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Review of the political state of the USSR
Review of the political state of the USSR in March 1925
April 30, 1925
Moscow
Ex. No ... Top Secret Store as cipher Com. ...
At the same time, an overview of the political state of the USSR for the month of March 1925 is being transmitted. The review is compiled on the basis of data from the state information of the OGPU Inform Department, supplemented by materials from the OGPU departments:
Secret (anti‐Soviet parties and groups), Counterintelligence (banditry).
This survey, in view of its top‐secret nature, should be kept on par with the code. Making copies and making extracts is not allowed in any case.
The heads of the OGPU and PP OGPU departments should acquaint the heads of the OGPU DTO with the overview. In addition, they can give an overview for reading to the secretaries of regional committees, provincial committees, regional committees and the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP, as well as the chairmen of the executive committees and CECs of the autonomous republics.
Note: Appendices # 5 and 7 were sent out in the February review.
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Yagoda
Head of the Information Department of the OGPU
CONTENT
Overview:
Workers
Peasants
Anti‐Soviet parties and groups
Banditry
Applications:
No. 1 The economic situation and political mood of the workers
No. 2 Re‐election of Village Councils
No. 3 Cross Unions
No. 4 Rumors spreading in the village
No. 5 Monthly budget of the secretary of the village council
№ 6 The state of the grass‐roots cooperation in Moscow province.
№ 7 Speech at re‐elections in the Tambov province. Total: 37 pages.
WORKERS
In March, the number of conflicts at enterprises increased compared to February. So, in February there were 15 strikes, in March (according to incomplete information) ‐ 19; The strikes were mainly caused by the increase in norms and the reduction of prices (metallurgical industry), and in the textile industry ‐ the transition to 3‐4 sides. The issue of delayed wages in the industries: mining, forestry, sugar, chemical and some others is still not obsolete.
Metal industry
Higher production rates and lower prices. The most acute cause of conflicts was the ongoing increase in production rates and lower prices. On this basis, 4 partial strikes took place (the Sevkabel plant in Leningrad, the K. Marx plant in Yekaterinoslav, at the Yugostal A and B plants in Mariupol, and at the Izhevsk plants) (see Appendix 1).
Attempts at an organized demonstration demanding higher wages and cases of workers beating appraisers (Electrostroy plant in Kharkov) were noted. The departure of skilled workers on the basis of lower prices is noticed at many enterprises in the Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Bryansk provinces and in Ukraine, while some enterprises are threatened with closure. At some enterprises, prices are reduced by 50% or more (Leningrad, the Karl Marx plant, etc.). At the Izhevsk factories, skilled workers instead of the previously generated 150 rubles. now they receive 35‐50 rubles; dissatisfaction with low rates covers up to 8000 Izhevsk residents, and in the last days of March there have already been cases of stopping work by two sawmill artels (of which one artel quit work, incited by a Komsomol member). At the Kramatorsk plant in Donbass, the communists also opposed the increase in norms. At the plant them. Marty in Nikolaev, workers deliberately reduce productivity.
Delayed wages. Due to the delay in wages, a strike took place at the VSNKh iron foundry in Voronezh. At the factory ʺIII Internationalʺ of PRUMP due to the delay in wages, some workers called to quit their jobs. In heavy industry, wages are regulated.
Textile industry
Go to 3 sides. The transition to a new method of work (3‐4 sides) in March, as in previous months, continues to excite textile workers. On this basis, a large strike took place at the Vysokovskaya convent of the Tver Cotton Trust, which involved 500 workers. At the Profintern factory in Vladimir there is talk about ʺwhat is worse now than under the tsar.ʺ At one of the meetings, the former Socialist Revolutionary said that it was time for the communists to rip their heads off. At large textile factories. Kutuzova, ʺOrtrudʺ, ʺKomavangardʺ in connection with the transition to three machines, the workers are afraid of staff reductions. At a number of factories, there were demands for higher wages and a reverse transfer to two sides (Likinskaya m‐ra, Yakhromskaya factory, etc.). Dissatisfaction is aggravated by the poor quality of the semi‐finished product, the worn‐out machines and interruptions in the supply of auxiliary materials,
Reduced prices. Particular dissatisfaction is caused by the ongoing reduction of prices, which does not give the opportunity to often work out a living wage when switching to direct piecework. On this basis, a number of serious conflicts and strikes have been noted (a strike at the Likinskaya textile factory, a 3‐day strike of workers in the muhshop of the Teikovskaya factory in Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province and several strikes in early April). At the Yartsevskaya factory in the Smolensk province. workers threatened to stop the factory. At the Jute factory in Odessa, the workers, in view of the impossibility of working out a minimum, declare that they can hardly keep themselves at the machines because of malnutrition; there are rumors among them about the need to take out the director in a wheelbarrow. In early April, a strike of 5,300 workers of the Glukhovsky district of the BogorodskoShchelkovsky trust took place, caused by a sharp decrease in prices (up to 20%), carried out without any information from the workers; the previous rates are left.
It should also be noted the dissatisfaction of workers with unequal wages for groups of the same qualifications at similar enterprises and even at a homogeneous factory (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Moscow, Leningrad and other provinces), noted in a significant number of factories.
Mining
Increasing production rates. In the mining industry, in March, it comes to the fore [dissatisfaction with high rates, at the same time, the issue of wages is still unresolved. Several strikes have taken place on the basis of high rates and lower rates. At mine No. 8 of the Gorlovskoye mine administration, the loggers went on strike, demanding that they be transferred to the 8th category; because of the failure to supply the fastening material, the miners were forced to stop working by the latter. At the mine ʺItaliaʺ of the Makeyevka Combine of the Rudgenkovsky Mining Administration and the ʺCʺ of the Budenovka Mining Administration, workers refused to go to work. In the Rovenets mining administration, the workers, under the influence of the agitation of anti‐Soviet elements, say: ʺThe current government is the power of the rapists, it has promised a lot, but has given nothing but cold and hunger.ʺ In Siberia, on the basis of low prices, conflicts are observed at the Anzhero‐Sudzhensky mines; the workers, when they were given salaries at the new rates, raised a scandal by refusing to work. Due to low prices, coal production at the Anzhero‐Sudzhensk mines decreased by 30‐35%; on this basis, a decrease in labor productivity was noted. Bonds to cooperatives are still being issued against wages, which causes sharp discontent among workers (a number of mines in the Donbass and gold‐mining regions of Siberia).
Other industries
Rising norms and lowering prices in March caused a number of conflicts in the industries of the chemical, food flavoring, etc. In the chemical industry, due to the increase in norms, 3 strikes took place in March (Ivotskaya glass factory and Pesochinskaya faience of Bryansk province, Znamensk glass factory in Yeniseisk). At the latter, in view of a reduction in wages by 20% and an increase in the norm from 5 to 20%, some of the free craftsmen filed a letter of resignation (their salary was earlier equal to 150 rubles, now it has dropped to 72
rubles). Everywhere at glass factories, there is a long delay in wages (at the Yamarevka glass factories in the Far East, wages are not paid for about 6 months).
Strong dissatisfaction with the delay in wages continues to be noted at most sugar and sawmills, and the delay reaches 3 ^ 1 months (in the timber industry ‐ in the western and other provinces and in Belarus, in the sugar industry ‐ in Ukraine).
Workersʹ political mood
The political mood of the workers is generally satisfactory, in particular, this was revealed in Moscow and Leningrad during the re‐elections of the Soviets. Almost 90‐100% of the workers attended the re‐election meetings and voted for the lists put forward by the cells. Insignificant speeches at some re‐election meetings of anti‐Soviet elements in Moscow (a group of the 15th Metalworkersʹ Union, Semyonovskaya Printing Factory) were not successful among the workers.
Dissatisfaction with the trade unionists. One of the serious moments in the mood of the broad masses of workers is the dissatisfaction with the trade unionists due to the inconsistency in some cases of the position of the trade unions when working out rates with the administration. The strike at the beginning of April at the NovoTkatskaya mill of the Glukhovskoy area is highly characteristic, involving up to 6,000 workers and caused by a reduction in rates to 20%, carried out with the consent of the trade union and without the knowledge of the workers; the strikers put forward demands to remove the factory committee and the director. Among the workers of Yaroslavl enterprises there are rumors that the workers do not need trade unions, since their work is limited only to collecting membership fees, and not to protect the interests of workers. In the Gomel province. workers of the Glukhovsky cloth factory named after Zinoviev, they say that factory committees are just an extra overhead. Mainly the workersʹ dissatisfaction with the trade unionists is caused by that the latter, in a large number of cases, follow the lead of the administration and completely disregard the interests of the workers. It should be noted a number of cases of gross arbitrariness in the work of trade union organizations, pushing workers away from them. The workers are reluctant to go to the factory with their needs because they know that they will not meet support there. At the reelection of the Metalworkersʹ Union in the Uman District (Kiev Gubernia), the workers protested against the nomination of the chairman of the former board by the faction, since he expelled workers from the Union on the basis of personal accounts; in view of the fact that the presidium insisted on his candidacy, 2 / 3 working left assembly. Similar cases took place in a number of enterprises. At the 1st Goskozhzavod of the Berdichev Okrug, the factory committee and the cell are not so authoritative that the workers hardly attend meetings, they say that ʺthere is no truth in the factory committee and cell and everything is based on lies.ʺ
Anti‐Soviet protests among workers. In industries with more backward strata of workers (associated with the countryside, former artisans), the spread of discontent with the Communists and the Soviet regime is still noted, which is due to the difficult situation in these industries (sugar, construction, timber and partly textiles). At a number of enterprises, anti‐Soviet actions are noted here, such as the following: ʺeverywhere and everywhere the communists occupy positions of responsibility without being elected by the people,ʺ ʺthe communist party by its actions only repels the workers,ʺ and so on. At the NovoIvankovsky sugar factory in the Kharkov district, two workers drew up an anti‐Soviet ʺmanifestoʺ which they read to the workers at the factory gates at the end of their work. At the meeting for the re‐election of delegates to the factory conference, one of the workers of the Arzhen cloth factory said: ʺWe have nothing to do here, there are only Komsomol members and Communists, there are no real workers.ʺ At a meeting of workers of Metallprom No. 3 in Orenburg, after a report on the international situation, some workers said: ʺAs if our revolution would not collapse because of the inattentive attitude of the authorities to the workers and peasants.ʺ At an open party meeting of a cell of builders in Odessa, a former Menshevik made a speech on the report ʺWorker and Peasant Woman,ʺ indicating that ʺin 1921125, when corpses were scattered in the streets, there were only workers among them, and there were no communists, that workers are only slaves. ʺ Communists who spoke were not allowed to speak. In the same strata, the spread of all sorts of provocative rumors about an imminent war, the fall of Soviet power, etc. is characteristic. (The sugar industry of Ukraine stands out in this respect, where the agitation is carried out by the Polish workers).
Peasant sentiments. Attention is drawn to the penetration of peasant sentiments into the masses of the workers. This is noted at a number of enterprises in the provinces and in Moscow. At the former Genaʹs Selmash plant in Odessa, a group of workers points out that ʺmoney is being pulled from the peasants for training and at the same time they are being taxed excessively.ʺ At a non‐partisan conference of workers in Kharkov, one of the workers of the cable plant said in his speech that ʺthe peasant who has flooded the fields with blood to win the rights of the workers, thanks to the unjust approach of the authorities, is doomed to all sorts of deprivation and hunger.ʺ At the meeting of the railway cell at Art. Roslavl was given a note by one worker in which he asked: ʺWhy does the government not allow the peasants, like the workers, to organize their unions.ʺ Peasant sentiments were especially pronounced among the workers of individual small enterprises at re‐election meetings in the Moscow Soviet; it spoke of ʺthe plight of the peasantsʺ, ʺlow prices for agricultural productsʺ, etc. There were also individual speeches on the question of peasant unions.
The mood of the workers in the reporting month was adversely affected by the shortage of grain in the workersʹ cooperatives and the rise in prices for it. At many enterprises (Pesochinskaya faience factory, an iron foundry in Bryansk province, Troitsk cloth factory in Gomel province and a number of others), workers at general meetings raise the issue of raising the cost. At the Trinity Cloth Factory, there are rumors among workers about the need to renegotiate a new collective agreement and establish wages depending on fluctuations in market prices for bread. One of the demands of the striking workers of the Novo‐Weaving mill of the Glukhovsky district of the BogorodskoShchelkovo trust was: a premium for high prices in the amount of 15% of wages. At some enterprises, workers are not satisfied with the fact that the increase in wages lags far behind the furiously rising grain prices (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province and Belarus). At a number of enterprises in the Penza province. under pressure from the workers, the administration made 5‐10% wage increments; in the opinion of the workers, the increments are insufficient (factory ʺMayak Revolutionʺ, etc.).
The mood of the unemployed. In the reporting period, due to the difficult economic situation, the influx of unemployed people from the poor and rural farm laborers to the cities, and the lack of demand for labor, an increase in discontent was noted among the unemployed. Particularly strong discontent is noted among unemployed metalworkers in Moscow and water workers in Odessa. The last ones put forward demands for the removal of a number of responsible employees of the exchange ‐ communists from their jobs in view of the existing protectionism; at the meeting there were calls ʺto take up arms and arrange a second revolution.ʺ Similar demonstrations took place among the dismissed workers from the Anzhero‐Sudzhensk mines ‐ ʺwe must take up the rifle again in order to win another power that would more protect the interests of the workers.ʺ Among the unemployed of the Republic of Tatarstan, there was talk about that ʺthe workers should quickly organize themselves and throw the communists off their shoulders, telling them that they are not fit to rule the state, but must go to hell under the boatʺ, that ʺit is time to change their minds and take up the new bourgeoisieʺ since they will be arrested, ʺʺ they suffered a lot, and now there is still a little left before the liberation of the workers and peasants from the yoke of the communists. ʺ The demobilized Red Army soldiers in Kiev, at one of the illegal meetings organized by them in the hostel of the unemployed, decided to come out with a demonstration and the slogan ʺGive us bread.ʺ
PEASANTRY
Re‐election of the Soviets
The secondary re‐elections of the Soviets, which took place in March in a number of districts (Center, West, Ukraine, Volga region, Siberia), revealed an increase in the anti‐Soviet activity of the kulaks and the rural strata hostile to Soviet power. An intense struggle against the election to the Soviets of the Communists is being waged everywhere. As a result of these re‐elections, the new Soviets are, to a large extent, clogged with kulaks, and in some places with Socialist‐
Revolutionaries and former bandits, whites, etc.
Organization. The kulaks, as a rule, act in an organized manner at the elections, having carried out preliminary agitation preparations. The holding of secret pre‐election meetings of kulaks and their supporters was noted in a number of provinces of Ukraine and Siberia. In the Poltava province. during the re‐election of village councils with. Khilkovka, local kulaks led by the priest organized a pre‐election meeting, and after the meeting of their candidates in the priestʹs apartment, the priest made a report on the work of this group. At another meeting of the Donetsk province. there is talk about democratic elections. Kulak groups sometimes disrupt meetings if their candidates do not pass.
It is widely practiced treating the poor with moonshine and snacks so that the latter nominate and support candidates outlined by their kulaks at meetings.
Speeches of the SRs. In a number of provinces of the Center and Siberia, in some places, active participation in the re‐elections of the SRs and their sympathizers was noted. In the Moscow province. SocialistRevolutionary performances were noted in a number of counties. In Proletarskaya Vol. Moscow u. the local Socialist‐Revolutionary tried to split the peasant delegates from the workers. At the district congress of the Soviets of the Moscow district. a group of Socialist Revolutionary delegates left the congress, protesting against the leaders of the congress, ʺimposing their own candidates and ignoring the interests of the peasantry.ʺ In Orekhovo‐Zuevsky u. the local SR spoke at the congresses of the Lipenskaya parish. and uyezd, proposing a resolution that pointed to the inequality of the peasants. In Dmitrovsky u. The Socialist Revolutionary, who spoke at one of the vol‐congresses, suggested counting the peasants of the Moscow province. in the position of workers. There were especially many such performances on Yegoryevsky district. At a number of village meetings, at volost congresses and some uyezd congresses of Soviets, Social Revolutionaries made speeches demanding the organization of peasant unions. The speeches of the Social Revolutionaries, although in smaller numbers, took place in the provinces of Yaroslavl, Tambov, Tula, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Kharkov, Samara and Altai. Almost everywhere the Socialist‐Revolutionaries group kulaks around themselves and come out mainly against communist candidates. In a number of cases, the SRs demand a secret ballot.
The struggle of the kulaks and Socialist‐Revolutionaries against the communist candidates. The speeches of the kulaks and SocialistRevolutionaries in the elections were directed mainly against the election of Communists and Komsomol members to the Soviets (as well as workers, women and the poor). The main tone of these speeches, which is also characteristic of some of the middle peasants who follow the kulaks, is as follows: “It is enough for the communists to rule; we need our own Council of non‐party people, which would know the peasant needs ʺ,ʺ let the communists have a rest, we will work ʺ,ʺ we have different interests with the workers, and therefore workers should not be elected to the village councils ʺ,ʺ we should choose our own people, not the Vikings ‐ communists who only steal and rob the people. ʺ The idea is carried out that the Soviet government is forced to recognize non‐party people, because it feels its weakness: ʺThe RCP noticed its mistakes, it has weakened,ʺ leaving the non‐party to pay for their sins,” and so on. It is also pointed out that the new course is the result of pressure from Western states, demanding the involvement of non‐party people to power. To run their candidacies and fail the communists, the kulaks in a number of provinces spread rumors about the existing order from the center of the party not to elect communists to the lower co‐apparatus (“now it is high time to isolate ourselves from the communists, at the top everything is already built in a new way”). The slogan ʺSoviets without communistsʺ is widespread, especially in the Tambov province. Speeches against Soviet power are sporadic and unsuccessful.
The attitude of the broad peasant masses to re‐elections. The middle peasants, especially the well‐to‐do, in most cases follow the kulaks, in a large number of cases from this milieu there are protests against the promotion of communists to the Soviets. On the other hand, the reelection campaign is regarded here as another trick of the communists in order to win over the countryside due to complications for them in the international situation or as a sign of the failure of the communists, who were unable to cope with their tasks in economic construction. Along with this, among the poor (especially in areas where the kulaks are more active, many undesirable elements have passed into the Soviets), there is strong discontent with the new policy of the Soviet government. You can hear a lot of statements like: ʺWhy did we shed blood to allow such a bastard to come to power.ʺ Other speeches indicate that the poor, kicked out of the Soviets, would not be able to survive otherwise. There are threats like ʺit wonʹt stay this way.ʺ In a number of cases in Ukraine, Siberia, and in some places in the Center (Tambov Gubernia), the poor petition for cassation of the new Soviets due to the dominance of the anti‐Soviet element in them.
The clogging of the composition of the new Soviets. In a number of districts, the re‐election gave very negative results in relation to the composition of the grassroots Soviet apparatus. The kulaks mainly strive to gain a foothold in the village councils and only partly in the VICs. The same can be said about the congresses of the Soviets. If the activity of the kulaks is very significant at the volost congresses, then at the uyezd congresses their speeches are sporadic and their efforts to get delegates to the uyezd congresses are weak. In addition to the direct seizure of the grassroots Soviet apparatus, the kulaks are pursuing a policy of bringing the poor and middle peasants under their influence there. Wherever secondary elections were held, the number of Communists and Komsomol members in the Soviets dropped sharply. In a number of cases, communists and Komsomol members were thrown out with shouts and whistles; there were even cases of the removal of communists and Komsomol members from meetings.126.
Former bandits, chieftains and whites. In a number of regions, it is necessary to take into account the contamination of the grassroots coapparatus by an active anti‐Soviet element in the past.
In the Voronezh and Tambov provinces. in a significant number were active participants in the bandit movement, including the Antonov uprising 127 (there are even unit commanders and prominent participants). Many former members of the bandit movement went to village councils in Ukraine and Siberia. In the South‐East, especially in the Donskoy and Maikop regions, there were a significant number of former chieftains and Wrangelites 128.
Social Revolutionaries and Zemstvos. In some places, the Soviets were infiltrated by lone Social Revolutionaries (Vladimir, Ryazan, Moscow provinces in the Center and Altai gubernias in Siberia). In the Tambov, Arkhangelsk and Tomsk provinces, 129 former Zemstvo members, who were elected to the Soviets in some places here, were active during the re‐elections. In the Arkhangelsk province. all former Zemstvo members were elected to one of the village councils, and 12 former Zemstvo members and one communist passed to the volost congress. The speeches of the former zemstvo at the regional congress of village councils of the Ust‐Sosnovsky district of Tomsk province are characteristic: “The rulers of the local regional executive committee were only executors of the order of the center, but not peopleʹs leaders; economists should take into account the farms, but our RIKi did not do this, worked to please the center and did not listen to the voice of the peasantry” (see Appendix No. 2).
Peasant unions
In March, there is a further increase in the tendency to organize a peasant union. Speeches on this issue took place in 22 provinces in 52 cases (in February ‐ in 17 provinces in 32 cases): in the Center ‐ in 7 provinces ‐ 18 cases (of which 9 cases in Moscow province. ), in the West ‐ in three provinces ‐ 13 cases, in the Volga region ‐ in three provinces ‐ 8 cases, in the North Caucasus ‐ in three districts ‐ 6 cases, in Siberia ‐ 3 cases in two provinces, in Ukraine ‐ 2 cases in two provinces , in the North‐West region and in the Far Eastern Military District ‐ one case each.
The demand for the organization of a cross union for re‐elections. The campaign for the second re‐election of the Soviets, characterized by anti‐Soviet actions of the kulaks and the growth of anti‐Soviet sentiments among wide circles of the peasantry, naturally was a very convenient moment for putting forward demands for the organization of cross unions. Such demands and inquiries ‐ why the Soviet government does not allow the organization of cross unions ‐ were expressed in most cases at rural election meetings and especially at volost congresses. These demands are becoming more and more insistent and in some places penetrate the district congresses of Soviets. So, at the Center in Kolomenskoye u. Moscow province. a group of anti‐Soviet peasants, who raised the question of the cross union at the district congress in Myachkovskaya vol., got to the county congress of Soviets and here organized a non‐party faction and campaigned among the delegates of the congress for the creation of a cross union; characteristic performance of a peasant in the Tver province. (in Zaluchye): ʺNot today, tomorrow, but we will achieve the organization of such a union, since it is our salvation.ʺ However, the question of the cross union was also raised at any other meetings, in particular, at congresses and meetings of the KKOV and non‐party conferences.
The attitude of various strata of the peasantry to the cross union. In the past month, the demands for organizing a cross union, as in previous months, came not only from the kulaks, but also from the middle peasants and the poor. In the Western region in Roslavl u. Smolensk lips. the question of creating a cross union ʺRed Plowmanʺ was raised during the re‐election of village Soviets by the poor and middle peasants (at the parish congresses of the same province), by individual peasants under the leadership of kulaks and teachers. In the Volga region in the Penza province. in Saransk u. The agitation on the part of the VIC clerk for the Sokha cross union was supported by the majority of the population of the volost. In the Samara province. in Bugur left with a claim from. the demand, initiated by one peasant at a village electoral meeting, to organize a cross union, was supported by 30 middle peasants. In Siberia, in the Altai province. the question of the cross union was raised by the middle peasant.
Participation of anti‐Soviet elements in agitation for cross unions. The participation of anti‐Soviet elements, blocking with the kulaks in agitation for the cross unions, and inciting their peasants to make sharp demands undoubtedly take place. At the Center in Moscow Province. the work of the Right SRs is noted. Some revival and attempts to use the spontaneous movement for the cross unions on the part of other parties (Mensheviks, Left Socialist‐Revolutionaries, Monarchists) is observed to a lesser extent. Also, characteristic is the agitation for the cross unions of the anti‐Soviet part of the rural intelligentsia, merchants and other anti‐Soviet elements not related to political parties. Thus, against the background of the general growth of anti‐Soviet sentiments among all strata of the peasantry, the question of the cross union is quite acute.
Elements of the cross‐union economic program. By analyzing the formulations in which the peasantry makes its demands to organize a cross union, it is possible to establish individual elements of the economic program of the cross union. The vague general formulation of the economic program of the cross union boils down to statements that the cross unions should ʺtake measures to improve the economic situation of the peasantryʺ (West, Smolensk province), that the task of the cross union is ʺto protect the legal economic interests of the peasantsʺ (Volga region, Penza province).
In some places, the peasant union is thought of as a trade union of peasants, the task of which is to put the peasants in equal working and earnings conditions with the workers. ʺThe peasants need to have their own local council, which could assess the labor of the peasants and the value of the productʺ (Ukraine, Poltava province). ʺThe peasant trade union must establish a minimum for the life of the peasant, it must set the rates for agricultural tax in such a way that the income of the peasant equals the wage of the workerʺ (West, Gomel province). An interesting case was when a group of peasants, including a member of the VolKKOVs and one candidate of the RCP, demanded at the Congress of the KKOV the assignment of the functions of a trade union to the self‐help committees (Center, Moscow province, Kolomensky district).
The hope is often placed on the peasant union that with its help it will be possible to ease the tax for the peasants (“the peasantry must unite and defend the interests of the peasants in an organized way in the sense of facilitating their taxation” ‐ Center, Tambov province). But even more often in the month under review, the task of the cross union is to establish prices favorable to the peasantry for grain and manufactured goods. “The Krestsoyuz must establish fair prices for agricultural products” (West, Smolensk Gubernia). “I propose to create aʺ Union of grain growers ʺand not give bread for 40 kopecks, but say ‐ 1 ruble. ‐ and basta ʺ(Siberia, Altai province.). ʺThis union could dictate to the trust its prices for industrial goods, and if they do not agree, then let them die of hunger: we will not give them a piece of breadʺ (Center,
Tverskaya Gubernia, Zaluchye village). Characteristically,
Economic struggle against Soviet power. The threat of the Tver peasant ‐ ʺwe will not give them a piece of breadʺ ‐ already shows that the cross union is conceived not only as an organization to defend peasant interests, but rather as an organ of the economic struggle of the entire peasantry against Soviet power, the working class, and the city. “In the fall, you decided to buy bread at 60 kopecks. for a pood and began to press on the tax, and if there was a peasant union, all the peasantries would not agree in an organized way to give grain for 60 kopecks. and would force the Soviet government to cancel its resolution. If we had a union, we would have decided not to buy goods, we would have been able to hold out for a year without your goods, but you would not have held out and would have given them at the price of the pre‐war time” (West, Gomel province). “Give us a peasant trade union for the struggle, we will declare a boycott of the proletariat and say ‐ your days are numbered, give peasant unions.
The Cross Union as a Political Organization. Already the latest statements are pushing the cross unions onto the path of political struggle. More and more often, the cross‐unions face political tasks. The very fact of the non‐resolution of the cross unions is often regarded by the peasantry as a curtailment of their political rights. ʺThe working class humiliates the peasantry, preventing them from creating their own organizations, where they could freely discuss their pressing issues and point out their mistakes to the communistsʺ (Center, Moscow province). “In 1924, the peasants decided to show freedom by organizing in cross unions, so they are still not visible anywhere, here is freedom for you” (Siberia, Omsk province). It is characteristic that, putting forward the idea of organizing a kind of peasant trade union, the peasants of the Tula province. they say he will have ʺthe same political rights as trade unions for workers.ʺ Otherwise (West, Belarus), the agitation for the cross union was noted as for organizing protection from the arbitrariness of the local authorities: ʺIt is necessary to achieve the organization of our own union, which could protect the peasants from the wrong actions of the administration.ʺ In the Volga region in Saratov province, where demands were made in four volosts to organize cross unions, they were opposed not only to trade unions, but also to the organs of Soviet power. In a number of cases, the cross union was conceived as a purely political organization. “The cooperation is a trading shop, and the union is a political organization” (Center, Yaroslavl province). ʺThe peasants need to organize themselves into peasant unions, pushing the peasants closer to powerʺ (Center, Moscow Gubernia). In the above speech of the peasant at the village meeting in the debate on the report on the international and internal situation of the USSR in the village. Zaluchye of Tver lips. The political role of the peasantry, organized in peasant unions, is even more concretely depicted: “Having assembled an all‐Union congress of non‐party peasants, we would have expressed our opinion on the question of the tsarʹs debts there, we would have come to an agreement with the British. At the congresses of the Soviets, the opinion of the Party, and not of the peasantry, is expressed; whether a party is needed or not ‐ this question will be answered by the congress of peasants.
Peasant Congress. The idea of an all‐union union of the cross unions has two main variations ‐ the all‐union organization of the cross unions and the peasant congress. Both of these variations in the reporting month received more specific content. In the Volga region in the Samoilovskaya vol. Saratov province. at a meeting of peasants in one village on the issue of the bond, the question was asked: ʺDoes the RCP find it necessary to organize an all‐Union cross‐union with cells in every district and volost.ʺ The idea of a peasant congress, in addition to the aforementioned speech in Tver province, was noted in several other cases. ʺThe workers and peasants will unite together when they meet and greet at the peasant congress in Moscowʺ (Siberia, Altai province). ʺA purely peasant congress must be convened, at which the leaders of this union must be electedʺ (Center, Moscow Gubernia).
Illegal cross union. Rumors in connection with the cross‐
union. Particularly noteworthy are the rumors about the need to create an ʺillegal union of grain growers ‐ the leader of the peasant massesʺ, noted in the past month in the Tula province.
In some places, there are various rumors among the peasantry in connection with the cross union. Thus, in the North Caucasus, in the Kuban Okrug, a rumor was spread that the okrug authorities allowed the organization of a union of grain growers, and only the local authorities impede the implementation of this resolution (see Appendix No. 3).
Terror
The movement of kulak terror is still quite significant, although it is somewhat inferior in terms of the number of cases to the first months of this year (January — 160 cases, February — 125, in March, according to incomplete information, 90). The regions of the greatest spread of terror are the West, Ukraine, the Volga region and Siberia. Some decline in the terror movement should be attributed to the diversion of the attention of the anti‐Soviet strata in the countryside to the elections. Of the total number of terrorist incidents, 30% falls on the workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus and the police, 30% ‐ on members of the RCP and RLKSM, 15% ‐ on the village correspondents and 15% ‐ on other layers of the village (mainly the active poor).
Spreading anti‐Soviet rumors
The reporting period was characterized by the massive spread of all kinds of provocative rumors throughout all regions of the Union.
The immediate reason for these rumors was the ongoing cassation reelections (their interpretation by the kulaks as a forced turn of Soviet power in the direction of non‐partisans under pressure from the Western powers), the aggravation of the grain crisis in a number of regions, and in some places territorial gatherings.
Monarchist rumors. Attention is drawn to the abundance of a large number of monarchical rumors, spread especially in the Center, Ukraine, the North Caucasus and Siberia. Most of these rumors are associated with the return of the Romanovs at the head of the army ‐ Nikolai Nikolaevich or Kirill (in some cases, and Mikhail). In some cases, their return is associated with the help of the Western powers. Rumors about the appointment of Nikolai Nikolayevich or Kirill as president are interesting. All these rumors are connected, moreover, with the expectation of a split in the RCP.
Rumors about the fall of Soviet power. There are a lot of rumors connected with the impending fall of the Soviet power in connection with difficulties in the internal and international situation. These rumors are connected with the hopes that the new government will secure more land for the peasantry, allow them to have farm laborers and abolish taxes. Some of these rumors speak of significant concessions to the West European capitalists, giving them in concession all the coal and gold mining and the Siberian railway. (Oryol, NorthDvina and Podolsk provinces). The latter is interpreted as a turn to the right of the policy of the Soviet government.
Rumors of war. Especially a lot of rumors are associated with the expectation of a war with Western states and America in the near future. In Volyn and Vyatka lips. there were rumors that the war had already begun, that Siberia and Ukraine had broken away from the Union, and that Leningrad and Moscow were being evacuated. In the Yaroslavl province. there was a case when, under the influence of these rumors, one pioneer, at the insistence of his parents, asked to be discharged from the pioneer organization, since ʺwith the beginning of the war, first of all, pioneers and Komsomol members will be killed.ʺ In a number of provinces, the peasantry strenuously stocked up on bread and salt (in the Luchinets district of Volyn province, in a cooperative, 680 poods of salt were bought in one day). In the village. Kakinaiz in the Crimea, the poor are afraid to work on the former landownersʹ lands due to rumors about the return of whites. In Semipalatinsk province. in connection with the rumors spread about the mobilization, the Cossacks say: ʺThis mobilization will not pass in vain for the Soviet power; it will not hold out for long with its taxes.ʺ ʺIf they gather and arm us, reserve soldiers, then we know where to turn our weapons, and then the Soviets will fly.ʺ There are especially many rumors about war in the Far East; in one of the districts, the Ter‐Army men, under the influence of rumors, laid down their arms, and began leaving the Komsomol cells.
Rumors about the lack of bread. The shortage of grain found in a number of regions and the rapid rise in prices for it also served as a source of mass spread of all kinds of rumors. Especially a lot of them spread throughout the central and Volga provinces, where one could observe a massive influx of peasants into the markets who bought bread at any price (prices in a number of regions reached 4 rubles a pood of rye). The lack of grain was interpreted as a consequence of the reservation of large reserves for the army and export abroad in order to ʺrub in the glassesʺ to Western capitalists, pointing out the prosperous state of our economy (see Appendix No. 4).
Tax campaign
In the reporting period, dissatisfaction with the tax campaign is still widespread. The remaining 10‐15% of the tax in all almost all provinces is mostly not surrendered by the poor. In a number of districts, an almost complete cessation of tax receipts is noted due to the depletion of the economic resources of the low‐powered peasantry. The late provision of discounts, and in some places their provision for nepotism to people close to the lower co‐apparatus causes especially strong dissatisfaction. Regret is noted about the timely payment of the tax, since those who did not pass it receive a discount. In addition, the discontent is caused by the fact that tax overpayments are returned in money at a time when the price of bread has risen 3 times. In Oryol Gubernia, for example, peasants indicate that for an overpayment of 4 rubles. before it was possible to buy 4 pounds of bread, but now only one and a half. In some places, overpayments of tax are difficult to obtain due to the red tape in financial institutions. Characteristic in this connection is the speech of a peasant of the Irkutsk province: ʺAt first the Soviet government is shouting that it is necessary to collect so much tax, otherwise we will be lost, and now it is slowing down ‐ it is evident that the peasant is frightened.ʺ In a number of provinces, especially in the Volga region, especially strong dissatisfaction is caused by the simultaneous collection of semesters for a number of past years (in Tatarstan, for example, from 1921, in Bashkiria ‐ from 1923, the same in Kyrgyzstan and a number of other provinces), while dissatisfaction is expressed with the fact that the semssud should be returned in money and, thus, you have to pay several times more. and now it slows down ‐ it is evident that the peasant was frightened. ʺ In a number of provinces, especially in the Volga region, especially strong dissatisfaction is caused by the simultaneous collection of semesters for a number of past years (in Tatarstan, for example, since 1921, in Bashkiria ‐ since 1923, the same in Kyrgyzstan and a number of other provinces), while dissatisfaction is expressed with the fact that the semssud should be returned in money and, thus, you have to pay several times more.
Wish for a new tax. Most of the peasantsʹ speeches on Soviet construction are connected with the question of taxes. Everywhere it is pointed out that taxing livestock is inadmissible, which makes it impossible to develop animal husbandry. There is a proposal to tax only arable land, not to tax manor land and gardens, to increase indirect taxation and monopolies (in particular, wine), to levy a tax throughout the year and to inform the peasantry in advance of the amount of tax. There are a number of speeches about shifting part of the tax to workers and employees who receive a salary of 15 rubles. Well‐to‐do kulaks speak out against any privileges for ʺidlersʺ, that is, the poor.
Consequences of crop failure
Hunger growth. Materials for the reporting period indicate a significant increase in hunger and the spread of groups of peasants who feed on surrogates. In the Voronezh province. in some places not only the poor, but also the strong middle peasants switched to surrogates (Repyevsky district); in the province there is a loss of cattle from lack of food. In the Saratov province. about 300,000 people go hungry. In the Tsaritsyn province. the population switched from eating bread with an admixture of sifted husk and other harmless substitutes to acorns, roots and other substitutes extremely harmful in their consequences. Across the Donetsk lips. in some places there is a shortage of surrogates, reaching 40‐50%. In Rossosh district Voronezh province. there are up to 20,000 peasants with absolutely no food. In the Tambov province. (Kozlovsky and Borisoglebsky districts) in a number of volosts there is a lack of surrogates, in Uvarov parish. 3,000 peasants are in this position, and in the village. The starving Mordovka eat the fallen cattle. Many swelling from hunger has been reported in the NonRepublic. In the Stavropol district in one with. Kalinovsky has 200 people swollen. In the Salsk district, there was an attempt to commit suicide due to hunger.
Increased stratification due to hunger. In all areas of crop failure, the poor sold off live and dead implements and grain reserves, up to seeds, for next to nothing. At present, the sale by the poor of their allotments and winter crops is widespread. The fists are buying it all for a song. In the Nemrespublika, in one of the villages, a kulak bought up one tithe of melons and gourds for 2 poods of potatoes; in with. Spassky, Tambov province. the poor man sold a 7‐shower allotment for a pood of flour. In Kozlovsky and Borisoglebsky u. there have been many cases of sale of winter crops. In parallel with this, the sale of property by the poor is taking place due to the liquidation of farms in order to relocate to Siberia, the North Caucasus and other regions (the middle peasants are also moving). In Kozlovsky u. Tambov lips. several thousand peasants are going to move to Siberia. 50 families left one village, having sold everything for next to nothing; from Gorel parish. 2560 people are going to resettle. In the Penza lips. there is a spontaneous resettlement to Siberia and the Kuban, in two volosts of the Chembarsky u. hundreds of peasants have left and there are about
10,000 who want to leave. The urge to resettlement is noted in the Oryol, Tula, Odessa, Yekaterinoslav provinces and the Nemrespublika, and everywhere the movement is spontaneous and cannot be counted.
Sowing campaign in areas of crop failure. Seed‐loan promotion from the center is proceeding normally normally. However, the loan is very often misplaced due to abuses of the grassroots Soviet apparatus. In some cases, it is primarily distributed among local co‐workers and those close to them. In the Voronezh province. the case of distribution in two villages of the Semssud is noted equally between the other [population] and the clergy. In the central and Ukrainian provinces, covered by partial crop failure, there is a significant shortage of seeds. So, in the Oryol lips. some volosts are satisfied only 50% of the need, in Saransk u. Penza lips. ‐ by 30%, in Voronezh ‐ 20‐25%, in Volynskaya ‐ up to 50%.
ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES AND GROUPS
Anarchists
Among the anarchists of the underground, revival is noticeable in a large number of provinces. Several prominent theorists of syndicalism have been identified in Moscow and have been wanted for several years. The student underground is disguised by circles for the study of mysticism. At one of the meetings of metalworkers for the elections to the Moscow City Council leaflets were scattered with an appeal to leave the meeting. In Leningrad, anarcho‐underground workers who escaped arrest and some of the liberated are trying to resume work. Attention is drawn to the activities of the underground anarchogroups [in the provinces]: Samara, Saratov, Kharkov (underground work is expanding, and the release of magazines is planned), Odessa, Orenburg (among the unemployed), Kolchuginsky plant, Vladimir, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Kostroma (among workers), Severo‐Dvinskaya, Penza, Perm and Shadrinskaya in the Urals and Bashkir (among young people), Kaluga, Tverskoy and in the Urals (among the peasants). In the rest of the provinces, the work of anarchoorganizations is less intense and is carried out by individuals seeking to create groups. The establishment of anarchists in the army is noticeable.
In early April, an operation against the anarchists was carried out in Kharkov, the active leadership of the Kharkov anarchists was removed, the editorial board was smashed and materials for published magazines and May Day leaflets and a number of other party materials were seized.
Mensheviks
In March, in order to suppress organizational work, operations were carried out to seize active Mensheviks in Moscow, Leningrad, and Tver province. A number of prominent Mensheviks were arrested. A group of the Social Democratic Youth Union has been liquidated in Moscow. In Leningrad, some of those who fled from exile in 1919‐1922 were arrested. In the Tver province. In the city of Kashin, a group organized around the old member of the Central Committee of the RSDLP Zederbaum Yezhov was liquidated, 6 people were arrested, who, during a preliminary interrogation, recognized themselves as Social Democrats.
Right SRs
Prominent Social Revolutionaries, active participants in the Antonov movement in Tambov province, were arrested: I.P. Chernyshov, F.D. Chernyshov. and Akulin T.N. In Moscow eliminated circle ʺof studying social thoughtʺ, published by the magazine ʺTowards Socialismʺ of the populist wing 130. Socialist‐Revolutionary leaflets typed on a typewriter were found and distributed among the unemployed. The province has published many statements of withdrawal from the AKP.
Combining LCP and Maximalists
The associationʹs information office is still inactive. Due to the lack of money, the bureau may lose the clubʹs premises. The LSR student group tried to distribute the Revolutionary Avangard magazine No. 56, some issues were sent to the provinces. Arrests were made of the LSR in Kaluga and the Nizhny Novgorod Left Socialist‐Revolutionary organization was liquidated, during the last operation 15 people were arrested and a lot of party materials were found.
Monarchists
A significant number of leaflets continue to arrive in a number of provinces by international mail. At the Moscow Post Office there are up to 5,000 newspapers from foreign and emigrant groups and 160 appeals. The arrival of leaflets by mail from Leningrad to a number of provinces was noted. Most of the leaflets come from Nikolai Nikolaevichʹs groups and contain slogans like the following: ʺLong live the united peasantry, the backbone of the Russian land and the foundation of the Russian state, long live the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevichʺ ), “Down with the hard labor regime of the GPU, give freedom of speech, thought, press”, “Give the land to the peasants”,
“Down with the peopleʹs leaders, servants of the Third International 131, who blew the mighty Russia ʺ(leafletʺ Everyone, everyone, everyone ʺfrom the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland 132 ). The leaflet ʺLetʹs cast off the hated yokeʺ contains an appeal: ʺLong live the leader of the liberation movement, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, who will give all peoples the right to internal independence and national development, secure all land to the peasants, provide workers with free labor and legal protection, and give freedom words, assembly and press, foreign and domestic trade and general forgiveness, peace, law and order. ʺ
Intelligentsia
During the reporting period, two large anti‐Soviet organizations were liquidated in Moscow. One of them, which consisted mostly of students, white officers, teachers and professors, had a significant stock of weapons and tried to organize expropriations and terrorist acts. Another organization, called the Order of Russian Fascists, was grouped from writers with a counter‐revolutionary and criminal past, including a number of obvious degenerates, cocaine and opioid addicts. The ʺOrder of Russian Fascistsʺ aimed at the destruction of Marxist ideology, the overthrow of Soviet power and its replacement by the power of the unlimited dictatorship of the Russian fascists, which should restore the nobility, return their property to the owners, etc. The distribution of proclamations was planned, expropriation of state institutions and terror over members of the Soviet government. Attempts were noted to establish contacts with White Guard circles abroad.
Religious movements
Orthodox clergy.
The struggle between the Tikhonites and the Renovationists, which was mentioned in previous reviews, has reached its limit of development. In the Tomsk, Saratov and Tsaritsyn provinces, the ideological struggle turns into uniform battles over the church. Having reached the extreme limits ʺobjectively possibleʺ in cities, Tikhonovshchina shifted the center of work to the countryside. Recently, in a number of districts (Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, and others), provincial and district centers have been created to direct the work of church councils. Regional associations of ʺbrotherhoodsʺ and ʺsisterhoodsʺ are also organized (ʺBrotherhood of Christʺ, in Novgorod gubernia, in Kirrespublika, etc.), and the activities of these new associations take on a sharply expressed political and social character and give more activity in church life.
In some places, the unification of the laity is already putting pressure on the Tikhonov church apparatus towards its greater anti‐Soviet activity. So, they reproached Bishop Joseph of Kaluga and Metropolitan of Tver for liberalism, and in the Cherepovets province. One of the church councils, not finding enough Black Hundred priest, ordered a priest from Leningrad ‐ a former white officer.
The anti‐Soviet activity of the clergy and lay activists was expressed mainly in the spread of rumors about intervention and monarchist agitation (Irkutsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Astrakhan provinces and Kirrespublika), in anti‐Semitic agitation (Amur [governorate] and Belarus) and in agitation against taxes, noted on a number of provinces.
Sects. During the period under review, there has been an increase in sects, especially evangelical ones, due to the strengthening of their propaganda activities. The evangelists have created a special cadre of paid traveling preachers and the practice of sending special propaganda teams to villages. Of the recent congresses, it is necessary to note the congress of the Molokans of the Amur Region, which spoke in favor of carrying out military service in the Red Army with arms in hand.
Among the sectarians of the Tsaritsyn province. and the North Caucasian Territory, a split occurred in individual communities on the basis of the class principle (the poor are separated from the kulaks and the wealthy). The growth of inclination, the split of individual communities and the tendency to split in a number of others makes the sectarians move from one sect to another, increasing among them interest in mystical and anti‐state sects. Recently, the growth of such sects has been noted (in the Urals, Jehovahʹs Witnesses and runners, in the Odessa region, the shakers, etc.).
BANDITRY
The movement of banditry in the regions of the USSR in March is presented as follows.
Central District. In the provinces of Ryazan, Oryol, Tambov and Voronezh, there is still an increased manifestation of criminal banditry, accompanied by a number of robberies of cooperatives and post offices. The gangs consist mostly of local peasants (in the Tambov Gubernia, of former Antonovites and recidivists, criminals released early or released after serving their sentence). Individual gangs have a very significant number. So, liquidated in the Tambov province. a gang of criminals consisted of 25 people in the Oryol province. ‐ of 18 people.
Northwest region. In the suburban volosts of the Petrozavodsk and Olonets districts, the actions of financial intelligence officers with connections with the local population were observed. Most of them are people who have emigrated abroad and are involved in smuggling. They spread rumors among the population about an imminent war with Finland. Noticeable activity was shown by Oberonʹs gang, of which the deputy leader and one bandit were detained, and one was killed.
Western region. In the border regions of Poland, intensive work is underway to form gangs for the purpose of transferring them to our territory. As a result of a successful operation, Ryabtsevichʹs gang was put out of action, the leader of which was seriously wounded and one bandit was killed. In the hinterland, there is an ongoing activity of criminal and political banditry. A number of robberies of Soviet workers, railway stations and grassroots cooperation were noted. The gangs of Bogdanovich and Bokun in Belarus and Antonenkov, Smirnov and Mochennikov in Smolensk province were especially active. 7 criminal gangs of 8‐12 people each were liquidated.
Ukraine. There is an increase in the activity of banditry in the Kiev, Poltava and Chernigov provinces and on the Southern railways. A number of raids on Soviet workers, railway stations, trains and grassroots cooperation and executive committees were noted. During the month, 10 large raids were registered, mainly on railway stations, and many small ones.
The reasons for the growth of banditry are crop failure, unemployment and the presence of early released criminals. Gangs of peasants are organized only for raids, then to disperse to their homes, and therefore are elusive. The population is helping our anti‐bandit squads. A number of significant gangs, from 7 to 15 people, have been liquidated.
North Caucasus. After a period of comparative calm, criminal banditry and ethnic banditry began to revive (especially in the Kabardino‐Balkarian region, Chechnya, the Black Sea and Kuban districts). There is information about the organization of large gangs with the aim of raiding trains.
Volga region. There is an increase in the activity and number of criminal banditry in the provinces: Penza, Saratov and Tsaritsyn, and a strong growth of national and everyday banditry ‐ ʺbarantaʺ in some regions of Kyrgyzstan. The appearance in the Tsaritsyn lips is noted. recently defeated Kiselevʹs gang of 8 riders and 12 horses.
Transcaucasia. The passivity of all the available gangs is noted. However, it should be assumed that the gangs are carrying out preparatory work and their activity will revive in the spring and summer. All gangs, both located on our territory and temporarily moved to the border areas to Turkey, tend to re‐openly appear.
Middle Asia. Along with the passivity and demobilization mood of the Basmach gangs of the right and left banks of the Vaksh, due to the onset of cold weather and the deterioration of the horse train, active gangs were observed in other areas. The general leadership of these gangs is concentrated by order of the Bukhara Emir 133 in the hands of Ibrahim‐bek, by whom the gangs are distributed among the districts. The Basmachi are assisted by Afghanistan, where they are allowed to purchase weapons and ammunition and where they can freely go. Among the surrendered Basmachi, there is an agitation for rejoining the gang. Repressions of those who surrendered are carried out by the Tajik leaders, there have been cases of their execution. In Uzbekistan, as a result of the campaign being carried out to clarify the tasks of the Soviet government, the attitude of the population towards the Soviet government is loyal.
Siberia. In Yakutia, active actions of a group of the ArtemyevKaramzin gang under the command of Kanin, which carried out a raid on Ust‐Mayskoye and had clashes with our detachments, were observed. In February, our detachment occupied Petropavlovskoye without a fight, where the banditsʹ headquarters correspondence was captured.
Far East. In the Chinese border strip against some villages of Zavitinsky u. Amur lips. there is a grouping of significant Hunghuz bands intending to carry out raids on our country.
In Kamchatka province. the activity of the bands of ArtemyevKaramzin, Galliberov‐Sleptsov increased. During the occupation of Novo‐Ustye (south of Okhotsk), the gangs captured 10,000 poods. flour, 300 poods. sugar, 500 poods. tea and 300 poods. oils, which products are hastily taken to the taiga. Our detachment, after a clash with the gang, retreated to Okhotsk. In view of the impossibility of providing assistance to Okhotsk until spring, it was ordered to defend only the city. The gangs have white and green badges on their headdresses and a two‐color flag on their headquarters.
In the rest of the Far East, there is a decline in the activity of banditry, which, however, is of a temporary nature due to the conditions of the winter period. The observed anti‐Soviet agitation on the part of former bandits, the development of petty criminal banditry and an attempt to [create] white cells indicate the availability of cadres for wide band performances with the onset of spring.
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Yagoda
Head of INFO OGPU Prokofiev
With genuine true: Secretary of INFO OGPU
Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 1
ECONOMIC SITUATION AND POLITICAL SITUATION OF
WORKERS
Metallurgical industry
Workers of the VSNKh Iron Foundry (Voronezh Gubernia) went on strike over delayed wages; the workers who remained at the machines were forced to quit their jobs. Products at the plant in two months were produced only for 300 rubles, and the daily consumption is 100 rubles.
At the Sevkabel plant (Leningrad Gubernia), due to a decrease in the percentage of extra work, one of the plantʹs departments went on strike for four hours.
At the Kramatorsk Metallurgical Plant (Artyomovsk District), dissatisfaction with the decrease in rates continues, 4te is especially noticeable in the machine shop. This dissatisfaction also takes place among the Communists; there is talk among the workers that the administration should be taken out in a wheelbarrow.
At the Mariupol factories ʺAʺ and ʺBʺ of Yugostal, in connection with the increase in the production rate and the decrease in wages, discontent continues, as the material situation of the workers has deteriorated. The stokers of the steam boilers on this soil staged a shortterm strike, which was liquidated by satisfying the demands of the workers, i.e., the norms remained old and the staff reduction was canceled.
At the plant ʺElectrosilaʺ No. 1 in Kharkov on February 25, there was an attempt on the part of the foremen to speak in an organized manner in front of the plant management demanding an increase in rates. The initiator was the master of the 3rd lathe shop communist.
At the plant them. Karl Marx (Yekaterinoslavskaya guberniya), 60 workers in the wire shop went on strike due to lower prices.
At the Izhevsk factories (Votsk region), skilled workers generate 150 rubles instead of 150 rubles. 35‐50 rubles. per month, which is explained by an increase in production rates and a decrease in prices. At the sawmill at the same plant, a group of 13 workers under the leadership of a Komsomol member and another artel of 10 people quit their jobs.
Textile industry
At the factory of Vysokovskaya m‐ry of Tver Cotton Trust (Moscow Gubernia), in connection with the transition to four machines, 500 workers went on strike.
At the Likinskaya textile factory of the Orekhovo‐Zuevsky trust, up to 100 workers went on strike on the grounds of low prices and poor quality of auxiliary materials, which did not make it possible to work out the norm.
On April 8, at the Novo‐Weaving Mill of the Glukhovskoy District of the Bogorodsko‐Shchelkovsky Trust (Moscow Gubernia), a day and a half strike took place, involving up to 6,000 workers. The main reason for the strike was the reduction in prices from 5 to 30%; In carrying out this measure, the administration completely overlooked the poor quality of the weft, the severe deterioration of the machines and the lack of auxiliary materials. At the general meeting, the workers did not allow either the administration or the members of the factory to speak, and a delegation was elected to negotiate with the administration and the following requirements were set: 1) to revise the prices to increase them, 2) to make a 15% premium on high prices, 3) to re‐elect the factory, 4) remove the red director; and 5) not apply reprisals to delegates. During the strike, members of the RCP kept aloof from the non‐party workers.
Workers of the muhl shop of the Teikovo factory (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province) went on strike in connection with a decrease in prices.
In February, there was a three‐day strike on the same basis at the same factory.
Mining
At mine No. 8 of the Gorlovsky Mining Administration (Artyomovsky District), due to a decrease in wages, the loggers went on strike, they were supported by the horsemen; they made a demand for their transfer to the 8th category; due to the lack of fastening material, 30 miners were forced to stop working.
In connection with an increase in the production rate and a decrease in rates, the workers of the Italia mine of the Makeevka Combine (Donetsk province) refused to go to work.
At mine ʺCʺ of the Budenovskoye mine administration, due to an increase in production rates and a decrease in prices, workers did not go to work (Donetsk province).
Anti‐Soviet agitation is noted in the Rivne mining administration due to the increase in production rates. The workers say that ʺthe current government is the power of the rapists, they promised a lot, but they gave nothing but cold and hunger.ʺ
At the coal mines of the Anzhero‐Sudzhensky region, the reduction in prices in the loading bureau caused sharp discontent among the workers. When handing out quotations to the workers, they raised a scandal and threw quotations on the administrationʹs desk, refusing to work. There was no interruption in the work of the mines, but coal production dropped by 30‐35%. The workers point out that they have a flourishing exploitation, which was not under the tsar, and the specialists are ready to skin the worker, but the heads and the trade unions do not understand anything and assent to the specialists.
Chemical industry
50 workers of the pottery shop of the Ivotsk glass factory went on strike in connection with the announcement of the director about the proposed increase in the norms and the reduction of prices, as the working day was added to [to]
5 ʹ/ 2 hours the strike lasted 4 hours (Bryansk province).
At the Pesochinskaya faience factory, 53 workers of the coal forges went on strike on the grounds of higher rates and lower prices.
The question was raised at a meeting of the RKK, where, in the presence of the workers, it was established according to the timing that the prices by the plant management were made correctly. The next day, the workers began to work (Bryansk province).
At the Znamensky Glass Factory (Yenisei Gubernia), on March 26, 32 craftsmen went on strike as a result of a 20% cut in wages and an increase in production rates from 5 to 20%. 12 masters applied
06 dismissal. The salary of foremen decreased from 130‐150 rubles. up to 72 rubles.
Metallurgical industry (optional)
After the ʺbagpipesʺ that took place in the wire shop of the plant. Karl Liebknecht On March 23, 50 workers did not work in the bolt cutter shop for an hour and a half. The reason for the ʺItaliansʺ is lower prices.
Dissatisfaction with the trade unionists
Among the workers of the Glukhovskoy district of the BogorodskoShchelkovsky trust (Moscow province), there is discontent with the trade unionists. The striking textile workers of the Novo‐Tkatskaya factory made a demand to remove the pre‐factory committee. During the strike, the communists did nothing to influence the workers and kept themselves apart from them.
It is not uncommon for workers to hear agitation against trade unions; it is said that the workers do not need unions, for they only do that they collect membership dues; if you are left without work, the trade union will stick an A in its mouth and shout that all our workers are provided for. There were fewer reductions under tsarism than at present (Yaroslavl Gubernia).
At the Ikonve factory, the staff of the factory is inflated. The workers say that instead of three paid members of the factory committee, one would be enough.
At the B.‐Kokhomskaya convent, the re‐election of the factory committee took place with shouts: ʺDown with the factory, it sits on our neckʺ (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province).
At the re‐election of the Board of the Union of Metalworkers in the Uman District, workers protested against the nomination of the old chairman, nominated by the faction, pointing out that he expelled workers from the union on the basis of settling personal scores (Kiev province).
The factory of the 1st Goskanatny Zavod (Kharkov Gubernia) does not enjoy authority among the workers; workers openly declare that the factory is closely connected with the administration. The factory committee says to the workers: ʺIf you elected me, then you must obey me.ʺ The workers are reluctant to go to the factory with their needs, knowing in advance that they will not find support there.
Anti‐Soviet protests of workers
At the Arzhenskaya Cloth Factory (Tambov Gubernia), at workshop meetings for re‐elections at a factory conference, one of the workers said: ʺWe have nothing to do here, there are only Communists and Komsomol members, there are no real workers.ʺ
At a general meeting of the Metallprom plant (Orenburg Gubernia), after a report on the international situation of the USSR and the arrival of an English trade union delegation, the worker Ponomarev (a member of the RCP (b)) said in his speech: but no matter how the revolution collapses because of the bad and inattentive attitude on the part of the central administrations and responsible workers to the interests of the workers and peasants, who in our Republic are cash cows and they alone bear the burden of various taxes, fees, deductions and deductions. I agree that our Republic is poor and needs our support, but why must a worker take the rap for everything, starve and endure, receiving a meager salary, our heads and responsible workers live happily ever after and do not need anything.
At the Pimokatny plant of Mehtrest (Barnaul district), a general meeting of workers elected a former bandit of the Rogov gang, Tretyakov, who was not approved by the textiles department, to which the workers indignantly declared: “The communists really want to take power into their own hands, we need to make them work, thatʹs enough they drank blood from us. ʺ
At the plant them. Bukharin Guskombinat (Vladimir Gubernia), worker Miroshin said that “Rykov is an impostor since he was not chosen by the people. Everywhere and everywhere communists, without being elected, occupy positions of responsibility. The Communist Party does not deserve any authority among the workers, it only pushes them away from itself. ʺ
At the Novo‐Ivankovsky sugar plant, two workers drew up an antiSoviet ʺmanifestoʺ that is read to the workers at the end of their work.
Peasant sentiments
At a re‐election meeting in the Moscow Soviet in the auto armored division, individual workers declared: “You say that in 1923 there were scissors, the peasant could not buy anything, but now, what can a peasant do when a bag of potatoes costs 1 ruble, milk — 4 cop. mug, and boots ‐ 20 rubles, and there is no part‐time job. ʺ
In the 7th printing house, those who spoke at a meeting for re‐elections to the Moscow Soviet declared: ʺIt is necessary to expand credit on a large scale to the peasantry and the working population.ʺ
At the school of forging tools, they also declared during re‐elections: “You said that the peasantry is the petty bourgeoisie; what kind of bourgeoisie they are, if they sweat day and night, walk in bast shoes and eat only rye bread” (Moscow province).
At the Krasny Pass factory, anti‐Soviet elements are campaigning for the fact that the Soviet government oppresses the peasants, that their lives are worse than in tsarist times (Yaroslavl province). They say that ʺbefore the tsarist government did not take off the last fur coat from the peasant, but now it occurs, now they take from them and from us and wear good fur coats.ʺ This agitation is successful among the peasant section of the workers.
At the meeting of the RCP (b) cell No. 3 at art. Roslavl received a note from a worker who asked why the authorities did not allow the peasants as well as the workers to ʺorganize their unionsʺ (Smolensk Gubernia).
At the former Gena Selmashzavod in Odessa, a small group of workers are conducting anti‐Soviet agitation, pointing out that the peasants are taxed too heavily, that they are pulling money from the peasants for teaching their children in schools, etc.
Agitation of the anti‐Soviet element
At the factory ʺKrasny Passʺ (Yaroslavl Gubernia), anti‐Soviet persons said to a group of workers: Wheat flour is gone in Moscow. In the Soviet Republic there are only many newspapers, which, by the way, no one reads. ʺ Another told the workers: “All the leaders, like Lenin, Trotsky and others, lived and are living as tsars, as before; workers, as under the tsarist regime, are exploited by comrades with might and main, and it is more difficult for a worker to live at the present time. If it was possible to buy four pairs of boots to earn a worker under tsarism, then at present there is only one pair, and responsible Soviet workers have occupied soft armchairs, receive high rates and do nothing. ʺ
At an open party meeting of the buildersʹ cell, where the report ʺWorker and Peasant Womanʺ was presented, the speaker was not allowed to speak, one of the workers (a former Menshevik) said in his speech: ʺIn 1921, when the corpses were lying on the streets, there were only workers, but there were no communists. The workers are the slaves of the communists”; all those present and other speakers supported him. Communards who spoke were not allowed to speak and shouted, ʺDown withʺ (Odessa province).
At the Odessa sugar plant them. Blagoeva, one of the former officers working there agitates against the MOPR, pointing out that in Russia there are many prisoners in the DOPR and the GPU. At this factory of the pre‐zavkom Vasyunin protects former officers, arranging them for service.
Former Socialist‐Revolutionary Ivanov released to the workers of the section of Art. Ishim (Ural) appeal, calling to wake up from hibernation and take up defending their interests.
Unemployment
At a general meeting of unemployed metalworkers, questions were asked: “How are speakers at the meeting guaranteed from arrest?” Many pointed to the abnormality of buying cars abroad, since this does not stop unemployment. The mood of the unemployed was extremely excited (Moscow province).
At a general meeting of unemployed water workers, the unemployed demanded the removal of a number of responsible communist and RKK workers, motivating this with their inactivity and protectionism developed among them. Communists who spoke were not allowed to speak, and all the time shouts were heard: ʺDown with them.ʺ They spoke openly about the need to take up arms, the need for a second revolution. One of the former communists called to expel the arrogant from the district commander with weapons. Others called for the organization, because ʺotherwise they will be overwrittenʺ (Odessa province).
In Kiev, unemployment is still increasing. Up to 200 people are registered in sections every day. Among those registered, there is a significant percentage of farm laborers who arrived in Kiev in connection with rumors that 10,000 unemployed are recruited to Murman, and the members of the KNS who arrived at the exchange do not even want to believe that rumors about the recruitment of workers in Murman or Siberia are false, thinking that their ignored and preferred only by urban workers.
The mood of the unemployed‐demobilized is depressed due to the lack of demand for labor. At one time, the demobilized tried to arrange a meeting, but this meeting was not allowed and the refusal caused discontent among the masses. It is noted that the demobilized hold secret meetings in the hostel, at one of them they decided that it was necessary to call on the whole mass of non‐party people who were on the stock exchange 134 and all together to cry out ʺgive breadʺ (Kiev province).
On March 5, a crowd of up to 100 unemployed loaders approached the work area of the first group of loaders unloading timber and offered the State Shipping Company to unload firewood for 1 ruble. 50 kopecks per cubic meter while the members of the union make unloading under the collective agreement for 2 rubles. 50 kopecks from a cube. The loaders who came were armed with knives, weights, etc. and wanted to seize the unloading of firewood by force, but loaders ‐ members of the union prevented them. As a result, a fight broke out. The incident was settled by the chairman of the union and the labor inspector (Kiev province).
Among the unemployed, due to the difficult economic situation, there are rumors that it is necessary to organize and ʺthrow off the communists from their shoulders.ʺ ʺWe must openly declare to the communists ‐ you do not know how to rule the state and go to hell under the boat.ʺ One of the unemployed spoke about the propagation of proclamations by the Mensheviks, which said that ʺthere is not long to endure and soon the workers and peasants will be liberated from the yoke of the communistsʺ (Tatrespublika).
After the workers were fired from the burned‐out coke ovens at the Anzhero‐Sudzhensk mines, some of them, coming to the WASH district committee, say: “We need to take up the rifle again in order to win another power that would protect the interests of the workers more, or commit a crime, seeking prison, because although there they will be fed with bread. ʺ
Secretary of the Information Department of the State Political
Administration
[APPENDIX # 2]
ELECTION OF RURAL COUNCILS
Kulak groups
[Center] Tula province. During the re‐election of the Andreevsky Council of the Oryol‐Krasno‐Kuritsky RIK, the kulaks created a group under the leadership of a former member of the RCP (b) who arrived from Moscow. The group set itself the task of disrupting the meeting at all costs.
In the village. Bobrovo, Arsenyevsky district, Belevsky u. kulaks gathered an illegal meeting, outlined a list of members of the Council. They said to the poor and women: ʺIf you bastards vote against our list at a meeting, we will exhaust you and keep you silent forever.ʺ
Northwest. Cherepovets lip. At the congress Volodarskaya parish. the kulak group led the agitation under the slogan ʺVIC without communistsʺ. They managed to get their three candidates to the VIC.
Ukraine. Poltava province. In the Lubensky district in the village. Khilkovka, two days before the re‐election to the village council, local kulaks, led by a priest, held a pre‐election meeting. During the re‐election, this group led 10 members of the religious community, after the re‐election in the priestʹs apartment a report was made on the work of this group. In with. Eremeevka of the Zolotonosha district, voters proposed to remove from the meeting of the Komsomol members and the police.
Donetsk province. In sl. Novo‐Borovoy, Starobelsk District, a group of wealthy peasants are carrying out preparatory work for their candidates for the Soviets. This group secretly organizes meetings at which they criticize the Soviet regime and talk about democratic elections.
The activity of the Social Revolutionaries and other anti‐Soviet elements in the elections
Moscow province. Egoryevsky u. During the re‐elections, the SocialistRevolutionary element tried to win over the peasant masses to their side, inciting voters against the Communists. In Dmitrovskaya, Yegoryevskaya and Dvoenskaya volosts, Socialist‐Revolutionaries entered some village councils. From Lelech parish. the SocialistRevolutionary came to the district congress. The SocialistRevolutionary element enjoys the greatest influence in the Komlevsky district of the Ramenskaya vol., Where the population consists entirely of Old Believers 135. At the re‐elections in the indicated area, the chairman, the Socialist Revolutionary, was elected to the village council, and two Socialist Revolutionaries were delegates to the Vol Congress.
In the Selivanovsky district, Yegoryevskaya vol. SocialistRevolutionary Svetlov entered the election commission. There is a tendency among the population to make him a member of the village council.
Yaroslavl province. B, Yaroslavl par. at the re‐elections of the Krestovsky region, the former Socialist‐Revolutionary said: “They receive taxes from the peasants, they are not allowed to deploy freely; if private trade were allowed, then they would give the opportunity to private individuals to start up factories and plants and the life of the peasants would boil. ʺ Most of the peasants present applauded him.
Tula lips. In the Karachevsky region, a group of SRs carried out intensive work among the delegates to the regional congress in order to bring their people to the presidium of the RIK.
At a meeting of the Lugovsky village council of the Dedilovsky district, two Social Revolutionaries and an ardent opponent of the RCP (b) with a Menshevik bias carried on intensified agitation against Soviet power. Thanks to their campaigning, the re‐elections in the area were postponed.
In the village. Leshkovo, Chastinsky District, SR Basov is trying to persuade the population to hold re‐elections by secret ballot. A similar campaign was conducted by Pryashnikov from the village. Gryzlovo, in a Socialist‐Revolutionary mood.
In with. Vladimirovsky Kr. Vakovsky u. there is a case of holding an SR in the village electoral committee. At a meeting of the SelElectoral Committee, he insisted on granting the right to vote to all the merchants and kulaks of his village, but was promptly reprimanded by other representatives of the Selizbirkom.
Ryazan lips. Before the elections of the Popadyinsky regional council of the Ryazan district. traveled around a number of villages in the Socialist Revolutionary Volost, campaigning among the population, so that in no case would the Communists be elected to the Volost; in the district council, however, all the communists were elected.
Tambov province. At the Kuzminsky Volsezd Lipetsk u. on the question of the international and domestic situation of the peasant s. Studenok Borodin raised the issue of a political amnesty. He pointed out that ʺin our free revolutionary country we should not have any persecution, but in our country all the prisons are full of Mensheviks and SocialistRevolutionaries, whom we must liberate, and therefore our congress must pass a resolution on their release.ʺ The non‐party peasants were sympathetic to the proposal.
In with. Ponzari Sampur parish During the re‐election of the village council, one of the voters speaking, calling himself an anarchist, said that the authorities were giving orders incorrectly, and suggested that they be canceled and issued their decrees and orders, ʺsince now the people are in power.ʺ For the most part, former bandits entered the Council.
The Kamensk regional executive committee received the following statement from a citizen, a former member of the bandit movement: “Not recognizing the justice of the population and not believing in the possibility of improving life through violent measures, I refuse to participate in the upcoming elections of power, to which I have to appear on March 5, according to the notice of the agricultural election committee No. 272. At the same time, I declare that I have no solidarity and do not approve of any action by the authorities based on even the slightest violence against people, so I ask you to release me from the title of citizen of the USSR and all the resulting rights and obligations. I do not take any responsibility for the actions of the government, in the state of which there is a place for prison, courts and wars. ʺ
Ukraine. Kharkiv province. During the re‐elections in the Zmievsky District Electoral Commission of the Kharkov District, former Social Revolutionaries were present, who rallied around themselves a wealthy element and tried to disrupt the candidacies of party members.
Campaigning against elections to the Soviets of Communists, Komsomol members, women and Soviet elements in the countryside
Centre. Moscow province. Resurrection u. At the parish congress of Pavlovsk parish. there was a large number of kulak and priestly elements, thanks to which the congress was very stormy. According to the report on the re‐election, a number of persons campaigned against the elections of the Communists to the VIC. As a result, the kulak element succeeded in running for the VIC.
Nizhny Novgorod province. Among the peasants of the Epiphany parish. Semenovsky u. at the beginning of the campaign, the slogan was widespread: ʺNot a single party member to the Soviet.ʺ Only nonpartisans were elected to the village councils.
Tambov province. During the re‐election of the Tavolzhansky village council, Gryazinsky vol. Lipetsk u. shouts began against the communists, who were nominated as candidates: ʺWhat do we need him for, he is a communist,ʺ and when a member of the RCP (b) or the RLKSM voted, a whisper was heard throughout the hall: ʺDonʹt vote, itʹs a communist.ʺ The elections were held under the influence of two peasants, who set up signaling for all voters, indicating who to vote for and who not, as a result, kulaks, who had previously been impaired in their rights, millers and merchants, were elected to the village councils.
At the re‐elections of the Rzhaksi village council of Kamenskaya vol., When candidates were nominated from the RLKSM cell, the population categorically refused to vote for them and almost saw them off with a whistle, the candidacies were failed. Before the elections, the kulaks campaigned intensively in order not to let the communists into the village council. There were such cases that the kulaks even collected money and gave it to the peasants for moonshine to vote against the communists.
During the re‐election of the village council with. Olkhovsky Kirsanovsky u. the village paramedic who spoke out against the members of the RCP said that “I read the newspapers and it is clear from them that the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee orders to choose only from non‐party members, and there is no need for party members,” as a result, when voting for members of the RCP (b) and RLKSM not a single vote was cast.
During the re‐election of the Novo‐Znamensky village council of the Tambov district. peasant Astakhov FG, calling himself a village correspondent, a kulak, shouted: ʺLong live the Soviets without communists.ʺ The poor went to the village council.
Along Nizhne‐Studenetskaya Vol. Lipetsk u. in all villages, the reelections took place under the slogan ʺSoviets without Communistsʺ, the kulaks were much more intensive in preparing for the re‐elections than the party organizations. Their agitation was carried out more skillfully, they managed to convince most of the population that ʺwe need our own peasant power, which knows every piece of land, and not a party one, we need to elect independent people, not suckers.ʺ
Tula lips. At the congress of the Laptev district Monashkin from the village. Denisovo demanded not to elect the “red nobilitycommunists”, since they live the best.
During the re‐election of the Yakhontovsky district council of the Odoyevsky RIK, the former member of the RCP (b), together with the kulaks, the church headman, campaigned against the election of a communist as chairman. They pointed out that the central government recommends only non‐party people to the Soviets, and let the communists have a rest, and then added: ʺotherwise they are tired of ripping off the peasants with taxes.ʺ
Yaroslavl lips. The re‐election campaign in the province showed great activity of the kulaks. In Prechistenskaya Vol. Danilovsky u. the kulaks, grouped together, openly rebelled against the nomination of the communists. In with. Martynove Prechistenskaya parish kulak issued a statement that the cell was again nominating its henchmen. In the same volost with. Karpovo kulak, a former police officer, openly called on the fellow villagers present at the meeting to protest against the Soviet regime and the RCP. Quite often the poor peasants, farm laborers and strong middle peasants fall under the influence of the kulaks, declaring that ʺall the time we see how the workersʹ leading party takes its protégés to well‐paid jobs.ʺ
In the village. Kotovo Danilovsky u. the kulak told the peasants: “Donʹt believe what the representatives of the so‐called workers ʹand peasantsʹ government tell you. This is not the power of the peasantry, but the power of the Party and all those who are currently leading us. Comrade Kalinin, sitting in the center, although he is a peasant, is only a sign for Soviet power. ʺ
Cherepovets lip. In the Shchetinsky parish. during the work of the congress, a group of 8‐10 people emerged against the communists. One of them spoke in favor of the choice of delegates exclusively to the peasants from the plow and in no case should they choose the workers, since ʺpeasants and workers have different interests.ʺ This group consists mainly of former members of the RCP (b), expelled for various crimes. From this group, no one went anywhere. Members of the RCP (b) were not elected to the Morotsk VIC; there was a fairly organized opposition at the congress. The overwhelming majority of the well‐todo elements were the delegates to the congress; the poor were almost absent.
Volga region. Saratov province. During the re‐election of the village council in the village. Poretskoye kulaks, a huckster element, were agitating that the supreme party organ had issued a decree that no communists should be elected to the village council; the campaign was successful.
Along the Sosnovo‐Solonetskaya parish. Saratov u. rumors circulated among the peasants that now the right to isolate themselves from the communists was given and that everything at the top had already been rebuilt in the old way.
Ukraine. Kharkiv province. In the Akhtyrka Okrug, re‐elections are going on rather violently, which is expressed mainly in the unwillingness to elect the nominated candidates for members of the CNS, KSM and KP (b) U. Everywhere there is a tendency to elect their own people and unwillingness to listen to reports, at the same time shouts are heard “do not pour nonsense”, “we do not need strangers”, “do not need children ‐ members of the KSM”.
In the organizations of the KNS, there is a distrust of the newly elected village councils, while the following statements are heard: ʺLet [be] a little more, we will disperse.ʺ
In the city of Lebedin, they shouted at the re‐elections: ʺDown with the communists, members of the CNS and trade unions.ʺ As a result, the re‐election was disrupted.
In sl. During the re‐election, a significant part of the poor and demobilized Red Army men in the two‐river Kupyansk district declared that they did not want to participate in the voting if they insisted on holding party candidates.
Podolsk lips. In with. The Kupchins of the Gaysinsky District, long before the re‐elections, the anti‐Soviet element was campaigning for not admitting a single citizen sympathetic to the Soviet government to the Soviet, that the Soviet government put forward the slogan ʺFace to the villageʺ only because it saw that the peasants did not want ʺObey the chosen villains.ʺ On the day of the re‐election, proclamations were posted throughout the village calling for the kulaks to be brought in. The appeal said: ʺComrades, today there are re‐elections, know who to schedule, and do not think that this is nonsense for us, land issues are suitable, if they get there (a number of names are listed), then we will smell the back of our heads.ʺ In the re‐election, the Communist candidacies were ruined.
In with. Voytovka Vinnitsa district re‐elections were noisy. One peasant spoke at the meeting, who said that members of the KNS and Komsomol, especially Jews, had no right to participate in any elections, and in order to convince those present, he showed an order issued by the Denikin and Petliura authorities from 1919, but whose order it was, he did not say. When one of the members of the village council spoke with the words ʺcomradesʺ, then from the crowd were heard shouts ʺnow there are no comrades.ʺ
Kiev province. In the Cherkasy district in the village of Makeevka, the middle peasants showed great activity during the re‐elections, who said: ʺWe were silent for seven years, now let us talk too.ʺ The candidacies of the CP (b) U and KSM members failed. The attitude towards non‐chewers was negative.
The latter was observed in the village. Samgorodok and Tashlyk of the same district, and in the village. Tashlyk was defeated as a local communist only because he fought against banditry.
Siberia. Irkutsk lips. In with. Telma Usolsky district, after a report on the re‐election to the Soviets, a peasant of this village spoke in the debate, who indicated that ʺthe communists should not be elected to the Council, because they are criminals: they robbed the mill, burned them with backgammon, robbed the weaving corps, etc.ʺ He declared that the peasants would be able to run the state without the communists. At the meeting, the electoral commission nominated two communists as candidates, during whose voting the same peasant shouted: ʺDown with the communists, long live the Soviets.ʺ After it was announced to him that he did not have the right to vote, shouts were heard from everywhere: “We will not allow Kryuchkov to be kicked out, go away, communists, yourself. Down with the
communists, long live the non‐party Soviet power. ʺ
Novonikolaevskaya lips. In with. Zimovye (Cherepanovsky district), a wealthy peasant declared: “Now here is the article by
Comrade Stalin 136 woke up the citizens a little, the peasant owners, now there is no need to be afraid of the communists and they should not be elected. Nor should we choose those we donʹt need; everything that was carried out in 1920 now disappears, and the peasants themselves will manage as they want. ʺ
In with. Abramkinsky the kulaks say: “We will not let a single communist into the Soviet, thatʹs enough of them ‐ we have reigned. The month of March will come and we will throw out all the communists from the village council and elect our own, then we will squeeze the poor, let the communists be hired to us as workers. ʺ
Peasant s. Rachet said: ʺWe in Rachet are looking forward to the elections, then we will start taking the communists to the swamp and to the dump.ʺ
Omsk lips. At the re‐election of the Ikonninsky village council of the Kalachinsky district. 35% participated. Before the re‐election, a local peasant‐kulak, who has five horses and eight cows, a farm laborer, etc., said: ʺYou donʹt need to elect communists, they gnawed our peasantʹs neck.ʺ He compiled a list of well‐to‐do candidates and asked to vote for his list; in spite of the fact that there is a center of the regional committee of the RCP (b) in this village, not a single communist got into the village council.
Tomsk lips. At the re‐elections in the village. Polomoshny Tomsky the poor did not defend their interests. The well‐to‐do and kulaks were elected to the village council. Poor S. Kornikov turned to the secretary of the district committee of the RCP (b) with the words: ʺYour song has been sung, and now we will choose whoever we want.ʺ Further, he, referring to the work of a credit partnership, which has a deficit of about 2,000 rubles, and to the chaotic state of agricultural implements in the Krasny Khutor of the Yurginsky District, which is scattered across the fields, pointed out that “the peasants have a soul ache with this destruction of the national property, and the RCP (b) ‐ where is she, what is she doing in relation to the communists, through whose fault this is happening. The party of the RCP (b) removed Comrade Trotsky, but where is he, what did he do wrong, maybe he was right, but he was removed, as he went against the Soviet regime. ʺ Nominated candidates from the old members of the village council and RIK met with a whistle. All voted against. Some peasants sarcastically said: ʺThe former chairman of the VIK only had to go to saw firewood in Kaltaysky Bor, and a member sow clover.ʺ At the slightest attempt to influence the meeting, there were shouts: ʺDown with pressure, there should be no list system.ʺ
Altai lips. In with. Solonovka, Sychevsky district, candidates for the village council are exclusively prosperous. By the way, at an elective meeting, the well‐to‐do Baturin insulted women and drove them out of the meeting, while another declared: ʺThe Soviets must be without communists, then there will be Soviet power.ʺ
At the re‐elections of the village council in the village. Grano‐Myaki, Mamontovsky district, the chairman of the EPO board, Popov, told the peasants: ʺThere is no need to elect a single communist to the Council, this is not a party, but a handful that rules Russia.ʺ The village council elected the middle peasants and the poor and one kulak, not a single woman or party member.
At the re‐election of the Kytmanovsky village council of the Barnaul district. the village was divided into five sections. The kulaks, trying to gather their scattered forces, vigorously campaigned to disrupt these meetings and to call one general meeting. At one of these meetings, kulaks attacked members of the RIK, saying that “now your song is sung, the power is ours, etc.” The chairman of the RIK was not beaten just because he hurried to leave the meeting.
Based on materials on the course of re‐elections in Altai province. it can be concluded that the well‐to‐do peasants showed exceptional activity everywhere and everywhere during the elections: trying to seize the lower bodies of power, they, however, in some villages themselves, apparently, did not yet dare to gain a foothold in these positions, but wanted to strengthen their influence through dummies, for example, through the poor, who are entirely in economic dependence, and in some places under the ideological influence of kulaks.
In the Novikovsky district of Biysk u. At the time of the election campaign, the kulaks spread a provocative rumor that the communistsʹ mandate had come from the center not to elect the Soviet and that Trotsky wanted to organize a new government: ʺIt was not for nothing that the communists began to travel to the villages and persuade the peasants.ʺ
At the elections of the district village council of the Zalesovsky district of the Barnaul district. the kulaks spoke out: “Since all the newspapers write that non‐party people should be admitted to the Soviet, then do not impose communists on us. Enough, the communists have robbed us well, and now the law has passed. ʺ
Oirot region A citizen who comes from Barnaul in conversation with a peasant s. Chargi said that “in Barnaul and Biysk, there were meetings at which it was decided not to accept party members in public and cooperative work and to remove them from the posts they hold, on the basis of which, at the moment, according to the Biysk district. reelections of the Soviets are already underway.
Penetration of anti‐Soviet elements into the new Soviets
Centre. Moscow province. Egoryevsky u. Despite the fact that the best party forces took part in the re‐election for the leader, nevertheless in some places the Socialist‐Revolutionary element tried to win over the peasant masses to their side. In Dmitrievskaya parish. SR Ryusin passed to the district council, in Yegoryevskaya parish. SocialistRevolutionary Svetlov entered the village council, in Dvoenskaya parish. Socialist‐Revolutionary Grekov went to the village council, in Art. Lelech parish Socialist‐Revolutionary Blinov went to the district congress. The Socialist‐Revolutionary element [enjoys] the greatest influence on the peasantry in the Kanaevsky district of the Ramenskaya vol., Where the population is entirely Old Believers. At the re‐elections in the indicated area to the village council, he was the chairman of the Socialist Revolutionary, delegates to the Volga Congress as well. The Socialist Revolutionaries were included in the Kanaevsky village council and at the volost congress.
Mozhaisky u. In the Dubrovsky district of Vyshgorod vol. the village council was a citizen of the village. Zazhuchye Smirnov, who in 1918 was tried for a Socialist‐Revolutionary speech. After his election to the village council, he told those present at the meeting: ʺI opposed Soviet power in 1918, defending the peasantry, and if necessary, I will not hesitate to speak.ʺ
Tambov province. Lipetsk u. To the Cherepyansky village council Lebedyansko‐Prigorodnaya vol. members of the village council were elected Reshupkin, a church tutor and a member of the church council, Kuleshov, a member of the church council, and TI Kuleshov, a kulak. Chairman of the Alaevsky village council of Butyrskaya vol. the former landowner Zabolotsky was elected and another landowner Svetozarov was elected his deputy. The PEC representative who went there managed to persuade Zabolotsky to withdraw his candidacy.
In Kozlovsky u. Astakhov, a former white officer, a former SocialistRevolutionary and a kulak, was elected chairman of the Borisov VIK. Kulaks and the former foreman Inyutin contributed to his promotion to the post of the chairman of the VIC.
Tambovskiy u. The village council Arzhensky same parish predselsoveta elected Borodulya, Menshevik, played a prominent role during the Kerensky period 137.
The son of a former sergeant was elected to the N.‐Marfinsky village council of the pre‐village council.
The members of the village council were elected to the Ponzar village council: Kekopov ‐ the former secretary of the joint venture ..., Antonovshchina, Korva ‐ an anarchist.
The members of the village council were elected to the Ivanovo village council: Popov ‐ kulak ‐ the organizer of Antonovʹs gangs of four volosts, sentenced to five years in a concentration camp. Popov beat communists and Red Army soldiers, forced the peasants to join the gang with weapons, was the chairman of the former Bondarsky volost STK, confiscated property from the peasants themselves, deprived them of their right to allotment of land and threatened them with execution every day.
Leontyev, a bandit activist, became a member of the Korovinsky Village
Council.
An officer of the tsarist army passed to the village council.
Members of the Gorodishchensky village council of the PahotnoUglovskaya vol. passed Podkovin, a bandit ‐ an activist; the commander of a bandit squadron, Savelyev ‐ an agronomist, a member of the bandit movement, Savelyev H.E. ‐ Socialist‐Revolutionary since 1905, organizer of the pre‐election group Kebolkov ...
The members of the Krivo Polyansky Village Council were elected: Krivtsev, a speculator, Polyakov, a former tradesman and timber merchant (elected by the Presidential Council), Vereshchagin and Terentyev, kulaks, Selyansky, a bandit and merchant, and Griboyedov, a former merchant, now a church head.
Six people, former members of the gangster movement, became members of the Gorodishchensky village council.
A former member of the Zemstvo Council was elected to the village council of the Sampur Village Council, who was constantly deprived of his electoral vote and reinstated during this election campaign, he was also a delegate to the volcano.
Northwest. Leningrad province. In the Lembolovsky village council of the Leningrad district. the elect were: seven kulaks and one poor peasant, and the former landowner was elected to the village council.
In the village council Krasny Bor Trotsky u. the chairman is a former officer, the secretary is a former zemstvo and volost clerk.
Arkhangelsk lips. Under the influence of the agitation of the chairman of the Liostrovsky village council, all the former zemstvo people, including the former chairman of the zemstvo council, entered the presidium. Six people have been nominated as candidates for the village council, including two prominent zemstvo officials. The latter campaigned against the choice of the communists, offering to elect the former Zemstvo members. Two members of the Zemstvo passed to the village council. 12 former Zemstvo members, only one communist, took part in the volost congress.
West. Gomel province. In with. Ivolske Uvarovichi parish Gomelsky u. a former officer of Kolchakʹs army was elected secretary of the village council.
Volga region. Ulyanovsk province. The following were elected as delegates to the regional congress: the guard was a participant in the suppression of the uprising in 1905. 138, all the rest were speculators.
Ukraine. Volyn province. In the Radomysl region in the village. During the second elections to the Vishevichs, a number of anti‐Soviet persons were included in the village council: a former Petliurite, two gendarmes and one former member of the Union of the Russian People 139.
Kharkiv province. In with. Two guards, Molchanov and Skiba, entered the village council as a prosian of the Kharkov district.
In the Staro‐Vodolazhsky village council of the same district, under the influence of prosperous peasants, the former bailiff Tkach entered the village council.
In with. Vasilenkovo, Kharkov district, the electoral committeeʹs list was defeated and elected: Mr. Kolei is a Menshevik by conviction, a former clerk of the zemstvo chief; Mr. Talashko MI ‐ a participant in the Petliura congress in the town of Ek [atherino] glory, who led stubborn agitation against Soviet power, and so on. At the very first meeting of the newly elected village council, the issue of one member of the KNS was raised, and the analysis of this issue [would have] ended with the beating of the said member of the KNS, if he had not disappeared in advance.
Podolsk lips. In the Vakhnovka borough of Vinnitsa Okrug, the kulaks led the former hetman to the village council, who, during the hetman period, made arrests of villagers and Soviet workers. In addition, a former white officer who hid his rank entered the Council.
Don district. In the Krivinsky village council passed: in the first district, three former village chieftains and one Wrangelite, in the second district — the wife of a former colonel and the daughter of a priest, a party member who succumbed to the influence of the kulaks also went. Many Wrangelites who recently returned from abroad got into the third district. In all three districts, voters in an orderly fashion to defeat the communists.
Maikop district. In stts. Giaginskaya, during the re‐election, the surrounding farms were not notified in a timely manner, as a result, the kulaks deceived their people and express the hope that in the future they will be able to lead a real ataman, to whose post they are planning an emigrant officer, a former ataman of the village.
Siberia. Tomsk lips. At the regional congress of the Ust‐Sosnovsky region, a delegate from the village Katkova, a well‐to‐do peasant Mozheiko (a former landowner). In his speech this Zemstvo said: “I am happy that for the first time under Soviet power I had to sit at the very place where in 1917 I had to organize a revolutionary committee for the first time. We are faced with a difficult task ‐ to elect a ʺpeopleʹs powerʺ that would listen to the voice of the peasantry. Do not forget that the power is ʺpeopleʹsʺ and when nominating candidates, it is necessary to appoint ʺourʺ people. ʺ According to the report of the RIK, he also said: ʺThe rulers of the local RIK were only the executors of the center, but not the peopleʹs chiefs, economists should take into account the farms, and our RIKs, without doing this, worked to please the center.ʺ The REC elected five members of the RCP (b) and six non‐party members, including Mozheiko.
Omsk lips. In with. Voznesensky Kalachinsky district entered the village council of the entire church council. In with. Kochkovatinskiy Kalachinskiy district elected local rich man Bogatyrev, who has 25 horses, 60 heads of cattle and 8 farm laborers, was elected to the village council.
Altai lips. In with. Borovsky, Chistunsky district, a former SocialistRevolutionary, who is popular among the peasantry and who is scheduled to become a member of the RIK, passed to the village council and the paradise congress.
Speeches and rumors about the secondary elections to the Soviets
Moscow province. In Myachkovskaya Vol. Kolomensky u. at the Congress of Soviets, one of the delegates who spoke said: “What funds are used to support the Comintern, where did the confiscated church values go, where did the nationalized property go, why the peasant is not paid in insurance, why the disabled of the old army are not paid, why the prices of factory products are not reduced, why raise prices for agricultural equipment and machines, how and where the money collected to help revolutionaries in prisons goes. The newspaper is onesided, compare our surplus appropriation with the Romanian violence. In other countries there are ʺpeasant trade unionsʺ, but we do not ‐ this is the country of ʺfreedomʺ. ʺ The British delegation was in the USSR with the workers, but we did not see it.
Purcell said that there are no provocateurs in the USSR, and how few peasants and workers are now in prison for politics. Let us put out our newspaper. The agronomist says: raise cattle, and if you breed them, take them to the Urals Federal District. A Komsomolets member is a slave, he has no job. UCC presents us with ready‐made material, worse than before the nobles tried. Give us a peasant trade union to fight, we will declare a boycott of the proletariat and say: ʺYour days are numbered, you give the peasant unions.ʺ I don’t take it from the ceiling, the big difference between the KKOV and the cross union. Here we will not give the proletariat three weeks of bread, so I suppose they will come and bow to us. ʺ The speech was supported by a number of delegates who said: “There is a huge difference between the peasant union and the KKOV. We have two agronomists, one develops production, and the other (tax) strangles it. We will reckon with you a lot, there must be a peasant organization. And then from the workers they are elected to the city council from 200 ‐ one, and from the peasants from 2000 ‐ ..., before the priests were fogged, and now the communists are fogging”, etc.
The Kolomna district congress of Soviets opened on March 20. Delegates from the Myachkovskaya Volost arrived at the congress, among them were Mr. Rychagov, Mitrofanov and Troubles who spoke at the volost congress on the organization of a peasant union (see report, article 4). These delegates, leaving the volost congress, promised to raise the question of ʺpeasant trade unionsʺ at the uyezd congress. Before the opening of the congress, they began to attract other delegates and posted a notice on the theater building about the attendance of all non‐party delegates to the “non‐party faction”. The announcement was posted by Mr. Rychagov. The meeting of the ʺfactionʺ was attended by about 25 people out of a total of 114 non‐party members. The proposal of the Myachkov delegation to nominate exclusively non‐party members to the congress presidium was rejected. Levers, seeing failure, shouted at those present,
On the day of the opening of the congress, Rychagov, addressing the group, said: ʺWell, get ready, we will shake the bureaucratic power, and it is necessary to lead them to remove the signʺ USSR ʺ.ʺ When choosing the Presidium, Rychagov proposed electing non‐party members. The offer fell through. The congress also did not accept the proposal to elect a credentials committee from some non‐party members. A speech during one of the reports with carrying out the thoughts expressed at the Congress was booed by the delegates.
During the re‐election, the entire group campaigned among the peasant delegates for the organization of a peasant union. Agitation, like other speeches, had no success.
Ryazan lips. Along Kiduvska parish. Spassky u. there are rumors among the population that the second re‐elections were appointed as a result of the overthrow of the communist party.
Yaroslavl lips. In with. Degtyarev Kurbskoy Vol. Yaroslavsky u. At the gatherings, the question was raised whether the Bolsheviks had deliberately brought non‐party people into the Soviets, whether they did not feel their imminent death, leaving the non‐party to pay for their sins. In the villages of Shirinye and Balakirevo, the kulaks explained the re‐election by the unstable international situation of the Soviet regime. They said that the communists wanted to create a non‐partisan government so that the foreign White Guards would deal not with the communists, but with the non‐partisan peasants, for if the government was overthrown, they would hang everyone in power.
Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. In connection with the secondary reelections of the Soviets in the volosts of the Yuryevets district. the peasants say that the re‐elections are scheduled because other states pressed on Soviet Russia, demanding the replacement of the communists in the government by non‐partisan ones.
West. Gomel province. The attitude of the poor towards Soviet power worsened in connection with the election campaign. They are deeply convinced that the Soviet government has changed its views in relation to the poor, and they say that ʺthe government wants the wealthy and middle peasants to join the Soviets, that the song of the poor has already been sung.ʺ This opinion is further strengthened by the fact that those included in the list during the first re‐elections are being removed from the blacklists.
In with. Deniskovichi Zlynkovsky parish Novozybkovsky u. the following resolution was proposed at the re‐election meeting:
“We, the working peasantry, at a general meeting of citizens with. Deniskovichi, after hearing the report of Comrade Podvoisky on the re‐election of the village councils, we see the following: every comrade who comes from the higher bodies [says] everything is wrong, shows his motives that this is how it should be, indicates that there should be no pressure from any side, because this is stated in the main law of the Constitution. With an incompletely developed mind, the peasant stands and thinks whom to believe ‐ yesterday the Council was elected, to which the cell chose a long list of selected candidates, and today it is clear from the report that all these lists are a revolution. Comrades communists, rulers and teachers and tormentors of our spirit, will soon the end of your barren talk shop be, because we peasants fought with open breasts and sent our sons to conquer the cause, and not a fruitless conversation, but it turns out like this, that we are hungry, half‐naked, and everyone asks himself the question ‐ when will we die. The walls are brightly decorated with posters pasted over white and black — elect only communists to the Soviets. People look and bite their lips. Yes, you did what you wanted, the mayor and rapists were planted by you, and the people are still shouting ʺbread, breadʺ. When you have completed your course, you put everything into the hands of the people, the voter himself.
We stigmatize blind partisanship; a class can live without a party organization. A party formed from sympathizers and eager to come to the rescue must be guided by what seems appropriate to the class, and not by what might serve its own ambition. So, get out of the way of teachers. The business of the peasants must be the business of the peasants themselves. Long live the union of peasants and workers without tutelage. ʺ
Ukraine. Donetsk province. In with. In Novo‐Aydar, Starobelsk district, there is strong discontent among the poor and former Red Army partisans with the new kulak composition of the village council. The Red Army men and the non‐swindlers threaten their kulaks with terror and say: ʺWhy is such a bastard allowed into the Soviets, we shed blood, and now they are sitting on our necks.ʺ
Samara lips. Among the population of Abdulinskaya vol. rumors are circulating that a second re‐election of the Soviets has been set in view of the fact that there will soon be a war and the peasantry must be involved in it.
Siberia. Altai lips. In with. Krasnoe Mamontovsky district at a preelection meeting poor Gozhnenko said: ʺThe government made concessions to the peasants and gives them the right to elect non‐party people because no further than Peterʹs day there will be a change of power.ʺ
At a re‐election meeting in a number of villages Rubtsovsky u. on the basis of the ongoing campaign to involve the non‐party peasantry in the village council, the kulaks often agitate that the communists are retreating from power on their own, they cannot cope, they call for help from non‐party people, that this is the result of pressure from foreign states.
In with. Bolshoye Panyushevo Aleyskiy district in the speeches of some poor people felt dissatisfaction with the new re‐elections; some stated that the instructions said to choose whoever has a household, and if so, then the wealthy would now completely crush them.
Novonikolaevskaya lips. Peasant village Skundran (Kargat) said: ʺNow a broad democracy is being held, now, perhaps, the communists will fall under the heel andʺ our people ʺwill have weight in the re‐elections.ʺ
Omsk lips. In with. Emelyanovskiy Ishimskiy district of Tomsk u. after the pre‐election meeting, the peasants Zaryadsky and Cherepanov among those present said: “Although re‐elections are scheduled again so that non‐party people can enter the village council, this is some kind of policy, since the communists are cunning, they will allow non‐party peasants, and then they will be gnawed, they will not let them improve their lives and make you dance to your tune. ʺ
Wealthy peasant s. Beds of Omsk u. says: ʺThe re‐election is just a deception, they want to lure us into their nets, and then these same communists will bring us to justice.ʺ
Bribery of the poor during the re‐election
Centre. Ryazan lips. During the re‐election of the Ermishinsky village council of the Sasovsky district. Kulak Gafin, in order to prevent the Communists and the poor from entering the Council, distributed 200 poods to his henchmen. bread, chickens, geese, etc. and made them drunk. As a result, Gafin went to the village council.
On the eve of the re‐election of the village council in the village. Zenkine and the Ranenburgsky volost the former chairman of the village council Dyakov brought from the village. Astapovo is a fair amount of moonshine in order to get some citizens drunk. Dyakov did not go to the village council.
Kirkrai. Orenburg region in the village It was noted in Novo‐Pavlovka that the kulaks gave the poor people a drink in order to bring “their fraternity” to the village council. This drunkenness lasted for several days, it was attended by kulaks headed by the former secretary of the VIK Bezzemelnitsyn; As a result, it turned out that the majority of kulaks and middle peasants entered the village council.
During the re‐election of the Verkh‐Izyaksky village council of the Blagoveshchensk parish. In the Ufa canton, the kulaks preliminarily appeased the poor by giving horses for the transport of firewood, hay, etc., thanks to which they made their way to the village council. The most active in the struggle for political equality is shown mainly by the Russian kulaks, which in some places have met with weak resistance from the poor. In the Bashkir regions, the kulaks in most cases do not meet with resistance from the poor, since until now the poor are under the influence of mullahs.
Siberia. Tomsk lips. In the villages of Vozneeenskoye and Ivanovka, the middle peasants, in order to be elected to the village council, promised the poor the provision of free agronomists, land surveyors, the opening of credit partnerships and offered two buckets of moonshine for their nomination.
Secretary of the Information Department of the State Political
Administration
Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 3
CROSS UNIONS
Central District. Moscow province. In Kurtinskaya Vol. Kolomensky u. at the Congress of Soviets of Kolomenskoye u. the former Menshevik tried to pass a resolution on peasant trade unions. This proposal was rejected by the congress. In Kolybelevskaya parish. the question of a peasant union was put forward by the Socialist‐Revolutionary.
In Parfentievskaya parish. Kolomensky u. among the group of wealthy peasants working in factories, there is a tendency towards the formation of peasant unions.
At the 18th volsezd of Soviets, Myachkovskaya vol. Kolomensky u. On March 15, Mr. Rychagov, putting forward the question of peasant trade unions, said: ʺGive us a peasant trade union to fight, we will declare a boycott of the proletariat and say:ʺ Your days are numbered ‐ give us a peasant trade union. ʺ There is a big difference between the self‐help committees [and] the peasant unions, they donʹt pay attention to us, they look at us like bad grass. The peasant made the revolution, not the worker. The communists have forgotten Lenin. Lenin is alive, but his idea is dead. The peasant union will play its role, we will not give the proletariat three weeks of bread, then it will come to us and bow down. ʺ Peasant Smurov, who spoke, said: ʺOur representatives at the uyezd congress of Soviets should raise the question of inequality between workers and peasants and demonstratively leave their congress.ʺ
In with. Bolshoe Uvarovo Boyarkinskaya Vol. the question of peasant trade unions was raised by a former member of the RCP. This question was also put forward by him at the Congress, where it was supported by some delegates.
In Akatevskaya parish. Kolomensky u. among the peasants there are rumors about the organization of a peasant union. One of the peasants, Krikunov, said that ʺthe peasants need to organize themselves into peasant unions, thus pushing the peasants to power.ʺ When the peasants asked him how to organize this union, Krikunov replied: ʺIt is necessary to convene a purely peasant congress, at which the leader of this union should be elected.ʺ
Chairman of the Nazarevsky district council of Sergievsky
district Afanasyev at an expanded meeting of the VIC on March 26 this year. When asked why the chairmen of the district councils are not accepted into the trade union, he campaigned for the need to organize a peasant union, pointing out, among other things, that the working class, having its own organizations and advantages, humiliates the peasantry, preventing it from creating its own organizations where the peasantry could freely discuss pressing issues and point out to the communists their mistakes. In conclusion, he added that he “speaks on behalf of the entire peasant masses,” as she wants to.
Living in the village. Zhizneevo Ozerskaya parish. Leninsky u. kulak Molchanov is agitating among the peasantry that there is no freedom of speech and press in the country and the peasantry needs to organize a peasant union to protect their interests.
In Davydkovskaya vol. Klinsky u. at the march of the KKOV, held on March 25, a group of peasants raised the issue of assigning the functions of a trade union to the self‐help committees. The proposal was rejected by the congress.
Tula lips. In the Dedilovsky district, there are rumors among the peasants about the need to create an illegal union of grain growers ‐ the leader of the peasant masses.
In the Bogoroditsky and Venevsky districts, there is a tendency of peasants to organize a union of grain growers. In the Karachevsky region and partly in Dedilovsky, local Social Revolutionaries are campaigning for the organization of the union, pointing out that the peasants are in poverty and the workers live well; the speeches of the Social Revolutionaries at the re‐elections of the Soviets were especially harsh. Thanks to their agitation, the Socialist‐Revolutionaries were able to get their people not only to the district village councils, but also to send delegates to the district congresses. The questions raised by the Social Revolutionaries at meetings of voters boiled down to the following: 1) the workers receive 75 rubles. per month and are not subject to any taxes, 2) why has the party not organized until now an alliance of peasants ‐ the defender of the countryside, 3) why is the party only now calling on the peasants to build, 4) why a limit has not been introduced for workers.
At the re‐elections in the village. Sazhenskie Vyselki Tula u. the middle peasant told the audience that ʺthe peasants must be separated from the workers and created their own union.ʺ
The question of organizing a union of grain growers was repeatedly raised during the re‐elections of village councils. In the Serpukhov region, a peasant said at a meeting: “We will live well only when we have our own peasant unions. The cross union will have the same political rights as the workersʹ unions. ʺ The teacher of the Mashkov school, Meshchersky, the son of a priest, encourages the population to organize cross unions.
Tambov province. At the re‐election of P [ahatno] ‐Uglovsky VIK of Tambov u. In his pre‐election speech, the delegate Izukin campaigned for sending delegates to the district and provincial congresses from the peasants from the plow, who should be there and ʺcorrect the upper classes in their work.ʺ At the same time, Izukin said: ʺIt is necessary to unite the peasantry and defend the interests of the peasant in an organized way in order to achieve relief in respect of taxation and demand the taxation of workers.ʺ
Tverskaya lips. In the village. Peasant Rybkin (former member of the RCP) spoke three times in the debate on the report on the international and internal situation of the USSR, who said: “The government does not ask the opinion of the peasants on the question of the tsarist debts of England 140... Having gathered an all‐Union congress of non‐party peasants, we would have expressed our opinion there on this question and would have come to an agreement with the British. At the congresses of the Soviets, the opinion of the party, and not of the peasants, is expressed. Whether a party is needed or not, this question will be answered by the congress of peasants. We have nothing from the government, because for a pood of semssud we have to pay one and a half poods when it is returned. ʺ At the suggestion of Rybkin, the question of organizing a peasant trade union was raised on the order of the day. In his half‐hour report, he said that thanks to the organization of the workers, they are not exploited. Industrial prices are also fixed at the request of the workers and their trusts. The peasantry, being organized into peasant unions and agricultural co‐operatives, which should exist under this union, could defend their interests. This union would dictate to the trusts their prices for agricultural and industrial goods, and if they did not agree to the conditions of the peasants, the peasants would not give them a piece of grain. Rybkin also pointed out that the existing cooperatives in the villages should be driven in the neck, because they are ripped off, they have no influence on prices and there is no benefit from them for the peasantry. Rybkin ended with the words: ʺNot today, tomorrow, but we will achieve the organization of such a union, since it is our salvation.ʺ Rybkin was supported by two more speakers who said that ʺthe idea of organizing a peasant union has long been clear and desirable to the peasantry, this union is needed like a spoon to soup.ʺ The orators ended their speeches with exclamations: ʺLong live the peasant trade union, long live the organization of the peasants.ʺ
Yaroslavl lips. In with. Pokrovsky, when discussing the question of organizing a peasant union, the peasants said that “the workers are organized in trade unions, but they are not organized, therefore there is a difference in prices for agricultural and factory products, since there is no one to protect the interests of the peasants. The cooperative is a trading shop, and the union is a political organization, so the peasants need to create peasant unions that would protect their interests. ʺ A similar performance took place in the Tarasovsky district.
Vladimirskaya lips. In Nebylovskaya parish. in connection with the organization of the shepherds in the union of Vserabzemles, some of the wealthy peasants, seeing that the shepherds were organizing into a union, began to talk about the need to create their own peasant union. At a number of village meetings in Nebylovskaya parish. the prosperous peasants raised the question of why they were not allowed to have their own trade union.
Western region. Smolensk lips. March 18 in Kardymovskaya par. Smolensky a non‐partisan volost conference was held, which was attended by 400 delegates. At the insistence of the delegates, the question of a peasant union was raised. In the debate on the report on co‐construction, Mr. Azarov, who spoke, said: “Lenin is God, and all the other communists are scoundrels. We have the only central government in Soviet Russia leading a correct policy and Comrade Stalin ʺ. Azarov denied the party as such and the system of Soviets in his speech: “Local Soviets do not understand what it means to face the village, and if you say so, you will be arrested. Capitalists at secret meetings of the League of Nations 141 are starting a war, we have to ask the government what it has done to protect the borders. There are 20% of the Social Revolutionaries in the RCP, who alone have merits. ʺ Speaking after Azarov, Mr. Feldsherov said: ʺThe peasantry is the hegemon, we need to fight against the communists.ʺ Gr‐n der. Pnevo Kholodkov pointed out that the peasants should elect their own people to the Soviets, and not the Varangian communists who steal, rob the people and do nothing. During their reign, the communists gave nothing but harm, peasant unions are needed; the communists gave the gendarmerie, which takes everything from the peasant. ʺ Mr Smirnov, who spoke at the meeting, said that “in Soviet Russia there are 120 million peasants, and there are only one million communists, and therefore the peasants must be reckoned with. In the second speech, Mr. Feldsherov pointed out the high cost and the fact that the Bolsheviks could not cope with it, that the government steals day and night, that abortion, moonshine and syphilis are due to the management of the communists. ʺ The paramedics also criticized the link between the workers and the peasantry, attacked the workers and praised the Social Revolutionaries as defenders of the peasantry. He ended his speech with the demand: ʺGive the union of grain growers.ʺ The crowd gave a general roar ʺrightʺ. All the speakers defending the party and the Soviets were not allowed to speak, with the exception of one peasant Belousov, who at the end of his speech stated: “If the VIC criticizes, it means that he is leading the correct class line, defending the poor against the kulaks, since more kulaks are present at this conference ʺ. Azarov, after such a speech with shouts of ʺimpudenceʺ demanded to deprive this peasant of the word. Belousov was interrupted and he was not allowed to speak again.
In Prigorodnaya Vol. Roslavlsky the kulaks are campaigning for the creation of a peasant union ʺRed Plowmanʺ. This idea is receiving echoes among the rest of the peasantry. The agitation boils down to the following: peasant unions will improve the position of the peasantry, introduce fair prices for agricultural and industrial products, and will not give the peasant an offense. Proposals for the creation of peasant unions were also put forward at the Petrovichsky and Kostyrevsky Volosts of the Roslavl district. At these congresses, teachers and individual peasants, led by the wealthy, made proposals.
Gomel province. In some regions, at the re‐elections of the Soviets, demands were made for the organization of a peasant union. So, in the village. Ivanovka, on the question of what the organization of peasant committees for mutual assistance, village councils and co‐operatives should be, Mr. Buslov spoke, who said that “we need a peasant union, and I’ll tell you what kind of union it should be: you decided in the fall to buy grain at 60 cop. for a pood and began to press on the tax, and if there was a peasant union, all the peasantries would not agree in an organized way to give grain for 60 kopecks. and make you overturn your ruling. Further, the prices of manufactured goods are now unacceptable for us, but we cannot do anything without a peasant union, and if we had a union, we would have decided not to buy goods, if we could have held out for a year without your goods, and you would not have held out and would have given at the price of the old time. ʺ
In with. Azarichakh Novozybkovsky u. before the discussion of the issue, an anonymous note was submitted: ʺWe ask for freedom of speech and personal inviolability.ʺ During the speeches, the speakers refused to give their surnames and it was not possible to recognize the surnames. On the question of the organization of peasant unions, it was said that “the peasant union must establish agricultural tax in such a way that the peasantʹs income equals the workerʹs wage and that a personʹs abilities cannot be adjusted to one level. A person with great development and abilities will lay claim to a better life, and consequently, the exploitation of a person by a person cannot be eliminated, and the communists will not achieve this. They all fight with their fists, but still have not overcome. If a peasant has two cows, the communists consider him a fist. The peasant can borrow bread only from the peasants themselves, but not in the committee of mutual assistance, not in the cooperation and not in the bank since there is nothing there. If you get a bank loan for 50 rubles, then you will get 30 rubles in your hands, and before you have time to look back, you have to pay, you will inevitably go to the kulak. Itʹs still better than the bank. Communists in the city have a nursery, orphanages and servants, arrange Christmas trees for their children, and orphans of the Red Army soldiers who died in the war are happy with a bun on Christmas holidays. If we consider who is more profitable to give the peasants a loan ‐ a kulak or a bank, then the kulak will not lead the last cattle for sale, and you live yourself with your banks. What are you trumpeting about re‐elections to the village councils? As before, they were not reckoned with, and now they will not be reckoned with. You say that elected bodies should govern, but in fact, officials govern. For example, a land surveyor comes and says: ʺWrite,
In the village. Mr. Kostyuchenko spoke to Rudna Tsate of Novozybkovsky district, who said that “we do not need KKOV, but a peasant union, because if a plowman‐peasant comes to work at a plant or a factory and if he is given work, then they pay 16 rubles, and a member of the union, working there, receives 80 rubles, and if there was a peasant union, this would not have happened. ʺ There were also actions by the peasants in the spirit that all communists were usurpers and that they did not want to reckon with the peasants at all.
Belarus. In the Mozyr district, the former chairman of the Besyadsky village council of the Kopatkevichsky district, village. Mikhnovichi Yasko proves to the peasants that they need to achieve the organization of their own union ‐ a peasant union, which could protect the peasants from the wrong actions of the administration, just as workers in cities are protected by trade unions.
Ukraine. Donetsk province. In the Bogorodino village council (Artyomovsk district), there is a tendency among wealthy peasants to create their own peasant organization, which, in their opinion, should be of an economic nature, i.e., to unite powerful farms. At the general meeting of peasants on March 8, this issue was put on the agenda; the peasants reacted to this idea very friendly and discussed it lively.
North Caucasus. Don district. At a meeting in the farmersʹ club in Yeisk, during a report on the partyʹs policy towards the peasants, shouts and laughter were heard. After the lecture, questions were asked: ʺWhy the peasants do not have their own union, why the party prevents the peasant from electing to the Soviet, why the peasants are not allowed to study in universities.ʺ There were also exclamations: “The workers have insurance and unions, but the peasants have nothing. Everyone has their own unions, and the peasants need to create them. The peasant has no one to complain to. The peasant union will improve the life of the peasant, it is impossible to live without the union”.
Armavir district. In the districts of Labinsky, Nevinnomyssky, Uspensky, at non‐partisan conferences, speakers asked questions: why it is not allowed to organize a union of grain growers on the principle of trade unions.
Kuban District. In stts. Olginskaya Primorsko‐Akhtarsky district at a meeting of peasants a note was submitted with the question: ʺIs it possible to organize a union of grain growers.ʺ In stts. Rogovskaya and Novo‐Dzherelyevskaya, a rumor was spread that the district authorities had allowed the organization of a union of grain growers, only the local government was preventing this from being implemented.
Volga region. Saratov province. At non‐party peasant conferences, speeches of former members of the Socialist‐Revolutionary Party from peasants and intellectuals in the countryside were noted. They criticized the measures taken by the Soviet government, pointed out the difference in the position of workers and peasants, and the need to organize peasant unions. At one of the conferences in Balashovsky district. the former Socialist‐Revolutionary Party defended Kerensky, who, according to him, was only prevented from expanding his activities.
In some volosts, proposals were made about the need to organize peasant unions, opposing those to the trade union bodies of workers (Krasnozvezdinskaya and Turkovskaya volosts). In Lunacharskaya parish. the kulaks said that all workers and specialists are organized in unions and the state helps them in this, but the peasants have not yet organized themselves into peasant unions, and this is reflected on their backs, why the government does not help them. In Samoilovskaya Vol. the question was raised in connection with the ʺbowʺ ‐ does it find
The RCP needed the organization of an ʺAll‐Union Peasant Unionʺ with cells in every district and volost.
In with. Khazarkino, at a non‐partisan conference, some peasants pointed out that ʺthe Soviet government gave nothing to the village, that now the workers are using violence against the peasants.ʺ The oratorsʹ speeches ended with the words: ʺDown with the workers, long live the peasant revolution 142 against the workers.ʺ At the same conference, it was agreed that it was necessary to organize an independent republic.
In with. Golitsino of Saratov u. the peasants say that it is necessary to organize a peasant union that will fight the workers.
In the Kotovskaya parish. Kamyshinsky u. with the announcement of new elections, the kulaks are agitating for the creation of a cross union, which could be opposed to the workersʹ organization.
Samara lips. In Buguruslansky district in with. Novospassky Ponomarevskaya Vol. at the election meeting on March 18, the peasant received a statement on the organization of the cross union. The statement was supported by 30 citizens, mostly middle peasants. In the opinion of the middle peasants, with the creation of the cross union, they will be freed from the agricultural tax.
Penza lips. In Saransk u. the clerk of the tax department of the Arch.Golitsynsky VIK, sharpening the antagonism of the peasants to the city, said: “Before implementing the slogan “linking the city with the countryside”, we must oppose the workers with the organization of their peasant union “Sokh”, since the existing government for some reason reckons more with workers, but humiliates us in every possible way. ʺ The idea of organizing a peasant union ʺSokhaʺ is supported by the majority of the population of the volost.
During the re‐election of the Soviets in Barnukovskaya parish. Gorodischensky u. voters insistently put forward the demand to organize peasant trade unions, anti‐Soviet people explained that ʺthe task of peasant unions is to protect the legal and economic interests of peasants.ʺ This explanation was greeted with applause.
Ural region At the Poltava regional disarmament conference of the Trinity District, one of the peasants said: ʺThe peasants need to have their own local council, which could appreciate the work of the peasant and the cost of food.ʺ The conference was attended mainly by former
Cossack sergeants and kulaks, the poor were no more than 20%. Siberia. Omsk lips. In the village Stepanovka Tatarsky u. according to the report of the Council authorized for the re‐election, one of the peasants said: “The Communist Party only fools us with its free elections, and in fact only workers and employees enjoy freedom. The peasants in 1924 conceived the idea of manifesting freedom by organizing in a peasant union, but these unions are nowhere to be seen anywhere, here is freedom for you. ʺ
Altai lips. In with. Beloyarsky, Shipunovsky District, at the re‐election meeting, the middle peasants asked the question: “Why do the workers have their unions and they gather at congresses, but we peasants do not have our peasant unions, the worker and peasant will be united when they meet and greet at the peasant congress in Moscowʺ.
At Mamontovsky Barnaulsky u. At the regional congress of Soviets, the middle peasant Slesarev said: “The cooperative accepted bread at 50 kopecks. pood, and now sells to the peasant for 2 rubles. 80 kopecks, when there was not enough oil, they paid 20 rubles. pood., and now 14 rubles. 50 kopecks The Anglo‐Russian alliance cannot compete because the price is firm. The bow will be when the bread is 1 rub. pood, and chintz ‐ 15 kopecks. arshin. I propose to create a union of grain growers and not give grain for 40 kopecks. pood, and say 1 rub. ‐ and thatʹs it. ʺ
DVO. Amur lips. Kulaki villages Boldyrevka and Avraamovka
Zavitinsky u. intend to organize a union of grain growers.
APPENDIX 4
RUMORS COMMONED IN THE VILLAGE
Monarchist rumors
Centre. Tula lips. Peasant der. Bologoye of the Efremov Regional Executive Committee of the Tula District spreads the rumor that France has created a bloc against the USSR, that it has been decided to put Kirill in the Russian tsars, and that the overthrow of Soviet power is inevitable.
Ryazan lips. Peasant der. Tar Ryazhsky spreads the rumor that the entire Central Executive Committee of the USSR left Moscow for the Caucasus and will not return from there anymore, since N. N. Romanov will soon come to the throne and there will be no Soviet power. Nicholas II and his family from abroad will arrive in Russia no later than Easter.
West. Belarus. In the village. Bolobolkovo Mr. Lepkhovsky spreads rumors that the Soviet regime will soon be overthrown, that the tsar has already been prepared for the Russian throne in England, and that in order to win the sympathy of the Russian masses in Russia, England has taken under her patronage the Russian Orthodox clergy.
Gomel province. The kulaks spread a rumor that the Bolsheviks will not hold out in power, that in the south there is already a tsar for Russia, who will soon go to war against Soviet power.
Ukraine. Kiev province. In the Borovsky and Fastovsky districts of the Belotserkovsky district, there are rumors that there was a congress of Russian emigrants in Paris, at which Nikolai Nikolaevich called for organizing a campaign against Soviet Russia, promising in case of victory to free the entire Russian people for five years from all taxes. Rumors are spread here that the West European states are preparing a campaign against Soviet Russia and that America and England are forcing Germany to start a war with the USSR, for which they provide the necessary funds.
Volyn province. In with. Stanislavovka of the Chudnovsky district, there are rumors that in Bulgaria the Russian White Guards under the leadership of Nikolai Nikolaevich are preparing for war with Soviet Russia and are planning to put Mikhail Alexandrovich in tsar.
In the Khmelevsky village council of the Emilchinsky district, there are rumors that two Petliura divisions have occupied the border of Romania and Poland and do not allow the import of salt into Soviet Russia. In this regard, the peasants began to stock up on salt. Similar rumors spread in the village. Viktorovka of the Barashevsky district and the Nedelishchensky village council of the same district.
North Caucasus. Armavir district. In stts. The calm Cossacks spread rumors that Nikolai Nikolaevich with a large army moved through Romania to Russia. By stts. Kaladzhinskaya, rumors are spreading that in the spring the regiment of Shkuro 143 will come to free the Cossacks from the yoke of the Bolsheviks. The main sources of rumors are emigrantsʹ letters.
Kirkrai. Orenburg province. In the village The Aland kulak is spreading rumors that Wrangel is forming troops against the communists in France, and when he goes on the offensive against Russia, Russia will not stand it, since the Red Army men will refuse to fight for Soviet power.
DVO. Buryat‐Mongolian Republic. Fist s. Bryani spread the rumor that ʺMikhail Alexandrovich Romanov has already been crowned and will soon ascend the throne, then all the communists will be covered.ʺ
Amur lips. On Zavitinskaya Vol. rumors are spreading that ʺNN Romanov spoke with Kerensky, there will soon be a coup.ʺ
In the village. Raygorodovka Aleksandrovskaya
Vol. Blagoveshchensky u. Amur lips. kulaks spread rumors: ʺWrangel is going to the Far East with 10,000 army to exterminate the communists, and whites will soon come to beat the communists from the Chinese side.ʺ
Rumors about the fall of Soviet power
Centre. Tula lips. Former miller s. Kshakova, Efremovsky district, Polyakov spreads the rumor that Soviet power will soon come to an end, that the Tula workers are talking about it.
Ryazan lips. In with. V. Polyana Kasimovsky u. rumor is spreading that re‐elections are taking place in the USSR due to the instability of the Soviet regime, which is on the eve of its death.
West. Belarus. In the Chervensky district of the Minsk district, in connection with the departure of responsible party workers from the cities to the countryside, rumors spread that the Bolsheviks were in danger and that they therefore wanted to bring the peasantry closer to the Soviet regime.
Ukraine. Donetsk province. In the Lugansk district in the Krasnoluch district, peasants are talking about the fact that in connection with the breakdown of the Anglo‐Soviet agreement 144, the fall of Soviet power will accelerate and that the future power will make it possible to secure more land for the peasantry, have farm laborers, and not pay any taxes. Crimea. In the village. Kakina from the presidential council supports a group of kulaks campaigning against the Komsomol, spreading rumors about the imminent fall of power. As a result of agitation, the poorest population is afraid to work on the former landownersʹ estates, believing in the imminent return of their former owners.
North Caucasus. Shakhty district. In the Kamensk region, there are mass conversations and rumors among the Cossacks about a change of power this spring and the arrival of white troops from abroad. Most believe these rumors, spread mainly by former white officers and reemigrants.
Chechen region in the mountainous and flat Chechnya, mass provocative rumors have been spreading recently about the imminent fall of Soviet power as a result of the activities of the Muslim clergy. Mullahs 145 and mosques openly talk about the war of a number of foreign states with Russia, that an order will soon be issued on the mobilization of all Komsomol members for the war. With the outbreak of war, uprisings will begin inside Russia and Soviet power will perish. The provocation affects all segments of the population and even members of the Komsomol. This is confirmed by the following: according to primary information, the bandits of the Gudermes, Shali districts and NozhaiYurtovsky regions show a decline in their desire to voluntarily turn up. In with. Kurchaloy Nozhai‐Yurtovskiy district 9 people officially left the RLKSM cell. Similar cases are observed in other villages.
Kirkrai. Semipalatinsk province. Cossack‐fist s. Watch Bukhtarminsky u. Semipalatinsk province. In a conversation with the kulaks, complaining about the persecution of him by the local communist cell, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime and the RCP (b), saying that ʺthis power will only hold out until spring and that he knows an organization that is preparing to overthrow Soviet power.ʺ
Mr S. Ilyinki (Kargat) says: ʺSoon there will be an end to our ordeals, foreign states have declared war on Russia and all the communists.ʺ
Siberia. Omsk lips. Middle peat village Irkutsk Slavgorodsky u. Omsk lips. in the village council he said: ʺNow there will be no congresses of village councils, foreign states will no longer accept Russia at their congresses, that Russia will soon have a president.ʺ
Pop with. Krasnoyarsk is spreading rumors that “uprisings will begin in Russia soon. The peasants of the four provinces have already rebelled. ʺ
War rumors
Centre. Yaroslavl province. In Davydkovskaya vol. rumors are spread among the peasants that war is coming and Moscow is already occupied by whites. Due to rumors in the village. Davydkov, there was a case when a pioneer asked to be discharged from the pioneer organization, because with the beginning of the war, pioneers, Komsomol members and communists will be killed first of all.
In the Yaroslavl and Rostov districts, the changemen spread rumors about the forthcoming war in the spring of 1925.
Vyatka lips. According to Khalturinsky u. a rumor is spread that ʺall residents are leaving Leningrad; a war has begun with foreigners who are going to Leningrad and Moscow.ʺ
Ukraine. Volyn province. In the Lugansk region of the Volyn province. one middle peasant spreads rumors that the Soviet government is preparing for military action. that the Cossacks occupied the Crimea and did not give salt, as a result of which 680 poods were sold out in the local cooperative within one day. salt.
Donetsk province. In the Sorokinsky district of Donetsk province. rumors spread about the inevitability of war, as the government fills prisons with the best people.
In the hut. Gladkovo, Starobelsk District, Donetsk Province. a group of kulaks is spreading rumors about the imminent arrival of troops of foreign powers in Russia, which will supposedly arrive in an airplane and will destroy the communists.
Kulak Potapenko agitates that soon foreign powers will wipe out all the Communists and the CNS; under the influence of his agitation, the poor avoid all social organizations.
Ekaterinoslavskaya lips. In the Alexandria District in the Troitsky District, rumors are spreading that the Western bourgeoisie has declared a united front against the USSR and will soon restore the old order in the USSR.
In the Novonikolaevsky district of the Zaporizhzhya district, there are rumors that in the spring Serbia will occupy Ukraine and restore order and religion. These rumors come from the Hut kulaks. Kosovtsev No. 1, where a letter planted by someone was allegedly found with a promise to arrange a ʺSt. Bartholomewʹs nightʺ 146 and cut everyone who does not have crosses.
North Caucasus. Kuban District. In Popovichesky and Novo‐
Pokrovsky districts, there are persistent rumors in a number of villages (Popovicheskaya, Staro‐Nizhesteblievskaya, Kalnibolotskaya) that in the spring whites will come from abroad and with the help of England and France overthrow Soviet power. In this regard, according to stts. Popovicheskaya is campaigning against the creation of the Semfond, since, they say, the Bolsheviks will take out all the bread when they leave. In stts. Staro‐Nizhesteblievskaya, on this basis, a rumor was spread about the fragility of the chervonets, which the peasantry is trying to get away with. Private purveyors inflated wheat prices, buying 1 ruble. 80 kopecks —2 rubles. 25 kopecks for a pood. In the Novo‐Pokrovsky region, there was also a rumor that General Shkuro was appointed chief of the North Caucasus Territory, it was supposed to put Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov on the royal throne, but due to his old age other candidates were planned for the tsar.
In the village Tavrichesky Antonovskaya Vol. Denisovsky u. kulak spreads the rumor that England, France and even America have declared war on Soviet Russia and the former Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich should be president.
DVO. Primorskaya lips. In the remote [Nizhne] ‐Tambov parish. rumors about the beginning of the war between Russia and the Entente arose from the moment of registration of those liable for military service to the units. In some villages, reading‐huts were literally besieged by peasants who asked for clarification about the war.
In Chuguevskaya parish. Spassky u. Old Believers and sectarians spread rumors that Vladivostok is occupied by the Japanese and that battles are already underway near Spassk. Under the influence of these rumors, the Terarmians in the village. They laid down their arms in Samarka. In some villages, the RLKSM cells, frightened by these rumors, ceased their activities.
Rumors due to lack of bread
Centre. Kostroma lips. In Kostroma u. In the same province, in connection with the gradual disappearance of bread from the markets, rumors are spreading among the population that they are saving bread for war, and when it starts, bread will rise even more in price.
Kaluga lips. With the termination of the supply of bread to non‐members of cooperatives and its absence in the markets in Medynsky district. traders spread rumors that war is expected that there will be no bread and salt, that it is necessary to stock up, etc. The peasantry buys bread from the last means, paying 3 rubles. 80 kopecks for a pood.
In Kaluga u. Pyatovskaya parish in the villages of Belichevo, Larinskaya, Pyatovskaya, Zakharovka and others, in connection with the increase in the price of bread, a rumor is spreading about the war, that the state does not give and holds back bread, preparing its army. Here, referring to newspapers, the population says: ʺAll countries are building a united front against us.ʺ
Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. In connection with the increase in grain prices among the peasants of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. there are rumors that the co‐government is booking grain for the army in view of the impending war in 1925.
Yaroslavl province. Due to the lack of bread on the market in Mologskoye. Yaroslavl province. rumors were spread that the flour was gone because the Soviet government was preparing for war in the spring, and therefore all supplies were hidden.
Northwest. Pskov province. In connection with the increase in the price of grain, both in Pskov and in the districts, rumors are spread that soon there will be a war and grain is being collected for the army, which is why prices have increased.
Crimea. In with. Torgunsky noticed active agitation of a group of former landowners and officers against Soviet power. At the same time, rumors spread among the population that the grain bought up by the Soviet government is exported abroad in order to “rub in the glasses” there about the state of our economy and, on the basis of this, gain confidence.
APPENDIX No. 6
STATE OF LOW COOPERATION OF THE MOSCOW LIPS.
For the provinces in 1924 we took into account: waste in 142 cooperatives in the amount of 398,916 rubles, personal lending to workers of cooperatives in 23 cooperatives in the amount of 54,786 rubles, loss‐making on 26 cooperatives in the amount of 172,590 rubles. and debt on 58 cooperatives in the amount of 1,490,241 rubles.
Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev