of livestock by private traders. Some buyers send up to 2000 poods to Leningrad. meat. In the Western Territory in the Gomel province. the average cow costs 18 rubles. The sale of livestock to the market for tax payment is noted in Belarus.
The political state of the village
In the period under review, the political state of the countryside was characterized by growing discontent over tax pressure. Against this background, the activity of the kulaks is increasing, which is manifested in its active role in the re‐elections of the Soviets, antitax agitation and, finally, in the intensification of terror in the regions where this phenomenon had not been noticed before.
Re‐election of the Soviets
The re‐election of the Soviets throughout the Union is characterized, on the one hand, by the passivity and indifference of the broad peasant masses towards them and, on the other hand, by the pressure of the kulaks trying to get into the Soviet. In the Central Region, the mass of the peasantry reacted passively to the elections. In the Nizhny Novgorod province. out of 1500 voters, 170 people participated in the secondary meeting for re‐elections in one of the villages. In the same province, peasants voiced that there was no need to elect Council members, since they would be appointed by the VIC. In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. at a meeting for re‐elections, one of the delegates said that it was only said that power belongs to the workers and peasants, ʺin fact, the poor peasants only own a prison for not paying taxes.ʺ The agitation of the kulaks against the communists during the re‐election is celebrated in Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Tambov provinces. In the Tambov province. in one of the villages a grouping of kulaks organized an illegal meeting, where the question of restoring [them] in voting rights was raised. In the Vladimir province. there was a refusal of peasants to be elected to the village councils because of the low wages of the pre‐village council and excessive workload. The peasants said: “It doesnʹt matter who will be in the Soviet ‐ priest, kulak, bourgeois, if only they do not choose us, since 12 rubles. (pre‐village council salary) you wonʹt live. In the Shadrinsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province. peasants, not wanting to get into the village councils, threw lots to whom to be chosen. In some areas of the Central Gubernia. members of the RCP behaved tactlessly at the elections, causing discontent among the peasants with the nomination of their relatives (Voronezh province).
In Ukraine, the unfolding campaign for re‐elections to the village councils is being used in every possible way by the kulaks, and the latter, with its campaigning, points to the abnormalities of the grassroots soviet. In Yekaterinoslavskaya province. in one of the villages leaflets were posted urging not to elect Communists to the Soviets. In the same province, the connection between the kulaks and the UKP was noted in the promotion of their candidates to the Soviets. In the Kiev province. the kulaks are demanding equal rights for the entire peasantry. In one of the villages of this province, kulaks with music and banners went to the VIC and paid the tax to be eligible to participate in the elections. The desire of the kulaks to achieve equality in re‐elections is also noted in Volyn province, where demobilized Red Army men from kulak families, who nominate kulaks, play a significant role in re‐elections. In the Poltava province. kulaks, in order to paralyze the activity of the non‐cheaters in the elections, he spreads rumors about the imminent return of property, about the payment of royal debts to foreign powers, etc. In a number of provinces of Ukraine, there are cases of bribery of the poor peasants during re‐elections.
The activity of the kulaks in the re‐election and attempts to defeat the communists were noted in the North‐West and West regions.
In the Volga region, the passivity of the poor is also noted, and at the same time, the organization of the kulaks during re‐elections. In the Astrakhan province. in one of the counties, the kulaks spread a rumor, in connection with the elections, about the imminent fall of Soviet power.
In the Urals, the activity of kulaks is characterized by the following case: in one of the villages of the Zlatoust district, at a pre‐election meeting, a list of persons deprived of the right to vote was read, but since such persons were in the majority at the meeting, they failed the candidates nominated by the cell, they themselves began to lead the elections, depriving them of the vote pre‐village council and members of the RCP cell, and held their own list.
In Siberia, the kulaks behaved especially actively, speaking in an organized way at the re‐elections, putting up their candidate lists and campaigning at the meeting that the Soviet government was violating the constitution by appointing its candidates. In the Altai lips. in connection with the re‐election campaign, the kulaks threw down the slogan: ʺCommunists are not needed in the Soviets, down with the poor.ʺ In the same province, the kulaks are conducting a preparatory campaign for re‐elections, nominating certain candidates; there are cases when some communists avoid reelections by not showing up at meetings. In the Irkutsk province. in one of the counties, a group of kulaks put up their list of 64 people, and among them there were 4 candidates who did not have the right to participate in elections under the constitution. In this group, an important role was played by the former pre‐VIK, a member of the RCP, which sought to prevent the candidates from the regional executive committee in another district, a handful of kulaks tried to leave their list of candidates for the Soviets. In some villages of this province, the re‐election representatives were harassed. One representative was told: ʺWe do not want to listen to your chatter and your lies.ʺ In one of the districts of the Irkutsk province. the poor and farm laborers put up organized resistance to the kulaks during the re‐elections. In Novo Nikolaevskaya lips. kulaks agitated against the proposed Komsomol candidates. In one of the villages of
Cannes of the same province, the kulaks put up a list headed by the Socialist‐Revolutionaries.
Terror of the kulaks against communists and Soviet workers
In the period under review, the intensification of the activity of the kulaks finds its vivid expression in a number of cases of terror against communists, Soviet workers, village correspondents, etc., and after Siberia these phenomena are spread to other regions, especially the central ones. In the Central region in the Kursk province. kulaks beat the pre‐village council and set fire to his hut because he was able to reveal the concealment of 65 dess. land. In with. For a long time, there was a case of beating the selkor with his fists. In the Yaroslavl province. the land surveyor who was carrying out land surveying work was beaten with a fist. In the Oryol province. in the village. Horn of Eletsky the former chairman of the village council, who defended the interests of the poor, was killed with his fists; in Chernavskaya parish. killed by a shot through the window of the village correspondent of Yelets newspaper ʺNabatʺ. In the Tambov province. in one of the counties a group of kulaks terrorizes the Komsomol members, setting fire to their houses. In the Tula province. in the village. Vladychinoʹs house, where Selkor Matveyev lived, was burnt down from the secondary arson; while extinguishing the fire by the workers of the agricultural plant, one of them, who rushed to save the livestock of the villagekor, was greeted from around the corner with stones and stakes. In Siberia, there are still cases of terror of the kulaks. In October, there were three murders and eight cases of beatings of Komsomol members, communists and the poor, 4 cases of burning bread at the pre‐village councils and peasants, revealing hidden crops. Isolated cases of terror were noted in other regions as well. Political strengthening of the kulaks
Throughout the Union, there is a political strengthening of the kulaks, striving to exert their influence on the poor and middle peasants of the countryside. In the Central region, in the Nizhny Novgorod province. among the middle peasants who have fallen under the influence of the kulaks, one can hear statements that if there is a war, then ʺyou need to take up arms and go beat your rulers.ʺ In Vyatka lips. a similar mood is observed on the part of the demobilized Red Army soldiers. In the Kostroma province. Under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks, the peasants say that ʺthe worker has now become a master, works only 8 hours and receives a large salary, but they are tearing the skin off the peasants.ʺ In Kursk province. a case was noted when a group of kulaks convened a non‐party conference in the village. Leshchinka‐Platovskoe, where she spoke out against the Anglo‐Soviet treaty. In Siberia, it is becoming a frequent occurrence that the middle and even the poor peasants of the village fall under the influence of the kulaks. In the Far East, in some villages of the Khabarovsk u. there is a desire among young people to organize a peasant party. In one of the villages of the same province, the prekrestkom openly spoke at a meeting with monarchist agitation.
In Siberia and the Urals, the influence of the kulaks on rural communists is noted. In the Urals, rural communists took part in the re‐elections of the Soviets under the influence of the kulaks against the candidates designated by the cell.
One of the factors characterizing the political strengthening of the kulaks is the actively manifested striving for equality (Ukraine, Siberia and other regions). It is interesting that in Siberia there have been cases when kulaks, wanting to achieve equal rights with the poor, sent their sons to the Red Army.
Anti‐tax campaign
In connection with the tax campaign and grain procurements on the part of the kulaks and other anti‐Soviet element of the village [antitax agitation was carried out], and in some cases the anti‐tax agitation was of a hidden nature (agitation for petitions for a tax reduction or its addition among broad strata of the peasantry). In the Central District, both forms of anti‐tax campaigning were noted. In the Kaluga province. the kulaks spread a rumor in connection with the tax that the Soviet government was seeking to ruin the peasant farms. In one of the volosts of this province, a conference on the tax question was thwarted by the agitation of the kulaks. In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. the kulaks complain that the government is robbing the peasants. In the Yaroslavl province. anti‐tax campaigning is carried out by a former landowner, in Tambov ‐ the secretary of the village council. In the same province, at a volunteer conference, kulaks, those who entered the presidium tried to pass an anti‐tax resolution. In the Yaroslavl province. a case was noted when wealthy peasants did not pay the tax for 1923; in Kaluga, Kostroma and other central provinces, the kulaks are delaying the tax payment. Such anti‐tax agitation by example has a very negative effect on wide circles of the peasantry. In the Vladimir province. In addition to the kulaks, the former manufacturers and officials are campaigning against the tax. In the Volga region, the agitation of the kulaks for a tax reduction at non‐party conferences and the sending of walkers with requests for a discount is highly developed (Bashrespublika, Nemrespublika, Ulyanovsk Gubernia). The same is observed in the Western Territory in the Gomel province. and in Ukraine. In Siberia, agitation against the tax turns into agitation [against] the Soviet regime, and in some provinces the kulaks openly suggest ʺto stick out and not pay the tax.ʺ
Counterrevolutionary rumors
During the reporting period, the kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements of the village continued to spread all kinds of rumors about the imminent war and the arrival of Nikolai Nikolaevich, about the imminent accession to the throne of Mikhail Romanov and the fall of Soviet power, about the continuation of the Georgian uprising.
RED ARMY
Economic situation
Supply shortages. The supply of the parts with food items does not improve. We are going through a period of transition to a new supply principle. The activities of the district economic bodies remain unsystematic. Bureaucracy and lack of practical calculation are the main shortcomings in their work. Irrational use of loans, in addition, increases the self‐interest of individual responsible workers.
An example of this is the following facts.
In the clothing store of the Glavkhozsklad MVO for 5 years, one and a half million rawhide belts with hooks for entrenching property were kept motionless, as a result of which the belts rotted. In the warehouse of the regional food depot LVO 160,000 poods. flour has not been ventilated for 6 months and the bread baked from it has a musty feel. The 11 crates of butter stored in the same food store turned out to be covered with mold. In PrivO, 150,000 poods were to be procured by October 1. hay delivered only 35,000 and then substandard. In parts of the Western Military District, a case was noted when firewood, harvested on the spot for 15 rubles. per cubic meter sazhen, supplied by the contractor for 27 rubles. per cubic meter fathoms thanks to the passage of the delivery through a number of intermediaries.
Self‐procurement work is hampered by a shortage of qualified workers and a lack of instruction from above, and, in addition, insufficient provision of loans for self‐procurement. Local prices are often much higher than those sold by the center (identified in SKVO, ZVO, PrivO).
Unsatisfactory nutrition. As a result of the above phenomena, the food of the Red Army man is tasteless and often dangerous to health. Raw, bitter bread mixed with various substitutes and sand is issued in a number of parts (all districts). Cases of refusal of the Red Army to receive food have been registered. So, in the 64th regiment (SKVO), the Red Army men, having received lunch, took it to the cesspool. The cadets of the training school of the 84th regiment, returning after work to the barracks, refused to receive food as unfit. In the 6th Cavalry Division of the Western Military District in the book of complaints of the 31st Cavalry Regiment it was written: ʺIf they continue to feed this way, the squadron will refuse to work.ʺ
Outfit. The state of clothing allowance in the districts is drawn as follows. In the North Caucasus Military District, uniforms were worn out. Massive nakedness and overweight are noted. In cavalry units, 50% of the Red Army men wear torn tunics and wide trousers. Incomplete set of accessories 30‐50%. In the Moscow Military District (10th Rifle Corps), summer uniforms have worn out and the Red Army men wear greatcoats. Similar cases take place in LVO, ZVO and TF. This situation is mainly due to the nonsimultaneous arrival of all types of uniforms, intended according to the centerʹs plan, to the places, the substandard nature of some items of uniform.
Barracks. Barracks housing conditions did not improve due to the lack of loans for repairs and uniforms. In some parts, housing conditions even worsened due to the transfer to new camp sites (5th Cavalry Division). For the repair of the premises of the 5th division, a conservative estimate of 70,000 rubles is required, and the district has released 15,000. Units of the 13th Dagestan] division live in buildings that pose a danger to housing, and are very compacted. The command staff of the 13th and 28th divisions huddle in the basements, 4 families live in one room. In the LVO, the premises of the units located in Leningrad were badly damaged by the floods. On the lower floors, glass is broken, plaster is damaged, etc. In parts of the Moscow Military District, living quarters require equipment (10 cavalry division, a separate cavalry brigade and 10 corps). The same is observed in other districts.
The mood of the Red Army
Demobilization mood. The stated shortcomings of a material and everyday character have a negative effect on the mood of the Red Army soldiers. The youngstersʹ mood has worsened in comparison with the previous month. The dismissal of old servicemen significantly increased the demobilization mood that gripped all field units. Simulation and self‐mutilation have increased at the same time. The number of applications for resignation from service has increased. The tax campaign displeases the Red Army men living in the mood of the village. In general, the mood takes on a demobilizing character. In some units, the Red Army men declare that in the event of war, they either defect or stick a bayonet into the ground and surrender (26th division of the SVO).
The spread of rumors of war in the countryside lately contributed to the growth of demobilization sentiments, especially in the war. In letters to the village, the Red Army men express a certain fear of the war.
The kulaks. The army with the reinforcements that arrived included a mass of kulaks and anti‐Soviet rural intelligentsia, revealing themselves as a fully formed counter‐revolutionary element, awakening the Red Army masses, conducting agitation against Soviet power. The activities of the kulaks and anti‐Soviet intelligentsia are characterized by attempts to give an anti‐Soviet organized and active form to the decadent mood of the Red Army. This is confirmed by the growth of compatriot groups and the increasing organized manifestations of discontent by the Red Army. In order to rouse the masses, the kulaks emphasize the issues of the privileged position of the kompolitstaff in comparison with the Red Army and the city in comparison with the countryside, taking advantage of certain shortcomings and abnormalities. As a result, there is growing distrust in the command and especially in the political staff. which is clearly confirmed by the increasing number of cases of disruption of political conversations and ʺputting political instructors in the galoshesʺ. According to the number of kulak elements, the SVO stands out, where in each unit there are compatriot Red Army groups. Their leaders are the kulaks and the intelligentsia. In 26 divisions, 5 groups actively showed themselves. There are two divisions in 21.
Speeches by kulak groups. The speeches of these groups are characteristic: “When we were called up, they told us that our government would give us good conditions of service, that it would be good to feed, teach, etc. In reality, only different benefits are promised. So far we see that every day they are being chased on guard. As before, and now we have gentlemen‐commanders, commissars and in general responsible workers. ʺ More active groups of Red Army men use any topic at the political hour for misinterpretation, pointing out that the Soviet government does not carry out its slogans of protecting the interests of the peasantry. ʺWe are told about the oppression of workers and peasants in capitalist states, but we have what freedom, if the peasant tells the truth, he is dragged to the GPU.ʺ Such speeches are repeated many times. The statement of a member of one group is characteristic: “The kulaks are not exploiters. These are workers who do not reckon with working time, get up at 3 oʹclock and go to work, and the poor are lazy, and therefore poor. ʺ In the communications company of one of the units, a Red Army soldier once shouted: ʺBeat the Jews and Communards.ʺ Another Red Army soldier said that “the Soviet power leads the peasants by the nose like fools, and in the event of war the peasantry will break away from the Soviet power. The fact that the peasant is the owner and the worker proletarian is wrong ‐ the peasant leases land from the state. The peasant works 16‐20 hours, and the worker 8 hours and lives better than the peasant. ʺ In the 76th and 26th divisions, the groupings show themselves in criticizing the actions of command personnel and disrupting political conversations. In the communications units, a group of 40 intellectuals was formed. A number of cases of open actions of the members of this group were noted, aimed at disrupting studies and undermining the authority of the politician. They are especially active in the political hour, whereby means of questions (mostly anti‐Soviet in nature, such as: the dominance of Jews in everything, etc.) they try to disrupt political studies. Given the weakness of the political instructors, the group is trying to influence the mass of the Red Army. For its work, the group uses all kinds of extracurricular activities (sports, football, etc.). It is characteristic that there are also compatriot groups among the workers. So, in the light artillery division, a group of 13 people from the Bodaibo fields has the character of a lumpen‐proletarian. The leader of the group, who was arrested for self‐absence for 6 days, resisted the battalion commander with a Finnish knife and shouted ʺBodaibo, come to meʺ did not allow himself to be arrested. He was arrested with a summoned guard. In the communications units of the North Caucasus Military District, there are groups of Kiev‐Red Army men with bourgeois‐intellectuals, petty‐bourgeois ideology, conducting anti‐Soviet work. Due to their impact on the environment, there is a complete reluctance among the Red Army men to serve in the ranks of the Red Army, and all political work in this situation is reduced to zero. In the 4th company of the 8th training regimen there is a group of 35 people, under the influence of which the Red Army men in the classroom enter into an argument with the commanders, proving that ʺthis is not so,ʺ and the classes turn into a chaotic discussion. In the 63rd regiment of the Moscow Military District, there was a case of agitation by a Red Army soldier that the Communist Party consisted of only prisoners and supervisors. At the conference of the demobilized 2 brigades of the 6th division of the Western Military District, after the speech of the political workers, the demobilized person criticized the political workers. He also pointed out that no assistance is provided to the demobilized, etc. The Red Army men, especially the young ones, applauded. The conference was disrupted. Characteristic is the desire of a part of the kulaks to become full‐fledged through the organization of their sons in the army. In the Siberian Military District, the kulaks collected signatures about the ʺproletarian worldviewʺ of their sons and sent them to the camp despite the fact that they were not required at all. One of them, who managed to ʺarrangeʺ his son in the army, said at a village meeting: ʺMy son now serves, and I am a full citizen and have the right to vote at your meetings.ʺ
Kulaks, getting into the army, try to get into the party and the Komsomol (19th division).
Anti‐Soviet agitation. In addition to kulak elements, the units are also campaigning by members of anti‐Soviet parties. Two Red Army men of the signal company of the 5th corps of the Western Military District speak of their unwillingness to serve in the army due to their belonging to the anarchist party. In the medical unit of the 2nd cavalry division (UVO), during a search, a clerk suspected of organizing fascist cells was found with the seal of the ʺRussian Union of Fascistsʺ. A letter has been sent to armored train # 153 ʺBolshevikʺ with an assumed name. The letter contained Petliuraʹs appeal urging the Ukrainian population to rise up against the Bolshevik commissars, liberate Ukraine, etc. Along with this, there is an increase in anti‐Semitism in army units. In the auto armored division, anti‐Semitism is manifested in 20% of the Red Army men. The main motivation is the small number of Jews in the army. Anti‐Semitism is observed in all parts of the military defense not only from the side of the Red Army, but also from the command staff. In 9 ABO, they expressed regret that the Jews, the division commander, the commander and the armored vehicles (the last member of the RCP), were few killed in the civil war. The most serious group is the ukapists in the HEI. With the additional conscription of 1902, up to 50 people entered the army. They read the Ukapist newspapers, keep in touch with local organizations, and campaign for a subscription to the Ukapist newspaper (the 30th division has 40 subscribers).
Religious sentiments. The religious sentiments of the Red Army men in many parts have been eliminated, with the exception of sectarians, of whom there are a significant number in the army (MVO, LVO and ZVO). Their activity consists in communication with civilian sectarians and in some places in refusing to take up arms. However, they have almost no influence on the Red Army mass.
Command staff
Mood. The mood of the command staff is characterized by the consequences of two facts: a) The release of 5000 paints. The former officers consider them to be responsible for the dismissal from the army of the ʺbestʺ commanders. The noted increase in the ignorance of paints by the former officers, trying to keep the positions for the former officers. This should include mashing and non‐promotion of paints in the service. About 20 such cases have been identified recently (only 10 over the past month). In all parts of the 27th and 5th divisions of the Western Military District, there is a tense relationship between the former officers and the paints. The former officers keep themselves isolated, trying to compromise the paints at every step. The same situation is observed in the ZVO armored brigade, 44 divisions of the UVO.
The desire of the command staff from the former officers to one‐man command. The commanders from the former officers strive to implement the decree of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the one‐man command as soon as possible and on the widest scale. On this basis, the ignorance of political workers is increasing and cases of open advocacy for the apoliticality of the army are recorded. In the cavalry units of the Western Military District, the LVO, and the SVO, extremely unhealthy relationships are observed between the command and political personnel. The command staff seeks to provoke antagonism and emphasize the incorrectness of the line of behavior of political workers, their absolute incompetence in special issues and tries to isolate themselves from their influence. In the 5th division of the North Caucasus Military District, the Cavalry Division petitioned the inspector of the cavalry of the North Caucasus Military District and the RKKKh with a request to remove the division commander, military commander and military commander from the division, considering that it was impossible to work with them given the line they had taken. On the part of the former, there is a noticeable desire to move quickly to one‐man management,
The growth of groupings of command personnel from the former officers. In general, the decree of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the one‐man command of the command personnel is regarded not as a means for improving the structure of the army, but as a means for getting rid of influence and observing political oversight. On this basis, there is an increase in groupings among the command staff from the former officers, who are increasingly taking on a political connotation. At the same time, the size of drunkenness, rudeness and hypocrisy does not decrease. In the artillery of the 1st corps of the LVO, there are two groups of former officers. Recently, women have been involved in them. They behave carefully, take an active part in ignoring paints. In 51 divisions of the UVO there is a grouping consisting of a pomkomdiv, a regiment commander and three battalions. A command group in 21 divisions of the Western Military District spread a rumor that a concentration of foreign (white) and red troops was taking place on the eastern border of the USSR, that hostilities had begun,
The rudeness of the command staff. In the relationship between the Red Army men and the commanders, rudeness is still observed, in some places it even increases (in September there were 272 cases of rude relations between the commanders and the Red Army men, and in August 247). Undeserved outfits, stamping with feet, shouts of ʺshut upʺ, running race, street swearing are observed in many parts. Cases of drunkenness in August 290, September 491, hypocrisy in September 58 cases.
ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES AND GROUPS
Anarchists
In Moscow, there is a revival among the anarchist students: circles are organized and underground work is being established. There are connections with the underground of Leningrad. A group of illegal anarcho‐publishing house resumed its work. Revival was also observed among the anarchists of the Moscow and OrekhovoZuevsky districts.
In Leningrad, the activity of the anarcho‐underground among workers, students and military men continues to intensify. Circumstances prevail, and contacts are maintained with foreign countries and other cities of the underground. Anarchist activity is also noted locally. In the Arkhangelsk province. agitation is underway among water workers. In Ust‐Sysolsk, intensified agitation was carried out by exiled socialist revolutionaries, in the Cherepovets province. an anarchist appeal appeared. In Smolensk, an initiative bureau continues its illegal work to convene the regional congress of anarchists. In Simferopol, a desire was noted to pursue the anarchist line in cooperation. In the Volga region, there is a revival in all groups, the Saratov group produced an ex (taken 10,000 rubles of state money). In the Urals (Ishim district), the speeches of active anarchists against the communists were noted: anarchists here organize a ʺbutter‐making cooperative partnership.ʺ In the Rostov district, the anarchists, together with the exiles, go to underground work. In Transbaikalia, the desire of individual anarchists to join the RCP in order to disintegrate the party from within was noted.
In Moscow, Leningrad, Bryansk, Gomel provinces and in the Urals (Kungursk district), operations were carried out against anarchists. In Leningrad, there are members of the Komsomol among the arrested leaders of anarchist circles. The Sevastopol and Yalta anarchist groups were liquidated.
Mensheviks
The arrests of active members of the RSDLP, carried out during the reporting period, severely paralyzed the activities of the partyʹs central apparatus, which had already begun to show active work within the organization. A total of 28 active Mensheviks were arrested in Moscow and Leningrad. No illegal party literature was released. In the localities, the press continues to receive statements about the withdrawal from the RSDLP, which indicates the ideological disintegration of the party.
Socialist revolutionaries
Abroad. The next issue of Revolutionary Russia published in Prague contains a message from Moscow from the newly formed party center with a statement that the activities undertaken jointly with the ZD to eliminate the detected provocation in the party ranks in Russia can be considered completed. Affected by the provocation, the Temporary Organizational Bureau was dissolved. A new center was organized, separated from the groups and regions not affected by the provocation. The links of the center with the places are organized and reorganized.
In connection with the announcement of Seletsky as a provocateur, ZD attacked Zenzinov, who gave Selitsky, without the knowledge of ZD, a letter of recommendation to the person in charge of organizing an underground party connection between the ZD and the Central Bank of the AKP. By a special resolution of the ZD AKP Zenzinov was found guilty of appropriating the right of a member of the ZD.
In Berlin, fierce agitation is being waged against the USSR (ʺCommittees for Assistance to Russian Exiles and Prisonersʺ chaired by Zenzinov) in connection with the repressions of the cogovernment against the ʺsocialistsʺ, fictitious reports of murders and bullying in Soviet prisons are being published.
Work in the USSR. Among the Socialist‐Revolutionaries in the USSR, there is complete confusion and discouragement everywhere. This is facilitated by mass statements by members of the AKP of workers and labor intellectuals in the press about their withdrawal from the party. Over 100 people left the party in October in the Urals and the Western Territory. Prominent underground figures are also infected with these sentiments.
Exiled Social Revolutionaries. A more solid base of right‐wing socialist revolutionaries can be considered exiles and prisoners in camps. But here, too, there is decay. For example, one of the prominent right‐wing socialist‐revolutionaries (Lerman, in the party since 1905) declared that he sincerely wishes to join the RCP and considers himself a ʺMarxist in the Bolshevik spiritʺ; he is currently lecturing on Marxism and Leninism. Even more symptomatic is the withdrawal from the party of one of the oldest members of the Socialist‐Revolutionary Party Frumin (in 1902 he was introduced to the party by G.A. Gershuni, was a member of the underground Central Bank of the AKP), who made an extensive motivated statement in the press in which he rejected idealism and called for members of the Socialist‐Revolutionary Party break with the old reactionary ideology hostile to the proletariat.
Union of Right Socialist Revolutionaries and Maximalists
In October, prominent leaders of the Central Bank of the association were arrested for underground work. The search revealed correspondence with foreign countries and the provinces, the 13th issue of the ʺBulletin of the Central Bankʺ and maximalist literature. The arrest caused panic among the members of the association. The remaining members of the Central Bank of the association are waiting for the final liquidation of the association. The ties with the provinces and abroad have virtually been cut off. Also ceased Sunday political outlook in the club of the association.
In a letter to a member of the Central Bank of the association Selivanov, Steinberg (member of the ZDLSR) informs about the proposed convocation of the IV International.
Monarchists in the USSR
Groupings. In some places, the activity of monarchical elements is noted. In Crimea, after the liquidation of the bandomonarchist organization and the subsequent repressions against anti‐Soviet elements, there are nevertheless the presence of formalized and unformed monarchist groups that set themselves the goal of fighting the Soviet regime in deep underground conditions. Active antiSoviet work is being carried out here among the intelligentsia and white officers. In Novonikolaevsk, a group was discovered that was preparing an uprising and supplying former white officers with fictitious military documents. In with. Karasevo Cherepanovsky u. Novonikolaevskaya lips. the kulak group was revealed. In the Urals (Chelyabinsk District), monarchical elements are associated with abroad, from where they receive materials for their campaigning.
In September, the liquidation of clandestine counter‐revolutionary organizations associated with trans‐cordon monarchist organizations was carried out in Ukraine. 1,329 people were arrested. Most of the groups have been liquidated.
Distribution of literature. In a number of provinces, the dispatch of monarchist appeals received from abroad continues (intercepted in the provinces of Tambov, Tsaritsyn, Ukraine and Mari regions). In Tataria, handwritten counter‐revolutionary journals sent by mail to railway employees and various institutions were seized. Every month from 4,000 to 5,000 foreign counter‐revolutionary newspapers and 100‐150 letters with monarchist leaflets folded in them pass through the Moscow Post Office. Of the newspapers, the
Socialist Revolutionary ʺDaysʺ dominate ‐ 67%, the cadet ʺRulʺ ‐ 19%, the cadet ʺLatest Newsʺ ‐ 5%.
A typical counterrevolutionary letter (received through Harbin) contains: 1) a guide, apparently drawn up for re‐emigrants to establish a network of addressees, 2) the proclamation “Russian people, our dear brothers and sisters” (Nikolai Nikolaevichʹs groups), “To the workers” and “ Red Army ʺ‐ all of theʺ Union for the Salvation of Russia ʺ, 3) the leafletʺ Russia and the Jews ʺ, 4) a reprint of a note about the Soviet Government from theʺ Courier of Warsaw ʺ, 5) the announcement of theʺ Union for the Salvation of Russia ʺ, suggesting donating to the monarchist fund, 6) extract from the newspaper ʺRulʺ (conversation with a worker who fled from Russia), 7) a postcard with an appeal to donate to Nikolai Nikolayevich, 8) an Orthodox symbol of faith, 9) Shaklovityʹs reworked aria from the opera ʺKhovanshchinaʺ. The entire contents of the letter are neatly pasted over with a parcel post on which it is announced, that propaganda literature is sent no later than three days from the date of receipt of the request. It is curious that in the above‐mentioned announcement of the Union for the Salvation of Russia, it is proposed to keep receipts and receipts for contributions to national needs as evidence of work for the liberation of Russia. In another sheet, the same union states that the certificate of work is sent to the addressee upon receipt of 20 valid addresses from him. In a postcard with an appeal to donate for the liberation of Russia, the ʺUnion of Salvationʺ invites the addressee, for its part, to call for donations from at least three people of his acquaintances.
Zionists
The Zionists are very active. In Gomel, Zionist‐socialists who arrived from Snovsk for organizational work were arrested, and Zionist literature was found in their presence; in Gorvali (Gomel province) there are strictly conspiratorial organizations of the rightwing ʺGekholutsʺ and ʺGashomer ‐ Gatsoirʺ. In Pochep, Bryansk province. and in Saratov, there are illegal Gekholutsa groups; Poale Zionists are interested in their activities. Illegal activities of the
Zionists were noted in Leningrad (under the guise of ʺGekholutsʺ). In the Irkutsk province. the Subbotnik sect is associated with the Zionists.
A revival among Zionist groups is also noted throughout
Ukraine; With the termination of financial support from the ʺAraJointʺ, communication is being established with foreign countries to receive funds. In September, leaflets ʺTo the Jewish Working Populationʺ were distributed in connection with the elections for the upcoming congress of national minorities. The liquidation of the Zionist organizations was carried out; 422 people were arrested, including a number of prominent Zionists.
[CLERGY]
Orthodox clergy
Tikhonites. In a number of localities there is a definite strengthening of the Tikhonites. Illegal ecclesiastical and administrative centers are opposed to renovation work in some provinces. These are diocesan administrations (Vitebsk, SeveroDvinskoe, Irkutsk, etc.), episcopal councils of the most active priests (Bryansk, Leningrad and other cities), district‐level associations around vicar bishops. Along with this, there are organizations of the laity exclusively for the fight against the renovationists (the ʺChurch Defense Committeeʺ in the city of Smolensk, the ʺInitiative Groupʺ in the city of Irkutsk, the ʺSpiritual Committeeʺ in Yakutia, etc.).
The Tikhonites are trying to legalize illegal institutions (Moscow Diocesan Administration). In the Donskoy Monastery, which unites the center of Tikhon, meetings are held on the composition of the synod being organized.
Monks. Monasteries (Primorskaya, Tatrespublika, etc.) are developing intensive anti‐Renovation work. Monastics develop these activities in remote areas. In the Cherepovets lips. the monks of the male monastery, transferred to the Renovationists, aroused against the last peasants. A crowd of peasants up to 300 people began to beat the renovationists and fled only with the arrival of a military detachment.
Anti‐Soviet agitation of the Tikhonites. Everywhere the Tikhonists are conducting anti‐Soviet agitation, spreading all kinds of provocative rumors. Bishop Yaroslavl made accusatory speeches against the ʺgodless government.ʺ Any event unfavorable to the Soviet regime (crop failure, flooding, etc.) is used to emphasize the manifestation of the ʺpunishment of Godʺ (Oryol province), in Primorskaya province. the priestʹs agitation among the Red Army men was noted. The spread of rumors about Nikolai Nikolaevich and Kirill Vladimirovich by the priests was noted.
Renovators. Renovators in the reporting period weakened somewhat. This was also noted in Siberia, where the Renovationists were especially strong (17 churches were transferred to the Tikhonovites in Omsk province, 22 churches in Altai). In the Gomel province. a priest attended a meeting called by the renovationist diocesan administration. In the Samara province. the Renovationist bishop and almost the entire Pugachev district, which was renovated, passed to the Tikhonites.
In view of the weak support of the renovationists from the laity, they are poorly secured financially and the mood among them is depressive. At the congress of the Renovationists in Siberia, many even firm renovationists expressed the idea that they should not have started a struggle with the Tikhonists, since only Soviet power would benefit from this. The tendencies towards reconciliation with Tikhon are strong and even slipped through at some congresses of the Renovationists.
Fight against Tikhonovism. Along with this, an intensified struggle against Tikhonovism is being waged in some places in renovationist circles. The Siberian Renovationist Church Council created the ʺfive to fight against Tikhonovism.ʺ ʺTroikasʺ have also been created in the provinces of Transbaikal, Akmola, Moscow, Tatrespublika, and others. Areas where the Renovationists are strong: Crimea, Leningrad, Tatrespublika (except Kazan), Ulyanovsk province, Turkestan.
Cultists
Recently, assistance from abroad has increased to all kinds of sectarian groups. In Poland, a Union for the Help of Evangelical Christians was formed, containing preachers and evangelical elders in the regions bordering on Poland. Preachers receive from 80 to 180 rubles. per month. Baptists receive aid through American Baptist aid organizations. Its representatives work in Siberia. Mennonites also receive help from America, many of them going to America. The Adventist sect receives large funds for sanitary and medical work, but with the condition of recruiting personnel from the sectarians.
Sect activity. The intensive work of evangelists to increase the number of their sects is noted. The evangelicals spent a ʺweek of evangelismʺ throughout the Union. Adventists instruct their branches to attract a certain number of sectarians to the sects (the sect has increased significantly throughout the Union). There is a split between the elderly and young people, who gravitate towards cultural work and the RKSM (the split among the Molokans is especially strong). Cultists are fighting this by creating their own youth organizations.
Attitude towards service in the Red Army. On the issue of military service, most of the sects have definitely spoken out negatively, or, in extreme cases, for service in the army, but carrying it without weapons in their hands. On this basis, a split is observed in the sects. In Moscow, two communities withdrew from subordination to the All‐Russian Union of Evangelical Christians. The Molokans and the ʺNew Israelʺ sect recognized the fundamental possibility of military service at the congress in Samara.
BANDITRY
Centre. In the Central District, there is an increase in criminal banditry. Members of gangs in some provinces are almost exclusively peasants, of whom 5% are former bandits, 40% of released criminals, 40% are middle peasants and 15% are poor people who have no earnings (Voronezh province). Along with criminality, cases of fires motivated by revenge on the part of a criminal element have become more frequent. In total, there are 22 gangs of 141 people in the district, during the reporting period, 3 leaders were captured and voluntarily surrendered, ordinary bandits were captured, 191 people were killed and wounded.
Northwest. In the North‐West, the most active criminal‐political gang of
Oberon, operating in Velizhsky district. Pskov lips. and partly supported by the local population. Along the way, the border crossing to our side is noted both by individuals and by groups with counter‐revolutionary goals. A 12‐man gang, organized by the head of the Rosenovsky point, captain Ackerman, crossed our border in the Voguli area and having made several raids, returned back.
Criminal banditry is on the rise in Latvia. There are many former white officers in the gangs. In total there are 16 bands and 117 bayonets. During the reporting period, 3 leaders were captured and killed, and 34 privates.
West. In the western provinces, not only local criminal‐political gangs are active, but also foreign ones. On October 2, in the area of Rubezhevichi, a well‐armed gang of 12 people came over to our side under the command of an agent of the Nesvizh militia Kaminsky with the aim of raiding the training commandantʹs offices and releasing the arrested. The gangʹs raids were prevented by timely measures. Kaminsky was wounded and
committed suicide; the rest fled back to Polish territory.
There was a raid by Shevchenkoʹs gang on a police detachment and a wreck of an Odessa train on the stretch of st. Navlya ‐ Altuhovo in view of a maliciously embroidered path.
In Poland, gangs are formed for raids on Soviet territory by the captain of the Polish army Dombrowski, who traveled in the last days of September to the area where the Polish cavalry was located in order to recruit volunteers. Recruitment is also carried out in the area of the town of Dokshitsy; recruits are given a horse, weapons and civilian clothes.
The total number of gangs in the inner region is 35 to 250 people, abroad ‐ 9 to 79 people. The leaders were captured and killed 5, privates ‐ 114. The political gang Romsikovʹ‐Bestuzhev was liquidated from the purged students.
Ukraine. Criminal‐political gangs continue to operate in Ukraine; they are especially amazed by the Chernihiv region, where the Sapov‐Nesukaya gang is active, which committed a large raid on the Bereznoe metro station (the gang killed the assistant to the head of the Chernigov provincial police), wounded the deputy chief of the provincial criminal investigation department, a local peopleʹs judge, disarmed part of the police, robbed a postal and telegraph office shops. Along the way, there are raids and shelling of trains (trains No. 14 at Bilmachevka station and train No. 3 on the stretch of Tarashchanskaya station), cases of train crashes (crash of high‐speed train No. 8 and passenger No. 13), cases of robbery of state and cooperative institutions in Kherson, the cash desk of the regional branch of the Khleboprodukt was robbed, the artel workers of the Nabutov sugar plant were robbed. There are frequent incidents of burning bridges, attacks on bridge guards, on railway booths and arson of peasant farms. The increase in criminal banditry is explained by the release of criminals from the detention facilities (1,200 people were released in Yekaterinoslav), unemployment and poor harvest.
A total of 47 gangs of 372 people are registered. The leaders were captured, killed and wounded 13, ordinary bandits ‐ 20, 491 accomplices were arrested.
Southeast. In the South‐East, the gangs of Kiselev, Shepshev Ali‐Bulat are active, and the Malakhutin gang in the Maikop district is also emerging, which allegedly intends to contact the remnants of the Georgian insurgents located beyond the pass.
An armed uprising of the Ingush was noted with. Agusht, Upper and Lower Alkuna (against the Khevsurs). For details, see the ʺEastern Autonomous Regionsʺ section. During the reporting period, we captured the ringleader Ryabokon, liquidated Kozlovʹs gang. There is a partial voluntary surrender of both individual leaders and gangs. A total of 35 gangs of 566 people. 7 leaders surrendered and killed, 70 ordinary bandits.
Transcaucasia. In Transcaucasia we are disarming the population of Upper Svaneti. The leaders of the gangs, of whom most were princes, fled to the mountains. The population of Lomballo (Armenia) is also being disarmed. The leaders were arrested. Disarmament is planned in other villages adjacent to Lomballo. Only 17 gangs of 168 people are registered. The leaders were captured 1, ordinary bandits were captured and 88 people were killed.
Volga region. In the Volga region, gang activity is manifested in Tsaritsyn, Astrakhan and Saratov provinces. Particularly distinguished here are the political band of Kiselev, the criminal ‐ Kozoborov, who bears the nickname ʺKing of the Nightʺ, and Tsekirov. I am glad of open raids on the ʺKing of the Nightʺ gangs in Balashovsky district. rebuilt the peasants against the bandits, the peasants ask for weapons to fight them.
The total number of gangs in the Volga, Ural and Kir regions is 41 to 496 people. The leaders were killed 1, ordinary bandits were captured, 47 people were killed and wounded.
Siberia. In Siberia, mainly in Yakutia and in part of the Irkutsk province, attempts by political bandits to organize a mass armed movement have been noted. A fertile ground for this was created by the illegal actions of the Ayan representatives of the Soviet government in Yakutia. Excessive taxes and extremely high food prices. The population of the areas affected by banditry is terrorized; fearing attacks, local communards and cooperatives are evacuated.
There are 27 gangs in 437 people. The leaders were killed and captured 3, ordinary bandits ‐ 28.
Middle Asia. In Central Asia, along with the private decomposition of the Basmachi of Western Bukhara, there is ongoing activity in other regions of Turkestan and especially in Eastern Bukhara (raids on representatives of the Soviet government, individual detachments and garrisons of the Red Army and the peaceful kishlak population). The Basmachi impose taxes on the population (Khojent region in Samarkand region and the Gissar region in Eastern Bukhara), mobilize to replenish their gangs. There are group transitions to the side of the Basmachi militiamen, sometimes with weapons and protected amounts (Kerminen district in Western Bukhara and Dyushamba district in Eastern Bukhara).
Along with the activity of the gangs, their leaders carry out organizational work. On October 4, at a meeting of the kurbashs of Ibrahim‐bek, Rahman Dodkho, Gayur‐bek and the representative of Khuran‐bek, a resolution was issued on joint actions, and at the same time, in order to distract our units, they are demonstrating by small detachments. Noteworthy is the attack by Mulla Rajabʹs gang of our lowered plane, one pilot was killed, two were captured and shot. The gang took a Lewis machine gun.
There are 53 gangs with 1888 men and 11 machine guns. During the reporting period, 10 leaders were captured and ordinary bandits were killed, wounded and captured 197 people.
Far East. In the Far East, actions of both local and foreign gangs continue to be observed on the Amur, in Primorye and in the Buryat‐Mongolian Republic. Gangs raid railway stations, bridges and mines.
In the coming months on the part of the foreign counter‐revolution, in connection with its shaken position in China, the possibility of new attempts to transfer gangs to Soviet territory is not excluded.
Abroad, there are 25 gangs of 2288 people. On the territory of the Far East there are 33 gangs of 530 people. 72 ordinary bandits were captured, killed and wounded.
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Yagoda
Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Prokofiev
Correct: Secretary Soloviev
ATTACHMENT
EASTERN AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC
1. The relationship between Russians and natives
Comparative economic situation of Russians and natives. As a relic of the colonization policy of the tsarist government, a number of facts are revealed that confirm the better provision of the farms of the Russian peasantry in comparison with the neighboring native population. This is most clearly manifested in the supply of agricultural implements, the lack of it among the natives leads to the mass leasing of their lands by the native population to the Russian peasantry. In Bashkiria, Bashkirs renting out land come to tenants as farm laborers. In the Kyrgyz Republic, despite the possibility of obtaining their own allotments, there are numerous cases of Kyrgyz farm laborers working for the Russians (villages were identified in which each peasant has one or two Kyrgyz farm laborers). In Ossetia, there are only 2,890 plow plows and 4 seeders for 8095 farms, and the equipment is so worn out that during experimental plowing the plow took no deeper than one and a half inches.
This phenomenon was reflected in connection with the drought of the current year. So, in the Semipalatinsk province. (Kyrgyzstan) the drought affected mainly the Kyrgyz economy. In Akmola province, which has only 40% of the Kyrgyz population, 60% of the total number of people starving for the Kyrgyz falls (this is under conditions of great difficulty in taking into account the affected Kyrgyz population).
Also, characteristic are data on the development of latrine trades in the Republic of Tatarstan. They are most developed, reaching 70% of the pre‐war period, precisely in the Mamadysh canton, Tatar by ethnic composition of the population. In the Tetyushi canton, 75% of those who leave for work are natives.
Finally, against the background of the worst economic conditions among the indigenous population, diseases are most developed. In Kazalinsky district (Turkestan) and some auls of the North Caucasus, up to 90% of the native population is infected with syphilis. In the Tashkent district (Turkestan) and Akmola u. (KSSR) skin and stomach diseases are rampant among the natives. Cooperation. The problems of raising agriculture, as well as cultural and educational work in the countryside, are the weakest among the indigenous population. In Aktobe province. (Kyrgyzstan), a survey of cooperative associations revealed that Kyrgyz cooperatives, with 75% of the indigenous population, have only 5%. In Semipalatinsk province. At the congress of commissioners of consumer cooperation, a delegate from the Kyrgyz population pointed out that the gubernatorial union had not undertaken anything to cooperate with the indigenous population, that the Kyrgyz EPOs were satisfied in the second order, that the only cooperative magazine published in the Kyrgyz language was closed by the gubernia union.
School. In most areas with indigenous populations, teachers are former mullahs. The school, as, for example, in the indigenous cantons of Tataria, which is comparatively the most cultured, presents 4 walls without any hint of school inventory. 70% of children (Tatars) stay out of school here this year. Similar phenomena are observed in Armenia.
Grassroots Soviet apparatus. Gross manifestations of colonialism and chauvinism on the part of the lower workers of the Soviet apparatus have not been eliminated. In Bashkiria, complaints are received from the population about the rough treatment of natives who do not know the Russian language by representatives of local authorities and medical personnel. In the same place, during the unloading of orphanages, most of the Bashkirs were cleaned up, forced to go to the villages to collect alms.
Russian lease of the lands of the natives. As noted above, the lack of provision of the indigenous population with agricultural implements forces them to lease their lands to the Russian peasantry. The latter own relatively small plots of land. In Bashkiria, in some regions, Russian peasants per capita have 1 / 2‐1 dess. while the neighboring Bashkirs up to 15 dess. In the Adyghe‐Circassian region. Russians have allotments half as much as Circassians. In view of this, the more powerful Russian farms can only expand by leasing land from the natives. The size of the latter can be judged by the fact that in Bashkiria alone, the Mikhailovsky rural society for the land rented from the Bashkirs was given in the past season, with extremely low rent, 413 rams.
Fight for land. On this basis, the antagonism develops between the desire of the Russians to appropriate the rented area, on the one hand, and the desire of more or less recovered indigenous farms to start independent cultivation of their land, on the other. Clashes often take on the character of real beatings. So, in the AdygeaCircassian region. on the basis of the statement of the Circassians about the desire to take back the land leased to the Cossacks, a fight broke out, as a result of which 20‐30 people were beaten. Frequent cases of fights on the same ground have been noted between the Russians and the Kirghiz (Kirrespublika). In the already noted Adyghe region. at the beginning of the reporting period, a serious conflict was brewing over the consolidation of the lands they used in the Circassian village. What such a conflict could result in is indicated by the example of Chechnya, where, according to September data, in a short time, 6 Chechens and 10 Cossacks were killed on this basis. In Bashkiria, two Russian peasants were killed on the basis of similar disputes with the Bashkir peasantry.
Settlement of nomadic herders. Another factor causing the greatest number of conflicts is the land management of the formerly settled areas in pastoralist areas. The spontaneous process of the transition to agriculture of ruined pastoralists, mainly due to the cutting of Russian allotments, is indicated by the supply only in 4 auls of the Akmola province. (KSSR) 321 applications for the provision of land. The Russian peasantry, opposing the land management of the settling nomads, resorts to all sorts of measures, often disastrously reflected in the economy of the natives. So, in Akmola province. The Russian village prohibits the Kirghiz from using a watering hole from a nearby lake, as a result of which the Kirghiz have Bainetkor vol. the loss of livestock begins.
Parallel to this, there is pressure from the natives. There are massive cases of damage to Russian crops and cattle theft. The conflicts arising on this basis take on the dimensions of the collision of entire villages. So, in Akmola province. after the Russians shot down a Kirghiz caught in their crops, the natives launched an organized attack on the Russian village. The tendency that developed on this basis towards the expulsion of Russians from the eastern outskirts is now widespread throughout Turkestan, Kyrgyzstan and partly other regions. In some places in Turkestan, there have been cases of the Russian peasantry selling off their property.
The economic stratification of the Russian countryside. The characteristic features of the stratification within the Russian countryside should be taken into account. The latter are determined by the class character of the grouping of the Russian peasantry (Cossacks, immigrants). Since within the one‐class groups the economic power of the economy is almost the same, the exploitation of the rest of the village by the Russian kulaks extends mainly to foreign or foreign groups. In the main, the development of exploitation proceeds along the line of the growth of farming.
Growth of farming. The widely developed exploitation of farm laborers in some areas assumes very wide dimensions. In Kyrgyzstan, in many localities, each farm contains several farm laborers, and some have up to 10 people. Only in three districts of Aktobe province. (Kyrgyzstan) 1240 laborers are registered (this is in case of massive cases of refusal of laborers to register under pressure from the owners). In Bashkiria, in one Fedorovskaya vol. there are (again, only registered) 100 laborers. The position and degree of exploitation of farm laborers can be characterized by mass cases of work exclusively for grub, dismissal of farm laborers by their owners without paying them maintenance, and, finally, even cases of death threats upon complaints of ill‐treatment. In Aktobe province. only 13 people are insured (1240 laborers are registered).
The political mood of the Russian countryside. The specific conditions of the Russian countryside in the eastern outskirts (the struggle against the native population) significantly weaken the development of the class struggle and the formation of the class ideology of the opposite social strata in it. The politically formed kulak stratum in its pure form can be recognized only in individual cases in areas where the Russian population lives more significant and isolated in the sense of contact with the indigenous masses, which is encountered only as an exception. Because of this, the defining moment here is dissatisfaction on the basis of a clash with indigenous nationalities. Even in Tartary, where relations between Russians and natives are most settled (of course, comparatively), in the Chelninsky canton there were rumors about the arrangement of the Bartholomew night over the Russians. Numerous rumors about the beating and eviction of the Russian peasantry are spreading throughout Kyrgyzstan and the Kirghiz regions of Turkestan. In Bashkiria, the same kind of phenomena is added to the growth of discontent in connection with the provision of tax incentives to the natives.
Discontent of the Cossacks. Discontent among the Cossacks in the Kirrespublik (in the Irtysh zone of the Semipalatinsk province) takes on particular harshness. The Cossacksʹ dissatisfaction with the land management of the Kirghiz and other national reforms took on such acute forms that a case of agitation was noted: ʺIf this continues, we will need to act.ʺ Even more characteristic information relating to the most recent time came from the Ural province. Here, on the part of the Cossacks, a tendency has been established to separate into an ʺautonomous Cossack republicʺ, on the basis of which rumors are spread about the arrival of Comrade. Trotsky and about his arrest of Kyrgyz officials in charge.
Relationships between different indigenous nationalities
Land‐use conflicts. The position of the eastern autonomous regions, in addition to the above‐mentioned struggle between the Russians and the natives, is characterized no less by the clashes between national and clan groups also, mainly on the basis of land use.
Information about land disputes and conflicts arising on this basis between representatives of various indigenous nationalities comes from almost all localities with a mixed ethnic composition of the population. In Bashkiria, in one of the volosts, on the basis of land disputes between the Chuvashes and the Bashkirs, the latter launched an offensive against the Chuvash, campaigning for their expulsion from the authorities and cooperative associations, in which the Chuvash did not use credit before. In Tataria, in the Tetyushsky canton, conflicts over land between the Chuvash and the Tatars demanded the intervention of the volost bodies due to the intention of the Tatar village to beat the neighboring Chuvashes. In Dagestan, land disputes between Dagestanis and urban Jews are widespread. Pasture disputes between village Dagestanis. Taido and the Chechens sat down. Hoi caused a clash
Cattle theft and mutual robbery. On the night of September 29‐30, a detachment of Ingush in the amount of 250‐300 armed horsemen (three large families) attacked a number of villages in Khevsureti (Georgia). In with. Agnoni, after a 4‐hour skirmish, the Ingush took all the livestock and 22 prisoners. In with. Akhieli completely plundered 23 houses and taken away 1,500 heads of small, 1,000 large livestock and up to 30 horses. Selected 57 rifles and 18 revolvers. The attackers had three machine guns. During the retreat, the Ingush destroyed everything that they could not take with them, down to a stack of bread. Losses caused by the raid are calculated up to 1 million rubles. The Khevsurs pulled off the armed forces from all the villages and told the Georgian government that if the loot was not returned to them, they would go to war against the Ingush. (At present, the issue is being resolved by a commission of representatives from Georgia and Ingushetia). In the ChechenDagestan border zone, 80 head of cattle were stolen by the Chechens from the inhabitants of one of the Dagestan villages. The Dagestanis, in turn, stole 70 heads, on what basis a shootout took place between the Dagestanis and the Chechens.
Participation of representatives of the authorities in ethnic hatred. According to some reports, the instigators of the Ingush attacks on the Khevsur were the chairman of the Ingush Revolutionary Committee and a number of other senior officials of Ingushetia. The involvement of representatives of the authorities in conflicts [between] individual nationalities is also typical for other eastern outskirts. In connection with the national demarcation of Turkestan, this manifested itself in a sharp form in the mixed UzbekKyrgyz regions. So, in Osh district. the antagonism between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz by local workers was exaggerated to such an extent that when a commission to determine the borders of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Republic left for the districts, the Kyrgyz auls did not allow Uzbek workers even to spend the night. On the part of the Uzbek population, under the influence of the agitation of Uzbek workers, there was an increased filing of applications for the allocation of volosts with the Uzbek population from Kyroblast. Similar cases were noted in the Syr‐Darya region. between Uzbeks and Kazakhs‐Kyrgyz.
Generic and inter‐village contradictions and struggle. The main manifestation of the national and tribal struggle is focused on the issue of land use and mutual robbery. The first takes on a particularly sharp form in the North Caucasus, where land disputes between individual auls often entail armed clashes. In Chechnya, clashes between two villages took the form of a real front with trenches, as a result of the clash 6 people were killed and 10 injured. Due to the unresolved land issue, there are frequent clashes in Kurdistan (Azerbaijan). In Kyrgyzstan, in the Semipalatinsk province. land contradictions between two clans in Charskaya parish. reached fights and led to a massive cattle stealing from one of the clans. Baranta (cattle stealing) is developing so strongly in Kyrgyzstan that the presence of armed cattle‐stealing gangs is noted. In Semipalatinsk province. a gang of 40 armed men was identified. In Akmola province. To resolve conflicts on the basis of cattle‐theft developed in the clans of Akmola and Karkaralinsky districts, a special commission was created under the chairmanship of a member of the Kyrgyz CEC, which considered 957 controversial cases within two months. In the Aulie‐Ata region of the Syr‐Darya region. In Turkestan, there were several cases of attacks of certain clans on their opponents, and in one of the cases up to 300 horsemen participated in the attack.
Reflection of the struggle on the lower apparatus of power. In Kyrgyzstan, the struggle between clans during the ongoing re‐elections of the Soviets literally captured the entire rural population. The clans and groups not represented in the old composition of the Soviets tried to seize them this time, uniting and blocking against the groups that had won the previous elections. Members of the party, election commissions and representatives of PECs were drawn into the struggle, as a result of this, in many cases, representatives of only one association were again included in the Councils. Similar phenomena are observed in Turkestan. Here the struggle is accompanied by bribery, which sometimes reaches colossal proportions for the village. So, in Maitya parish. up to 15,000 rubles were spent to obtain a portfolio of Predvik, in Badinskaya vol. (SyrDarya region) 1,000 rubles were spent for the same purpose. and 2 horses. In the Samarkand region.
The activities of the group that seized the Soviet were characterized by the above‐mentioned attack by 300 people on a hostile aul in Aulie‐Ata u. Turkestan, in which a representative of the local government took part. When the arriving criminal investigation officer arrested the leaders of the attack ‐ persons associated with the family that carried out the attack, the head. the PEC administration department immediately arrested this commissioner and released the detained persons.
How strong is the generic or family moment in all the cases noted above is indicated by the example of the Ural region? (KSSR), where even among the Kyrgyz workers of Dossor, the development of enmity between representatives of two different clans was noted, which led to the fact that one of them, having seized the post of the pre‐labor committee, gradually survives from the enterprise of representatives of the other.
Taxes. The struggle of the groupings for the seizure of the Soviet apparatus in the period under review has in mind, in the first place, shifting tax burdens to other types. This was reflected in Georgia on the example of the Kutaisi district, where part of the peasantry took part in the Menshevik uprising, dissatisfied with the activities of local authorities, in particular, those who abused in the distribution of taxes. In Semipalatinsk province. (Kyrgyzstan), according to not yet fully verified information, on the basis of the struggle over the distribution of taxes in part of the clans, a tendency has developed to migrate to China. The 20 yurts who had already migrated away even went to make up with the Chinese volost ruler, with whom they had been at enmity until that time. Those who migrated indicated that those who remained were in danger of ruin from the governmentʹs tax policy.
Stratification of the native village. Economic stratification basically follows the same path as in the Russian countryside, i.e., the use of the authorities and the exploitation of farming in order to strengthen their economy. Elements of economic stratification here, with the vitality of patriarchal clan and feudal traditions, do not find such a vivid reflection in the political struggle as in the Russian countryside. At the same time, the process of economic stratification is often stronger here than in the Russian countryside. This is evident from the fact that the native village throws out significant masses of completely impoverished strata, while at the same time separating out very powerful farms. So, in Turkestan in the Fergana region. in many localities, almost every independent native owner has 1‐2 farm laborers, and some up to 40. In Kyrgyzstan, cases have been identified when bai had up to 2,000 large and 2,000 small livestock. In the same place, in Aktobe province, the number of people only forcibly attached to more powerful owners, ruined as a result of a poor harvest, reached 5000 people. In Dagestan, up to 3000 people came to one of the cities just for seasonal work (harvesting grapes) from the surrounding villages. In Fergana, a case was revealed when up to 200 poor farmers worked at the bai to spin cotton almost free of charge. In Kyrgyzstan, there have been cases when bai operated up to 200 wagons.
All this, given the vitality of clan traditions and especially clan struggle, should give exploitation specific forms. Even in Tartary, which has passed to a relatively higher stage of social development, the spiritual head of the community is voluntarily given a tenth of the harvest, and in the event of the death of any of its members, clothing and sowing of the dead, although this is not required either by the Shariah or even by the mullah himself.