Marx-Engels | Lenin | Stalin | Home Page
Transcripts from Soviet ArchivesVOLUME VI -1926
Review of the political state of the USSR in August 1926
September 29, 1926
WORKERS
During the reporting period, there was a significant decrease in the movement of strikes (70 strikes with 5776 participants in August against 113 and 11162 in July), mainly due to seasonal workers and workers in small industries. A serious factor affecting the mood of significant groups of workers was the reduction in wages carried out at many enterprises of the main industries (metal, transport, and partly textile), which mainly affected skilled workers. The simultaneous implementation of measures for the economy regime (raising labor productivity and relieving enterprises from excessive labor force), and especially the facts of perverting the idea of the campaign (saving due to small expenses on labor force, irrational reductions, etc.) create among some workers the opinion that the regime savings are carried out at their expense.
Metalworkers
Strikes. During the reporting period, there were 15 strikes among metalworkers with 955 participants, in July 14 and 1268. Most of these are strikes by small groups of skilled workers. Most of the strikes (8 out of 15) were caused by a decrease in wages due to price cuts, an increase in the rate, a reduction in the percentage of extra earnings, as well as a change in the order of work without a corresponding revision of payment terms (1,1‐14).
Reduced wages for skilled workers. The decline in wages in the reporting period is massive. It embraced individual groups of workers at 17 plants in Leningrad: at Krasny Putilovts, where prices were reduced by 25‐30%, and Krasny Vyborzhtsa ‐ 30‐40%. Partial strikes took place at 14 factories in Moscow, at the Sickle and Hammer plant, a decrease of 35%, at 11 factories in Ukraine (including Kramatorsk, Liebknecht, Bolshevik), at Krasny Sormov ‐ Nizhny Novgorod, ʺRed Ak‐Saiʺ ‐ Black
Sea region and Izhevsk plants ‐ Votskaya region.
The decline applies mainly to skilled workers.
Due to the decrease in wages, a drop in output is noted (Izhevsk plants, Krasny Vyborzhets, Sevkabel, Kramatorsky plants). At Krasnoye Vyborzhets, the foundry did not deliver on average 5,000 billets to the
pipe workshop, which caused long downtime for the pipe workshop. At the Sevkabel plant, modelers, fearing a reduction in prices, reduced the output to 50%: “If you have to hurry to work, they will decrease the percentage anyway”.
At the Izhevsk factories, due to a decrease in prices and an increase in rates for a number of workshops, workers in other workshops, fearing a cut in rates and an increase in rates, deliberately reduce production. At the same time, the percentage of rejects and damage to material increases (Krasny Vyborzhets and Izhevsk Plant). The decline is caused by the departure of highly qualified workers from enterprises (factories named after Vladimir Ilyich and the Mytishchi car building plant in Moscow province, ʺKrasny Aksaiʺ, etc.). 12‐14 workers leave the pipe shop at Krasny Vyborzhtsa every day.
Reduction of wages in some cases is carried out contrary to the collective agreement. In this regard, mistrust of trade‐union organizations and anger towards TNB are created. At the Krasny Putilovets plant, campaigning is under way for the removal of all the bureau employees in a wheelbarrow. At the Klimovsk machinebuilding plant (Moscow), workers issued a decree to dismiss the deputy. head of TNB, threatening, in case of refusal, a strike. In some cases, the administration motivates the reduction of prices by conducting a saving regime. At the Ukrainian factories (named after K. Liebknecht, ʺRed Plowmanʺ), changes in prices and norms are carried out in order to reduce the cost of production to the level of other metal factories. At the Krasny Pakhar plant, where the cost of the Guzner seeder is 10% higher than at the Pelworth plant, the administration is planning to increase the norms,
Dissatisfaction with the level of wages among low‐grade workers. There is widespread dissatisfaction with current wages among unskilled metalworkers. Workers point to an excessive gap between the wages of unskilled and skilled workers. At the Novo‐Cherkassk Mechanical Plant, there are 400 workers among low‐grade workers (the monthly wage of a laborer sometimes drops to 15 rubles, while skilled workers earn 200 rubles a month or more (1.29‐30).
Delayed wages. Delays in wages were noted at 62 metal plants against 73 in July (in the Urals — 11, Ukraine — 9, Leningrad — 7, and in the North Vyatka district — 5). Over 40% of all facts point to salary delays of more than 2 weeks. The issue is especially acute at SVGO factories, where the delay exceeds 1‐2 months. A meeting of workers of the Belokholunitskiy plant (50 people) sent a telegram to the chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy, the Central Committee of metalworkers and gubernias with a demand to force the board of the SVGO to pay the workers the money owed to them (I, 31‐32).
Textile workers
Strikes. In August, the strike movement among textile workers shows some growth compared to July (11 strikes with 986 participants in August versus 9 and 412 in July). Most of the strikes (9 out of 11) are caused by dissatisfaction with low rates and lower wages. A significant (in terms of the number of participants) strike took place at the Gavrilovo‐Posad factory (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province), where 300 workers went on strike for two hours due to the mass rejection of goods (1.33‐41).
Reduced wages. The decrease in wages in the textile industry is much smaller than in the metal industry, and is noted mainly in Moscow (9 factories) and Leningrad (3 factories). Cutting prices, raising norms or changing working conditions while maintaining old prices and norms (deterioration of raw materials, intensification of labor, etc.) are often carried out contrary to the collective agreement. In some cases, a decrease in wages is associated with an increase in output. Due to the increase, contrary to the collective agreement and without the knowledge of the FZK, the norms by 28% took place a serious strike of cleaners (36 people) at the Arzhenskaya cloth factory, which took place with the sympathy of all workers: “Guys, we are all interested in your business, if you defend our rights, then it will be easier for us. ʺ Workers sent to replace the striking cleaners flatly refused. The Fabkom proposed, instead of raising the norms, an extension of the working day to 8 hours. (harmful work) and the introduction of night work (1.42‐45). Disadvantages of billing. Uneven pay for workers of the same qualifications in different factories, sometimes within the same trust, causes discontent in a number of textile factories (Moscow, IvanovoVoznesensk, Tver, Penza). Discontent is especially widespread in the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province, where at the Bonyachevskaya factory named after Nogin parters went on strike, demanding an equalization of prices with the Rodnikovskaya factory. Typical for the IvanovoVoznesensk textiles is the sending of the delegation by the Yuzhny textiles to examine the wages at the Shuya factories. They are also designing delegations to Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Teikovo and Rodniki in view of rumors about more favorable conditions at other factories. On the basis of uneven wages, workers are moving from one factory to another (Moscow) (1.46‐47).
Transport workers
Strikes. In August, there was one strike in transport with 42 participants (in July 4‐85 participants) (1.48).
Decrease in prices and additional earnings, increase in rates. A number of grievances and conflicts were caused by a reduction in prices and an increase in norms, carried out at 35 railway points. Reduction of prices is carried out from 5 to 30%. On the Oktyabrskaya Railway the cost of working fuel depots has been reduced by three times. In connection with a decrease in the percentage of extra work, the workers of the Ostroh workshops of the South‐East railway. reduced labor productivity and ʺItalianʺ. Fuel dispensers st. In Novo‐Cherkassk, on the same road, a package was sent along the line with an appeal to distributors of other stations to support their petition to the center to increase the ranks and issue overalls. On the Moscow‐Kiev‐Voronezh, Tomsk and Omsk railways. the administration lowers prices arbitrarily, causing sharp discontent among workers; there is a departure from transport of skilled workers. In connection with the transition to a piece‐ruble payment system, which lowered wages,
A sharp difference in the size of the running‐in. The sharp difference in the size of the running‐in continues to displease transport workers. In TMV Northern Railway. in some shops, the increment reaches 500% for the tariff, while in others, due to strict norms, it is insignificant. In the carriage shop of the depot st. Ostashkov Oktyabrskaya Railway the incremental earnings is 27%, and in the passenger shop 119%.
Delayed wages. There were 47 cases of salary delays, of which over a month ‐ 18. The issuance of salaries is systematically delayed in the Omsk, Tomsk and Perm (logging), Moscow‐Kiev‐Voronezh, Southern railways. (on the latter, 15 facts of salary delays were noticed) (1.54‐56).
Conflict at Art. Aktyubinsk. At st. Aktyubinsk of the Tashkent railway (300 workers of the 3rd traction section), a major conflict was noted in connection with the transfer of the day of rest from Sunday to Friday for national reasons 222. On Friday, August 5, up to 150 people came to work despite the fact that there was no dial tone, and on Sunday they did not come to work. Without any participation of the trade union organization, meetings and rallies were convened, where those who defended the resolution were not allowed to speak; appeals were pasted and a delegation was allocated for a trip to the Central Committee of railway workers. Several party members had their windows broken by stones. The fermentation lasted 5 days and ended only after receiving a telegram from the board of the Tashkent railway. on the transfer of the day of rest from Sunday to Friday along the entire road.
Seasonal workers
Strikes. In August, the decline in the number of strikes among seasonal workers continues (31 strikes with 3160 participants, against 52 and 5972 in July). Most of the strikes take place among construction workers (20) and in brick factories. Most of the strikes are caused by dissatisfaction with the level of wages (11) and delayed wages (1.56‐59).
A sharp conflict took place at construction work on the Termez‐JazKurgan line (Central Asian railway), where 700 workers went on strike during the week. The strike was due to extremely low wages (rates in 1915, plus 25%), difficult living conditions, rudeness of the administration and the absence of any professional work. Among the organizers of the strike were 6 Komsomol members. Similar abnormalities in working conditions caused a two‐day strike of builders on the Biysk section of the back road. In both cases, the workersʹ demands are fully satisfied.
At two brick factories (Chelyabinsk), workers, outraged by the long delay in wages, seized the products of the factories, allowing them to be exported. (There was also a 2‐day strike at one of them).
Workers of other industries
Strikes. Among workers in other industries, a significant drop in the strike movement was noted in August (11 strikes with 713 participants against 34 and 3027 in July).
The strikes are caused by a decrease in wages (15), dissatisfaction with the existing wages (3). It is necessary to note a short‐term strike of 300 tram workers (Petinskoye depot, Kharkov) in connection with the resolution of the City Council, adopted without participation in the discussion of delegates from tram workers, on the abolition of their right to free travel on the tram (1,6‐53).
Delayed wages. In August, the number of cases of wage arrears decreases (167 cases against 209 in July). The number of long delays increases relatively in August, accounting for 80% of all delays (75% in July).
Delay in wages continues to be observed mainly in the timber industry, logging and timber floating (47 facts). In connection with non‐payment of workers in a number of regions, plans for logging are disrupted. The failure of the plan in the North‐Vyatka mountain district caused serious fuel difficulties at all industrial enterprises of the district.
The situation of the peasants working in logging is difficult. The raftsmen in the Kilmezi estuary were forced to quit their jobs and go to the villages to beg for alms. Relations between workers and management are escalating. At the logging sites of the Volga‐Kaspiles (SVGO), the administration, in order to avoid a clash with the workerspeasants, sets arbitrary payment dates and then explains to those who appear that the money has not been received, or sends workers, knowingly aimlessly, from one office to another, choosing the most distant points ( for example, from the station Kilmez to the mouth of the Kilmez ‐ 160 versts). In the topless department (Kurgan region, Ural), peasants, whose debt reaches 40,000 rubles, announced that they would burn the forest they had harvested. Horse and foot guards had to be deployed to guard the forest.
Workersʹ political attitudes
Aggravation of conflicts in connection with a decrease in prices. The main factor determining the mood of workers in the reporting period was the decline in wages in the main industries (mainly among skilled workers). Carrying out in a number of cases a reduction in prices and an increase in norms contrary to collective agreements and with the passivity of trade union organizations leads to an aggravation of conflicts between workers and the administration and the manifestation of activity of workers in addition to trade union organizations. This was especially evident in conflicts in factories in the textile industry. The water‐women of the Spinning Factory of the Kohomsk Linen Convent, whose wages were reduced, after long attempts to resolve the issue through the trade union organization, sent a letter to Rykov, where they indicated that they were turning to him “in order not to reach the strike” to which they were forced circumstances. Workers of the unwinding shop of the 1st Republican factory (Kostroma), whose earnings fell by 15‐25%, went on strike only after a number of their requests were left unanswered by the factory committee and neither the chairman of the FZK nor the management came to their call to come to the shop to get acquainted with the work on site. Moreover, while on strike, the women workers did not leave the cars and said: ʺWe are not on strike, you cannot go on strike in Soviet Russia.ʺ
Participation in a number of strikes by members of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Komsomol (Arzhensk factory in Tambov province, 1st Republican factory, Krasny Dvigatel plant ‐ Moscow, Krasny Aksai plant ‐ North Caucasus, Sawmills No. 3 and 4 ‐ Nemkommuna, Bedinikovskiy glass factory of Vladimir province, construction of the Termez‐Kurgan railway line). The resolution proposed by a member of the KSM and adopted by the workers of the Sovetsky timber mill (Leningrad) states that absenteeism is caused by low wages and only with an increase in it is it possible to raise labor discipline.
At the conclusion of collective agreements, there is talk about the need to unite in order to present a demand for an increase in wages (Bukharinsky trampark in Moscow, a locksmith at the Grozny oil fields, etc.). At the Stalingrad sawmills, skilled workers (frame workers and pilots) convened an illegal meeting to fight against the concluded collective agreement, at which they worked out a collective statement signed by an “initiative group” demanding higher wages and threatening to stop the factories in case of refusal; the application is sent to other factories; a similar statement at plant No. 9 was filed by oilers. Several cases of issuing leaflets and filing collective statements containing workersʹ demands and harsh criticism of the actions of the administration and the work of trade union organizations were registered (Shchepetilnikov Trumpark in Moscow, ʺRed triangleʺ ‐ Leningrad, Kokhomskaya m‐ra of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province, Vologda transport workshops, st. Novocherkassk South‐East railway. etc. (1.67‐71).
Economy mode. The implementation of measures to raise labor productivity and reduce prices is linked in large groups of workers with a campaign for austerity. At the same time, dissatisfaction is intensified by the facts of the return of the idea of the campaign by reducing the costs of servicing workers (closing the nursery ‐ the factory ʺKrasny Tekstilshchikʺ (Ryazan province), liquidation of the medical center ‐ the plant named after Rakovsky Sumy District (Ukraine), reducing the supply of water to workers and facts) and irrational reductions, sometimes accompanied by the return reception of the dismissed or the overload of those left at work.
The cut in prices has prompted numerous conversations that “the saving regime is nothing more than a reduction in wages” and that “the administration most of all strives to save at the expense of the muscular strength of the workers, without trying to reduce overhead costs”, “looks badly at the progress of work and leaves on workers ʺ. The reduction of workers with the abandonment of the previous norms causes talk that ʺthe economy mode requires superhuman strengthʺ, that under it, ʺwhere 4 workers are needed, 2‐3 are forced to work.ʺ As in the beginning of the campaign, the workers note that the possibilities of saving at the expense of the administration are insufficiently used (ʺthe slogan of saving did not touch the administration, which lives even better than before the war,ʺ etc.). At the Krasny Khimik plant (Leningrad), workers indicate that the administration saved 3 rubles. 50 kopecks for washing towels (instead of 10‐5 kopecks apiece), but at the same time it introduced again the duty of engineers, canceled earlier as unnecessary and costing 500‐700 rubles. per month. There is talk among the workers of the Leningrad tram: ʺOur tram tickets have been cut, but cars are not being cut.ʺ
It should be noted the moments of political passivity of workers in connection with the economy regime. Among the workers of the Mint (Leningrad) there is talk that ʺit is necessary for the workers to introduce a regime of economy by withdrawing from all public organizations.ʺ At the Krasny Aksai plant (North Caucasus), after a reduction in prices, workers in one of the shops tore up their membership books of all voluntary societies.
All these sentiments are fueled, in part, by an insufficient reduction in the cost of essential products (“wages are being cut, they are saving, and everything is expensive in the market”), and especially by an increase in rent (“an extra penny is being pulled out of the working budget”), which is manifested in many speeches and conversations (I, 77‐83).
Abbreviations. Unloading enterprises from excessive labor force both in connection with the campaign for austerity regime and as a result of temporary difficulties (especially in the textile and printing industry) at a number of enterprises created an excited mood and was accompanied by separate anti‐Soviet demagogic speeches. In the printing house of the MKH among the workers, the letters “Akathist”, “The March of Economy” and a leaflet “For the edification of comrades”, dedicated to the regime of economy, were distributed among the workers. (The Economy March was already typed for publication). In connection with rumors of a reduction in Art. In Polotoratsk, handwritten proclamations appeared containing threats of reprisals against the administration and attacks against the communists. Among the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk engravers of textile factories, due to the reduction caused by the concentration of engraving departments,
Dissatisfaction with the layoffs is aggravated by the abnormalities in the dismissal of workers (dismissal of workers without the consent of the trade unionists) and the haphazard layoffs, after which workers are recruited again. It is characteristic to note the Arzhenskaya cloth factory of the Tambov province, where some workers were laid off 8 times, each time receiving benefits. It should be noted the spread of rumors about the upcoming massive layoffs in the military industry and at many Leningrad enterprises (1.72‐76).
Anti‐Soviet agitation
Against the background of a decrease in mood in certain groups of workers, the growth of anti‐Soviet and demagogic protests in enterprises is increasing, most often from the side of lower technical administrations, new workers or decayed elements dismissed from the factory (truants, drunks).
Campaigning comes down to discrediting the party. It is pointed out that ʺthe party has turned against the workersʺ, that ʺthere are only careerists in the partyʺ, that ʺit only defends its own people.ʺ At a meeting of workers and employees ʺChaerazveskiʺ Tea Administration (Moscow) on the report of the chairman of the trust comrade. Sarychev, one worker in his speech pointed out: “The minority, that is the party strangles the working class, the demands of the workers are not met, the cell is always on the side of the administration. ʺ
A number of speeches emphasize that now the situation of the workers is worse ʺthan under tsarismʺ, that it cannot be compared with the situation of workers abroad (ʺeven under the tsarist government it was better to liveʺ, ʺall power was given back to the bourgeoisie,ʺ etc.) ...
In some cases, anti‐Soviet demonstrations at enterprises take the following forms: at the 2nd State Power Plant (Leningrad), workers in the engine room hung out a scarecrow depicting a ragged worker with the inscription ʺFor the economy regime.ʺ In the printing house of the MKH, in connection with the reduction, on the landing of the stairs, a painted banner and a cross were found with the inscription: ʺAnd there were no reduction of 140 people.ʺ
Attention is drawn to a number of cases when open counterrevolutionary agitation does not meet with sharp opposition from the workers. At the Krasnaya Nit factory, a worker (twice sued for hooliganship and is reputed to be a White Guard) often argues with the workers, declaring: ʺNow the power of the Jews, soon these bloodsuckers‐communists will end.ʺ
Anti‐Semitism. There has been an increase in anti‐Semitic protests at enterprises. At Trekhgornaya m‐re (Moscow) and Ponikovskaya state paper factory (Ukraine), the spread of anti‐Semitic poems among workers was noted. At the 7th bakery of MSPO, plywood boards with anti‐Soviet and anti‐Semitic slogans written by one worker were found. Agitation is most often directed against the Jews occupying administrative posts (ʺin the central administrations 25% of the Jewsʺ, ʺeverywhere the Jews have taken good positions and they are not being dismissedʺ, etc.). The demonstrations are a success among the backward sections of the workers.
Peasant sentiments. The return in August to the enterprises of significant groups of vacationers who traveled to the countryside led to the manifestation of peasant sentiments on a significant scale. Visitors note in many cases that the tax since that year has been greatly increased and difficult for the peasants, and they are especially dissatisfied with the taxation of city earnings (“comrades from one ox think to tear two skins: I pay income tax here, but you still want to receive from me in the village ʺ). There are talks about the incorrect calculation of the tax (“in the Tula province. The tax was increased by 5%, and in the Kaluga province by 40%, bakery No. 2 in Moscow), that“ the peasants of Ukraine do not want to pay the tax and, if they demand, they cannot fight without will give it back ”(5th factory Mosk‐voshvey) that now the peasants will no longer support Soviet power, and so on.
Particularly strong discontent is noted among seasonal workers, in particular builders, who indicate that they have nothing left of their earnings. The builders of one construction site in Moskovo‐Narvekiy district (Leningrad), in connection with rumors of an increase in the tax on the farm from 9 to 80 rubles, began to shout at the communists: ʺEnough to entangle the Orthodox, you are robbing the peasants.ʺ
Help for English miners. Payments in favor of British miners, which are generally satisfactory, at some enterprises caused discontent among backward groups of workers (“why help other workers when our own workers are starving,” “it would be better if they helped our unemployed, etc.). At the Weaving Factory No. 1 of the OrekhovoZuevsky Trust there were shouts: ʺYou are pulling our shirt off.ʺ
Unemployed
The unloading of a number of industrial enterprises from excessive labor force, causing a slight increase in the number of unemployed in individual sections, creates a noticeable deterioration in the mood of the unemployed. During the reporting period, serious fermentation was noted among unemployed metalworkers (Nikolaev) due to the reduction at the plant. A. Marta, and among unemployed printers (Moscow), due to the reduction in the printing house of the MKH. At a meeting of unemployed metalworkers in Nikolaev on the issue of help cut from the plant to them. Martha, there were sharp anti‐Soviet protests, which met with the support of the audience. At the end of the meeting, a resolution was unanimously adopted — in order to eliminate unemployment, to introduce at the plant. A. Martha is a 6hour working day, although the Presidium of the RK objected to this formulation, pointing out the inevitable increase in production deficit.
In the Moscow Labor Exchange (section of printers), the mood of the unemployed after the downsized workers of the MKH printing house joined their environment, worsened. There was talk of organizing a white flag demonstration. Requirements are put forward for the introduction of a part‐time work week in the printing industry.
The nervous mood of the laid‐off workers is transmitted to the enterprises with which the laid‐off try to keep in touch. Thus, those laid off from the Planting Factory of Kozhtrest (Kiev) visit the factory during working hours and tell the workers about the hopelessness of their situation. At the plant them. Marty is being heavily talked about unemployment.
As before, a sore point for the unemployed is employment outside the labor exchange. At the Moscow Labor Exchange, garment workers put forward a requirement to prohibit hiring in addition to the labor exchange and sending non‐Union members to permanent work. The unemployed section of the transport workers (20 people) sent an application to the RKU for hiring MKH drivers in addition to the labor exchange. At a meeting of unemployed metalworkers, which took place very violently, an amendment was adopted to the resolution proposed by the district committee: ʺHiring shall be carried out only through the exchange and only members of the Unionʺ (see Appendix No. 2).
PEASANTRY
The political mood of the village
In the reporting period, the price of bread and the sale of the new harvest are central issues that attract the attention of the peasantry and, along with the new agricultural tax, determine the political mood in the countryside.
1. The attitude of peasants to grain prices and the sale of a new harvest
During the reporting period, there has been a systematic increase in the amount of bread thrown into the market, and an increase in grain procurement operations from decade to decade. At the same time, there are fewer complaints from peasants about the lack of goods than at the beginning of the last grain procurement campaign.
The attitude of the peasants to the existing prices for grain and manufactured goods. The attention of all strata of the peasantry is mainly focused on the ratio of prices for grain and manufactured goods. The decline in grain prices causes discontent among the wealthy and middle peasants and again raises the question of ʺscissorsʺ. Statements of individual peasants from various strata of the village in private conversations and in speeches about the implementation of the new harvest, in most cases, boil down to emphasizing the discrepancy between prices for bread and manufactured goods: “Already now rye is priced at 45‐50 kopecks, and salt at 1 ruble. for a pood; how to buy boots for a peasant when he needs to sell 30 poods of bread for this. Why for our bread, brought to the pre‐war price, they give industrial goods 3‐4 times more expensive” (Voronezh province). ʺThey give such a price for bread that 3‐4 poods must be paid for a shirt or trousersʺ (Stalingrad province). In the Voronezh province. there was a case when a peasant, who brought bread for sale, 42 kopecks were offered. for a pood; refusing to sell, he went back, saying: “Is it permissible to pay 40 poods for boots. rye ʺ.
Dissatisfaction with the prices of bread in some cases causes anger of peasants against the procurement points and sharp criticism and threats against the workers of these points (III, 1‐9).
Demand for lower prices for manufactured goods. Comparing the prices of bread with the prices of manufactured goods, the peasants in most cases point to the need to regulate the existing prices and in some places put forward a demand for lower prices for manufactured goods. In the Moscow province. in with. Znamenskoye at a meeting of the poor, the middle peasants present suggested: “The prices for manufactured goods must be cut, otherwise only 5 poods are needed for some pants. of breadʺ. In the Tambov province. in with. To Alekseevka, the middle peasants and the poor say: “The price of bread is again cheap and it is impossible to buy anything on the farm, the factories need to lower the prices of their production. “Since chintz costs 50 kopecks. arshin, then bread should cost 1 rub. 50 kopecks, and if you cannot make the bread cost that much, then you need to make the chintz cost 10 kopecks. arshin” (statement of the middle peasant in Kursk province). “The government sets fixed prices for grain that are too low for the peasants, as for various goods,
Characteristic in this respect is the statement of the peasants who gathered at the market. Dubrovin of the Novosibirsk District, who responded to the proposal of the pre‐village council not to sell bread above the established prices: “We do not accept your rate and will not accept it until the city goods are cheapened, and at this time, let us take prices for bread such as we will, and do not tell us in this matter ”(III, 10‐18).
Agitation against the export of bread to the market. In a number of cases, individual peasants from various strata of the countryside, pointing out the need to increase the prices of grain and reduce the prices of manufactured goods, are in favor of not bringing grain to the market in order to thereby achieve price regulation. So, in the Tambov province. in with. The middle peasant of Willow said: ʺWe must refrain and not export bread to the market until the prices of manufactured goods decrease.ʺ In the Novosibirsk district, in one of the villages, peasants declare: ʺWe will not sell bread until the prices for city goods are reduced.ʺ In the Omsk district, the middle peasant village. Novinki said: ʺThe peasants are fools, they need to organize themselves, go on strike and not let the goods in on the cheap.ʺ
The most active and sharp agitation for the non‐delivery of grain to the market is led by kulaks, wealthy and anti‐Soviet elements in the countryside. So, in the Stalingrad province. in the hut. Saltynskoe, a prosperous Cossack agitates: ʺThe bread must be poured into the barn immediately after it is removed from the fields and not taken out to the market, so that the communists cannot dictate their prices.ʺ Similar facts were noted in Siberia.
As a result of such actions, in some cases there was a reduction in the supply of grain to the market. So, in the Saratov province. in with. As a result of the agitation of the kulaks, as a result of the agitation of the kulaks, not to give bread to the state producers at a low price, the supply of grain has decreased, and the peasants declare that they will not hand over bread at such a low price and it is better to persecute it.
In isolated cases, kulak groups take part in agitation for the non‐export of grain and in the organized demand for higher prices. So, in the village. On the initiative of the kulaks, 3 groups of the wealthy were organized in Ivanovsky of the Armavir District, offering cooperatives the supply of bread by wagonload at a price above the limit. Thanks to the agitation of groups, the well‐to‐do part of the population stopped selling wheat to state producers (P, 19‐30)
Isolated cases of advocacy for expanding the rights of private capital. Attention is drawn to the isolated actions of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do on the basis of ʺscissorsʺ for expanding the rights of private capital. So, in the Ulyanovsk province. the owner of the oil mill and the mill agitates: “The Soviet government undermines the reviving peasant economy by its policies. The peasant cannot have an alliance with the working class, since only the worker is the master of the country. Give freedom to a private trader and he will give a cheap product to the peasant. ʺ In the Orenburg province. speaking at the expanded plenum of the Pavlovsk VIK of the Presidential Council, pointing out that earlier the village was supplied with goods of cheap and better quality, he proposed to transfer the entire industry to private capital or destroy it. It is also interesting to speak of a well‐to‐do in one of the villages of the Irkutsk District, who said at a meeting dedicated to the International Day of Cooperation: “They praise us the Soviet cooperation and say that it is the main road to communism, that it helps and will help us, but in reality what we see: here is a private buyer of bread from Irkutsk buying bread from the peasants for 10 kopecks. more expensive than cooperation” (III, 31‐33).
2. Highlights of the political mood of the village in connection with the new tax
During the reporting period, agricultural tax continues to be in the center of attention of the peasantry. Various provocative rumors about the new tax, which were intensively disseminated in the first period of the campaign, are sharply reduced and do not find a response among the poor and middle peasant strata, who have become familiar with the new tax rates. The most active are the kulaks and the wealthy, who openly oppose the new agricultural tax.
Call for tax defaults. The anti‐tax activities of the kulaks and the antiSoviet elements of the countryside that adjoin them are especially vividly manifested in agitation, openly calling on the population to non‐payment of taxes. So, in the village. Lelechakh, Moscow province. the owner of the bakery campaigned: “This year we will not pay tax, but if samovars are taken away 223, we will resist. ʺ In with. Nechayev in the same province, the well‐to‐do at the gathering urged the peasants not to pay the tax: “Let them do what they want, and if they take it away, we’ll all go to Moscow to complain.” In the Voronezh province. in a number of well‐to‐do farms, indicating that the tax of 1926‐1927. wrong and illegal, they say: ʺWe will not pay tax this year and the state cannot confiscate our property, since the peasantry is a mass that the state must reckon with.ʺ In with. Shchuchye of the Chelyabinsk District, a merchant, openly urging the population not to pay the tax, declares: “The current tax is high and unbearable, to get out of this situation you need to declare insubordination to Soviet power and not pay, and also declare war against the workers, otherwise Soviet power is only for the workers, for the peasants as if it does not exist. ʺ
In a number of cases, the kulaks, campaigning for tax evasion, spread rumors about the war, the imminent overthrow of Soviet power, the arrival of whites, etc. (Pskov province, Donetsk, Slavgorod and Amur districts) (III, 34‐42).
Refusal to accept salary slips and pay tax in Ukraine. Particularly noteworthy is the anti‐tax activity of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do in Ukraine, where in some districts, as a result of anti‐tax protests, the population in an organized manner refuses to accept salary slips and returns back to their hands. So, in the village. Alekseevka of the Stalin district at a meeting under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks, the peasants threw down the salary sheets, of which 183 were collected. In the hut. In Novo‐Ilyinsky, in the same district, 24 householders provoked by a former priest submitted to the RKK an application for the withdrawal of the agricultural tax, returning back the pay slips. In the Dubensky village council of the Dnipropetrovsk district, under the influence of the well‐to‐do, a resolution was passed, which states that “we cannot pay tax on these payroll slips. Hand over the slip sheets, who have already taken it, and the rest do not take it. ʺ In with. Potash of the Uman District, the majority of the population also refused to accept salary slips and pay tax, claiming that the commission had incorrectly accounted for income. There have been cases when resolutions are passed at meetings in which the population categorically refuses to pay the tax (Pavlovka village, Alexandropol, Dnepropetrovsk district) (Ш, 43‐48).
Anti‐tax performances of kulak groups. Cases of anti‐tax activities of kulak and anti‐Soviet groups during the reporting period are rare. Attention is drawn to the grouping in the village. Unecha, Gomel province, headed by former employees. This group managed to almost completely disrupt the accounting of taxable objects (III, 49‐51).
Kulak terror based on tax. Opposing the tax campaign, the kulaks and the well‐to‐do in isolated cases do not stop at the use of terror against persons who are working on accounting for objects of taxation or revealing the shelter of objects. The number of cases of terror motivated by tax is insignificant (3 in the Center, 1 in the Urals and 3 in Siberia) (III, 52‐58).
Anti‐Soviet agitation on the basis of the tax. The anti‐Soviet actions of the kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements in the countryside on the basis of taxes continue to attract attention. In some speeches of this kind, the population is called upon to revolt against Soviet power and to overthrow the latter (III, 59‐65).
3. Speeches for the cross unions
136 performances for the cross unions were again registered, of which 22 performances in Ukraine were in July. In terms of the number of performances, the following are still distinguished: Center (45 cases), Ukraine (42) and North Caucasus (28). Of the 145 peasants identified by us in the protests for the Constitutional Court, 102 peasants, including the wealthy ‐ 25, the middle peasants ‐ 36 and the poor peasants ‐ 11 (the social status of the remaining peasants has not been established).
The participation of anti‐Soviet elements in speeches for the Constitutional Court is insignificant (6 people). In the Donskoy District (North Caucasus), the idea of the Constitutional Court is being put forward by a group of intelligentsia clearly anti‐Soviet.
KS requirements for price regulation. The main argument for organizing the cross unions is the need to regulate prices for agricultural products in 47 cases (while the main task of the CC is to increase the price of bread) (III, 66‐76).
CC requirements for countering tax policy. In 12 cases, the cross union is promoted as an organization that would oppose tax policy, seeking tax relief for peasants (III, 77‐81).
In a number of districts, especially those with developed latrine industries (central provinces, etc.), the idea of organizing a peasant trade union is put forward, following the example of workersʹ trade unions (in 24 cases).
The demands of the peasant trade union and other cases of agitation for the Constitutional Court. Along with speeches containing program requirements, in a significant number of cases, speeches for the COP are in the form of questions ‐ why the COP is not organized ‐ and proposals to create one. Of this series of speeches, attention is drawn to the performance of a demobilized Red Army soldier in one of the villages of the Vinnitsa district with a proposal to organize a special Red Army union of citizens who took part in the civil war (III, 82‐88).
The Constitutional Courtʹs demands, which are clearly political in nature. Speeches for the Constitutional Court, which are clearly political, and in some places sharply anti‐Soviet, are still noted in isolated cases. In a number of speeches of this kind, the demand is put forward for the ʺseizure of power by the peasantryʺ and the dictatorship of the peasants. ʺ
Noteworthy is the receipt from Kiev to the real village councils in Ukraine of identical appeals, clearly anti‐Soviet in nature, with an appeal for the organization of the peasantry signed: ʺThe Organizing Committee of the Peasant‐Workersʹ Republic.ʺ Appeals declaring that the peasant land is owned by the ʺJewsʺ who are in power and are in the party, end with slogans: ʺAll the land to us, the peasantsʺ, ʺDown with the Jews from Ukraine, take away their landʺ, ʺDown with the hegemony of the workers and the Communist Party, we will manage ourselves through our power, which we will freely choose ”. There is reason to believe that the appeals come from Poland (Galicia) (III, 8995).
Unified agricultural tax
Peasantsʹ attitude to tax
Increase in taxation rates after the publication of tax rates. In some areas, where the already published rates of return were revised and increased, the attitude of all groups of the peasantry to the tax has deteriorated. The very fact of revising the rate of return is strongly condemned. “The Soviet government cannot immediately say exactly how much to pay the peasant. The Soviet government is not independent and cannot pursue a correct line. Two more weeks will pass and they will think again how to rip us off” (Tula province). In some localities, there have been significant increases in tax rates since the revision. So, according to Rzhevsky u. Tver lips. the rate of return on arable land tithe was increased from 43 rubles. up to 49 rubles. Along the Temkinsky Vol. Yukhnovsky u. (Kaluga province) the yield of a tithe of arable land was determined at 30 rubles. and later increased to 38 rubles. (IV, 1‐6).
The requirement to reduce the tax in areas with a lower yield.
An unsatisfactory attitude towards agricultural tax was also noted in those areas where, after harvesting grain, it turned out that the harvest was worse than expected (some central provinces, some districts of Ukraine and the North Caucasus). In these areas, they require a reduction in tax rates, considering the announced rates do not correspond to the actual yield. At village meetings, resolutions are passed to apply for a tax reduction. So, the peasants are hut. Dachny (Dnepropetrovsk district) at the meeting decided: “To petition the RIK to reduce the agricultural tax due to the fact that the bread died from the heat: a tithe of wheat gave 12 poods when threshed, a tithe of barley 20 poods. and tithe of rye 15 poods. ʺ In the Uman region in the Kuban, in a number of villages, the population is outraged by the definition of the yield of a tithe of sowing at 47 rubles, while the yield per tithe is determined at 30‐35 rubles;
Tenantsʹ dissatisfaction with the taxation of leased land and their refusal to lease. The imposition of tax on tenants for their leased land, in accordance with the new regulation on agricultural tax, arouses strong discontent among the kulaks (well‐to‐do) and part of the middle peasants interested in renting. In a number of provinces and districts (Voronezh, Vladimir, Gomel provinces, Odessa, Maikop, Armavir districts), there have been cases of refusal to lease land, which in turn causes dissatisfaction with the inventory‐free poor interested in leasing land. In some places, the poor are forced to enter into secret deals with the wealthy in order to hide the fact of rent (IV, 13‐18).
Adverse events related to tax
Shelter of taxable objects and resistance to accounting for them. As before, in all regions of the Union, the identification of hidden objects of taxation continues. The shelter of objects of taxation was noted not only by the wealthy and the kulaks. Often, under the influence of their agitation, the middle peasants and even the poor take part in the concealment. In some places, the concealment is quite organized and results in resistance to accounting for objects of taxation, usually led by the kulaks and the wealthy. Whole villages refuse to give information about side earnings, shelter livestock and crops. Vorontsov Land Society of Voronezh Province. from 12000 dess. only 1758 dessiatines showed convenient land under the sowing of winter and spring wedges. In the village Kuplyansky (Trinity District) of 17,000 dess. sown land is accounted for in taxation objects 4800 dess.
Cases are typical when a concealer, who has a large number of hidden tithes, voluntarily reports to the tax commission about 3‐4 dessiatins allegedly hidden by him; a voluntary application inspires confidence and the commission does not check the seeding. Of the other typical methods of concealing income items on the farm, which are most often used by fists and well‐to‐do people, it should be noted that the farm laborersʹ families (Tambov province, Zhitomir district, Barnaul district), fictitious divisions (Kaluga province, Kara district), sale of livestock or replacement of adult animals with tax‐free youngsters (Proskurovsky district, Ural). The sale of livestock in order to reduce the tax is widespread in the Irbit District; in this regard, many nonpatent buyers appeared 224 cattle from kulaks, who resell cattle in the nearest industrial centers and receive large profits.
In all regions of the Union, rural traders, millers, blacksmiths and handicraftsmen serving the local market hide the amount of their earnings, indicating reduced profitability when accounting for taxable objects. Such cases are especially frequent in the central, northwestern, western provinces and districts of Siberia (IV, 19‐49).
Revealing of objects of taxation hidden by fists by the poor. In some cases, the poor are involved in identifying hidden objects of taxation. In the Tomsk Okrug, at the request of the poor, hidden objects of taxation were found among 25 owners of the Tungovsky Village Council, mostly well‐to‐do. In with. Nikolaevsky of the Minusinsk district, thanks to the participation of the poor and middle peasants, the objects of taxation have been fully identified (IV, 50‐53).
The trend of increasing prices for handicrafts and payments for the use of agricultural machinery. Handicraftsmen and owners of agricultural machinery in connection with the new tax are increasing the prices of their products and payments for the use of agricultural machinery everywhere. So, car owners declare:
“The state has imposed additional income on the side, but not on us, but on the poor. It costs us nothing to raise prices, for example, instead of 3 rubles. take 6 rubles. for a day of work on an agricultural machine” (Vyatka province). In a number of cases, village handicraftsmen, blacksmiths, millers doubled the prices of their products (IV, 54‐57).
Composition of tax commissions and abnormalities in their work
Littering of commissions for accounting of objects of taxation. In a number of cases, it is noted that the commissions for registering objects of taxation by the well‐to‐do, kulaks, traders, etc. are obstructed. It should be noted that in some villages the kulaks and the wealthy were very active in the process of electing rural representatives to tax commissions. In with. Nikulino, Moscow province. the well‐to‐do held preparatory meetings for their supporters and they managed to get their representative on the commission. In the settlement of Gnilusha (Voronezh province), the kulaks were especially active and expressed a desire to ʺwork for the common good.ʺ Tax commissions, which include kulaks and the wealthy, clearly pander to the wealthy strata of the village (IV, 58‐69).
Concealment by commissions of taxable objects. In a number of cases, tax commissions help to hide the objects of taxation of wealthy and kulak farms, and sometimes members of the commissions are the initiators of the massive concealment of objects of taxation. Almost always complicity in the concealment of objects of taxation is motivated by the fear of turning the peasants against ourselves: “We do not want to tarnish our name by collecting taxes from the peasants”
(AKSSR); “There is nothing I can do to identify the entire crop. If I identify, my peasants will be bad for me” (Tomsk District). The chairman of the Bedrinsky village council of the Tula province, ʺin order to raise his authorityʺ, sheltered the incomes of 45 people who are in the waste industries. In some cases, members of the commissions themselves campaign for the concealment of taxable objects (Donetsk, Krasnoyarsk districts, Saratov province). So, in the Krasnoyarsk district, the chairman of the Aleksandrovsk village council held a resolution at a meeting: ʺFor a bad harvest, cover half a tenth for everyone.ʺ There are also frequent cases of shelter of taxable objects in the farms of members of commissions (IV, 71‐88).
Negligence, inactivity, inattention to their work by tax commissions. In a number of cases, negligence, inactivity, inattention to their work are noted in the work of tax commissions, as a result of which the accounting of objects of taxation in some places is carried out poorly. In a number of counties, the registration was made according to the words of the taxable, without due verification. In some villages, members of tax commissions refused to work, being busy harvesting crops on their farm. In stts. Vozdvizhenskaya (Armavir district) tax commission checked only 30 farms, while in the village there are 11,000 people. In the Kuban Okrug, by order of the Baturin Stan Council, the verification commissions were disbanded due to field work (IV, 89‐96).
Land management
The struggle of social groups in the village for land
In almost all regions of the Union, due to the general lack of regulation of land use and the extremely slow pace of land management, the ended spring and summer periods were characterized by an intensification of the struggle of social groups in the village around land management.
Craving for land management among the underpowered strata of the peasantry. As in previous years, the desire for land management among the underpowered strata of the peasantry was noted almost everywhere in the Union. In the Central Region and in part of the provinces of the North‐West and the Volga region, the poor‐middle peasant part of the village, for the most part, tends to switch to improved forms of land use (multi‐field crop rotation, grass planting, broad‐belt, drought‐resistant farms).
In the Center, the West, the Volga region, and especially in Siberia, there is a tendency of the underpowered peasantry to go to settlements in order to maintain a cultural economy and destroy distant land.
Among the more powerful strata of the village ‐ the kulaks, the well‐todo, as well as among some of the middle peasants, there is a tendency to go to the farmstead and cut, which meets the resistance of the rest of the village. In Siberia and the DVK, the poor and low‐power middle peasants, extremely constrained in terms of land use, due to the general unsettledness of the land issue in these areas, require an immediate equalizing redistribution of land. Redistribution here has not been carried out for many years and in some places the wealthy during this time managed to seize large and most convenient plots of land (V, 1‐7).
Resistance of the wealthy to all kinds of redistribution. The striving of the low‐powered strata of the countryside for land management is almost everywhere met with resistance from the kulaks and the wealthy. The latter, using large plots of land, partly acquired through self‐seizure, oppose not only redistributions, but also all kinds of land measurements, fearing the discovery of land hidden by them from taxation. For this purpose, the kulaks and the well‐to‐do often refuse to make payments for land surveying work. In Ukraine, the North Caucasus and Siberia, a large number of cases of disruption of wealthy meetings, at which land management issues were discussed, were recorded. In Siberia, there was a case of depriving the poor of the vote by kulaks at a meeting, who raised the issue of redistributing land.
Quite a common method of countering land management by kulaks and the wealthy is the conduct of litigation with supporters of land management, which often drag on for years. So, in one village of the Uman District, a lawsuit between the poor and the kulaks, which has not yet been completed, arose in 1922. “We will be in litigation for 10 years, but we will not concede our land to the poor,” say the kulaks in one of the villages of the Don District. “We will sue and slow down land management until we get what we want” (Dnepropetrovsk District), “We will judge 225 for a horse, but we will not give land to the poor” (Penza province) (V, 8‐16).
Kulak terror against land surveyors. In some places, the kulaks resort to terror against the supporters of land management and land surveyors, threatening them with beatings, murders and arson if they continue land surveying. So, in the Berdichevsky district in the village. Golubevka kulaks tried to beat the land surveyor who was conducting land surveying work in the village. In the Melitopol district, two anonymous letters were pasted on the door of the land surveyorʹs apartment, demanding that the land surveyor stop work, and from the owner of the house ‐ to remove the land surveyor from the apartment; in case of non‐observance of the order, unknown persons threatened to ʺlet the red roosterʺ. In the Kremenchug district, a gang of kulaks made an attempt on the life of a land surveyor. The latter, the next day, not wanting to risk his life, refused to continue the work (V, 17‐20).
Estates discord on the basis of land management in the Cossack regions. In the Cossack regions (the North Caucasus, the Volga region, the Urals), due to the unsettledness of land relations, the presence of class strife between the Cossacks and nonresidents continues to be noted, which in turn complicates and exacerbates the land struggle between the social groups of the village. This struggle unfolded in the current land management season around the issue of registration of a land society in connection with land management. The performances of wealthy Cossacks against nonresidents are supported not only by the middle peasants, but often by the Cossack poor. The Cossacks, considering the nonresident as ʺstrangersʺ, refuses to accept the latter into the society and deprives them of their land plots.
Cases of deprivation of land from nonresidents are massive in the North Caucasus, especially in the Kuban, where hundreds and thousands of nonresidents were deprived of land by the verdicts of society this spring (300 people in the village of Konevskaya, 750 people in the village of Berezanskaya, up to 1,000 people in the Beichugskaya, up to 2000 people in the village Korenevskaya, etc.) Often, nonresidents who have been living in Cossack villages for several decades are rejected to allot land. Cossacks say to nonresident: “Where you came from, go there” (Kuban district). If nonresidents are allotted land, the land is allotted to them in distant areas, of inferior quality and in smaller sizes than the indigenous people. It should be noted that subsequent instances restore the rights to land for the majority of nonresidents. It is characteristic that in a number of cases, of all nonresidents, only those who were who visited the white‐green armies (Kuban district). Sometimes the Cossacks, refusing allotments to nonresidents, left allotments for White emigrants, Cossacks in exile, and other reactionary elements. In the process of the land struggle between the Cossacks and nonresidents, constant conflicts occur, accompanied by murders, beatings and arson (V, 21‐28).
The relationship between old‐timers and new settlers (Siberia and the Far East Region). The relationship between old‐timers and new settlers in Siberia and the Far East Region is no less aggravated. Here the oldtimers, refusing to admit new settlers to the society, deprive them of their land plots. The same almost hostile attitude is often met by immigrants sent to Siberia. There are cases when new settlers, in order to be assigned to the land society and receive a land allotment, have to buy the right to settle from the community (Barabinsky district). Oldtimers plow the fields of new settlers, seizing all the best plots of land intended for the settlement of the latter (V, 29‐32).
Seizure of dispossessed lands by fists. In the Ukraine, the North Caucasus and Siberia, due to the general unsettledness of the land issue and in connection with the protracted land management, the kulaks continue to seize their dispossessed land from the poor. In Ukraine, several cases have been recorded of the destruction of the crops of the poor by kulaks on the land that went to the poor at the time of dispossession of the village. Often, such land grabs take place in an atmosphere of complete connivance on the part of local authorities (V, 33‐37).
Dissatisfaction of low‐power [farms] with land management according to the principle of actual land use (Ukraine). Carrying out land management in Ukraine on the principle of actual land use causes almost everywhere dissatisfaction with the underprivileged strata of the village, since in practice it legitimizes the lands of the kulaks and the wealthy that they arbitrarily seized from the poor (for example, during the famine). For their part, the non‐chewers and low‐power middle peasants demand an equalizing redistribution: “We will never give up land for actual land use 226because then it will remain with the kulaks. ʺ ʺEveryone who decides to stand out in terms of actual land use, we will kill to the ground.ʺ “If the land is not divided by consumers, we need to make a second revolution” (Izium District). ʺThe Soviet government turned its back on the poor, the new land policy of the Soviet government helps only the kulakʺ (Starobelsk district). “The communists want to win over the kulaks to their side and introduce the old order” (Konotop district). In some cases, conflicts arose between the supporters of “actual” and “equalizing” land use, accompanied by mutual threats of reprisals (Yekaterinoslavsky district) (V, 38‐45).
Inter‐settlement land management. The issues of inter‐settlement land management and land use should be especially noted. The unevenness of the per capita allotment of land in the neighboring villages and the unsettledness of the inter‐settlement boundaries of land use are the reasons for lengthy disputes and litigation over land plots. Litigations between villages often drag on for years, moving from one court to another and causing large expenses for the peasants (for example, an unfinished 4‐year litigation between two societies of Penza province cost the company only 8,000 rubles) (V, 51).
Protracted litigation and neglect of land relations between societies, the tangle of which is often difficult to unravel even for the highest land courts, in a number of cases leads to self‐seizure of lands, as well as to acute conflicts, sometimes reaching armed clashes between the warring parties. So, in the Trinity District, the Cossacks of the village. Korsinsky, without waiting for the decision of the OKRZU, before which the question of the disputed land was raised back in 1924, they arbitrarily captured 1800 dess. land belonging to the village. V. Kizilsky. Hut in the Armavir district. Azhikovo and Kudi‐novo captured 2,000 dess. meadow wedge belonging to stts. Bessergenovskaya, with the aim of selling hayfields to private owners. A characteristic fact of an armed clash between peasants of two villages took place in the Voronezh province: the villages of Ilovka and Glukhovka were suing for 3 years over a disputed plot of land in 172 dessiatines, once owned by the first of them and in 1923 transferred to the second. This dispute, on which both societies spent from 7 to 10 thousand rubles, was resolved by many instances, up to the highest land control, and the last decision left the land for the Glukhivites, and the case was dropped. Not satisfied with this decision, the Ilovites, under the ringing of bells, opposed the Glukhovites, intending to seize the crops in the disputed area by force. Both sides were armed with pitchforks, scythes and firearms. There was a clash and a shootout, during which 4 people were wounded and part of the crops was poisoned by the Ilovites. Only after the clash, the PEC commission resolved the conflict to the mutual satisfaction of the villages, transferring 40 dess. disputed land Ilovka.
Cases of self‐seizure of disputed lands with mutual damage (destruction of crops, damage to meadows, etc.), as well as armed clashes are noted in some other provinces and districts of the Union.
It should be noted that such relationships are facilitated by the extremely slow pace of work on the planned inter‐settlement delimitation of land use boundaries (V, 46‐53).
EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AREAS
NORTH CAUCASUS
National relations. The resumption of ethnic enmity between the Chechens and the Tushins (Georgia) is noted, which took place on the basis of land disputes over the past decades and subsided somewhat after the operation to disarm Chechnya 227. Tushiny sat down. Shatil (Georgia), taking advantage of the Chechensʹ lack of weapons, have long chosen a convenient moment for the armed seizure of the transferred villages. Melkhesti (Chechnya) lands. On August 28, a bloody clash took place between the Chechens and the Tushins, as a result of which one Chechen shepherd was killed and the other seriously wounded. 9 horses were also stolen by carcasses.
The spread of rumors about the forthcoming disarmament of Georgians in the Golanchozh district of the ChAO attracts attention. Demands for the disarmament of the Khevsurs (Georgia) are observed in Ingushetia (VI, 1‐2).
Estates in Circassia in connection with the murder of Gutekulov. The murder of Gutekulov (see the previous review) continues to excite the entire population of Circassia, exacerbating the antagonism between the estates. The so‐called representatives of the nobility accused the responsible workers of Circassia of the murder of Gutekulov. Among the peasants, there was dissatisfaction with the fact that the government ʺattaches such importance to the murder of the defender of the privileged classʺ and arrests ʺdefenders of the interests of the peasantryʺ (persons involved in the murder), and this was attributed to the dominance in the area of nobles and princes. At the same time, supporters of the peasant group speak out for the need to convene a congress of the entire peasantry of Circassia to resolve the issue of the ever‐worsening class strife. Class antagonism adversely affects the work of the Soviet apparatus (VI, 3‐6).
The mood in the Russian countryside. Cross unions. In the Russian villages of the Adyghe‐Circassian region. and in the Sunzha district, agitation for the creation of peasant unions does not stop. Actively manifests itself in this regard in the village. Ivanovsky ACAD, a former member of the Kuban Rada, arguing for the need to organize the peasants, to protect the peasants of their rights, and to get the opportunity to raise prices for agricultural products (VI, 7‐8).
Activities of the Muslim Spirituality. The intensified agitation of the Muslim community for the expansion of the network of theological schools (madrasah) is noted. In a number of districts of Dagestan, as a result of the agitation of mullahs and sheikhs, some Soviet schools lost a significant percentage of students who went to madrasahs (Buinaksky district, Khasav‐Yurt district).
In some areas, representatives of the Muslim community, along with the spread of provocative rumors, incited the population against the agricultural tax, KKOV and discredited the party and the Soviet government, accusing the latter of inattention to the needs of the population and of embezzling public money. Anti‐Soviet demonstrations of the Muslim religious community often found support from senior officials (Dagestan, Gunibsky District). Noteworthy is the Shiite Shahsey‐Vakhsey holiday, which took place in Dagestan with a great upsurge compared to last year. Participation in religious rituals, self‐torture was observed not only on the part of adults, but also on the part of young children (VI, 9‐20).
Banditry. The number of landscapes in Ingushetia, Ossetia, the Sunzhensky district and the Kabardino‐Balkarian region. remained unchanged (one gang of 11 people). There were no particularly active manifestations of banditry. The famous leaders of the gangs were killed, centurion Izotov and Khurzanov Nazir, wounded and captured who organized the gang in the village. Shali of the Checho region is a former officer of Borshchikov and 35 accomplices and harbourers in the North Ossetian region were seized.
ORDER
Land management. The incompleteness of the land division and the incorrect distribution of land cause strong discontent among the peasants of various settlements, often exacerbating the nazantagonism and serving as a pretext for all kinds of clashes (Telavsky and Rachinsky u. Georgia). In Armenia, due to the uneven distribution of land between Turks and Armenians, a tendency towards resettlement was noted among the Turks (Erivan district). There are frequent cases when land workers, being under the influence of kulaks, carry out work to the detriment of the poor strata (Gandzhinsky, Shamkhor, Nukhinsky. Azerbaijan, Akhaltsikhsky u. Georgia) (VI, 21‐29).
Soviet apparatus. A number of facts of abuse have been registered in the activities of grassroots Soviet workers: bribery (14 cases), misappropriation and embezzlement (11), negligent attitude to work (14), rudeness, often accompanied by beating of peasants (8), and various crimes by office, [such, ] as illegal levies from peasants, arbitrariness, arbitrariness, etc. (15 cases). The contamination of the Soviet apparatus and the patronage of Soviet workers to the kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements are noted, which causes strong discontent among the peasants (VI, 30‐38).
Banditry. In a number of counties of Georgia and in the Leninakan district. Armenia has seen an increase in the number of bandits, despite the arrests of prominent bandits and the seizure of significant numbers of accomplices in the past month. The number of landscapes in Transcaucasia rose from 18 gangs and 122 people in July to 21 gangs and 146 people in August.
MIDDLE ASIA
Land management.
The aspiration of the Baystva to disrupt the land reform is noted. In some places, they nullify all the work done. Bay groupings in Tashkent and Samarkand regions. The Uzbek SR is making every effort to prevent the processing of the plots received by the poor, forcing the return of the plots confiscated from the Baist. For this, measures of intimidation are used, up to and including the murder of endowed farmers and active supporters of the land reform. The successes of the beys are greatly facilitated by the difficult material situation of the poor, who do not have implements, draft animals and seeds for processing the allotments received. As a result, the poor in some cases enter into onerous deals with the former landlords. These transactions are often certified by local authorities. In some cases, the newly endowed poor return even the received plots to their former owners. Cases like this are on the rise especially in the Tashkent region. Uzbekistan.
Due to the uncertainty of land boundaries in a number of regions of Kyrgyzstan, conflicts are taking place between the Russian and Kyrgyz population. There was a case of a major fight with wounds, and the Russian side of the fight was led by two members of the CPSU (b) (Frunzensky District) (VI, 39‐42).
Judicial authorities. In the judiciary, both in the grassroots and in the district, regional and republican, there is no sufficient cadre of qualified workers and there is a significant contamination with an alien and even clearly anti‐Soviet element. The overwhelming percentage of the employees of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of the Uzbek SSR are old court officials. In the Zeravshan region. one of the district judges is a former emir executioner. A number of investigators and judges are associated with anti‐Soviet elements and are or were under investigation. Along with this, there is widespread red tape in the activities of the judicial and investigative bodies, a huge blockage of unsolved cases, sometimes received in 1924, the lack of accounting not only of cases, but also of the defendants themselves, the lack of supervision of prosecutors over the implementation of judicial decisions, etc. There are up to 150 unsolved cases in the Tashkent Regional Prosecutorʹs Office. Tashauz Okrsud (Turkmen SSR) for the whole 1925 managed to consider only two cases. Due to the lack of prosecutorial supervision, a significant number of sentences in the Poltoratsk district (Turkmen SSR) have not been carried out since 1924.
Various kinds of abuses with a predominance of bribery and waste are no less developed. In a number of districts, the hereditary authorities practice the release of criminals, including murderers and embezzlers of public funds, for a bribe (VI, 49‐58).
Banditry. As a result of campaigns to eliminate banditry, a decline in Basmachism is noted. Its number dropped from 10 gangs of 190 in July to 7 gangs of 160 in August. The post office was finally cleared of Basmachs in the Kashka‐Darya and Samarkand regions. In SurkhanDarya region. and on the right bank of the river. Vakhsh in Tajikistan, the most significant gangs went to Afghanistan, in particular, Ibrahimbek, and, according to not completely verified information, Khurashbek. The remaining gangs show no activity, with the exception of the left bank of the river. Vakhsh in Tajikistan.
KAZAKSTAN
Political mood. Hostile relations between Russians and Kyrgyz are intensifying in the Ural and Dzhetysu lips. The Russian Cossacks are particularly hostile, threatening to kill all the ʺnakedʺ (Ural lips). The exacerbation of relations between the Russians and the Kirghiz, in places turning into fights, is used by the wealthy part of the Cossacks for agitation in favor of separating from the KSSR (Dzhetysu province). There is also a growing tendency to restore all the former class privileges of the Cossacks (Semipalatinsk province).
In the Kyrgyz aul, the Baystvo still displays a strong desire to seize the Soviet apparatus. There are cases when the bayism is already beginning to prepare for future re‐elections of the Soviets. In the Ural province. in a number of auls, the baystvo conducts vigorous work to attract the poor to their side, distributing for this purpose among the poor their cattle (for temporary use) and sending special ʺorganizersʺ to the poor auls (VI, 59‐62).
Tax. In connection with the upcoming tax campaign, there is a hiding of objects of taxation, in some places assuming a massive character. In some cases, not only the wealthy, but also the poor are hiding. In Petropavlovsk u. Akmola province. the well‐to‐do part of the population of the Cossack villages (Arkhangelskaya, Voznesenskaya, etc.) expresses acute dissatisfaction with the excessive increase in tax and threatens to repeat the 1921 uprising.
Land management. A number of clashes with injuries, murders and beatings were noted between Russians and Kyrgyz (Dzhetysu province), Kyrgyz and Uzbeks (Syr Darya province), and between Kyrgyz villages (Ural province). Inter‐settlement fight between the Kyrgyz in Bukeevsky u. Ural lips. ended in the killing of four and wounding three people. In the Dzhetysu lips. the movement for the elimination of the land reform continues. At the same time, there are cases when decisions of agricultural farms on the return of land to the former owners are enforced before their approval by higher authorities.
Both in the Russian village and in the Kazakh] aul there are cases of seizure and unauthorized plowing of land by Baysk and kulak elements (VI, 63‐67).
Spiritualism. In anticipation of the upcoming world congress of the Muslim Spirituality, an intensified campaign was conducted to instill in the consciousness of the masses the significance of this congress as “the first step towards the realization of the great idea of uniting the entire Muslim world” (Semipalatinsk province). Individuals, striving to travel to the congress, sold their property and expressed their readiness to get to Mecca on horseback, if they did not succeed by rail. A number of representatives of the clergy in their speeches pointed out the benevolent attitude of the Soviet government to the congress of Muslim clergy, and the meetings of believers passed resolutions of gratitude to the leaders of the Soviet government (Akmola province).
At local spiritual congresses, demands were still put forward for complete freedom of doctrine, the expansion of the civil rights of the clergy, etc. Fees were made in favor of delegates to the All‐Union Congress of Muslim Spiritual Affairs. Religious fees are organized in nature: lists of taxable persons are preliminarily outlined, special collectors are appointed, etc. In some cases, funds from local cooperatives are spent on the construction of mosques and other religious needs, or plots of public land are sold (Aktobe province) (VI, 68‐72).
Banditry. The number of gangs remained unchanged (8) while the number of bandits increased (69 versus 40 in July). Livestock theft has intensified in the Dzhetysu province, where Kyrgyz gangs rob the Russian population.
INNER NATIONAL REPUBLIC
Spiritualism. Crimea. In a number of places mullahs are developing agitation against various public organizations (Yalta region: village Ulu‐Uzan, village Kuchuk‐Dambat; Simferopol region: Jai‐Sheikh and other places). In the Yalta region, representatives of the Muslim Spiritual Committee collected money in favor of the delegates to the World Congress in Mecca.
Bashkiria. At the regional congresses of the Muslim Spirituality
(Belebey Canton), instructions were drawn up to delegates to the AllUnion Congress, which were reduced to the requirements: ^ granting the clergy all civil rights, 2) granting the right to religious education to children without existing restrictions, and 3) ending anti‐religious propaganda.
The mullahs are still campaigning against public organizations, including cooperatives (T. Katai canton). Supporters of the liquidation of the BDU incite the population against the communists and Komsomol members and accuse the BDU of being made up of communists (Zilair canton).
Tartary. At the congresses of the Muslim clergy (Bugulma district), the clergy put forward demands: free, unrestricted teaching of religion, the return of mosques to the ownership of religious societies, the opening of special spiritual printing houses, etc. The reactionary part of the clergy believes that the Muslim congress will put pressure on the concessions in religious matters (VI, 73‐82).
FAR EAST AND KALMYK AUTONOMOUS REGION
Grassroots Soviet apparatus. Buryat‐Mongolia. The grassroots government apparatus of Buryat‐Mongolia, both in the Russian and in the Buryat villages, in a significant number of cases reveals unsuitability. The inactivity and negligence of workers of village councils is a mass phenomenon of most aimags. In the VerkhneUdinsky district. Until recently, the chairman of the Kalenovsky village council has not announced a decree on agricultural tax to the population. In a number of places, the workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus are engaged in systematic drunkenness and roughly treat the population. There are cases of contamination of the co‐apparatus with clearly anti‐Soviet elements (VI, 83‐88).
Oiratia. There is a large number of cases of drunkenness and inactivity of workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus (Uspensky and Maiminsky aimags) (VI, 89‐92).
Kalmyk region Systematic drunkenness is observed on the part of a number of workers, including ulus and uyezd workers. Individual representatives of the Soviets are anti‐Soviet and kulak elements. Almost the entire Ulanovsky village council of the Manycheskiy ulus consists of former employees of the White Army and kulaks (VI, 93‐94).
National antagonism between nationalities and Russians. BuryatMongolia. National antagonism between Russians and Buryats focuses on land conflicts. The Russian population is dissatisfied with the fact that the Buryats, possessing a large amount of land, do not cultivate it themselves, but lease it (to the Russians) or sell it. There is a tendency to seize the Buryat lands; there are frequent cases of harassment of hayfields of the Buryats. National enmity is also intensifying as a result of the arbitrariness of the authorities (Buryats), which are biased and rude towards the Russian population (Alair, Barguzinsky, Tunkhinsky aimags). There are cases of eviction of Russian residents from Buryat villages (Troitsko‐Sava and Alair Aimaks) (VI, 95‐101).
Banditry. Buryato‐M ongolia. There are 5 criminal gangs with a total number of over 20 people throughout the republic. Bavda Kochkina made a number of robberies in the area of the village. Ust‐Orda and set fire to the castle of Kulareyka, where 15 buildings burned down.
DCK. The development of hunkhuznichestvo is observed. The most affected is the Vladivostok district, where the Hunghuz gangs from China are moving. In total, Khunhuz gangs operate in the DCK: in the foreign region 2 with a number of 68 people, in the inner region ‐ 3 with 78 people. A raid of the Khunhuz gang of 50 people was recorded in the village. Kangauz, where a shop was robbed and several local residents were taken to the hills.
In the Vladivostok district, Korean banditry is also developed in the form of gangs of local origin and foreign ones. The latter often cover up their criminal activities with political slogans (ʺthe fight against Japanese imperialismʺ), having in reality a purely criminal connotation.
Kalmyk region The Ozon‐Ochaev gang, thanks to the energetic pursuit of our detachments, begins to decompose. Individual bandits surrender voluntarily. There are two gangs of 16 people in the region.
ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES
Mensheviks
The Mensheviks turned to the 2nd German Workersʹ Delegation with a special letter containing an assessment of the economic and political state of the USSR. Individual members of the delegation are showing interest in the position of the Mensheviks and, apparently, have received special instructions from the Mensheviks abroad.
In Leningrad, searches seized a lot of new party material (the bulletin ʺFrom the Partyʺ for July 1926, an appeal to the 2nd German delegation, a draft brochure
ʺOn the results of the NEP and the immediate tasks of the working classʺ and party correspondence). Three illegal workers were arrested. In Tashkent and Poltoratsk, the connection of exiled Mensheviks with abroad and with exiles from other regions through correspondence was revealed, up to 20 people were arrested. Martovʹs cousin living illegally was arrested in Moscow.
Anarchists
In Moscow, at the Verbilkovskaya factory of Farfortrest, an anarchist launched a handwritten magazine with cartoons of the administration. In Bezhetsky.
Bryansk province. at the illegal meetings of anarchists, the issue of countering the collection of agricultural tax was discussed. In Rostovon‐Don, a formed underground group, along with theoretical studies, collects money to help prisoners. An anarchogroup with a terrorist bias is revealed in Kazan. In the Narym Territory (Siberia), the exiled anarchists have a strong influence on the youth. An increase in the underground activity of anarchists was noted in Saratov, Oryol and Kursk provinces, Perm (Ural), Khabarovsk and Amur (DVK) districts.
In the Tula province. the exiled anarchists seized the leaflets ʺAppeal of the group of anarchists in the southʺ, ʺThe Lost Starʺ, ʺMP Sazhinʺ, ʺVocal protestʺ. In the Perm District, the spread of anarchist literature is noted. In Khabarovsk the propaganda book “I want to be perfect” was confiscated from the anarchists.
In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. a group of anarchists was liquidated; withdrawn numbers of ʺDeeds of Laborʺ (published in Paris); the group released the song ʺDubinushka from October to state alcoholʺ.
CLERGY
Reactionary clergy in the USSR. Among the Sergeevites (the reactionary wing of the Tikhonites) there was an attempt to legalize and register themselves as an organ of church authority. This attempt did not meet with sympathy among the parish councils behind the illegal government; priests actively advocating legalization were, in some cases, expelled from parishes.
The consequence of Moscowʹs unloading of reactionary clergy was a significant decrease in church attendance and a decline in discipline among the remaining clergy.
For the annual celebration of the relics of Seraphim of Sarov (Sarov desert of Penza province), reactionary clergy and many pilgrims gathered in the monastery, including a significant number of the mystical intelligentsia and former nobility (counts, princes, etc.)
In some areas the Tikhonovism is waging a decisive struggle against the Renovationists. Bishop Augustine (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk) proposes a second funeral service for the dead, celebrated in their time by the Renovationists, since he considers the latter to be demons and heretics. In the Khakass region, the ʺmiracle‐appearance of Christʺ, which is being prepared for three months, has opened. Up to 3,000 people gathered to worship.
Overseas church groups. The squabble between the émigré clergy continues. Metropolitans Eulogius and Anthony, fighting among themselves, were excluded from the Synod. Eulogius, supported by the Berlin clergy, stands for the subordination of the entire foreign church to the locum tenens in Russia; Anthony, who finds support from the laity, stands for the head of the Russian Church abroad by the Synod.
VVTsS. The position of VVTsS has significantly improved in the Ural Region, the Sverdlovsk District and Ryazan Province. There are prerequisites for the formation of the VVTsSovskoy current in the Crimea and Stavropol. To strengthen the position, Archbishop Gregory went to Siberia and the DCK.
Renovators. Taking advantage of the squabble among the reactionary clergy, the renovationists are strengthening in a number of places (Uralsk, Pyatigorsk, Smolensk, Chita,
Kursk, Syr‐Darya). In other places, despite the favorable situation, their position is much weaker (Omsk, Achinsk, Vladikavkaz, Crimea, etc.). In connection with the poor material conditions among the Renovationists there are cases of dedication and transition to Tikhonovshchina (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Omsk, Smolensk and other places).
Sects. The sects are intensively preparing for the All‐Union Congresses. One of the most pressing issues is the military, which has not yet been resolved in a positive sense by the Baptists and some other sects. In connection with the call to the Red Army in 1904, the Dukhobor youth are strenuously stocking up on certificates for exemption from military service on religious grounds (Salsky district). There is a case of the transition of young people from the sect of evangelists, which recognized service in the Red Army, to the sect of Baptists (Vladimir). The growth of sectarianism continues due to the entry of members of the families of sectarians and Orthodox Christians who leave for sects because of the schism existing in the church. Young people are involved and trained by leaders in special youth circles (Krasnodar, Rubtsovsky district, etc.), but despite this, the number of meetings and the percentage of attendance have decreased.
BANDITRY
Centre. The gang of ʺsuicide bombersʺ, which operated on the territory of the Graivoronsky district, showed considerable activity. Kursk lips. She carried out a number of robberies, accompanied by brutal murders. On the territory of Tambov, Ryazan and Voronezh provinces. there are small criminal gangs that carry out robberies on the roads. Under the leadership of the OGPU bodies, the following were liquidated: the criminal gang of Serebryakov and Limansky (10 people) and two others (12 people). There are 13 gangs (65 people) in the region.
West. The usual manifestation of small‐criminal banditry is observed. Small groups (from 2‐5 people) commit robberies on the roads and in sparsely populated areas. In the Bobruisk district, three passing co‐workers and party workers were robbed, from whom, in addition to their belongings, secret packages were stolen. One gang of 7 people was liquidated. There are 8 gangs (44 people) in the districts.
Ukraine. The activity of criminal gangs has significantly increased. The Ovcha‐ruka gang robbed the cooperative of the Kamenets‐Podolsk district, raided the post office, and distributed the foreign magazine ʺRose bʺ (Paris publishing house). Vashchenkoʹs gang robbed the cooperative and set fire to 12 houses. The number of armed attacks on rail and water transport increased (7 raids on rail and water transport and two robberies of postal workers). Noteworthy is the raid on st. The caves of the Southwest Railway during which up to 50 passengers were robbed, and the gang attacked the station. Borki South‐West Railway with robbery of the ticket office and passengers. Horsestealing has significantly increased in the region (by more than 100%). In total, from July 15 to August 15, 614 bandits were detained, mostly not organized into gangs. Liquidated: the gang of Gripchuk (16 people), Kholodny (12 people), Berchenko (12 people) and 6 criminal gangs with a total number of 41 people. 13 gangs, consisting of 98 people, remain in the district.
North Caucasus (Cossack districts). The most infected with criminal and small‐scale banditry are the Kuban, Black Sea and Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk districts, where small groups of criminals carry out armed robberies of individual citizens, apartments and cooperatives. It is necessary to note the armed raid of 12 bandits on the train No. 4 of the North Caucasian railway. during which up to 40 passengers were robbed.
There are 3 gangs in the Cossack districts, consisting of 12 people.
Volga region. There has been a slight increase (in number and activity) in criminal banditry in the area of Samara and in the Penza province. The Kiselev gang, which had resumed its activities, robbed the Nagach Agricultural Credit Partnership. In total, there are 7 gangs in the region of over 40 people.
Ural. A number of minor road robberies and several raids on a railway station were reported. The most significant of them raid on st. Galya of the Perm Railway during which the OGPU TO agent was wounded and the ticket office was robbed. In total, there are 3 gangs of 16 people in the Urals.
Siberia. In the Kuznetsk district, new gangs were organized ‐ Chernov and Zoteev. The latter committed the robbery of the Yegoryevsky forestry (money, rifles and cartridges were seized) and the Kamyshinsky department of the Shabanovsky cooperative. In total in Siberia: in the foreign region there is one gang of 19 people and in the inner region of 8 gangs of 60 people.
DCK. The predominant type of banditry in the region is criminal banditry, which manifests itself mainly in stealing horses and resending them to the Chinese side. The most active is the bavda Sapozhnikova, capturing horses from the population (Chita district), and Abrashkina, who raided the post office (station Krasnoyarsk, Blagoveshchensk district), during which the postman was killed and all valuables were seized, including 6.5 kg of gold , and the wreck of train # 3 of the Ussuri railroad. due to deliberate damage to the path, as a result of which 12 people were injured.
In total, there are 7 gangs in the DCK in the foreign region (over 35 people), in the inner region there are 8 gangs (66 people).
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Yagoda
Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev
Correct: Secretary of the Information Department of the OGPU
Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 1
WORKERS
Metalworkers
Strikes
1. Plant ʺKosa” (Moscow, 286 workers). Workersʹ blacksmiths, grinders and thorns (60 people) have decreased earnings. Workers since 19 August have deliberately not
they are finalizing the norm by 35‐40%, considering that the administration did not take into account the deterioration of the machines. Conflict referred to RKK.
2. Kolyubakinskaya needle factory of Gosshveimashin (350 workers). On August 19, the workers of the rolling shop (12 people) went on strike in the morning, demanding an increase in prices by 10%. The strike lasted 3 hours.
3. Factory ʺTrudʺ of the Murom metal trust (Vladimir province, 1431 workers). The transition of ax grinders from emery to sand grinders lowered their earnings from 90 to 50 rubles. The workers filed several applications demanding higher wages. As a result of refusals on August 16, the first shift (25 people) stopped working. The second shift did not start work either, or both shifts went home. For this, the administration fired 30 out of the total number of strikers (45 people). Some of the workers wanted to start working on the same conditions, but the administration did not allow them.
4. GOMZ Wagon Plant (Tver, 887 workers). August 10 at 9 oʹclock In the morning, the workers of the boiler workshop (274 people), having learned that during the final calculation of earnings for July, a number of workers had a sharp decline in earnings, they called the pre‐order, which was told that they would not work ʺin the darkʺ without quotations and with low prices. An ultimatum was immediately written demanding to resolve the issue of quotations within 20 days and pay for July by May. The case was transferred to the regional committee of metalworkers. Workers at 12 oʹclock. days started to work.
5. Mechanical plant No. 1 (Penza province, 102 workers). When the collective agreement was renegotiated, the workersʹ demands for a monthʹs leave and 4‐hour days off after cleaning the cupolas were not satisfied; therefore, on August 13, 12 workers from 22 foundry shops stopped working. The administration of the plant, the factory, the VKP (b) cell and the Metalworkersʹ Union decided to take severe repressive measures against the strikers, up to and including expulsion from the Union and dismissal from work. The next day, the foundry workers (with the exception of two) did not get up to work. A joint meeting of the factory organizations with the striking foundry workers was convened; after a long debate, the foundry workers abandoned their demands from 12 noon. days started to work. The main organizers of the strike were three of the best caster specialists. The foundry workers carried out the strike in an organized manner,
6. Factory ʺRed Arsenalʺ of the Military Industry (Leningrad, 1630 workers). The workers of the foundry (23 people), dissatisfied with the reduction in prices (earnings in July fell from 90 rubles to 59 rubles), stopped work on August 3. The night shift did not want to start work, but after promising to sort out the case in the morning, the shift began to work, warning that if their demand was not satisfied, they would stop working. On August 4, after an analysis of the issue at RKK, the foundry workers agreed to work on the same terms.
7. Plant ʺKrasny vyborzhetsʺ Gospromtsvetmet (Leningrad, 1750 workers). In the pipe shop, due to the high running‐in for some work, which was not agreed with the collective agreement, prices were reduced by 30%, in connection with which 15 workers (choppers and working on a steam hammer) intended to refuse to work. They were promised to revise the rates and the workers calmed down, however, the promise was not fulfilled and on August 20 the new rates were fixed. No measures were taken to explain the reasons for the reduction in prices. As a result, 15 workers quit their jobs and summoned Kudryashev to the plant manager. Kudryashev told the workers: ʺNothing can be done, economy mode.ʺ The workers turned to the secretary of the shop of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Oganesov, who, together with 12 workers, went to the factory, where he attacked the prezavkom with abuse, declaring: “This cannot be done, earnings of workers of the 5th category decreased from 150 to 80 rubles. ʺ The workers did not work for half an hour. The conflict is temporarily settled. A similar situation can arise in the rolling mill. Currently, the commission is working on the prices of the rolling shop, which has reduced them, but is still afraid to announce them to workers. In foundry, prices have been reduced by 25‐30% on average (for a rolling cutter, scraping of blanks and washing copper pipes, a decrease of 50%). The workers are extremely unhappy with the price cut. Thanks to the decline, the workers have become unscrupulous about the case. Untimely release on August 21 from a water jacket 100 poods. The master Vartyagin considers metal and the frequent battle of crucibles to be intentional damage. Untimely release on August 21 from a water jacket 100 poods. The master Vartyagin considers metal and the frequent battle of crucibles to be intentional damage.
In addition, for this reason, the foundry has not recently supplied the pipe workshop with 5,000 blanks. Many workers leave the pipe workshop (12‐14 people daily).
8. Plant ʺKrasny Putilovets” Mashtresta (Leningrad, 12,000 workers) On August 11, 20 foundry workers on the tractor cylinders of the iron foundry went on strike for 1 ‐ ʹ/ 2 hours in protest against the reduction of prices by 20%. The strike was liquidated after representatives of the pricing commission promised to revise the pricing.
In the open‐hearth workshop on August 13, the morning shift of drivers and assistant. drivers (8 people) did not work for 1/2 hour, protesting against the order of the plant management to combine the work of drivers on the crane and the machine and to transfer the office. machinists for dirty work. The factory committee promised to clarify the matter, and pending clarification, under pressure from the factory committee, the previous order of work was left. After that, the drivers began to work.
9. Plant ʺLrofintern” (Bryansk province, 10912 workers). August 30 from 9 a.m. in the morning the workers of the construction shop (300 people) stopped work, demanding an increase in wages from 1 rub. 50 kopecks up to 2 rubles. 50 kopecks and about issuing the difference for the month of August. The plant management together with the factory committee considered this issue on the same day. The workersʹ demands were satisfied by 80%. On August 31st, the workers started to work. The reason for the conflict was the low wages of construction workers who receive at the rates of the Union of Metalworkers, compared with workers of the housing cooperative receiving at the rates of the Union of Builders.
10. Plant ʺKommunar” UTSM (Zaporozhye district, 1834 workers). The laborers of the assembly shop No. 3 on August 9, having received paybooks and seeing in them a decrease in earnings, which happened after the change in the order of work, quit their jobs and called a representative of the factory committee and plant management. The strike lasted 1 ‐ ʹ/ 2 hours and was terminated after the administration promised to keep the same salaries.
11. Construction of an airfield (Zinovievsky district). 10 riveters from the Parostroy plant, not content with low wages and prices, are conducting the ʺItalianʺ. On August 11, instead of 300 rivets, they made 150, from August 12 ‐ 90. On August 13, in an hour and a half, each worker put in one rivet. Dissatisfaction with low wages is also noted on the part of carpenters.
12. Plant ʺRed Engine” (Black Sea District). On August 9, at about one in the morning, an announcement was posted on the board of the cell by someone unknown: “Comrades, they are deceiving us. All comrades are asked not to start working after lunch. ʺ After the lunch break, the workers of the mechanical shop (16 people) did not work and went out into the yard of the plant. After a 10‐minute break, the conflict was settled by the directorʹs promise to give out the money on the same day. The money was paid. One of the initiators of the conflict is a foundry worker, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party. Party members took part in the conflict. At those communists who did not quit their jobs, they shouted: ʺWhat, isnʹt it your business.ʺ
13. Plant GEZ No. 1 (Kharkov, 2960 workers). In connection with a decrease in the running‐in of workers in the 3rd turning shop (50 people), work was stopped for an hour and a half. The reason was the conflict between the 8th grade turner Hodun and the appraiser Murmilo, who pointed out to Hodun the poor quality of his work. After a while, someone told the shop that a meeting of appraisers was being held at TNB, at which the question of dismissing Hodun was raised. The workers, having stopped the machines, called a representative of the regional committee of metalworkers, who was told that they had recently cut their extra earnings, instead of 130% to 50%. After promising to resolve this issue, the workers set to work.
14. Factory ʺRed Octoberʺ. The workers of the factory yard, working on loading iron into wagons, refused to work on August 13, explaining that their earnings were incorrectly calculated. Those who worked fewer days received more, etc. The work was not done one day, 23‐30 workers were not working.
Reduced wages
15. Klimovsky machine‐building plant Mashinotrest (Moscow, 1318 workers). In connection with the reduction of prices on August 11, the workers of the lathe workshop organized a meeting at lunchtime, at which they decided to remove the deputy. head of TNB, threatening to quit his job otherwise. Zavkom managed to eliminate the conflict. The mood of the workers is still tense.
16. Machine‐building plant them. Vladgshir Ilyich Machinotrest (670 workers). There is discontent among the workers at the TNB, which, contrary to the collective agreement, lowers the prices. So, for example, the reduction in parts is from 3 to 5 kopecks, the casting of columns from 25 rubles. reduced to 20 rubles. apiece. Due to the decrease in earnings, highly qualified workers are leaving the plant.
17. Plant ʺGear” Mossredprom (Moscow, 210 workers). The workers of the spring and gear shops (90 people) are outraged by the reduction in prices by 20% carried out by the head. TBN contrary to the collective agreement.
18. Plant ʺTrubosoedinenieʺ of the Joint Stock Company ʺVodokanalʺ (Moscow, 364 workers). In the blacksmith shop (212 workers), in connection with the transition from large to small jobs, the wages of workers decreased by 34%.
19. Plant ʺKrasnoe Sormovo” (1080 workers). For molders of the molded steel shop, working on small parts, prices for heavy‐duty wagons have been reduced by up to 70%. The molders intend to take the calculation.
20. Plant ʺKrasny Putilovets” (12,000 workers) Machinotrest. In the turning workshop, the master, using the fact of the reduction in prices in the workshop, leads among the workers agitation against the rationing bureaus, suggesting that all the rationing bureaus be taken out in a wheelbarrow. Due to the decrease in prices, the mood of the workers, especially the grinders, is extremely nervous.
21. Plant ʺKrasny vyborzhets” (3748 workers)
Gospromtsvetmetal. There is a revision of prices towards their reduction by 30‐40%, which causes discontent among workers. On this basis, a reduction in production is observed. No explanation was given of the reasons for the reduction in wages among workers.
22. Plant ʺKrasny Gvozdilshchik” Tremass (2104 workers). The workers of the cold‐rolling shop (89 people) are dissatisfied with the decrease in wages by 40‐45% compared to the wages of the previous months. The decrease occurred in connection with the order of the plant management to roll the tape by car instead of 2 ‐ 3 times, from 3 to 5 times at the old prices, which reduced the amount of output, and at the same time the salary.
23. Plant ʺSevkabel” GET (workers 1117 people). Fashion designers develop things that can be done in 3‐5 days, within 7‐9 days. The same phenomenon is observed in the 6th cable shop ‐ the 20th department. Worker Vikhrov says: ʺWhat is in a hurry to work, all the same, the interest will be reduced, but it is better to work with coolness.ʺ
24. Kramatorsk metal plant Glavmetal (6,220 workers). Taking advantage of the revision of the tariff agreement for some shops, the administration is seeking to reduce wages. The issue of lowering wages by the delegate meeting of workers was referred to the state arbiter, who made the following decision: ʺReduce wages in 4 shops, rolling by 20%, open‐hearth and electric by 15% and coke ‐ by 10%.ʺ In addition, the production rate for the coke shop is increasing and the pricing coefficient has been increased by 10%. On this basis, serious discontent arises. There have been sharp protests against the administration. The excitement reaches up to 400 people. The laborers loading the products of the rolling shop say: “Smoke, guys, no matter how hard you work, and you wonʹt deserve thanks from the Soviet regime, you work like a bull, and the salary is reduced. If we were organized we could always get our rights, but now we are drowning each other. ʺ Bricklayers for the construction of blast furnace No. 2‐bis (60 people) submitted a collective application with a request to leave the old prices, otherwise they categorically refuse from the new piece rates and intend to receive a calculation. In the open‐hearth shop, workers repairing a furnace, abandoning piecework, work by day and, according to them, instead of 10 days, do work per month.
25. Plant ʺKrasny Aksai” (Black Sea region, 1500 workers). In connection with the decline in prices and extra earnings and untimely payment of wages among workers, strong discontent is created. The main indignation is in the prefabricated plow, blacksmith, foundry and rack departments. The workers say: “We used to earn 4 rubles. per day, and now 1 rub. 50 kopecks. ʺ Up to 300 people were affected by the discontent; workers of one of the shops tore up their membership books of public organizations MOPR, Aviakhim, ʺSmychka s villageʺ, etc., some workers quit.
26. 1st and 2nd factories ʺRed Plowman” (Kiev district). Metallotrest insists on raising the rates in order to be able to take orders for Guzner seeders, which the Elvorti plant produces 10% cheaper. The workers do not agree to an increase in the norms and demand a reduction in overhead costs and rationalization of production, pointing out that the administration will not achieve a decrease in the cost of production by reducing their earnings, since the cost of seeders is 625 rubles. the salary was only 58 rubles.
27. Plant them. K. Liebknekhta (Dnepropetrovsk district). New prices were posted in the pipe‐rolling shop and the norms were increased by 60%, the prices were reduced by 60‐70%. The workers explain the decline by the fact that the administration concludes an agreement for a large batch of pipes at a low price and, in order to reduce the cost price, it cuts workersʹ wages. Skilled workers leave the factory.
28. Izhevsk factories of the Voenprom (Votsk region) Reduced prices in the wagon‐box workshop, mechanical repair workshop, instrumental and electrical department. In the repair and mechanical workshop, due to the decline, the quality of products has noticeably deteriorated. Workers in other workshops, fearing that the decline will affect them too, deliberately reduce production (tin cleaning department, etc.) Among the workers, conversations are heard:
ʺThe administration lowers our prices in order to get more premiums for savings.ʺ
The pay gap between skilled and unskilled workers
29. Factory ʺKrasnaya Zvezda” (Zinovievsky district, 4343 workers). In the foundry under the FZU, unskilled workers express their dissatisfaction with the low wages, saying: ʺWe work for the caster, we will do everything and fill in, and he gets the money.ʺ A laborer gets 50 rubles, a caster up to 200 rubles.
30. Mechanical plant (Novocherkassk, 400 workers). The maximum earnings of skilled workers reaches 278 rubles. 45 kopecks. while the monthly wages of a laborer are sometimes expressed in the amount of 15 rubles.
Delay in salary
31. Plant ʺBolshevikʺ (Kiev, workers 838). The delay in wages for 4 days and the issuance of it on August 11 only in a two‐week amount caused unrest among the workers, which almost ended with the announcement of a strike. On August 12, in the boiler room, where discontent was intensifying due to high production rates and nonpayment of compensation for unused leave, workers began to talk about a strike. The foundry was sympathetic to these conversations. Negotiations began between the heads of the shops. The shop head li‐teshtsik Semenov (an old skilled worker) went to the directorʹs office, where he presented an ultimatum to the technical manager Berezhkov: ʺIf by 9 oʹclock on August 14 the wages are not paid in full, I will give a beep that will warn all workers about the termination of work.ʺ The representatives of the Union who arrived assured the workers that the money would be paid on August 14, this reassured the workers. On August 14, excitement grew, and talk of a strike intensified. At 7 oʹclock. In the morning, the director of the plant Bespechny with the representative of the district party committee Novikov, bypassing the plant, turned to Semyonov, said: ʺShame on you, you are an old skilled worker, but you are thinking about a strike,ʺ to which Semenov replied: ʺHave you thought about those workers who receive 35 rubles a month, how can they live for 40 days ʺ, then he swore at the marketplace and added:ʺ In general, letʹs stop wasting time in vain, letʹs better get money. ʺ At 1 oʹclock in the afternoon, the payment of money began and the strike was averted. The workers are talking about the election of Semyonov to the factory committee. ʺHe would have managed to arrange things in such a way that wages would always be paid on time.ʺ
32. Enterprises of the Severo‐Vyatka mining district. At three factories, wages are not paid for more than 2 months (Omutninsky, Kirsinsky and Peskovsky plants), at the other two ‐ over a month. A meeting of workers (550 people) of the Belokholunitskiy plant sent a telegram to the chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy, the Central Committee of metalworkers and the provincial organs with a demand to obtain from the board of the SVGO the payment of wage arrears.
Textile workers
Strikes
33. Khapilovskaya dyeing and finishing factory named after Markov Vigontresta (Moscow, 1500 workers). The weavers, dissatisfied with the low prices, made a demand for an increase. The conflict was examined in the arbitration court, which decided to increase the prices to 5 kopecks. per meter. On appeal by the Directorate, the case was referred to the Labor Department for review. On August 19, 33 female workers working at Columbia, dissatisfied with the delay in resolving the issue of quotations, stopped work at 11 ʹ/ 2 am. After the factory committee explained that the issue of prices would be resolved in the next 3‐4 days, they resumed work. The break in work lasted 10 minutes.
34. Bonyachevskaya factory named after Nogina Ivgostekstiltrest. On August 13, parting workers of the first shift (21 people) refused to work, having learned that at the Rodnikov factory, the salary of partingers is about one and a half times higher than theirs. Partitioners turned to the factory with a demand to raise prices or lower them at the Rodnikovskaya factory. The workers are allowed to send two representatives to the Textile Workersʹ Union to clarify the issue. In total, the parters did not work: the first shift was 8 hours, the second ‐ 4 hours.
35. F‐ka ʺZaryadyeʺ of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk m‐ry of Gostrest (IvanovoVoznesensk province). Head the weaving department ordered that each loom should have two boxes, one for the cob, the other for the weaver (before, each weaver had two boxes for the cob and the weaver). This order increased the workload of the workers. Dissatisfied with this, the workers of the weaving department (150 people) quit their jobs. The conflict was settled by the intervention of the administration.
36. Arzhenskaya Cloth Factory (Tambov). On August 18, 35 cleaning workers went on strike on the grounds of increasing the output rate by 25%, contrary to the collective agreement and the resolution of the plenum of the factory committee, without coordinating the issue with the factory. Two VKP candidates took part in the strike. Subsequently, the issue of increasing the production rate was agreed with the factory and the factory recognized it necessary to maintain the previous production rate, but introduce instead of the 5‐hour 8‐hour working day and work in 3 shifts, of which one night. The striking cleaners demanded the abolition of the increase in the norm and proposed that the issue of night work and the 8‐hour working day be resolved in a conflict manner, convening a special commission with the involvement of technical and medical personnel, since the work of cleaners was recognized as harmful. Incidentally, when objecting to the decision of the factory committee, the cleaners pointed out, that even in prerevolutionary times, night work was not allowed. On August 25, some of the cleaners intended to agree to the terms of the directorate, but under the influence of the rest of the cleaners, they abandoned their intention. “You are right and you will be right,” one of the initiators argued to them, “all the laws are on your side, if you don’t surrender, you will win, if you surrender, then you will be sent to prison, because the conflict is political in nature, because this is how you slap the management , The Union and the party; when they approved this state and the norm, they made a mistake, miscalculated, did not take into account the severity of oppression of workers in their work, and if you give up, then they will not be to blame, and you. They will say ‐ it was you who brought a loss of 50 thousand rubles, so answer and go to jail. ʺ Among the leaders of the strike are workers with 20 years of production experience. The leader of the strike, Kazakov, speaks out extremely sharply against those inclined to abandon the demands and threatens that ʺif you let me down, I will break my head near the apparatus with a mentor.ʺ On August 21, the striking cleaners were dismissed by the decisions of the factory committee and the faction of the All‐Union Communist Party, the department of the Textile Workersʹ Union without issuing severance pay, as they had not worked for 4 days without a good reason. The strikers protested the decision and the issue was referred to the conciliation chamber. On August 30, this decision was confirmed by a conciliation chamber. In connection with the strike of the cleaners, the output was reduced to 400 poods. (instead of 690 pounds on August 16). In the weaving department, the production rate was reduced by 25%. The workers of other workshops reacted sympathetically to the strike of the cleaners, saying: “Guys, we are all interested in your business, if you defend your rights, then it will be easier for us, otherwise so much work has been piled up that there is no strength. ʺ Characteristically, the workers sent by the administration to replace the dismissed cleaners, despite the fact that they are threatened with dismissal, refuse to work. Among those who refused is a member of the CPSU. One of the workers (a locksmith) said, addressing the cleaners: ʺWeʹd rather donate to you than to the
English workers.ʺ
37.1 ‐st Republican faculty Flax board (Kostroma). On August 11, the workers of the weaving and preparatory department of the uncoiling shop of the morning shift (60 people) stopped working, having presented to the administration a demand to raise their wages from the 4th grade to the 5th. A characteristic feature of this strike: female workers do not leave the department, saying: ʺWe are not on strike, since you cannot go on strike in Soviet Russia, but we will not start work until the administration satisfies our demands.ʺ The cessation of work was caused by the poor quality of the yarn coming from the whitewater of the same factory, as a result of which the earnings of the workers decreased by 15‐25%. The workersʹ repeated statements about poor yarn and low wages by the factory and the management were left unanswered. On August 9, the workers called the union representative through the trade union representative, and on August 10 the director and chief engineer to familiarize themselves with the working conditions on site, but no one showed up. Therefore, on August 11, the workers of the morning shift, having gathered in the shop and discussed the issue, decided to stop work. The workers of the second shift joined the strikers (with the exception of 5 workers, one of them is a member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and 4 peasant women who were recently admitted to the shop). A total of 115 people stopped working.
An emergency meeting of the administration, the faction of the trade union, the factory committee and the activists of the CPSU (b) of the 1st Republican factory decided not to consider the demands of the workers until the work was restored.
It should be noted that the members of the All‐Union Communist Party took part in the strike and refused to obey the decree of the faction. One communist left the meeting of the faction with the words: ʺWhy, the party feeds me, it has become impossible to work.ʺ The delegates of the trade union answered the call of the members of the board of affairs of the trade union of textile workers to get down to work: ʺWe, as delegates, must be ahead of the workers.ʺ The attitude of workers from other shops to the termination of work in the unwinding shop is sympathetic. Many people say: ʺYou canʹt do anything with the administration otherwise.ʺ
On August 12, one of the workers (a member of the All‐Union Communist Party) started to work, but other workers stopped her car; so, the morning shift didnʹt work again
As a result, the directorate has increased by 10% to the former prices for yarn. In addition, the directorate obliged the managers to accept the yarn in the workshop from the machines and put the rejects in a pack for disassembling and sampling torn yarn. The female workers submitted an application to the conciliation chamber to revise and increase the prices by ʹ/ 25 for yarn No. 101/2 against those stipulated by the collective agreement. When the collective agreement is renegotiated in September ‐ October this year. Uncoilers propose to demand from representatives of the trade union and the management of factories to increase wages by one grade.
38. Vyshne‐Volotsk m‐ra (Tver). On August 11, the first shifts of the Milling Department of the Spinning Factory (80 people) went to work at 6 oʹclock. in the morning, stopped the cars and made a demand that the payment of wages was carried out according to the old procedure, i.e. in the 1st half 50% of the salary and apartment, and in the 2nd half ‐ 50% with the calculation of piecework. The entire mule department was closed until 7 1/2 hours.
On August 12, the second shift elected 3 representatives for negotiations with the management. The management replied that workersʹ demands could be met from October 1
the conclusion of a new collective agreement. The workers agreed with the administrationʹs proposal and the conflict was eliminated.
39. Spinning factory ʺVozrozhdenie” (Moscow Vigontrest, workers 1600). August 15 at 16:00 36 workers of the muhl department stopped work on the basis of dissatisfaction with prices. After negotiations with representatives of the RKK, the workers began work, having selected three representatives in the RKK from among themselves to jointly resolve the issue of prices within a week.
40. F‐ka them. Sverdlova (Leningrad textile, 3300 workers.). August 6 at 8 a.m. 30 minutes. due to dissatisfaction with the reduction of prices, 46 workers of the dry water department went on strike. All the strikers went to the factory demanding higher prices. As a result, the workers were paid the difference.
41. F‐ka them. Anisimova (Leningrad Textile, 2,400 workers). Dissatisfied with the salary of the pickers (18 people) of the Spinning and Weaving Factory reduced the output to 80‐90 pieces per day maximum, while with piecework work, production is possible to 200‐250 pieces per day. By slowing down the work, the dealers want to achieve a transfer to piecework.
Reduced wages
42. Flax spinning factory (Kostroma). On August 17, the folding workers, having called the representative of the office of the textile workersʹ trade union, said that the administration of the factory had lowered prices for a number of women workers, since, according to the administration, the workers earned ʺa lotʺ (38‐40 rubles), meanwhile, this processing was caused solely by raising labor intensity of female workers. The reduction in prices caused great discontent among the workers, especially since it was made contrary to the collective agreement.
43. Spinning and weaving factory them. Frunze of the Moscow Cotton Trust (Moscow, 3300 workers). In the parting department, there is discontent among female parting workers (20 people) with the reduction in prices for parting the foundations from 30 to 27 kopecks, in connection with which there is a departure of skilled workers from the factory.
44. State Maryinskaya hosiery factory of Mostrikotazha (1380 workers). Among the workers of the winding department (100 people), transferred to work from 12 to 20 spindles with prices of 23 kopecks. kg., productivity was increased to 19 kg. At this time, the plant management is preparing a reduction in prices to 18 kopecks, in connection with this, the production rate has dropped to 16 kg.
45. Juto‐weaving factory ʺRabotnitsaʺ of Penkotrest (Leningrad, 2267 workers). On August 11, the roving department workers (7 people) were announced a reduction in prices, as they processed the rate by more than 50%. The female workers appealed the issue to the RKK. Dissatisfaction with billing
46. Yuzhskie f‐ki (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk). Without the knowledge of the district branch of the trade union of textile workers, but with the permission of the factory committee, a delegation (17 people) was elected from all the shops of the factory to travel to Shuya in order to clarify the working conditions at the Shuya factories. On August 7, upon arriving at the board of the Shui factories, the delegation presented to the director a demand that during the tour of the factories there should be no escorts with them and complete freedom to talk with the workers. Walking around the factories, the delegation asked the workers about the amount of earnings, working conditions and talked about the situation at factories in the village. Yuzhe. The difference in pay they identified was very insignificant, but despite this, the delegation had the impression that the workers in the Shuya factories were working in better conditions. According to members of the delegation, several more such delegations are being prepared in Yuzha for a trip to the city. Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Teikovo and Rodniki. After visiting the delegation, the workers of the Shui factories had an intention to create their own delegation for excursions to other factories.
47. Silk‐weaving factory them. Shcherbakov Shelkotrest (Moscow, 300 workers). Weavers at maximum load earn from 55 to 90 rubles. while at the Krasnaya Roza factory of the same trust, this qualification of workers earns almost 2 times more. In this regard, there is a departure of qualified weavers from the factory.
Transport workers
Strikes
48. Samara‐Zlatoust railway. d. August 2 this year 42 people of the 5th section of the track, working on the repair of the bridge at the 363rd verst, from 10 h. mornings stopped work, motivating the termination of work with high production rates. The initiator of the termination of the work was reduced from the conductors and transferred to work in the track service. From 13 oʹclock on the same number, a group of workers was transferred to other repair works of the track. A special commission of representatives of trade‐union organizations, workers and the administration established that the production standards are quite feasible.
Decrease in prices for running‐in, increase in rates
49. Fuel storage MS 1 (Finland section). Among warehouse workers and workers supplying coal to steam locomotives, there is discontent on the basis of new prices for work announced in the order on the road dated August 2 of this year. The extra earnings of workers are reduced by almost three times. Workersʹ dissatisfaction is aggravated by the fact that in recent years the press has reported about the upcoming increase in wages.
50. Transcaucasian railways e. Among the workers of the 6th, 7th and 14th sections of the track service, a salary reduction by 50% was carried out by order of the ZKV railway. e. Workers of the 7th section told the local committee that they would be forced to stop working. The union replied that “this is only an experience,” but in September the issue will be resolved in favor of the workers.
51. Eastern Railway e. On the basis of a decrease in the running‐in work transmissions on 23 August this year. independently, without the knowledge of the trade union organization, they convened a meeting, at which they passed a resolution to send two comrades at the expense of the workers to Moscow in the NKPS. Sometime later, the chairman of the local committee was summoned to the meeting. A second resolution was issued: instruct the MK and the Uchprofsozhu to send a telegram to the road administration to cancel the newly issued order, otherwise the workers will send delegates to Moscow.
A sharp difference in the size of the running‐in
52. In TMV, for individual shops, increments reached up to 500% per tariff, and meanwhile, according to the directive of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Railways and the Central Committee of the Union, increments are allowed for pieceworkers not more than 80‐100%. The DBN raised the issue of revising the prices along the entire road, which had not been adjusted for almost 1/2 years, but TMV, under pressure from the working masses, the trade union and the party organization, resolutely rejected any attempt to adjust the prices.
53. Southeast Railway e. In the Ostroh workshops, after adjusting prices, the lathe shop, which received an average earnings of 183%, began to receive 113%. In this regard, the ʺItalianʺ is being held, for which 7 people were fired.
August 10 to distributors of fuel warehouse st. Kozlov from distributors of fuel warehouse st. Novocherkassk received a package with the following appeal: “We, distributors of fuel st. Novocherkassk, we ask you to report on the improvement of our situation, since we are in a position worse than the workers, we are in the 7th grade, we do not receive overalls, we are constantly in inclement weather. Our petition has passed to the center, but if we ask, while others are silent, then nothing will work. Take part and send our proposal to your colleagues. In October this year. in the center [will be] a revision of the position of the railway workers. We ask you to increase the category, give out average earnings and work clothes. ʺ This appeal was sent to all fuel distributors in the depots of the South‐Eastern Railways. etc.
Delay in salary
54. Southern District. On the roads of the Southern District, 15 cases of salary delays were noted. In some areas, wages were not paid for the month of June.
55. In the area of the Topless Department of Kurgan, the arrears of wages to workers for harvesting and hauling timber as of August 5 of this year. reaches 40,000 rubles. The workers flatly refuse to work. The peasants openly say to the producers of works and the chiefs of the site: ʺSince you are deceiving us, we will burn all the harvested timber, let it not be given to us or to you.ʺ
By order of the district, horse and foot guards have been posted, which requires extra expenses, but there is no other way out.
In addition, the peasants intended to beat the producers of the works and on the plot, which in this connection were forced to leave the plots in the area of the Topless Department, where they said that they would not go to the sites until a full settlement with the peasants was made.
Seasonal workers
Strikes. Builders
56. Construction of the line Termez‐Dzhar‐Kurgan (Central Asian railway, 700 workers, of which 500 are members of the Union of Construction Workers, the majority are seasonal peasants from the central and Volga provinces, about 100 people; pre‐conscripts, local workers (Uzbeks) ‐ 35‐70 people). The wages of workers at the Termez site were extremely low, the rates were taken from the 1915 rate sheets with an extra 25%, the wages of a worker with an 8‐hour working day were equal to 1 ruble. 77 kopecks, while the earnings of a simple laborer under the best working conditions in the city of Termez reaches 2 rubles. 5 kopecks the administrationʹs treatment of workers was characterized by extreme carelessness and extreme rudeness; the local party and trade‐union organizations were completely divorced from the mass of the workers. Living conditions are unbearable (lack of housing, irregular water and food supplies, delivery of spoiled food, lack of medical care). From the very beginning of work on the construction, there was discontent, which intensified and soon an insignificant reason caused an outbreak.
On July 14 (less than a month after the start of work) a group of workers (Fedorovʹs artel) clashed with the administration on the grounds of refusal to take water from an unequipped cistern. The clash ended with the beating of a representative of the railway administration (HR). The artel demanded a calculation. The arrest of the beating participants aggravated the situation. The workers demanded the release of those arrested. The unemployed (up to 100 people) joined the agitated artel.
The workers of the Fedorov artel sent messengers to the construction of the Termez‐Dzhar‐Kurgan railway line with an appeal to the workers to join their demand for the release of those arrested. Under the influence of this campaign, up to 300 people quit their jobs.
On the same day, a general meeting was organized by the construction workers, at which the issue of raising wages and bringing it closer to the rates of the Union of Construction Workers was raised.
Fermentation intensified. A worker of the second hundred (Komsomolets), gathering workers, called on them to absenteeism, pointing out that ʺthe top authorities and central administrations have become detached from the workers and are not included in the situation, therefore, one should not reckon with the critical situation of the state and must demand an increase in wages. The workers Zaitsev and Artemiev convinced the workers that the Soviet government had introduced an enslaving position for the workers, squeezing out their last strength, and that they were paying pennies for labor, and they extolled the life and order of Semyonov in Manchuria. Technician Kudryavtsev openly stated that at the construction site workers are paid a paltry wage for colossal labor. July 31 at the party meeting of Art. Termez Komsomol workers said: ʺIf the salary is not increased, work will be suspended.ʺ The meeting was disrupted.
On August 1, a strike was called. Requirements were put forward to revise the contract (the contracts concluded were of a contract nature, the administration was not even responsible for injuries or for compliance with labor protection provisions) and increase wages.
On August 2, a commission consisting of representatives of the Ugorkom, Uprofburo, Dorprrofsozh and the local prosecutorʹs office suggested that the workers create a conflict commission and not stop working, but this proposal at a general meeting of workers was rejected, largely under the influence of a speech by one of the Komsomol members. The workers issued a resolution to summon the representatives of the center.
On August 6, at a general meeting of workers, it was decided to elect a commission from among the workers to identify all the abnormalities existing at the building. On August 8, a preliminary agreement was reached between the workers and the administration on all issues of a productive and domestic nature, except for the issue of raising wages, and the workers began to work.
On August 10, a commission of the Central Committee of the CP (b) Uz arrived. A general meeting was convened, at which a large number of workers spoke, pointing out shortcomings in production, lack of order, scanty pay, rudeness of the administration and unbearably difficult working conditions. At the same time, almost everyone unanimously admitted the fallacy of their speech, referring to ʺdarknessʺ and ʺignorance.ʺ
On the night of August 11, at the general meeting, an arbitration court was created, which established an agreement on the following grounds: 1) an increase in salary from 1 rub. 70 kopecks. up to 2 rubles. 10 kopecks with an increase of 10% for the return journey, 2) the cancellation of the contract concluded earlier and replaced by a new tariff agreement, 3) the establishment of a special commission with the participation of construction workers and the administration for the practical implementation of the rationalization of labor and improvement of living conditions.
57. Art. Karshi of the Central Asian Railway e. Simultaneously with the strike at the station. Termez ‐ Jar‐Kurgan 150 construction workers also went on strike, demanding a 30% increase in wages (they receive from 2 rubles 50 kopecks to 6 rubles for an 8‐hour working day).
58. Beysty section of horse‐drawn roads. The workers of the 2nd district, due to non‐observance of the Labor Code (untimely delivery of medical care and delivery of poor‐quality products with a higher mark‐up), went on strike. The workers demanded the elimination of all noted abnormalities and the removal from work of the road foremen Maksimenko and Gutkovsky for the rough treatment of unskilled workers. At this time, the Sibomes commission arrived at the site to examine the work done. The head of the railways commission, having established an illegal concealment of the existing tariff rates from workers, suggested increasing the rates of excavators, however, he did not take any measures against the administration. The strike lasted two days.
Brick factory workers
59. Ceramic factory (Chelyabinsk Construction Trust). On August 3‐4, 45 workers went on strike on the grounds of non‐payment of wages for May‐June and part of July. The work was not carried out all day on the 3rd and two hours on the 4th of August. On August 2, calling everyone with a bell ringing, the workers organized a meeting without warning the trade union organization, at which they decided: ʺDeclare a strike and demand the immediate payment of wages.ʺ To apply for a salary, the meeting elected delegates: a suburb (a member of the All‐Union Communist Party) and two workers. The delegates on the morning of August 3, on their way to the city, went to the Brick Factory and informed the workers about the situation at the Ceramic Factory. On the basis of this information, the workers of the Brick Factory prevented the shipment of 15 wagons of bricks. 15 carts returned to the buildings empty. Then two workers were authorized to apply for wages from the construction workers union. Work at the Brick Factory did not stop. The workers of the Ceramic Factory also prevented the release of bricks, saying: ʺLet them first give out the money we earned, then let them take the brick we made,ʺ 13 Stroytrest supplies returned to the buildings also empty.
On the evening of August 3, the workers of the Ceramic Factory were notified by a representative of the construction workers union about the decision of the regional executive committee to issue wages on August
4.
4 August after the arrival of the head. factory workers at 9 oʹclock. (instead of 7) got down to work.
Workers of other industries
Strikes
60. Kharkov city car (Kharkov). At a meeting of the City Council, the issue of canceling free travel for tram workers and their families without the participation of their representatives (members of the City Council) was resolved. The decree caused strong discontent among the tram workers. A member of the city council, controller Karjakin, who enjoys authority among the workers, said that ʺif the city council does not cancel this resolution, the whole mass of trams will have to cancel it.ʺ
On August 19, trams sent a statement to the City Council asking them to reconsider the issue.
On the morning of August 22, at the time of the release of the cars, a member of the city council and the workersʹ committee Romensky appeared at the Piskunovskoye depot, who announced the decision of the city council. The tram worker declared: “We must now decide that a general meeting of the tram workers should be called within two days and their fight to the death. I propose to summon the members of the government to the meeting, as we summoned in 1922
Comrade Petrovsky, and we have nothing to say about Berlin. ʺ The representative of the workersʹ committee promised to come to an agreement with the Union to convene a general meeting. Leader Vorobyov said: “Our comrades bypassed us worse than the former member of the city council Pogorelko. We do not know anything, we have banned the passage, without even agreeing with the workers. ʺ
By the time the trams left, the workers responded with a general shout to the proposal of the senior inspector to leave for work: ʺThe Petinskoye depot is not leaving, we will not leave either.ʺ When the first carriage left the gate, one of the conductors stood across the road and shouted to the counselor: ʺWhere are you going, the Petintsy do not go out and call us on the phone so that we do not leave.ʺ The counselor stopped the tram. At this time, Comrade. Romensky negotiated with the Petinsky depot and offered to go to work. The workers pointed out to him that ʺa member of the workersʹ committee said that leaving was prohibited, that a meeting had to be convened to make a protest.ʺ Romensky said by phone to the Piskunovskoye depot that an application for revising the issue had already been submitted to the city council, and therefore there was no need to stop the movement. The Petinskoye depot has already left and therefore it is necessary to leave the Piskunovsky depot as well. The Piskunovskoye depot started working on time.
61. May Day porcelain factory (Yaroslavl province). August 11 this year The workers of forge No. 3 quit their jobs, demanding an increase in the staff to 50 people, motivating their demand by the fact that previously the rate was worked out by the mine in 6 days, and now, with the campaign to raise labor productivity, the same rate needs to be worked out in three days.
The workers were employed in other jobs. At the general meeting on August 13 of this year, thanks to explanations from the cell and the trade union organization, the excitement was settled and the workers began to work.
62. Velikodvorsky glass factory Gus‐combine (Vladimir province). August 11 at 8:00 In the evenings, the third shift of teenage workers who serve the gutta masters did not start work and, having called the pre‐order committee, categorically declared that they would not work for the existing salary (earnings had decreased in recent months).
On the same evening, in the evening, the riders pushed other shifts to join the strike. All 5 shifts did not go to work (1200 workers). Up to 15 Komsomol members were among the strikers. The secretary of the district committee suggested that they get down to work and agitate for the same among non‐partisan youth, but they categorically refused.
Shalner workers filed an application with the factory for 40 signatures, in which they asked the size of the salary workers to establish: one and a half at 20% and single at 25% of the masterʹs earnings. On August 11 and 13, youth meetings were held (about 100 people attended). A tiny minority voted to end the strike.
On August 14, at a meeting of the RKK with representatives of the board of the Gus‐Combine and the Department of the Chemistsʹ Union, it was decided to make a surcharge from the leveling fund to the wage rate for all time‐based workers from the 1st to the 6th grade. Shareholders at the expense of the fund will also raise prices, in particular, single riders from 0.15 kopecks. up to 0.9 kopecks for a freebie.
On August 24, a general meeting of the riders was held (39 people were present), where the riders unanimously admitted that the strike had been declared incorrectly.
63. Sawmills No. 3 and 4 (Pokrovsk, Nemkommunna). On August 13, an artel of laying workers (52 people) went on strike. Four members of the CPSU (b) took part in the strike. To a large extent, the strike is to blame for the administration of the sawmills and the Unionʹs board, which, despite the five‐month standstill of the factories, failed to prepare either production rates or quotations, hiring workers on the terms of the old collective agreement and at the same time spreading rumors about an impending decline in earnings and an increase. production rates. At a meeting of the RKK, convened urgently on August 13, all the workersʹ demands were temporarily satisfied, pending the decision of the arbitral tribunal. Work resumed.
Delay in salary
64. Volgo‐Kaspiles. The workersʹ wages for the winter have not been paid to this day. The offices, in order to avoid collisions with the workers, indicate arbitrary days for the payment of wages, but when the workers arrive, they are told that ʺthe money has not been sentʺ (Kotelnichesky u.). ʺTo get rid of importunityʺ, the administration practices sending workers from one office to another over long distances without any sense (for example, from the village of Kilmezi to the mouth of the Kilmezi ‐ 160 miles).
The raftsmen in the Kilmezi estuary, starving due to non‐payment of wages, refused to sail and went to the villages to collect alms. The administration tried to force them to swim further, frightening the court. The raftsmen were found sick by the medical examination.
65. Printing house of Vasya Alekseev (Leningrad). The final liquidation of the printing house is expected in 2‐3 weeks. The dismissed workers were given only 30% liquidation. The mood of the workers, especially after the labor session and the provincial court rejected their claim for payment of penalties by the administration for delayed wages, is embittered. The workers, led by some typesetters, are planning to file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court. There is talk that ʺthe liquidation commission should be beaten up.ʺ
66. Kerch quarries (Crimea). Construction workers were delayed by a week; workers (20 people) came to the office and began to demand immediate payment of wages. The administration called the police, who tried to arrest two workers ʺfor disturbing public order.ʺ The rest of the workers prevented the arrest. Only then was the money issued.
Workersʹ political mood
Workersʹ protests against wage cuts and demands for higher wages
67. Trumpark them. Shchepetilnikov (Moscow, 2000 workers). A typewritten leaflet was distributed among the workers of the park, containing 22 points of the workersʹ demands for the upcoming renegotiation of the collective thief. The author of the requirements is one of the shop delegates, who motivated the requirements by the fact that ʺthe salary is not added, but the dearness is growing.ʺ Typical requirements: 1) issue an apartment allowance every month for a family in the amount of 10 rubles, 2) issue bonuses twice a year for average earnings, 3) raise prices for piecework, 4) reduce resorts, since they are not needed for workers , 5) establish free family travel on trams four times a month.
68. Spinning factory of the Kohomsky linen convent. Waterwomen of cold, wet watercourses, whose average earnings were 1 rubles. 47
kopecks per day, at piece rates, they barely earned 1 ruble. 20 kopecks ‐ 1 rub. 30 kopecks in a day. At their request, the directorate established new piece rates and lowered the production rate, but the trust refused to approve them.
After repeated petitions, the water ladies wrote to Comrade. Rykov a letter with a request to examine the controversial issue. The letter was signed by 5 female workers, written on August 13, sent on August 19. The main points of the letter: “For 6 months we are all the time taxed in different directions, there are no fixed prices. We see that not only we have no production, but the production of profit does not bring because of the big waste. So, we all ask you to help in our business, so as not to reach the strike, which is undesirable, but due to the prevailing circumstances, we will be forced to do it. ʺ
69. Plant ʺRed Triangle” (Rezinotrest, 18,000 workers). In the press workshop (87 people), by order of the RKK, the premium rates for saving in the production of insoles were reduced from 3 rubles. per day up to 1 rub. 95 kopecks, which is why workersʹ earnings dropped sharply. So, a Rubalyk, who previously received 175‐190 rubles. per month, currently receives 101 rubles. etc. The workers submitted to the RKK a collective statement signed by 67 people, including 12 members of the CPSU.
The main points of the statement: “We find the resolution of the pricing and conflict commission of August 11, 1926, wrong for the following reasons: the commission humiliated the construction worker. 2) We do not know what the plant management was guided by by reducing the premium rates. Perhaps it was based on the report of the distinguished director of the ʺRed Triangleʺ comrade. Janen, who at a general meeting of the engineering and technical forces explained that the press in March 1926 gave savings of 138,000 rubles. Maybe the plant management was guided, by lowering premium rates, by the ʺeconomy modeʺ, which is very commendable, but it was only in the old days that they could save on the back of the worker, sunk into eternity. 3) Maybe the plant management expected to achieve even more interest in saving than 138,000 rubles. per month. Then we answer that no, you are mistaken and that you are killing energy in the worker to increase productivity. For such savings, they do not take away, but give.
Please consider urgently and invite a representative from the press for consideration. ʺ
It is characteristic that this statement remained in the affairs of the RKK for several days, during which the RKK did not bother to get acquainted with its contents.
For the workshop ʺDrying carpetsʺ daily wages from 3 rubles. 70 kopecks. ‐ 3 rubles. 80 kopecks decreased to 3 rubles. 44 kopecks. A drop in production is observed on this soil. The workers associate the decrease in wages with the economy regime.
70. Sawmill ʺSovetsky” (about 260 workers). Tree trust. On August 20, a general meeting of workers took place, at which the question of raising labor discipline was discussed. A group of workers (including two Komsomol members), in opposition to the resolution proposed by the presidium, proposed their own (compiled and read by a member of the Komsomol).
The resolution provoked violent protests from part of the workers, but due to the support of the majority, as well as an attempt to demonstratively leave the general meeting, the resolution was passed.
The main points of the resolution: 1) One of the reasons for absenteeism is drunkenness. 2) Absenteeism (to work) also occurs on the occasion of overwork of some part of the workers. The chief executive officer will agree with the plant management on taking measures to protect the health of workers. 3) Note that the tariffs projected at our plant are not adapted to the working conditions at our plant, as a result of which labor and workload do not make it possible to reproduce labor. Allied bodies to seek revision of tariffication. 4) Note that a practicing absenteeism for a good reason, due to illness, within 1 ʹ/ 2 months took place due to errors in the renegotiation of the collective agreement, which was reflected in the work of production. It is necessary to correct the above errors. 5) Note that there is often a bending of the stick from the side of inspections in the sense of increasing the workload of workers with the same work that is not part of their functions; plant management to review the work of each and prevent such phenomena. 6) The plant administration should delve deeper into the explanations of workers about absence from work, bearing in mind that the worker cannot document the reasons for the absence.
71. Plants of the ON of the mountains of the [odsky] region (Stalingrad). On August 18, skilled work frame operators and pilots held an illegal meeting at the apartment of a timber frame worker of sawmill No. 11, which was attended by about 14 people. The meeting was called with the aim of fighting against the newly concluded agreement, the rates of which the skilled workers are dissatisfied with. The agreement has already been approved by the office of the Woodworkersʹ Union. At the meeting, a statement was drawn up concluding the following points: “We are the highlight of production and demand to give a lump‐sum rate ‐ a pilot plant of 100 rubles. and the frame worker ‐ 90 rubles, otherwise on September 1 we will quit work and thus 50,000 workers will not be able to work without us. If at least one of us is fired for this case, then we will all submit a letter of resignation. ʺ The statement was signed by the ʺinitiative groupʺ and sent to collect signatures at the plants of the ON and ʺElectrolesʺ named after
Among the rest of the workers in the region, one can hear conversations: ʺIf they add more skilled workers, then we will ask for an increase.ʺ
Workersʹ mood in connection with layoffs
72. Printing house MKH (Moscow, 818 workers) On the morning of August 25, a list of the abbreviated (140 people) was posted. The excitement of the workers took on very acute forms. A leaflet ʺAkathistʺ 229, executed in a typographic way, was found distributed among the workers. On the same day, they found a banner made of plywood and painted and a cross with the inscription ʺAnd byst the reduction of 140 workers.ʺ On the morning of August 26, before the workers arrived, a ready‐made set and an imprint of the ʺEconomy Marchʺ leaflet were found in the typesetting department. On the same day, the manuscript of a new leaflet ʺFor the edification of comradesʺ was discovered. All leaflets contained a perverse interpretation of the austerity campaign and harsh attacks against it.
73. Drezna factory of the Orekhovo‐Zuevsky trust (5230 workers). At the factory, with the approval of the Union in the weaving department, up to 250 workers are reduced. The discontent of the workers is aggravated by the fact that the layoffs are made without correct consideration of the financial situation of the layoffs. So, for example, a worker has been laid off with a family of 8 people, a single worker, a lonely worker with 4 children, etc. At the same time, the factory left behind: a weaver whose husband works as a mechanic, no children, a worker who works with his wife has agriculture, etc. The trade union organization did not work out the reduction plan. In July and August, 127 people were laid off, of which 83 were taken back, and seven were reduced again on 15 August.
74. Textile factories of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. Due to the concentration of engraving departments in individual factories, it is planned to reduce engravers. In this regard, among the engravers, in particular the raklists, the factories of the Bolshoi Ivanovo‐Voznesensk convent of Gostrest, the Novo‐Ivanovo‐Voznesensk convent and the United Sosnovskaya convent of Ivtextil, there is a sharp discontent. Some workers are campaigning for a separate union of engravers and raklists and a two‐hour strike to protest the layoffs. Among the engravers of the Sosnovsk factory, there is talk about the need to convene a provincial meeting of engravers of all factories to protest against the proposed reduction.
75. Arzhenskaya cloth factory (Tambov). The reduction of 230 female workers was carried out. The production rates are left the same. In this regard, the workload of workers has increased significantly. “When there were 97 female workers, we fed yarn to 50 looms, and now, when there are 29 people left, we feed yarn to 30 looms, we always have 5‐6 looms in idle time, because the variety does not get wet, it is very weak, it breaks and nothing you canʹt do anything about it, ”says a senior worker of the cross‐winding machines, a member of the CPSU. The workers of the dryers say: “Before the load there were 8 people ‐ and then the production rate, 40 pieces, was not fulfilled, they were doing only 35‐38 pieces, and now, when they left 6 people, they are demanding the same rate (40 pieces) from us. There is no strength. The head of the department calls us ʺItalian strikersʺ, no one pays attention to complaints. ʺ
Dissatisfaction is aggravated by the fact that the administration, while reducing the number of workers (with the issuance of severance pay), after a while again recruits the same laid‐off workers.
After the recent reduction of 230 people, 39 weavers were again hired and then 50 people for temporary work (there are facts when workers were laid off 8 times with the issuance of severance pay and 8 times were hired back).
76. Printing house of Transpechat (705 workers). 13th printing house ʺMysl printerʺ (300 workers) and 20th printing house ʺRed Proletarianʺ (1128 workers). At the past workersʹ meetings on the report of the Department of the Department of the Union, there were a number of rather sharp statements in connection with the reductions being carried out: “We are being laid off, but State Publishing House is asleep. There are no textbooks in the villages, but here they say there is no work. ʺ ʺThe economy is being carried out in order to cut workers.ʺ ʺThey publish politics, but there are no primers in schools.ʺ
Perversion of the economy campaign
77. F‐ka ʺKrasny Tekstilshchik” Trust Setesnast (Ryazan, workers 2138 people). As a result of the termination of the issuance of money by the management, the nursery opened at the factory was closed on August 3 without any warning. On August 3, a notice was posted at the factory gates: ʺThe day nursery is closing on this date.ʺ This caused an explosion of indignation among the workers. One anti‐Soviet worker used this fact for agitation against the management and the Union.
78. Chemical plant (Yaroslavl). The administration, pursuing a regime of economy, imposed such high fees on the school building that the UONO intends to close the school.
79. Plant them. Rakovsky (Sumy district). In connection with the economy mode, the plant management liquidated the medical clinic at the plant. Now workers have to spend 3 times more time to get help than before.
80. Manovinsky sugar plant (Zinovievsky district). The administration, in connection with the economy mode, began to give water to workers and employees only 4 buckets per day. The order of the administration gave rise to a lot of discontent and talk that they were saving pennies at the expense of the workers.
Perverted view of individual workers about the nature of the economy
81. Plant ʺElectricʺ them. Skorokhodova (Leningrad, 1332 workers of the GET). The collector of inspectors Aleksandrov (a member of the CPSU) in the presence of non‐party workers said: “We are being pressed harder and harder; the reduction in prices is carried out not at the expense of improving production, but at the expense of the muscular strength of the worker. ʺ Worker Teiman (member of the All‐Union Communist Party): ʺWages will be lowered again, since the decisions of the district committee on the implementation of the economy regime have been sent to the collective.ʺ
82. Mint of the People’s Commissariat for Finance (LVO, 1177 workers). In the bleaching shop on August 13, the workers Danilov, Syrov and Petrov said: ʺThe economy is heavily on the neck of the worker, where 4 workers were needed, now 2‐3 workers are forced to work there.ʺ The rest of the workers supported them.
Model workshop workers say that due to the economy, they are supposed to cut workers. ʺWe, too, need to carry out a regime of economy, and for this we will withdraw from all public organizations.ʺ
83. State Power Plant, Electrocurrent (Leningrad, 315 workers). On August 10, the workers made a stuffed animal in the machine room, representing a worker in a torn overcoat and a cap suspended from a frame with the inscription: ʺFor the economy regime.ʺ
Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 2
UNEMPLOYED
Moscow Labor Exchange. Metalworkers section. On August 26, a meeting of unemployed metalworkers took place, attended by about 180 people. Agenda: report of the regional committee of metal workers on 6‐month work and a co‐report on unemployment. The report on the 6month work was listened to attentively. In the debate, about 12 unemployed people made the following statements.
ʺThere is now a strike in England for higher wages, our state supports this strike, and at our enterprises, business executives often lay off and often hire workers, they know about this in the Union, but they are silent, this is the exploitation of workers.ʺ ʺIt is necessary to select a special commission to draw up a resolution, where all these misunderstandings must be pointed out and said that the Union is not waging any struggle against this, therefore, we do not need it either.ʺ
ʺWe do not have to look for the protection of our workersʹ interests in the Union, because the Union almost does not enjoy any influence in state enterprises; the Unionʹs resolution on the hiring and payment of labor is rarely fulfilled by business executives.ʺ “Business executives do not reckon with the Union and the latter plays the role of a cook for state enterprises. The union can only put pressure on private enterprises. Wages have not yet caught up with the pre‐war, money is depreciating, and the high cost is growing and the task of the Union is to give us a solid pre‐war wage, and not to reduce the ranks of the old workers. ʺ “At concession enterprises they pay more than at state enterprises, and from this we must conclude that the bourgeoisie has less exploitation than the state, we have nothing to bother with. All these misunderstandings create such a mood
Such performances were met with prolonged applause. However, the meeting adopted as a basis the resolution proposed by the district committee with amendments: ʺHiring is done only through the exchange and only members of the Unionʺ, ʺit is desirable to reduce the length of service to receive benefits to one year.ʺ
Section of printers. On August 30, an unemployed printer called upon the unemployed to organize and go to the office with the demand: 1) to establish the day for convening a general meeting of unemployed printers; 2) the development of the agenda should be left to the unemployed themselves. On the same day, among the unemployed printers dismissed from the MKH printing house, a leaflet ʺEconomy Marchʺ was distributed, which had been printed at the time in the MKH printing house. Recently, there has been talk about the need to organize a demonstration with a white flag. The unemployed say: “Unemployment is growing every day, what are we going to do next,” “we’ll smash”, “put on a white rag and a guide”. Every day an unemployed printer appears among the unemployed, who picks up a group of printers, gives them wine and offers to go to the Union.
Garment section. Among the unemployed seamstresses, dissatisfied with the small parcel to work, groups of young people collect signatures under an application to the office of the Union, 83 signatures have been collected. August 26 at 12 noon the unemployed, having gathered in the courtyard of the exchange, arranged a meeting at which it was decided to send an application to the Union. The main requirements put forward in the application: 1) gather a meeting of unemployed garment workers as soon as possible; 2) remove longworking workers from the factory and replace them with unemployed; 3) send only members of the Union to permanent work, and provide temporary work for non‐members of the Union; 4) take measures to ensure that Mostorg does not hire garment workers in addition to the labor exchange. After the statement was not accepted by the governor department, it was forwarded to the Central Committee of the Union. Campaigning is underway: “If the Union does not convene a meeting of the unemployed,
Transport workers section. A statement was written to the RCI for 20 signatures about the wrong set of MKH drivers other than the exchange.
Co‐workers section. Dissatisfied conversations continue about the recruitment of unemployed people who are not registered with the exchange.
Mountains. Nikolaev. On August 30, a meeting of unemployed metalworkers who had been dismissed from the plant. Marty at the last unloading, to which 380 out of 2,000 unemployed turned up. The meeting was attended by the entire presidium of the regional committee of the ARSRM, the chairman of YMTa Genak, representatives of the plant management, the regional executive committee, etc. By 11 oʹclock (the meeting was scheduled at 10 oʹclock) 230 people were registered and the pre‐regional committee of the ARCM Krongauz proposed to postpone the meeting. The unemployed protested, accusing the presidium of the district committee of wanting to disrupt the meeting, shouts were heard: ʺOnly scoundrels can do this, open the meeting,ʺ etc. The unemployed Gerasimov (considered abnormal), jumping on the stage, attacked Comrade. Rille (vride of the director of the Marty plant) with fists. This made the audience laugh. The unemployed Andrievsky spoke out against Krongauzʹs proposal, who stated: ʺI believe that the presence of the district committee at the meeting is not necessary, that the unemployed will hold the meeting even without it.ʺ After that, the unemployed Sirota shouted from his seat: ʺIf the district committee does not open meetings, the unemployed will go with a demonstration.ʺ The meeting was open.
Comrade Genak made a report on the prospects for the work of YMT. Andrievsky spoke about the report, who said: “We have won the right to rule the working class and at the same time mechanically you got the soft chairs” (gesture towards the presidium). These words were greeted by the audience with shouts: ʺThatʹs right, we have won, we do not want red and black banners, we want bread and work.ʺ “Comrades, the unemployed,” Andrievsky continued, “I urge you to take machine guns and rifles and fire them, as we once shot at the bourgeoisie, at these fat bureaucrats. Our commanders are sitting between us ʺ(applause and shouts:ʺ Thatʹs right, give us machine guns ʺ).
Former Red Army soldier Kurchin said in his speech: “You don’t hear (addresses the presidium) now the groans and crying that reign in the ranks of the working class. I demand that all the needs of the working class be fully met, and they are small. ʺ To Genakʹs remark: ʺShow us a way out of this situationʺ ‐ Kurchin continues: ʺThe way out is simple, it is necessary that the salary of responsible workers be reduced by comparing it with the average earnings of a worker. This equation will give tremendous savings, due to which it will be possible to improve the material condition of the working class. ʺ Other speakers pointed to the discrepancy between industry and agriculture, the separation of the party from the working masses, etc.
Unemployed Kozoderov: ʺWe demand work because we are thirsty and hungry, if need be, we will go with arms in hand against the capitalists, but we can also turn him against Soviet power.ʺ Genak, who made his final speech, was interrupted by shouts. Andrievsky demanded an apology from Kryzhavetsky. The meeting forced Kryzhavetsky to tell his autobiography. Then Andrievsky told his autobiography: he has been employed since the age of 13, from the age of 19 he has been involved in revolutionary work. During the civil war ‐ an active participant in the organization of units to combat banditry. He ended his speech with the words: ʺI gave everything to the revolution, even my best friend, my wife, and here is the reward.ʺ Andrievsky cried, another unemployed cried. Shouts were heard from the audience: ʺThis is how we suffered, and what we got for it.ʺ At the end of the meeting, the resolution of the previous meeting (August 27) was heard. There were two wordings on one paragraph of the resolution. The wording of the presidium of the district committee: “Consider that the transfer of the plant to them. A. Marty for a 6‐hour working day in order to receive back all the dismissed is inappropriate, because it entails overhead costs and a large deficit. ʺ The wording of the unemployed by Andrievsky and Kozoderov: “To consider that the introduction of a 6‐hour working day is advisable, because this will eliminate unemployment, the transition to a 6‐hour does not cause a deficit and this measure is extremely necessary for the unemployed. To ask this event to be implemented as soon as possible”.
The last wording (of the unemployed) is adopted unanimously by the entire meeting.
After that, Krongauz announced that the resolution would be sent to the All‐Union Committee of the Supreme Soviet, and upon receipt of the reply by the district committee, a meeting of the unemployed would be convened, at which the results would be announced.
Kozhtrest landing facility (Kiev, 502 unemployed). The laid‐off workers try to keep in touch with the workers who remained at the factory and for this purpose they visit the factory during working hours, they say that it is hard to be unemployed, you can go to the stock exchange for three years and not get a job. The workers entering the stock exchange are doomed to starvation, etc. These visits arouse the sympathy of the workers for the unemployed and at the same time create a nervous mood in the enterprise.
Plant them. A. Marty. (Nikolaev). Many factory workers resent ʺeconomic inequalityʺ when they talk about unemployment. Among the party members, there is talk: “Well, well, we pay the engineers a lot of money and say that we buy it for work, but why do the communists also receive high rates when unemployment reigns everywhere. After all, there is no need to buy a communist, a conscientious ideological person. Why are the communists being paid such huge sums of money when it would be possible to save money, use up standing factories for these funds, reduce unemployment and overcome the commodity crisis and restore the national economy many times faster?
Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
L.238‐238 about
APPENDIX No. 3
POLITICAL MOOD OF THE VILLAGE
Peasantsʹ Attitude to Bread Prices and the Sale of the New Harvest
1. The attitude of the peasants to the existing prices for grain and manufactured goods
1. Voronezh province. 10th of August. (Centre). In the Urazovsky district, peasants are agitated by the low prices for bread. Rye currently costs 60 kopecks. pood, wheat 1 rub. 10 kopecks; as farmers do not accept rye at all, private traders, taking advantage of this, dump rye at a low price. In early July, rye at the Urazovsky market reached 45 kopecks. pood. Speaking out on this matter, the peasants scold the Soviet government and the state producers, declaring: ʺThey are full and do not accept rye at all, but they say that the peasants will be fine, but in fact they are strangling us.ʺ One of the peasants, when paying for the poured rye, said: ʺIf this continues in the future, the peasants will pull all the leaders out of their offices and beat them up.ʺ
2.20 August. To the peasant s. Putchino, Liskinsky district, Ostrogozhsky district, who brought bread to Liski for sale, was offered 42 kopecks. for a pood. Refusing to sell, the peasant went back, saying: “Is it permissible to pay 40 poods for boots. rye ʺ.
3. In the Novo‐Bykovsky village council of the Vorobyevsky district of the Novokhopersky u. one of the peasants said: “The peasants are charged double taxes: one agricultural tax, the other on the purchase of goods. The workers are to blame for everything, they do not want to meet the peasants halfway. Already now rye is priced at 45‐50 kopecks. pood, and salt 1 rub. for a pood, is there really not enough salt, and how to explain such a mockery of the peasants. How can a peasant buy boots when he needs to sell 30 poods for this? bread, and there, besides that, there are taxes, insurance, etc., where to get everything from. Do not the workers know this, and if they do, then why for our bread, brought to the pre‐war price, they give industrial goods 3‐4 times more expensive?
4. Sumy district. August 1. (Ukraine). In with. Ulyanovka of the Virovsky district, at meetings and in private conversations, the middle peasants, expressing their dissatisfaction with the discrepancy in prices for agricultural products and manufactured goods, declare that if you buy any car, you need to sell a large amount of bread. So, for a plow costing 35 rubles, you need to sell 70 poods of grain, while it is indicated: “We have been in ruin for 8 years, but it’s time to pay attention to the price discrepancy and supply the village with machines at affordable prices. When the worker in the days of famine needed bread, the peasant gave him bread, but now the worker has forgotten the peasant. ʺ
5. Nikolaevsky district. In the Varvarovsky village council, there is talk among the population: “There is absolutely no calculation to sell bread, since you have to pay 5 poods for a shirt. wheat. The land is ours, but the bread is not ours, take it to the city and sell it at half price, but this money will not buy anything. ʺ
6. Armavir District. August 18. (North Caucasus). In stts. Vozdvizhenskaya, Petropavlovsk district, bread costs 70 kopecks. pood. On this occasion, the middle peasants point out: ʺThey take bread from us for nothing, but sell goods at exorbitant prices.ʺ Supporting the middle peasants, the poor declare that the prices for bread are low and they need to be raised, since there is no point in processing it ʺwhen you cannot buy even an arshin of calico for a pound of bread.ʺ
7. Saratov province. August 31. (Volga region). In with. Balanda Atkarskiy. peasants express dissatisfaction with the prices of bread and, discussing this issue at all crossroads, bazaars and inns, blame the authorities and the government for this, expressing the opinion that ʺit is necessary to start active actions so that the workers raise the price of bread.ʺ
8.August 23. In with. Second Krutoyar Atkarskiy u. the poor man said: “The workers will want the bread to be 50 kopecks. for a pood ‐ and immediately there will be even 40 kopecks, and their agents will go through the bazaar. A peasant is a fool, he needs to be sold, so he is bringing bread. There is nothing to wait for the prices for city products to be lowered, because there is no man in power. Wheels alone cost 25‐
30 rubles, which is worse than serfdom.
9. Stalingrad province. August 15. In stts. N. Anninskaya, Khopersky District, in connection with the drop in prices for bread, there is talk among peasants: “The peasants are taxed, and for bread they give such a price that 3‐4 poods must be paid for a shirt or trousers. They take off our last shirt, they don’t take bread, and if they do, it’s at half price, in stores they fight for everything.” One of the peasants in a conversation said: ʺAll buyers of grain production and agricultural products must be driven out and burned, otherwise they rummage in our grain and give such a price that all the desire to engage in farming disappears.ʺ
2. The requirement to reduce prices for manufactured goods
10. Moscow province. August 27. (Centre). In with. Znamenskoye Yamsko‐Slobodskoy Vol. Kashirsky u. at a meeting of the poor, the middle peasant who spoke said: “The prices of manufactured goods must be cut, otherwise only 5 poods are needed for some trousers. of breadʺ.
11.August 13. In Sergievsky u. at the plenum of the Fedortsevsky VIC on the report on local industry, a resolution was adopted, proposed by the middle peasant: ʺIn order to reduce the cost of goods, it is necessary to reduce the wages of the wick factory workers.ʺ
12. Voronezh province. August 20. In the settlement of N.‐Osinova of the Ostrogozhsky District and the Uyezd, a poor man said: “The Soviet government must do so not to carry a whole load of bread to a peasant in the city, as it was last year, for one pair of boots. The price of bread is already pre‐war, and goods are not getting cheaper, even if a man would pay 10 poods for boots. bread instead of 6‐7 poods. In the old way, it would still be tolerable, otherwise you have to pay 20 poods.”
13. Tambov province. 10th of August. In with. B. Alekseevka Butyrskaya Vol. Lipetsk u. some middle peasants and poor peasants point out: ʺThe price of bread is again cheap and it is impossible to buy anything on the farm, the factories need to lower the prices of their production.ʺ
14. In p. Alatorka Krasivska parish Kirsanovsky u. the poor man spoke out in conversation: “The peasant cannot afford all the goods, because bread in the market is getting cheaper. It is necessary to abandon the workers and, united, set the price of their goods. We need to organize and send representatives to the authorities, let them lower prices for industrial goods and spend less money. ʺ
15. Kursk province. 12th of August. In with. Paved Dorogoshchanskaya parish. Graivoronsky u. the middle peasant said: “How can one live under such conditions when peasant labor is valued very low in comparison with the products of the city. The government is to blame. Since chintz costs 50 kopecks. arshin, then bread should cost 2 rubles. 50 kopecks, and if you cannot make the bread cost that much, then you need to make the chintz 10 kopecks. arshin ʺ.
16. Vologda province. August 1st. (Northwest). In the Pervomaisky village council of the Sverdlovsko‐Sukhansky region, a group of 20 peasants pointed out: “Why the Soviet government sells industrial goods at a high price and does not make them cheaper. In the fall he buys bread cheaply, and in the spring he sells it to the peasant three times as much. If this kind of life continues, we will make an uprising against the Soviet regime. ʺ
17. Stavropol District. August 15. (North Caucasus). In with. In Kalininsky, Stavropol District, there is talk among the wealthy: “The government sets prices for bread too low for the peasants; as for various goods, there are no fixed prices for this and they are not available to the peasant, all this must be settled and fixed prices for everything must be set so that everything is available to the peasant ”.
18. Novosibirsk district. 10th of August. (Siberia). In with. Dubrovino, a group of peasants who gathered at the bazaar, to the pre‐village councilʹs statement that the prices for bread should not exceed the established norm (rye 70 kopecks pood, wheat 1 ruble 10 kopecks), replied: “We will not accept your rate and will not accept it until until the price of city goods is reduced, and at this time, allow us to take prices for bread as we wish and do not indicate to us in this matter. ʺ
3. Agitation against the export of bread to the market
19. Kursk province. 25‐th of August. (Centre). In the Borisovka settlement of Graivoronsky u. the middle peasant said: “The peasants openly blame the government for price discrepancies. In this situation, the peasant will be forced to either abandon his land and seek other means of subsistence, or stop selling his surplus farm on the market. The government needs to arrange so that the prices of factory goods were at least in some correspondence with the prices of peasant products. ʺ
20. Tambov province. September 1. In the settlement 1st Gavrilovna Kirsanovsky u. the middle peasant said in a private conversation: “Our country will not see enough goods, since the workers work only 8 hours, during which you cannot do much, and they don’t even think about it, just get a salary. You have to do so to work 12 hours. with the same salary, otherwise the workers only live on the back of the peasant. We ought not to take out bread, meat, eggs to workers all year, then they will rather work. ʺ
21.10 August. In with. To N. Studenetskaya parish. Lipetsk u. the middle peasant spoke out in a conversation: “The peasant, having endured the need for a year, sells bread for cheap and pours in a lot, but receives little goods. The Soviet government pays poorly for the labor of the peasants; for one meter of calico they have to pay a pood of rye. It is necessary to refrain and not bring bread to the market until the prices of manufactured goods decrease. ʺ
22. Zaporizhzhya district. September 1. (Ukraine). In with. Yelanovka kulaks are agitating that due to low prices, it is necessary to wait with the export of bread to the market until autumn, when, in their opinion, prices will rise.
23. Krivoy Rog district. September 1. In a number of villages, prosperous peasants declare: “We will not take bread to sell to anyone, not only to cooperative state institutions, but also to private ones, it’s enough to deceive us, otherwise now you will give it for a pittance and you won’t buy anything, but in the spring they will pay us 2 for this bread. rub.ʺ.
24. Armavir District. September 1. (North Caucasus). In with. Ivanovskoye of Nevinnomyssk region, due to low prices for bread, well‐to‐do grain growers stopped selling wheat. On the initiative and under the leadership of the kulaks, separate groups of the wealthy are organized, which offer cooperatives batch ʺdeliveries of wheat in several wagons, but at a price above the limit. Three such groups have been identified: one in the Saratov farm and two in the Tavrichesky farm. One of the groups of hut. Tavrichesky sells large batches of grain at a price of 1 ruble 20 kopecks to a private buyer Developing a large campaign, these groups of kulaks paralyze the procurement of grain by state procurers, since the rest of the population, succumbing to their influence, takes a wait‐and‐see attitude and holds back the bread.
25. Stavropol District. August 16. In the hut. Stoyalskiy, Kursavsky district, the well‐to‐do is campaigning among the peasants so that no one takes out bread to the bazaar, ʺsince now prices are low, and in the future we can expect an increase.ʺ
26. Saratov province. 10th of August. (Volga region). In with. Balanda Atkarsky kulaks agitate not to give bread to state producers at a low price; as a result, the supply of bread has decreased. The peasants declare that at such a low price the grain will not be handed over and it would be better to drive it away.
27. Stalingrad province. August 15. In the hut. Saltynsky stts. A prosperous Cossack said in the Mikhailovskaya Khopersk District: ʺBread must be poured into the barn immediately after it is taken from the fields and not taken to the market, so that the communists cannot dictate their prices for bread.ʺ Conversations of a similar kind are noted in the hut. Firsovek of the same village.
28. Novosibirsk district. 10th of August. (Siberia). In with. The peasants of Novo‐Poross of the Alekseevsky District declare: “We will not sell bread until the prices for urban goods are lowered, otherwise the bread is valued at 53 kopecks. per pood, and manufactory 50‐60 kopecks. per meter ʺ.
29. Omsk District. August 15. In the village Novelties of the Sosnovsky District, the middle peasant in the group of the wealthy said: “The peasants are fools, they need to organize themselves, go on strike and not let a single pound of grain into the city, if the government does not release the goods on the cheap, otherwise they have set fixed prices for bread; next year the peasants will probably organize themselves. ʺ
30. Horse District. August 31. In with. Irbey of the Irbei region, one of the peasants in a conversation spoke out: “All modern politics boil down to finally ruining the peasant. Workers and employees live well in Soviet power, and our brother, a peasant, is starving to death. It is necessary to definitely declare war and declare an open war: not to give a single pound of bread, let the Soviet power die sooner, we can live without them, but they cannot live without us. ʺ
4. Isolated cases of advocacy for expanding the rights of private capital
31. Ulyanovsk province. 24 August. (Volga region). In the village. Klyuchikakh Mykolaiv parish Syzransky u. the owner of the oil mill and the mill agitates: “The Soviet regime undermines the reviving peasant economy by its policies. The peasant cannot have an alliance with the working class, since only the worker is the master of the country. Give freedom to a private trader and he will give a cheap product to a peasant. Do not be very happy that the harvest is good, but the tax is small, you will probably sit without a shirt, because the worker will impose as much on his goods as he thinks about, but the peasant cannot, and they will accept 40 kopecks of bread from you. pood ʺ.
32. Orenburg province. August 15. (Ural). In Pavlovsk parish. Orenburg u. the chairman of the Nizhne‐Pavlovsk village council, speaking at the expanded plenum of the VIC, pointing out that earlier the village was supplied with goods of cheaper and better quality, said: ʺIt is necessary to completely destroy private capital or transfer the entire industry to it.ʺ
33. Irkutsk District. 10th of August. (Siberia). In with. Karym Kimilteyskaya par. Ziminsky u. At a meeting of peasants dedicated to the International Day of Cooperation, a well‐to‐do peasant spoke out: “We are praised by the Soviet cooperation and they say that it is the main road to communism, that it helps and will help us. But in fact, what we see. Here is a private buyer of bread from Irkutsk buys bread from the peasants and gives it for 10 kopecks. more expensive than cooperation. What does this mean. And hereʹs what: a private buyer only warms his hands with our bread, but in cooperation the devil considered them, and even lost count. How long will it take us to rub our glasses? Prices for bread are set lower than the pre‐war prices, and for goods of factory production, they are two and three times higher. ʺ Most of those present to this speech reacted with approval.
Highlights in Politnyastroenin village in connection with the new tax 1. Appeal for non‐payment of tax
34. Moscow province. August 20. (Centre). In with. Lelechakh
Lelechevsky parish Egoryevsky u. a peasant with his own bakery agitated in a group of peasants: ʺThis year we will not pay the tax, and if they take away samovars, we will resist.ʺ Certain peasants reacted with approval to his statement.
35.31 August. In with. Nechayevo Pyatnitskaya par. Voskresensky u. a well‐to‐do peasant said at the gathering: “You don’t have to pay tax, let them do what they want, and if they take it away, then we’ll go all to Moscow to complain.”
36. Voronezh province. 10th of August. In the hut. Zavarykino, Arnoutovo and Kule‐shovka of Nikitovsky district, wealthy peasants agitate that the tax of 1926‐1927. wrong and illegal and that the new tax is the same surplus appropriation. They also declare that they will not pay tax this year and the state cannot confiscate their property, since ʺthe peasantry is a mass that the state must reckon with.ʺ
37. Pskov province. August 15. (Northwest). In the village. Orekhovichi Krasnoprud vol. Pskov u. a non‐patent merchant campaigns for the peasants to refrain from paying the agricultural tax, pointing out that in the fall the Soviet regime will be overthrown.
38. Dnepropetrovsk district. September 1. (Ukraine). In with. Kornaukhovka, Kamensky district, there is an agitation that this year the tax should not be paid, since it has been greatly increased.
39. Donetsk district. August 28. (North Caucasus). In the Dudorevsky village council, a former officer, spreading rumors about the war and the arrival of the white army, persuades the population not to pay the agricultural tax.
40. Chelyabinsk District. August 20. (Ural). In with. Shchuchye kulakmerchant agitates: “The current tax is large and unbearable, in order to get out of this situation it is necessary to declare insubordination to Soviet power and not pay, and also to declare war against the workers, otherwise the Soviet power is only for the workers, but for the peasants it seems as if it does not exist ʺ.
41. Slavgorod district. August 1. (Siberia). In with. Solovyovka, the wealthy in conversations put forward a proposal that the peasants should completely refuse to pay the tax.
42. Amur province. August 15. (DCK). In the village. Gulinovka, one of the peasants, campaigning against paying the agricultural tax, spreads rumors about an imminent war and that ʺthere are many people in the taiga who are going against the Soviet regime.ʺ
2. Refusal to accept salary slips and pay tax in Ukraine
43. Stalin district. September 1. In with. Alekseevka Andreevsky district On August 15, the secretary of the village council, who was passing by with pay sheets, was stopped by a group of peasants who turned to him for an explanation on the issue of agricultural tax. The kulaks present here, having familiarized themselves with the size of the tax due from the payroll sheets, began to express dissatisfaction. At the same time, one of the kulaks said: “All this is taken by the authorities on breeches to the employees, etc. They are taken from the peasants mercilessly. Get on your horse, peasant, and beat the communists. ʺ Further, he urged those present to abandon the slip sheets. On August 22, among the peasants who had gathered for the meeting, there was talk that the tax should be waived and not take payroll slips. The kulak who was present here said: “They are crushing us, Lenin said that we need to give the peasant, but they gave nothing and impose even more on the peasants. If the authorities do this to us, the peasants, then today we must give up the salary sheets. ʺ This campaign was a success, and when the general meeting began, the kulaks and the well‐to‐do demanded that the question of tax be put on the order of the day. After clarification on this issue of the pre‐village council, one of the kulaks present made a proposal to ʺthrow salary slips.ʺ Now, from all sides, pouches fell, of which 183 pieces were collected. A few days later, the pay sheets were taken back by their owners.
44. In the hut. A former priest arrived in the Novo‐Ilyinsky Andreevsky district, who invited the farmers to write a statement to the REC through the village council to reduce their agricultural tax. Almost all farmers accepted this proposal and 24 applications were written, and most of them spoke about the complete withdrawal of the agricultural tax. For this work, the former priest received one pound of wheat for each application. On August 24, all these statements were delivered to the village council, along with the payroll sheets. According to the information, a significant part of the villagers from among those who returned the salary sheets ‐ the poor and middle peasants ‐ regret that they followed the example of the kulaks, since in fact the tax on them was calculated much lower than last year and, coming to the village council, they ask to return the tax sheets.
45. Uman District. September 1. In with. Pelash of Mankovsky district, most of the peasants refused to accept salary slips and pay tax, arguing that the commission had incorrectly taken into account the profitability of the farm.
46. Dnepropetrovsk district. September 1. In the Dmitrovsky village council of the Vasilyevsky district, a rumor circulates among the population that the peasants do not intend to receive salary certificates, and also do not intend to pay the tax due to its increase in comparison with previous years.
47. In the Dubensky village council of the Vasilievsky district, the work on calculating the agricultural tax was almost completed when an order was received to increase the yield of tithes from 37 to 39 rubles. Among the population, this caused intense talk about the impossibility of the tax and that the village cannot fulfill the tax due to the drought. The dissatisfaction was aggravated by the fact that the REC did not draw up a timely report on drought on individual farms, as a result, when calculating the tax, the affected crops were not taken into account. As a result, under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks at the general meeting, a resolution was passed on the refusal of salary slips. When the financial inspector who arrived in the village spoke at this meeting and tried to explain the procedure for filing complaints on tax discounts and the need to accept payroll slips, the speaker said: “Anyway, nothing good will come of it, Last year I asked and bowed to you for a tax cut, but I still had to pay. Then even though the bread was better, in the same year such a tax will kill us all, we cannot pay, and you do not take action. ʺ The head of the financial department of the RIK invited the secretary of the meeting to write down the name of the speaker. The surname of another peasant who made a similar statement was also recorded. The peasants, having learned that the names of the speakers were recorded in the minutes, began to demand that these names be deleted from the minutes or all 155 people present at the meeting should be written down. No assurances that these two people were recorded ʺgenerally as speaking at the gatheringʺ did not help and those present categorically insisted on their own, declaring: ʺWe still remember 1921, when in the village. Vasilyevka one was recorded, condemned, sent somewhere and still not present, write everyone or no one. ʺ The surnames recorded in the protocol were crossed out. The meeting adopted a resolution with the following content: “To initiate a petition for a tax reduction for 1926‐1927, considering it unbearable due to the drought, as evidenced by the yield of spring crops ... ‐ from 4 to 15 poods. We cannot pay tax on these salary slips. Hand over the slip sheets, who have already taken it, and the rest do not take it. ʺ
48. In p. In Pavlovka, Solonyansky district, all segments of the population are dissatisfied with the new agricultural tax, declaring: ʺIt would be better if we paid the same tax as last year, which was much less.ʺ At the meeting, one of the peasants who spoke said: ʺMikalay has flown, Trotsky, Rykov and others will fly if they strangle us with such a tax.ʺ At the same meeting, a resolution was passed: ʺTo refuse the tax, as it is unbearable.ʺ A similar decision was made in the village. Alexandropol in the same area.
3. Anti‐tax demonstrations of kulak groups
49. Moscow province. August 20. (Centre). In the village. Maurino Naro‐Fominsk parish. Zvenigorodsky u. a group of kulaks organized a meeting to discuss the new agricultural tax. The purpose of the meeting is to establish a uniform line in speeches at the general meeting.
50. Gomel province. August 1. (West). In with. Unecha Unecha parish Klintsovsky u. accounting for taxable objects has been completely disrupted. The initiators of the breakdown are a group consisting of the former head of the depot, the former cashier of Art. Unecha, who is the chairman of the KKOV, and others. Since the registration of taxable objects was entrusted to the local city council, the former head of the depot and the former cashier led a campaign against the city council. The latter made a statement at a meeting of the City Council: “On behalf of 2600 voters, I declare that in the village. Unecha was illegally elected by the city council. The volost party committee has imposed the city council on us and draws the city line in order to strangle the workers and peasants. ʺ When the city council posted an announcement on the procedure for accounting for taxable objects, they also walked around the posad and disrupted these announcements. At the same time, they called a meeting of their supporters, on which a resolution was issued on disobeying the announcements of the City Council and not being registered. Thanks to the activities of this group, many did not appear to register taxable objects and at present the registration is very weak, and there are no more than 3‐5 people a day in the city council. The above‐mentioned former head of the depot and the former cashier are currently organizing in the village. Unecha socalled land societies, to include the village. Unecha to the rural type, not the urban.
51. Votskaya region. August 18. (Volga region). In the village. Chudyrovskaya Pudemskoyvol. a group of wealthy people, having appeared at the general meeting, tried in every possible way to disrupt the report on the new agricultural tax. The leader of the group, a member of the village council, showed himself especially sharply in this respect. The members of this group have hidden the leased land from taxation.
4. Kulak terror based on tax
52. Moscow province. August 20. (Centre). In with. Malysheve Zagornovskaya par. Bronnitsky u. when filling out the cards, the cabbies refused to report their earnings. The Pressel Council determined the earnings approximately, indicating an average of 300500 rubles. The angry cabbies, threatening the pre‐village council, were going to beat him up.
53.5 September in the village. Martynovsky Glebovsky parish. Kolomensky u. at the meeting, when distributing salary slips, the middle peasant (convicted of hooliganism), approached the representative from the village in the tax commission, hit him on the head, declaring: “Hereʹs 8 rubles for you. 75 kopecks, don’t tax my garden, don’t serve the damn Soviet power. Leave the house only, I will kill, if not today, then later, all the same it will not work for you. ʺ After that, he pounced on the secretary of the CPSU (b) cell, shouting: ʺYou better leave now, otherwise I will tear you to pieces, every bastard will preach here.ʺ The meeting was disrupted.
54. Kaluga province. August 4th. In the village. Kobylino M. Yaroslavets parish. In the same county, a group of handicraftsmen who hid their earnings threatened to ʺbreak the ribsʺ of members of the volost tax commission for a more accurate identification of their earnings.
55. Orenburg province. August 15. (Ural). In Nizhne‐Pavlo century the village council of the Orenburg district. a member of the VIC and a member of the board of the PO tried to beat the village correspondent for the fact that the latter revealed 10 dessiatins from the member of the VIC. hayfields, hidden from the accounting of taxable objects.
56. Zeysky District. August 15. (Siberia). In the village. Nikolaevka of the Zeya region, the well‐to‐do express their sharp discontent at the pre‐village council for revealing hidden objects of taxation and try to covertly take revenge on him. So, they set their children against the children of the pre‐village council, who are beaten by them. The Pressel Council declares that there is no opportunity to work and is applying for his dismissal.
57. Krasnoyarsk District. 25‐th of August. In the village. One of the peasants in Krasny Kamen of the Novoselovsky District did not allow a member of the RIK to personally check the property to enter the settlement list, and the member of the RIK was stabbed in the chest. The
Pressel Council, out of fear, did not take any measures.
58. In the village. Trifonova, Novoselovsky district, two well‐to‐do people beat up the poor man for the fact that the latter indicated to the verification commission that they sheltered crops and livestock from taxable objects.
5. Anti‐Soviet agitation on the basis of tax
59. Moscow province. September 3rd. (Centre). In with. Ivanovskoe Ivanovskaya parish Bogorodsky u. the former manufacturer, agitating against the agricultural tax, said: “The Soviet government keeps a lot of unnecessary bastards around the peasantʹs neck. The peasantry is oppressed, stifled by various taxes. The time will come soon ‐ we will outweigh everyone. Against such communists, I will be the first with a rope in my hands.
60.27 August. In with. Knyazhevo Ostashkovskaya Vol. Volokolamsky u. at an open party meeting on the tax question, a well‐to‐do peasant said: “You communists will fall apart, you cannot resist. The peasants see that they are being crushed. The peasant is suffocating from the tax, the peasant will endure the power of parasites until his patience breaks. ʺ The Soviet government presses the peasant with a tax to restore industry, but the peasants will not stand such a crush. It is necessary to abolish the state monopoly and give the opportunity to import foreign goods. ʺ
61. Vologda province. August 15. (Northwest). In the SverdlovskoSukhansky region, a former member of the CPSU (b) agitates: “Why do we have two powers ‐ the party and the Soviet, why does the party interfere in every business of Soviet institutions, holds its candidatures at meetings and tries to put communists everywhere. The peasant does not need a party at all; in my opinion, the party should be liquidated. Why does the Soviet government take a tax from the peasant for the land? After all, the state does not pay any ransoms for the land to anyone, because the land was created by nature and it would not be necessary to take ransoms for it, but now the agricultural tax is even increased. When the Provisional Government was overthrown, they said: ʺLand without redemption,ʺ the peasant must now demand it, and how long, shortly, the peasant will demand it and tell the communists definitely: give us our conquests. The Party will lead the peasantry to ruin or to revolution and the overthrow of the dictatorship of the proletariat. There used to be agrarian uprisings, but now the peasantry will rise up from the pressure of the Soviet regime, and the peasant will be free. ʺ
62. Don district. July 20. (North Caucasus). In the hut. At the meeting, Gukovo‐Gnilushinsky, a former policeman said: “The tax, citizens, is beyond our strength and we need to revise this tax. In general, a new bourgeoisie has arisen in our country, which needs to be driven to the neck, as we used to drive the bourgeoisie to Novorossiysk 230, but our bourgeoisie now needs to be driven to Moscow. ʺ
63. Kungurskiy district. August 20. (Ural). In with. In the Yugovsky Orda region, the middle peasant, under the influence of the kulaks, said: ʺWe must go to war against Moscow and overthrow the government so that taxes are not imposed.ʺ
64. Iishm district. 5th of August. In with. Orlovo, Armizonsky District, one of the peasants, speaking out against the new tax, said: ʺWe, the peasants, will soon raise our arms against the damned robbers of the communists and then there will be the last and decisive battle.ʺ
65. Irkutsk District. 10th of August. (Siberia). In N.‐Undinsky VIK Tulunovsky u. a well‐to‐do peasant in the group of peasants who had gathered said: “Taxes have now completely strangled the peasants. Soviet power is not the peopleʹs power, but the second Nikolai. There is no peopleʹs power, but there is only a gang of some kind, which does not take into account anything and is not interested in the situation of the peasant. Itʹs time to start creating peopleʹs power.
Speeches for the Cross Unions
1. Cross‐union requirement for price regulation
66. Moscow province. September 3rd. (Centre). In with. Tumensky Boyarkinskaya Vol. Kolomensky u. a well‐to‐do fellow in the group said: “A pood of flour costs 80 kopecks, a worker wonʹt work for this price, thatʹs what peasant trusts are for, as in England and America. The workers would sing if we presented the prices, but in our country the prices are set by the state and nothing can be done: willy‐nilly, but take it, there is no one else to sell. We also need to introduce secret ballot, as in England, America and France. ʺ Those present were sympathetic to his speech.
67.13 August. In with. Vasilyevo Akatevskaya vol. Kolomensky u. At the meeting, when analyzing the issue of wages of shepherds, the previllage council said: ʺWe also need to be a member of the trade union of peasants, we need our grain to go only through this union, and only then will we equalize the prices of agricultural products with industrial ones.ʺ The majority of those present (middle peasants) greeted this speech with shouts of ʺtrueʺ, ʺthrough an alliance, let us tell the price of breadʺ, ʺwe will see who is stronger ‐ a peasant or a worker.ʺ
68. Oryol province. 25‐th of August. In with. Chaplygino the Forerunner Vol. Eletsky u. the poor peasant in a conversation about the prices of bread said: “The authorities are following the correct line only in relation to the workers and, in the event of a rise in prices in the market, increases the workersʹ wages. The prices for goods are high, and the bread is cheap, because whatever the authorities want, they will set the prices, but now it would be necessary to raise them, since only the poor will sell bread and it turns out ‐ if you give the bread for 78 kopecks, spring will come ‐ pay the kulak and the wealthy 1 rub. 50 kopecks ‐ 2 rubles. This is what we enrich the state and the merchants who buy up bread cheaply. All these shortcomings can only be eliminated by a special organization of the peasants, since the state may not foresee our needs, for in power the majority are not peasants and do not know the peasantsʹ need. The poor people present joined in his opinion.
69. In the village. Bogdanovka Ryabinsk parish Orlovsky u. the well‐todo is conducting agitation among the peasants for the creation of a ʺpeasant syndicateʺ, the need for which, in his words, is caused by the fact that ʺit is necessary to defend the economic interests of the peasants.ʺ “The worker,” he says, “sets prices for his goods, thanks to his syndicates, as he pleases; the peasant would need it that way, they offer workers plows for 18 rubles, if you donʹt want it, you pay, and so the peasant could offer a price for his bread. ʺ
70. Dnepropetrovsk district. September 1. (Ukraine). In with. One of the peasants in a conversation in the village of Solonyansky District spoke out: “The workers live well because they are organized in a trade union and set prices for their own and our products. We need to organize ourselves into a peasant union so as not to give the workers a peasant product until the prices for urban and agricultural products are settled.
ʺ
71. Zinovievsky district. September 1. In with. Ovsyaninovka middle peasants and other peasants openly put forward at meetings the question of organizing a cross union, the first task of which, in their opinion, should be to establish such prices for grain ʺwhich would be beneficial to the peasants.ʺ
72. Mariupol district. September 1. In the villages of Mangush and Yalta, prosperous peasants, putting forward demands on the need to organize a cross union, indicate that if the peasants had an alliance, it could regulate the price of grain with grain procurers and reduce the tax.
73. Zaporozhye district. August 1. In with. Orlyansk, Balkovsky District, in a conversation with a group of peasants, the middle peasant said: ʺIf they were allowed to organize a cross‐union, then it would be possible to dispose of their wealth ‐ labor and regulate the prices of bread, declare a boycott to the state and not export bread to the market.ʺ Those present agreed with his statement.
74. Armavir district. August 18. (North Caucasus). In stts. Nevinnomyssky, the former deputy chairman of the council, complaining about the plight of the peasants, said: “In order to make the life of the peasants easier, it is necessary to create a union of grain growers, then life would change completely. The chairman of this union would sell bread abroad at a good price and take what is needed for it. The grain is being harvested, the farmer will have surpluses, the tax is heavy, and funds must be taken somewhere to pay off. The price announced by the state for bread is very low, and the peasants did not carry bread last year, and this year, even more so, this issue has long been resolved, so let them then sit with empty barns. ʺ
75. Stavropol District. August 15. In the hut. In the Russkom region of the Stavropol region, conversations about the need to organize cross unions have become more frequent lately. In total, 17 people were identified who took part in the protests for the Constitutional Court, of which 9 were wealthy peasants. At the head is the pre‐village council, a well‐to‐do man, in 1920 he was convicted of hiding bread from the appropriation scheme, he acts together with his three brothers. Talks about organizing a cross union are being held in the village council, while it is indicated that the union is necessary for the peasantry in order not to give workers and employees agricultural products.
76. Kamensk district. 25‐th of August. (Siberia). In with. In a private conversation, the middle peasant in Tyumenesevskoe of the Tyumenetsky district said: “In the cities, employees and workers are organized into unions, but the peasants have no organization, so they are turned around at random. The peasants also need to organize some kind of union and maintain our products up to the price ‐ the cities will not sit without bread and will then give a good price. ʺ
2. Calling the cross union to oppose tax policy
77. Moscow province. August 13. (Centre). In with. Suvorovo Kolyberevskaya par. Kolomensky u. the middle peasant in a group of peasants said: ʺWe have, like a union, committees of mutual assistance, but they do not give anything, we need to achieve the organization of a union, through the union we would have achieved not only a tax reduction, but also complete liberation.ʺ
78. In Bronnitsky district at the plenum of the Sofyinsky VIC of the Presidential Council with. Shalova said: “It is necessary to organize a special union of only land workers, which could include every peasant and which would protect the interests of the peasants; and just as all unions are fighting the state, so the union of the land would seek to make the products of the peasants more expensive, as well as to reduce the tax. ʺ
79. Yaroslavl province. August 15. In the village. Andryukovo Danilovskaya Vol. and the county on the day of cooperation at a meeting of a peasant woman raised the question of the need to organize a peasant union, which would ʺdefend the interests of the peasants when collecting agricultural tax.ʺ
80. Severo‐Dvinskaya province. August 18. (Northwest). At the expanded plenum of B. Alekseevsky village council, the middle peasant who spoke in the debate on the agricultural tax said: “The tax reform for 1926‐1927. it is unprofitable for the peasants, it leads to the proletarianization of the peasantry, from whom the Soviet government squeezes all the juice out of taxes. This is possible only because the peasantry is uncivilized and disorganized in comparison with the working class. The working class rules the entire country, and the peasantry is dependent on it. The peasantry needs to organize itself into united peasant unions. ʺ This speech was supported by three peasants, one of them said: “The working class has seized power and lives at the expense of the peasants. The peasantry needs to unite and fight against the working class. Tax should be waived
81. Crimea. 10th of August. Evpatoria region. In the village. Sabanchi, a group of prosperous peasants agitates among the population for the organization of a cross union, explaining its necessity by the fact that ʺthe power strangles the peasants with taxes collected by idlers from the co‐institutions.ʺ The Cross Union, according to its supporters, will rid the population of this. The wealthy support the performance of the group, while the poor do not.
3. Demand for a peasant trade union and other cases of agitation for peasant unions
82. Moscow province. August 27. (Centre). In with. Kochnikovo N.Petrovsky parish. Voskresensky u. a well‐to‐do peasant said: “The Soviet government says that it protects peasant interests, but in reality we see that we, peasants, are not considered. The workers were given many rights, and why are they not given to the peasants? Now, if we had a cross union, we would be able, as workers, to defend our rights. ʺ Some of those present to his speech reacted approvingly.
83. Tula province. August 19. In the Belevsky District, at a meeting of the Besedinsky RCC, a prosperous peasant asked in writing a question: ʺIs it possible to organize a union among the peasants like a professional one.ʺ Here, in private conversations, the question of the cross union is raised by the middle peasant, pointing out: ʺThe peasants need a union to enter any work in the city, otherwise, if the peasant is outside the union, he has nowhere to go.ʺ
84. Belarus. August 1. (West). In the Vitebsk region of the Vitebsk district, a member of the Senno village council (a former member of the CPSU) campaigns for the organization of a cross union, pointing out: ʺAs long as the peasants do not organize, they will be in the power of the workers and the workers will reap them from all ends.ʺ
85. Zaporozhye district. August 1. (Ukraine). In with. On the slopes of the Balkovsky district, the peasants often raise the question of organizing a cross union, which, in their opinion, would protect the peasants from government pressure.
86. Vinnytsia district. In with. Art. Nemirov, Nemirovsky district, a demobilized Red Army soldier raises the question of the need to organize a special Red Army union and citizens who took part in the civil war, declaring: “Every employee and worker has his own union, and the Red soldier and worker who took part in the construction of Soviet power during the civil war, does not have its own separate union. Itʹs time to take into account the merits to the alliance of the red front soldier and the civil war worker. ʺ
87. Saratov province. August 31. (Volga region). In Natalya parish. Novo‐uzensky district in private conversations, the peasants put forward the question of a cross union, which could provide economic assistance to the peasantry. On the statement that the peasants have credit partnerships, KKOV, etc., it is pointed out that ʺthese organizations are not as strong as workersʹ unions.ʺ
88. Krasnoyarsk District. 10th of August. (Siberia). In the village. Muratovka B. Mura‐Tinsky district at a meeting of peasants in the debate on the report on the new agricultural tax and the identification of objects of taxation, the middle peasant who spoke said: your peasant union, in order to insure your farm, health, etc. Entry into the union must be carried out without fail, otherwise, often, not realizing the benefits of this, they will not go to this peasant union. ʺ The protest was not supported by the peasants.
4. Clearly political demands of the cross union
89. Moscow province. August 27. (Centre). In with. Znamenskoye Yamsko‐Slobodskoy Vol. Kashirsky u. at a meeting of the poor, a former worker said: “We will not achieve anything if we do it in a disorganized manner. Why the peasants are not given their union and are not admitted to the party, so that their peasant was there”. This speech was supported by two members of the Komsomol, who said: “Why canʹt we organize a peasant trade union? If there is an alliance, their dictatorship is over, who will dictate, because the majority of the peasants. Unless the workers will allow this, they are afraid of it, because they dictate, and we do it”. Those present were passive about the performances.
90. Tambov province. 10th of August. In with. Alatorka Krasivska parish Kirsanovsky u. the middle peasant said in a conversation: ʺThe authorities do not care about us; they need to unite themselves and improve their lives.ʺ To the question of the wealthy: ʺHow to improve when the workers are in powerʺ ‐ he added: ʺAll the peasants need to unite, become in power and take all the land and forests into their own hands, pay less salaries to employees and lower prices for industrial goods.ʺ
91. Yaroslavl province. September 1. In the Demensky district of the Sverdlovsk vol. P.‐Volodarsky at a meeting of peasants who spoke in the debate on the agricultural tax middle peasant from the village. Zhukovo said: ʺPower must be transferred to the peasants, the dictatorship must be the peasantry, and for this it is necessary to organize in a union.ʺ On the part of those present, this speech was met with sympathy.
92. In the village. Stulovo Bereznikovskaya Vol. Rostov u. one of the peasants, speaking at a village gathering, said: “A real crop failure, the impossibility of finding work in the city, the deception of the Soviet government, which promises paradise, but gives the peasantry hell, are forced to think about creating a peasant union without a mixture of communists, and only then will the peasants be able to arrange their own situation in its own way, will give scope to private trade and eliminate unemployment. ʺ
93. Arkhangelsk province. August 31. (Northwest). In with. Alferovo Central Volga vol. Shenkursky u. one of the peasants in the village council, campaigning for the organization of a cross union, said: “The peasant union will fight against the proletariat and would curtail the rights of the latter. The union would not allow the release and sale of peasant products to the market, and through this union it would be possible to lower the prices of factory goods, since then it would be possible to force the Soviet government to make concessions.
94. Cherkasy district. (Ukraine). Recently, various village councils of the Gelmyazovsky district have received letters from Kiev urging the peasants to overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat. Letters are sent under the signature of the ʺorganizing committee of the peasantworkersʹ republic.ʺ 8 months ago, a letter of similar content was received from Galicia to the address of the Gelmyazovsky village council. Below is a copy of one of these 231 letters sent out.
ʺUkrainian SSR. Peasant‐workersʹ republic.
Land and Freedom
De ti brodish is our will, we hum to you. Oh, our lot is unhappy, we do not give up our will De same will, sho we were plundered, de that land, we were given as promises yak we made a revolution, like by that party, we were in the head of the revolution, went. The yakis of the four fate have passed, and nothing was left of that scattered will and earth, the will, they twisted it so you donʹt know how to breathe, there are spies everywhere, everywhere rabkori, agitprop‐social and every Jewish scum entangled us, clouded over with its hermider. Now I need to praise the tilka and say nothing about our grief. Wuxi newspapers in the hands of the Jewish and Jewish parties; write stink tilko about those who want to stink, but our grief, they need little grief about that. At the vibors at the gatherings, a Jewʹs henchman is a communist from such a liquid, but a Komsomol member will twist, not let it really be sorted out, but shouts: Wuxi raise your hands in agreement. This is freedom of choice and freedom of judgment. If something is not in the party, then at once you are a counterrevolutionary, and let us go to misfortune. And de that land, they promised us. The whole land was destroyed by the state, they promised us that the state could manage it only, and the state is ruled by the party, with power behind our backs, and the party is most of all Jews, well, it means that the people will dispose of the land. The axis from here was the Jewish colonization; the axis is therefore given to the Jews our Ukrainian land, and we are dominated by Siberia; that I will give you 80 dess. cold taigas send parhatikh there, that give them at least 180 dess., and give us at least 6 and your own batkovsky. Not a Jew will be left in Ukraine, because here you can trade and shred wines, but you will have to plow the abundant land for hire, and you will not put your own hands on it. Yes, and the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Land in Ukraine was shot at the media chickens e Zhida‐Dudkin, Bachite the Jew is jealous of the whole Ukrainian land. No matter how hard I work, I’m going to work not for myself, not for my family, but for the social system I’m building from that horde of Jews. All their henchmen that all the village golitba, all their beggars, not just pratsoyut, but just touches the truth. The axis of Toby and the social system: the Jew is sitting at the top, and he is in charge of everything, and he is helping his Jew. Pid a Jew, a Jewish worker slave, who is only 8 years old, and then you banquet to hold hegemony over us as patronage there, and at the very bottom we, grain growers, siromakhs, we will break through the whole year and on our own we will obsess the stench without us wake up the bastards have died with all their ʺLeninist curlsʺ, with their hvarbriks, factories, and their bastard manufacturers, who besides you without kushuv bi. The workers sense the parhani and the shabes‐goy and now they shout, ʺwith their faces to the village.ʺ Not a brother, if you want your face to sit down,
sugar factories, otherwise, it seems to us: You see that land, and on your own, too, bulo. This is not so. On my land, I take your income from you, and here they give me just earnings, and the hobʹs earnings, however, will be the same for the Berkovites of the Buriaks, who have become ugly in tithes. But we are not fooling, and everything is sized and we stand for the land will, for our power has surrendered to the Jews and to do the will of the Jews. Organize, go along with other selrads, and act together with your will and your demands.
1) All the land to us, the peasants, down with the Jews from Ukraine; take the land away from them.
2) Down with the hegemony of the workers and the Communist Party, we will manage ourselves through our power, we will choose freely.
Contact the selrads of Bezpalchevskaya, Bogdanivskaya.
Organizing Committee of the Peasant‐Workersʹ Republic ʺ.
93. Armavir District. August 18. (North Caucasus). Grigoropolsky district. Peasant s. Otrado‐Olginsky, in a conversation with a member of the CPSU, said that they had a union of grain growers and covered the villages of N. Mikhailovskoye, Otrado‐Olginskoye and hut. Bogorodsky, Tysyachny, Petrovsky and others. The goal of the union is not to provide grain to the procurement centers, to convince the peasant masses that Soviet power is harmful to them and that freedom will come when power is in the hands of the peasant union.
94. Maikop district. August 27. In stts. The agronomist of the Khan, in conversations with the peasants, speaks out for the organization of a cross union, which will rally the peasantry and seize ʺthe helm of government from the workers, since the peasants are in the majority in Russia.ʺ Two local teachers are also in favor of organizing a cross union. In the same village, the middle peasant, having learned that for the construction of the bridge, workers would be taken only from the Union of Vserabotzemles, said: “I will be in prison, but nevertheless I will organize a union of grain growers, since they are hired only from the unions, and the grain growers do not union, they are not given work, so there must be a union. ʺ
95. Saratov province. August 16. (Volga region). In with. Iznair Serdobsky at the general meeting, who spoke in the debate on the report on the new agricultural tax head. He said in red corner: ʺWe do not need cooperation, but a peasant union.ʺ His speech was supported by 10 peasants, who pointed out that ʺpeasant unions are needed not only economically, but also politically, in order to influence power through them.ʺ
Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
APPENDIX 4
AGRICULTURAL TAX
I. The attitude of peasants to tax
Increase in tax rates after the publication of tax rates
1. Tula lips. August 30. (Centre). Strong dissatisfaction with the increase in the tax category is noted: “The Soviet government cannot immediately say exactly how much to pay the peasant; Soviet power is not independent and cannot pursue a correct line; it will take another two weeks, and then they will think about stripping it again, ”many peasants declare.
2. In the Odoyevsky district, many peasants talk about not paying for the newly produced cape: “You don’t need to accept the slip sheets with an increase in tax;
3. Kaluga province. 25‐th of August. Along the Temkinsky Vol. Yukhnovsky u. the yield of a tithe of arable land was increased from 30 to 38 rubles, which caused discontent among the population, who accused the local councils of not observing the interests of the peasantry.
4. Tver province. August 31. According to Rzhevsky u. the yield of a tithe of arable land was determined at 43 rubles, later it was increased to 49 rubles. This caused strong discontent among the peasants in many villages.
5. Dnepropetrovsk district. September 1. (Ukraine). In a number of districts, the new tax is causing discontent among the poor and middle peasants. They believe that due to the unsatisfactory harvest, the tax on them is high. Particularly strong discontent was noted at the Dubikovsky village council of the Vasilyevsky district, where the yield on tithes was increased by order from the district from 37 rubles. up to 39 rubles. The order came to the village council after the work on calculating the tax was almost completed, and caused strong indignation among the peasants. Most of the crop suffered from drought and dry wind (wheat on some farms yielded 5‐27 poods). A meeting of villagers, under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks, passed a resolution to refuse salary slips.
6. Saratov province. (Volga region). A rumor spread among the peasants that the tax would be increased by 20% according to the order of the State Electoral Commission, which caused strong discontent among the peasants of some villages (Elshanka, Nikolaevskoe, etc.)
Demand to reduce tax due to lower harvest
7. Voronezh province. August 30. (Centre). Dissatisfaction of peasants in a number of districts of Rossoshansky district (Novo‐Kalitvensky, Pavlovsky, Belgorodsky, Pod‐Gorensky, Rovensky, Rossoshansky districts) is caused by the fact that the profitability of crops was established before the harvest. It has now become clear that only rye and wheat have yielded a satisfactory yield, while the rest of the crops (millet, barley, oats, etc.) yield a significantly lower yield, meanwhile, the yield of a tithe of sowing of all crops is determined equally at 43 rubles. The same is in the Korotoyaksky and Alekseevsky districts of the Ostrogozhsky district.
8. AKSSR. August 7. (Northwest). In Kemsky. the yield of the sowing tithe is calculated at 80 rubles. When calculating the agricultural tax, the state of the crops was not taken into account, which were mostly damaged by spring frosts. Below is a table of tax calculation for several farms, mainly poor, characterizing the tax policy pursued in the Kemsky district.
Taxpayers
The amount of agricultural tax for
1925‐1926
The amount of agricultural tax,
calculated for 1926‐1927
Toroptsev N.P.
(Mashezerskaya vol., Village
Ushakovo)
RUB 6
RUB 12
Yakovlev S.G. (Tungudskaya
Vol.)
how the poor man was freed
RUB 10
Petrov G.
9 rubles 70 kopecks
RUB 29
Petrov N.I.
1 rub 91 kopecks
42 RUB
The peasants, mostly poor, are expressing strong discontent. The peasant Petrov, a resident of the Tungudskaya Vol., Says: ʺWe will wait a little, what will happen, but few will pay such a tax, we will have to look for places where it is easier.ʺ The peasant Dreguev declares: ʺIn connection with the increase in tax, it will either be necessary to reduce some of the livestock and crops, or to abandon the farm and go to work on the railroad.ʺ The peasant of the Letkopets parish. Gekkinen says about the tax: ʺNow we are already sitting without bread, but here they are taxing income that we have already eaten.ʺ
9. Dnepropetrovsk district. September 1. (Ukraine). Peasants hut. The dacha Nikolaevsky village council of the Vasilyevsky district at the meeting decided: “To petition the RIK to reduce the agricultural tax due to the fact that the bread died from the heat: a tithe of wheat when threshed to 12 poods, a tithe of barley ‐ 20 poods. and a tithe of rye ‐ 15 poods. ʺ
10. Salsky district. August 28. (North Caucasus). The population of the Beloglinsky district expresses strong dissatisfaction with the definition of the yield on tithe at 36 rubles. The chairmen of the village councils, who arrived at the plenum of the RIK, at the request of the peasants, brought with them exhibits to determine the yield of wheat ‐ Kubanka. The sheaves, which in appearance should have given 20‐25 pounds, of grains, were almost 100% empty. The dry summer significantly lowered the harvest. The peasants are demanding a reduction in agricultural tax.
11. Kuban District. August 20. The population of the Uman region is outraged by the definition of the yield of a tithe of sowing at 47 rubles, while the yield is determined on average by 30‐35 rubles. Productivity for a number of crops this year is half and three times less than last year. Wheat ‐ white peel in 1925 yielded 100 poods, in 1926 ‐ 30 poods, wheat ‐ furnace ‐ 85 poods. and 31 poods., winter wheat 100 poods. and 28 poods, barley ‐ 160 poods. and 55 poods. The kulaks are agitating not to pay the tax until the tax rate is reduced.
12. Kamensk district. 25‐th of August. (Siberia). Wealthy settlement Kulems of the Petropavlovsk region declare: “The current tax will slaughter the peasantry. The rate is set at 40 rubles. for a tithe, but the bread of the early sowing was gone. ʺ
Tenantsʹ dissatisfaction with the taxation of leased land and their refusal to lease
13. Voronezh province. August 20. (Centre). Having learned that the tax on leased land is levied on the tenant, many wealthy peasants, who had previously leased land of horseless people, categorically refuse to lease land at the present time, despite the offered favorable conditions. This causes strong discontent among the poor, who are forced to enter into a deal with the wealthy in order to hide the land from taxation. A similar situation exists in a number of villages in Novokhopersky, Bobrovsky and Ostrogozhsky districts.
14. In p. Sinyaevka, Abramovsky District (Novokhopersky District), the poor, especially single women who do not have draft animals, express strong concern about the refusal of the middle peasants and the wealthy to lease land from them due to taxation. The more prosperous prefer to lease state and public land.
15. Vladimirskaya lips. August 7. In Bogolyubovskaya parish. Vladimirsky u. some well‐to‐do people refuse to lease land for the horseless.
16. Gomel province. 25‐th of August. (West). Peasants with. The Petryatinki women of Novozybkovsky u., Who previously rented land from the horseless, say: ʺNext year, only fools will work for the poor.ʺ
17. Odessa district. September 1. (Ukraine). In the TarasovoShevchenkovsky District, a middle peasant in a group of peasants said: “The tax is too heavy, the state pulls three skins, especially from the owners who are trying to sow more land. Many poor people have received decent land, they do not sow it themselves and lease it to the wealthy, and the state imposes an unbearable tax on good owners. ʺ At the gathering in the village. Ratsulovo, the middle peasant suggested that the wealthy villagers not take more land from the poor for rent, declaring: ʺLet the idlers and the poor die, and the state goes bankrupt.ʺ
18. Maikop district. August 27. (North Caucasus). Wealthy stts. Dondukovskaya, renting for 30‐40 dess. land, dissatisfied with the taxation of leased land, declare: “Letʹs see who will sow next year. The government talks about raising agriculture, and at the same time takes by the throats those who raise it. ʺ
P. Adverse events related to tax
Shelter of taxable objects and resistance to their accounting
19. Moscow region. August 20. (Centre). Handicraftsmen of the Yaguninskaya parish. Zvenigorodsky u. hide their earnings, showing an income of 36‐40 rubles. per year, even those of them who have hired workers. In the Peter and Paul parish. artisans show that they work 4‐5 months a year, while in fact they work all year round. The same is in the Velene parish. Bronnitsky u. Thus, a handicraftsman with a workshop with two hired workers showed his earnings of 180 rubles. in year. Craftsmen in the village. Shelenino Dmitrovskaya Vol. and the county indicated their earnings at 1,350 rubles, while the commission set the sum of the annual earnings of all handicraftsmen in the village at 10,155 rubles.
20. In Dmitrovskaya parish. the well‐to‐do and kulaks laugh at the middle‐class handicraftsmen who correctly showed their earnings: ʺThey taught you to show fools, and you showed them.ʺ The fists themselves showed reduced numbers. For example, the artisan Efanov, who has an annual income of 15,000 rubles, indicated 100 rubles; Branev, who has an income of 12,000 rubles, indicated 400 rubles; Ionov, who has an income of 10,000 rubles, indicated 100 rubles. The members of the commission for identifying the profitability helped to hide the profitability, who said when filling out the sheets: ʺWrite less, do not indicate the exact figure.ʺ
21. Voronezh province. August 20. In the Vorontsov land society Bobrovsky u. a sown area of considerable size is covered. Household survey established the sown area of the winter and spring wedge in 1758 dess. with a convenient land of 12,000 dess. According to the Secretary of the Vorontsov Village Council, at least 4,000‐5,000 dessiatins have been covered with crops. A similar cover of the crop area was noted in other villages.
In the Vorobievsky district of the Novokhopersky u. there is leased land hidden from the agricultural tax. In with. Nikolayevka 72 peasants, who are engaged in the transportation of beets, concealed their income.
22. Kaluga province. August 4th. Prosperous village Kalugaʹs tummies formally separated from his son in order to thus reduce the tax.
23. Tambov province. 10th of August. In with. Wed in Shibriai, some farmers assign extra eaters to their families in order to reduce the tax.
24. North‐Dvinskaya province. (Northwest). All peasants from the village. Merdenta V.‐Ustyugsky district refused to give information about side earnings. One after another, two commissions were created to identify the objects of taxation; in addition, the chairman of the RIK left for the village, but all these measures were unsuccessful.
25. Pskov province. August 15. Peasants der. Nabokovskaya Gorka Bezhanitskoy Vol. Novorzhevsky u. hid all pigs from the agricultural tax.
26. Bryansk province. August 31. (West). Peasant s. Belovintseva Maklanovskaya Vol. Bezhitskiy u., Which has 140 beehives, showed only 40.
27. Smolensk province. 5th of August. In the villages of the Bogdanovsky village council of the Kostyrevsky vol. Rosslavalsky u. there are peasants engaged in the manufacture of self‐spinning wheels. The average profitability of this craft is 400‐500 rubles. per year, they also show 20‐30 rubles.
28. Uman District. August 1. (Ukraine). In Babenovsky district, 80,000 sheep are hidden from accounting for objects of agricultural tax.
29. Konotop district. August 1. In with. Ivanovka, Okhromeevsky district, cases of division of farms in order to reduce the tax have become more frequent.
30. Proskurovsky district. August 1. In Derzhanyansky District, kulaks and well‐to‐do people, in order to reduce the tax, sell horses, buying youngsters for one and a half to two years, exempt from tax.
31. Zhytomyr district. August 1. In with. Some kulaks attributed NovoZelenaya of Volyn region to their farms as members of a family of shepherds and farm laborers.
32. Kuban District. August 1. (North Caucasus). In the Medvedovsky district, 4000 dessiatines were identified. sowing and 1600 head of livestock, sheltered from the taxation objects. Shelter of objects of taxation also takes place in almost all villages of the Pavlovsky district. In the Korenovsky district, the shelter of taxation objects is becoming threatening. One block stc. Dyadkovskaya hidden 1000 dess. sowing.
33. Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk district. 10th of August. In the Chertkovsky and Nikolaevsky village councils, whole farmsteads hide crops. In only one hut. Chertkovsky has up to 1000 dess. sowing hidden from the account. The well‐to‐do, for a certain fee, write down the sheltered part of the sowing for the poor. Concealers avoid measurement in this way: those who have hidden 50 or more dessiatines voluntarily report to the tax commission about the hidden, allegedly 3‐4 dessiatines. A voluntary application inspires confidence and the commission does not check the crops.
34. Terek District. July 28th. In the Kislovodsk district, only 72% of the crop area of the last year was revealed, in Pyatigorsk ‐ 85.5%.
35. Stavropol District. 5th of August. Many Hut peasants. Petropavlovsky, renting land from peasants in the village. Pegashads, sheltering rented land.
36. Saratov province. August 31. (Volga region). On Voskresenskaya Vol. Volsky u. hidden a lot of crops and livestock. By s. Voskresensky hidden 3100 dess. Wealthy s. Small Uzen of Novouzensky district covered 600 dess.
37. Trinity District. August 20. (Ural). In the district, 11,000 dessiatins were revealed hidden from the accounting records. crops, 3000 horses and 1.0000 head of cattle.
38. In the Klyuchevskoy settlement. and Saratov Hut. livestock is hiding from taxation. The shelter is organized. When checking taxable objects in Klyuchevskoy settlement. cattle are driven to the Saratov pasture and vice versa.
39. In the village. Kuplyansky out of the available 19,000 dess. sown land registered only 4800 dess.
40. Irbit District. August 20. The sale of peasant livestock in order to reduce the tax is widespread throughout the district. In this regard, many non‐patent buyers of livestock (from the kulaks) have appeared, who buy livestock at cheap prices and even on debt and resell it in the nearest industrial centers, receiving large profits.
41. Tyumen district. August 20. In Emurtlinsky district, 5000 dessiatins are hidden from the register. sowing, according to Yalutorovsky and Suetsky ‐ 3000 dess.
42. Shabrinsky district. According to the Ichkinsky and Gribanovsky village councils of the Olkhovsky district, only 40% of the actually available land was included in the lists of accounting for the crop area.
43. Kansk District. July 31st. (Siberia). The well‐to‐do spend fictitious sections of property. So, in the village. Sokolovsky is a peasant with 15 dess. sowing, 6 horses, 5 cows, a thresher, a reaper, a mower, a sheepskin roller, 45 hives, has good buildings, hires a farm laborer,
all livestock and apiaries to their nephews in order to thus reduce the tax.
44. Slavgorod District. Prosperous settlement Ekaterinovka from 49 dec. sowing covered 43 dess.
45. Minusinsk District. In with. N. Kursk, Biysk region, all peasants shelter objects of taxation, from the wealthy to the poor. The poor say: ʺSince the well‐to‐do and middle peasants steal, we are not fooling to pay for them, we must also slow down the sowing ourselves.ʺ
46. Taking into account the profitability of artisans in the village. Yekaterinovekoye, Idrinsky district, handicraftsmen in the questionnaires indicate no more than one fifth of the income and the village council assures such information. The blacksmith indicated a profitability of 240 rubles, while the forge works all year round and, according to the peasants, gives an income of at least 1000 rubles. The miller indicated an income of 50 rubles. According to the population, he receives up to 300 rubles.
47. Barnaul district. 10th of August. In with. The wealthy hens, without exception, covered the crops, and at the first pressure of the measurement commission, up to 100 dessiatins were revealed. over and above the pre‐recorded. Some well‐to‐do half of the sowing was spread over the poor, and if the court had not arrived in the village, they could have hidden the sowing by 40%.
48. Barabinsky district. July. In the village. Altyr of Yudinovskiy region has covered crops up to 500 dess. and livestock: sheep 50%, pigs 70%. The concealers are mainly the wealthy, who sheltered 10‐15 dess.
49. Zeysky district. August 1. In with. The population categorically refused to give information about side earnings to the Tory of Tygda district, arguing that they did not earn anything.
Identification of hidden objects of taxation by the poor
50. Tula province. August 1. (Centre). Most of the poor are highly involved in the correct accounting of income items. Many poor people say: “Don’t horses and cows give you (fists) income, if not, then you give them to us, and we will pay tax for them, if it is beyond your power; you cannot take from one land, we are not guilty that we have no livestock. ʺ
51. Armavir District. August 18. (North Caucasus). In the Petropavlovsk region in the hut. Alekseevsky, the middle peasants and the poor say: “Itʹs good that the Soviet government severely punishes those scoundrels who hid their livestock and land from the recording of objects of taxation. But it is bad that they were not judged on the spot, as they were in the hut. Gamemenovsky. If they were judged on the spot, the rich would see how severely the Soviet government punishes for this matter. ʺ
52. Minusinsk District. 10th of August. (Siberia). In with. Nikolaevsky identification of taxable objects this year was successful. The poor, in an organized manner with the middle peasants, took part in identifying the objects of taxation. As a result, it was revealed by 100%.
53. Tomsk District. August 13. In the Tungusovsky village council of the Molchanovsky district, there are cases of active participation of the poor in identifying hidden objects of taxation. According to their statements, in this village council, hidden objects were found in 25 householders, mostly well‐to‐do. The same is in the village. Polozovsky, Molchanovsky district, where, according to the instructions of the poor, the district commission found 75% of the hidden crops in two wealthy people.
Trends in price increases for handicrafts and fees for the use of agricultural machinery
54. Yaroslavl province. August 15. (Centre). In Vysokovskaya Vol. Uglichsky u. blacksmiths for forging horses began to take 40 kopecks instead of 20. from the foot.
55. Voronezh province. 12th of August. In the village. Zabelie Timskaya Vol. Shchigrovsky u. a peasant who has an agricultural machine and operates it, in a conversation with the miller, said: “Let us be taxed more. Canʹt we shift the burden of the tax onto others. If you now take the 15th measure, then with the new tax you can put the 8th. Last year I took 7 pounds for threshing bread with a machine, from a heap, now I will take 10. I will definitely say ‐ no matter how they lay down on us, the authorities will not do anything for us, but the poor will never rise.
ʺ
56. Vyatka province. August 15. Wealthy people from the village. Klyuchevskoy Malmyzhsky u. talk about a new tax: “The state has levied side earnings, but it has levied not on us, but on the poor. It costs us nothing to raise prices instead of 3 rubles. take 6 rubles. for a day of work on an agricultural machine. Thus, this taxation will even increase our earnings. ʺ
57. Bryansk province. August 31. (West). To Sevskoyvol. millers and threshers, in connection with the taxation of non‐agricultural earnings, increased prices for grinding and threshing. Millers instead of 2 pounds take 3‐4 pounds, threshers last year took 1 pood. rye from the eater, but now they take 2 rubles for threshing. off the eater. In connection with the increase in prices for grinding and threshing, many peasants, middle peasants and poor peasants, are dissatisfied, since the tax on side earnings is practically the entire burden on them.
III. Composition of tax commissions and abnormalities in their work
Littering of commissions for accounting of taxable objects
58. Moscow province. August 31. (Centre). In with. Nikulino Saltykovskaya Vol. Bronnitsky u. the election of a representative to the tax commission took place under pressure from the well‐to‐do part of the village. Despite the opposition of the middle and poor part of the meeting, the wealthy still managed to get their representative on the commission. Before the meeting, the well‐to‐do held their own meetings on the choice of a representative. The next day after the elections, the newly elected one, when dividing the meadows, said: ʺWe must do everything now in my opinion, everything is in my power, whom I want to have mercy, otherwise I will strangle with a tax.ʺ Authorized in the tax commission from the village. Arlenenko Salty‐kovskaya vol. the timber merchant passed.
59. In the village. Prigory Lenin parish. and the uyezd, the poor and most of the middle peasants hardly got their candidate on the tax commission, due to strong opposition from the wealthy and adjacent middle peasants. Voting took place twice.
60. Voronezh province. August 20. In with. Gnilusha V. Mamon district of Bo‐Gucharsky u. During the election of the commissions for registering taxable objects, the kulaks were especially active and expressed a desire to work for the ʺcommon good.ʺ In the third society, a large kulak‐merchant himself proposed to the peasants to elect him and thus entered the tax commission. Before taking into account the objects of taxation, he temporarily disabled his windmill, sold a couple of bulls and distributed part of the property to his friends.
61. Kursk province. August 26th. By village councils of B.Soldatinskaya vol. Lgovsky u. some members of tax commissions get drunk at the expense of peasants, whom they exempt from tax. In the village. Biryukovka has many fruitful gardens that provide good income, as well as windmills and forges.
62. Vologda province. August 31. (Northwest). Only wealthy peasants entered the Sogorsk volost tax commission (Kadnikovsky district). From the village. Mytnevo selected the wealthiest peasant who hid 600 rubles. income from non‐agricultural earnings. The rural municipality tax commission imposed a lower tax on some wealthy peasants than the middle peasants.
63. Maykop district. August 7. (North Caucasus). Pressel Council with. Elizavetpolsky, a kulak, pursued such a policy that the entire burden of the tax was shifted to the poor. He defined the tax on nonagricultural earnings in this way: having neither a home nor livestock and receiving 100 rubles. a shepherd is taxed at 10 rubles per year. Other peasants who have buildings, living and dead implements, are either exempt from the tax on non‐agricultural earnings, or taxed with a small amount.
64. Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk district. 10th of August. Inspection commission to identify hidden seeding among the inhabitants of the hut. Rudakova of the Belokalitvensky district checked only those who knew that there were no hidden crops.
65. Barnaul district. 10th of August. (Siberia). Commission for the identification of taxable objects in the village. The raft of the Aleisky region consists of kulaks. All the members of the commission get drunk, patronize the kulaks, pressing only on the poor, measuring their crops. We do not make measurements of wealthy people, trusting them at their word, and write down who will say how much.
66. In the village. Mironova, a member of the village council (member of the church council) spoke at the meeting: “You cannot force the peasants to be forced, everyone knows about himself how much he will write down, and thatʹs okay. I warn you all that you have to stand firm, no matter how much they press you, do not be afraid, they will not transplant everyone, and I will always stand for you. I am not afraid, let me be judged and attracted, I am always for the people, I am not afraid of the communists, I am always against them. ʺ
67. Achinsk District. 25‐th of August. In with. Podsosnovsky Nazarovskaya regional tax commission found 900 dess. covered arable land. S elko mission p. Podsos‐novsky tried to bribe the regional commission with a treat with vodka and beer.
68. Kuznetsk district. 10th of August. Tax commission der. Vaskovo, Ust‐Sosnovsky district, consists of middle peasants and well‐to‐do people. In the case of the well‐to‐do, the commission does not check the crops, focusing all its attention on the poor.
69. Kamensk district. 25‐th of August. The secretary of the Sitnikovsky village council of the Baevsky district, when recording objects of taxation, advised the wealthy not to write too much, saying: “If you write everything down, you’ll fly out, tax at the highest rate, then you will take off your shirt and you won’t pay off.”
70. In the village. Pokrovsky, Baevsky district, kulaks and the wealthy entered the tax commission; some of them have 10 cows. The members of the commission, speaking at the meeting, declared: ʺYou cannot hide much, but you can hide a little.ʺ All the peasants covered part of the crops and livestock.
Concealment by commissions of taxable objects
71. Voronezh province. August 30. (Centre). In with. Nikolaevka of the Kastorninsky district, the rural registration commission sheltered 72 farms with income from the transportation of beets for 40‐50 rubles.
72. In a number of villages Valuisky u. rural registration commissions are inattentive to tax work, considering only what the peasants show them without checking the information received. Peasant hut. Filkin, which has 100 hives and 10 dess. leased land, showed 15 hives and only allotment land. Thus, the tax on his farm is 6 rubles. instead of 60 rubles, which are due from him, if the accounting is done correctly. Commissions also do not take into account threshing machines that give up to 100 rubles. per year of income.
73. Chairman of the Rusaevsky village council Novokhopersky u. He freed 50% of the peasants from agricultural tax.
74. Vladimirskaya lips. August 17. In Vyaznikovskaya and Gorokhovetskaya vol. rural tax commissions recorded objects of taxation from the words of the peasants, who in most cases showed everything in a reduced size. No verification was carried out. Volkomissiya for the majority of those with non‐agricultural earnings increased profitability by 40‐50%, as an underestimated one.
75. In Voskresenskaya parish. Sudogodsky u. 50% of side earnings were hidden by commissions.
76. Nizhny Novgorod province. 24 August. The chairman of the Drachevsky village council, when accounting for the earnings of carpenters (there are most of them in the district), put down 30‐50 rubles, while carpenters earn 150‐350 rubles a year.
77. Tula province. August 9. The chairman of the Vedrinsky village council of the Belevsky district (he is also the chairman of the accounting commission), in order to ʺraise his authority among the populationʺ, sheltered the incomes of 45 people who are in the waste industries.
78. Gomel province. 21 July. (West). Many peasants from the village. Kuntorovka Gomel district hid from the account of cows, pigs and sheep. The members of the accounting commission, for fear of turning the peasants against themselves, did not expose the concealment. Some peasants also attributed eaters (dead and unborn children).
79. AMSSR. August 1. (Ukraine). Campaign for tax accounting in village. Nezavtaylovka of the Svobodzemsky District is weak. Most of the members of the village council declare: ʺWe do not want to tarnish our name by collecting taxes from the peasants.ʺ
80. Donetsk district. August 28. (North Caucasus). A well‐to‐do member of the Verkhne‐Grekovsky village council of the Komarovsky district, refused to carry out, on the instructions of the village council, a measurement of the crops of the zemsoviet. He is also campaigning for hiding crops and livestock from registration.
81. Saratov province. August 16. (Volga region). Pressel Council with. Apelikha Volsky offered a group of wealthy peasants who rented 110 dess. state fund land, to hide it from the accounting of taxable objects.
82. Barabinsk district. August 15. (Siberia). The chairman of the Ivanovo village council of the Tatar region promotes the shelter of taxation objects. At the general meeting, he said: “We will not add anything else. I argued in the RIK and said that let them come with Cossack whips and a weapon, they wonʹt achieve anything anyway.
83. Krasnoyarsk District. 10th of August. The chairman of the
Aleksandrovsky village council (member of the All‐Union Communist Party) held a resolution at the meeting: ʺFor a bad harvest, cover half a tenth for everyone.ʺ
84. The chairman of the Kamarchag village council of the Maisky district, in order to reduce his tax, ascribed to his family a brother and family living in the Minusinsk district. The peasants say that they will follow the example of the chairman.
85. There have been cases of organized concealment of objects of taxation with the assistance of village councils and individual members of village councils in villages: Koma, Izhul, Trifonova, Kurtak, Krasny Kamen, Sargash, Tyup, Korelka. The Kurtak village council was put on trial, the pre‐village council was arrested.
86. Achinsk District. 10th of August. Village Council with. Mikhaylovka, Uzhursky District, helps to hide taxable objects. The poor and party members are removed from the tax meetings; thus, the shelter is organized.
87. Minusinsk District. 10th of August. In with. In Shoshino, Minusinsk District, 6 owners were found to have sheltered taxation objects. As malicious concealers, they were brought to justice. A member of the RIK (member of the All‐Union Communist Party), who undertook to petition for them, hid the material submitted to them.
88. Tomsk District. August 30. Authorized village. Robinovka declares: “There is nothing I can do to identify the entire crop, if I identify, then I will have bad luck from my peasants. RIC should take measures to identify covered crops and livestock, almost all sheep are hidden, but it is difficult to identify.
Negligence, inactivity, inattention to their work of tax commissions
89. Voronezh province. August 20. (Centre). In the settlement N. Kriush of the Staro‐Kriushinsky district of the Bogucharsky u. the accounting of objects of taxation was careless, the commissions were inactive, side income was taken into account according to the words of the taxable, which often showed it incorrectly.
90. Armavir District. August 18. (North Caucasus). Verification commissions in the Petropavlovsk region worked poorly, mainly because of the fear of making enemies for themselves, and also because, without receiving payment for work in the commission, they could not and did not want to break away from their economy. As a result, in stts. Vozdvizhenskaya (11,000 population), no more than 30 farms have been checked and 18 harvesters have been identified. In stts. Peter and Paul (12,000 population), 40 farms have been checked. The Commission of the Sukhoruk Village Council checked 6 farms and no shelters were found, while after the repressions in neighboring villages, 72 farms voluntarily declared about shelter.
91. Kuban District. 10th of August. The accounting campaign in the Medvedovsky district is proceeding weakly. Inspection commissions often allowed peasantsʹ statements about lost crops in absentia, as a result of which the filing of applications intensified. Supervision of the work of the verification and accounting commissions from the side of the representative councils in the stc. Medvedovskaya and NovoVelichkovskaya were not. For the negligence and inaction of representative councils of Novo‐Vepichkovskaya and Medvedovskaya, they were brought to trial.
92. In the Bryukhovets district, the work of the verification commissions did not have proper leadership from the station councils. The members of the commission worked negligently, often refused to work, being busy harvesting grain. By order of the Baturin Stan Council, the verification commissions were disbanded due to field work.
93. Members of the provincial committee stts. Stavropolskaya in the same area refused to work.
94. In stts. Smolenskaya of the same region, members of the provincial committees refuse to work, motivating them to be busy with field work.
95. Zeysky district. August 15. (Siberia). In Pokrovskaya parish. preparatory work was poorly carried out. The chairman of the commission of the Ksenievsky village council said that he was overloaded with his direct work and refused to work in the commission.
96. In the Tygdinsky District, the registration of taxable objects was poor. The village commissions are negligent.
Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 5
LAND MANAGEMENT
Craving for land management among the low‐power layers of the village
1. Vyatka lips. August 1. (Centre). Omutninsky u. The introduction of a multi‐field crop rotation in the county began to take root in 1924 and is on the way of development; in 1924, one village for 114 dess. was transferred to the multi‐field, in 1925 ‐ 11 villages for 707 dess., this year ‐ 25 villages for 1308 dess.
2. Vladimirskaya lips. August 17. The general attraction to the multifield throughout the province is growing noticeably: in 1923 there were 232 villages with a multi‐field crop rotation, in 1924 there were 353 villages, and in 1925 there were already 720 villages. In 1926, 170 more villages were transferred to the polyfield.
3. Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. August 1. In Makaryevskaya parish. within the villages there is a great desire of the peasants to go to the cuts and in some cases to farmsteads. For the most part, middle peasants strive for this ‐ the foremost in improving agriculture, who, with all their desire to carry out improved forms of land use in the whole village, cannot do anything, since in the village in these cases there are always misunderstandings and disputes.
4. Saratov province. 10th of August. (Volga region). Novouzensky. In with. Orlov‐Gai, self‐selection of groups of middle peasants and poor peasants is observed. Groups are selected from farms that have an equivalent capacity.
5. Samara province. 24 August. On Nikolaev vol. Pugachevsky u. to date, work has been completed on the selection of peasant farms to be reorganized. In total, 442 households were selected in the parish (which is higher than the established norm by 10 households). The total number of applications from peasants wishing to reorganize their farms was at least 1,000. The indicated influx of applications speaks of the desire to quickly end the land confusion and confusion that currently reign in the countryside. In connection with the reorganization of peasant farms in the volost, in the summer of 1926, 10 collective farms were reorganized.
6. Kuznetsk district. 10th of August. (Siberia). In the village. Saltyki Shcheglovsky district is currently undergoing land management. Two settlements stand out from the society, one of which consists exclusively of the poor (in the amount of 30 householders). The initiator of the evicted is one of the poor.
7. Vladivostok District. July 1. (DCK). In the Shkotovsky region, the main redistribution of land has not yet existed. The need for redistribution is great, since only former priestly lands were partially distributed, which did not satisfy the poor in any way. The poor people of this region demand an immediate equalizing redistribution.
Resistance of the wealthy to all kinds of redistribution
8. Bryansk province. 26 July. (West). In Bezhitsky u. in village. Alekseevka, a group of strong middle peasants including 12‐15 families, having captured plots of forest areas, is trying to disrupt land management, since these plots will move away from them during land management.
9. Uman District. August. In with. Kocheryzhintsy of the Umansky District, land management is not carried out due to litigation between the poor and the kulaks, who have been suing each other since 1922.
10. Starobelsky District. August. (Ukraine). On July 22, in the 2nd Belokurakinsky Land Society of the Belokurakinsky District, a group of kulaks disrupted a meeting of citizens, where the question of land management was discussed.
11. Dnepropetrovsk district. August. In with. Sursko‐Litovskiy Pilotsmano‐Kamenskiy district a group of peasants kulaks, including 20 people, tied up a lawsuit with the land society, which hinders land management. The kulaks say: ʺWe will sue and slow down land management until we get what we want.ʺ Relations between the supporters of land management and this group are so aggravated that the former say: ʺIf land management is not carried out soon, there will be many murders on the basis of land use.ʺ
12. Zaporizhzhya district. In with. Voznesenka, Zaporozhye region, land management has not been completed, although it has been under way for the third year already. The kulaks are trying in every possible way to slow down the depot, not attending general meetings, not paying the land management fee, etc.
13. Don district. August 20. (North Caucasus). Wealthy and kulaks with. Voronkovsky, Yeisk district, on the project of intra‐settlement land management presented to them, said: ʺWe will sue for 10 years, but we will not cede our land to the poor.ʺ According to available information, they have hired a specialist lawyer to handle the case.
14. Penza province. August 29. (Siberia). A group of poor people from the village. Stepanovka Penza u. among 244 eaters she wished to move out of society, go to the 4‐field and carry out collective cultivation of the land. The kulaks opposed this, saying: ʺThe authorities cannot order us, we will do as we want, we will judge the horse, but we will not give you land.ʺ The surveyor who was present at the same time went over to the side of the latter, began to drink with them and in every possible way slow down the eviction.
15. Novosibirsk District. July 27. (Siberia). In with. In Motkovo, Alekseevsky district, for two years there has been a strong desire of the poor and middle peasants to carry out land management, but the wealthy in every possible way slow down this business. At the general meeting of citizens on May 23 this year. the poor and middle peasants, among 40 householders, brought up the question of allocating a land cut to them in one direction near the village, so that they could carry out land management with their group. On this issue, the meeting was divided into two camps ‐ for allocation and against allocation. Kulak, a former merchant and now a church head, said in a speech: ʺYou have no right to vote for yourself, equating the land issue with public issues.ʺ This statement was supported by the rest of the kulaks. Another kulak, having a land allotment for 3 houses ‐ 75 dess., Speaking out against the new settler, declared: ʺYou do not have the right to vote, since you are not an old‐timer of our village, but a newcomer after 1921.ʺ Thus, the well‐to‐do with their shouts and noise disorganized the meeting and it almost came to a fight. The nonregistered population joined those demanding separation, but the fists began to deprive them of their voice. As a result, the kulaks won and land management was disrupted.
16. Vladivostok District. July 10. (DCK). In the Mikhailovsky district in the village. On July 2, at Osinovka, at a rural settlement, local wealthy peasants with good land tried to disrupt the meeting convened to resolve the issue of land use. The well‐to‐doʹs attempt failed. The meeting spoke in favor of land management.
Kulak terror against land management
17. Melitopol District. August 1. (Crimea). In with. N. Grigorievka of the Chernihiv region on the night of June 15, two anonymous letters were posted on the door of the apartment where the surveyor was staying; in one of them it was required from the surveyor to stop land surveying and the threat was given by the ʺred roosterʺ. The second was addressed to the owner of the apartment, in which it was proposed to remove the surveyor and the threat was repeated.
18. Berdichevsky district. August. (Ukraine). In with. Golubevka, Ruzhensky district, two drunken kulaks, meeting a land surveyor on the street conducting land surveying work in this village, attacked him with the aim of beating him, but he managed to escape. Nevertheless, one of the attackers managed to catch up with the land surveyor at the door of his apartment and bite his hands.
19. Kremenchug district. In with. Verbakh of the Semyonovsky District, organized kulaks in the amount of 20 souls on the night of August 6 of this year. attempted the murder of a land surveyor and a trainee, who very zealously took up land management in this village. After the attack, land surveyors quit their jobs, motivating them with unwillingness to risk their lives.
20. Kuban District. August 20. In stts. The Abinsk kulaks terrorize supporters of land management in order to disrupt land management. So, on July 13, an anonymous letter was planted at the pre‐land commission, in which they threatened with death those who would conduct land management in the village.
Estates discord on the basis of land management in the Cossack regions
21. Kuban District. (North Caucasus). In the spring of this year, public sentences were denied in the allotment of land to nonresidents: in st. Kanevskaya ‐ 300 people, in the stc. Berezanskaya ‐ 733, in st. Beichugskaya ‐ up to 1000 people, in the st. Korenevskaya ‐ up to 2000 people.
22.20 July in stc. Shepsugskaya of the same area, a general meeting of peasants was held to approve the lists of the zemstvo community. At the meeting, the well‐to‐do part of the Cossacks insisted on the refusal to admit nonresident and Greeks living in the village for 30 and 40 years as members of the community.
23. In the Primorsko‐Akhtyrsky district, nonresident in the division of land were excluded from the lists of land users as “not assigned to society”. So, for example, in stc. Stepnoy, when considering the list of the zemstvo community, almost all nonresident people were excluded from it, despite the fact that they make up 25‐30% of the population in the village. Only 6 people were accepted as members of the community. And even then only those who have visited the whitegreen gangs and the white army. On this basis, a fight arose between Cossacks and nonresidents twice in the village. In one of these cases, a Cossack beat a nonresident at the market, for which he was arrested by the police. An insolent bunch of Cossack kulaks freed the detainee from arrest.
24. Under the influence of reactionary elements in the sts. Cheerful of the same region, the Cossacks at all meetings speak out for the deprivation of land from other cities: ʺWhere you came from, go there, why did you come to the Kuban.ʺ Embittered by such actions, nonresidents threaten the Cossacks with reprisals if nonresidents are deprived of land. So, at one of the meetings, a nonresident, a former Red Army soldier, spoke at one of the meetings: ʺThe Cossacks demand blood with their speeches, if this is so, then we will not stop in front of her, since we have not yet healed the lashes of the Cossacks during the Denikin era.ʺ The former Red partisans are especially embittered against the Cossacks. This anger is aggravated by the fact that, when the land was deprived of nonresidents, white emigrants living in Greece were included in the lists of land to be allotted.
25. August 1 in stc. Nezamayevskaya Pavlovsky district, during the analysis by the visiting session of the regional commission of the statements of nonresidents about the allotment of land to them, a fight broke out between the Cossacks and nonresidents. When a policeman arrested the instigators of the fight, a crowd of 100 Cossacks with sticks in their hands approached the police premises, shouting: ʺHit the police, beat the nonresident, break the locks, give land to the nonresidentʺ, demanding the release of the arrested. The policeman was forced to release the arrested.
26. Stalingrad province. August 1. (Volga region). In the hut. Kulikovsky stts. Fires have become more frequent in NovoNikolaevskaya lately. There were 9 fires recorded in May and June, all of which are arson. Among the Hut Cossacks. Kulikovsky, there are rumors that the arson was done by people from other cities, deprived of land. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that only Cossacks are burning.
27. Stalingrad district in the hut. Shiryaysk, Novo‐Grigorievskaya stanitsa at a general meeting of peasants regarding the division of land, the question was raised: who to give the land. The Cossacks insisted not to give land to the newly arrived peasants. To the question ʺwhat to do with those Cossacks who came from other villages and live hereʺ, there was a noise and shouts: ʺGive all the Cossacks, and no one to the peasants, let them get where they came from.ʺ The meeting went on and did not come to any result.
28. Chelyabinsk District. (Ural). In connection with the decision of the land court of the Chelyabinsk RIK on the satisfaction of the land of all 232 raznochintsy living in the village. Kremenkul until 1922, the Cossacks of this village, under the influence of the well‐to‐doʹs agitation, decided to refuse allotment of land to all the commoners as ʺthose who arrived after 1922ʺ, although this does not correspond to reality, since the commoners have lived for a long time.
The relationship between old‐timers and new settlers (Siberia, DVK)
29. Barabinsky district. August 15. (Siberia). Menshikovsky district. A new settler was admitted to the land society by the Olʹga society. For the reception they took from him 100 rubles, 3 buckets of moonshine and ordered him to work 2 weeks for society (to finish the school).
30. Rubtsovsky district. 10th of August. S. Corner. On July 20, at a general meeting of peasants, it was decided to refuse the allotment of haymaking to the unassigned population of the village who arrived after 1918. In the evening of the same day, a group of 11 unregistered people gathered in the village council to appeal the decision. One of the unregistered (candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party) said: ʺWhat do the old‐timers think, depriving us of mowing, because there are 150 families in Uglovoe, 150 families in Lyapunovo and 150 families in Ozerno‐Kuznetsovo, and if we take guns, they will be in trouble.ʺ Another of the unregistered said: ʺThe old‐timers must be expelled from the village, and those who shouted strongly about not mowing should be killed in the bushes.ʺ
31. Kuznetsk district. July 25. In the village. Steep Mountain of the Gorno‐Shorsk region between the old‐timers and migrants over the use of land is a strong enmity. There were cases (in 1925) when the oldtimers did not give mowing to all the new settlers who were forced to buy hayfields in other villages. In the spring of 1926, the old‐timers acted even more impudently, not giving a single piece of land to the settlers, even for potatoes. The number of both those and others is almost equal (149 old‐timers souls and 130 newcomers souls). The new settlers submitted an application to the regional land commission (Gorno‐Shorskiy RIK), which was examined within two days, and the land commission issued a resolution: “Divide all available land in half, and fine the old residents 160 rubles. in order to pay the losses incurred by the new settlers”.
32. Amur province. July 15. (DCK). Der. Skobeltsino H.‐Arhar [ovsky] region. In the spring, settlers arrived in the village, who, upon arrival at their chosen place of residence, began to seed the fields. With the arrival of the settlers, local indigenous people began to seize the best plots of land intended for the settlement of new settlers, as a result of which a strained relationship was created between the settlers and the old residents.
The seizure of their dispossessed lands by the kulaks
33. Sumy district. August. (Ukraine). In the village. Kekino of the Rechansky district, despite the land management, the kulaks continue to use the land within the old borders, driving out those who got such land from the plots. Often, the kulaks mowed down the crops of the new owners of plots of land that had previously belonged to the kulaks.
In the hut. Voikha of the Rechansky District, despite the Rizu decree, the local kulak continues to use the land taken from him, driving those to whom it is endowed, while he declares that he does not recognize any authority and will continue to use the land as before.
34. Donetsk district. August 1. Oblivsky district. Due to the fact that in st. Until now, Chernyshevskaya has not carried out land management, the wealthy seize land where they please. On this basis, there is great discontent among the poor. Semorgans do not take any measures for the production of internal processing
35. Rubtsovsky district. 25‐th of August. (Siberia). In with. In V.Aleyskoye, Zmeinogorodsky district, a wealthy Cossack arbitrarily mowed the mow of a poor man who had recently settled and allotted land.
36. Biysk district. August 15. Togun district. Fist s. Titovo unauthorizedly seized and plowed the strip of the poor man of the same village. The Pressel Council pays no attention to the complaints of the poor about the unauthorized seizures of dispossessed land by the kulaks.
37. Novosibirsk district. 10th of August. In the village. Dorgousovo, Karpysoksky district, the prosperous seize the land of poor widows. The village council pays no attention to the complaints of the poor people to the village council.
Dissatisfaction with low‐power land management according to actual land use (Ukraine)
38. Nezhinsky district. In with. Good Ozero of the Komarovsky District, the poor villagers, disagreeing with the land management according to the actual land use, insist on a black redistribution.
39. Izium District. August. In with. Fedorovka, Izyumsky District, the poor declare: ʺWe have conquered the land, we and the law, but we do not recognize such laws as Article 92 of the Zemkodeks, since it was not worked out by us.ʺ
40. In the settlement of Krasny Oskol, the poor declare: ʺEveryone who decides to stand out in terms of actual land use, we will kill to the ground.ʺ
41. In the Gnidov community, the middle peasant population declares at meetings: ʺIf the land is not divided into consumers, then a second revolution must be organized.ʺ
42. In p. The middle peasants declare to Brashkovka: ʺWe will never give up the land according to the actual land use, since then it will remain with the kulaks.ʺ
Similar conversations were recorded among the middle peasants and other villages in the Izyum district.
43. Yekaterinoslavsky district. August 1. In with. In Novo‐Nikolaevka of L.‐Kamensky district, a group of kulaks of 16 people, insisting on actual land use, submitted to the regional commission an application for cutting out cut plots for them to conduct cultural farming, to which the landless, who took the kulak lands during the division, threatening the kulaks, declare, that if the brake on land management continues, they cannot vouch for themselves and may end up with violence against the
ʺfactists.ʺ
44. Starobelsky district. August. In the Novo‐Rossoshansk village council of the Osinovsky district, in connection with the preparatory work for land management according to the actual land use, such conversations take place among the poor people: “Again the land fell to the wealthy and the kulaks; the land must be taken away from them, otherwise the kulaks must be killed. ʺ
45. In the Pantyukhinsky village council of the Markovsky district, the non‐cheaters, dissatisfied with the land management according to the actual land use, say: ʺNow we see that the Soviet government has turned its back on the poor, the new land policy of the Soviet government helps only the kulak.ʺ
Inter‐settlement land management
46. Voronezh province. July 30. (Centre). Ostrogozhsky u. Land Society with. Ilovki, Alekseevsky district, for 3 years, was in litigation with the zemstvo with. Glukhovki of the same district for a plot of land in the amount of 172 dess. This site, which has belonged since 1864 with. Ilovka, in 1923 was transferred to the village. Glukhovka. Since that time, there has been a dispute between societies. The dispute was resolved by very many courts, starting with the Ilovskaya Volzemkomissia, right up to the Supreme Land Control, and with the last resolution this piece of land was finally assigned to the Glukhovsky society. The Ilovskoe society remained dissatisfied with this resolution and continued to petition for the return of the land to it. On this matter, both land societies spent from 7,000 to 10,000 rubles for a 3‐year litigation. Voronezh provincial land commission, where the case was eventually transferred, by a decision of July 2, she closed the case. The Ilovtsy, having learned about such a decree from their representatives, decided to seize by force the crops belonging to the Glukhovsky society and sown on the disputed plot. On July 14, to the ringing of bells, the Ilovites opposed the Glukhovites, who came out to protect the harvest. The peasants were armed with pitchforks, scythes and firearms. There was a shootout. 4 people were injured. Ilovsky society destroyed 22 ʹ/2 dec. crops belonging to the Glukhovsky society, which, in turn, killed the public bull, which belonged to the Ilovites. The conflict was settled by the fact that the administrative commission created by the PEC resolved the dispute, cutting off from 172
dessiatines. disputed area 40 dess. Ilovsky society. This ruling satisfied both parties.
47. Kursk province. 12th of August. Between Hut Societies. Strelitsa B. Bro‐Itskoyvol. White city district and der. Zolomnaya V. Mikhailovskaya parish. Staro‐Oskolsky had a land lawsuit. Based on the decisions of the Zemorgans, the society of the village. Zolomnaya this year was granted the right to receive 56 dess. hayfields from the Streletsky Society, which has been using this meadow since 1918. At the time of the mowing of its meadow, the Shooting Society mowed a plot belonging, according to the last resolution of the Zemstvo Commission, to the Zolomnetsky Society.
The mowed grass was brought raw by the archers. The Zolomnetsk society asked for assistance in
V.‐Mikhailovskaya militia. At the place of the conflict, a volunteer militia arrived with three militiamen, a pre‐village council and a land commissioner. Hut citizens also arrived. The shooters, who at the suggestion to stop the cleaning, raised a shout, and then opened fire, as a result of which a policeman of the V.‐Mikhailovskaya volmilitia (who soon died of wounds) and several citizens of the village were injured. Zolomnaya.
48. Armavir district. (North Caucasus). Batalpashinsky district. In the city of Batalpashinsk, arable land and hayfields account for 2 ʹ/ 2 dess., In st. Dzhigutinskaya ‐ 2 ʹ/ 4 dec., Per hut. Balakhonovsky 5 dess. and on the united farmsteads of the river. Sheep for 2 dess. The population expresses dissatisfaction with the fact that for 6 years of the existence of Soviet power in the Kuban, the correct distribution of land has not been done.
49. The farmsteads Azhinovo and Kudinovo of the Novocherkassk region seized the meadow wedge in 2000 dess. land from citizens of stts. Bessergenevskaya with the aim of selling hayfields to private owners. The Bessergenevsky society filed a petition before the DOZU for the return of the captured.
50. Penza province. August 20. (Volga region). Legal and land affairs with. Po‐Roshina Titovskaya Vol. N. Lomovskiy. with Michkassky settlements lasts about 5 years and it has been repeatedly considered by the Volzemkomissia, Uzemkomissiya and Provincial Land
Commissions, and there is still no final decision. The costs of this case have already reached 1,000 rubles.
51. The Mokro‐Michkassk Land Society began land management back in 1922, and in a 4‐year period the court case that arose on this basis with other villages passed all instances. Repeatedly it was decided in one direction or the other, and as a result, after the review of the VKK case, all decisions of the zemko mission were canceled and the case was remitted for new consideration. This operation cost society 8,000 rubles. and now the situation has been created that society is afraid to start again.
52. Trinity District. 5th of August. (Ural). Among the population of the villages of V. Kizilʹskiy and Kirsinskiy, there is enmity on the basis of uneven land availability. The V. Kizil Cossacks have a surplus of land, while the Kirsin Cossacks have a big shortage, due to which they, back in 1924, brought up the question of allocating 1800 dessiatines to the OKRZU. from V. Kizilsky society, but so far they have not received any results at their request. In the spring of this year, the residents of Kirsa arbitrarily seized the land they needed.
53. Kungurskiy district. August 20. (Ural). Due to the uneven distribution of land between the population of the village. Barashi and Shalina of the Artinsky district, misunderstandings arise, turning into open enmity. There was a case when police intervention was required.
Secretary of INFO About GPU Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 6
[EASTERN NATIONAL AREAS]
NORTH CAUCASUS
National relations
1. Chechnya. Chechen societies Khulandoy, Keldikhora and Melkhesti of the Go‐Lavdchozh district border the Tavlinsky district for sixty versts. Georgia inhabited by mountain tribes ‐ Tushins and Khevsurs. In | In the area of this border between Chechnya and Tushetia, there is absolutely no land suitable for plowing. The only convenient grazing mountain is Khalek, with a proper s. Melkhesti has been the cause of bloody clashes between Chechens and Tushins for more than 40 years for decades. Convened on July 25 this year. in with. Shatil (Georgia) a mixed commission of representatives of both nationalities to resolve the dispute over Mount Khalek did not come to any decision. July 26 this year The Shatila men rode armed to Mount Khalek and cut down all the grass belonging to the village community. Melhesti. On the night of July 28, they, in the number of five armed men, crossed the Chechen border,
2. In the Golanchevsky district of the PrJSC there are rumors that an operation to disarm the entire Caucasus and, first of all, the Georgian Republic, will be held in the near future.
In the Cheberloevsky district, there is a swag about the fact that soon Dagestan will be disarmed.
3. Circassia. Among the noble families, the expression of regret over the murder of Gutekulov continues. Peasant families, as before, welcome him. In connection with the commencement of the investigation into the murder of Gutekulov, there is some discontent among the peasant strata of the population that ʺthe authorities attach such importance to the murder of the defender of the privileged class.ʺ There is intense talk and agitation about the dominance of nobles and princes in the region. This agitation is especially intensified in connection with the arrest, after the murder of Gutekulov, of some workers representing the interests of the peasant class. Speeches indicating the dominance of the nobles took place at the party conference of Circassia.
1. The population of the aul Koshkhabl, consisting of 970 souls, was divided into two groups, and the first of them is the largest, in conversations expresses its dissatisfaction with the regional prosecutor, indicating that the latter allegedly protects the interests of the nobility.
2. The population of Dozhshukovsky aul expresses dissatisfaction with the arrest of the pre‐village council Nartokov, who is the defender of the peasant mass, considering the nobility to be responsible for his arrest, with whom they promise to get rid of.
3. In the aul of Kuzhinsky, the peasants are outraged by the behavior of the nobility. In conversations, they indicate that the power has gone over to the side of the nobility, having released those arrested in the Kalmykov case and arrested the defenders of the peasantry Nartokov, Tukov, Ozov, and others.
The mood in the Russian countryside. Cross unions
7. Adyghe‐Circassian region. Agitation for the creation of a cross union was noted in the village. Ivanovsky and the aul Bezheduhavl (inhabited by Russians, Circassians, Armenians and Greeks). In with. Ivanovsky is actively campaigning for a former member of the Kuban Rada, who calls himself a member of the cross union. The arguments put forward by him in defense of the organization of the cross‐union: ʺThe peasantry defends its rights and gets the opportunity to raise prices for agricultural products.ʺ
8. Sunzha District. In Mozdok, Khleboprodukt accepted barley from peasants at 43 kopecks. nud, and the State Bank for 52 kopecks. The difference in prices agitated the peasants and the latter demanded the return of grain from the Bread Product. This case did not fail to use on hoot. N. Behovichi is an anti‐Soviet element, proving the need to organize peasant unions, which will save the peasants from exploitation by the city and make it possible to take the real price for the peasant product.
Activities of the Muslim Spiritual Society
9. Dagestan. In with. Balayurt thanks to the intensified agitation of the Muslim clergy against Soviet schools, out of 34 students last year, 26 remained. Kandaradi Soviet school students less than 30% last year, in the village. Akgash ‐ by 60%.
10. Sheikh s. N.‐Kazanishche of Buinaksk region Rolan Ali Gadzhi organized in the village. Batayurt of Khasav‐Yurt district madrasah. The teacher of the latter, the murvd of the said sheikh, is campaigning against the Soviet school and the emancipation of the mountain woman.
11. In p. Aksai on the initiative of Sheikh Abdul Vagab Dylymov organized a madrasah at the expense of society. The teacher was requested from Sheikh Ali Haji Akushinsky.
12. Systematic agitation against Soviet schools by the public qadi of the villages of Kapchugai, Buinaksk region, was noted. The Pressel Council fell under the influence of the said qadi and promises to prevent him from entering the Soviet schools.
13. In the Gunib district, there have recently been cases of open agitation of the clergy against the party members and the Soviet regime. Scientist confessor s. Sogratl is openly campaigning among the population against the Communist Party. The confessor is supported by a member of the DagCEC Muftuvali Osmanov.
14.From 10 to 22 July this year in the flat regions of the DSSR, the Shiite holiday of shahsei‐vakhsey was held. To celebrate the holiday, Mullah Keech Ali arrived from Baku, who, with his performance and prayers in the mosque, brought the worshipers to tears. On July 18, an old Musavatist, an old Musavatist, spoke out against self‐torture in the mosque, who pointed out that the Sharia does not provide for the need for self‐torture, that it is possible to do without it and that if this is such a necessity, then why does the mullah not torture himself. On this basis, a great dispute arose between the mullah and the indicated teacher. Those present at the mosque also did not like the teacherʹs speech. Compared to last year, the holiday was much more enthusiastic.
15. In the city of Kizlyar, the celebration took place in prayers, in beating oneself with sticks, chains and chopping with daggers. Children were also subjected to a kind of torture, cutting their heads with a razor. Most of them tortured themselves by the poor, bribed by the rich.
16. Kabardino‐Balkarian region. In with. There are 5 mosques in Baksan, where mullahs, when praying, are campaigning for not joining the party and not allowing children to go to Soviet schools, as children in Soviet schools become communists. In addition, the mullahs openly scold the secretaries of the communes in mosques for the fact that the latter are campaigning among the population for membership in the KKOV. The mullahs are also campaigning against the ESHN.
17. Mullah Art. Cherek is campaigning among the peasants for not paying taxes, accusing the Soviet government of inattention to the needs of the peasants and of paper promises.
18. Mullah s. Akbash incites the peasants to not bring zakyat 233 into the KKOV, arguing that the communists and state employees are taking away public goods.
19. The authoritative mullah of the district level is actively campaigning against the participation of women in public work (Soviets and KKOVs). Other mullahs support agitation.
20. Chechnya. Toastmaster of the Akhmet‐Khadzhinsky sect spread rumors in the Novo‐Chechen district that allegedly in July and August of this year. operations will be carried out throughout Chechnya and the authorities will arrest representatives of the clergy. The training sessions of the artillery units were explained by representatives of the clergy as a sign of the expected war between Muslims and Russians.
ORDER
Land management
21. Georgia. Telavsky. In with. Niauri there are frequent clashes between Khevsurs and Georgians over pasture areas. The disputed plot (300 dess.) Was distributed by the land department between the Khevsurs and the Georgians, but at this time the Khevsurs do not agree with the division made by the land department and claim the entire land. On June 10, embittered Khevsurs killed two buffaloes belonging to Georgians.
22. Rachinsky Between the villages. Gebi and Sakao is a large Sakaura pasture, which has been used by the Gebians for decades. Residents with. Sakao raised a question before the executive committee about the transfer of this pasture to them, arguing that the pasture in the past belonged to the Japaridze nobles, of which they were serfs. The extended PEC plenum decided to transfer the pasture to the residents of the village. Sakao, having dispatched the district police chief and two policemen to the place of the memorial. The latter suggested to the Gebts to steal the cattle and transfer the pasture to the Sakavians. In response to this, the Gebts, armed with anything, decided to arrange lynching and kill them. The police were forced to flee, but the gebtsy cut off their path and started shooting at the policemen. The latter fired back in turn. However, there were no casualties from either side. After long negotiations, the preis‐polkom and the secretary of the uyezd who left the district for the scene of the incident were forced to compromise, suggesting that both sides temporarily share the aforementioned pasture. All this created hatred between the residents of both sides.
23. Akhaltsikhe district Throughout the Kolkhidinsky district, where land management has not been carried out, scandals and quarrels often take place among the peasants. Many of the wealthy have taken over the best and most fertile land, and the poor own small and barren land. In this regard, the poor say: “As the wealthy ruled under Nicholas, so they dominate now. The difference is very small. ʺ
24. In Varkhansky, those of the same district in the village. Khardzhaneti constantly disputes over the estate land of the former landowner Atabekov, which was captured by kulaks.
25. Azerbaijan. Gandzhinsky u. All L. V. Akjakend (1585 souls, 195 households with a predominantly Armenian population), where the land is distributed, the surveyor Glegiev, using his influence on the commission, distributes the land at his own discretion. So, he took the land from the orphans of Sagatelov and handed it over to a speculator.
26. Shamkhor. Pressel Council with. N. Ivanovka defends the interests of clergy and kulaks. With the allotment of manor lands to the inhabitants, contrary to the resolution of the village council, the kulaks received more land, and the poor less.
27. Nukhinsky district After the distribution of land among the peasants with. Khachmaz of Nadzharovsky district surveyors left a copy of the work plan. Such was kidnapped by the pre‐village council Nusrulah, who, being the first kulak in the village, was interested in land distribution. Until now, the peasants do not know their plots, which is what the kulaks use.
28. Armenia. Erivansky. In with. N. Kokhb, in the presence of the PreExecutive Committee and the instructor of the land department, carried out a land parcel without the participation of the Turks. The lands were distributed by lot, which left the peasants unhappy. Residents of the aforementioned villages. Mashadi Asan Khodaverdi oglu, Molla Abas Irza oglu and Ma‐med Ibrahim oglu said: ʺThe Armenians press us, do not pay attention to us, doing whatever they want.ʺ In this regard, the Turks decided to submit an application with a request to allow them to resettle.
29. In seven Tatar villages of the N. Akhtinsky site, no land plot has been carried out. The latter is eagerly awaited by all villages, since some have good lands, while others have bad ones.
Soviet apparatus
30. Azerbaijan. Kazakh y. The Presidential Council sat down. While collecting agricultural tax, Piola Oshurov beat up a resident of the same village, Yuzif Ali oglu, because the latter, having no money, asked for a reprieve for several days. When a peasant tried to go to the city of Kazakh with a complaint, he was persuaded by several people close to Oshurov to return back.
31. Cuban y. The Presidential Council sat down. Kala‐Khudat, from the day of his election to the village council, has been in close contact with the village kulaks and is engaged in bribery. He also arrested a student of the party school Shahbaz Isa oglu for the fact that the latter, at the request of one of the members of the village council, reported on the actions of the pre‐village council. When trying to organize a Komsomol cell in the village, the Pressel Council dispersed all the Komsomol members. The peasants are outraged by the actions of the pre‐village council and demand that he be removed from his post.
32. In the same district of the village council. Najafkent‐murid, who has a farm laborer, goes to the mosque to wash the corpses of the dead and receives money for reading the Koran. A member of the village council is a former landowner, a kulak with a farm laborer, two pairs of cows, two horses and 70 sheep. Before his re‐election to the village council, the latter was deprived of the right to vote for five years.
The peasants are dissatisfied with him and want him to be expelled from the members of the village council, but they are afraid to declare.
33. Secretary with. Kuladzhikh of the Kutkashen district of the same district ‐ the mullah is engaged in bribery. He also permits minor marriages. So, he registered the marriage of a 50‐year‐old with a 14year‐old girl, for which he received 6 poods. rice.
34. Georgia. Akhaltsikhe district The Peopleʹs Judge of the 1st precinct Mgeladze, who calls himself in the questionnaire a communist since 1919 (no one knows anything about this), who is not a member of the trade union, wasted state money. Thus, Mgeladze received 80 rubles from the Akhaltsikhe Ural Federal District, intended for feeding horses that he did not have. In addition, the Peopleʹs Judge treats his duties negligently and he has accumulated up to 1200 unsolved cases.
35. Abkhazia. Gumistinsky u. The peasants of the Aksar region express their dissatisfaction with the Ioseliani pre‐village council, which supports and protects the interests of the wealthy Svans. Ioseliani only subscribes to all the circulars and orders of the central government, not putting them into practice and completely oblivious to the needs of the poor. On the contrary, he terrorizes the latter, as a result of which the peasants are afraid of Ioseliani and still consider him a sergeant.
36. South Ossetia. The Presidential Executive Committee of the Monastyrsky District, Berianidze systematically drunken, forcing the peasants to treat him with wine. So, he forced a resident with. Makhnareti Kvelashvili to buy wine and have a revelry.
37. Armenia. Erivansky. Pressel Council with. Forum N. Akhtinsky district Avetyan drunk and beat villagers. After one of the drinks, he returned to the office of the village council and, in the presence of 30‐40 people, without any reason, beat two peasants. The population is dissatisfied with them.
38. Leninakan district The Presidential Council sat down. Gaffli of the 4th precinct Avoyan is under the influence of the kulaks and supports them in every possible way. He is also trying to lower the authority of the party in the eyes of non‐party peasants, always going against the communist party and the Komsomol. Until now, Avoyan has not provided premises for a reading room.
MIDDLE ASIA
39. Uzbekistan. Tashkent region in the village of Maly Zarkent, a group of bays, cut by the land reform, at their meeting decided not to allow the newly endowed farmers to use the land plots they received. It was also decided to collect 1000 rubles immediately. for bribery of the relevant officials in order to legalize the act of returning the lands taken from the beys. Similar facts of organized seizure of land by bays were observed in other villages.
40. In Khodzhensky u. Samarkand region a number of teaikers, for lack of cattle and equipment, abandoned the land they received. Many were hired to work for the former owners of the same sites. In the Tashkent district Tashkent region 15 such cases of land return to former owners were registered against 10 in June. In a number of auls, the newly allotted land to the poor were forced to cultivate the land on a half basis with the former owners or borrowed seeds from the beys on enslaving terms.
41. Turkmenistan. Poltoratsky district. In the village of Archman, 25 newly endowed farm laborers completely abandoned their allotments and transferred them to their former owners. In the aul of Berum (the same district), all the bai, cut by the land reform (200 people), again took possession of their former plots. The reason for the success of the beysinvaders is the terrorist methods they use in relation to the newly endowed. Thus, in the aul of Archman, the pre‐aulses were brutally killed, the supporter of the Zemreform. The chairman of the aul commission on land reform was also evicted from the village.
42. Kyrgyzstan. Frunzensky District. I sat down between the Kirghiz. Azhabazhtinsk and Russian villages. Beketayev, disputes over the uncertainty of the boundaries of the land resulted in a fight with 5 Kyrgyz and 4 Russians being seriously wounded. The Russians were led by two members of the CPSU (b). As a result of more frequent clashes, there is an increased resettlement of Russians. Up to 300 families from different villages of Belovodskaya Volost left for the Ussuriysk Territory.
43. Uzbekistan. Tashkent region in a number of VICs and village councils, the chairmen and members are persons with a discredited past, politically unreliable, and also currently associated with thieves. Chairman of Ki‐tai‐Tyubinskaya vol. ‐ buy, who were noticed in the past in bribery and embezzlement of public money ‐ 6 people who are not able to carry out the assigned work ‐ 5 people. The chairman of the Kariysky VIC is an active supporter of the Sigizbaev group.
Tashkent u. The Pressel Council of the village of Ung received a bribe of 120 rubles for concealing the murder. Predvik of Maydantal vol. (candidate KPUz) for a bribe 100 rubles. contributed to the termination of the case on the charge of the pre‐agricultural cooperative, which squandered 1600 rubles. Similar cases were noted in region 18. About 1000 rubles were wasted and appropriated. from the amounts collected under the unified agricultural tax.
44. Zeravshan region. Gijduvan district Vabkent Scoywall for the release of the former Basmach received a bribe of 150 rubles. (the latter killed the informer upon release). The chairman of the Kumysh village council charged the population with allegedly 200 rubles for the extract of the newspaper, of which he handed over only 60 rubles, having appropriated the rest of the money. There were 17 similar cases in the region. There were 6 cases of arbitrariness. Out of the sums collected through the Unified Agricultural Tax, 1400 rubles were wasted and stolen. The same fate befell the sum of 8,000 rubles allocated for cleaning the irrigation ditches.
45. Turkmenistan. Tashauz district. Up to 50% of all pre‐councils of the Takhtinsky region are seen in active aiding and patronage of the Basmachi.
46. Kerkinsky district. The chairman of the Khalach RIK is a smuggler who sends grain products to Afghanistan in exchange for manufacture.
47. Kyrgyzstan. Osh district. Senior police officer of the Ichkim vol. for a bribe of 20 rubles. freed the detained by a detachment of Basmach.
48. Frunzensky District. The chairman of the Belovodsk VIK received a bribe of 23 rubles for the release of the arrested person.
49. Uzbekistan. Mountains. Samarkand. Supreme Court: cassation appeals linger for up to 5‐6 months. There have been cases when prisoners, having served their sentences, wait for the results of their complaints. State Prosecutorʹs Office: the Deputy State Prosecutor (Nasaryants), having received an order from the CEC chairman to analyze the statement of one farmer for illegal actions of the regional prosecutor, referred the case to the peopleʹs court of the 5th district, where it remained motionless for 8 months.
50. Supreme Court. Collegium member Vasily Panevich is an old lawyer, a former priest, who openly expresses his dislike of communists and ʺJewsʺ. Another member (speaker) ‐ Panevichʹs brother (Nikolai) ‐ is a chauvinist, bureaucrat, drunkard. The overwhelming percentage of the employees of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Justice are old court officials, bureaucrats.
51. Samarkand region. Almost the entire composition of the peopleʹs judges and inheritors of the Katta‐Kurgan u. there is an accusatory material in the regional court.
52. Tashkent region. The worker of the printing house Troitsky, taken to the police in a drunken state, was killed in the building of the police on the day of the watch of 3 policemen. The corpse was sent through the rest room to the cemetery without identification, and the police officers were sentenced to one year of strict isolation, and two of them were amnesty and released altogether.
53. According to the regional court of the stalled‐on July 10 of this year. there were 582 cases, the senior investigators of the regional court had 110 cases, the prosecutorʹs office ‐ 1570, the third section ‐ 1018 cases. Some of the lingering cases date back to 1923. In other areas, the number of pending cases exceeds 3000. stale by July 1 of this year. cases were 1651, according to Mirzuchal. ‐ 1433.
54. Turkmenistan. Poltoratsk district. The prosecutorʹs office does not exercise proper supervision over the execution of sentences. There is no accounting. Some of the peopleʹs judgments have not been carried out since 1924. Due to the negligent attitude of the prosecutorʹs office to detention houses, illegal leaves of arrested persons are widely practiced.
Prosecutors change too often (10 prosecutors changed during the year).
55. Tashauzsky district Deputy the chairman of the district court together with an accountant spent up to 800 rubles. state money.
56. Kyrgyzstan. Frunzensky District. Investigator of the Belovodsk region for a bribe of 650 rubles. freed several bandits from arrest.
57. Jalal‐Abadinsky district. The investigator of the 3rd section has connections with bandit elements, including his brother.
58. Karakol‐Naryn district. In the peopleʹs court of the 1st section, there are up to 1500 unsolved cases. Many cases have been idle for a number of months.
KAZAKHSTAN
Political mood
59. Ural province. Bai aul № 6 Karakul parish. Dzhambeytinsky u. Dyusengaliev, who has 150 rams, 40 heads of cattle, having his supporters, a former translator of the same aul, a former policeman, bays of auls No. 7 and 1 and others, summoned all citizens to ʺtoyʺ 234... About 500 people from the whole volost took part in the ʺtoyʺ. Here Dyusengaliev advised to convene and organize a separate party, suggested that the bays strengthen the work of organizing the poor by giving the poor people for temporary use of cows and other livestock, then through them, using their darkness, seize power into their own hands. “We also need to use the slogan “facing the village”,” said Duysengaliev. To organize this separate group, the said leaders sent their henchmen to auls Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 in the volost.
60. Russian Cossack village. Kulagina Topolinsky par. Guryevsky u. Mamkin said: “I look forward to the time when we will beat the naked (Kyrgyz); for such a case, I am sure that all Russian Cossacks, even 70‐year‐olds, will go under arms. ʺ Almost the entire population of the village is dissatisfied with the fact that more benefits are provided to the Cossack population. The entire Russian population is eagerly awaiting eviction to the autonomous region.
61. Semipalatinsk province. In Pavlodar, rumors are spreading about the return of all former class privileges to the Russian Cossacks with the restoration of the Cossack army. Especially rich food was provided by the publication of the resolution of the provincial Cossack party congress, which, among other things, speaks of the need to allow the Cossacks to unite in stanitsa 235. In connection with this decree, among the Cossack settlements of the former Pavlodar stanitsa, intensified campaigning is underway for the restoration of the Pavlodar stanitsa.
62. Akmola province. Citizen of aul No. 23 of Chayanovskaya vol. (Chimkent district) Burketbaev Tatzhibay among the farm laborers is campaigning that the farm laborers do not join the Rabzemles Union, and if they do, they will be first of all taken into soldiers. Some farm laborers succumb to agitation.
Land management
63. Ural province. Between the Kirghiz of the Yurilk and Alchinsky auls of the Talovsky Volost. Bukeevsky u. there was a fight over land ownership. As a result of the fight, 4 people were killed and 3 wounded.
64. Akmola province. In the aul number 6 Karagalinskaya vol. Atbasar district in 1925, the middle peasants, the Akhmedzhanov brothers, unauthorizedly plowed up the land (virgin lands) up to 15 dess., which belonged to the poor peasants of the same village. This year they went out to sow again, but the poor did not allow, demanding a payment of 20 pounds, wheat from tithes, on the basis of which there was a conflict that came to a fight. As a result, the land remained with the poor, but not used.
65. Dzhetysu province. In stts. Trinity Alma‐Ata u. at a meeting convened at the initiative of local kulaks, together with Feoktistov, the latterʹs report on land use was delivered. The speaker tried to prove the incorrectness of the redistribution of 1924 and demanded the return of the plots to the former owners. The resolution on this was adopted by a majority of five votes. The kulaks, without waiting for the approval of the decree, proceeded to seize their plots of clovers. Poor people express dissatisfaction with the authorities. There were five cases of seizure.
66. On the basis of crop damage, a clash occurred between the Russian and Kyrgyz villages of Novo‐Rossiyskiy and the 6th district of AlmaAta u. There was a fight with severe beatings. Similar clashes took place in a number of other areas. In T.‐Kurgan u. in a fight between Kyrgyz, one Kyrgyz was killed, and the killer was released by the police for a bribe.
67. Syr‐Darya province. Between the Cossacks of Suzak and Uzbeks of the Ikansky Volost. Turkestan district the dispute over the land plot located on the border of these volosts has been going on since 1923. During this time, there were clashes with killings and injuries. The intervention of local Soviet and party organizations did not give results due to the stubbornness of the Kirghiz, who continued to poison the Uzbek crops. It was decided to resettle the Kyrgyz in an administrative manner.
Musculture
68. Aktobe province. In the aul No. 2 of Aktobe parish. and the county clergy called a meeting of believers to discuss the issue of fees for the mosque. It was decided to collect fees in money and cattle according to a preliminary list. In the aul number 6 of the Karatugayskaya parish. collected for the benefit of the mosque 1000
rubles. money. Special assemblers appointed.
69. The chairman of the board of the PO village No. 4, Karatugayskaya par. Aktobe u. is bay, and a member of the mullah. At a general meeting of the religious society of the aul [they], being members of this society, during the discussion of the issue of building a mosque, agreed to allocate the necessary amount from the funds of the PO for the construction of a mosque.
70. Akmola province. In the mosque of aul No. 1 in Atbasar parish. and the district, the Tatar imam, in the presence of up to 80 men and 5 women, read a sermon, in which he pointed to the upcoming congress in Mecca, noting that it was gathering for the first time since the existence of the religion and to those irresponsible Muslims who complained about Soviet power, that she oppresses religion, you need to repent of your mistakes. The Soviet government, with its permission to leave for our delegates to the congress, said that it did not intend to encroach on the religion of Muslims, for this we must endure our governmentʹs gratitude, which those present did.
71. In view of the convened congress of the Muslim Spirituality in Mecca, preparations for the trip are being noted among the Kazakh population. So, the middle peasant of the aul No. 7 of the Tas‐Utkul vol. Atbasar district Akmurzin, for the purpose of a trip to Mecca at the ongoing Atbasar fair, sold a lot of cattle and now has about 1000 rubles. money, looking for a travel companion to Mecca and from his side noted the judgment that if I am not allowed to go by rail and by steamer, then I will go straight on horses and camels through Turkestan and Asia Minor.
72. Kara‐Kalpak region. In the city of Chimbay, a congress of muhtasibs took place, at which delegates were elected to the All‐Russian congress of Muslim clergy and a mandate was developed for the delegates. The latter basically consists in a proposal to achieve the limitation of the functions of the registry office and the expansion of the scope of the norms of Muslim marriage law. Delegates on the spot for the trip were collected 7 heads of cattle and 70 rubles. money.
INNER NATIONAL REPUBLIC
Musculture
73. Crimea. Simferopol district. In the Jaga‐Sheikh‐Elin village council on the day of the holiday Bayram‐Kurban, mulla der. Shikh‐Eli in the mosque advised the peasants not to admit their children to the Komsomol, frightening those with deprivation of religious rituals. At the same time, he called on the peasants not to obey the commission for registering taxable objects, referring to the fact that they are ʺrobbersʺ.
74. Kerch region. In the village. Uzun‐Lar has a teacher (candidate of the CPSU) who enjoys authority mainly among the poor and is persecuted by the kulaks. Upon learning that he joined the party, the local mullah spread rumors among the peasants that he would ʺcorrupt childrenʺ by teaching them Soviet laws. The society, led by the majority of the well‐to‐do, at one of the meetings decided to ask the village council to petition the ONO to send another teacher to the village.
75. Yalta region. In the village. Ulu‐Uzen, due to the intensified agitation on the part of the local mullah, the work in the pioneer detachment began to lag behind and not a single person remained out of 40 members. Mullah spreads the rumor that on every anniversary of the death of Comrade. Lenin will be taken from each detachment for one pioneer for the sacrifice.
76. In the village. In Kuchuk‐Dambat, local mullahs are campaigning in the mosque. As a result of this agitation, it turned out that the womenʹs department in the village almost completely disintegrated, out of 20 women only two delegates remained.
77. A representative of the Muslim Spiritual Committee, together with the Alushta mullah, made a tour of religious communities in order to collect money to send a representative from the Crimean organization of religious cults to Mecca. The Kuchuk‐Uzen society allocated 30 rubles for this purpose. money, in addition to which there were voluntary donations.
78. Bashkiria. Belebey canton. At the helm congress of the Mukhtasibat Muslim Spirituality of the 3rd District in the village. Koryanovo Buzdyaksky parish On July 22, there were delegates from 107 parishes in the number of 155 people, of which 57 imams‐mullahs, 21 muazins and 77 mutavaliyevs were present. The Congress adopted and instructed the delegates to defend the following provisions at the forthcoming congress of Muslim Spirituality (the most significant are listed):
1) The state should consider the religious orders of the spiritual administration as national orders or desires.
2) The clergy should enjoy all civil rights.
3) Provide believers with the right to establish religious schools.
4) To exempt mullahs from state tax.
5) The right to convene district meetings of parishes for the permission of sovorgs, notifying only those in advance.
6) To transfer mosques, religious schools, cemeteries, as separated from the state, to the disposal of parishes and spiritual administration.
79. T.‐Kataysky canton. Mulla der. Karaguzhino K. Telavskoy parish. spoke after a prayer to the believers with agitation not to become a member of the PO, as supposedly the affairs of the PO are bad ‐ they have a large deficit, there are no funds, bills of exchange have been protested. As a result of campaigning, 30 people dropped out of the PA members.
80. Mesyagutovsky canton. In with. Maklah Nasibashevskaya parish at the insistence of the mullah, the parish council proposed to the local hut Khuzoev to vacate the reading room, where the religious school, a madrasah, was supposedly located and where the council is supposed to open a new religious school.
81. Zalair canton. In with. Mrakovo, an unofficial meeting was organized by the mullahs during the national holiday of sabantue, at which they campaigned for the elimination of the BDU and joining the CDU. The Bashkir mullahs, who opposed this proposal, pointed to the need for the existence of the BDU and associated the transition to the C DU with subordination to the Tatars and the Tatar spiritual administration. Supporters of the liquidation of the BDU are campaigning among the population against the communists and Komsomol members, saying that the BDU supports them, since it itself consists of communists. The struggle between the BDU and the C DU was also fought at the congresses of the Muslim Spirituality of the 2nd and 3rd muhtasibats.
82. Tataria. Bugulma district. The Muslim clergy, in its instructions to the delegates to the All‐Muslim Congress, put forward the following demands of the Soviet government:
1) that permits for the opening of courses for the preparation of religious teachers should be issued by the Supreme Spiritual Council, and not by state institutions;
2) to permit the opening of printing houses at the Supreme Spiritual Council for printing religious books, and not to use the Latin post, in accordance with the resolution of the Congress of Turkologists;
3) in connection with the separation of the mosque from the state, and also since they are arranged at the expense of believers, it is desirable that there are no agreements and they should be under the supervision of the Spiritual Council;
4) The Supreme Spiritual Council should be allowed to send religious propagandists to the environment of believers, so that these propagandists in the localities from the side of government agencies do not erect any obstacles;
5) the heirs, when dividing the property, would appeal to the representatives of religion and the division would be carried out in accordance with Sharia, so that there would be no further court intervention;
6) It is desirable to recognize the Supreme Spiritual Council, like all other state bodies;
7) it is advisable not to take permission from administrative institutions to organize meetings to clarify national and religious issues, but only to inform the village councils.
The reactionary part of the Muslim community is inclined to believe that the Muslim Congress served as a means to put pressure on the USSR in terms of further concessions on religious issues.
FAR EAST AND KALMYK AUTONOMOUS REGION
Grassroots Communist Party
83. Buryat‐Mongolia. V.‐Udinsky the chairman of the Kalenovsky village council Burkov (middle peasant), being careless about his duties, has not yet announced the new agricultural tax to the population.
84. Achinsk aimak. The chairman of the Anday village council, Bazarov Zham‐tsaran, got drunk and got into a fight with the shaman Dobchin‐
Zhapov, breaking the head of the latter.
85. Khorinsky aimak. The chairman of the Kizhinginsky City Council Shagdarov (middle peasant), drinking and gambling, does not take any measures to suppress the latter.
86. V.‐Udinsky u. Member of the Turuntaevsky village council, living in the village. Nesterovo, Ivan Udachin (well‐to‐do) is agitating among the population against compulsory salary insurance, saying that it does not need to be paid, since it goes to commissars on breeches, speaks out against teachers that they are communists and should be driven out.
87. Khorinsky aimak. The chairman of the Aninsky village council, Bambatsirenov, gets drunk all the time, does no work. On July 18, a general meeting was called on the redistribution of hayfields, where he turned up drunk, and by the resolution of the meeting, the hayfields remained as before. The poor remained dissatisfied and several citizens filed a statement with the HIK that the pre‐council does not protect the interests of the poor, but goes along with the wealthy class.
88. In V.‐Udinsky district in with. Honkholoy village council distributes foodstuffs incorrectly. Gr‐ke Ryutina (poor man), who last year knocked out all the bread with hail, who has 6 eaters, was denied the food court, while the middle peasants and the wealthy were given out.
89. Mayminsky aimak. Chairman of the village council s. Ust‐Kan Smirnov Ivan Ivanovich constantly drunk and leaves the village council for 2‐3 days.
90. Assumption aimag. Pressel Council with. Sugul, who lives in another village, is rarely in the village council. The secretary of the village council Sumbaev, a candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party, is drinking.
91. Yandyko‐Mochazhny Chairman Gariaev and his deputy Nyudyulchiev systematically drink. The work of the PEC in the eternal absence of proper leaders came to naught.
92. Stalinʹs aimak. Chairman of the Aimispolkom together with the head. the tax office and the secretary spent about 200 rubles; this amount was collected from citizens to pay the agricultural tax.
93. Manichesky ulus. The chairman of the Bislyurtinsky village council, Mr. Noskov, being half drunk, in the shop of the Bislyurtinsky PO said that he, Noskov, as a former kulak, would always support the side of the wealthy. Noskov is a former white man.
94. The chairman of the Ulanovsky village council, Alkatiev, is a former large trader who served in the white army; members of this village council Stremin Yakov, Karpenko Nikifor, S. Sopelnikov opposed the Soviet regime.
National antagonism between nationalities and Russians
95. Buryat‐Mongolia. Khorinsky aimak. Russian population with. Despondent and Kurby, dissatisfied with the wrong land allotments, says: ʺThe Buryats are given more land than the Russians, because the Buryat government protects their interests.ʺ
96. Troitskosavsky aimak. Citizens from. Sukhorechievsky say that the Buryats have settled everywhere and that it is easier for them to live than for the Russian peasants, since they take less tax from them, and more land ‐ 8.27 dess., And the Russians only 1 dess. on the eater.
97. V.‐Udinsky u. Citizens from. For 25 years N. Zhirim rented 200‐300 dessiatins from the Buryats of the Orongoi khoshun annually. arable land. This year the Buryats did not lease the land, and therefore the sowing and hay area of the Nizhne‐Zhirim residents decreased. The villagers express strong discontent and say: ʺThese bastards are Buryats; it was necessary to take away all the land from them in the uprising.ʺ
98. Citizens s. Kalenovo deliberately let their horses into the Buryat hay fields, while Mr. Burkov, the son of a kulak, said: ʺWe will commit an armed revolt, open a war and we will kill the Buryats.ʺ He was joined by three, saying: ʺItʹs time to start a war, otherwise we have little land.ʺ
99. Barguzinsky aimak. The chairman of the Barguzinsky AIK, Sangadiev (Buryats), at a meeting of peasants in the Tunin somon, carried out, contrary to the decision of the zemsovostvo, a proposal to allot the Russians with mows, not used by the Buryats due to poor harvest.
100. Alar aimag. The biased attitude of the chairman of the Alyat village council, Elena Shambueva (Buryat), in the area of serving underwater duty is noted. The Russian population has already served 3‐4 times, and the Buryats, despite the excess number of horses, have never been on duty. On this basis, national antagonism is growing between the Buryats and the Russian population.
101. Troitskosavsky aimak. The Buryat population, saying “we do not want to keep the Russians at all in their place”, have been evicted from Razuvaev, who has been living in the Kilgantui somon since 1923.
Secretary of INFO About GPU Soloviev