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Transcripts from Soviet ArchivesReview of the political state of the USSR in December 1926
EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS MIDDLE ASIA
The mood in connection with the Unified Agricultural Taxation. Individual cases of farmersʹ dissatisfaction with taxes are mainly explained by the coincidence of the unified agricultural tax collection with the fees for insurance, Narobraz, the Koshchi union, etc., as well as tough penalties against poor non‐payers committed by some tax commissions
(Uzbekistan, Tashkent region).
Strong discontent of the population was noted in the Atrek region of the Poltoratsky district of Turkmenistan, where there was no preliminary explanatory campaign, the consequences of the flood of the river were not taken into account. Atrek, which flooded 40% of the crops, and there were facts of disproportionate distribution of the tax between the wealthy and the poor in favor of the former. Persophile anti‐Soviet people campaigned against the Unified Agricultural Union; the frontier Persian officials spread rumors about an amnesty for Turkmen refugees wishing to return to Persia, while promising them exemption from all taxes. As a result, some farms migrated to Persian territory (VIII, 1‐5).
The activity of bayism and religious belief. The re‐election campaign in Uzbekistan caused a lively preparation of the bays and the Muslim clergy for the seizure of the grassroots apparatus. In some districts, the grouping struggle intensified, and in some places the grouping led to the election commissions of their representatives (Tashkent region). Bai and their supporters went to some village councils (Fergana obl.). Trying to distract the attention of the poor, the bai timed wedding meals to coincide with the re‐election campaign (Samarkand region).
There was a case of the bai disrupting the electoral meeting (out of 220 people) after the announcement of the list of those deprived of their voting rights (Tashkent region). Bai and criminal gangsters villages. Faizabad, Kashka‐Darya region attacked the house of a dekhkanka, newly elected to the presidium of the village council, beat her children and a relative, and robbed all property; The attack took place the next day after the active participation and speech of a dekhkan woman at an election meeting and depriving the bays and bandits of the right to vote.
In some places, gangs and Muslims acted with anti‐tax agitation, calling on the population to punish the dekhkans who had assisted in identifying hidden objects of taxation (Uzbekistan, Tashkent and Samarkand regions). There are facts of a strong influence of the Muslim clergy on some pre‐councils (Turkmenistan, Tashauz district).
In matters of land management, the bayis are showing their previous activity and striving to restore the positions lost after the land reform (Uzbekistan, Fergana region), as before, there are cases of seizure of poor lands by the bayis (Kyrgyzstan, Osh district). Land disputes between the bays and the poor in places turn into fights or are resolved in favor of the bays with the assistance of the grassroots government (Tajikistan, Hissar vilayet) (VIII, 6‐14).
National antagonism. On the basis of land use, there are disputes and fights between Russians and Kyrgyz (Kyrgyzstan, Frunzensky
District). A strong exacerbation of hostile relations is facilitated by the systematic destruction of Russian fields and meadows by the Kyrgyz and the developed horse‐stealing committed by the latter from the former. There were cases of beating of Russians by Kirghiz (Karakol district). Russian conscripts sat down. Pokrovka beat several Kirghiz. One of the leaders of the drunken conscripts killed a Kyrgyz who was passing through Pokrovka (Kashka‐Darya region). The negligence of the Zemorgans makes the disputes protracted. The antagonism between Tajiks and Uzbeks on the border of the Garm and Gissar vilayets of Tajikistan has intensified as a result of unilateral decisions of the Narkomzem commissions to liquidate the land dispute. The commission included former emirchikov, nationalistminded (Tajiks).
In connection with the proposed reform of the Turkmen alphabet and terminology among the national intelligentsia, several trends arose for and against romanization (Turkmenistan, Poltoratsky district) (VIII, 1621).
Banditry. In the Tashauz and Kerkinsky districts of Turkmenistan, local gangs under the command of Durdy‐Klych and Akhmed‐bek and one gang that have transferred from Afghanistan operate. Akhmed‐beyʹs gang has developed an active activity on the territory of Uzbekistan. In addition to a number of attacks, she disassembled the regulator at the source of the Akhmed‐Yat ditch and destroyed the bridge towards Tokht. Akhmed‐bey himself was wounded in one of the clashes, the gang suffered significant damage and decomposition was outlined in it. Along with numerous bandits, several active Basmshaks operate in Uzbekistan alone. One of them, closely related to the Muslim religion and former khan officials, imposes compulsory taxes on the
population; the other aims to carry out terror against communists and Soviet workers. The territory of Tajikistan has been cleared of
Basmachism in connection with the transfer of gangs to Afghanistan.
KAZAKHSTAN
Antagonism between Russians and Kyrgyz. In some areas, hostile relations between Russians and Kyrgyz are increasingly exacerbated by the systematic destruction of Russian fields and meadows by the Kyrgyz, with the negligent attitude of the grassroots apparatus (Ural and Dzhetysu gubernias). The numerical superiority of the Kyrgyz in the Soviet apparatus, a weak punitive policy in relation to the Kirghiz‐cattle stealers, the uneven distribution of land between the Kirghiz and the Russians, continue to cause the Russian Cossacks and peasants to crave for separation from Kazakstan (Ural, Syr‐Darya province). The Russian kulaks and bayism further inflame the antagonism between the Kyrgyz and the Russians (Semipalatinsk province) (VIII, 22‐26).
The activity of the bays and the kulaks. Along with the widespread energetic preparation of the Kyrgyz bays for the re‐elections of the Soviets, individual bais exert strong pressure on the daily work of some village councils and VICs. Baystvo assists the Muslim community in expanding the network of religious schools, in the fight against Soviet schools (Semipalatinsk province). There have been cases of protests against the collection of the UCHN and organizations of Koshchi, cooperation, the Komsomol, and others. In some places, as a result of these protests, the work of these organizations is disrupted and the masses are seen withdrawing from them (Akmola, Semipalatinsk provinces, Kara‐Kalpak region).
The Russian kulaks are especially active in the re‐election of the boards of consumer societies, in some places they put their proteges in them (Akmola and Semipalatinsk provinces). To win the favor of the masses, the kulaks promise to invest their own funds in cooperation (Akmola province) (USh, 27‐33).
Dissatisfaction with the unified agricultural tax and the prices of agricultural products. The mass of abuses, inactivity and negligence of the tax and procurement apparatus causes discontent among the population of some regions. Incorrect determination of the profitability of the peasant farm, the appropriation of tax amounts by some workers, the disproportionate distribution of tax between individual strata of the peasantry, etc. abnormalities cause indignation of the poor and especially the middle peasants of a number of auls and villages (Akmola, Syr‐Darya gubernia). The delay in payment of the amounts owed to the peasants for the grain supplied to the supply points and the long queues at delivery force the peasants to hand over the grain to the private owner for a pittance (Aktobe and Semipalatinsk provinces) ‐ The discontent of the population, especially the Russians, is also caused by a strong discrepancy in prices for agricultural and industrial products (Semipalatinsk province), weak punitive policy against cattle theft (Dzhety‐Suu province), etc. (VIII, 34‐39).
Preparing for the re‐election of the Soviets. As the re‐election campaign approaches, the activity of various groups preparing for the seizure of village councils and VIKs increases. In mosques and in private apartments, meetings of group leaders are convened. To win votes, the Baystvo provides material assistance to the poor and distributes cattle for temporary use (Aktobe province). In some cases, bai have already recruited 1000 households ‐ supporters in the volost (Akmola province). In the groupings, along with the bays, workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus, convene meetings at the baysk apartments and send agitators to the auls (Syr‐Darʹinskaya province). In some cases, bai, treating the poor at their own expense, recommend that their supporters vote at least even for the poor from Koshchi, so as not to bring the communists to the Soviets (Kara‐Kalpak oblast) (VIII, 40‐46).
Banditry. There was a quantitative increase and increase in the activity of criminal banditry in a number of districts of the Dzhetysu and Semipalatinsk provinces. A gang of 300 Turkmens in Chelkar u. Aktobe province. prepares for an attack on the wintering of the population of the Chulakzhidinskaya vol. Some gangs are regularly deployed to China, robbing Chinese merchants. 4 gangs were liquidated completely and one gang was liquidated partially. The fight against banditry is hindered by the connection between the bandits and the bai and some co‐workers. The quantitative increase in landscape and bandits was expressed in the following figures: in November 1926, there were 14 bands, 108 bandits, 21 bands, and 232 bandits in December.
INNER NATIONAL REPUBLIC
National antagonism. Crimea. The antagonism between individual nationalities (Russians, Tatars, Armenians, Greeks) is manifested mainly in land management issues and in some cases takes on an aggravated character (Evpatoria, Yalta, Karasubazar regions). Natsantagonism is also observed among the Komsomol members (Bakhchisarai district).
Bashkiria, Tatarstan. The cases of manifestation of national antagonism that took place in a number of cantons were caused by disputes over land management and the implementation of the Bashkir and Tatar languages and the associated replacement of Russian employees with Bashkirs and Tatars. In some places, relations are so aggravated that they threaten to result in open clashes (Bashkiria ‐ Mesyagutovsky, Argayazhsky cantons, Tataria ‐ Laishevsky canton).
Chuvashia. In some places, the Russian population is dissatisfied with the implementation of the Chuvash language (Batyrevsky u.) And the annexation of the Alatyr u. to Chuvashia. In the town of Yadrin, a group of Russian farmers raised the issue of the withdrawal of the Yadrinsky district. to the Nizhny Novgorod province. (VIII, 47‐54).
Agricultural tax. Crimea. In a number of places (mainly affected by crop failure), the Tatar and Russian population (of all strata) expresses dissatisfaction with the onerousness of the agricultural tax, the incorrect definition of profitability and the consideration of lost grain. In a number of regions, less powerful farms are forced to sell draft animals to pay taxes (Kerch, Karasubazar and Evpatoria regions).
Bashkiria, Tatarstan. The attitude of the well‐to‐do and kulaks to agricultural tax is sharply negative. Some kulaks scold the Soviet power, urge not to accept salary sheets, not to pay agricultural tax and hide objects of taxation (Bashkiria ‐ Zilairsky, Tataria ‐ Chistopolsky and Spassky cantons). In some places, the poor and middle peasants, forced to sell grain to pay the tax, express dissatisfaction with low prices, the city and the government. The dissatisfaction of all strata of the village is caused by the coincidence of the agricultural tax with the collection of semssud and insurance, incorrect determination of profitability and incorrect drawing up of salary sheets.
Chuvashia. The attitude of the poor and middle peasants to the agricultural tax is generally positive. Dissatisfaction is expressed by persons who have income from side employment and the poor, in some places taxed more than the wealthy and kulaks (all districts) (VIII, 7080).
The activity of the wealthy and the kulaks. Crimea. In a number of districts, the well‐to‐do and kulaks (Russians and Tatars), who subordinated the workers of the village councils to their influence, are the actual power of the village (Bakhchisarai, Kerch and Yevpatoria districts).
Not wanting to lose the seized surplus land, the well‐to‐do kulaks in many cases oppose land management (Feodosia, Sevastopol and other areas). The facts of unauthorized seizures of land were noted in almost all regions. In a number of places, the kulaks and the wealthy rent the land of the poor on enslaving terms (VIII, 55‐57).
Agitation for the COP. Tartary. On the basis of dissatisfaction with the better position of workers united in trade unions, two cases of agitation for the creation of cross unions were noted in the Mamadysh and Arsk cantons (VIII, 58).
Activities of the Muslim Spirituality. In Crimea, Bashkiria, Tataria and Chuvashia, in connection with the congress of Muslims held in Ufa, the campaign among Muslims for the expansion of the faith has intensified. In a number of districts, under the influence of the mullahsʹ agitation, the population makes decisions and petitions for the opening of religious schools. In some places, the population, without waiting for permission, opens illegally operating schools (Crimea ‐ Sevastopol, Yalta, Feodosia regions; Bashkiria ‐ T. Kataysky canton; Tataria ‐ Agryz; Chuvashia ‐ Batyrevsky district). In a number of places in Crimea and Tataria, mullahs collect fees, are provided with land with the support of the village councils, are campaigning against the Komsomol and public organizations (Crimea ‐ Feodosiya, Kerch regions; Tataria ‐ Elabuga canton) and in some cases are the actual leaders of the work of the village council and the community ( Tataria ‐ Menzelinsky,
NORTH CAUCASUS
National antagonism. The hostile relations between Russians and mountaineers are especially strongly developed in the Karachay Autonomous Region. The main reasons for enmity are issues of land use and the national composition of the Soviet apparatus. Antagonism also manifests itself on a number of other issues, often turning into sharp clashes and mutual threats of eviction from the region. The Greek population of Karachay defends the issue of separating it into an autonomous unit or joining the Armavir district before the center. Cossacks of the Adyghe‐Circassian region. undertook a campaign to receive compensation from the Circassians for all the robberies that have ever taken place in the Cossack villages (U1P, 8187).
Anti‐Soviet agitation. Cross unions. The activity of the kulaks. Campaigning against the Communist Party, the Komsomol, ESKhN, KKOV and other public organizations does not stop on the part of the kulaks, the Muslim clergy and other anti‐Soviet elements. Cases were noted when the agitation was directed towards aggravating national relations (Karachay) and inciting peasants against workers (Ossetia). In a number of regions, anti‐Soviet agitation was also carried out by representatives of the grassroots Soviet apparatus (pre‐village councils). In the Russian regions that are part of the national autonomies, agitation is being conducted for the creation of peasant unions. In connection with the upcoming re‐elections of cooperative organizations, the kulaks are very active in running their candidates, often using the support of local authorities and even representatives of the region (Karachay) in their work (VIII, 88‐97).
The fight for the co‐apparatus. In a number of regions, a struggle is going on between individual clan groups to seize the local soviets, mainly the grassroots. In this regard, the groupings waged a campaign to discredit representatives of local authorities in the eyes of the population. Former noble families, who often enjoy patronage and kinship in the region (Karachay), are especially active. The re‐elections of the Soviets further intensified the struggle between the noble and peasant groups, whose representatives by all means tried to get their supporters (Circassia) into the Soviets. Due to dissatisfaction with the district authorities, which often protect the interests of some families to the detriment of others, there is a tendency in Chechnya to separate from one district to another (VIII, 99‐103).
ORDER
Anti‐Soviet agitation and performances. Rumors of war. In a number of districts, rumors of war have been spreading recently, emanating in most cases from anti‐Soviet elements, wealthy kulak strata of the countryside and the intelligentsia. In Azerbaijan (Baku u.) Rumors circulate about the conclusion of a treaty between England and Persia for joint military actions against the USSR, and, in confirmation, the call for territorial taxes was indicated. In Armenia (Zangezur and Meghri regions), anti‐Soviet elements spread rumors about the war between Turkey and the USSR and about the organization of the Dashnaks, who are preparing to act as allies of Turkey.
In Azerbaijan, in the city of Ganja, Komsomol members found on the street a Musa‐Vat proclamation in the Turkic language, written in a national‐chauvinist spirit and calling ʺto oppose the Russians to save the homeland.ʺ
In Georgia (Shoropansky district), as a result of a speech by a well‐todo (former nobleman), a general meeting was disrupted, convened to discuss the issue of building a school and building roads in villages (VIII, 104‐109).
Tax campaign. In many districts, during the UAT collection campaign, there were cases of incorrect distribution of tax obligations between individual layers of the village, between villages with the same profitability of farms (Georgia) and even between individual groups of counties (Adjaristan). As a result of this, as well as a number of abnormalities and abuses on the part of employees of the tax and grassroots administration, the poor in some places expressed massive dissatisfaction with the distortion of the class line in tax policy and the obvious under‐taxation of the kulaks due to over‐taxation of the poor. In most cases, the complaints of the poor were not addressed or left without consequences. The objects of taxation are hidden by the fists and the wealthy. In addition, they are campaigning among the poor and middle peasants for the shelter of taxable objects (Georgia, Armenia). A case was noted
Land management. The uneven distribution of land and the lack of precise boundaries caused a series of clashes between individual villages and between the poor and the wealthy kulak strata of the village. Disputes over land use also took place between peasants of various nationalities, often exacerbating relations between them (Georgia, Armenia). The kulaks, former nobles and landowners, and in some cases the bandits, showed increased activity and desire to seize the lands that had been taken from them earlier. A case was noted when one bandit with his relatives captured 350 dess. public land (Azerbaijan). In places the kulaks and the well‐to‐do, having seized the grassroots zemapparat, directed its work in their favor. In some cases, local land commissions, under the influence of the kulaks, endowed them with better land at the expense of the poor, often receiving bribes from them for this. Besides,
Banditry. There was some revival in the activity of small‐scale banditry in Tiflis, Kutaisi, Signakhsky, Akhaltsikhsky, Goriysky u. Georgia and in the Baku u. Azerbaijan, which showed itself by a number of armed robberies. As of January 1, 1927, there were 19 gangs with 144 people in the interior regions against 20 gangs of 151 people on December 1, 1926; in foreign countries ‐ 7 gangs of 88 people against 8 gangs of 96 people on December 1, 1926. Noteworthy is the attack of three bandits at the station. Kardanakh with the aim of killing the head of the station (Signakhsky district) and robbery of train number 3 near the station. Alat of the Transcaucasian Railway which ended in the murder of the person accompanying the mail and the seizure of 10,000 rubles.
BURYATO‐MONGOLIA, OIRATIA, KHAKASSKY DISTRICT AND KALMYK AUTONOMOUS REGION
National antagonism. Buryat‐Mongolia. There are ongoing conflicts between Russians and Buryats over land use. The Buryat population is outraged by the decision of the authorities, which endowed the Russians with plots and deprived the residents of two Buryat soms of access to water and forests. The well‐to‐do part of the population of the latter plans to migrate to Mongolia (V. Udinsky u.). National antagonism also manifests itself in the issues of nationalization of schools (Alar aimag) and the Soviet apparatus (Barguzinsky aimak).
Khakass district. Cases of manifestation of nazant‐gonism between the Russians and the Khakass continue to be observed, mainly caused by disputes over land use. In some places, the Khakases, oppressing the Russians (depriving them of land allotments), seek to evict them and pass appropriate resolutions at general meetings (Charkovsky, Chebakovsky, Tashtynsky districts) (VIII, 134‐139).
Agricultural tax. Buryat‐Mongolia. Isolated facts of dissatisfaction of the poor with the agricultural tax were noted (V. Udinsky district, TroitskoSava aimak). The kulaks, the well‐to‐do and middle peasants (Russians and Buryats) in the overwhelming majority of cases (across all aimags) express dissatisfaction with the severity of taxation, indignant at the benefits provided to the poor. On the basis of dissatisfaction with the agricultural tax, there were cases of anti‐Soviet actions of kulaks and well‐to‐do people (Barguzinsky, Tunkinsky, Alarsky aimags, V. Udinsky district). The hiding of objects of taxation in some places occurs with the participation and assistance of the grassroots coapparatus (Tunkinsky, Alarsky aimags, V. Udinsky district). The receipt of the tax in a number of places is delayed partly due to the lack of roads, partly due to the fault of the employees of the Soviet apparatus, who later handed overpay sheets to the population (Alarsky, Barguzinsky, Bakhansky aimags).
Oiratia. Khakass district. The poor in Oiratia have a positive attitude to the agricultural tax, while in the Khakass district they are dissatisfied with the high rates. The attitude of middle peasants and well‐to‐do people to agricultural tax in both localities in the overwhelming majority of cases is sharply negative. Both of them complain about the burdensome taxation, some of them speak about the reduction of the economy in the future and express dissatisfaction with the provision of benefits and advantages to the poor.
Kalmyk region Dissatisfaction with the taxation is expressed only by the wealthy, who complain about the severity of the tax. In the region, 1,571 heads of cattle and about 13,000 heads of small livestock were found hidden in 5 uluses. Among those hiding livestock, workers of the sovaparat were also noted (PredUIK and others ‐ Yandyko‐Mochazhny ulus) (VIII, 140‐150).
Banditry. The most active were the gangs of Sorokovnikov and Shembulaev‐Shagurov, who rob the population and steal horses and food supplies. In total, there are 11 gangs in the republic, numbering over 50 people (against 10 gangs with over 40 people last month). ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES AND GROUPS
Anarchists
Among the anarchists of the underground, attempts to organize underground groups and circles are still noted, and mainly young people are involved in them. Anarchists in Moscow were particularly active in organizing anarchogroups, where they organized several underground circles and groups among young people and the unemployed. Among the anarchist organizations of Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod province, Crimea and Transcaucasia, there are attempts to establish contacts with the anarchists of other provinces and organize a single center. So, the Nizhny Novgorod anarchists are trying to establish contact with the anarchists of the Vladimir province. for the creation of one center of leadership. Transcaucasian anarchists are trying to contact Moscow. The Kharkov anarchists are again trying to establish contact with Makhno.
The desire to organize groups was noted in Oryol Gubernia, where anarchists are trying to create a circle among young people to study anarchism; in the Bryansk province. anarchists tried to create their own groups among the workers. In Rybinsk, anarchists organized a group that developed their own program; among the members of the group there are several former members of the Komsomol. In Minsk, anarchists organized a philosophical circle for the study of anarchism among students of the pedagogical faculty. In Gzhatsky. Smolensk lips. the distribution of anarchist leaflets was noted. The admiral anarchists in Siberia are actively involved in organizing mutual assistance among the exiled cash desks, circle work, canteens, etc. In the Tomsk, Shcheglovsk, Kansk and Irkutsk districts, anarchists have established a connection with anarcho‐expropriators who have committed two major robberies.
Mensheviks
In December, 10 active workers and their assistants were arrested in Moscow, and 2 active workers of a local group in Odessa. Among those arrested, VL Ioffe, who escaped from exile to the Urals, was identified. Searches found 3 copies of the ʺSocialist Bulletinʺ for August and November 1926.
Monarchists
Over the past month, the distribution of leaflets ʺWords of the Supreme Commander‐in‐Chief Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevichʺ in the North
Caucasus (Rostov‐on‐Don and Donokrug) and in Ukraine (Melitopol District) was noted in the USSR. In the first case, leaflets were scattered on the streets of the city, and in the second they were sent by mail. The distribution of leaflets from Nikolai Nikolayevichʹs group signed by the ʺorganizer‐unifierʺ was also noted in the Amur District.
Counterrevolutionary groups
In November 1926, the OGPU Cup department liquidated a counterrevolutionary organization in the villages of Ladozhskaya, Vostochnaya, Beisugskaya and Novo‐Suvorovskaya, Ust‐Labinskiy and Korenovskiy districts, consisting of 47 people. Among those arrested are 3 former generals, several former officers and a chieftain. The organization was built on a military model: in hundreds, regiments, brigades and with the aim of raising an uprising, hoping for the support of the overseas White Guards.
In Vladikavkaz, an organization of 6 people was identified and liquidated under the name ʺCorporation of the Peopleʹs Desireʺ, which consisted of students from the Gorsky Agricultural Institute. The ideological leadership of the organization belonged to the associate professor of the institute ‐ a Menshevik. The organization had a charter, program, stamp and membership cards (46 were found). The main goal of the organization is the struggle ʺby peaceful, military, blood and bloodless meansʺ against the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the dictatorship of the proletariat, the ultimate goal is the overthrow of Soviet power and the establishment of state power, ʺrepresenting really purely peopleʹs power with an overwhelming number of peasants.ʺ With regard to economic requirements, the program provides for full private ownership of land, etc. According to the charter, a ʺcorporationʺ is an illegal organization, all citizens could be admitted to it, have reached the age of 17, recognize the program and charter of the ʺcorporationʺ and have submitted 3 recommendations. The charter developed a complex scheme for managing the organization, and, among other ʺauthorizedʺ, the charter provides for the existence of an armament commissioner. According to the charter, a member of the latter who gave out the organization is threatened with merciless reprisals.
At the beginning of December 1926, in the city of Elabuga (Tatarstan), the counter‐revolutionary organization TOS was discovered, which was later renamed the ʺEagle and Arrowsʺ society. The group consisted of the sons of former merchants, clergy, etc. In total, the group consisted of 13 people and was headed by the son of the former estate manager of a large grain merchant. As its goal, the group set anti‐Soviet agitation and terror against the workers of the Soviet apparatus. In January 1926, the society posted leaflets calling for the overthrow of Soviet power. Similar leaflets were prepared in early December, but the group was unable to paste them up due to the arrest of the entire membership of this organization.
CLERGY
Reactionary clergy. The preparations for the elections to the patriarchs of the exiled counter‐revolutionary Metropolitan of Kazan, Metropolitan Kirill, took place under the leadership of the patriarchal locum tenens Metropolitan Sergei, a former member of the State Council of the Tsarist era. Choosing Kirill by secretly collecting signatures from prominent bishops, the active churchmen of the Tikhonites wanted to confront the Soviet government and the faithful with the fait accompli of the election of the patriarch by one counter‐revolutionary episcopate. Simultaneously with the elections, a group of anti‐Soviet Tikhonov bishops developed and began to intensively disseminate a declaration as the main platform of the new patriarch. The main points of the declaration boiled down to the following: church and state are two warring poles, Soviet power is the result of the ʺtemporary moodʺ of the Russian people; all religious groups,
However, the Tikhonites failed to elect a patriarch, since the reactionary leader headed by Sergei was arrested. The arrest of Sergei brought confusion to the environment of the Tikhonites. In connection with the arrest of Sergei and the subsequent refusal of the place of oversight of the former Leningrad bishop Joseph Petrov and Fadey of Astrakhan, the Uglich vicar Bishop Seraphim was appointed as a temporary overseer, a very narrow‐minded person who immediately fell into dislike for part of the Tikhonov clergy. In this regard, in Moscow, there is a striving for the formation of independent parishes with elected bishops.
VVTsS. The VVTsS members are very pleased with the arrest of Sergei and his group, the VVTsS proposes to issue an appeal directed against Sergei. In addition, VVTsSovtsy propose to convene a congress in the spring of 1927, at which they are going to give battle to the Tikhonists and Renovationists. In general, the positions of the All‐Russian Central Council have strengthened recently.
Renovators. The position of the Renovationists was also noticeably strengthened, which is largely facilitated by the quarrels and squabbles observed in the localities among the Tikhonov clergy. At the end of January, the renovationists propose to convene a regular plenum, at which they propose to raise the question of sectarianism with a special question, inviting the most prominent experts in sectarianism to the plenum.
Sects. The main moment in the life of sectarianism in all main directions was the struggle over the issue of attitudes towards military service.
Baptists. A fierce struggle over the attitude towards military service was fought between supporters and opponents of the unconditional recognition of the latter at the Baptist congress held in Moscow on December 14‐18. After a long discussion, the supporters of unconditional recognition of military service, led by the Central Council, managed to pass a resolution confirming the 13th paragraph of the Baptistsʹ symbol of faith and canceling all previous decisions on the issue of the attitude to military service and the recognition of the latter with arms in hand. The overwhelming resolution declares all opponents of military service to be non‐Baptists. At the congress, the union was reorganized on a federal basis. The majority of the governing bodies are supporters of military service with arms in hand. Opponents of this resolution, who fiercely fought at the Congress against the recognition of military service,
Evangelicals. The regional congress of evangelicals taking place in Moscow joined all the resolutions of the All‐Union congress on military service with arms in hand. This decision caused a split among the Moscow communities, with one community split and part of it joined the community that has existed since 1923 and does not recognize military service.
Tolstoyans. In connection with the recognition by the Baptists and evangelists of military service among the Tolstoyans began agitation for the need to ʺbrand them with shame.ʺ At the Christmas meeting, a resolution was passed to write a letter in this spirit, and the letter had to be signed by certain prominent Tolstoyans; it was decided to refrain from speaking on behalf of the Moscow Vegetarian Society. Illegal youth circle of Tolstoyans began to publish an illegal handwritten magazine.
BANDITRY
Centre. On the territory of the provinces of Voronezh, Tambov, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga and Ryazan, isolated robberies and raids by organized gangs and small groups of criminals are still observed. The robberies of the ring post in the vicinity of Maloyaroslavets (4,000 rubles taken) and the postal and telegraph office in Orel (3,000 rubles were stolen) deserve attention. Golinskyʹs gang, a group of criminals (25 people), operating in Arzamassky, was liquidated. Nizhny Novgorod province, and Bychkovʹs gang, which operated on the territory of Staro‐Oskolsky u. Kursk lips. In total, there are 17 gangs in the region ‐ 79 people, last month 19 gangs ‐ 95 people.
West (overseas area). The organizational activity of Balakhovich has noticeably increased. At the end of November along the Nesvizh district. The recruitment of volunteers was announced to staff the detachments formed by Balakhovich, the number of which currently reaches 250 people.
Inner area. Criminal banditry has intensified in the Gomel province. and in the Bobruisk and Borisov districts of the BSSR due to the newly organized small bandit groups from local peasants and the emergence of a new actively operating gang of Gunter (Gomel province). Of the previously noted bandit groups, the gangs of Shabolin and Mochennikov were active. In the reporting period, the police liquidated one gang. In total, in the region, together with foreign ones, there are 14 gangs ‐ 70 people (against 14 gangs ‐ 72 people last month). Ukraine. There is a slight increase in the activity of small‐scale banditry, in particular, the robberies of village cooperatives in the Glukhovsky district and urban cooperation in the Luhansk district have increased. Manifestations of sabotage banditry (with the exception of the raid of several bandits from the Ovcharuk gang on the village council and the village council in the village of Rogovskiy, Staroushitskiy district, Kamenets‐Podolsk district, during which the chairman was beaten up and official correspondence was seized) in Ukraine was not observed.
Gangs were liquidated: Vasilchishin‐Petrovsky ‐ 15 people, Martynenko, Listopada, Vasilenko ‐ 16 people,
Ridnina ‐ 7 people, 9 gangs of unknown command with a total strength of 69 people and the leader Boychenko was killed. It should be noted that among the gangs liquidated in the Glukhov and Kamenets‐Podolsk districts there were several members of the CP (b) U and the Komsomol; especially noteworthy in this respect is the 7‐member bandit group liquidated in the city of Zinovievsk, which included the pre‐district executive committee and the secretary of the party collective ‐ a party member since 1905. Over the 3 years of its existence, this group has committed a number of major robberies, including the Zinovievsky District Police Commission for the amount of 17,794 rubles.
This month there are 17 bavds in Ukraine ‐ 123 people.
North Caucasian Territory (Russian districts). The increase in the activity of small‐scale bandit groups took place only in the Don and Kuban districts. During the reporting period, a 15‐person gang gang was liquidated, which robbed trains on the North Caucasian, Donetsk and South‐Eastern railways. a group of horse thieves (8 people), operating in the Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk district, was detained, and 44 merchants of stolen cattle were arrested (Vinodelinsky district). In addition, from November 15 to December 31, 1926, 423 rifles, 149 sawn‐off shotguns, 214 revolvers and 18 bombs were seized from the population of the Kuban District. Currently, there are 5 landscapes on the territory of the region.
Volga region. On the territory of the Volga region, only small‐scale banditry continues to be noted. The most infected with banditry are the Tatrespublika, Saratov, Stalingrad and Samara provinces. In total, 16 gangs numbering 82 people operate in the Volga region.
Ural. The situation is approximately the same in the Urals, where on the territory of the Sverdlovsk, Perm, Shadrinsk and Kurgan districts, small groups of criminals manifest themselves as petty robberies. In the Urals, there are currently 3 gangs of 17 people.
Siberia. The general state of the gangster movement in Siberia continues to remain unchanged. As before, operating gangs continue to rob grass‐roots cooperatives, co‐institutions and the population, seizing food and horses from the latter. A gang of unknown commanders in the Novosibirsk district, which robbed forestry and forest guards, was especially active. In the area of art. Achinsk bandits dismantled the railway line in order to cause a train wreck. By the decree of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, Sibkrai was declared ʺunfavorable in terms of banditry.ʺ Over the past month, 357 criminals, accomplices and harboring persons were arrested on the territory of Sibkrai, and the ringleader Chervov and several bandits of Ognevʹs gang were detained. On the edge, there are 13 gangs of 48 people.
DCK. Recently, there has been a noticeable decrease in hunkhuzism. Horse‐stealing in the border regions, noted in previous surveys, continues at the same level. Local and foreign bandit groups raid border villages, seize horses and sell them for a pittance to the military units of Chang‐Tszolin. Of the newly organized gangs of horse thieves‐raiders, it is necessary to note the gang of an unknown command that crossed over to our territory in the Borzinsky region from Mongolia (the gang, having captured 50 horses, fled back to Mongolia), and the Moroshnikov gang, which operated in the Chita district, which also hid in Mongolia. The remnants of the gangs of Sapozhkov and Makarov have united under the general command of a relative of the last Makarov M. and are currently hiding in the Chita district, on the Solovukha forest ridge. During the reporting period, 5 bandits of Arestdulovʹs gang were detained and his accomplices were identified. In total, there are currently 13 gangs with 124 participants in the DCK.
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Yagoda
Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev
APPENDIX No. 1
WORKERS
Metalworkers
Strikes
1. Bytoshevsky iron foundry of the Maltsevsky combine (Bryansk province). On December 10, workers (1000 people) went on strike for the second time on the grounds of delayed wages (the first time the strike took place on November 27‐29). The workers demanded that a general meeting be convened for December 13 to urgently resolve the issue of wages and a report from the board on the economic situation of the plant; but on December 13 the meeting did not take place, as the board informed the workers that it was not preparing for the report. This aroused indignation among the workers and, without starting to work, they went home. Work was only resumed on December 14th.
2. Iron foundry MV 1 GSNKh (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). On December 13, the turners of the machine shop, including 25 people, stopped working on the grounds of lower prices (prices for bobbins were reduced from 40 to 25 kopecks) and the rudeness of technical personnel. The strike lasted 2 hours. Among the workers, there is discontent with the factory committee, which takes little part in the production life of the plant.
3. Wagon plant GOMZs. On December 12, the assemblers and riveters of the machine shop (400 people) went on strike, demanding a 50% increase in wages. The workers called the prezavkom, representatives of the RKK, TNB and deputy. director, declaring: ʺIf the salary is not increased, we will immediately go home.ʺ The administration partially satisfied the workersʹ demand. The strike lasted 2 hours. A few days before the strike was announced (December 8), workers submitted an application to the RKK signed by 60 people. The statement stated that if wages were not increased, the workers would stop working. The low wages of workers are explained by the fact that the parts produced for the construction of wagons often do not correspond to their purpose, as a result of which the workers have to spend extra time on their lining or processing, while the administration pays nothing for this.
4. Plant of agricultural machinery named after Kolyuschenko (Ural) Selmash. On December 8, 13 workers of the foundry cutters (most of them are new workers) stopped working due to dissatisfaction with the low wages (they earned 27 rubles in November). After a half‐hour break in work, the foreman managed to persuade the cutters to work until 2 pm so as not to stop production. On December 9, 5 obrubschikov filed a letter of resignation, the rest did not appear at work at all.
5. Plant ʺKrasnoe Sormovo” (Nizhny Novgorod province). On December 13, the artel of collectors (the car‐mechanical shop) stopped working, due to the underdevelopment of the established 57%, the break‐in for the assembly of 20‐ton cars, the artel worked only the tariff rate, since their auxiliary work was not taken into account, which they announced on December 13. The artel got down to work after promising to urgently consider the issue. Without waiting for an answer, the artel again stopped working the next day.
6. Shipyard PGO GOMZ. 18 working pressmen and 27 assistants stopped working, demanding an increase in the running‐in to 100%; since the factory committee refused the demand, considering their wages to be quite sufficient, the workers went home. The strike was caused by workers who entered the shipyard from Leningrad. This worker called on the workers to go on strike, pointing out that workers of the same qualifications in the Leningrad factories earn more. The strikers started work the next day. Among the participants in the strike were two members of the CPSU (b).
7. Factory of metal products ʺIskra” MSPO (workers 210 people). December 23, 100 workers of the primus, dishware and part of the foundry “Italian” 20 min. due to the fact that the administration refused to issue an advance payment for the holidays. The conflict was eliminated by issuing 8‐15 rubles. advance payment and opening a small shop loan in a cooperative.
8. Plant them. K. Liebknecht (Tula trust Goschugplav). On the night of December 29‐30, a shift of foundry workers, having worked for 8 hours, refused to do work, which remained no more than 1 hour. The work stoppage threatened to damage the plant. Despite the engineer’s persuasion and his orders to finish the work, the workers, seeing in the engineer’s order as being rude to them, quit their job after the beep. In order to prevent the loss of molten pig iron, the plant management suggested that the molders pour the remaining pig iron, but the last order was refused, citing the fact that the foundry workers were given boots, but they were not. The remaining cast iron, at the request of the administration, was topped up by several molders. The reason for the termination of work was the following circumstance. In the middle of December this year. to facilitate their work, foundry workers demanded an increase in the number of workers by 6 people, which the plant management did, but by reducing the wages of the foundry workers to 95 rubles. per month instead of the received 113 rubles. The workers, having learned about the decrease in wages, turned to the RKK for resolution of the issue, which, after considering this issue, refused to raise the increase. After that, on December 29, 30 foundry workers filed a collective application to the plant management asking to be transferred to molders, who, in their opinion, earn more than them. On December 30, in order to liquidate the strike, a meeting was convened, consisting of the secretary of the VKP (b) cell, the prezavkom and the plant manager, at which it was decided to dismiss three workers who had previously been punished for omissions in service from among the applicants. The dismissal caused an explosion of indignation among the workers: “If we are fired because we had comments before, why donʹt they fire others either. ʺ On the part of the cell of the CPSU (b), no measures have been taken to overcome the discontent of the workers. The secretary of the cell does not attach much importance to what happened at the plant. Several members of the CPSU (b) support the workersʹ demand.
Reduced wages
9. Plant ʺKrasny Vyborzhets” (Leningrad) Gospromtsvetmet (workers 3737 people). In the foundry, on the basis of lower prices, there was an ʺItalianʺ (the production of castings was reduced from 6 to 3). At one worker (a member of the CPSU (b)), who increased the casting to 5 pieces, a hard object was thrown into the head. The worker lay unconscious for 5 minutes. In view of this situation, the plant management appointed a commission to review the prices.
10. Baltic Shipyard Sudotrest (Leningrad, 4550 workers). Among the workers in the shipbuilding shop, there is strong dissatisfaction with the decline in prices. The earnings of workers of the 4th and 5th categories, equal to 100‐110 rubles, currently does not exceed 60‐70 rubles. In connection with the decrease in earnings, some workers declare: ʺWe have won freedom for ourselves, but it has become worse than in the old days, let them tighten the noose even more, then we will see what happens.ʺ
11. Kolchuginsky copper‐processing plant of Gospromtsvetmet (7000 workers) of Vladimir province. Among the hauliers of the wire shop, there is a sharp dissatisfaction with the decrease in wages due to the increase in the production rate. On this basis, several leaflets were pasted up in the wire shop, under which was the signature ʺwire workers.ʺ
The leaflets indicated that the saving regime was carried out at the expense of workers, since the wages of most of them had decreased by 80‐100%. Further, leaflets indicate that ʺthey want to make the workers work only for a piece of bread, and beg their wives.ʺ The leaflets end with sharp attacks against TNB and a call to demand the removal of the administration, which is deceiving the workers.
12. Metallurgical plant ʺRed Octoberʺ (formerly Dumo, Stalingrad). Among the workers of the open‐hearth shop, there is dissatisfaction with the decrease in wages. Having learned from the paybooks about the reduction, on November 15, 100 workers demanded an explanation from the head of the department. When the head of the shop said that the decline of 3% was caused by the release of low‐quality products, the workers responded by pointing out the bloated staff of specialists and difficult working conditions: ʺWe are giving our last strength, raising production, but our earnings are being ripped off.ʺ In view of the aggravated discontent of the workers, the trade union representative of the shop phoned the pre‐local committee, but since he was not there, a group of workers (25 people) went to the factory. The deputy chairman of the factory committee told the workers that the salary was reduced by the order of the deputy. the manager of the plant and the factory was not aware of this. In this regard, there were conversations among the workers: “We need to disperse the entire factory committee, specialists have seized power. Neither the director nor his deputy came to the workersʹ demands to appear at the factory committee. On November 22, a leaflet was found in the shop calling for a strike if demands for a pay rise were not met. On December 15, with the payment of wages, workersʹ discontent increased by the fact that earnings in November, despite the fact that an increased amount of production was produced (150 instead of 100 poods), decreased compared to earnings in September and October. The workers arranged a meeting, summoning the administration and the factory committee to it. The chief refused, referring to the fact that he was busy and came only after the chairman of the meeting (a member of the CPSU) personally went to pick him up. The chief was greeted with shouts: ʺTo his wheelbarrow or to the oil tank, so as not to diminish the salary.ʺ Deputy the directors and chiefs of the department gave conflicting explanations to the question about the reasons for the reduction in wages.
13. Baranchinsky plant ʺVolta” GET (Ural, 900 workers). Since April, the rates for skilled groups of workers have been systematically reduced; by December 1, the decline reached 50‐80%. For the hardware department, the prices for coil springs have decreased from 2 rubles. 40 kopecks. for 100 pieces up to 80 kopecks; On December 4, their prices were reduced by another 30%; starters from 2 rubles. 30 kopecks up to 80 kopecks, the same sharp decrease was carried out for drilling and sharpening parts. Workers put up with a 40% cut, but as the administration continues to cut prices to keep wages to a minimum, discontent among workers is spilling over into exits. In a turning shop, a workerʹs earnings do not exceed 25‐30 rubles.
Abbreviations
14. Plant ʺKommunarʺ No. 1 (Zaporozhye). In connection with the forthcoming layoffs, the workers say: “Downsizing is tantamount to a death sentence.”
Separate conversations were also noted that ʺif the trade unionists allow the dismissal of the workersʹ proletarians and leave the peasants, then the laid‐off workers will arm themselves with sticks and expel the peasants themselves, since the slogan is:ʺ Land for the peasants, factories for the workers. ʺ Many workers are in favor of replacing the reduction with the introduction of part‐time work.
15. Katav‐Ivanovsky plant (Yuzhuraltrest, 1800 workers). At the plant, 350 people are laid off, 50 of them are qualified, the rest are laborers.
16. Ust‐Katavsky Carriage Works (Yuzhuraltrest, 1200 workers). In November, 150 workers were laid off due to the lack of raw materials and materials. At the general meeting on the report on the work of the district committee of the Union of Metalworkers, the speakers accused the trust, the plant management and the factory committee of not bothering to stock up on material by the beginning of the first new operating year. The bureaucracy of higher organizations was pointed out. Among the workers there were conversations: ʺThey drove in summer, carried out programs, and in winter they give calculations.ʺ
17. Plant ʺZhest” (Don District). Due to the lack of raw materials, the administration planned to lay off 150 workers. The workers are demanding a parallel reduction of employees.
Delay in salary
18. Factory of Gubselmashtrest “Red Plow” (Tula). Among construction workers, there is strong dissatisfaction with the long delay in wages: by December 11, workers had not been paid their wages for October and November, and during all this time the workers received only an advance payment of 5 rubles. each.
19. Factories of the Pavlovsk region of the Metal Industry Directorate, PRUMP, Nizhny Novgorod province. (4580 workers). According to the collective agreement, wages for the first half of November must be issued no later than the 20th, but not yet issued in the first days of December. On December 1, general meetings were held in all factories in order to explain to the workers the reasons for the delay ‐ the difficult financial situation of the PRUMP. At the faculty number 1 deputy. the director of the PRUMP was not allowed to speak by shouts of ʺdown with the PRUMPʺ. The workers made a demand to open credit for them in the consumer cooperation. Some of the workers are in favor of declaring a strike.
20. Hammer and Sickle plant (Barnaul). Due to the lack of raw materials and orders in the machine shop, 20 turners have been reduced, and the foundry has completely stopped working. Workersʹ dissatisfaction is increased by non‐payment of wages for two months. Some workers are in favor of the strike.
Textile workers
Strikes
21. Dyeing‐finishing and Weaving‐finishing factories named after Markov Vi‐gontresta (1565 workers, Moscow). By order of the administration, weaving apprentices are required to refuel the warp (previously, weavers did this). On this basis, on December 1, before the start of work, the weaving apprentices among 50 people, without the knowledge of the factory committee, organized a meeting, at which they decided not to obey the order of the administration. The break in work lasted for an hour. The conflict is being dealt with at RKK.
22. Weaving and Dyeing factories named after Zhelyabov Leningrad Textiltrest (1,580 workers). On December 1, 20 female workers in the preparatory department of the new factory stopped working on the basis of bad yarn. The strike lasted 30 minutes. and eliminated by the intervention of the team secretary.
23. Zavidovskaya paper and weaving factory of the Multotkan trust (Moscow, 600 workers). On December 10, weavers (75 people) stopped working because of dissatisfaction with low wages (from 75 kopecks to 1 ruble 10 kopecks per day). The weavers demanded an increase in wages. The work began after a promise to transfer the issue to the Union. The stop lasted 15 minutes.
24. Factory‐school of the Technotkan trust (Moscow, 1397 workers).
On December 8, in the machine shop (23 people), when paying out wages, the mechanic told the turners (8 people) that he, without the knowledge of RKK, reduced their prices by 40%, since when determining the prices in November, he mistakenly increased them. This caused strong discontent among the workers and they after lunch break until 6 oʹclock. evenings did not start work.
25. Faculty of the United Sosnovskaya m‐ry Ivtekstiltrest (IvanovoVoznesensk). On December 2, the workers of the dyeing jiggers (26 people) stopped work, having presented a demand for an equalization of prices for those working on sulfur dyeing and dialin. Sulfur dyeing workers receive 3 rubles for 100 pieces. 95 kopecks, working on dialin ‐ 1 rub. 90 kopecks. The conflict was eliminated by granting workers the right to work in shifts (a shift on sulfur and a shift on dialin dyeing). The strike lasted 30 minutes.
26. Large chintz factory of the Shuisky Mestprom (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). There is strong dissatisfaction among the workers with poor ventilation. The workers have repeatedly appealed to the administration, but to no avail.
On December 9, the fan completely deteriorated, steam filled the room so densely that it interfered with work. One of the workers hit the car with his hand. Workers, including 20, stopped work in protest and began to stand at the machines after the ventilation was restored to good condition. The strike lasted 30 minutes.
27. Faculty of Krasnovolzhskaya m‐ry Ivtekstiltrest (Kineshemsky district of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). On December 10, the master of the weaving factory, according to the direction of the management for the poor supervision of the apprentices at the looms, called one of the apprentices, suggesting that he be more careful about checking the looms. The apprentice demanded that he be transferred to the reserve, which was done. In this regard, all apprentices (25 people) stopped working, demanding the return to work of the transferred to the reserve. The conflict was eliminated after clarification from the management and the factory. The break in work lasted an hour and a half.
28. Litvinovskaya Cloth Factory ʺCreator Worker” (Penza). In the weaving and machine shops, an ʺItalianʺ strike took place on the basis of a decrease in discharges, an increase in norms and a deterioration in living conditions (cessation of water delivery to the workersʹ dormitory). All these measures were carried out in connection with the economy regime. The discontent of the workers resulted in an open condemnation of the administrationʹs line: ʺAusterity should not affect workersʹ wages, but in our factory they immediately started by increasing the norms.ʺ Illegal groups arose among the workers, which discussed the issue of increasing norms.
29. Vyshnevolotsk m‐ra Tver Cotton Trust (Tver Province). On December 29, 800 workers in the auxiliary departments (muelny, wadding and bank throwing) of the Spinning Factory went on strike due to the incorrect distribution of the 4% increase under the new collective agreement. Upon receipt of the checkbooks, it turned out that for some categories of the lower grades (staplers, shearers, pruners) [salary] decreased by 6‐8 rubles, while the earnings of spinners increased (from 3 rubles 18 kopecks to 3 rubles 50 kopecks.). Before the strike was announced, the workers went to the head. spinning department to find out the reasons for the reduction in wages, but received the answer: ʺWhat is calculated is correct, go to the office.ʺ In the office they were asked ʺnot to interfere with work.ʺ Chairman of the county branch of the Union of Textile Workers, where two shifts of workers went under the leadership of a group of initiators, offered to contact the administration. Deciding that ʺthe factory and the factory administration are at the same timeʺ and that ʺthey were deceived by the new collective agreement,ʺ the workers quit their jobs, but did not leave the factory. On December 30, thanks to continued agitation by a group of workers, the rest of the workers in the spinning department joined the strike (the number of strikers increased to 2,100).
At the same time, there were attempts to involve the workers of the ʺTabolkaʺ factory (975 people) in the strike, too. The strikers sent their delegates to Tabolka, but the workers made a decision to continue working and demand from the textile workersʹ department to revise the collective agreement, and declare a strike in case of refusal.
At the meeting organized by the Ukom and PEC (attended by about 1000 people), no definite decision was made. The proposal of the Ukom secretary to start work and to allocate delegates from the shops for negotiations was greeted with shouts: ʺWe will resolve this issue ourselves, and talk with everyone else.ʺ After the meeting, a group of the remaining workers (115 people), under the leadership of one of the initiators, organized a new meeting, at which they decided not to start work, but to request representatives of the AUCCTU. For this purpose, a delegation of 6 people was elected and the minutes recorded that 1795 people were present. The delegates drew up a telegram to the AllUnion Central Council of Trade Unions, but since the minutes of the meeting were not certified, the telegram was not accepted. The delegates returned to the department. The secretary of the factory committee put a seal, but asked by phone to consider it invalid, the telegram was not received a second time. Upon learning of this, the workers said: ʺThe administration is hiding the truth from the center, we will not start work until the arrival of representatives from there.ʺ In the evening of December 30, some of the workers allocated delegates from the shops. The delegates went to the factory club, where they were told about the upcoming meeting with the participation of representatives of the provincial committee and the provincial union took place only in the morning of December 31. The workers again elected delegates for negotiations and began work on the morning of January 3.
On January 3, 440 workers in the dyeing department went on strike. (One worker of the beating department and two workers of the warehouse called for a strike and agitated for convening a general meeting: late.”) At 12 oʹclock. the day when the second shift left, she was not allowed to work and was ordered to go to the meeting. During the meeting, a group of workers incited the others to ʺexpel the comrades who had come from the gubernia center from the meeting.ʺ Their performances were interrupted by shouts of ʺdown withʺ. Nevertheless, at this meeting it was decided to arrange a meeting of the delegates of the dyeing department and at 7 oʹclock. evenings the workers started to work. At the meeting of delegates, the report of the pre‐department of textile workers about the collective agreement was heard,
Campaigning for a strike took place in the weaving department as well: ʺBy declaring a strike, we will support the spinners and will sooner achieve the satisfaction of our demands.ʺ
Strikes in both factories could have been prevented if the administration and the Union had explained to the workers the essence of the new collective agreement. There was no conference to clarify the collective agreement.
30. October Cloth Factory Mossukno (760 workers). On December 31, 20 workers of the mechanical department went on strike due to the tactless speech of the technorist at the general meeting. Technorek declared: ʺThe workers of the mechanic department are freeloaders and are supported by the weavers.ʺ The strikers demanded to bring the technologist to court. The strike was ended by the intervention of the director. The break in work lasted 20 minutes.
31. Naro‐Fominsk spinning and weaving factory of the 1st Moscow cotton trust (6960 workers). On December 9, the parters (90 people) stopped working in protest against the full deduction for the marriage of the base. Partitioners believe that the deduction should not be made for the entire basis, but only for a part of the marriage. The strike was terminated by the intervention of the director. The break in work lasted 2 hours.
32. Paper‐spinning factory ʺRed Perekop” (Yaroslavl). When the collective agreement was renegotiated, the increase in wages mainly affected lowgrade workers (18% ‐ 8% up to 8th grade and 3% from 8 ʹ/ 2 grade for pieceworkers who process more than 20%). The collective agreement was approved at a conference of factory workers, but, thanks to poor clarification from the trade organizations, pieceworkers, in particular weavers of the 4 and 4 ʹ/ 2 categories, had the impression that they were receiving a 10% increase along with the time workers of this category, while as under the collective agreement, the increase is, as for pieceworkers who have more earnings, 3%.
On December 22, upon receipt of the advance payment, the weavers found out the size of the increase they received. The excitement began. The weavers, leaving their looms, came to the pre‐shop bureau and demanded an explanation. About 250 workers did not work from half an hour to 1 hour.
Under the influence of the party members, the workers began to work at the machines, demanding a general meeting after the end of the work.
At the meeting, the report of the textile pre‐union and the directorʹs speech were interrupted by shouts: ʺYou are sitting on our neck, we are treating you, you deceived us worse than the old owners ‐ instead of 18% you added 3 kopecks.ʺ The meeting dispersed without making any decision.
Labor intensification measures
33. Glukhov factory named after Lenin of the Bogorodsko‐Shchelkovsky trust (Moscow, workers 14262 people). In connection with the ongoing campaign of voluntary transition to work [on] 3 looms, on December 7, weavers (about 100 people) summoned the members of the factory committee to the corps, at whom they heard conversations: “We would go to work on troikas, we business will go. ʺ “We didn’t fight to be strangled more at work than before with the owner. We will not allow the transition, because there is a lot of unemployment without us. ʺ No work was performed for 10 minutes.
34. Pavlovsko‐Pokrovskaya factory of the Bogorodsko‐Shchelkovsky trust (Moscow, 6940 workers). The workers working on the three machines, due to the poor quality of the duck, are dissatisfied with the size of their wages. Some C‐students earned 40‐50 rubles in November, which is equal to the average earnings per couple. On this basis, when receiving a salary, weavers with a small income announced their transfer back to pairs. A total of 249 triplets work in the old and new weaving departments.
35. F‐ka ʺRabkraiʺ of the United Sosnovskaya m‐ry of Ivtextil (Ivano‐VoVoznesensk province). Among the water workers (36 people), there is dissatisfaction with the acceleration of the machine. In connection with this event, working conditions are deteriorating, often workers ask for help from the reserve to unload the machines from rags and debris. There are tendencies among workers to stop working.
36. Weaving and spinning factory them. Anisimova (Leningrad) Leningrad‐textiles. Due to the threading of new fabrics in the 2nd half of November on 3 looms, the earnings of weavers decreased by about 4%.
Workersʹ dissatisfaction with poor quality yarn and raw materials
37. Band f‐ka Bogorodsky upromtorga (working 276 people). Weavers (30 people) express dissatisfaction with the administration’s refusal to pay them a shortfall of 10 to 12 rubles for the month of November, which resulted from the poor quality of raw materials. The conflict has been referred to the resolution of the conciliation chamber.
38. Republican faculty (Kostroma). There is strong dissatisfaction among workers with poor yarn. Due to the deterioration in the quality of the yarn, the earnings of weavers fell by 75% (instead of 85‐92 rubles ‐ 30‐35 rubles). The weavers filed an application with RKK, demanding an increase in prices. The question was referred to the conciliation chamber, then to the arbitration court. In case of dissatisfaction with the demand, the workers intend to refuse to work. In the weavingpreparatory department, the discontent of the workers of the unwinding shop is caused by the fact that the administration refused to make a postscript for bad yarn until the issue was resolved in an arbitration court. The discontent of the workers is intensified due to the fact that the administration is trying to deceive the workers, passing off bad yarn for good (labels of the 2nd Kostroma factory are glued to the bad yarn coming from Puchezh). In the shop, due to the deterioration in the quality of the yarn, there are a number of conflicts between workers and management; conflicts are eliminated by a promise to pay compensation for underproduction.
Dissatisfaction with bad yarn is noted at the 2nd and 3rd factories, at the 2nd factory the workers of the development department earned no more than 30‐35 rubles.
39. Litvinovskaya cloth factory ʺWorker Creator” (Penza). There is strong dissatisfaction among workers with the poor quality of the yarn. The workers daily declare to the administration and the factory that they are getting underdeveloped norms, but to no avail. Workersʹ dissatisfaction is aggravated by the fact that the administration requires workers to make good cloth, threatening to collect fines. The workers point out that the bad yarn has been arriving at the mill for more than three months. They openly declare that ʺthe workers are being squeezed into a ramʹs horn, demanding unbearable production rates.ʺ
Miners, Strikes
40. Mine them. Rakovsky Nikopol‐Manganese mining administration (Krivoy Rog district). On December 7, the 3rd shift of the miners and haulers of mine No. 12 (22 people) stopped working due to difficult working conditions (the workers were not given empty trailers). The workers got down to work thanks to the intervention of the foreman. The break in work lasted half an hour. On the same day, under the influence of the agitation of individual workers, the miners again stopped work and did not allow the haulers to work, demanding that they join them. The 3rd shift did not work again for 2 hours. In connection with the strike, 50 trailers of manganese were not delivered. The administration and the miners learned about the strike only the next day. The striking shift consists mostly of workers associated with the countryside.
41. Gorlovskoye Ore Administration (Artyomovsky District). On December 8, masons went on strike at mine No. 8 to build coke ovens. This construction is carried out by the German company ʺKoperʺ and according to the contract Donugol is obliged to supply the company with labor, but the required number of workers was not sent. The situation worsened on December 18, when the bricklayers stopped working, demanding a higher wage. In this regard, the representative of the company ʺKoperʺ stated that it was impossible to fulfill orders on time. He intends to inform Germany about this, indicating that the strike is a reason interfering with the implementation of the agreement. The strike continued until December 25.
42. Mine ʺNaklonnayaʺ of the mine ʺVetkaʺ (Stalin Combine, Ukraine). Discontent is noted among workers on the basis of nondistribution of overalls. Discontent is especially strong among the workers of the Arturovsky seam, where the ledges are very damp. The workers of the Arturovsky formation, who came to receive overalls, were given torn boots. The workers, taking them with them, went to the mine, where they said they refused to work. On December 1, 13 workers of the 2nd shift (a total of 350 people at the mine) stopped work from 2 pm.
43. Artyomovsky mine (DVK). Since November 1, Chinese workers at Mine No. 3 have been holding an ʺItalianʺ strike on the grounds of low wages. In addition, 150 of the 350 workers do not go to work at all. At a meeting of workers, it was decided to categorically demand an increase in wages from the management of the mines.
Dissatisfaction with the level of wages
44. Shchekino coal mines (Tula province.). There is a massive exodus of workers on the basis of dissatisfaction with the existing level of wages. The departure of workers intensified after a special working train that brought workers to work was canceled due to austerity regime. Most of the workers are local peasants and go to work from villages located 12‐18 versts from the mines. During the period from October 1 to November 24, out of 186 old miners, no more than 25% remained, out of 148 boilers, 30% remained. The workers leaving the mines go to the newly opened iron mines, where working conditions are better. Newly recruited workers (mostly low‐skilled), in view of the acute housing crisis, after working for several days, also take the calculation. On average, 15‐25 people are dismissed every day of their own free will, and the same number comes in again. Some chiefs are almost exclusively busy firing and hiring new workers. As a result of the departure of skilled workers and the turnover of the labor force, only 90% of the production program was completed in September, and 74% in October.
45. Krivoy Rog mines (Ukraine). Among the miners at mines 10, 11 and 12, there is dissatisfaction with low wages in connection with the underdevelopment of the norm, caused by the strength of the rock. Many workers intend to leave production. Exit cases are noted exclusively among workers who came from the countryside.
46. Kemerovo mine (Kuzbass). Among the miners of the Vladimir mine, there is strong dissatisfaction with the decline in prices. Prices for a cubic capacity of coal are reduced by 2 rubles. 75 kopecks (until October 1, the payment for the production of a cube of coal was 7 rubles 50 kopecks, currently 4 rubles 75 kopecks). The workers say: “The administration is lowering our rates, what can we do, we will work for 80 kopecks. for the team, just not to die of hunger. ʺ In connection with the reduction in prices, coal production decreased. There are tendencies among older workers to move to other mines.
47. Prokopyevsky mine (Kuzbass). The mine administration is reducing prices. Until September hauliers earned 2 rubles. per team, after a decrease in their earnings does not exceed 1 rubles. 10 kopecks the earnings of the downhill hatches is 50‐70 kopecks. in a day. There is talk among workers about leaving for other enterprises.
Transport workers, Strikes
48. Nikolsk railway workshops (Ussuriyskaya railway). On December 1, a strike took place in the workshops on the grounds of delayed November wages. Among the speakers, there was talk of organizing a strike committee. On December 3, workers were given their wages.
49. Main workshops of communications and electrical engineering (Northern Railway). On December 3, 40 workers of the riveting shop stopped working. The workers demanded an increase in prices for riveting from 70 kopecks. up to 1 rub. 20 kopecks for a pood and supplying them with winter overalls. The strike was liquidated by the intervention of the pre‐school trade union, who promised to revise the prices and apply for the issuance of overalls. The workers did not work for 3 hours. UPD on the demand of the uchk‐trade union to issue overalls refused, saying that he would better agree to close the shop and pay severance pay to the workers. In this regard, a strike is possible again.
50. Donetsk railways e. 28 December 12 workers sporting goods at the station. The base stopped work, demanding: a) to set tariff rates for them, b) not to transfer from sorting to loading, c) to divide the workers into two parties to select a special group of overload workers. The workers got down to work after promising to resolve the issue at the local committee. The strike lasted 4 hours, the workers began to work only for sorting.
Reduced wages
51. Perovskie workshops (Moscow‐Kazan railway). In connection with a sharp decrease in the running‐in of individual groups, on the initiative of the foreman, signatures were collected under a statement of refusal from further deductions of 1% in favor of the miners. Only 201 people have subscribed.
52. Ryazan‐Uralskaya railway e. Among the workers of the depot st. In Rtishchevo, there is dissatisfaction with low wages due to lower prices. Locksmiths of current repairs received only 25% extra money instead of 80%.
53. Transcaucasian railways d. Among mechanics and improvised maintenance (80) Depot Art. Discontent was noted in Baku in connection with the reduction of wages. On December 8, two locksmiths urged the workers to leave their jobs, and on December 9 they campaigned to demand that the administration call a workshop meeting. At a meeting held on December 11, individual workers pointed out the high cost of living and the harsh working conditions. They also pointed out that the October increase does not reach the goal, since with the increase in the basic salary of the worker, the costs of all kinds of deductions increased, while the real wage did not increase.
54. Moscow‐Kursk railway. d. Among the foremen third section of traction services is marked dissatisfaction decrease burn‐25‐30 rubles. In connection with the cut in running‐in, there is a negligent attitude towards the repair of steam locomotives. Some of the foremen, fearing excesses on the part of highly skilled workers, rarely show up at the depot. The material position of unskilled workers has improved due to an increase in their earnings due to a decrease in the extra earnings of workers of high and medium qualifications.
55. South‐East railway. d. Among fitters, roofers, carpenters and painters workshop wagon Rostov node marked reduction dissatisfaction burn‐up of 25% (in this connection salary decreased by 30‐40 rub.). Some workers (among them there are members of the CPSU) are campaigning for a petition to the Uchkprofsozh to leave the previous extra work.
Other industries, Strikes
56. Glass factory (Nikolaev, Ukraine). On December 8, 19 workers of blowers declared an ʺItalianʺ strike on the basis of the arrest of one blower, who made a drunken row in the shop. The blower, dissatisfied with the fact that the clerk had incorrectly rejected the dishes, began to beat the suitable bottles selected during sorting, while unintentionally wounded one worker in the head. The workers went to work after the administration promised to release the blower. ʺItalianaʺ lasted 1 hour.
57. Dyatkovo Crystal Factory (Maltsevsky Combine, 1,457 workers). On January 3, 70 grass‐roots workers of the grinding shop went on strike; the foremanʹs termination of work was motivated by the allegedly low temperature in the workshop, while the temperature in the workshop was normal for work (11 degrees above zero). Some of the grinders poured water on those who did not want to quit their work. The work began on January 4 with a delay of half an hour, as the shop was full of smoke from flooded stoves.
58. Teplogorskoe forestry (Chusovskoy district of the Perm district). On December 21, 70 lumberjacks stopped working, demanding an increase in wages from 70 to 100% and a decrease in production rates against the contract by 50%. In addition, the loggers pointed to poor living conditions, which were not confirmed by the survey. Attempts by the party cell and local committee to convince the strikers to start work were unsuccessful. The forestry department did not make concessions, so as not to disrupt logging in the entire region. The conflict has not yet been resolved.
59. Buildings of the Sevzaplesa plant (150 workers, Leningrad). On December 23, the workers of the mechanical workshop (80 people) carried out the ʺItalianʺ on the basis of reducing the load to the tariff rate by 50% without the consent of the RKK.
Abbreviations
60. Bokovsky glass factory (Vladimir). In connection with the transfer of the plant from the jurisdiction of the Sudogorod State Industrial Trust to Vladsteklotrest, it is planned to reduce 100 workers (mainly auxiliary workers).
61. Novorzhevsk glass plant ʺKrasny Luch” Pskovpromtorg. Due to a decrease in demand, the production of mine glass is reduced. Instead of 7 pots, only 3 are now working, as a result of which it is planned to lay off 30 workers.
62. Dorogomilovskiy chemical plant of Aniltrest (1000 workers). In connection with the decrease in the volume of work in the mechanical workshop (120 people), it is planned to cut 50‐60 people in the near future. The mood of the workers in this connection is agitated.
Delay in salary
63. PPP stationery factories (Ulyanovsk province). The workers were not given a salary for 2 months. On this basis, there is a strong dissatisfaction with the management of the plant, which, in the opinion of the workers, wasted funds irrationally for the construction of another factory. The delay in wages is due to the difficult financial situation experienced by the plant.
64. Logging organizations (Makarievsky u. Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province.). Peasantsʹ dissatisfaction with the non‐payment of debts by logging organizations and logging artels continues to take place in part of the county volosts ‐ Kadyiskaya, Slovinskaya and
Timoshenskaya. The debt reaches 20,000 rubles.
65. Verkhne‐Volgoles. The indebtedness of the logging organizations of the Leontyevsky site (Cherepovets province) of the rafting artel is 9,000 rubles. The workers say: ʺThey demand a tax from us, insurance, they describe our property, but they do nothing to the offices, this is how the power of the workers and peasants is.ʺ
66. Sawmill No. 5/5 of Volgo‐Kaspiles in Kologrivsky u. Kostroma lips. After a long delay (within 1‐2 months), the plant management issued the wages for the August‐September months. The payment of wages was delayed for 2 weeks. ʺThe workers besieged the office, demanding the payment of wages, and, finally, discontent turned into a conflict. The administration called the police to the plant, which beat the worker. On this basis, 85 pieceworkers quit their jobs, demanding payments.
67. Yaryginsky state farm ʺSpartak” (Kursk province). Among the workers, there is dissatisfaction with the administration of the state farm due to the fact that for 4 months they are not paid a salary. The discontent is aggravated by the fact that they are not supplied with food and work for 12‐14 hours. in a day. The workers say: ʺWe are not paid our salaries, but for non‐payment of the tax they demanded a penalty.ʺ
Workersʹ political mood Renewal of collective agreements
68. State Plant ʺAviapribor” Precision Mechanics (Moscow, 600 workers). At a working conference to discuss the collective agreement, the workers put forward the following requirements: the rate of the 1st category from 21 rubles. 70 kopecks. increase to 23 rubles. 04 kopecks, extending it only to workers receiving wages up to the 5th grade. To revise the 175% extra income downward and the 50% extra income upward. Businessmen do not agree with the workersʹ proposal to increase wages, for their part, offering to reduce prices.
69. State Mechanical Plant named after Dzerzhinsky (Moscow, 300 workers). According to the draft of a new collective agreement, the administration intends to raise the norms and lower prices by 25%, in order to equalize the earnings of the plant workers with the earnings of other plants of the same category.
70. Optical Plant (Leningrad) Optical and Mechanical Trust (465 workers, 73 employees). In connection with the conclusion of a new collective agreement, which has not yet been announced to workers, a decrease in the percentage of extra earnings for time‐based workers (not pieceworkers) and employees of lower grades began. So, for the time‐wage workers of the 4th, 5th and 6th categories in November, the percentage of additional earnings was reduced from 75% to 50‐55%, for workers of the 7th, 8th and 9th categories ‐ from 65% to 40‐45% and for the lowest employees the percentage of additional earnings set no higher than 50%. As soon as it became known to the workers and employees, great excitement began among them. There were even cases of talk about the announcement of ʺItalianʺ.
The employees, in addition, submitted a statement to the RKK with the following content: “To the RKK of the State Optical Plant from the employees of the TOMP plant. Statement. The resolution of the 15th party conference and the resolution of the All‐Union Central Council of Trade Unions, approved by the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars, and the press say that the implementation of the economy regime should not affect the material situation of workers and employees; nevertheless, at the State Optical Plant and in TOMP, the economy mode is based mainly on a reduction in wages, and the percentage of reduction among employees is inversely proportional to earnings, i.e. with lower salaries, a higher percentage. It will not be superfluous to mention that the workload of employees is more than enough, with a very, very limited staff. Based on the above and taking into account that the pre‐trust in the report at the meeting of the production section of the Leningrad Council on October 15, 1926 No. noted an increase in production, expressed in a profit of 70,000 rubles, we, the undersigned, would ask to keep the previous earnings, especially since the cut amount for the trust and the plant was 750 rubles, which will not be a heavy burden on the budget of the trust. Otherwise, if this reduction takes place on a general state scale, then it seems to us that it should be carried out for all positions, starting with the highest, and the percentage of reduction should be set in proportion to earnings. ʺ There are 54 signatures of employees. The statement was signed (with the permission of the collective) also by many party members, explaining this by their unwillingness to incite discord between party members and non‐party employees.
Taking into account the sharp dissatisfaction of workers and employees, the plant management ordered TNB to reconsider the issue and carry out additional earnings according to the old collective agreement, but with a decrease of 10%. The workers say: “They tell us and write to us that the regime of economy should not be carried out at the expense of
salaries, but in fact we see the opposite. We are simply deceived, tongue‐tied. Trofimov (pre‐trust) does what he wants, and therefore both the RKK and the factory committee are not needed at all, Trofimov does not consider them. ʺ
71. Telephone and Telegraph Plant. Kulakov (Trust of weak current, 1110 workers). The workers of the 28th department are dissatisfied with the rates introduced under the new collective agreement. According to the collective agreement, earnings cannot exceed 80%, which does not satisfy the workers.
72. Izhora Plant (Leningrad Gubernia, 4670 workers). Discontent with the newly introduced rates continues to be observed among workers. The new collective agreement has not yet been approved, and the salary is paid at new rates, and the blacksmiths and hammers working on the same machine are calculated differently (the smith of the pipe workshop received 1 ruble 50 kopecks per day, and his hammer 85‐90 kopecks). This phenomenon creates antagonism among workers.
73. Plant ʺGasʺ N.910 (Taganrog). At the general meeting of workers in the report of the chairman of Aviatrest, it was indicated that due to the cut in credits, Aviatrest refuses to include in the new collective agreement a clause on the transportation of workers at its own expense. The statement of the pretrust provoked a storm of indignation on the part of workers and employees; marked a number of harsh statements against the administration. Some of them pointed out in their speeches that the plant would only lose out on the termination of transportation, since the worker, having walked 5‐6 versts to the plant, would rest before starting work, and would also quit work earlier before the beep. Walking fatigue will affect your work intensity. It was also indicated that in connection with the termination of transportation, all social and professional work at the plant would freeze, since each worker, instead of staying after work at some meeting or conference, will strive to go home as soon as possible. Taking advantage of the workersʹ discontent, one of the employees Bukhtin (the son of the former owner of the power plant) is conducting this kind of agitation among the workers: “You still need to learn how to build a farm; here the owners built the Baltic plant earlier, and then they built the pavement and the panel for the workers, and which houses were built for the workers; but now what ‐ the workers have conquered the ride and are taking it away. ʺ The Prezavkom received two anonymous letters, which stated: ʺWe are tortured, what we won with great difficulty is now being taken away from us, the economy is no good.ʺ The second letter stated that ʺif the plant refuses to transport it, then we give our word that we will fight to the last drop of blood ‐ either life or death, one of two things.ʺ The transportation of workers continues. The plant management sent a telegram to Aviatrest,
74. Tagil metal plant (Tagiltrest, workers 3000 people). The regional committee of metalworkers handed over to the head committee a draft of a new collective agreement for discussion in the workshops of the plant. However, no discussion took place. The representative of the district committee went directly to Sverdlovsk to approve this agreement. Thus, the collective agreement in the shops was not discussed, despite the fact that the workers have a number of changes and additions. The workers are unaware that the collective agreement has been sent to the oblast for approval and are still waiting to be discussed at the meetings.
75. Petrovskoe Ore Administration of Donugol (Stalino). On November 20, at mine No. 2/16, a general meeting of workers took place, at which the question of renegotiating the collective agreement was raised. The speaker informed the workers that there would be a 30% surcharge for those receiving maintenance up to the 10th grade. In the debate, the workers pointed out that it would be better not to increase the salary by 30%, but to increase it by 5%, but thereby reduce the cost of production by 25%, since as soon as the increase in earnings is carried out, prices in the market will rise above the markup.
76. Cherembass (Siberia, Irkutsk). The Cheremkhovsky District Committee of the Union of Miners, not sufficiently taking into account the material capabilities of the trust, independently developed new terms of the collective agreement and, without coordinating this issue with the business executives, put its project, providing for an increase in workersʹ wages by 35%, for discussion at general meetings of workers. The proposals of the district committee of the Union were accepted by the workers unanimously, but the administration of the trust did not agree with these proposals. The result was a protracted conflict. The issue of the collective agreement on Cherembass has been transferred to the arbitration court in Novosibirsk for permission. Recently, the Cheremkhovsky District Committee of the WASH has begun to give up its positions on the terms of the new collective agreement. At meetings of workers, representatives of the district committee of the Union declare that that they really did not take into account all the possibilities of the trust and that on certain demands the workers must make concessions. The workers express serious discontent with the district committee. “The Union promised the workers a lot, and now it is oppressing the Cherembass administration. This number will not work. There was no need to promise” (senior worker miner). “The district committee took the line wrong. He failed to take into account all aspects of the trust. This is not the way to conclude a collective agreement. We can get into a mistake, from which our enterprise will suffer” (senior working miner, member of the All‐Union Communist Party, member of the district committee). “Our proposals, as can be seen from the words of the representatives of the regional committee of the Union, will not pass. The question is, why did the district committee promise us so much? Since the district committee has managed to instill great hopes in the workers, it must be able to give them, otherwise the coal mining business will suffer” (cutter, new worker). “The new collective agreement does not give us anything. Workers on it will be bent into an arc, but patience will come to an end. The district committee cannot defend our fair interests. At first they promised a lot, but now they are dancing to the tune of the Cherembass administration; letʹs see what the arbitration court will give us. We will not deviate from our demands” (slaughterer, old worker).
77. Brick Factory L. ya I Comtrest (67 workers). The collective agreement was renegotiated without discussion at a meeting of workers, and the administration is already acting according to the new collective agreement, having posted it at the factories. So, under the new collective agreement, the prices for piecework have been significantly reduced, although the rate for the first category has been increased by the collective agreement from 12 rubles. up to 13 rubles, but since all workers work piece‐rate, they will actually receive much less than they received until now. There is discontent among the workers with the Union. Worker Grudnina (non‐partisan, qualified, 12 years of experience) says: ʺWe do not know who and how entered into a collective agreement, because we must conclude an agreement with the administration, and we were not asked.ʺ Worker Petrov (non‐partisan, qualified, 25 years of experience): “Our factory is to blame for everything. They constantly shout at all meetings that the workers are the masters of our Russia, but here they did not ask the workers, they bypassed our rights and, for the sake of appearance, allegedly increased the salary by 1 ruble, and lowered the price. ʺ Worker Matoshkin (nonpartisan, qualified, 28 years of service): “They did not increase the workers, but the employees, they do not work piecework and they have no rates, well, now they will receive more ‐ in general, they do not care about the workers, but about employees, and our FZK and the Union are clapping their ears, we have badly employed workers FZK ”. All workers are dissatisfied without exception.
78. F‐ka them. Volodarsky (Leningrad, Bumtresg, 960 workers). Under the new collective agreement, prices were reduced by an average of 33%, and the workers were told that this reduction was caused by the need to equalize the earnings of workers at the Volodarsky factory with the earnings of workers at the Writing paper factory. Zinoviev. After workers threatened to go on strike, the November 10 reduction was canceled. At 11 oʹclock. on the morning of December 13 at the Faculty of Zinoviev with F. Volodarsky came a representative of the RKK and a senior Salytsik (a member of the factory committee), who began to agitate among the workers for rejecting the new collective agreement: ʺWe rejected the new collective agreement, but did you (Zinovievites) accept?ʺ One of the workers of the factory. Zinoviev replied: ʺIt is a pity that we did not come to an agreement earlier, in any case we can ask for a revision of the collective agreement.ʺ The collective and the factory of the factory, having learned about the arrival of workers of the factory named after Volodarsky, invited them to the factory, where the workers explained their parish by the fact that they wanted to ʺget acquainted with the work of the RKK, as well as with the factory itself,ʺ and asked permission to go through the factory, to which they received consent. Since none of the members of the factory committee accompanied them when they walked around the factory, they continued agitation for the disruption of the factory adopted by the workers. Zinovievʹs new code of the agreement.
79. Khobotovsky collapse of a small‐scale plant (Tambov province). Among the workers, there is a sharp dissatisfaction with the Union of Food Workers on the basis of the wrong conclusion of the collective agreement. The collective agreement, which was amended by the workers, was not approved by the Union. When the plant was put into operation in April 1926, changes were made to the contract without the knowledge of the workers (for example, the contract was illegally concluded for a year and a half, the norm for the issuance of overalls was changed, etc.). With regard to the establishment of a long term of the collective agreement at the branch of the Union, in its defense, it referred to a technical error that had occurred (i.e. instead of October 1, 1926, October 1, 1927 was indicated), but, as it turned out, this was not a typo, but an agreement of the parties ... For two months, the workers have been demanding the renegotiation of the collective agreement, but the Union pays no attention.
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 2
UNEMPLOYED
1. Moscow Labor Exchange. Local transport section. At the general meeting of unemployed members of the Union held on December 20 (there were about 300 people), during a report on the work of the Office, the audience heard shouts from the audience: ʺEnough, our priests used to fool our heads like that.ʺ A number of notes of the following character were submitted on the report: “Why are there no Jews on the stock exchange? Why are communist chauffeurs hired through the district committees, and not through the stock exchange? While answering the notes, there were shouts: “Enough, you lie, you are 200 rubles. you get it, and we are starving. All of you Jews sit on our necks and drink our blood. ʺ The presidium of the meeting decided to bring out the screamers. The speakers in the debate pointed out that “we are fighting nepotism and protectionism, but meanwhile it is flourishing on the stock exchange; the communists enjoy special privileges, they go to work through the district committees, and not through the stock exchange section. We need to demand so that they also go to work through the section. ʺ On the report on the work of the Office, a resolution was proposed, which spoke about the removal from office of Bereznev by the section, about allowing control over the section, about closing the stock exchange and about opening a canteen for the unemployed, another resolution was from the Union. Before the vote, noise and shouts rose again in the hall: ʺEnough to fool your heads with your resolutions.ʺ During the noise, one of the movers threw a bottle towards the head of the Office. Many rushed to the exit. The chairman closed the meeting, after which the unemployed dispersed. An unemployed person, leaving with a group, said: ʺThis is the case, we need to arrange such a thing on the stock exchange.ʺ The meeting heard only a question about the work of the Office, but about the work of the conference, the fight against unemployment and other issues, due to the conflict, they were not heard. we need to arrange such a thing on the stock exchange. ʺ The meeting heard only a question about the work of the Office, but about the work of the conference, the fight against unemployment and other issues, due to the conflict, they were not heard.
2. Section of tanners. An unemployed person in a group of 12 people said: “Our whole problem is that we have not yet learned how to be organized and we are still waiting for someone to do it for us. Here, the workers abroad are acting boldly and unitedly, without fear of any threats, with the demand for grain and work. Such striking performances are beneficial and the government begins to care more about unemployment. Our unemployed are completely forgotten by all our leaders. Now, if we had even staged a demonstration in Moscow alone, then the upper circles would have stirred up and found the means to expand industry and dissipate unemployment. In the meantime, we will be silent, nobody will pay attention to us”. The listeners agreed with him, saying: ʺYes, this is the only way to act.ʺ
3. Section of food workers. Along with the continued dissatisfaction of unemployed printers, the dissatisfaction of the unemployed in a number of sections (woodworkers, textile workers, garment workers and food workers) increased, and the influence of an active group of printers on the rest of the sections, mainly food workers, should be noted. The heightened mood of the unemployed has intensified due to the influence of this group. A group of unemployed printers in the food industry section campaigned for disrupting the district meetings: “When it is known about the day of the meeting and in which premises they will appoint, then we need to select our guys and send them to those places where the meeting will take place, so that they will quietly warn the unemployed at the entrance, so that they do not go to the meeting, and in this way we will disrupt all district meetings and then begin to demand one general meeting of unemployed food workers, only then can we get something from the Union. ʺ The unemployed agreed with them and said that after the holidays it was necessary to begin preparations for disrupting meetings. As a result of the agitation, the meetings were disrupted and all unemployed food workers came to the meeting of the Krasnopresnensky district on November 18, at which the printers introduced a resolution (adopted by the general meeting of unemployed food workers), containing all the requirements previously set by the printers.
To prevent the activities of this group, the OGPU bodies took measures by arresting its organizers. It should be noted that, in connection with the arrests of the leaders of the group, the atmosphere at the labor exchange has significantly eased.
4. Leningrad Labor Exchange. Recently, at the labor exchange, discontent of the unemployed and active anti‐Soviet agitation have begun to emerge. Among the unemployed metalworkers, signatures are being collected under an application addressed to the section of metalworkers to provide work to the unemployed who have been at the labor exchange for more than 6‐7 months, to establish control of the unemployed over the employees of the labor exchange in order to comply with the correct regular premise and to convene general meetings of the unemployed at least once in month, otherwise the unemployed will gather on their own, in addition to the Union.
In a number of sections, mainly in the section of metalworkers, there was an agitation about the need to organize a demonstration of the unemployed under the slogan ʺWork and Breadʺ. The day of the performance was scheduled for December 27 this year.
On December 24, at the stock exchange in two places (on the stairs at the entrance to the section of metalworkers and food workers), handwritten leaflets were found with the following content: “Comrades, unemployed, socialist construction in the USSR is in full swing. Pessimism is inappropriate, next year we will build socialism. Ah, comrades, socialism is not a pound of raisins. You can starve for him. And if you are really hungry, go to the grocery store and eat everything that is on display, of course with your eyes. But isnʹt it all the same what it is? You say that your army is increasing every day. That in a year, instead of 70,000 unemployed at the Leningrad Labor Exchange, there were 170,000. That their number threatens to surpass the number of workers employed in production (190,000). That the unemployed, who do not have 3 years of experience, have to die of hunger, and those who have ‐ starve. That hunger and unemployment breed crime and suicide. But you pay no attention to it and be good boys. But your children will see socialism (unless, of course, they starve to death earlier). And in general, ... Long live the dictatorship of the secretariat, that is, the proletariat. Long live the CPSU (b) and others and the like. Democratic Youth Group”. On the back it is written: ʺComrade, if you are truly conscious, rewrite and distribute this leaflet.ʺ
On December 27, the following note, written in pencil, was removed in the subsidiary labor section (Krasnaya Street): ʺDown with Soviet power, long live the proletariat.ʺ
Conversations conducted by individual unemployed are typical. One unemployed person said: “In Moscow, at the signal of the whistle, the unemployed began to break whatever came to hand, many were taken away, but then released; on another occasion they organized themselves and went to the Kremlin and nevertheless achieved what they wanted ‐ for the unemployed they made one working week a month. The same must be done here. ʺ He was supported by another: “We have nothing to fear, but we need to act now, time does not wait, but we will be silent, like flies will crush us. From tomorrow to December 31st, leaflets will be secretly issued in the morning; although they were written by me, today they have not been disseminated among the unemployed, since there were few people. There are 18 people here who will lead all of this, and we need to spread this among our comrades as much as possible, so that during these days on the stock exchange there were as many unemployed as possible. Unions, i.e. divisions (group committees) will also know about it, since there the unemployed have already been notified. ʺ
When one of the unemployed objected to the call to speak that any protest would be counter‐revolutionary, the campaigner declared: ʺOur protest will not be a strike, but will only be a legal demand ‐ to give work.ʺ
On December 27, there was no demonstration of the unemployed.
Shortly before the planned speech of the OGPU, in agreement with the relevant authorities, 6 main organizers of the demonstration were arrested, which disorganized the forces of the anti‐Soviet group.
5. In a group of metalworkers (Vasilievsky Island) an application for unemployed was submitted, written by 150 unemployed. The statement contains the requirement to convene a general meeting of the unemployed to familiarize themselves with the decision of the provincial conference of metalworkers. In a group of unemployed metalworkers, one unemployed, in response to the words of his comrade that 2,000 more unemployed metalworkers would soon be added to the stock exchange, in view of the alleged reduction at the Putilov plant, said: “Reduction is for the better, then maybe we’ll come up with something ʺ. Another unemployed person said: “They want to kick me out of the Union because I was there, at the conference, boozing, but I do not care about their ticket. From him neither wool nor milk. Have you heard about the Moscow and Rostov performances? ʺ Having received the answer that one citizen who had come from Rostov was present, he said: ʺCould you introduce me to him so that he would describe to me how the technical side of the case was decided and what were the shortcomings on the part of the organization.ʺ On December 23, the unemployed in the section of metalworkers and woodworkers said: ʺIt remains to organize 500‐1000 people and throw out the red flag.ʺ Another unemployed: ʺWe will wait until the peasants come from the village, then we will organize and, first of all, we will take the stock exchange into work and throw everyone out the window.ʺ In the section of printers, the following conversations are noted: an unemployed woman spread rumors that in Moscow the unemployed were smashing a stock exchange; in response to this, one unemployed person said: ʺIt would be long ago that we should be given an impetus.ʺ
On December 29, rumors circulated among the unemployed about the upcoming layoffs at various enterprises. In a group of typesetters, in response to the statement of the unemployed about the difficulties of life at the present time, a typesetter, a member of the CPSU (b) said: “Who is to blame that you are afraid that you will be shot, we need to create our own organization, raise all the unemployed, throw out the black flag to expel all those who have compromised ‐ there are no workers among them now, the workers will not hold balls in Smolny while the lower classes are starving. ʺ The same typesetter invited those present to join the allegedly existing organization, the chain of which, in his words, is ʺfreedom of speech, work, improving the material situation of the working class.ʺ
An anti‐Soviet agitation was carried on by one well‐dressed citizen in the common room of the labor exchange: “If anyone at a factory or a factory tells the truth, they will immediately drag him to Gorokhovaya 292 and be fired. Here is the freedom for which we fought, comrades. I go to work because I got a job out of nepotism.
6. Vyatka. Labor exchange. On December 12, early in the morning in some crowded places on the streets there appeared anonymous proclamation notes pasted on the walls of houses by an unknown person: 1) “Give bread to the unemployed or give jobs”; 2) ʺRykov drinks 293 , and we are without breadʺ and 3) ʺGive me work or bread.ʺ
On the part of the unemployed, there is also discontent with the trade unions, which provide insufficient material support: ʺThey collect for the British miners, and the Russian unemployed are left without a piece of bread.ʺ
7. In Nikolo‐Ussuriisk, at a fuel depot, a pinned telegram appealing to the unemployed, emanating from the unemployed, was found.
“Comrades, unemployed. How long will we endure these hardships and bondage of the world eaters, who exploit our labor, as, for example, the local depot (Shalin and Dumats), that he is the defender of the working class? No, on the contrary, he is our enemy, he only uses our blood, our kopecks in the sweat of his brow; and in general ‐ take the entire organ of Soviet power, you will not find a purely worker, so that he is in the power of the one that we have created with our own breasts, pave the way for a free path, equality and fraternity, and now, comrades, we see the whole picture, which leads us astray. They created local committees and uchkprofsoyuz on a working penny, but there was no sense and will not be. And why ‐ yes, because the economy [falls] on the unemployed neck; and why not make a saving mode for the administrative pocket. The one who received, the one who receives, the one who starved, the one who starves, whoever stuffed his pockets stuffs. Comrades, unemployed, letʹs close together and rally and go on the side we used to walk on, make the St. Bartholomewʹs night, [in order] to knock out the whole pack of a new one and put up our comrades who have experienced everything the hard way. Dear comrades, I would like to write to you, my hands are not a machine, and for this the gendarmes will curse my ignorance. ʺ Signature ʺGreeksʺ.
Currently, among the unemployed conductors of the NikoloUssuriysky reserve, there is discontent with the admission of demobilized Red Army soldiers to the posts of conductors, and, moreover, the main dissatisfaction from the unemployed is directed to the secretary of the VKP (b) cell No. 21, who arranges the demobilized members of the CPSU (b) as conductors.
8. Kiev Labor Exchange. The mood of the demobilized in connection with not being sent to work has recently intensified. On December 1 and 2, in different sections among the demobilized, there was talk about the need to make a demonstration.
In the section of miners, the demobilized said: “Itʹs time to remember the day when we went to the executive committee with flags; now it is necessary to do it again, but it is bad that there is no one to take a match and set fire, and if there was such a match, then in one moment everything would have flared up.
On December 3, in the morning, a group of 10 demobilized people gathered at the central stock exchange, led by a former sailor Pushkalov, who was engaged in inciting the rest of the demobilized to take part in the demonstration. A group of up to 100 people went to the executive committee, on the way they were joined by unemployed people from different sections. A demobilized former commander was assigned to the executive committee for negotiations with the chairman of the executive committee. In his absence, two demobilized people were campaigning for the preservation of order and organization ‐ ʺthey will not be considered otherwise.ʺ
Without waiting for the executive committee, the demobilized sent three other people to him with an invitation to come out to the demonstrators. At the request of the delegation, the Presidential Executive Committee Volkova replied that he was busy and could not leave, suggesting that 10‐15 people appear to him.
A crowd of up to 40 people entered Volkovyʹs office (the demobilized kept themselves calm). In response to the statement of the demobilized to find out the reasons for not sending them to work and about their difficult financial situation, comrade. Volkova said that a commission would be organized from the members of the City Council to check the decisions on the organization of the demobilized.
One of the demobilized offered to introduce his representatives to the commission, but Volkova rejected this offer. In conclusion, Volkova invited the demobilized to write to him about all the disorders in the institutions, and promised to take immediate measures to correct
them. Then the demobilized began to disperse.
9. Tataria. On December 15, the labor exchange registered the following: command personnel demobilized this year ‐ 36 people and demobilized earlier and already served in institutions ‐ 99 people. To place the command personnel for service in institutions at the Central Executive Committee of the Central Executive Committee, a special commission was organized, which first of all sends to work the command personnel demobilized this year. During the period from October 1 to December 15, 28 people were sent to the service. 22 people returned back to the labor exchange for various reasons. 14 people are registered again.
The demobilized are sent to serve in this or that institution or enterprise 2‐3 times, since in the field, many heads of institutions try in every possible way to refuse to accept the demobilized, motivating the refusal by the unsuitability of the demobilized for work.
The Labor Exchange filed a petition with TNK and NKYu to prosecute the following institutions and enterprises for a clear unwillingness to accept demobilized command personnel: Gostorg, Nalogovoz, Office of TPKF, NKVD, plant No. 40 (KNZ), Textile factory named after Lenin, KTsRK, plant them. Vakhitova and a number of others.
The mood of the unemployed command personnel is extremely depressed. Many people say: “When we are starving, no one sees us and does not want to provide assistance, but if there is a war, then we will be sent to the war first of all and then we will have our say,” etc. etc.
One of the unemployed command personnel of the reserve wrote a letter to comrade Voroshilov, in which he complained about his difficult financial situation and about the lack of attention to command personnel on the part of business executives.
Copy of the letter: “October 1926, 18th.
Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR Comrade Voroshilov from the demobilized commander of the Red Army. Comrade Chairman, I am writing a letter as to the head of the Red Army, to which I do not hope to receive an answer, because this is not available to us. But nevertheless, I hope you will receive this letter and find out how the demobilized commanders live, who, having served in the Red Army from the day of the revolution until July 1926, having revolutionary merits in the past, now, after being discharged from the army, they were left behind a Soviet ship, which had to be fought for too much and in difficult conditions. Now that this (the Soviet ship was booked, apparently, with new armor, the old one turned out to be unnecessary. I served in the Red Army for 8 ʹ/ 2 months, retired from the army and now for 3ʹ / 2 months go without service. Thatʹs why I decided to write a letter. Why are so many orders issued, which promise so much, but give absolutely nothing? Now, after such an attitude, I wonder what I won. It turns out ‐ constant hunger, cold and unemployment. I often recall the old, despite the fact that recently I was devoted in soul and body to the modern. I never knew before that people could be so poor. My old specialty was a cook, I worked, I was always full, shod, dressed, and the worker no longer needed to be well‐fed and dressed. If earlier it was too difficult, now it is too easy. Previously, you had to work 20 hours, but now completely idle, lie down and do not eat ‐ this is what the working class won. Earlier there was no labor exchange, now they are, where several thousand are unemployed. They walk for a year or more, and as a result they are still without work. I may be incorrectly saying that we have won a lot, but not for ourselves. The worker has received almost nothing and will not receive anything. I say that I am wrong from a general point of view, but I am right from the point of view of a hungry man who was devoted to the Soviet Malay for 8 1/2 years and who is now forced to engage in triviality. The old master doesnʹt take on the service, and the new owners are very few, but they donʹt know me as a cook, and the old master says that he fought for too long, fought for freedom, so here is freedom for you. Why, they say, do you need a job when you needed freedom ‐ thatʹs what you hear from the old owner, and the Soviet owner also thinks least of all about his Malay women, who were needed in the past. And now very often I wonder what it means the old fighters will no longer be needed, so why should I be liable for military service until 1948 ‐ what is it for. When I am no longer needed, and if I am needed, I will be useless, because being will determine consciousness for these 22 years, if I have to live them from hand to mouth.
Yes, it becomes insulting after the mass of fervent promises to hear the
Soviet refusal to the old honored red hero. ʺ
ʺKazan, Zhirovka, d. 62, apt. 1.V.D. Lomekhov. Your old devoted club boss. ʺ
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 3
AGRICULTURAL TAX
Deficiencies in taxing village groups
1. Tula lips. December 8. (Centre). In the province, there continues to be discontent with the tax of the poor, especially of that part of it, which this year, due to some peculiarities of the tax (taxation of side earnings, non‐taxable minimum, etc.) of this year, is taxed in larger amounts than last year. The poor, expressing their dissatisfaction with the tax, say: ʺThe authorities protect the poor only with their language, but in fact they themselves give the poor to the kulak as farm laborersʺ (Arsenyevsky district). ʺWhere is the justice to the peasants of the communists, they strangled with taxes aloneʺ (Popovsky district). “When Lenin was alive, the peasants received more tax discounts, but now that Comrade. There is no Lenin, no attention is paid to the peasants and they are robbed to the last” (Sergievsky
District).
21 December. In the Golubetsky village council of the Komarovsky district, there is a sharp dissatisfaction of the poor and middle peasants with the provision of tax benefits to a kulak (former merchant) and a priest from. Popovka who received a discount of 75% of the tax amount due to the fact that their children study in universities.
3. December 31. In with. Senevo, Aleksinsky District, the poor, outraged by the exemption from tax of the wealthy, demanded at the general meeting the abolition of the non‐taxable minimum, ʺsince the wealthy often fall under this benefit.ʺ In addition, the poor demanded that the peasants themselves be granted the right to distribute the agricultural tax to individual farms, since ʺthen the tax would be more correct and the wealthy and the kulaks would not be exempt from the tax at the expense of the poor.ʺ
4. Vyatka lips. November 30th. Malmyzhsky u. In with. Manor of Vyatsko‐Polyanskaya Vol. a well‐to‐do peasant, whose family consists of 5 people, has 2.75 plots of land, a smithy and 2 threshers, pays 48 rubles. 25 kopecks tax; another peasant, a kulak, selling leather and felted footwear, having 2.5 allotments of land, pays tax as a multifamily (8 people) ‐ 20 rubles. 59 kopecks at the same time, three poor widows are overcoated. So, for example, one of them (her family consists of two people), who has 3 plots of land, one horse and a cow, pays 66 rubles. 62 kopecks. tax; other (family consists of three people, of which not a single able‐bodied), having one horse (no cows) and earth 2 ʹ/ 2 put, pay 36 rubles. 79 kopecks tax.
5. Kursk province. 12 December. In Streletskaya parish. Belgorodsky
u. the imposition of a high tax on small‐family poor farms and underprovision of wealthy and kulak farms with many families. In a number of cases this year some of the poor who were previously exempted from the tax were taxed, and well‐to‐do farms that had easily paid a decent tax earlier were exempted from the tax.
6. Leningrad province. December 1. (Northwest). In Lezievskaya parish. Leningradsky district peasants are dissatisfied with the wrong allocations by the agricultural tax commission. For example, a well‐todo peasant from the village. Mga pays 6 rubles, a merchant 6 rubles, and a poor man 40 rubles.
7. Bryansk province. December 6. (West). Bezhitsky u. In the Nemerichsky village council, Dyatkovo parish. a poor man with a family of 8 souls, one hut and two cows, pays 25 rubles. tax, and a wellto‐do peasant (son‐in‐law of the pre‐village council), having a family of 6 souls, 6 dess. land, 2 huts, 3 horses, 3 cows and small livestock, pays only 17 rubles.
8. Belarus. December 1. In the village. Pavlovki, Drissensky district, Polotsk district, middle peasant, having a family of 10 people, of whom three serve in co‐institutions, 12 dess. land, 2 horses, 4 cows, small livestock, good farming and also keeps tenants, from whom he receives 13 rubles. monthly, pays tax of 3 rubles, and a poor man with a family of 2 people, 6 dess. land, one cow, one sheep, one pig, taxed in the amount of 14 rubles. It should be noted that this poor woman does not have her own hut.
9. Penza province. December 6. (Volga region). Elnikovskaya tax commission of Krasnoslobodsky district understated the strong middle peasants and the wealthy. So, for example, one kulak engaged in carpentry, having three houses, 4 horses, 3 cows and 15 sheep, pays only 3 rubles in tax, while the poor are taxed rather heavily.
10. German commune. December 1. In with. Belyavka of St. Poltava canton one fist with about 40 head of cattle under the age of 3 years, and a senopress with which he pressed 2000 poods. hay for sale is not taxed, since, according to the ʺTax Regulationʺ, cattle under the age of 3 years are not subject to accounting. The poor, dissatisfied with the exemption from the tax of this kulak, demands that the Tax Regulations be clarified with regard to taxation of such, clearly kulak farms, so that the latter are not exempt from tax.
11. Kuznetsk district. November 24. (Siberia). In the village. Brod of the Kemerovo region is marked by the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the fact that a well‐to‐do peasant with a cross house, 3 horses, 5 cows with teenagers, 5 sheep, a thresher, 5 dess. sowing, does not pay tax at all due to the fact that his family consists of 12 people, while smallfamily peasants, living much worse than him, pay tax.
12. Vladivostok District. December 1. (DCK). In with. Dukhovskoye Grodekovsky district discontent with the new tax of small‐family poor people, on whom a rather significant tax has been imposed this year, while part of the multi‐family well‐to‐do tax pays less this year than last year. The poor say, ʺThe tax is only a burden on the poor.ʺ
13. December 15. In with. New Moscow of the Shkotovsky district, due to the presence of massive shelters of wealthy objects of taxation, the poor are taxed more than the wealthy.
Simultaneous collection of different payments
14. Odessa district. December 25. (Ukraine). The poor expresses strong dissatisfaction with the simultaneous collection of the unified agricultural tax and the tax arrears of last year. Often the tax of 19261927. is 3‐4 rubles, and the arrears are listed at 28‐30 rubles. The underborrower (* and are predominantly poor.
15. Kuban District. January 1st. (North Caucasus). In the NovoPokrovsky district, the tax is received poorly due to the fact that there is a simultaneous collection of unified agricultural tax, semssud and other payments, especially since the district has suffered greatly from crop failure. Because of this, there is a strong sale of livestock in the area. So, for example, in stc. Kalnibolotskaya sold 1000 head of cattle this year, while last year only 80 heads were sold here.
16. Terek District. November 28. Arezgir district. Among the poor and partly the middle peasantry, there is a sharp dissatisfaction with the collection of debt on the semssud simultaneously with the collection of the unified agricultural tax. The kulaks, using the discontent of the poor, agitate: “The state is helping in such a way that the poor will have to sell their last cows. The state is stripping the poor peasants of the semssud debt so that next time they do not take the semssud, they do not get into bondage. ʺ
17. Penza province. December 6. (Volga region). In N.‐Shkaptinskaya vol. Gorodtsensky u. Semssud debt is collected immediately for 5 years, and the collection of the Semssud occurs simultaneously with the collection of agricultural tax. The peasants declare that they cannot make all these payments and demand an installment plan of payments for the semssud for 2‐3 years.
18. German commune. December 16. In with. The filthiness of the Kamensk canton among the poor is dissatisfied with the fact that this year 70% of all debts on the loan are collected at once. Some peasants owed up to 90 poods in debt for 4 years.
19. Poor and middle peasants with. Kozitsky complain about the severity of collecting the semssud at the same time as the tax, accusing the authorities of being insensitive to the peasantry. A member of the village council (middle peasant) said about the collection of the semssud: “When the peasants had nothing, the power stood with its back to the peasantry, but when the peasants had a little bit of disfigurement, the government turned its face to the village and began to take semssud from the peasants for several years. But he will collect the lawsuit and turn his back again. ʺ
20. In p. The poor people, who are dissatisfied with the simultaneous collection of all the debts under the Semssud, say: “For four years the Soviet power gave the Semssud to the poor people in order to improve their farms, and now it takes everything away at once. Such fees are only useful to the kulaks, who will be able to pay everything right away, and these fees will ruin us. ʺ
21. Saratov province. December 17. Poor people with. Vyazovka Volsky they are extremely dissatisfied with the simultaneous collection of agricultural tax and arrears on the loan. The poor say: “If we sell our surplus grain and pay the tax and the loan, we will remain stripped and undressed. Canʹt the authorities see our rags”.
22. In p. Keys of Elshansk parish. there is marked dissatisfaction of the poor with the severity of the simultaneous collection of agricultural tax, arrears on semessud and state insurance, and arrears on agricultural tax. For example, one multi‐family peasant with one horse, one cow, 5 sheep, this year must pay 86 poods. Semssudy, 16 rubles. tax, 22 rubles. insurance and 7 rubles. local taxation.
23. Stalingrad province. December 16. Peasants of all strata of the Selochevskaya parish. Ust‐Medveditsky District are extremely dissatisfied with the collection of arrears on the loan, fodder credit, etc., together with the agricultural tax. The peasants say: ʺThe tax itself is small, but too many different payments are collected this year, and this is beyond our power.ʺ
24. Krasnoyarsk District. December 10. (Siberia). In the village. Zakem a former merchant, taking advantage of the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the simultaneous collection of all kinds of payments (unified agricultural tax, arrears on the sememssud, etc.), leads among them anti‐tax agitation: “Now there are so many taxes ‐ unified agricultural tax, insurance, etc., that they completely strangled the peasants ... All taxes are collected for the welfare of communists and employees, and the peasants are oppressed. ʺ
25. Kamensk district. December 25. Peasant middle peasant with. Domanki of the Krutikhinsky district spoke about the simultaneous collection of unified agricultural tax and payments in state insurance: “Itʹs too hard for a peasant to pay insurance. The tax itself is heavy, and here they also require insurance. So, after all, the peasant will be driven to ruin. Weʹll have to sell the horse at half price to pay insurance and tax.”
Repression against tax evaders
26. Vladimirskaya lips. December 16. (Centre). In the village. Terekhovitsy Vtorovskoy parish Predvik arrived with the aim of forcing tax defaulters to pay. Armed with a revolver, Predvik went home with one of the members of the village council. Coming to the non‐payers, the pre‐VIK, waving his revolver, demanded immediate payment of the tax. In the same manner, this campaign went to the pregnant poor man and, threatening her with a revolver, demanded that the defaulter take a sewing machine to the village council for nonpayment.
27. Moscow province. 20th of December. Bronnitsky u. In the Ulyanovsk parish. from. Mikhnevo, a poor peasant woman in a group of peasants said: “The tax from the peasants is being collected incorrectly, if you fail to pay it on time, the last cattle will be taken from the yard. They do not understand who does not pay ‐ the poor man or the fist. We have no truth. ʺ
28. Bryansk province. November 26. (West). A peasantʹs widow s. Ruzhnoe Karachevsky vol. of the same county, for failure to deliver the agricultural tax and arrears by the due date, the unified agricultural tax collector described the last sheep. The widowʹs household consists of one sheep and a hut. The tax is due on it 12 rubles. and arrears of 8 rubles.
29. In p. Warrior of the Karachev parish and the county commission on the collection of the Unified Agricultural Tax went to a 60‐year‐old widow, a poor man who does not have any household, and, having unauthorizedly opened the chest, pulled out things from there, described them and stated that if the old woman did not pay tax arrears within 3 days, things will be sold. In fact, this poor fellow does not have any arrears.
30 Stalin district. November 25. (Ukraine). Andreevsky district. A member of the RIK Presidium (a well‐to‐do peasant), having left for the village to collect the unified agricultural tax, went to one poor man and demanded immediate payment of the agricultural tax. Since the poor man had no cash, a member of the RIK Presidium made an inventory of the property and took it with him. Among the property described was the last horse of the poor man. The poor man asked that the horse be removed from the inventory. Despite the requests of the poor man who was running barefoot in the snow behind the carriage of a member of the RIK, the horse was taken away.
31. Don district. December 1. (North Caucasus). In the Starominsky district, the tax commission described the property of one poor man, despite the receipts presented to them for 7 rubles overpaid last year, carried over to the current year. In addition, he was given a discount on the unified agricultural tax for 8 rubles. The remaining unpaid 80 kopecks. (tax 15 rubles. 80 kopecks) he carried three times to the tax office, where he was answered: ʺYou do not rush, you will have time to pay.ʺ
32. Tver District. December 17. A great dissatisfaction among peasants of all strata is caused by the collection of various payments simultaneously with the unified agricultural tax. In particular, the peasantry is dissatisfied with the collection of semssud. Since the arrears in the semssud are mainly the weak strata of the village, the repressions against the defaulters are mainly directed against them. In total, 10,000 inventories of property from defaulters were made in the district. In the Arkhangelsk region, a special headquarters was created to collect debts for the semssud, the methods of work of which resembled those of the times of war communism.
33. Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk district. December 10. The Shakhty RIK sent a policeman to the Hrushevsky village council to confiscate cattle from tax evaders. The militiaman, together with Hrushevsky of the previllage council, went to the poor man, the debtor, and began to take the milk cow. The poor man asked to take another, non‐milking cow, but his request was refused. When the poor man opposed the taking away of the cow, the policeman hit the poor man in the chest with a rifle, causing the latter to fall unconscious and the cow was taken away. The same militiaman confiscated several cash cows from other poor people, which caused a sharp criticism of the authorities for such actions. For a long time, the screaming and crying of women and children was heard throughout the farm.
34. Chelyabinsk District. December 26. (Ural). According to the 2nd Klyuchevskoy village council of the Barlamovsky district, property inventories are made only for the poor people who do not pay the tax, and for the wealthy and kulaks they are not. The poor, outraged by such actions of the tax commission, accuse the latter of pandering to the fists.
35. Barabinsk District. November 30th. N. Kargan RIK in his report on the progress of the agricultural tax campaign says: ʺWe went too far in pumping out the agricultural tax, for example, the poor man of Krotov was taken away and sold for tax, and later it turned out that this poor man was not subject to tax.ʺ
Peasantsʹ tax claims
36. Vyatka province. November 30th. (Centre). In the village. Intercept Zagorsk parish. the poor man says: “The Soviet government does not take into account that in one household the family consists of ablebodied men, and in the other it is women, and taxes equally. Does a woman work as much as a man does? This must be taken into account when calculating the tax. ʺ
37. Belarus. December 1. (West). Srednyak s. Cherepovizinsky, Umansky District, Polotsk District, upon receiving the payroll, said: “The objects of taxation are calculated incorrectly, since the wealthy pay on a par with us. Each farm needs to be taken into account separately. We have land of 3 varieties and during redistribution it was valued at 120, 80 and 30 rubles. tithe. The well‐to‐do have the best land, and the profitability from it is equal to the profitability of land, estimated at 30 rubles. ʺ
38. Shadrinsky District. December 1. (Ural). In with. In the Zakharovsky Kamyshlovsky district, the middle peasants say about the tax: “It is necessary to tax profitability only from sowing, reducing the established rates of return, since 40 rubles. you will not receive profit from the tithe of our land. ʺ
39. Trinity District. December 1. (Siberia). In the village Spassky of the same district, a well‐to‐do Cossack said with regard to tax: ʺThe tax is unfair, let it be given to us for the village, and we will distribute it among ourselves, it will be better.ʺ
40. Irkutsk District. December 10. Wealthy villages Mitlevo Balagansky district on the issue of taxation they say: “When taxing tithes of sowing, grain crops are not taken into account, and therefore the profitability is calculated incorrectly. For example, rye costs 65 kopecks. pood, and wheat ‐ 1 rub. 05 kopecks, and the yield per tithe is set the same. ʺ
41. Krasnoyarsk District. November 25. Fist s. In the Sedelnikovsky Sukhobuzinsky District, in a conversation with fellow villagers in the village council, he said: “The authorities are doing the wrong thing by distributing the tax themselves. We would send a tax to the village, and we ourselves would spread it out in the yards, we would spread it out more correctly and the poor would not offend. ʺ
42. Tomsk District. December 10. In with. Botkakh Bogorodsky district at a general meeting on the tax, a middle peasant spoke and said: “Today the tax went wrong ‐ the state did not take into account that some peasants had 7‐8 adult workers, while the other had 7 eaters, and the workers had one the same farm is paid the same tax, thanks to which one pays easily and gets rich, while the other cannot get out of poverty and this tax is heavy for him. ʺ Many of those present supported this speech.
43. Tara district. November 30th. Middle peat village Konovalovo, Rybinsk District, says: “Now the tax is calculated from 20 rubles. 3 kopecks each, from 30 rubles. for 6‐5 kopecks. etc. This rate is incorrect. Let them impose at least 10 kopecks. from a ruble: you have an income of 20 rubles, pay 10 kopecks, you have 100 rubles. ‐ pay also 10 kopecks. from the ruble. Then it would be interesting to increase the sown area, but now if you increase the sowing, the rates will increase. There is no interest in expanding the cultivated area.
44. Kansk District. November 25. Middle peat village Kucherovka said in a private conversation: “The tax is still unfair because it is not known how much it falls on the village and therefore it is very difficult to accurately identify the objects of taxation, since no one is interested in it. If a given village had a tax check figure, then everyone would try to indicate who and what is hiding, knowing that a particle of the tax will thus be transferred from him to another”.
45. Novosibirsk district. November 30th. Peasant middle peasant village. Toroki of the Kargat region, in a conversation with fellow villagers, said: “The unified agricultural tax has been established incorrectly ‐ along with crops and livestock, workers should also be taxed, because each person can fulfill his own tax, but now it turns out ‐ if he has livestock and does not have labor, then he must cut his livestock. ʺ
46. DCK. November. In with. During the discussion of the current agricultural tax campaign, a number of peasants (exceptionally well‐todo) who spoke in the debate proposed the following draft taxation project in Chernigovka of the Vladivostok District at the Plenum of the Regional Executive Committee. Tax should be levied not on individual farms, but on an entire village or village according to the amount of total plowing, inventory, etc. and to charge the village itself with the distribution of the amount imposed on the village by individual farms, moreover, tax all arable lands, regardless of whether they are sown or not. All peasants who spoke on this issue, in defense of the provisions put forward by them, cited considerations: with this procedure, there will be no conceals, the tax apparatus will be reduced and the economy will be observed.
Similar proposals were put forward in the Sretensky district (2 cases).
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 4
BAKERY CAMPAIGN
Delaying bread by wealthy village groups
1. Tambov province. December 13th. (Centre). In Kurdyukovskaya Vol. Tambov u. two well‐to‐do, having stocks of rye, do not export the latter to the market, expecting prices to rise to 2 rubles. for a pood. Similar phenomena take place in the Kirsanovsky district, where some of the wealthy, having reserves of up to 300‐500 poods, refrain from exporting grain to the market.
2. Voronezh province. December 7. In with. Abramovka
Novokhopersky u. the middle peasant, pointing to low prices for bread, said: ʺIf the price were raised, the market would be overwhelmed with bread.ʺ
3. Pervomaisky District. December 15th. (Ukraine). In the Savran region, the export of grain by peasants to the market has decreased by 50% against the beginning of the campaign, which is largely due to low prices for bread.
4. Kremenchug district. December 15th. In the Gorbovsky region, grain procurement carried out by the cooperatives is poor, which is explained by the poor supply from the peasants, who, due to low prices, hold back grain.
5. Lubensky district. December 15th. In the Khorol region, due to low prices, peasants refrain from exporting grain to the market, selling other agricultural products to cover the necessary costs.
6. Kuban District. December 1. (North Caucasus). In the Medvedovsky district, grain procurement is poor. The main holders of grain surpluses are kulaks and the well‐to‐do, who, expecting an increase in the price of bread, as well as a decline in prices for manufactured goods, refrain from exporting bread.
7. In Korenovsky district, it is assumed that the population has a grain surplus of about 2,000,000 poods, and the main holders of the surplus grain are the kulaks and the wealthy, who have up to 80% of all surpluses, the remaining 20% are concentrated among the middle peasants.
8. Stalingrad province. December 15th. (Volga region). In stts. Lukovskaya and Arzhanovskaya of the Khopersk district are wealthy peasants with up to 5000 poods. different grain crops and refraining from selling, declare: “If you sell at the current price, then let the bread lie in the barns, because it does not ask for food, and you will not have to pay tax for it, so there is no need to rush to sell it, we will be able to the farm can manage on another, it is better to sell a couple of bulls, besides, next year you will have to sow less, and therefore pay less tax. ʺ
Demand for lower prices for manufactured goods and higher prices for bread
9. Kursk province. 12 December. (Centre). In the village. Bocharovka
St. Oskol vol. In the same district, two middle peasants said: “The Soviet government is taking bad care of us. Is it right that a pood of rye costs 75 kopecks, and an arshin of chintz 50 kopecks, is it possible for a peasant to live at such a high cost? They come to the village, talk a lot, but in reality they do nothing, now they cannot be trusted. The prices for manufactured goods were not reduced, but they were able to decrease for bread. We will live better only with a decrease in prices for manufactured goods. ʺ
10.Smolensk lips. December 11th. (West). In Vyazemsky, at a meeting of the Khva‐to‐Zavodskaya cell of the Komsomol, a middle peasant hut spoke out. Belogolyshki said: “The goods of urban production are sold at very expensive prices, while our products are too cheap. Why canʹt the authorities set fixed prices for our products as well?
11.Uman District. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. Poyarkovka Ladyzhensky district middle peasants declare: ʺIf we were well organized, we would take the prices for bread that we would want.ʺ
12.Zaporizhzhya district. December 14. In with. Stepanovka G. Polsky district at the gathering of the poor in his speech said: “The tax this year is large, I have nothing to pay, because there is nothing to sell from the inventory, and the bread is cheap. You need to file a petition with the center for a tax reduction or transfer the tax to the arrears of this year and pay for that year. In addition, we need to raise the question so that the prices for bread were raised and for manufactured goods lowered, because the prices that currently exist for bread speak for the fact that the peasantʹs labor is little appreciated. ʺ Exclamations of approval were heard from those present.
13.In p. Kamenka, Kamensky District, at a general meeting, the middle peasant spoke out: “The cost of manufactured goods must be lowered to the pre‐war level at which bread stands today. The high cost of manufactured goods is explained by the fact that when passing through a number of intermediate links, the latter impose interest in their favor. If the cooperatives directly bought goods from factories, then manufactured goods would be cheaper. ʺ
14.Stalingrad province. December 15th. (Volga region). In ArchadinoChernushinsky vol. prosperous peasants declare: “Let the price of bread be what it is now, but we need to lower the price of manufactory so that a pood of wheat can buy a shirt. We will take bread, just give us goods at a suitable price, otherwise you will carry a cart of bread, and you will not buy anything with the money raised. ʺ
15.Samara province. 12 December. In with. Mikhailovka Red Vol. Buzuluk u. in the building of the village council, the middle peasant spoke out in a conversation: “Why does the government not regulate prices for bread and manufactured goods. Peasants hand over bread: rye for 60‐65 kopecks. pood, wheat 1 rub. ‐ 1 rub. 20 kopecks, and if you buy mittens, they cost 2 rubles. 40 kopecks, and to buy a hat, you need to pay 6 rubles. Nobody disputes that the price of bread is acceptable, but it is necessary to reduce prices for manufactured goods.
16.In p. Art. Malykly Melekessky district the middle peasant said: ʺFor an arshin of calico you need to pay a pood or one and a half poods of bread, the state needs to pay attention to this and lower the prices of goods or raise the prices of bread, otherwise the peasantry is dissatisfied.ʺ
17.Rubtsovsky District. December 10. (Siberia). In the Pospedikhinsky district, at a meeting on re‐election of the board of the K. Mysovsky credit partnership, the middle peasant who spoke said: ʺWe need to file a petition for an increase in the price of bread, otherwise they do not give the price for it as it should.ʺ
18.Chita District. December 4th. (DCK). In with. N. Pavlovka P. Zabaikalsky district middle peasant said in a conversation: “Our goods are very expensive, and bread is very cheap. We need to organize ourselves, elect representatives from all the peasants who would go to the government and tell him that it should lower the prices of goods, bringing them to the pre‐war time, otherwise the peasantry will not give the government bread. ʺ
The attitude of peasants to the campaign to reduce prices for manufactured goods
19.Moscow province. December 28th. (Centre). In Chaplyzhenskaya parish. Bronnitsky u. at a meeting of the VIC, the middle peasant, dwelling on the campaign to reduce prices for manufactured goods, said: “Before the price drop, galoshes cost 3 rubles. 70 kopecks, and now 3 rubles. 90 kopecks, prices for peasant goods are reduced, and prices for urban goods are increased. ʺ
20.December 6. In Yamsko‐Slobodskoy Vol. Kashirsky u. at the extended plenum of the VIC, the middle peasant who spoke on the report of the PEC said: ʺIt is necessary to lower the prices for manufactured products, the ongoing price reduction is completely imperceptible for the peasants.ʺ
21.Oryol province. 9th December. In with. Vorogushino Verkhovskaya parish Novosilsky u. In a private conversation, a well‐to‐do peasant said: ʺHow many congresses do not decide on a reduction in prices for manufactured goods, but all this is not there, and how long will they deceive the peasants with promises.ʺ
22.Ryazan province. December 14. In the village. Medvedevo Kuzminskaya Vol. Ryazan In a conversation, the poor man said: “Urban goods are too expensive, everyone was shouting about a decrease in retail prices, but in reality the opposite is true: boots last year cost 12‐14 rubles, now itʹs already 18‐20 rubles, vegetable oil cost 18‐20 kopecks ... pound, now 33‐34, chintz cost 35 kopecks. meter, now ‐ 40‐45 ‐ hereʹs a reduction in retail prices. ʺ The second poor man, agreeing with him, said: ʺThen the goods will become cheaper, when the managers will carry less into their pockets, the staff of managers, the workersʹ earnings will be reduced, and more workers will be hired for this place, then the goods will be cheaper.ʺ
23.Severo‐Dvinskaya province. December 23rd. (Northwest). In V. Ustyug district, at a ceremonial meeting of the expanded plenum of the Budrinsky village council, a poor man who spoke said: ʺAt every meeting they talk about a reduction in prices for manufacture, for felt and leather shoes, but prices are still not available, where is the price reduction?ʺ
24.Pervomaisky district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. N. Vasilyevka of the Bradievsky district middle peasants, discussing the price of bread and manufactured goods, declare: ʺThe authorities talk a lot about the reduction in prices for manufactured goods, but in fact, instead of lowering prices, they are rising.ʺ
25.In p. Strunkovo, Khoshevatsky District, at almost all gatherings, the middle peasants put forward the issue of the discrepancy between prices for bread and manufactured goods. Some of them say that the state deliberately sets low prices for grain in order to pump out more grain. When representatives of the village councils try to talk about a reduction in prices for manufactured goods, in particular for manufactory, the middle peasants declare that there are only rumors and conversations about this, but this is not being carried out.
26.Krasnoyarsk District. December 10. (Siberia). In with. Sedelnikovo of the Sukhobu‐Zimsky district, the middle peasant said: ʺThe decline in prices for manufactured goods is very slow, while prices for bread have been reduced immediately.ʺ
27.Kansk District. December 25. In with. Bayranovka of the Taishet region, a well‐to‐do peasant used to say: “They are pulling our skin off, and even deceiving; the communists said that this year the goods will be cheaper, but in fact they only deceived, as the goods were and remain expensive ”.
Distrust of peasants in the actual development of industry
28.Moscow province. December 18. (Centre). In Serednikovskaya Vol. Egoryevsky u. at the volunteer conference, one of the middle peasants said in his speech: ʺFactories and plants have been restored, but they are overpowering us for goods, but the economy is being restored only on paper.ʺ
29.17 December. In the village. Talitsy Sofyinsky parish Sergievsky u. a well‐to‐do peasant said in a teahouse: “They say that our industry is booming, but life is getting harder and harder. We sell and work for nothing, but if you try to buy something, you will scratch your head. Sledges before the war cost 5 rubles, and now 30‐35 rubles. We work not 8, but all 20 hours. You sell oats in the fall for 90 kopecks. pood, and in the Spring you buy for 3 rubles. All this because many benefits have been given to workers. ʺ
30. Tula province. December 1. In the Aleksinsky district, in separate speeches, peasants point out: “We do not see how you build factories and factories, and therefore we doubt that they are really being built, since with all our achievements we are sitting without vegetable oil, we do not have cheap calico and everything is expensive, but these facts speak for the fact that the country is not getting richer, but poorer. ʺ
31. Odessa district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In the m. Chernovo, Isaevsky district, at a general meeting, after the speaker touched upon the issue of restoring industry and agriculture, there was talk among the peasants present: “All this is nonsense ‐ and factories did not reach the pre‐war time, and the matter is ten times more expensive, yes and that bad one. Agriculture has not risen, for the price that you sell wheat, you will not raise the farm, but just enough to pay off debts, winter will come, you remain bare and bare, because everything is expensive. ʺ
32. Ulyanovsk province. December 18. (Volga region). In with. Uvarovo Noble parish Syzransky u. among the poor and middle peasants, conversations are noted: “Why are there no goods, everywhere they shout that industry has reached 1912, that all factories are working as before the war, but all this is a deception, if factories worked as before the war, then there would be a lot of goods if they are cheap. ʺ
33. Novosibirsk district. November 30th. (Siberia). In with. Morshanki Kargatsky district at the meeting of the VKP cell (there were 24 nonparty peasants) the question was asked: ʺWhat is growing stronger in our country ‐ urban or agricultural products?ʺ, To which the secretary of the cell indicated that ʺurban products are ahead of agricultural products.ʺ A speaker after that, who was present at the meeting of the Presidential Council, said: “With such an answer, you just boggle your head, our urban industry, in any case, does not surpass agriculture, but lags behind many times, here is an example: before a peasant could buy 5 yards of satin for one pood of bread for a shirt, and now for one pood you can buy only one meter. ʺ This performance was supported by the peasants.
34. Zeysky District. December 1. (DCK). In with. Aleksandrova Zeiskiy district at a solemn meeting dedicated to the 9th anniversary of the October Revolution, the peasants who spoke on the report on the internal situation in the USSR expressed: “Although they say that we have reached the pre‐war level in industry, we still do not see this, there are shortcomings all around ‐ poor quality of industrial products ”.
Agitation against the export of grain
35. Tula province. December 8. (Centre). In the village. Rakhleevo, Arsenyevsky district, a well‐to‐do peasant, expressing his dissatisfaction with the discrepancy in prices for bread and manufactured goods, said: “Our agricultural products are taken for nothing, and factory goods are not available to the peasant. We, peasants, need to come to an agreement and not sell any of our products, let the workers die of hunger. ʺ
36. Nikolaev district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In N. Bugsky district, kulaks speak out against the export of grain, declaring:
ʺBread should be held on until spring, when prices rise.ʺ
37. Kharkov district. December 15th. In with. Brothers of the Seninsky district, kulaks and middle peasants, gathering in the village council in the evenings, in conversations say: “Why are the prices for bread too low, and for manufactured products too high. It is necessary to either lower the prices of manufactured goods, or raise the prices of bread. The power seeks to raise industry at the expense of the peasant. If we had organized ourselves and had not taken the bread to the market, then we would have raised our product in price”.
38. Zaporozhye district. December 15th. In with. Svyatodukhovka G [ulyai] ‐Polsky district, a kulak at one of the meetings in a conversation said: “That we Dneprostroy, the peasant does not benefit from it, it would be better if the peasant was given trousers, and then they talked about Dneprostroy, which will also be a burden on peasant, because you need a lot of money to build it, and this is the tax. We, peasants, fools, are trying to sow more, as it were. We need to sow for two years in a row so that the harvest will be sufficient for the personal needs of the peasant, and not give anything to the market, dispensing with the purchase of goods and thereby declaring a boycott of industry. We would have forced then, by virtue of the need to reduce the prices of manufactured goods, otherwise nothing will be done. ʺ
39. In p. The miller of the Orekhovsky district, a well‐to‐do peasant in a group of fellow villagers, said: ʺIf the peasants had not given bread and food to the city, then the Soviet government and the workers would have been forced to lower prices for manufacture.ʺ
40. Rubtsovsky district. December 10. (Siberia). At st. In a conversation with Shipunovo, the middle peasant said: ʺWe, peasants, fools, give our bread almost for nothing and all this because we are not organized, otherwise we would not have given a pound of bread, I suppose then we would have received cheap goods.ʺ
41.25 November. In with. K. Capes of the Pospelikhinsky District, a middle peasant at a credit partnership shop and a Khleboprodukt acceptance point in a group of peasants said: “We have no organization; therefore, the worker is pressing us. The workers, thanks to their organization in the trade unions, work 8 hours. per day and for their labor, they take as much as they want, which is why goods are so expensive. And we, peasants, are not organized, as much as they give for our labor, we take as much. For bread, we set the price not as much as we want, but we are handing it over at this price. If the peasants organized themselves and announced the price of bread at 2 rubles. for a pood, then they would not go anywhere and pay for bread as much as we need, and if they didn’t buy at this price, everyone would take and not carry the bread. It is imperative to organize and perform in an organized manner, then they will understand that we will be reckoned with. ʺ
42. Tulunovsky district. In with. The middle peasant in Kuitun of Kuytun district said in a conversation: ʺWe must wait to sell bread at these prices, they say there will be an increase in price, the receiver of the Bread Product spoke about this, and there are rumors in the village that there will certainly be an increase, since the prices for bread are too lowʺ ...
Agitation for unlimited admission of a private owner to procurement and expansion of freedom of private trade
43. Moscow province. December 17. (Centre). In Ivanovskaya parish. Kashirsky u. at the regional meeting on the report of the VIC, the middle peasant said: ʺIndustrial goods are expensive, they are not available to the peasant, because everything is in the hands of the state, and not in private hands.ʺ
44. Oryol province. 9th December. In with. Zlobino Stanovlya parish Eletsky u. the merchant said: “The Soviet government does not want the peasants to buy goods at cheap prices, but the goods could be provided for the peasants. Now, if the Soviet government had brought a manufactory from abroad, it would have cost 12 kopecks. arshin. The authorities are trying to rip off the peasants and are not interested in lowering prices. ʺ
45. Voronezh province. December 19th. In with. Zaluzhnoe Lisninskaya parish Ostrogozhsky u. the middle peasant said: “Soviet power does not meet the peasant halfway, but, on the contrary, ruins him. She banned the private purchase of grain, organized her own cooperatives, which make money in order to spend them later. Someone will spend 1000‐2000 rubles, spend a year and the end, but 2000 rubles. you wonʹt earn even at 15 years old. We take a sunflower for 1 ruble. 01 kopecks pood, and the cake sells 50 kopecks. pood.
Now, for example, 4 poods of sunflower leaves 1 pood of oil, which costs 6 rubles, and cake 2 rubles, and only 8 rubles, thus making a ruble for a ruble, which private traders never do. They rob a peasant, which is why he becomes poorer. ʺ
46. Leningrad province. December 23rd. (Northwest). In Trotsky u. wellto‐do peasant of the farm at the village. Izvar Sosnitskaya par. in a conversation with the peasants, he said: “In the way that the Soviet power is now holding, you cannot revive the country, but only ruin it worse. The Soviet government wants to build socialism through cooperation, and now there will be nothing but ruin from this, since we see that everywhere, starting with the lowest cooperative organizations and ending with the central ones, continuous waste will be injected. All this rests on the shoulders of the state and the people, so we need to give more opportunities to develop private trade, then it will be easier for us, the peasants. There is no benefit to us from cooperation, all the same we have to travel 10 miles to the station because of 5 pounds, kerosene and a pound of oil. To buy Volosovo there, again, not in a cooperative, but from a private merchant. There are no such products in cooperation,
47. Novgorod province. December 15th. In the village. Perovshchina Moiseevskaya parish. Demyansky u. peasant der. Polenovshchina said in a conversation: “The accursed Soviet government does not allow private trade to run, everything is trying to strangle it, and plant its own cooperatives. In private trade, the goods were cheaper. For example, under tsarism, iron cost 4 kopecks, but now go buy it for that price. The authorities are all mazuriks and hooligans, they just pay their salaries.
ʺ
48. Zaporizhzhya district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In the Svyatodukhovsky EPO G [ulyai] ‐Polsky district, the middle peasant said in a conversation: “If every village was given without any restrictions the right to privately send its products abroad in exchange for goods, it would be better, but now hand over the bread to the cooperatives, and you they will give a bad product and, moreover, an expensive one, but you go to a private trader, he has any good and good quality ”.
49. Samara province. December 26. (Volga region). In with. M. Tolkay Poludnensky vol. Buguruslansky district the merchant agitates:
“Why does the state not allow private procurers to buy grain from the peasants? It would be profitable for both the state and the peasants. One mockery of the peasants ‐ give your bread for a pittance, but wait for whole days, or even weeks, in lines at the cooperatives and government agencies. They would have allowed a private buyer, but this is not done on purpose, so that the peasant cannot get rich. ʺ
50. Ulyanovsk province. December 18. In with. Russian Temiryazan of Syzran district the former trader agitates: ʺIf the Soviet government allowed private traders to import goods from abroad, then a private trader would fill up the peasants with these goods and sell these goods cheaper than Soviet factories.ʺ
Antagonism towards the city and the demand to cut wages and lengthen the working day for workers and employees
51. Ryazan province. December 24. (Centre). In with. Dyakonovo Ryazan district the middle peasant, in a conversation on the ongoing campaign to reduce prices, said: “They will never reduce prices, and if they do, then first prices for agricultural products, then for urban ones. They would have lowered the rates for administrative and economic personnel and workers, but would have reduced their staff, then the prices for urban goods would sooner fall. They do not talk about it, but want to lower prices at the expense of the raw materials that the peasants have”.
52.14 December. In with. Chesuevo Kuzminskaya Vol. Ryazan the poor man said: “Everywhere peasants live worse than the worker, who receives a higher salary, is well fed, shod and dressed. The authorities are doing wrong, they would not be 200 rubles. paid the worker, and 50 rubles, for the rest 150 rubles. I would have kept three more and the product would have been more and it would have been cheaper, so that everyone would live well. ʺ
53. Moscow province. December 22. In Yaropolskaya
Vol. Volokolamsky u. at a volunteer conference, a well‐to‐do peasant said: ʺBefore the peasants lived better, now the workers are to blame for everything, if they do not improve our situation, then we will beat the workers.ʺ
54.December 28. In Serednikovskaya Vol. Egoryevsky u. A poor man who spoke at a volunteer conference said: “The workers were given factories, but the peasants were pulled on their noses; before there were capitalists under the tsar, but now large organizations are replacing the capitalists. ʺ
55. Voronezh province. December 14. In with. Ilovka Ostrogozhsky u. in connection with the discrepancy in prices, conversations are noted: ʺIf the peasants were in power, then it would be better, otherwise there are workers and office workers who care only about themselves, and they do not care at all about the peasants.ʺ
56. Peasant middle peasant s. Brodovoy Annenskaya parish. Bobrovsky u. said: “The prices for urban goods in comparison with pre‐revolutionary times have increased by no less than 100%; This is explained by the fact that the state pays very large salaries to workers and employees. It is necessary for the workers to lower the rates, from this the goods will be cheaper and the price of bread will rise”.
57. Tambov province. December 10. In with. Robinovka Inokovskaya Vol. Kirsanovsky u. the middle peasant said in a private conversation: ʺWhy does the Soviet government not make an equalization between peasants and workers, since the workers receive good salaries, it would be necessary to reduce their salaries and use this money for another matter.ʺ
58. Kursk province. 12 December. In the Polyansky village council of Alekseevskaya vol. Belgorodsky u. the middle peasant said: “The Soviet government and the party sharply separated the workers from the peasants. The peasant product is put into nothing, but the manufactured goods are very expensive and the authorities seem not to notice this situation. If this continues, we will not give anyone bread, although we ourselves will bear the need. ʺ
59. Zaporozhye district. December 1. (Ukraine). In with. Kopani, Orekhovsky District, a kulak at a gathering in a group of fellow villagers said: “Workers and office employees receive a lot of salary and impose high prices on manufactured goods, while prices for peasant products are reduced. In my opinion, prices can only be regulated by increasing the working day in factories to 12:00, which will increase the production of manufactured goods. ʺ
60. In p. Basan, Pologovsky District, at a meeting dedicated to the 9th anniversary of the October Revolution, the middle peasant who spoke said: “The workers receive good salaries, have labor protection, and so on. It is necessary to reduce the wages of workers, because this will lead to a decrease in the value of goods. At the same meeting, two middle peasants said: ʺWhat would happen if we put the workers ʹand peasantsʹ rations on the scales, I wonder which of them would win.ʺ
61. Ulyanovsk province. December 15th. (Volga region). In with. Kuzovatov of the Syzran district, discussing the rates of specialists, some of the peasants declare: “They used to live in luxury and now they live the same way. Why does the Soviet government pay them such a large salary, but here the children of the peasants remain illiterate for lack of schools. The state could lower their salaries, and give this money to support the poor and to educate. ʺ
62. Saratov province. December 17. In with. Side Yagodno‐Polyanskaya Vol. Saratov u. the middle peasant in conversation, pointing to the high rates of the workers, said: “All this is because there are no peasants in the composition of the rulers. The workers set prices and therefore it is impossible to raise agriculture, since in the fall the grain is 60 kopecks, and in the spring it is 1 ruble. 50 kopecks pood. With the increase in wages to workers and employees, the prices of manufactured goods rise and the exploitation of peasants goes on. ʺ
63. Novosibirsk district. December 10. (Siberia). At the meeting of shareholders of the Alekseevskaya consumer cooperation ʺPlowmanʺ, a well‐to‐do peasant from the village Orlovsky said: “We need to set a goal and achieve by all means a reduction in the price of goods for workersʹ production. We peasants need to organize ourselves in order to increase the value of our products and reduce the wages of workers. As for the specialists, the question must be put directly ‐ he wants to work for 40 rubles, at most for 50, work, but he does not want to, it is not necessary, you need to remove such people from work, down with the bourgeoisie, we will work ourselves, since all this salary to workers and specialists is yoke to the peasant ʺ.
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 5
ELECTION OF COOPERATIVE BOARD
1. Environment of the re‐election campaign Increase in attendance at re‐election meetings
1. Tambov province. December 1. Re‐elections in a number of districts were held with the active participation of not only shareholder members, but also the non‐cooperative population. The elections attracted from 40 to 80% of shareholders, while last year only 41% participated in the re‐election.
2. Pskov province. December 22. (Northwest). At the re‐election meeting of the Dvoritskiy PO Novorzhevsky u. there were 150 shareholders out of a total of 300 shareholders. Compared to last year, the attendance increased by 20%. In the debate on the report of the board, the middle peasants and the poor spoke out, who accused the board of inactivity.
3. Kamensk district. December 10. Of the available information on reelection of management boards for 74 consumers out of a total of 20,973 shareholder members, 8,828 people came to re‐election meetings, which is 42.09%. Of these, those who attended the meetings: the poor ‐ 4658, the middle ‐ 3873 and the wealthy 296 people.
4. Rubtsovsky district. December 10. In the village Vetelki of the Charysh region at the re‐election meeting out of 84 shareholders was present 60‐71.4%.
In the village Lugovsky, Loktevsky district, 70‐75.2% of 93 shareholders were present at the re‐election meeting of PO.
5. Krasnoyarsk District. December 10. On average, 47% of shareholders attended the re‐election meetings. Out of 2880 people, 1344 people came to 15 meetings to re‐elect the boards of the OP, of whom 591 were poor, 699 were middle peasants, 54 were wealthy and 5 were employees. At these meetings, 381 speakers took part in the debate. Disadvantages of preparatory work and passivity of shareholders
6. Leningrad province. December 23rd. (Northwest). Re‐election of the Porshinsky agricultural partnership, Pargolovskaya vol. Leningradsky district passed sluggishly. After the 3rd convocation, only 27 people out of 138 shareholders were present at the meeting.
7. Pskov province. December 7. The appointed re‐election meeting of shareholders of the Kalitinsky credit partnership Krasnogorodskaya vol. Opochets‐someone. did not take place due to late delivery of the summons. Of the 800 members, only 92 were present. The mood of the assembled shareholders was depressed, in view of the embezzlement of 1,000 rubles by the board members in the past year. Most of the embezzlers have not been prosecuted. Among the membershareholders, there is a desire to leave the partnership.
8. Kuban District. (North Caucasus). The re‐election meeting of the Ust‐Labinsk EPO was attended by a small number of shareholders. The board itself did nothing to increase the activity of the shareholders.
9. Rubtsovsky district. December 10. (Siberia). The re‐election meeting of the members‐shareholders of the Pechunayevsky credit agricultural partnership did not take place due to the fact that the board and the rev‐commission were not prepared for it. The annual report was not considered, as well as the board and the cell did not hold village and poor people meetings.
10. Amur District. Attendance by shareholders of re‐election meetings is on average 33%. The small percentage of attendance is explained by the employment of the population in harvesting bread. In some cases, the meetings did not take place due to the lack of a quorum.
2. Poor and middle peasants in the re‐election.
Organized preparation of the poor for re‐elections
11. Pskov province. December 1st. (Northwest). In the village. Tyamisha Zavelich district Pskov u. a few days before the meeting, a meeting of groups of the poor was held. The poor people nominated their candidates, who passed almost all of them. Are two communists elected to the board? A resolution was passed to increase the share contribution to 5 rubles. and on the creation of a fund for the cooperation of the poor through a 15% deduction from net profit.
12. Proskurovsky district. (Ukraine). In with. Pirogovtsi, Bakhmatovsky district, re‐election of the board of the consumer cooperative was held. The poor people who led the meeting were very active. Before the elections, the candidacies of the board had been agreed with the rural activists and the representative of the district party committee who was present at the meeting.
13. Biysk district. December 15th. (Siberia). At the pre‐election meeting of the consumers of the consumer community in the village. The Karabinka organized poor peasants occupied half of the auditorium of the Karabinsk hut‐reading room and in all cases voted for the secretary of the VKP (b) cell as one. The disorganized poor voted looking at the organized. The well‐to‐do and kulaks, looking at the organization of the poor, remarked from the ground: ʺLook how the communists pumped up their heads, so it dances to their (communists) tune.ʺ On the part of the wealthy, there was an intention to put their candidate on the board, but the poor strongly rejected this.
14. Krasnoyarsk District. December 10. In the village. Emelyanova, a general meeting of the poor was held on the preparation for the reelection of a credit partnership, which was attended by almost all the poor. The secretary of the cell of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks nominated candidates for the board and it was agreed that the poor would nominate and defend these candidates at an elective meeting. It was also decided to hold another meeting of the poor before the elections.
15. Novosibirsk district. November 30th. In the village. Kusmen, Gutovsky district, at the meeting of the poor was attended by 90 people, 70 of them were poor. A poor man spoke at the meeting and said: ʺSuch meetings should be gathered more often, then we could organize and fight the kulaks in an organized way,ʺ to which shouts of ʺrightʺ were heard among those present. Poor‐middle peasant block
16. Kherson district. December 1. (Ukraine). In with. N. Dmitrovka of the same district, thanks to the blocking of the middle peasants with the poor at the reelection meeting of the cooperatives, the list of kulaks was rejected. The middle peasants and the poor went to the board.
17. Starobelsky District. In the Podgorovka settlement of the Starobelsky district, at a meeting of agricultural partners on the issue of re‐election of the board, the middle peasants and the poor, who mutually supported their candidates for the new board, especially showed themselves. The board was elected from among the middle peasants and non‐chefs.
18. Stavropol District. December 7. (North Caucasus). In with. Nikolina Balka, Petrovsky district, the cell was late with the preparatory campaign. The well‐to‐do, supported by a member of the RIK, made a proposal to recognize the work of the old board as satisfactory, but the pre‐revolutionary commission speaker pointed out a number of shortcomings in the work of the old board of the PO, emphasizing the bias towards protecting the interests of the wealthy, and ended his speech under the shouts of the middle peasants and the poor ʺdown with the old rule.ʺ As a result, the old government collapsed. The dominant role of the middle peasants in the elections
19. Tambov province. 20th of December. (Centre). Almost all re‐election meetings were overwhelmingly attended by middle peasants, who took an active part in speeches on the reports of the boards.
20. Zaporozhye district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. B. Tresa G [ulyai] ‐Polsky district in the re‐election of the board of the PO especially showed themselves to be shareholders from the middle peasants. The latter fully agreed with the opinion of the rural activists about the abandonment of the old composition of the board.
21. Proskurovsky district. In with. Krivachintsy of the Chernihiv region showed the greatest activity during the re‐election of agricultural partnerships by middle peasants, who promoted their representatives to the board of cooperatives.
22. Omsk District. December 1. (Siberia). In the Moskalensky District, at meetings for the re‐election of the PP, activity was noted mainly on the part of the middle peasants. There were also performances by the poor, but very rare. The most efficient of all in defense of their candidacies were mainly the middle peasants.
Support by part of the middle peasants to the line of the kulaks
23. Smolensk province. 20th of December. (West). During the re‐election of the board of the Ugric agricultural partnership, Zabolotovskaya vol. Yelninsky u. the middle peasants and kulaks united together and voted for the old composition of the board, while the poor insisted on re‐election of the board, but, due to their small number, they could not resist the kulak‐middle peasant bloc, and the victory remained with the latter.
24. Zinovievsky district. December 1. (Ukraine). In with. Chutovka of the Elizavetogradskiy district at the re‐election of the EPO board actively showed itself to the kulaks, which, grouping the middle peasants around themselves, incited the latter to vote for the previously outlined candidates. As a result, the board included: the son of the former volost foreman, a kulak who had a connection with banditry, and other wealthy people. The poor acted unorganized.
25. Astrakhan province. 31st of December. (Volga region). The kulaks of the Volkhunsky district in preparation for the re‐election of the boards of cooperatives, grouping around themselves a poor and middle peasant group, called the ʺpodkulachnayaʺ 294 (ʺbawlersʺ), with the help of them at general meetings, on corners and bumps in conversations inclines the rest of the population to their side ... The poor‐middleNyatsk part of the population, which sympathizes with the Soviet regime, behaves passively, due to the lack of support from the party organizations and their economic dependence on the kulaks. The kulaks began preparatory work almost a month before the re‐elections.
26. Rubtsovsky district. December 10. (Siberia). In with. The well‐to‐do part of the Rubtsovsky District came to the re‐election meeting of the PO in an organized manner. Some of the middle peasants supported the wealthy.
3. Kulaks at re‐elections. Speeches against the communists and the poor
27. Moscow province. November 30th. (Centre). At the re‐election of the Sinkovsky EPO of the Safyinsky vol. Bronnitsky u. the cell proposed a list of candidates, which was turned down by a group of wealthy people. During the voting, the kulaks agitated not to raise their hands ʺfor the communists and atheists.ʺ
28. Stavropol District. December 15th. (North Caucasus). In with. In Kazinsky, Kusavsky district, when the poor people were nominated for the new EPO board, the wealthy shouted: ʺDown with them, they robbed us in 1920 during the appropriation, and if something happens, you wonʹt take the poor from the poor.ʺ The poor, in turn, shouted ʺDown with the kulaksʺ about the candidacies of the wealthy. As a result of re‐elections, the entire old government, consisting of the wealthy, was re‐elected.
29. Astrakhan province. November 30th. (Volga region). In with. Volkhuny, a representative of the district council held a meeting of cooperative poor people in the Peopleʹs House, where they nominated candidates for members of the board and the revolutionary commission from among the poor. The next day, the well‐to‐do Khotnyansky, having learned about this meeting, led an agitation on the square and in the store that “it turns out that we are not the owners of the shop, but the communists, and the shantrapa think that everything will be done for them. If only these candidates get into the board, then you should know that everything is lost, I am the first to be discharged from the members, and there are 500 people behind me, then let the communists trade. ʺ
30. Irbit District. December 1. (Ural). At the re‐election meeting of the board of the Turin credit partnership, the well‐to‐do, seeking to bring their candidates from former officers and other alien anti‐Soviet elements to the board, sharply opposed the candidacies of members of the CPSU (b). Before the vote, the well‐to‐do campaigned against Communist candidates, pointing out that ʺthe party sends candidates to the government in envelopesʺ 295, but despite all their tricks, the kulak candidates did not pass.
Agitation of the kulaks for withdrawal from the cooperatives and for the liquidation of the cooperatives
31. Tambov province. 31st of December. Kursanovsky u. At the reelection meeting of N. Peskovskiy EPO of Orcevskaya Vol. after the report, a well‐to‐do man spoke and said: “We don’t need anything and we don’t need to do re‐elections, when we have a deficit, we have lived quite a lot, made 1,700 rubles. loss, you need to liquidate the cooperation. ʺ His words were supported by the rest of the well‐to‐do, after which all those present began to shout about the liquidation of the cooperation, and only after the instructor explained that none of them was responsible for the losses, it was possible to reassure the shareholders and start re‐elections.
32. Biysk district. 12 December. Novikovsky district. In with. The kulak spoke at a general meeting of the members of the agricultural credit association and said: ʺWe do not need cooperation, because only scoundrels sit in it and they fool us, but they rob us.ʺ
33. Kamensk district. Pankrushikhinsky district. In with. In Zatkovo, a meeting of the OP shareholders for re‐election of the board took place, and after the report of the instructor of the district union, a local teacher spoke and said: “A grassroots network of cooperatives will never develop with such a case. Now the cooperation is dependent, over it there are: the village council, the cell, the delegate, the Union, the instructor, etc., and in order to develop the cooperative business, we need to get out of this dependence and become an independent organization, act as we want, and we no one is needed, neither a village council, nor a cell, nor women, otherwise they all get involved in a cooperative business and thus hinder its development. ʺ
Speeches against the cooperation of the poor
34. Arkhangelsk province. December 15th. (Volga region). At the reelection meeting of the members of the Melandovskiy PO Yemetskaya Vol. Arkhangelsk u. a group of handicraftsmen tanners threw out the slogan: ʺGolyakov should not be elected to the cooperative, but the powerful should be sent.ʺ When announcing the pre‐administration of the estimate for next year, providing for the deduction of 100 rubles to the fund of the poor, the kulaks said: ʺWe will not help the poor and do not intend to, and the money supposed for this must be divided into the ruble taken and received.ʺ As a result, only 30 rubles were allocated to the fund of the poor.
35. Shadrinsky District. December 1. (Ural). At the re‐election of the board with. Tolkino, Kamyshlovsky district, a proposal made at a meeting of the poor to deduct 150 rubles from the profits. supporters of the kulaks and the wealthy, who said: “Let the poor do not go on our necks and enter the cooperatives at their own expense, 50 rubles will be enough for the cooperation of lazy people”. It was decided to deduct only 50 rubles for the cooperation of the poor.
36. Krasnoyarsk District. December 10. (Siberia). At the meeting of the shareholder members of the Torgashinsky OP of the Red District, the kulaks did their best to disrupt the meeting. In the debate, the kulaks said that ʺthe poor should not be dragged into cooperation, they are quitters and will burn with wine anyway, there is no need to drag them into cooperation and it is not worth cooperating with other peopleʹs means.ʺ The kulaks objected to the deductions from the profits of society for cultural work, and when the deductions were carried out, the kulaks shouted: ʺLetʹs leave the meeting, we have nothing to do here, since they are doing not our way.ʺ
37. Krasnoyarsk District. December 10. When conducting a report in the
Berezovsky OP (Krasnoyarsk District), the wealthy organized a group of middle peasants who protested against the cooperation of the poor at the expense of cooperation.
Advocating for the distribution of profits among shareholders and against increasing share contributions
38. Nikolaev district. December 10. (Ukraine). In the Novo‐Odessa region, during the re‐election of the EPO boards, the wealthy and middle peasants insisted that 40% of the profits be distributed to the shareholders. Some of the middle peasants left the meeting.
39. Stavropol District. December 18. (North Caucasus). In with. In Alexandria, the middle peasants and the wealthy opposed an increase in the share from 3 to 5 rubles at the re‐election of PO. The leaders of the well‐to‐do and large middle peasants made the following speech: “Citizens, there is no need to increase the share, the state takes from us, and even wants to take. The available profit must be divided, for which they put pressure on us, that we ourselves do not know what to do and where to put our penny. Since the state interferes in our affairs, then we have nothing to do here. Letʹs get out of here, citizens. ʺ Those present left the meeting.
40. Novosibirsk district. November 30th. (Siberia). At the re‐election of the Chemsky consumer society of the Karpiskan region, the well‐to‐do campaigned for the meeting for the distribution of profits among the shareholder members, saying: “Who was there who had the right to distribute our profits; here you can see that we are only called the owners here, and there are other owners on the profit. Letʹs divide these profits equally and analyze them ‐ they are ours and we will not approve the report”.
Support by instructors of cooperative unions of the line of the kulaks
41. Pskov province. 31st of December. (Northwest). At the re‐election meeting of the Ledeninovsky agricultural partnership Krasnoprudnaya parish. Pskov u. there were about 200 people, including many nonmembers of the partnership. At the meeting was a handful of kulaks and former White Guards who set out to re‐elect the old government, which had been exposed to a number of abuses. During the voting, the meeting was divided into two groups. The candidates were voted three times. The poor people, seeing that representatives from Pskov were on the side of the kulaks (a representative of Lnotorg was present), categorically declared: ʺWe are leaving the meeting, you can fraternize with kulaks and see anyone off.ʺ A former military official of the old army and a White Guard were elected to the board. All the old members were elected to the Revolutionary Commission.
42. Arkhangelsk province. November 30th. (Northwest). In with. Surah of Pinezhsky in the presence of an agricultural loan instructor, the reelection of the board of the credit partnership was held under the slogan ʺCooperation without the poor and communists.ʺ The poor people knew nothing about the re‐elections, the summons were sent to the wealthy and the kulaks. The VKP (b) cell proposed its candidates, but an energetic rebuff followed from the kulaks, supported by the instructor, who said: ʺAnd what does the party have to do with it, we are not pursuing any political goals and we do not need party control.ʺ The wealthy were elected to the board.
43. Kuban District. 20th of December. (North Caucasus). At the reelection of the EPO board stc. Olginskaya Pr [imorsko] ‐Akhtar region sent by the Kuban branch of the regional union to conduct the election campaign, the instructor sided with the kulaks, aiming to create an ʺEPO board without communists.ʺ On the eve of the re‐election, a meeting of members of the Union of Soviet Trade Employees was held on the issue of nominating candidates for the new board. Appearing at this meeting, the instructor said that at such a meeting it is completely inappropriate to talk about the new composition of the board and disrupted the meeting. At a meeting of asset shareholders, the instructor, being the secretary of this meeting, deliberately distorted the resolutions proposed by the secretary of the cell of the CPSU (b), and criticized the Communistsʹ failure, pointing out that the chairman of the board, a member of the CPSU (b), allegedly had a 260 rubles, knowing that nothing of the kind was established by the revkom. The presidium of the meeting was entirely on the side of the kulaks and the wealthy. The voting went wrong. The poor peasants, in view of the preponderance on the side of the kulaks, developed a depressed mood. Present at the meeting, Deputy. The secretary of the district committee of the All‐ ‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, sent by the district committee specifically for holding a re‐election meeting, was a completely indifferent spectator and never spoke, which greatly outraged the poor. As a result of the vote, non‐party people, fulfilling the will of the kulaks, and reactionary minded, passed to the board.
44. Tomsk District. December 1. (Siberia). In with. Baturin Voronovsky district at the meeting of shareholders of the PO decided to recognize the work as satisfactory. On the issue of re‐election of the board, a list of candidates was proposed, nominated by the poor meeting, but the instructor of the Consumer Union, who was present at the meeting, did not write these candidates even among those nominated by the meeting and generally supported the wealthy. When the Komsomol member, with the support of the poor, spoke out against the nominated candidate for the well‐to‐do, the instructor rushed with his fists at the Komsomol member, shouting: ʺYou compromise to fall.ʺ
4. Composition of re‐elected cooperative boards. The poor and middle peasants of the new boards
45. Leningrad province. December 3rd. (Northwest). At a meeting of members of the Yar‐Brovsky PO Komskaya Vol. Belozersky u. attended by 78 people. The work of the board was found unsatisfactory. The whole composition was elected from the new poor.
46. AMSSR. December 15th. (Ukraine). In the Chervono‐Okinsky region, during the re‐elections of the Alekseevsky EPO, the poor gave off the old rule, which consisted entirely of kulaks and the wealthy. As a result, the majority of the poor were elected to the board.
47. Barabinsk District. 15th of November. (Siberia). In six credit partnerships with 2706 shareholders, 18 people were elected to the new board, including 10 poor, 6 middle peasants and 2 employees, members of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and Komsomol ‐ 1. 82 people were elected to the OP and to the board, including 1‐woman, poor people ‐ 39, middle people ‐ 41 and wealthy ‐ 2, members of the CPSU and Komsomol ‐ 18.
48. Novosibirsk district. November 30th. In total, 98 communities were re‐elected in the district. According to the available information on 66 cooperatives, the election results are as follows: in the old composition of the boards of the poor ‐ 41.57%, middle peasants ‐ 55.54%, wealthy ‐
1.79%. The new composition: poor peasants ‐ 40%, middle peasants ‐ 59.37%, and wealthy people ‐ 0.63%.
49. Amur province. November 30th. (DCK). As a result of re‐elections, the composition of the boards was renewed by 60%, and only 96% of the peasants were included in the new boards of 10 cooperatives, of which the poor ‐ 32%, the middle peasants ‐ 64% and the wealthy ‐
3.22%, and the rev‐commission of the poor ‐ 57. 6%, middle peasants ‐
34.61% and well‐off ‐ 7.7%.
Cases of clogging of new boards
50. Cherepovets province. December 15th. (Northwest). During the reelection of the boards and the re‐commission of the Voskresensky PO Sugarovskaya Vol. Tikhvinsky u. The former landowner and the former timber merchant, the former timber merchant, became the chairman of the board.
51. Starobelsky District. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. Litvinovka, Belovo‐Dskiy district, during the re‐election of the consumer cooperation board, the former white and former zhavdarms went to the board, who, thanks to the preliminary soldering of the shareholders, received the majority of votes.
52. Barabinsky district. December 15th. (Siberia). In 49 oil cartels with 5177 shareholders, 2866 were present at the re‐election meeting. The wealthy had a significant influence at the time of the re‐election. Of the 150 people newly elected to the board, 70 are well‐to‐do people with 5 to 10 or more cows, 53 poor people with 1 to 3 cows, and 27 middle peasants. The leadership and influence of the VKP (b) and Komsomol was absent from the re‐election. Members of the CPSU (b) ‐ 3 and Komsomol ‐ 4 passed into the board.
53. Tomsk District. December 10. At the re‐election meeting of the Bolotinsky District PO, a merchant with a 2nd category patent was elected chairman of the Revolutionary Commission; As a result, he was nevertheless elected to the Revkommission.
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 6
PREPARATORY CAMPAIGN FOR RE‐ELECTION OF COUNCILS
1. Work on compiling lists of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ
1. Vladimirskaya lips. January 3rd. (Centre). Vtorovskaya vol. At the briefing meeting of the gubernia electoral committee at the VIC, the instructions of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee were worked out. According to clause 1 of Art. 15 the representative of the Uizbirkom gave an explanation to the chairmen present at the meeting
agricultural election commissions in such a sense that all peasants and members of their families who have agricultural machinery are deprived of their voting rights. As a result of such an explanation in the village. Vysokovo at a meeting of the agricultural electoral committee on January 2, all citizens of 70 people with agricultural machinery were included in the list of deprived of voting rights. Members and candidates of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, whose fathers have agricultural machinery, were also among those deprived of voting rights.
2. Suzdal district January 3rd. In the village. The mutilation of the election committee was unsuccessful due to the fact that all members were not elected at the general meeting, but appointed in absentia. The electoral commission has not yet begun work.
3. Danilovsky district, Sobinskaya vol. January 3rd. In the Danilovsky district, an agricultural election committee was organized, in which instead of 7 people 12 were elected.
4. Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. January 14. In Lezhnevskaya parish. Teikovsky u. some members of the CPSU (b) and candidates were included in the lists of deprived of voting rights. So, the secretary of the Krapivnovsky wolf committee of the Komsomol, the candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party, whose father is a working peasant, but now deprived of voting rights for the fact that in 1920‐1921. had a patent for the sale of leather shoes, made by him personally, was deprived of voting rights. The chairman of the KKOV is also deprived of voting rights, whose father, a 65‐year‐old peasant, has been deprived of voting rights because 3 years ago he traded in haberdashery. For the same reasons, another candidate of the CPSU (b) was also deprived of voting rights.
5. In the village. Ilyina Valovskaya parish. Yuryevetsky u. the middle peasant was deprived of the right to vote because he had made 6,000 bricks for his needs and at one time, due to the loss of livestock and the need for money, wanted to sell them.
6. Trinity District. 20th of December. (Ural). In the village Stepnoy, 260
Cossacks were deprived of the right to vote, including the TrudovikCossacks, previously Soviet‐minded. The deprivation of the right to vote caused strong discontent among the latter.
7. In the village. Klyuchevskoy, Troitsk District, the village council, having misunderstood the instructions for re‐election of the Soviets, decided to deprive up to 40 moonshiners of voting rights, regardless of their social origin.
8. Chelyabinsk District. 20th of December. In the village Etkulskiy on the part of the poor notes dissatisfaction with the electoral committee for not depriving the entrepreneur‐exploiter of the voting rights, who was classified by the electoral committee as a handicraftsman while he takes large contracts in the regional electoral commission and in other places where hired carpenters hired by him work.
9. Kamensk district. December 25. (Siberia). Kamensky district. In the premises of the village council, after the explanation of the new instructions for re‐election, the poor peasant asked why they take 12 rubles from each person deprived of the right to vote, to which the secretary of the village council replied that this money is being collected because those deprived of the right to vote will not carry elected public duties. The middle peasant who was present at the same time said: “But today many of us will be deprived of the right to vote and there will be business with this deprivation, because there are rich villages and many well‐to‐do, and there will be up to several thousand disenfranchised people in the district, who, of course, will not to be silent and speak something. ʺ
10.Amur District. December 15th. (DCK). Zavitinsky district. In a number of villages: Bely Yar, Novo‐Mikhailovka, Valuevo, Bessarabovka, Bakharevo, Kiselevo, Kulikovskoye, Irkuta and others, there are no election commissions. Where they were created (Bely Yar and Valuevo), they do not do any work. Discontent is noted among the peasants on this basis: ʺThe time is approaching for the re‐election of the Soviets, but we do not know anything about how the elections should be held.ʺ
11.Aleksandrovsky district. A meot teacher was elected as a chairman of the Voznesensk agricultural electoral committee. The rest of the members of the commission were not elected, as a result of which no preparatory work for the re‐election, either by the village council or by the pre‐election committee, is being conducted.
The ratio of various strata of the village to the increase in the number of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ 1. The ratio of the poor and middle peasants
12.Vladimirskaya lips. January 3rd. (Centre). Suzdal district In the villages of Kistysh and Vishenki, at a meeting of the poor, the poor peasants said about the deprivation of voting rights by the kulaks: “Finally, the very“ devils ”have been forever shaken off our necks and they will no longer shout at the meetings.
13.Oryol province. December 29th. Novosilsky u. In with. Kosarev Zalegoschinsky par. Former merchants‐kulaks in a private conversation with the poor peasants said: ʺHere we are deprived of our voice, but in Novosil they will restore us,ʺ to which the poor replied: ʺWherever you want to go. Finally, the Soviet government gagged the parasites that interfere with work. Thanks to the authorities for this. ʺ
14.Ryazan lips. 31st of December. Ryazan in the village of Kiselevsky Tarnovskaya par. the population deliberately refers to the identification of persons deprived of voting rights, believing that the deprivation of rights under the new instruction is carried out quite correctly.
15.Moscow province. December 28th. In the village. Aleksandrovskoe Communist Vol. Moscow u. At the pre‐election meeting of the village council, the prosperous and middle peasants, including the pre‐village council, who spoke during the discussion of the new instructions for reelection, said: “There is no need to deprive anyone of voting rights. Why are they depriving the rights of a peasant who has an exemplary economy and supports hired workers, and a worker who receives 200 rubles each? and those who keep a servant are not deprived of their voting rights”.
16.Moscow district in with. Kolomenskoye, at a youth meeting, together with a poor peasant activist on the issue of re‐election to the Soviet, a middle peasant (influenced by a wealthy kulak group) said: “Why is the kulak deprived of the right to vote while it gives the state more benefits than the poor peasant. If the kulaks had not hired laborers, the latter would have died of hunger. ʺ This speech was supported by the present fist. After the meeting, when it was proposed to sing ʺInternationaleʺ, both speakers defiantly left the meeting.
17.Bronnitsky u. In with. Vasiliev, members of the election commission, peasants, the poor and the middle peasants, who were under the influence of the wealthy and the kulaks, defended the kulak element. Under their influence, the election commission decided to petition for the restoration of the rights of two clearly anti‐Soviet persons.
18.Maikop district. January 10. (North Caucasus). In stts. The poor of Giagin are pleased that the ʺblack boardʺ 296 will help get rid of the kulaks and the wealthy in the Soviets.
19.Kuban District. January 10. In the Pavlovsky district, in a number of villages, the poor and former Red Army men, in connection with the deprivation of the electoral rights of employers (wealthy and kulaks), say: ʺAll the same, the Soviet government protects the poor in practice.ʺ
20.Chelyabinsk District. 20th of December. (Ural). In the village Selezyansky, Etkul district, the Selizbirk, guided by instructions, deprived 51 people of the right to vote. A large number of poor people took an active part in the work of the electoral commission, saying: ʺEnough for them, the kulaks, to grab their throats and lead their line.ʺ Those deprived of the right to vote, mostly kulaks, said: “Why did you deprive us of the right to vote, what kind of kulaks we are. Whom will you choose now if such people have been deprived of the right to vote? ʺ To which the poor people present, not members of the election commission, replied: “We will find someone to elect. Are there really no people besides the wealthy?
2. Speeches by ʺdisenfranchisedʺ
21. Moscow province. January 15. (Centre). Bronnitsky u. In Saltykovsky vol. from. Seltso, the former village headman, who was deprived of the right to vote, walked around the courtyards with agitation: “Our Constitution is wrong ‐ it deprives us of rights for nothing. Soviet power is not independent: it grants rights, then again deprives them. She has no faith now. ʺ
22. Zvenigorodsky district January 11. In Perkhushkovskaya parish. village Tolstopal‐tsevo in the tea shop, the buyer said: “The election instruction creates a terrible enmity among the population. If we all live in the USSR, then no one should be deprived of their rights. ʺ Another merchant said in the same place: “The Bolsheviks have no funds, but they limit the voting rights for workers. If the old capitalists were in industry and in power, then everything would have been settled long ago. In the very first war, the Bolsheviks will fail because the peasants will not support them.ʺ
23.S. Sobakino Perkhushkovskaya Vol. Zvenigorodsky u. The innkeeper in a group of peasants said: “The Soviet government has arranged a good life for the workers, who are a drop in the ocean against the peasants. And the government deprives the peasants of the right to vote so that they cannot carry out their line in the Soviets.ʺ
24. Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. January 14. In with. Khripilevo Gorkinskaya Vol. In the Rodnikovsky District, a psalm‐reader (son of a priest, born in 1903, enlisted at the conscription unit) among a group of peasants said among a group of peasants: “As in the army, so go, but as an election campaign, you cannot vote, everywhere and everywhere there are only scoundrels and rogues; if they don’t give me the right to vote, then I will always put a foot on the authorities.
25. Oryol province. 5 January. Novosilsky u. In Karsakovskaya parish. the note of the new instruction causes concern and murmur among the well‐to‐do kulak strata of the population. According to the Karsakov village council, 86 people were deprived of their voting rights, in connection with which in the village. Pokrovsky a kulak, who in the old days and now has laborers, said: “The Soviet government makes everyone sit on the stove. Nobody has the right to deprive us of our vote, for we are Trudoviks. ʺ
26. Arkhangelsk province. 31st of
December. (Northwest). Pinezhsky. Peasant der. The disenfranchised town said: “It shouldnʹt go on like this. The opposition will take them, for Zinoviev also does not sleep and knows his business. ʺ
27. Peasant s. Cheshegory, being drunk, said: “Although the Soviet government deprives us of our electoral rights, but not for long and no more than 3 months. Then the government will change anyway and then we will deprive them of their rights. ʺ
28. Khabarovsk District. 20th of December. (DCK). In with. Tikhonovka of the Kalininsky district, in connection with the deprivation of the right to vote by a meeting of the rural election commission of 6 kulak families, after reading the list of the number of those deprived of the vote, a kulak who spoke said: ʺThe best and most advanced people are deprived of the right to vote, who could be elected to the village council in the elections.ʺ Supporting him, another kulak, protesting against the deprivation of his vote, said: “I was illegally deprived of the right to vote. I have no employees and I don’t exploit other peopleʹs labor.” The third fist added: “I am also being illegally deprived of my vote; I will appeal. I have two workers, but I have no benefit from them, and my economy does not expand with constant hired labor, tomorrow I will fire them. Take and feed them. ʺ
3. The activity of the kulaks and the wealthy
29. Moscow province. 31st of December. (Centre). In the Communist Vol. pos. Lianozovo pre‐council, on its own initiative, gathered a meeting of the villageʹs activists, which was also attended by some clearly anti‐Soviet personalities. At the meeting of the pre‐council, he proposed to restore the former tea merchant, the former owner of the printing house, etc. to the electoral rights. The meeting decided not to deprive him of the right to vote. In the same place, the pre‐council gathered a closed meeting of 5 persons clearly anti‐Soviet. The meeting outlined a list for the new composition of the Council. The list includes a pre‐council and several dacha owners.
30. Resurrection street December 28th. In Mamoshinskaya Vol. village the settlement, wealthy peasants are conducting a preparatory campaign for the re‐election of village councils. Preparation consists in arranging meetings. For example, at the home of one of the wealthy peasants, a similar meeting was arranged, in which up to 15 people, mostly wealthy, took part. At the meeting, its initiator said: “We need to kick out the current members of the village council and appoint our own, since they will protect our interests. Make every effort to persuade the peasants to our side. ʺ After discussion in the village council, the candidates for the prosperous peasant and the son of a kulak were outlined.
31. Ryazan province. December 24. In with. Dedinovo, Zaraisky district, preparing for the re‐election of the village council, the kulaks began to organize themselves. The kulaks are also joined by the local intelligentsia, represented by a teacher, a former lawyer, a former officer ‐ the pre‐circle of hunters and the head of agricultural cooperatives. Two poor activists, being drunk with fists, under their influence agitate that the Communist Party is conducting a wrong policy, considering the middle peasant a fist and the poor peasant a drunkard, and therefore they put their members in responsible posts, in reality now there are no kulaks, but there are only middle peasants and no work there should be no opposition to the kulaks.
32. Zhytomyr district. January 1st. (Ukraine). In with. Bereztsy of the Radomysl region, while the poor are not preparing at all for the upcoming re‐elections of the village council, the kulaks, together with the middle peasants, are intensively preparing for this and nominating candidates. Some kulaks say: ʺThe poor people who are not chewed have already fallen asleep, and when the chairman of the village council is ours, then we will work with them.ʺ There is a group of kulaks in the village who are preparing for the upcoming re‐elections.
33. In p. Terenty, Volodarsky district, preparatory work is currently underway for the re‐election of the village council. Representatives of the district KNS came to the village, who at the meetings urged the noncheaters to prepare for this and take an active part in the work to prevent candidates from the kulak element from entering the village council. Along with this, it is observed that the kulaks, grouping together, discuss candidates for the upcoming re‐elections. So, for example, on December 10 in the village. Mounds of the Terenets village council at a kulak, a member of the village council, a meeting was held where the question of candidates for the village council was discussed.
34. Maykop district. (North Caucasus). In the Armenian region, a group of well‐to‐do and kulaks are conducting an intensified agitation campaign against the exclusion of communists from the village council. A statement to the region about their tactless behavior is being written against three communists. The reason for this attitude towards the communists was the fact that the former chairman of the Armenian RIK, a member of the CPSU (b), being in close friendly relations with the kulak group, which he openly sympathized with, dismissed the communists from work for no reason.
35. Donetsk district. January 10. The grouping of the well‐to‐do Malchevsko‐Polnensky village council of the same district is intensively campaigning among the population about leaving the old composition of the village council ‐ the deaconʹs son, who lives with his father in the same household without division and should be included in the lists of deprived of voting rights.
36. Zlatoust district. (Ural). Kulaks with. Karaulovka of the Katovsky District is preparing for the re‐election of the Soviets. In order to get their representatives into the Council, they are conducting intensified agitation among the population for the candidacy of a kulak for the previllage council.
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 7
ANTI‐SOVIET MANIFESTATIONS IN THE VILLAGE
1. Speeches for Cross Unions KS Requirements for Price Regulation
1. Moscow province. 4 January. (Centre). In with. Three days Borshchevskaya parish Klinsky u. the former owner of a tea house in a group of peasants said: ʺIt is necessary for the peasants to organize a cross union that could organize all trade in agricultural products with other states, only then it will be possible to establish fixed prices for agricultural products.ʺ
2. Zaporozhye district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. V. Tersa G [ulyai] ‐Polsky district in the group of middle peasants and poor peasants gathered near the village council, the poor peasant (handicraft shoemaker by profession) said: “Our price for bread is very low, but for manufactured goods, it would be necessary to organize such an organization or a peasant union to come to an agreement with the workers on the settlement of prices so that neither the peasantry nor the workers would be offended. It is necessary to reduce the sales and management staff. We, for example, had one foreman and a clerk in the volost and managed all the affairs, but now there are 30‐40 people in the area, but there is no benefit. Why do we need different trade inspections, trusts, there are factories and factories, let them have one management and exchange goods with us through our grassroots cooperation? To organize our cross‐union apparatus, it is necessary from the society to elect at least one person there, as delegates to the district are elected, and then they will come together and will regulate prices with representatives from the workers, or else it should be carried out through cooperation in order to elect members from each cooperative to the congress. In general, it is necessary to have such a body to regulate prices, because wheat is taken from us for a pittance, at a ruble a pood, and workers in the city buy flour for 3 rubles. 30 kopecks pood. Thus, it turns out that the workers overpay and therefore demand and receive high rates, but we do not get extra for our work. ʺ The present middle and poor peasants supported him with exclamations of ʺright.ʺ
3. Stavropol District. December 7. (North Caucasus). In with. In Moscow, at a meeting of members of the trade union of mill No. 1, where several peasants were present, a demobilized Red Army soldier (formerly the Presidential Council) who spoke on the results of the XIV Party Conference pointed out the need to organize a peasant union. According to the speaker, the union should ʺtake into account all agricultural products, sell and exchange them both for local manufactured goods and directly with foreign states, preventing the sale of peasant products through cooperative organizations.ʺ
4. Saratov province. December 17. (Volga region). In with. Samodurovka of the Staro‐Kutkinskaya vol. Volsky u. the middle peasants are in favor of organizing a peasant union. They are supported by some of the local members of the CPSU (b), pointing out: “If the peasant has his own union, it will be easier for him to live. Manufacture may be reduced in price. The union of peasants and the union of workers will come to an agreement so that neither side will be at a loss. Then Samodurovka will have its own elevator, where we will pour our grain, and we will receive money from the cash desk of the crossunion, which will dictate the prices of grain at the request of the peasants. Then the workersʹ union will have to reckon with us in all respects. ʺ
5. Amur District. December 15th. (DCK). In the town of Zavitaya, on the market square, a peasant from the village. Valuevo, in a group of peasants, said: “We have to give bread for a pittance, since peasant products are valued for nothing, and if we start buying the most necessary peasant goods, like manufacture and iron, then we have to pay much more for them. At all costs, we need to create our own strong organization that would regulate the prices of peasant products by stopping the supply of grain to the bazaar and, in general, to grain procurement points, and if we stopped the supply of grain within three months, then we would have taken our own. The Soviet government would see that it is not the working class that is the vanguard, but the peasantry. If we don’t give bread, then all the workers and employees will die, but they should not have been given so that they know whose side is more powerful.”
Clearly political demands of the Constitutional Court
6. Moscow province. 21 December. (Centre). In Kaleevskaya parish. Volokolamsky u. at the volunteer conference, the middle peasant said: “KKOV you are not suitable for the peasants, we need to organize a union. Now the worker is dictating to us, what he will tell us is what we must do, and under our cross union we will dictate to the worker. ʺ
7. Voronezh province. December 14. In the settlement of Sofenka, Annenskaya parish. the middle peasant among his fellow villagers said: “The Communist Party is a workersʹ party, not a peasant party. We need to organize our peasant party to counterbalance the workersʹ and communist party, which would defend our interests. ʺ
8. Pskov province. December 15th. (Northwest). In the village. Koroleva Krasno‐prudskaya parish. Pskov u. the well‐to‐do in a conversation with fellow villagers said: ʺWe need to organize in a Russian‐peasant union in order to put our Russian people to power, otherwise the nonRussians do what they want, introduce a large tax and thatʹs all from us peasants.ʺ
9. Zinovievsky district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. Vladimirovka Bobrinetsky district, a prosperous peasant (former guard) said in a conversation: “The government allows everyone to organize their unions for farm laborers, handicraftsmen, and any other bastards, but we, peasants, are not allowed to create our own peasant union. If there was a peasant union, the whole pack would be broken up, and now as a drawbar, which povernesh, back and left ‐ all the judges habarschiki 297 and bloodsuckers, all power is fraudulent. ʺ
10. Kharkiv district. January 1st. In with. In the Katansky district of the Kirikovsky district, the middle peasant declared: “There should be two chambers in Russia ‐ a peasantʹs and a workerʹs, these two chambers will defend two sides ‐ the workers will defend theirs, and the peasants will defend theirs. If there were two chambers and a peasant union in Russia, there would not be such a high cost of goods, and the peasant chamber would tell workers who produce expensive goods that your goods are dear and beyond our strength, we will not give you raw materials and grain. ʺ
11. Stavropol District. (North Caucasus). In with. Privolnoye of the Medvedinsky district of the pre‐village council (well‐off) in a private conversation, speaking out for the organization of a cross union, said: ʺIf the peasant union is revived, then all parties must die, as he will crush them, and this will be the greatest organization in the world.ʺ
12. Saratov province. 31st of December. (Volga region). In with. Irinovka, Novo‐Burasskaya vol. at the meeting, the former Socialist‐Revolutionary said: “The peasants are in bondage to the workers who have seized power. If there is no peasant union, the peasantʹs life will not improve. It is necessary to arrange mediation in trade and organize into one whole for the direct exchange of products with factories, to abolish trusts and syndicates. ʺ This campaign is successful, as a result of the local agricultural associations are falling apart. At one of the general meetings, it was decided to liquidate the
KKOV.
13. Sretensky District. (DCK). In with. In the N‐Ivanovsky district of Zhidkinsky district, the middle peasant said in a conversation: “The peasantry is oppressed; at general meetings, through their representatives, through the press and by all other measures, it is necessary to achieve the convocation of a non‐party conference, sending especially reliable delegates to such meetings with premeditated orders, these representatives must orderly demand the creation of peasant unions. ʺ
2. Kulak groupings Kulak groupings taking part in the re‐election of cooperation
14. Moscow province. 20th of December. (Centre). Zvenigorodsky u. At the re‐election of the board of the Ignatovsky EPO, Plirovsky parish. a group of middle peasants in the number of 17 people, headed by a large artisan and a former manufacturer, insisted on leaving the old composition of the board; one of the members of the board is a former merchant, the other is a drunkard and protector of fists. As a result, two supporters of the kulaks and the Pre‐City Council came to the board. The poor were dissatisfied with the re‐election results.
15. Tambov province. 31st of December. Kirsanovsky u. At the reelection of the Parevsky EPO, Inzhavinskaya Vol. the members of the formed grouping of supporters and relatives of the old government began to shout at the list of candidates proposed by the executive secretary of the CPSU (b): “Look, you are recommending your party members to us; if they are good, take them for yourself, but we do not need them; leave the old government entirely, we donʹt need communists, ʺand so on. The new board includes a chairman and a member of the old board.
16. Leningrad province. December 15th. (Northwest). At the re‐election of the Mariinsky Credit Association of Andomskaya Vol. Vytegorsky u. a group of prosperous 15 people, having agreed in advance, tried by all means to prolong the meeting. Due to the late time, the majority of those present dispersed and only after that the re‐elections were started. As a result, exceptionally well‐to‐do people were elected to the board and the revolutionary commission. The new board proposed to decide not to give loans to the poor without two guarantors.
17. Arkhangelsk province. November 30th. At the re‐election meeting of the Padensky Production Association of Ust‐Padenskaya
Vol. Shenkursky u. a group of former White Guards, with the support of the pre‐meeting, slowed down the meeting, finding fault with all sorts of trifles and thus delaying the meeting. As a result, by the time of the elections, out of 283 people, 59 people remained. The representative of the Union, despite the small number of members of the cooperative, allowed re‐elections and, as a result, the candidates nominated by the cell of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) were failed. Three former White Guards joined the board, and one of them is not a member of the cooperative.
18. Smolensk province. December 1. (West). At the re‐election meeting of the Sokorevsky consumer society of Demidovsky u. An organized group of kulaks, aiming to get their candidatures to the board, secured the mandates of the shareholders who had left the meeting and handed them over to their supporters, non‐shareholders, who participated in the vote until they were noticed and they were asked to surrender their mandates.
19. Starobelsky District. December 15th. (Ukraine). In the Epifanovka settlement of the Novo‐Astrakhan region, at the re‐election of the EPO board, a group of kulaks, seeing that their candidacies did not pass to the board of the cooperatives, tried in every possible way to disrupt the meeting. However, the plan of the kulaks was not crowned with success, and two middle peasants and one‐party member were elected to the board.
20. Izyum district. In the Savinsky district, up to 300 shareholders were present at the re‐election meeting of the Che‐Pelsk consumer cooperation. During the voting, a group consisting of a preselesoet (according to the convictions of the SR), a former officer and others, with noises and shouts tried to fail the party members nominated to the board. One of this group, at the end of the report of the instructor of the district union, spoke and said: “Why are you fooling us, that you are fogging us with our heads, you are only fooling us all the time, but you live at our expense, you won’t fool, we ourselves know everything we need to do ʺ. When the district party committee nominated a Komsomol member, one of this group shouted: “The party is strangling us, they are imposing on us by the force of the Komsomol,” but, having run out, he ran out and started agitating among the shareholders on the street that admit party and Komsomol members to the board, and after a while he burst in with a group of drunken villagers, making noise and shouts in the hall. As a result, the candidates nominated by this group were elected to the board.
21. Stavropol District. December 25. (North Caucasus). In with. Elizavetinsky at the re‐election of the board of the cooperative, the head of the group of the wealthy on the issue of the distribution of profits and deductions from them for the construction of the school spoke and said: “The state is robbing us, takes tax, state insurance, and so on. We have earned money, and the state wants to take it from us to build a school. The state itself is not interested in the construction of a school and a hut, it is only on paper, but on the salary it says that the money goes to schools, but in fact not a damn thing. We are the owners of these funds, give us orders, they will lick and persuade us, we are not children. Give us a charter, we will sort it out in our own way, we only have the right to dispose of this money, but not from above. ʺ He was supported by the middle peasant, who argued that the state robbed the people, and the peasant was a cash cow, which was milked until then, until they get knocked down. During the voting, the question of the allocation of funds for the school was failed and a resolution was passed on the distribution of profits at 6 kopecks. for a fence ruble. The majority also decided to leave the share at 3 rubles. After the resolution of these issues and the departure of a part of the well‐to‐do, headed by the leader from the meeting, the instructor of the regional union said that 6 kopecks. it is illegal to deduct a fence ruble and that such a decision will be protested to them. The rest decided to revise the resolution, and since the majority of the rest consisted of the poor, a proposal to deduct 600 rubles was passed during the vote. for the construction of a school, on the distribution of profits for only 3 kopecks. for a fence ruble and an increase in the share to 5 rubles. Having learned about the revision of these issues, the wealthy declared that it was ʺfraudʺ and decided to complain to the court.
22. Donocircle. 20th of December. In stts. Egorlykskaya Mechetinsky district, before the re‐election of the EPO representatives, the candidacies were preliminary discussed at a meeting of the cell of the CPSU (b) and the poor. The Yegorlyk group, which consisted of antiSoviet elements, also prepared for re‐elections, breaking up into polling stations. In the 3rd, 4th and 5th quarters, the said group held a meeting of “their own” as chairpersons, and when the EPO chairman proposed a list of candidates with an explanation that the list was not imposed, but only recommended, the members of the group who were present from all over shouted: “Down with the list, power to the people , it is necessary to appoint from the localities that you appoint us the poor, but no middle peasants. Why is it that some poor people discussed the list separately, and not altogether? There should be no separation. ʺ On attempts to clarify the essence of the poor gatherings, the group, without letting them speak, shouted: ʺDown with, sit down,ʺ making a big noise. As a result of agitation and shouts, the list was rejected, with the support of the intelligentsia present at the meeting, including teachers, and candidates were appointed from places, most of which were from the groupʹs supporters (former landowners, etc.). In response to the attempts of the pre‐village committee to challenge some persons, the group shouted: ʺDown with, sit down.ʺ The members of the group all the time ran the hall among the shareholders, addressing the latter with the words: ʺWhat are they doing, because the power of the people.ʺ
23 January 1. In with. In the Kagalnitsky district of the Bataysky district, a group of prosperous and anti‐Soviet elements led by a former large trader (he served in the EPO, was dismissed for leave to private traders of the manufacture), wishing to disrupt the campaign for re‐election of the EPO board, collected a number of signatures of EPO members on early re‐election of the board. The EPO board rejected this application and the re‐elections were nevertheless held according to the plan. Following the failure of the list, a group led by the aforementioned merchant, a former officer, a kulak and the wife of a former landowner campaigned to discredit the old EPO rule, meeting at the apartment of one of this group, where the question of seizing the government was discussed. The group used a former white officer to disrupt the meeting, but he was promptly removed from the meeting and prosecuted for the rowdy.
24. Chelyabinsk District. December 1. (Ural). In the village In Ust‐Uisk, a pre‐election meeting of shareholders of an agricultural credit partnership was appointed. Before the meeting, a group of well‐to‐do and kulaks in the number of 7 people arranged their meeting in the pub, at which they worked out a general line of speech. In view of the small number of members of the partnership who attended the meeting, it was postponed and a report from a representative who had arrived from the district on the growth of industry was delivered. A group of well‐to‐do people who came to the meeting tried to disrupt the report, shouting from their seats: “Itʹs easy for you to speak eloquently when you get 80 rubles. Finish the report and so it is clear” and so on. The well‐to‐do members of the group who spoke in the debate declared: “Look at the difference between the tsarist and the current government ‐ the rich used to wear tailcoats and presided over and now the same dominance, and the communists also sit where the communists are not asked and they do not want ‐ they will definitely get there, as if we cannot do without them, and as soon as a party member is nominated, he will certainly turn out to be some kind of swindler. You, district workers, came to us in good fur coats to preach tales to a naked peasant. They have no one to send to us from the city, except for the Jews and Jews, because there they are dominated. What confidence can the Cossacks have in Soviet power when it is ruled by the Jews. The meeting accompanied this speech with shouts of approval and did not allow the speaker and local party members to speak anymore.
25. Krasnoyarsk District. December 10. (Siberia). At a meeting of the shareholders of the Brokinskiy OP (Krasnoyarsk District), a group of kulaks failed the list for the new board outlined by the cell, and the former gendarme was elected to the board. This group, two days before the re‐election meeting, was all the time in the consumer market, trying to find out every little detail. On the day of the re‐election, two leaders of the group from 8 oʹclock. In the mornings, they sat at the school where the re‐elections were to take place, and they brought them breakfast from home. Among the audience, they campaigned not to vote for the Communists, but to nominate a former gendarme. The latter persuaded a group of well‐to‐do people that if a pre‐RIK came to the re‐election, then they needed to catch him and start a conversation with him so that he could not come to an agreement with the cell. After the meeting opened, the group leaders shouted, that if the candidacy put forward by them does not pass to the board of directors, then the meeting can be closed, since ʺthen we will close the consumer market and take back our shares.ʺ The representative of the district committee was not allowed to speak, and one of the well‐to‐do shouted: “We don’t need lawyers, we know you, we want to choose our candidate, but do not impose on us.” Being under the influence of this group, the shareholders raised a fuss and issued an ultimatum: ʺIf the candidate we nominated does not get into the board, then we quit the cooperation, take back the shares and there is no need to hold meetings.ʺ As a result, the candidacy nominated by the group passed, and no votes were cast for the candidates nominated by the cell. After the meeting, the leaders of the group said: ʺSo the re‐election of the village council should be carried out as well.ʺ
26. In the village. Emelyanova of the Krasnoyarsk region, a group of prosperous people, led by members of the church council, at the reelection meeting came out with the slogan: ʺIt is not necessary to bring the communists into the board, down with the communists from the cooperatives, the communists will squander all our shares.ʺ
27. In p. Shalinsky, Sukhobuzinsky District, a group of prosperous 8 people headed by an accountant (anarchist) and a paramedic (anarchist), speaking in the debate, tried to prove that the regime of economy in cooperation was carried out by weighing the peasants and thus tried to disrupt the meeting.
28. At a meeting of shareholders of the Yukseevsky consumer society (V. Shurtinsky district), a group of kulaks, having persuaded the peasants of the moonshiners, shouted with them at the meeting: “You don’t need to take the communists to the board, they are thieves, and if they go to the board, you will have to take shares back and close the cooperation. ʺ
29. Barnaul district. December 10. In with. Chesnokovka of the Beloyarsk District, at a meeting of PO shareholders, a kulak group, to which a part of the middle peasants headed by the telegraph operator of the railway adjoined, tried in every possible way to disrupt the meeting, insistently demanded that the meeting be transferred from school to a club and the issue of re‐election of the board was raised not sixth, but earlier. The presidium of the meeting made a proposal to remove the telegraph operator, after which shouts and noise were heard from this group, as a result of which the meeting was disrupted. The kulak group again tried to disrupt the secondary meeting. The question of the distribution of profits has been voted several times. The meeting lasted 9 hours. in the tensest state. Despite the organization of the kulak group, which numbered 20 people, the poor managed to resist this group.
30.25 November. S. Kytmanovo V. Chumysh region at the re‐election meeting there was no activity on the part of the poor and middle peasants. A list from the VKP (b) cell was proposed to the board. A well‐to‐do man from a group of prosperous people, including 8, said: ʺWe need to nominate our candidates from the people, and reject the candidates put forward from the cell as harmful to the people.ʺ The same group, led by a former white officer in the re‐election of the masters cartelʹs board, tried to bring the kulaks to the board.
31. Minusinsk District. December 24. In with. B. Knyshi of the Idrinsky district of the head of the agricultural credit partnership (prosperous) upon receipt of a directive letter from the agricultural credit union on the conduct of the election campaign and instructions on cooperating with the poor, contrary to the letter and instructions, without coordinating the issue with local party and Soviet organizations and knowing that local active party members are at the district party conference , went to the region and selected for the congress authorized representatives of those persons who could defend it, gathering Kolchak and White Guards (the head of the squad, Kolchak policeman 298, former merchants, etc.). When one of the party members or poor peasants spoke at this congress and pointed out the shortcomings in the work of the board (lending to kulaks and other abuses), the supporters of the pre‐government shouted: “Do not touch our chairman, he knows what he is doing, you only come to attack him innocent ʺ. ʺIf you do not give loans to the wealthy, then to whom and give, it is necessary to give to those who have property to secure the loan.ʺ 75% of the well‐to‐do kulaks and speculators attended the congress of delegates. During the election of a new board, shouts were heard: “Donʹt choose your life,” and so on. A former officer was elected, a Kolchak militiaman entered the Revolutionary Commission and a speculator on the control council.
32. Biysk district. December 15th. In with. Buranovo Togul district after the election of the poor as the chairman of the consumer society, the prosperous declared: “We did not vote for Rogov (the newly elected chairman), only the poor voted for him, but we voted for the old chairman (well‐off), we will achieve our goal at all costs the old chairman remained. We do not trust Rogov, since he is a poor man and if there is any waste, then there is nothing to take from him, what kind of chairman he is, when he cannot even manage his economy. ʺ When Rogov began to receive business from the old chairman, a group of 5 well‐to‐do people rushed into the office and shouted: “We did not elect Rogov as chairman, but Kosolapov (the old chairman). We do not trust Rogov with this work. There are 5 of us here, and there all 50 do not want Rogov to be the chairman. ʺ
Kulak groupings leading a preparatory campaign for the re‐election of village councils
33. Moscow province. December 28th. (Centre). In the village. Ancient settlement of Mamoshinskaya parish Voskresensky u. wealthy peasants are preparing for the upcoming re‐elections of the village council. At the home of one of the wealthy, a meeting was held, which was attended by 15 people. The initiator of this meeting said at the meeting: “We need to kick out the current members of the village council and appoint our own, as they will protect our interests. Make every effort to persuade the peasant to our side. ʺ At the same meeting the son of a kulak and a well‐to‐do peasant were nominated as candidates for the village council.
34.31 December. In Chulkovskaya parish. Bronnitsky u. a group of antiSoviet people, including a former church headman and former merchants, are conducting a preparatory campaign for the upcoming re‐election of the Council, agitating against the election of communists. One of the members of the group in the tea room said, addressing the former chairman of the EPO, who was imprisoned for embezzlement: ʺWe decided not to admit communists to the VIC, and if you want, we will nominate you and support you.ʺ
35. In the village. Lianozovo Communist Vol. Moscow u. Presselsoveta, on his own initiative, convened a meeting of the villageʹs activists, at which he proposed to restore the former tea merchant and the former owner of the printing house in the voting rights. The meeting decided not to deprive anyone of voting rights. The same pre‐council convened a closed meeting of 5 persons clearly anti‐Soviet, where a list of candidates for the new composition of the Council was outlined, which included the pre‐village council of the current composition and several dacha owners.
36. Kostroma province. December 24. In the village. Ababurovo Bychikhinskaya Vol. Kostroma u. the former policeman, grouping his like‐minded people around him and wanting to get into the pre‐village council during re‐elections, agitates against the old composition of the village council. In connection with the re‐elections, a grouping of the wealthy begins to take shape in the village. Burnakov, leading a campaign against the poor.
37. Ryazan province. December 24. In with. Dedinovo Zaraisky district The kulaks, preparing for the re‐election of the village council, organized a grouping, which is joined by the local intelligentsia represented by the chairman of the agricultural cooperative ‐ a former lawyer, a pre‐circle of hunters and two teachers (one of them is a former officer). Two poor people, under the influence of members of this group, are campaigning against the elections to the village council of the communists, saying: “The Communist Party is conducting a wrong policy, considering the middle peasant a fist and the poor peasant a drunkard. Now there are no kulaks, only middle peasants, there should be no work against the kulaks. ʺ
38 December 31. In the village Gavrilovskoe Spasskaya Vol. a group of former merchants led by the former chairman of the VKKOV, who was dismissed from his post, is campaigning against the election of members of the CPSU (b) to the village council. The leader of the group, driving around the familiar villages of Fedotʹev, Panika and Veretye, campaigns against the members of the CPSU and nominates himself to the village council.
39. Gomel province. December 28th. (West.). In the village. Detached house of Uvarovichi parish Gomel district, in connection with the upcoming re‐elections, a group of the wealthy, headed by the organizer of the gang, was organized (for which he was sentenced to 5 years). The group also includes two police officers. The group aims to seize the village council in its own hands and put the leader of the group (the former pre‐village council in 1920) in the pre‐village council, the middle peasants, fearing revenge, are afraid to speak.
40. Maykop district. December 7. (North Caucasus). In stts. The Shirvan kulaks, together with former political activists and atamans, are trying to organize themselves for re‐elections in order to bring ʺtheir peopleʺ to the Council. The initiators are two former chieftains who have taken on the responsibility of preparing for the re‐election.
41. Don district. January 1st. In the Koisug village council of the Bataysk district, the kulak, having organized a group of prosperous peasants around him, is campaigning against the pre‐village council, trying in every possible way to discredit him in order to be able to withdraw his candidacy for the upcoming re‐elections.
42. Salsky district. December 28th. In stts. Loznovskaya group of wealthy Cossacks, which also includes a farm laborer who fell under their influence, preparing for the re‐election of the village council and extending its activities to the hut. Lozny, Rynok, etc., seeks to discredit the old composition of the village council. At the plenum of the village council, the head of the grouping (a member of the village council) said: ʺMembers of the village council should not carry out inventories of the property of non‐payers of the tax and semssud.ʺ It should be noted that this group led a quarrelsome campaign at the re‐election of the Council last year.
43. In stts. Kamyshevatskaya of the Romanovsky District, a prosperous Cossack, who, when he was a pre‐village council in 1925, categorically refused to make an inventory of the property of defaulters and voluntarily left his job, in order to pass the pre‐village council, he groups wealthy Cossacks around himself, including former chieftains and former police officers.
44. Kamensk district. December 25. (Siberia). In with. Uryvoe Pankrushinsky vol. The agricultural electoral committee deprived 42 people of their voting rights, which angered the well‐to‐do, who organized a group with the aim of fighting the poor in the re‐elections of the village council. On December 22, in the house of a peasant, the well‐to‐do and kulaks organized a meeting under the guise of a party, at which they discussed the issue of excluding members of the CPSU
(b) and the poor from the village council.
Other kulak and anti‐Soviet groups
45. Kostroma province. December 24. (Centre). In the village. Barents V.
Mezhevsky vol. Kologrivsky u. a kulak group was organized from antiSoviet people. On the day of the 9th anniversary of the October Revolution, instigated by members of the group, during a demonstration at the end of the street, teenagers set up barricades of logs, stakes, etc., on which scraps of bast shoes and all sorts of rags were hung.
46. Pskov province. December 15th. (Northwest). A group of prosperous peasants from the village. Lakomtsevo, Shchavelichensky parish Pskov u. he is intensively campaigning against the Komsomol, spreading rumors among young people that whites will soon come and all Komsomol members will be hanged. They call the entire Komsomol organization fraudulent, and the Komsomol members ‐ hooligans, moreover, they disrupt the Komsomol meetings and in every possible way slow down their convocation, suggesting that the village elected not give the call calling for the meeting. These persons have already managed to dissuade 7 people who wanted to join the Komsomol. On October 29, this group disrupted the Komsomol meeting in the village. Sakhomtsevo.
47. Gomel province. December 17. (West). In with. Vitskovichi Novozybkovskaya par. and the county On November 17, a wealthy peasant held a meeting of a group of wealthy peasants (15 people), at which a decree was passed: strive to disrupt land management, in extreme cases, delay the start of land management work for several years. At this meeting, it was also decided to collect money from the participants of the meeting in order to file a complaint about improper land management in court and thereby delay land management.
48. Nezhinsky district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. There is a group of former Petliurists and Mensheviks in Prokhor, Komarovsky district, headed by the head. selbud and head. postal agency. The group has some influence on the villagers, especially the youth, and is trying to corrupt the Komsomol organization. This group also includes the professional‐authorized Union of Rabotpros and the chairman of the consumer cooperation.
49. Pervomaisky district. December 15th. In the village. Ivanovka, Vradievsky district, there is a group of former kulaks, ardent opponents of Soviet power, trying to disrupt the activities carried out by the village council. They often agitate among peasants for non‐payment of taxes, discredit party members, calling them bandits, etc.
50. Don district. October 1st. (North Caucasus). In N. Bataysky village council of Bataysky district, one of the local teachers (a former officer), having grouped around himself kulaks and wealthy Cossacks, systematically conducts anti‐Soviet agitation, seeking to undermine the activities of local co‐organizations.
51. Saratov province. November 17. (Volga region). In with. Irinovka Novo‐Burassky vol. Saratov u. participants in the counter‐
revolutionary uprising in 1918, meeting in groups, discuss the need to organize a cross union. Representatives of these groups at general meetings openly come forward with a proposal to organize a cross union. These persons are also participants in the agrarian movement of 1905. The latter are also found in the villages of N. Burassakh and Galitsino, where they also support the organization of the Constitutional Court.
52. Samara province. December 3rd. In with. B. Malyshevka Bogdanovskaya Vol. Samara district the existing grouping of the kulaks often arranges ʺconversationsʺ in the evenings, which are held behind closed doors.
53. Non‐republic. January 1st. In with. Podgorny of the Pokrovsky canton, a group of the wealthy, supported in part by the middle peasants and the poor, is trying to lead the entire social life of the village, carrying out their proposals at meetings, otherwise disrupting the meetings.
54. Biysk district. November 30th. (Siberia). In the village. The Akatevo kulak group during a year and a half carried out 12 beatings of the poor, and during the summer the group carried out 5 beatings of the poor and attacks on women members of the village council. The group also threatens one of the members of the CPSU (b). The same group damaged a car belonging to the machine partnership.
55. Amur District. (DCK). In the villages of Kalinin, Mikhailovsky District, Zharikovo, Orlovka, Nikolaevka, Volkovo, Tambovsky District, and the town of Aleksandrovsk, Aleksandrovsky District, groups of kulaks and wealthy people have been identified. Each group has up to 10 members, and one of them includes a priest. In with. Kalinino group is recruiting new members. The groups hold meetings where monarchist proclamations are read and all kinds of events and rumors are discussed. The factions are suspected of having ties to the Zakordon.
56. In p. Gilchi of the Tambov region, in the road with the transition to the Russian side and a raid on the village. N. Poltavka of the white gang, the wealthy and the kulaks who participated in the Zazei uprising of 1924, organized their illegal meetings, at which the question of the struggle against the communists was discussed.
3. Anti‐Soviet agitation
57. Moscow province. December 17. (Centre). In the village. Muromtsevo Anninskaya parish the middle peasant said: ʺSoviet power is not our power, and we, the peasants, do not need Soviet power, we need a new power, under Soviet power we will never develop industry.ʺ
58. Tula province. December 1. In with. Luzhno, Dubensky district, a well‐to‐do peasant is agitating among the peasants that ʺsoon the peasantry will rise up against Soviet power under the leadership of famous people, and then the communists will be in a sack.ʺ This wellto‐do man calls on the peasants to non‐payment of the tax, since ʺthe Soviet government is robbing the peasantry.ʺ
59. Tambov province. December 1. In with. Kalina Prigorodnaya Vol. Kirsanovsky u. the following kind of agitation was noted: “Previously, the peasantry was oppressed by the landlords, but now the workersʹ government, just as the peasant was a slave, will remain so until it takes power into its own hands, that is, into the hands of the majority of the state. Before they took taxes, sold property and livestock, but now they collect agricultural tax. In the October days the bourgeoisie was driven out, and now the Soviet government is creating its own communist bourgeoisie, which lives as a parasite at the expense of peasant labor. In our country, 85% of the agricultural population, and therefore the head of the republic should be the peasantry, and not the minority ‐ the workers. ʺ
60. Voronezh province. December 7. In Losevskaya parish. Bobrovsky u. the authorized representative of the Tumanovsky zemsovostvo agitated: ʺThe Soviet government is pressing the peasantry in every possible way, as a result it will come to the point that the peasants will be forced to make a peasant revolution and overthrow the existing system.ʺ
61. Ryazan province. December 24. In with. Ushakov Sasovskaya parish and the county in the house of a peasant, the authorized Gosstroy in the presence of 10‐15 peasants said: “Under the communist government, our country, and even more so the peasantry of our Union, will not revive soon, and, perhaps, it will not revive at all, because the peasantry lagged behind the workers and 75% of his comparatively good life. The government cares more about the workers than about the peasants and supports the communist organizations at its own expense, as a private matter, illegally spending the peopleʹs funds on it. No private property, no freedom of speech, taxes strangled the merchants. Communists put their people everywhere, who do not understand anything about the economy, who only know how to collect taxes from the peasants. ʺ Such conversations among the peasants are quite frequent.
62. Leningrad province. December 23rd. (Northwest). In the village. Podmoshye Kaporskaya Vol. Trotsky in mid‐November, at a meeting after the pre‐VICʹs report on the support of British miners, a kulak spoke out: “We have no money to help the workers of other states. A lot of money is spent on the maintenance of two apparatuses ‐ the Soviets and the Party. Let one person command us ‐ the Soviet or the Communist Party, then there will be extra money. ʺ
63. Zinovievsky district. December 15th. (Ukraine). In with. Dmitrovka Znamenskiy district, a group of wealthy peasants, anti‐Soviet, persuaded the peasants to refuse to participate in the celebration of the 9th anniversary of the October Revolution in protest against the high taxation of agricultural taxes. The peasants did not participate at all in the demonstration on November 7.
64. Zaporizhzhya district. December 15th. In with. G [ulyai] ‐In the field of the same region at the bazaar in a group of peasants who were talking about the high cost of manufactured goods and the severity of the tax, the middle peasant spoke out: “The tax on peasants is large. The workers receive good wages and work 8 hours a day. and we, the peasants, are not paid attention and are pressed. When calculating the tax on the peasant, the government does not take into account the existing prices for grain, therefore, we, the peasants, have to make a second revolution, otherwise nothing will work. ʺ
65. Krivoy Rog district. December 15th. In with. Ovnyanka of Petrovsky district at the general meeting of the KNS, exclamations were heard from those present: ʺThe authorities are doing the wrong thing, making bread cheap and goods expensive.ʺ “We are all barefoot and naked, and there is no longer any grain for sale, all the bread has been sold, and the tax has not yet been paid; you don’t have to think about anything,” and so on. Following this, shouts also began to be heard: ʺWe need to make a second revolution, because there is no longer an opportunity to live like this.ʺ
66. Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk district. December 1. (North Caucasus). At a meeting of peasants hut. In Platovo‐Kovalevsky, Kamensky District, the wife of a white emigrant spoke on the issue of paying the unified agricultural tax: “Do we have power if only hooligans and fools are sitting there, whom we have been feeding for 6 years. Enough, citizens, to endure this power and obey it, we need to get down to business ourselves, otherwise we will perish because of them”.
67. Armavir District. In stts. Nikolaevskaya Uspensky district, two former merchants, a former pomataman and kulaks, systematically intimidate the population with the arrival of whites, spreading rumors about the formation of white troops abroad, which will begin a campaign against Russia no later than February 1927. In the same village, the well‐to‐do is agitating: “We conquered the Caucasus 299 and we must use it, and any such bastard as nonresidents and everyone whom the Soviet government has chased us, we will still sooner or later hang, let them send more and come themselves, we have enough ropes, they are taxing us, and we will take the skin from them. ʺ
68. Stavropol District. December 15th. In with. Alekseevsky, Blagodarinsky District, at a meeting in the debate on the report of the RIK, a middle peasant (he was convicted of crimes ex officio, has ties with the wealthy) spoke at a meeting in the debate on the report of the RIK and said: “We are told that our economy is improving and growing; factories and plants began to work as they did before the war; agriculture is also growing, and the peasant lives better than he did before. This, citizens, is not true, our members of power are living well, they are getting fat, and the power has ripped off our last skin from us, men. Fights for tax, fights for insurance and lifted the man to death. Look, people, at yourself, because the man is yellow, thin as a shadow, and torn in rags, like a beggar. Our republic is growing, and our peasant is selling an arshin of a sack for 1 ruble. 20 kopecks, when it could be bought for 20‐10 kopecks. Arshin of chintz sells for 70 kopecks, when this chintz cost 10 kopecks before. The power took everything from the rich and the merchants, made everything its own, set up various popular trusts and started speculating for peasant blood. We were just pulled up, sucked to death. Take an example ‐ they described us for a loan, ordered to drive cattle to the fair. We drove the last cow and the calf, and our government took it, and even forbade the purchase of livestock by the newcomers from Baku and other buyers, and why, so that the Blagodarinsk employees could buy cattle cheaper, so that the meat was 5 kopecks. pound and to fatten them at our expense. This is how the government helps us, this is how our government supports the peasants. Take other examples: the Blagodarinsky trust was organized, they grinded earlier from 10 poods, and now they want to grind for 8 poods. And here they help to rip off the peasant. ʺ
69. Don district. November 21. In stts. Knayakovskaya, Kushchevsky District, unknown persons posted an announcement with the following content: “Gentlemen, Cossacks, we were once glorious warriors, and now we are worthless, while there are many such fellows in the Caucasus. Do not lose your Cossack title, soon the sun will shine for us, otherwise we were strangled by taxes. ʺ
70. Ishim District. December 1. (Ural). In the Gelkemanovsky region, among the peasants of the village. There are rumors about an imminent uprising against Soviet power. The middle peasants, on the basis of these rumors, refuse to pay tax. Several party members intend to quit the CPSU (b).
71. In the village. In Ivanovo, Armazon District, a middle peasant (a former Red Army soldier) spoke at a general meeting of peasants on the tax issue and said: “The turn of Soviet power to face the village did not come out, the opposite happened. The tax is fundamentally misallocated. Nobody is happy about this power. ʺ After him another middle peasant spoke, whose speech was greeted with sympathy by the entire assembly, he said: “The further, the worse with this grabilovʹs Soviet power. If only the war would sooner ‐ they would immediately overthrow these scoundrels of the communists. We would be glad to have any power, but not this one”.
72. Sarapul District. December 1. In with. Malokovo, Vakulovsky district, a middle peasant, expressing his dissatisfaction with the tax, said: ʺSoon we will take a club and go against the authorities.ʺ
73. Slavgorod district. December 24. (Siberia). In the village NovoPokrovka Andreevsky district, a well‐to‐do peasant in the village council, in the presence of a group of fellow villagers, the chairman and secretary of the village council, said: “We need a coup in order to count the communists, otherwise they climbed into power and take a large salary, but they take big taxes from the peasants and they don’t have anything give. ʺ
74. Barnaul district. December 10. In with. Rebrikhi, a member of the village council (well‐to‐do) said: “Our Soviet government is doing it wrong, why did it establish two boards: RIKs, regional executive committees and Sibkrai executive committee, on the one hand, and regional committees of the All‐Union Communist Party and okrug committees, on the other, because this is a double expense in the state. We do not need one board at all, since you can manage some RECs and above, and liquidate party organizations, only elect party members to RECs and above, and thereby reduce expenses in the state and there will be less tax on the muzhik. ʺ
75. Tulunovsky district. November 25. In with. A well‐to‐do peasant (well‐to‐do) in a conversation with fellow villagers said: “The Communist Party is now doing the same thing as the tsarist government and protects only its own interests, just like the tsar, it takes a big tax from the population, more than the tsar took; of course, the population will go against the party and the government, even now our sector is almost completely opposed to the communist government, never sympathized and does not intend to sympathize in the future. ʺ
76. Biysk district. November 30th. In with. Novo‐Obinskoe Bystro‐Isto of a certain region a carpenter (takes large contracts) agitates: ʺSooner or later the Soviet government will perish, because the tax is large and the peasantry will still not stand it, and has already learned how to fight with lances.ʺ
77. Zeysky district. December 1. (DCK). In the village. At a general meeting on the creation of a seed fund, a middle peasant said oatmeal of the Zeya region: “They demand filling, but they do not open a craft school. The hospital was closed. Oats were in the barn here, but the executive committee plundered it. They rip off the money from us, and the nursery in the village. Ivanovka is opened. It is necessary to convene a non‐party peasant congress, otherwise the peopleʹs anger will burst out by itself. ʺ
78. Vladivostok District. December 1. In with. In the Novo‐Khatunichi of the Shkotovsky district in the cooperative, four peasants in the presence of many fellow villagers said: “Soviet power is not good for the peasantry, it does not meet the peasantry halfway and does not allow non‐party peasants to convene meetings and conferences specifically to clarify the needs of the peasantry. The peasants, both before and now, are the scapegoat, and this will continue until the peasants in a categorical form make demands on the Soviet government to improve their situation. ʺ
79. In the Spassky Regional Executive Committee, a well‐to‐do peasant, paying the agricultural tax, said: “All of you are sitting on the peasantʹs neck, but you will not sit on it for long ‐ there will soon be a war and Soviet power will be overthrown, but we will not go to its aid, since the
Soviet the authorities have bothered, strangled us with taxes ”. Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 8
[EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS]
MIDDLE ASIA
The mood in connection with the Unified agricultural tax
1. Uzbekistan. Tashkent region Dehkan of the village of Yaksha, Buka vol. Tashkent u. Predvik complained about the severity of the tax, pointing to the simultaneous collection of unified agricultural tax, school, insurance, pasture taxes, for newspapers, for the Koschi union, etc. The discontent of the poor with taxes was also noted in the Peasant Vol. Mirzachulsky u. and in a number of other areas of the region.
2. Commissioner for the collection of the unified agricultural tax in Katay‐Tyubinskaya vol. categorically offered to collect 50% of the tax by a certain date, as a result of which the horses from the poor were taken from the defaulters along with the pack. The tax was also required from dehkans who had not yet had time to receive salary slips. In the aul Ak, in pursuance of the order of the volopervoy, 20 dekhkans of non‐payers were arrested. In this regard, in many auls, dekhkans express strong discontent, fearing to appeal against incorrect taxation.
3. Turkmenistan. Poltoratsky district. In Gassan‐Kulinskaya vol. there was no preparatory campaign for the unified agricultural tax, as a result of which the dekhkans, having no idea about the amount of tax and the procedure for its payment, found themselves in a difficult situation. Bai aul Hasan‐Kuli gathered a meeting of Akhuns and Rids of the Tepe kishlak and, taking advantage of the inaction of the tax apparatus, launched an anti‐tax campaign, pointing out the impossibility of ʺcohabitation with the Bolsheviks.ʺ
4. A resident of the aul Janet (Hasan‐Kulinsky vol. Of Atrek district) Ashir Mamed Rali, a poor man, was taxed for 41 rubles, and a rich man,
Mirat Oraz‐Klych, for 35 rubles. The tribes ʺColtaʺ, ʺKorʺ and ʺKaranjiyuʺ, included in the village councils of Im‐riki‐Igat and Shahman, paid twice as much tax as the clan ʺtumachʺ, included in the village council Aknashlauk. Bai of the above types paid 300‐400 rubles. while the bai of the 2nd group paid 30 rubles. This difference was the result of biased information given to the representative for the collection of the Unified Agricultural Tax by some representatives of the Tumach clan.
5. Discontent of the dekhkans of Hasan‐Kulinskaya vol. the system of the ESHN was used by the Persian bureaucracy of the border strip. Through their subordinates and commanders of the border military units (Persian), officials spread rumors that the Persian government allegedly did not take taxes and that those who crossed from Turkmenistan to Persia would be provided with various kinds of benefits. As a result, 5 farms migrated to the Persian territory.
The activity of baiism and Muslims
6. Uzbekistan. Samarkand region in the village of Chibar Yangi‐Kurgan vol. the mullahs and bai hid the objects of taxation in their farms, simultaneously campaigning against the unified agricultural tax among the dehkans, who were dissatisfied with certain mistakes of the tax apparatus. Mulla told the poor: ʺThe power, having given you land, will squeeze all the juices out of you and you will ask the bais to take back the land.ʺ Bai and representatives of the Muslim community were included in a number of aul councils. A case was noted of helping the re‐election commissioners get into the Soviets.
7. In Jizzakh district in some cases, the bais timed weddings and treats to the day of the re‐election campaign, trying to distract the attention of the dekhkan masses. Along with this, the Bay groups were successfully working to capture the Soviet apparatus. However, due to measures taken by the district organizations, the attempts of the beys were not crowned with success.
8. Fergana region. At the re‐election of the village councils of the Namangan district. the bayism and clergy of some auls, constituting a majority at election meetings, despite the protests of the poor, sent their proteges to the Soviets.
9. Baystvo, which has suffered from the land reform, continues to try to reclaim the confiscated lands. Through their adherents, the bai spread rumors among the insolvent part of the newly endowed farmers about allegedly impending strict penalties from the Soviet government in relation to those who will not be able to process the allotment received. As a result, a number of cases of dehkansʹ refusal from the received land in favor of the former owners were noted.
10. Tashkent region the struggle between representatives of individual groups is not only along the line of recruiting supporters among the population, but also in the selection of the composition of election commissions. In the village of Urta‐Saray, the representative of the district election commission nominated the composition of the local election commission entirely from the supporters of his group. Commissioner for the re‐election of Katay‐Tyubinskaya vol. an active grouper, a bribe‐taker, a defender of the beys has been appointed. In the village of Yaksha Toy‐Tyubinskaya vol. Aulizbirkomissia was elected from members of the local group without notifying the population.
11. Bai aula Yuzaken of the Nizhne‐Chirchik region, after the list of persons deprived of the right to vote was announced, disrupted the meeting (220 people were present). In the village of Sarmash, the bays launched an anti‐tax campaign in a mosque with an appeal to punish the members of the Koshchi union who assisted the tax commissions in identifying hidden objects of taxation.
12. Kashka‐Darya region. Bai of the village of Dzhakau arranged a refreshment before the elections of the Soviets and invited almost the entire population of the village. At the banquet, Bai campaigned for the candidacy of his relative for the position of the Pre‐Council, which was carried out during the re‐election. A group of beys, former emir officials and criminal bandits, made an attempt on the life of the newly elected member of the presidium of the Faizabad village council, citizen Abduraslaeva.
The assassination attempt was preceded by a speech by Abduraslayeva at a meeting of farmers, as a result of which a number of persons were deprived of the right to vote. Abduraslaeva fled, her children were beaten, one of her relatives was seriously wounded and all property was looted.
13. Turkmenistan. Tashauz district. The chairman of the NazarKulinsky village council of the Takhtinsky district refused to impose a road duty on the local ishan, fearing his curse. The chairman of the Temech village council carries out all his activities and directives of the
RIK only after they have been coordinated with the local ishan.
14. Tajikistan. Hissar vilayet. Bai of the village of Mirshikar, fearing land reform (from the experience of the Uzbek SSR), distributed part of his land to his 25 laborers on enslaving terms. The dehkans of the neighboring village of Alakchi began to demand the division of the Bai lands between them, but after the refusal of the Bai, the dehkans, having gathered about 40 people, arbitrarily started cultivating the Baiʹs land. A fight broke out between the supporters of the bai and the dehkans, with injured participants on both sides. The fight ended in Baiʹs victory.
15. A former accomplice of the Basmachism, Emir‐Afghan, expelled one farmer from the Obi‐Dyusham‐Binsk Kent, taking away all his lands from him. The injured farmer, having applied to all instances of the local soviet, achieved nothing, since the invader has close ties with the leaders of both the tumen and the kentapparat.
Nazantagonism
16. Turkmenistan. Poltoratsky district. In connection with the proposed reform of the Turkmen alphabet and the introduction of new terminology, several groups of the Turkmen intelligentsia were formed. The strongest is the group of supporters of Azerbaijani terminology, which has invited Azerbaijani teachers with the assistance of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Education and is introducing textbooks in Azerbaijani in schools.
17. Kyrgyzstan. Frunzensky District. In connection with the endowment of the Russian population with 2000 dess. land, the antagonism between the Russians and the Kyrgyz intensified. The Kirghiz complain about the predilection of the Zemkomissia towards the Russians, who, in turn, say: ʺNow is not 1921, when the Kirghiz took away the land and the entire economy from the Russians.ʺ The Kyrgyz of aul No. 4 forcibly seized the lands of the Russian peasants s. Orlovsky Bystrorechinskaya vol. In the same volost, when the land was divided between the Kyrgyz with. Safarovsky and Russian peasants with. Orlovka Kirghiz beat two Russians on the basis of injury to the Kyrgyz section. Russian population with. Chaldovar moved to the Far Eastern Republic due to the lack of land and the systematic destruction of Russian crops by the Kyrgyz.
18. Karakol district. In a number of regions, there is a further exacerbation of hostile relations between Russians and Kyrgyz. Horsestealing by the Kirghiz is highly developed among the Russians (the village of Kamenka). Between the Russian s. Grigoryevka and the Kyrgyz aul of Khodshayar, there are constant conflicts over land issues. The dispute, which has arisen since 1923, is still not resolved, as a result of which the national hostility has greatly aggravated, further inflamed by the Kyrgyz manaps. Similar disputes were noted between the Kirghiz s. Kurskiy and auls Kichik‐Saray and Chonkoets. In the Novo‐Voznesensky region, the Baysko‐Manap strata of the Kyrgyz population produce the weeds of Russian crops. There was a beating of a Russian by the Kirghiz, land disputes between the Russians and the Kirghiz were also noted in the village. Tui. As a result of an unresolved dispute, the land remains uncultivated.
19. Osh district. In with. Kurbash between drunken conscripts (Russians) from the village. Pokrovka and local Kirghiz fought, as a result of which several Kirghiz were beaten. On the same day, one of the Russian conscripts (Grabov) beat up a Kyrgyz who was passing through Pokrovsk. The Kirghiz died from the beatings.
20. Tajikistan. Hissar vilayet. The Tajiks of the villages Dagane‐Shur and Dashti‐Shur arbitrarily seized the land of the head of the Uzbek tribe ʺTurkʺ, building 25 wagons on it. The seized land was returned by the representative of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Land and the Tajik wagons were destroyed. The Tajik population of both villages continues to demand land, but the Vilayet Executive Committee, lacking directives from the center, refuses to resolve the issue.
21. There are disagreements over land use between Tajiks and Uzbeks in the Dashti‐Bidon village on the border of the Garm and Gissar vilayets. The special commission sent by the Revolutionary Committee of Tajikistan turned out to be recruited from former emir officials, mostly Tajiks. The Uzbek population, having learned about the decision of the commission to leave only 1/4 of the disputed land to the Uzbeks, began to express their indignation and was dispersed by a local detachment under the command of a member of the commission, a Tajik. By the decision of the commission, the disputed land was divided between the emir officials and the bays (Tajiks). The Uzbeks, greatly dissatisfied with this decision of the commission, consider it the result of the enmity of the Tajiks, ʺsupported by the government.ʺ
KAZAKSTAN
Antagonism between Russians and Kyrgyz
22. Ural province. Kyrgyz migrants from Bukeevsky u. they cut down forests, tear down dams, weed the meadows and fields of the Russian Cossacks of the Kamenskaya Volost Uralsky u. The VIC commission that went to the scene did not take any measures to eliminate the outrage. The Russian Cossacks explain this by the strength of the Kirghiz in the apparatus and threaten with an armed uprising to beat the Kirghiz. Hostile relations between Russian Cossacks and Kirghiz were noted in the Yanvartsevsky village council. The Russian Cossacks are striving for separation from Kazakstan. A similar mood was noted in Rubezhinskaya Vol. Uralsky district: 17 farms in the village. Kirsenova left for other farms.
23. Semipalatinsk province. The hostile relations between the Russian peasants and the Kirghiz are aggravated by constant land disputes, in the process of which the Russian kulaks and the Kirghiz bayism further inflame antagonism and incite the population against the Soviet regime. Similar actions were noted by the kulaks and bays of a number of villages and auls in the Bukhara u.
24. Dzhetysu lips. At the general meeting of the (Russian) members of the Koktal agricultural credit partnership of the Dzharkent district. the application of 50 Kyrgyz poor people to join the partnership was examined. A group of members of the partnership spoke out against the adoption of the Kyrgyz, expressing fear that ʺthey will creep into the government and squander the cooperation.ʺ As a result of this speech, the meeting instructed the board not to accept the Kyrgyz.
25. In Dzharkent district marked the dissatisfaction of the Russian
Cossacks with the continuing systematic damage to crops and pastures by the Kyrgyz. The middle Cossacks sat down. Kopal and Koksu T.Kurgan u. dissatisfied with the land management work carried out, as a result of which the best lands were transferred to the Kyrgyz.
26. Syr‐Darya province. Russian population of Irdzhar parish. Tashkazak u. seeks to separate from Kazakstan and to form an independent Russian volost. The motive for the separation is a heavy tax, which, according to Russian estimates, falls by 85% on Russians and only 15% on Kyrgyz.
The activity of bayism and kulaks
27. Akmola province. Bai aul №6 Bostandyk parish. Kokchetavsky u. are agitating among the poor against the Koschi union. Denying any benefit to the poor from the Koschi union, the bai explain the purpose of the unionʹs existence only by the membership fees collected. As a result of agitation, the influx of new members to Koschi stopped and the work of the union was noticeably weakened.
28. Russian kulaks stts. Akan‐Burluk, villages of Karasevsky and Petropavlovsky Volodarsky parish. Kokchetavsky u. conducts intensive work to seize seats in the boards of the PO. The kulaks promise the peasants to invest their own funds in the cooperatives to raise their turnover. In with. Karasevsky, a kulak was elected to the previous government. A similar activity of the kulaks was noted in stts. Lobanovskaya and Shchuchinskaya of the same district, moreover, the kulaks, not getting their way, threaten to open their own cooperation to counterbalance the poor and middle peasants.
29. Semipalatinsk province. The Muslim Spiritualists are showing increased activity in religious propaganda and in agitation for the opening of religious schools and the construction of new mosques. Baystvo renders all possible assistance to the Muslim faith by its own means and by taxing the population. There were 8 cases of construction of new mosques with the help of bays. In Dosovskaya parish. Zaysansky u. As a result of the agitation of the Muslim faith, a mass exodus of students from Soviet schools to theological schools began.
30. Dzhetysu lips. Under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks with. Chilik of Alma‐Ata district the entire population of the village expresses a desire to stand out as a completely separate ʺpurely Russianʺ volost. A similar desire of the Russian population was noted in the village. Turgen of the same district.
31. Imam s. Karakunuz of the Chuy region is conducting intensified agitation against the Soviet government, trade‐union organizations and the party. In his sermons, the imam pointed out the corrupting influence of these organizations on the population. In this agitation, the imam is assisted in every possible way by the local bayi.
32. Kara‐Kalpak region. In a number of volosts, there is a strong growth of anti‐religious schools, with vigorous agitation of the Muslim clergy against Soviet schools. There are 53 religious schools registered in four volosts of the Chimbay District, and 10 Soviet ones. There is a further development of the network of religious schools at the expense of the Soviet ones.
33. Bai‐Uzbek of the Shimam society of the Shabaz vol. leads among young people agitation against the Komsomol. Poor Nazarov applied for membership in the Komsomol. Arriving at the latter, Bai began to convince him that, having entered the Komsomol, after a while he would be a Bolshevik, and as soon as the war began, he would be taken into a soldier. The poor man took the application back and refused to join the Komsomol.
Dissatisfaction with the unified agricultural tax, procurements and prices
34. Ural province. Among the Russian peasants Rubezhinskaya Vol. Uralsky u. there is dissatisfaction with the strong divergence in prices for agricultural and industrial goods and the lack of the latter. Some peasants explain this phenomenon by the fact that under Soviet power only the workers achieved improvement, and ʺthe peasants, as they were slaves, have remained.ʺ On this basis, a case of a public threat was registered ʺin the event of war, to turn weapons against our own.ʺ
35. Aktobe province. The Yaysan Production Association and the agricultural trade, which produce grain procurements, delay the payment of the money owed to the peasants for the supplied grain for months. Along with this, the bulk points, having no funds, do not accept the grain delivered by the peasants, as a result of which they have to ʺeither hand over to a private trader at half price, or take it back.ʺ The Russian peasantry of the volost expresses strong discontent and indignation at the fact that ʺthey do not want to reckon with the peasantry.ʺ
36. Akmola province. In general, the attitude of the middle peasants to the tax is characterized by benevolent, but at the same time, dissatisfaction was noted on the basis of the inventories of property for late payment of tax (Socialist Vol. benefits for the unified agricultural tax for crops killed by natural disasters (Communist vol. Akmola district). There have been recorded cases of judgments that the tax is not in favor of the state, but exclusively in the pocket of the employees themselves (Revolutionary vol. Akmola district). Some, comparing the tax of last year, consider it unbearable this year, saying “that the Soviet government probably wants to make everyone the same” (Industrial, Proletarian and Vorovskaya vol. Of Akmola district).
37. Semipalatinsk province. In aul No. 5 of Nor‐Zaysan vol. Zaysansky u. marked the dissatisfaction of the poor that the cooperatives do not accept grain and the peasants are forced to sell it to a speculator for a pittance. In the Kundzhanov vol. In the same county, peasants complain of a strong discrepancy between the prices of bread and manufactured goods (bread ‐ 30 kopecks a pound, salt 1 ruble 60 kopecks a pound and kerosene 11 kopecks a pound). A similar discontent of the peasantry, especially the Russian one, was noted in a number of other volosts of the Zaisan district, moreover, the newspaper Novaya Derevnya received a letter from the village correspondent from Stalin vol., Entitled “The groan of the peasant in 1926”, which contains facts of the plight of the peasantry, figures discrepancies in prices and appeal for help to the worker, who ʺforgot about the peasant.ʺ
38. Dzhetysu lips. In with. Aral‐Tyube Lugovskoy parish T.‐Kurgan district and in stts. Koktal Usek parish T.‐Kurgan district Among the Russian Cossacks there is strong discontent with the lack of struggle against the widespread moonshine smoking, land use issues and the lack of schools in which most of the places are occupied by the children of Russian peasants.
39. Syr‐Darya province. Finnish workers of Talas VIK of Aulie‐Ata u. practice assignment; the amounts collected on the account of the unified agricultural tax, requiring a second arrears from those who paid. Similar actions were noted by the financial workers of the Karabakir VIK of the same district. As a result, the population of the Kones, Talas and Karabakir volcanoes. expresses strong discontent, saying that ʺthieves who steal peasant money and ruin peasant farmsʺ are in power.
Preparing for the re‐election of the Soviets
40. Ural province. Chairman of the Ulentinsky VIK Dzhambeytinsky u. Together with his deputy and the prevolsoyuz, Koshchi, they had a meeting at the apartment of the bai of the aul number 1, where the candidacy of the son of the bai for the position of the pre‐VIK was planned. After the meeting, the VIC secretary and other members were sent to the villages to prepare the population for re‐elections.
41. Aktobe province. Bai and their supporters in Chelkarsky and
Temirsky u. conducted intensive preparatory work for the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets. Trying to strengthen their groupings, the bai recruit supporters from the poor and middle peasants by providing them with material assistance and distributing livestock for temporary use. In mosques and in private apartments, meetings of baiy‐groupers are convened, where they outline their candidacies for VICs and village councils.
42. Akmola province. Bai of auls No. 1 and 2 of Eremensky vol. Akmola u. number of about 15 people, having organized themselves to conduct election campaigning among the population (Kyrgyz), recruit supporters, bribing in some cases people from the peasants. In this way, the bais recruited about 1000 supportersʹ households.
43. Syr‐Darya province. The leaders of several tribal groups of the Suzak vol. Turkestan district with the assistance of the responsible council and party officials of the city of Turkestan, they are preparing for the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets. Districts are distributed among the groups in which work has begun on recruiting supporters.
44. Chimkent district The PEC commissioner who left for Tyulkubas vol. on the tax campaign, summoned all supporters of the bays of auls No. 14 and 16 at Bay Nurembetov and invited them to prepare for the re‐election of the Soviets. Similar directives were given in village No. 17 with a proposal to prepare delegates for the congress.
45. Aulie‐Ata district 4 groups carry out underground work to train the population of the villages. Mark to re‐election. The leaders of the groups are representatives of the Muslim community, who have a strong influence on the co‐workers and enjoy great authority among the population. A similar preparation for the re‐elections is being carried out by the Baystvo of the Dzhuzalinskaya Volost, which divided the volost into two hostile groups. Agitators are sent out by groupers to auls. The VIC turned out to be powerless in the fight against the groupers.
46. Kara‐Kalpak region. The bayship of Shurakhan, Sarabi and other volosts is intensively preparing for the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets, treating the poor at their own expense. In order to prevent the communists from joining the Soviets, the bai recommend their supporters to vote, in extreme cases, even for the non‐party members of the Koschi union.
INNER NATIONAL REPUBLIC
Nazantagonism
47. Crimea. Evpatoria region, der. Aji‐Atman. Ethnic strife has intensified between the Tatar and Russian population in connection with the ongoing intra‐settlement land management. During the division of the land, relations escalated so much that they almost turned into fights.
48. Bakhchisarai region. Mezhtsu Komsomol members, Tatars and Russians, der. Aranches there is constant friction, encouraged and kindled by the secretary of the Komsomol cell. Mutual squabbles especially often take place in the hut‐reading room. The hostility among the Komsomol members is reflected in the non‐partisan youth. A number of cases of beating of Tatars by Russian youth and vice versa were noted.
49. Bashkiria. Mesyagutovsky canton, Murzalarovskaya vol.,
With. Arakul. Due to national tensions between the Russians and the Tatar‐Bashkirs, the KZU decided to allocate an independent section to the Russians 5‐6 versts from the village. Arakul. In pursuance of this, land surveying work was carried out. When the work was almost completed, the Russians refused to relocate to the allotted site, citing the lack of water in the site (by definition of the hydraulic engineer, the allotted site is quite suitable and has a sufficient amount of water). On this basis, a dispute ensued between the Russians and the TatarBashkirs, which almost ended in a fight.
The Russian part of the population said to the representative of the Bashkir part: ʺIf we, Russians, are expelled from Arakul, then we will burn Arakul all the same.ʺ
50. Tataria. Laishevsky canton, N. Arysha vol. According to the planned land management plan, land in the amount of 95des., Belonging to the village. Shatki (Tatars), should be cut off for the village. V. Meretyak (Russians). In turn, der. Shatki was to receive 110 dess. land elsewhere. Since no explanatory campaign was carried out, the citizens of the village. Shatki, seeing that land surveying work was being carried out on their land, threw a crowd on the surveyor and began to beat him and the workers, and also threw a noose around his neck several times in order to strangle him. After this massacre, the land surveyor was taken to the village. Shatki, taking from the land surveyor a signature that he will not perform any work, otherwise he will be killed. Shatkovites, having arranged a general meeting, drew up a protocol with 150 signatures stating that they would not give their land to anyone,
51. Yelabuga canton. At the general meeting of the members of Art. Yurashinskiy PO (Cherkasovskaya Vol.) The question arose ‐ in what language to conduct the meeting. Members of the Tatarsʹ society, contrary to the wishes of the majority, refused to hold the meeting in Russian and it was held in the Tatar language. In this regard, the Russians express their dissatisfaction, saying: ʺThe Russians fell under the Tatar yoke.ʺ
52. Sterlitamak canton. A citizen of the town of Sterlitamak, sharing his impressions, expressed: “Everywhere it smells of Bashkir dominance, our Russian brother is not allowed to go. I entered one institution, but two days later the commission for the implementation of the Bashkir language sent me a Bashkir instead.
53. Chuvashia. Alatyrskiy district, Poretskaya parish (Russian region). Among the population of the volost, especially the kulaks, merchants and the intelligentsia, there is mass dissatisfaction with the annexation of the Alatyr district. to the CHASSR. This dissatisfaction in its development turns into dissatisfaction with the formation of the Chechen ASSR, about which they say: ʺIs it possible that people without a head will bring together in the center that such a small nationality as the Chuvash is united into a separate republic with 33 peopleʹs commissariats, which absorb half of the entire budget of the republicʺ ..
54. In the town of Yadrin, on the initiative of the anti‐Soviet element (former policemen and kulaks), a meeting of Russian farmers was held on the issue of the withdrawal of the Yadrinsky district. to the Nizhny Novgorod province. The motive for the transition was the allegedly insufficient admission of Russians to the Soviet apparatus and schools of the second level. At the meeting on the report of the UNO it became clear that the Russians in the Yadrinsky district. only 12% live, up to 29% study in second‐stage schools, and all 100% of Russian children are enrolled in primary education. The withdrawal question was removed. The activity of the wealthy and the kulaks
55. Crimea. Kerch region. In the village. Arpach‐Dzhepar has a kulak group that has completely captured the public opinion of the village. Her influence is so great that her advice or desire is law for society.
56. Sevastopol region (village Varnautka). The well‐to‐do agitate the peasants against land management, point out the disadvantage and high cost of work and say that everything can be done in a family way. The members of the land commission are entirely under their influence.
57. Feodosia region. Fists der. Schastlivtsevo and Chekrak rent land from the poor on terms of 10 rubles each. tithe or half for one crop rotation. Poor people, expressing their dissatisfaction about this, say: ʺIn the old days we were in bondage with them, we have to be now.ʺ A similar case is observed in the village. Seit‐Asan, where the kulaks do not conclude any lease agreements and pay as much as they want.
Agitation for the Cross Union
58. Tartary. Mamadyzhsky canton, Omar parish in the village. Bukenyak (Russian) at a general meeting, one peasant spoke and said that the workers in the city live much easier and better, since they are united in trade unions while the peasantry works 24 hours a day. In conclusion, he said that the peasantry also needed to organize itself into a peasant union. A similar case took place in the village. Timolkino Arsky canton Kalinin parish
Activities of the Muslim Spiritual Society
59. Crimea. Feodosia region. Mulla der. Kapsikhor made a report on religion in the mosque, in which he pointed out that “according to Muslim law, all adult youth, men from 12 years old and women from 7 years old, should attend the mosque and should not follow the godless Komsomol members. Fathers must watch over this, for every father is responsible for his child; for those who do not, there is hell. ʺ Mullah enjoys authority among the population.
60. Sevastopol region. In the village. Bikzh‐Muskomiya operates a secret school of doctrine, which is dominated by the children of kulaks and only an insignificant part of the poor.
61. Der. Kamyshly. The local mullah, at the suggestion of the mosque council, bypassed the peasants and collected deductions for his maintenance according to a previously prepared list and thus collected 160 rubles. The village council, having learned about this, forbade the collection.
62. Bashkiria. Belebey canton. Mulla der. Satyeva Zildyarovskaya Vol., Returning from the congress of Muslim Spiritualism in Ufa, led an agitation among believers for the opening of religious schools. The believers succumbed to her and collected a preliminary fund, of which part went to pay the expenses of the poor at school.
63. T.‐Kataysky canton, Uchalinsky vol. (Uchalak village). Mustasib of the 1st musta‐sibat opened a religious school without the knowledge of the canton and volost authorities.
64. Tataria. In the town of Agryz, in three mosques, on the basis of old permits, the doctrine began, which was terminated 10 days after receiving a certificate from the KOH O that the old permits were invalid. After the termination of the study by the mullahs, an application was sent to KONO with a request to send them permission to teach. In addition, another delegation was sent to Yelabuga.
65. Bugulma canton. In the village. Dymtamak Bavlinsky parish When dividing the meadows, the question arose about the allotment of two mullahs and two azanches (1 dess. over the norm). The poor and the Komsomol members were against the allotment, the chairman of the Soviet and the wealthy were in favor. As a result, mullahs and azanchi were endowed with meadows.
66. Arsk canton. Due to the lack of preparatory work, the elections in the Shemordan PO came as a surprise and the population did not prepare for them. The leadership role was taken by a group of individuals led by the mullah and his brother, the former Predvik. The group, opposing the proposal of the communist faction, said that the party members want to carry out pressure, as a result of which the mullahʹs brother was elected to the board.
67. Yelabuga canton. Mulla der. Tat. Dum‐Dum (Cherkasovskaya Vol.), While serving in the mosque, campaigns against the mutual aid committees. Campaigning is related to the decision to provide KKOV with meadows.
68. Chuvashia. Batyrevsky u., Shikhirdanovskaya, Shemshurinskaya and Shema‐lakovskaya vol. There is a tendency among the population to officially introduce the teaching of religion in schools. In some villages, illegal doctrines are already being conducted under the leadership of mullahs, in connection with which some of the students stopped attending Soviet schools.
69. In the village. Tatar Shurutakh Shahirdanovskoy parish at a meeting of believing peasants (Tatars), the mullah spoke about the need to open religious schools, about a proposal to start registering children wishing to study, and to initiate a petition to open schools before the relevant authorities. Agricultural tax
70. Crimea. Sevastopol region (village Shuli). In connection with the incorrect accounting of the lost crops and the incorrect determination of the profitability of various villages with the same taxation, the poor and middle peasants express dissatisfaction, many apply to the village council for exemption from the tax and refrain from paying the tax, hoping that they will be exempted from it.
71. Evpatoria region (Saki village). Cases of the sale of livestock for payment of arrears on the semssud and agricultural tax have become more frequent. The livestock buyers are wealthy peasants who, taking advantage of the desperate situation of the poor, bring down the prices of livestock.
72. Bashkiria. T. Kataysky canton, Tangurov parish. In with. Polyansky, at a general meeting of peasants, at the time of handing over salary sheets with agitation against the agricultural tax, a kulak (who had previously sat for counter‐revolution) spoke out. Predicting the imminent fall of Soviet power, he urged not to accept salary sheets. The performance was supported by three well‐todo people.
73. Mesyagutovsky canton. Fists der. Nasibash urge peasants to hide the objects of taxation.
74. Ufa canton. Fedorovskaya Vol. The peasants are dissatisfied with the incorrect preparation of the salary sheets, since the correction of errors is associated with unnecessary trips.
75. Arkhangelsk parish. The peasants are dissatisfied with the fact that the profitability per tithe is taken into account higher than in the Karmaskalinsky vol., Where peasants live better on 5 tithes than they do on 20.
76. Tartary. Chistopol canton, Muslyumkinsky vol. Under the influence of agitation against the tax of the wealthy part of the peasants, the whole society in an organized manner refused to accept salary slips and only after a general meeting did the poor accept them.
77. Mamadyzhsky canton. Tokalym vol.,
With. Tokanysh; Bakirovskaya vol., Der. Art. Kumazans. There is discontent among the peasantry that in the first two terms they have to pay most of the agricultural tax, due to which they have to sell grain at low prices, which are currently on the market.
78. Mamalaevskaya parish. The peasants are dissatisfied with the fact that the collection of agricultural tax coincides with the collection of sems and insurance.
79. Spassky canton. The peasants of the villages of Kristokhorovka and Malinovka refused to pay the tax, demanding a privilege, since almost all of their sown area was flooded during the flood. A similar case took place in the Sviyazhsky canton. The peasants express dissatisfaction with the changes in tax rates observed in almost all cantons of Tataria. For example, the average peasant paid in 1925‐1926. RUB 50 At the original tax rate for this year, he should have paid 30 rubles, but after the change he has to pay 47 rubles.
80. Chuvashia. Dtsrinsky u., Krasno‐Chetaevskaya vol. Poor people express dissatisfaction with tax policy in connection with imposing more sums on the poor than on the wealthy. On this basis, the poor man with. Pandinova refused to receive a salary.
NORTH CAUCASUS
Nazantagonism
81. Karachay. Aggravation of relations between Karachais and Russian stts is noted. Essentuki. Karachais claim part of the land that is cultivated by the villagers. The Karachai citizen Kubanov systematically agitates that the Russians do not have the right to use the land that belongs to the Karachais. A similar phenomenon is observed between the Karachais and the Russians of the Budennovskaya settlement.
82. There was a clash between the highlanders of the aul Morkh (Karachay district) and conscripts from the Marukhinskaya settlement (Khumarinsky district) because of an insult inflicted by one of the recruits on a mountainous woman. The highlanders detained the Russian conscripts, and the pre‐village council of the aul Morkh (Karachaevsky) hit one of them in the stomach. The Marukhovites, having learned about this, gathered at the scene to defend their own. On both sides, mutual bullying and threats began, and the chairman of the Marukhinsky village council Varfolomeev, swearing at the Karachais, threatened them on behalf of the Russians ‐ in the event of the arrest of the recruits, not to leave a single Karachai in the village.
83. Khumarinsky district. Residents with. Hasaut (Greek), at the insistence of the village council, decided that the native authorities should not interfere in the internal regulations of the Greek village, and also decided not to give land plans to the Karachais. Both Greeks and Karachais in each individual case show their enmity towards each other. In addition, the Greeks persistently defend before the center [the request] to disassociate from the Karachais by separating either into an autonomous unit or joining the Armavir region.
84. The regional land administration issued an order to the Batalpashinsky and Zelenchuksky forestries to dismiss all Russian rangers and replace them with Karachais. The dismissal caused strong dissatisfaction among the Russian busters.
85. Adyghe‐Circassian region. In connection with a group of horse thieves and buyers of stolen cattle identified in the village of Khachemziy, in st. Rodimkovskaya is campaigning to receive compensation from the Circassians for all the robberies of cattle that have ever taken place in the villages. The Cossacks of a number of villages have filed over 300 complaints about robberies since 1920 (some of the complaints refer to 1905) to the commission that left Rostov, stating: “Scho tse for Adygea, donʹt touch it, itʹs a republic. Our power is dumb, we would have dealt with the Circassians. ʺ Having learned about the campaign undertaken by the Cossacks, the population of the villages of Khachemziy, Dzherokai, Egorukhai and others remained extremely dissatisfied with this. A group of Circassians in the village of Khodz, near the shop of a private merchant, discussed the question of the demands made on them by the Cossacks, deciding, for their part, to present the Cossacks with appropriate demands for the plundering of their property in 1918‐1920.
86. Kabardino‐Balkar region. Among the students of Lenuchgorodok, ethnic hostility and groupings are noted. When the Balkars select their representative in the bureau of the uch‐kom, the Kabardians do not let the latter through, trying at every opportunity to offend the Balkars, and the Russians are not even allowed to speak. A case was recorded when the sister of the pre‐regional executive committee of Kalmykov said: ʺWe, Kabardians, will never allow the Balkars to rise above us.ʺ
87. Chechnya. Gudermes district. At a meeting of the okRIK presidium when discussing the issue of the settlement of Cossacks from the broken village of Khanskaya in the area of villages. Gudermes, a member of the executive committee Salamov Khalil said: ʺFor the Chechen people, it is a shame that the Cossacks, our and grandfatherʹs blood enemies, who have been assigned land and who are beginning to settle here, appear on our land.ʺ On this issue, the Presidium did not issue any resolution and intends to bother to prohibit the Cossacks from settling in the area of villages. Gudermes.
Anti‐Soviet agitation. Cross unions. The activity of the kulaks
88. Dagestan. K. Tabasaran District. Pressel Council with. Arkhiz convened a general meeting of peasants with the aim of organizing a cross‐stkom in the indicated village. Predselsoveta on the report made by a number of clerics, indicate the presence of that ʺorganization CCSQ they depart from the Muslim religion, and that the power of all Waqf 300 and zakyaty will select and give krestkomuʺ. After the aforementioned speech, the peasants left the meeting and the repeated requests of the village council to meet again and organize the KKOV were refused.
89. Chechnya. The Presidential Council sat down. V. Naur Asabaev, having appeared in the hut‐reading room, where the Komsomol meeting was taking place, beat up the hut and dispersed the meeting. The designated Pressel Council (former foreman) is systematically campaigning against the Komsomol, threatening to disperse the latter and close the hut‐reading room. Asabaevʹs son was exiled to Siberia for counter‐revolutionary activities.
90. Adyghe‐Circassian region. Preobrazhensky district. In with. Ivanovsky, in the building‐reading room, two middle peasants, one of whom is a demobilized Red Army soldier, are campaigning for the creation of a cross union. Opposition speeches serve as agitation material. So, after reading Kamenevʹs speech at the 15th party conference in the presence of a group of citizens and members of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Komsomol,
Zanosenko said: ʺThe opposition is right, the peasants really live badly, while the life of the workers is improving.ʺ In this he was supported by his brother, saying: “The workers have achieved power, the unions protect their interests. The peasants do not have their own unions and no one protects them. ʺ Another middle peasant Shevchenko said that ʺthe Soviet government should allow, in order to protect the grain growers, the organization of a cross union.ʺ The members of the CPSU (b) who were present argued that it was unnecessary to organize cross unions.
91. In the village. Elenovsky (Russian) of the same area, the Opikhailenko brothers, who rented their former mill, entered into competition with the mills of the Oblpromtorg in order to win the sympathy of the peasants and keep the mill. The resolution of the Oblpromtorg on the transfer of the mill, due to its unprofitability, to the village of Khatazhukai (Circassian) caused massive discontent among the Russian peasantry in the villages. Yelenovsky and two neighboring farms. About 400 peasants, mostly poor, armed with agricultural implements, gathered around the Oblpromtorg commission, threatening it with reprisals if the mill was dismantled. One of the active opponents of the transfer, the middle peasant Dol‐zhenko, began to cite facts of the privileged position of the workers, explaining this by the presence of their own unions. Dolzhenkoʹs conclusion about the need to organize cross unions met with the approval of all the peasants gathered.
92. Sunzha District. Stts. Nesterovskaya. The pre‐village council (wellto‐do), in a conversation with the citizens of the village, expressed the idea of organizing a cross union. The reason for the conversation was the following: the clerk of the Council, as having a large farm, was refused his application for enrollment in the Union of Employees. In this regard, the pre‐village council declared that a cross union was needed, which would protect the interests of the peasants, like a workersʹ union.
93. Ossetia. Opened in stc. The Serpentine Agricultural Exhibition attracted all the Cossacks. A prosperous Cossack, a member of the board of the North Ossetian Agricultural Credit Union, made a welcoming speech, who, turning to the Cossacks, pointed out that the ruling class is the working class, not the peasantry, which, despite its large numbers, is humiliated in all respects. The Cossack ended his speech with the following words: “We, the peasants, must govern the country, not the workers. In our country there are more peasants than workers. Long live the peasantry. ʺ
94. Priterechny district. In stts. The Arkhon well‐to‐do kulak part of the village council members, together with other members of the village council, former white officers, are openly campaigning among the poor about the excessive taxation of peasants this year. This agitation is completely shared by the middle peasants. The poor, on the other hand, are hostile to agitation, seeing in this the desire of the kulaks to hide the objects of taxation and disrupt the tax campaign. In this regard, the relationship between the poor and the village council is aggravated.
95. Karachay. Malo‐Karachaevsky district. In connection with the upcoming re‐elections of cooperative bodies, the kulaks throughout the district are showing great activity in promoting their candidates to cooperative bodies. The kulaks enjoy the support of local authorities and representatives of the region in the person of Kurdzhiev (former chairman of the regional Executive Committee) and Begulov (head of the organizational department of the Orgburo of the All‐Union Communist Party). The latter support the kulaks in order to get the support of the latter in the re‐election of the village councils.
96. The village. Marukhskoe (Russian). The middle peasant Saychenko is conducting agitation among the population aimed at aggravating relations between the Russians of the village and the Karachais of the village of Morkh. In his agitation, Saychenko points out that the Communist Party exists only for the sake of appearing as a ʺdefender of the peasantryʺ, but in fact does not take any measures to alleviate the situation of the peasantry. The majority of the population agrees with Saychenkoʹs arguments.
97. Circassia. The population of the aul of Kasayevsky met the announcement of the All‐Union Population Census with distrust. The reason is the spread of rumors by the kulak‐prosperous strata of the aul that the census is being carried out in order to increase taxes on peasants.
98. Aul Kalmykovsky. During a prayer in the mosque, Nashev Hamid made a speech in the Presidential Council, in which he urged believers not to let their children into the Komsomol. The worshipers gave their word to Nashev to follow his advice.
Fight for the co‐apparatus
99. Karachay. In the village of Arkhyz, a group headed by the former pre‐village council Khagirov has formed, which intends to remove Tokov, a poor man, a member of the CPSU (b), from the post of the previllage council. To this end, the aforementioned group is campaigning against Tokov, not only incriminating the latter in committing allegedly unseemly acts, but also engaging in provoking him. So, one of this group, Bastakov, came to Tokovʹs apartment, where he began to beat up a Jew who was visiting the latter. When Tokov stood up for his guest, Bastakov raised a shout and announced to the assembled citizens that the Presidential Council had beaten him up for arguing with the ʺJew.ʺ
100. In the village of Krasny Karachay, the Baldurov family is campaigning for the dismissal of the pre‐village council of Kipkeev, arguing that Kipkeev is unable to work, weakness of character and other qualities. In fact, the Baldurovs are striving to nominate a kind of candidate to replace Kipkeev.
101. In the village of Khasaut, the former noble families of the Alievs, Dzharshtnevs, Chepchinovs and Sarievs united to oppose their forces to the peasantry. Composing the overwhelming majority in the aul, the former nobility directs all the activities of the local sovkaffa in their favor, which is greatly facilitated by the kinship in the region. Former nobles jealously preserve class traditions and prohibit marriages of nobles with peasants. Women who have violated the traditions of the nobility are thrown into a special room in the Jarshtnev house, and the men are beaten.
102. Circassia. In the aul of Batashevsky, during Kalmykovʹs lifetime, there were two groups: a peasant group under the direct leadership of Kalmykov himself, and a noble group led by an effendi Ozov Shuganba. After Kalmykovʹs assassination, the leadership of the peasant group passed to the Soviet, headed by the pre‐village council Noshev Hamid. The noble group, in connection with the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets, is carrying out intensive work to get its supporters into the Council. To this end, Ozovʹs group is trying to denigrate the current composition of the Council, spreading all kinds of false rumors about its members. The supporters of the peasant group are alarmed by this and express their fear that it will be impossible for them to fight the nobles during these re‐elections, since the power in the aul is in the hands of the latter.
103. Chechnya. He sat down. Nogai‐Mirza‐Yurt, Ali‐Yurt, Beno‐Yurt, Mundar‐Yurt and V. Naur issued a resolution to petition the region for separation from the Nadterechny district and joining the Aslanbekovsky or Mozdok districts. The reason is dissatisfaction with the district government, which consists entirely of representatives of the village. Nizhny‐Naur and protecting the interests of the last village to the detriment of the above‐mentioned villages.
ORDER
Anti‐Soviet agitation and performances. War rumors
104. Azerbaijan. Baku u. In the Kalamashtaganinsky district, rumors circulate among the peasants about the conclusion of an agreement between Britain and Persia, which, having united, are going to start military operations against the USSR. These rumors are spread by the well‐to‐do with. Surakhany, who, as a confirmation of his words, points to the call to the Tersemblies, explaining the latter by the upcoming war.
105. Gandzhinsky u. In the city of Ganj, on Ovzhan Street, Komsomol members discovered a Musavat printed proclamation in the Turkic language. The proclamation, written in a national chauvinist spirit, outlined the life of Azerbaijan in thick colors. The proclamation calls for the salvation of the homeland to oppose the Russians. 16 proclamations with the indicated content were seized in the city.
106. Nakh [Ichevan] region. Among the population of the Julfa region, there is a panic mood caused by various provocative rumors. Thus, the bank employees explain the dispatch of the iron cash register to Nakhichevan by the impending war and the fear of keeping large sums in banks. Standing at the station. The population explains Julfa on the reserve line of 28 empty wagons by the forthcoming evacuation.
107. Georgia. Shoropansky u. In with. The prosperous Hemekani of the Kharatgoul region says: “Poland has already begun hostilities and has occupied three cities in the USSR. The British are going to war against Batum and want to transfer it to the Turks”. The prosperous man is supported by the Menshevik Belodze.
108. In p. Tsikhisi Mometsky, the same county convened a general meeting of peasants to discuss questions about the construction of roads and the construction of schools in the villages. At the meeting, a well‐to‐do former nobleman Kiknadze spoke provocatively, saying: ʺThe construction of a school and roads is not the responsibility of the peasants, but must be built by the government at its own expense.ʺ The meeting was disrupted by the speech of Kiknadze, to whom some of the peasants joined.
109. Armenia. Zangezur u. In with. Tishkerti of the Kafan area, the following provocative rumors are spreading by anti‐Soviet elements: “According to the Brest‐Litovsk Treaty, Batum was transferred to Turkey, which is preparing [to attack] the USSR. Nowadays there are troops in Shakhtakhty and other places. ʺ There are Dashnak organizations in 14 villages of Meghri region, which are also preparing for an offensive as Turkeyʹs allies. ʺ
110. In the same district, a resident with. Achegu Khalbulak Khan Guli frightens the Komsomol members, telling them: ʺSoon the Soviet power will be destroyed, and you, miserable Komsomol members, will fall into my hands and I will destroy you one by one.ʺ Khalbulak is trying in every possible way to prevent young people from joining the ranks of the KSM.
Tax campaign
111. Azerbaijan. Karyaginsky. The campaign to levy taxes on the Karyaginsky daira went wrong due to the weakness of the technical workers. Citizen s. Balabekmanlu should have written 4 rubles. tax, and 264 rubles were written, to the peasant s. Kur‐Mahmudlu should have calculated 32 rubles, and 232 rubles were calculated. etc. The peasants filed over 300 applications for improper taxation.
112. Cuban y. In with. Giral of the Kusar site, without exception, all the breeders hid their livestock by 70%.
113. Georgia. Tiflis district Residents with. Barmaktsiz V. of Tsalkinsky district are dissatisfied with the unified agricultural tax, according to which this village alone has to pay more tax than 12 villages in the same district, whose profitability, the availability of livestock and land are the same. So, for example, the villages of Kushchi, Yediklis, Dzhinie, Ayazma, Nardevan, Olyank and 6 other villages (12 in total) pay 300 rubles, and one village. Barmaktsiz 3338 rub. S. Meshtashen, cattle, the profitability and other of which is more than that of Barmaktsiz, pays 1,500 rubles. There are also injustices in the taxation of individuals and families, displeasing the poor and middle peasants with taxes and power. In almost all villages of the Mangli region, the poor are expressing dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime for the fact that the latter taxes them at a higher rate than the kulaks. In with. Bely Klyuch, the poor man said: ʺThe Soviet government is robbing us with its tax.ʺ
114. Senaki district the peasants of the Badzin region are expressing their dissatisfaction with the unfair taxation. Most of the peasants, among them the kulaks and middle peasants and the wealthy, have been freed. In Joloabed, those of the population are 800 souls, of which only 229 are taxed, and the rest are freed, including more or less wealthy. Some of the emancipated peasants feel that they have the power to pay the tax. Teacher s. Jolevi, a middle peasant, applied to the Council with a request to tax him, but was refused. There are many such examples in the region.
115. Akhaltsikhe district in all villages, there were cases of improper taxation of peasants. In with. Barnet Bilal Arsat oglu has 20 heads of cattle, 100 rams, about 5 dess. land ‐ with 16 souls of the family exempt from tax. There are 50 households in this village, among them he is considered one of the first wealthy peasants. The poor and middle peasants are all taxed.
116. Borchalinsky district During the collection of agricultural tax in the village. Kveshi, Mr. Vano Urumashvili and a member of the Komsomol Akulatashvili campaigned among the peasants regarding the agricultural tax, saying: ʺDonʹt pay taxes, you will not get anything, you fools, you were afraid of the whip of tax collectors, etc.ʺ, and expressed themselves in marketplace abuse. Despite the advice of the Predictor to stop agitation, the Komsomol member Akulatashvili continued to agitate individual peasants not to pay the tax and refused to pay it himself.
117. Abkhazia. Gudautsky. Distribution of the tax on the population of the Gudauta district produced incorrectly. Upon presentation of the salary slips, more than 100 applications for reducing the amount of payment are received daily by the executive committee, but the executive committee does not accept these applications for consideration. One of the most prominent kulaks of the Gudauta district. taxed [on] 5 rubles, a resident of the same village, living on interest from his capital, on 5 rubles, and other wealthy peasants were also taxed in the same amount.
118. Adjaristan. UES was unevenly distributed among the districts of Adjara ‐ Khulinsky, Kedinsky, Adjaris‐Tskhalsky u. paid only up to 2,000 rubles, while the Batumi and Kobuleti u. paid over 18,000 rubles. During the secondary registration, the peasants did not give accurate information and they had to be persuaded in every possible way and enticed information about the sources of agricultural income.
119. Armenia. Leninakansky district the 6th section of the county is taxed in the amount of 13,500 rubles. From the sent‐out tax sheets, a lot of injustices were revealed, i.e., identical farms with the same amount of capital and are taxed differently. This circumstance caused massive murmur and the filing of massive protests from the peasants.
120. Etchmiadzin district The hidden objects of taxation were discovered in 62 villages: in the Kurdukulinsky area, about 3,000 heads of sheep and 565 heads of cattle were found, in the Samagar area ‐ 5425 heads of small and large livestock, in the Zangibasar area ‐ 1015 heads of large and small horned livestock, etc. It was hidden mainly by fists and lower strata.
Land management
121. Azerbaijan. Gazzhinsky u. In with. The Kara‐Baglilar land commission consists of the well‐to‐do and first of all tried to supply the kulaks without norms. The poor were given a place in waterless areas and less than the norm.
122. In the village. In Karajamerly of the same district, the land was divided according to the rate in December 1925. On average, 1‐1 / 4dec is determined per capita. arable land and mowing. A part of the land belonging to the society, 360 dess., Was seized by the bandit Rustam Ramazan oglu and is partially exploited by himself, and the rest by relatives who, in addition to the seized land, also have their own allotments. The peasantry is afraid of the bandits and believes that the authorities are powerless to eliminate them. The banditʹs relatives categorically refuse to submit to the land equalization commission.
123. Kurdistani u. On the basis of the wrong distribution of land among the peasants of the district, disputes occur, reaching fights. In with. Ali Kulikend, the peasant Seyid Jafar, arbitrarily tried to plow the land of his neighbor Hydyr oglu. As a result, a fight broke out and Seyid Jafar smashed Mirzaʹs head.
124. Nukhinsky. After the distribution of land among the peasants with. Khagmaz Nijar region surveyors left a copy of the plan of the work performed. Such was kidnapped by the pre‐village council Kusrulakh, who, being the first kulak in the village, was interested in land distribution. Until now, the peasants do not know their plots, which the kulaks use.
125. Shamkhor. Pressel Council S. N. Ivanovka protects 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.
126. Georgia. Telavsky u. 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 of the land department and claim the entire land. The angry Khevsurs killed two buffaloes belonging to the Georgians.
127. Akhaltsikhe district Throughout the Kldinsky district, where land management has not been carried out, skazzals and quarrels often take place among the peasants. Many of the wealthy have taken over the best and fertile land, while 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.
128. Gori district in 1923, the former prince and landowner Georgy Eristov was evicted from Tkviavi. They took away orchards and an estate from him. At this time, he returned and took possession of his former possession. The peasants are unhappy. Rumor has it that a friend, the former executive committee of Tkviavi, Nikolai Korinteli, helped him in returning the estate.
129. Senaki district the former nobleman Alexei Adamiy, a resident of Horishskiy tek, has land and forest above the norm by 18 ktsev. During the land reform, the land was not taken away, the reason for this is the familiarity with the executive committee.
130. Armenia. Erivanskiy u. In with. N. Kokhb, in the presence of the pre‐executive committee and the land department instructor, carried out a land division without the participation of the Turks. The lands were distributed by lot, which left the peasants unhappy. Residents of the aforementioned village Mashadi Asan Khodaverdi oglu, Molla Abas Irza oglu and Mamed Ibrahim oglu said: ʺThe Armenians are pressing us, they 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.
131. 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.
132. A group of kulaks with. Tapggun, wanting to get back the plots taken from them on the basis of land equality, had a secret meeting, where a worldly sentence was drawn up, which considers the campaign illegal.
133. Leninakan district Predzemkoma, he is also the pre‐village council, Kandelyan and member of the Zemkom Tiratsyan this year during the land plot in the village. Sir‐vanjuk committed a number of abuses, approximately: they took a bribe from a group of peasants and gave them good land plots. The investigator sent the perpetrators to the correctional house, but, two days later, released them and the investigation was terminated.
BURYATO‐MONGOLIA. OIRATIA.
KHAKASSKY DISTRICT AND KALMYK AUTONOMOUS REGION
Nazantagonism
134. Buryat‐Mongolia. Alar aimag. A resident of the YegoryevskyTyrgetuysky village council of the Nelkhaysky khoshun (well‐to‐do) says: “We, Russians, have 5‐6 dess. land, and the surrounding Buryats own large land plots, which they themselves do not use, but lease. ʺ
135. In connection with the nationalization of schools among the Russian population of the Alar Khoshun, there is discontent with the refusal to admit Russian children to the Alar Seven‐Year School.
136. V. Udinsky Russian population of Klyuchevskoy Vol. during the civil war seized the Buryat lands in the Zangin borough. On this basis, a dispute flared up between the inhabitants of the Russian volost and the Buryats of B. Kharganetsky khoshun. At present, the Russians, in connection with the resolution of the conflict in favor of the Buryats, are expressing strong discontent, which is further intensified by the governmentʹs refusal to transfer the Klyuchevskoy Vol. unused Buryat lands of B. Kharganetsky khoshun. In Nadeinsky par. the newly arrived commission of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of the Land (headed by the Peopleʹs Commissar), disengaging the lands adjacent to the upper reaches of several rivers in favor of the Russian villages, thereby deprived two Buryat somon of access to water and forest. The Buryat population is extremely indignant at this fact, and a significant part of the Somon residents intend to migrate to Mongolia.
137. Khakass District. Charkovsky district. U. Birzhinsky village council. At a general meeting of residents (Khakassians), the issue of endowing temporarily living Russians with wood plots was discussed. In response to the proposal of the secretary of the village council to conclude an agreement with the Russians on the use of firewood, the middle peasants and poor people present (there were no kulaks) shouted: “We don’t need any agreements, let them use firewood from there. If you conclude an agreement with them, then they can stay here to live. Let them leave here. ʺ The meeting decided not to give the Russians any firewood. At the next meeting, the question of sending a commissioner to the city of Krasnoyarsk to investigate the case of the improper allotment of land to two Russian poor people who had received a bad mowing was discussed. At the meeting, the middle peasants and kulaks shouted that the Russians should be evicted, and the resolution recognized them as ʺsocially harmful to society.ʺ
138. The general meeting of the inhabitants of the Sapogovsky village council, after discussing the issue of the resettlement of Russians, elected a commissioner to take measures against the resettlement of Russians and ʺa petition to secure the permanent use of the land for the Khakass.ʺ
139. Chebakovsky district. The agronomist of the Chebakovsky District, Zheleznoye, said: “When carrying out land management, the Russians living on the Khakass land will not be given such land, and the Khakass will be cut off by 25 dess. per capita, since they have an autonomous republic. Recently, a meeting in Minusinsk decided to evict all Russians from Khakassia.
Agricultural tax
140. Buryat‐Mongolia. Tunkinsky aimak. At the general meeting, a citizen of the Mondinsky somon, five people (middle peasants) spoke on the issue of a single agricultural tax, complaining about the severity of the tax. One of them said that the tax on the poor was folded and placed on the middle peasants.
141. Alar aimag. The chairman of the Novo‐Zagansky village council, Guslyakov (middle peasant), during the registration of taxable objects, deliberately forced the population to hide the objects. So, when Mr. Ivanov said that he had a vegetable garden of 400 sq. sozh., then the Presidential Council corrected him: “You talk too much, you have only 10 square meters. soot. ʺ
142. Due to the weak work of the chairman of the Pelhai HIK Stolyarov, partly due to the lack of a sled road, etc., from the amount of the calculated agricultural tax of 30,788 rubles. 75 kopecks received only 3769 rubles. 51 kopecks, which is about 15%, while by this time it was supposed to collect at least 30% of the calculated amount.
143. Khakass District. Charkovsky district. Several middle peasants of the Toloev ulus, upon receiving the salary sheets, having learned the amount of tax due from them, expressed their opinion: “How can you believe here. They said that the tax would be less, but it turns out the other way around. It is better to cut our livestock, otherwise they will be completely crushed by the tax”.
144.S. Chebaki. Dissatisfied with the tax, the middle peasant Achesov, in the presence of many residents, called the government officials swindlers.
145. Oiratia. Uspensky aimak. In with. Verkh‐Ashpanak citizen Sheshchina (middle peasant) said: “We workday and night and pay tax for this, but the poor do not work and they don’t take tax from them. Power itself creates idlers. Next year, instead of 6 cows I will leave 2, instead of 5 horses there will be 2, and I will also reduce the sown area. ʺ A member of the village council Popov A.D. The (well‐todo) in a conversation with the regional statistician Krechetov said: “The power takes the tax incorrectly. If they take from the middle peasant and the well‐to‐do, then the poor should also be attracted. If we pay with profitability, then the poor have to pay from the consumer. I will leave a small amount of livestock next year. ʺ
146. Uyman aimak. 5 prosperous citizens s. Gorbunovo are campaigning among the population against the agricultural tax and they say that all peasants need to refuse to pay the tax calculated on the basis of income.
147. Kalmyk region. Bogatsokhurovsky ulus. There are isolated cases of dissatisfaction on the part of the well‐to‐do stratum, which has been levied with an agricultural tax in a larger amount than last year.
148. The chairman of the Ikhitsokhurov PEC has hidden from taxation 26 heads of cattle and 45 heads of small livestock. A member of the
Yavdyko‐Mochansky PEC concealed 5 heads of large and 13 small ones, the investigator concealed 15 heads of large and 47 years old small
[cattle].
149. In the Yandyko‐Machazhsky ulus in the Dolbansky aimag, 23 residents hide 410 heads of cattle and 2630 heads of small livestock. In the same ulus, the commission for identifying hidden objects of taxation includes a PEC and a member of the PEC who know about the persons sheltering livestock and do not take any measures against them.
150. The receipt of the agricultural tax in the ulus proceeds satisfactorily, already by the second term it has been fulfilled by 85%, there are cases of tax payment by some citizens at once for all three terms. In the Vatutovsky and Dolbansky Aim Executive Committees, due to the insufficient energy of the workers, the population of the aimaks does not pay the agricultural tax on time. The situation is similar with the tax in Er‐Ketenovsky ulus.
Correct: [Secretary of INFO OGPU] Kucherov