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Transcripts from Soviet ArchivesVOLUME VI -1926
Review of the political state of the USSR in February 1926
March 24, 1926
WORKERS
General economic difficulties in February affect the mood of the workers even more definitely than in the previous month. Their influence is strongest in the textile industry, where, in connection with the crisis, a number of measures are being taken (transition to fine yarn numbers, lengthening holidays, etc.). It should be noted that despite the dissatisfaction at a number of points, all these activities generally meet with support from the workers (materials on the results of the explanatory campaign for Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province.).
The greatest concerns in the work environment are cuts in both the metal and textile industries and other industries. During the reporting period, significant reductions in the metal industry are planned (Izhevsk plants up to 1000 people, Krasny Vyborzhets ‐ 300 workers, Baltzavod ‐ 200 workers), which creates an extremely nervous mood at these enterprises. In the textile industry, reductions at individual enterprises in the woolen industry reach 40% of all employed workers (factories named after Profintern, Worsted Trust). The rise in the cost of living causes a movement for higher wages in a number of enterprises.
The number of strikes has remained approximately the same in February (35 strikes, according to incomplete information, against 40 in January, with 5088 participants against 3292 in January). However, it is necessary to note the growth of the strike movement in the textile industry (almost doubled, from 9 to 16).
Metalworkers
February saw a slight increase in the number of strikes compared to the two previous months (11 with 523 participants versus 8 with 436 people in January and 6 in December); These strikes mainly involve skilled workers. They are insignificant in terms of the number of participants and duration (from 1 hour to 1 day). In general, the cause of conflicts is wage issues (5 strikes on the basis of dissatisfaction with the level of wages, 4 ‐ abnormal tariffs). Wage arrears were the reason for the two strikes. Noteworthy are the strikes at the KhPZ (3 ‐ in a short period ‐ locksmiths, shishelytsikov, markers) and at the Ulyanovsk cartridge plant, where the strikers, pointing out low wages, emphasized the rise in high prices.
Struggle to raise wages. The struggle to raise wages is characteristic of skilled groups of workers. Dissatisfaction is being formed in connection with the rise in high prices and lower prices. Taking advantage of the acute shortage of qualified labor force at some enterprises, they act on the administration with pressure (strikes, threats with strikes and resignations, pressure on the rationers).
At the plant them. Marta (Nikolaev) workers, through pressure on the rationers (threats to take them out in a wheelbarrow, etc.), achieved 145% extra earnings, while the collective agreement stipulated the maximum extra earnings of 57‐58%, this disrupts the plantʹs production plans and causes a deficit. At the Krasny Sormovo, the rationing officer was beaten by the workers.
The transition of skilled workers from one enterprise to another is increasing, sometimes groups of 20‐25 people leave at once (foundry workers ‐ Kiev ʺArsenalʺ, grinders ʺProfinternʺ ‐ Bryansk, the plant named after Petrovsky ‐ Ukraine).
The low level of wages at the factories of the local industry (the mechanical plant of the State Agricultural Service in Tver, the earnings of a skilled worker do not exceed 40‐44 rubles per month) puts these enterprises in a difficult position in terms of providing them with a qualified workforce.
Disruptions in production and downsizing. The aggravating shortage of raw materials and fuel at metal plants causes a significant drop in the load on a number of plants (in some shops of the Petrovsky plant (Ukraine) the load is 50‐25%). In some factories, there is a threat of complete
termination of production (a number of factories in Moscow, Ukraine and the Urals). Due to a shortage of raw materials, 4 plants were downsized (Russian Diesel, Shipbuilding Shipyard ‐ Leningrad, Barrikady, former Oruzheiny ‐ Stalingrad, Metallotekhnik Plant Mashinotrest ‐ Moscow); downsizing at 13 plants. The issue is especially acute at the Leningrad factories of the GUVP (Krasny Putilovets, Krasny Vyborzhets, where 600 workers are planned to be laid off) and at the Izhevsk plants, where more than 1000 people are expected to be laid off in April.
Delayed wages. In February, 28 cases of delayed wages were registered (versus 23 in January) at 6 enterprises (mainly small ones) ‐ over 2 weeks (construction workers of the Sickle and Hammer GOMZ ‐ Siberia, Donskoy District, Pervomaisky District ‐ Stalingrad). At the Klimovsky plant (Gorno‐Vyatka district), workers owe 56,000 rubles. A delay of 1 to 45 days was noted at 11 enterprises. The rest ‐ nonpayment of overtime, bonuses, etc. On the basis of the delay, 2 strikes took place.
Textile workers
In February, the strike movement among textiles shows a significant increase in both the number of strikes (9 and 16) and the number of participants (576 and 3977).
If in the previous month the majority of the strikes were caused by workersʹ dissatisfaction with the leveling, then in February this reason recedes into the background. Of the 16 strikes, 5 of the largest (the Krasnoye Znamya factory of the Bogorodsko‐Shchelkovo Trust ‐ 2,000 workers, the Anisimov factory, Leningrad ‐ 500 workers and there ‐ 200, the Krasnaya Nit factory ‐ 200 workers, f‐ka ʺEqualityʺ, f‐ka ʺRabochiyʺ ‐ Leningrad) arose as a result of measures to intensify labor and rationalize production (transition to an increased number of sides, acceleration of machine revolutions (Leningrad strikes), and intensification of labor, due to the low quality of raw materials , caused a decrease in wages), the transition to measuring fabric by meters (factory ʺRed Bannerʺ), and the size and nature of the strike was influenced by a number of other factors.
Reduction of workers. The reduction in imports of raw materials (cotton, wool) continues to cause a reduction in workers (mainly in the cloth and wool trusts Mossukno and Worsted). At the Wool Spinning Factory, them. Profintern Worsted Trust (Moscow) reduced 40% of all workers, at the Zelenovskaya Cloth Factory named after Chicherina Mossukno reduced the number of workers (12.5% of all workers). At two factories (the worsted spinning mill named after Kamenev and the Istominsk mill of the Bogorodsko‐Shchelkovsky trust), due to the ongoing reduction, some workers themselves leave production, obviously in search of a better place): at the 1st factory 28 people, for the 2nd 40 people. Leaving the factory, them. Kamenev 28 spinners put the factory in a difficult situation and caused downtime for machines. Along with this, in a number of textile factories, the fear of layoffs forces certain groups of workers to increase the intensity of labor.
Dissatisfaction with workersʹ measures to save raw materials. The shift of workers to thin warp and weft numbers in order to save raw materials is causing concern among them. The workers point out that due to the poor quality of the yarn and the deterioration of the machines, work on thin numbers will entail a decrease in wages. A decrease in wages also entails a shift from woolen products to paper products, due to the lack of imported wool.
Reduced wages due to poor quality raw materials. Discontent noted last month with the decline in output due to poor quality of raw materials in February is growing. The dissatisfaction of those working on the increased number of machines and sides is also growing, on which this has a particularly sharp effect. The strike of the weaving and reel departments at the factory. Anisimova had the reason precisely for the lowered earnings on 3 sides due to poor yarn and the fear of tearing when switching to an accelerated turnover of the machine.
At 6 enterprises, the refusal of weavers to work on 3 looms was noted. At the Vyshne‐Volotskaya convent (Tver province), the weavers, demanding that they be transferred to two looms, threatened to strike. At Pavlo‐Pokrovskaya factory (Moscow), workers terrorized those who switched to 3 machines so much that the administration had to transfer them to pairs again.
Miners
During the reporting period, there was one strike in the mining industry among the bulk workers of Grozneft (20 people). The strikers demanded payment for the washing of tanks and the abolition of fines for discharge.
Collective agreement. As a result of the past campaign to renegotiate the collective thieves, there are a number of facts of workersʹ dissatisfaction with the new collective agreements due to the insignificance of the rates, and sometimes exaggerated promises of an increase on the part of the trade organizers. Thus, the workers of Azneft, who were expecting a 25% increase, were unhappy with the 12% increase and said that with stronger Union pressure on Azneft, they could get 25%. ʺHe spoke a lot, but did little,ʺ say the workers at the Union.
Dissatisfaction with the new collective agreement and the trade union in this regard was especially pronounced among the workers of Grozneft. At the meetings, when discussing the number of contracts, the workers said: ʺThe union and economic agencies have once again fooled the workers, presented a ready‐made contractʺ, ʺYou cannot trust the Unionʺ, ʺThe Union is nothing more than a sub‐department of Grozneft.ʺ
Salary dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction with the existing wages covers certain categories of workers of various qualifications in all the largest mining regions. The facts about Azneft, Grozneft, Ukraine, Kuznetsk district, Anzhero‐Sudzhensky mines, Primorskaya province were taken into account. This dissatisfaction entails the transfer of workers to other jobs and to other mines (Ukraine, Kuznetsk district, mining ʺDiobazʺ AKSSR, Azneft).
Discontent with wages is exacerbated by the administrationʹs practice of measuring and calculating workers. This phenomenon is especially widespread in the mines of the Kuznetsk District and the AnzheroSudzhensky mines of the Omsk District.
Transport workers
Strikes. In February, there were two strikes among transport workers (against 7 in January). The depot st. Korosten workers went on strike on the grounds of lower prices; another strike took place in the Omsk backwater (Siberia) due to delayed wages.
Dissatisfaction with billing. The sharp decline in prices and the increase in norms is one of the most serious reasons for the discontent of transport workers; on this basis, there are cases of workers leaving transport. The management of the Perm road, having sent out the norms, gave a secret instruction to the PU to increase the norms at its discretion. As a result, at 22 sites, the rates were increased to 100%. Site workers intend to leave. At the Khoshury depot, work prices were reduced by 30‐70%.
It should be especially noted that there is a sharp fluctuation in the size of running‐in in the same shops: 30 and 336%, 52 and 298% of the carriage and locomotive shops of the Bobrin workshops (27 and 340%, 111 and 490% ‐ the foundry and mechanical shops of the Izhevsk main workshops).
Delayed wages. There were 26 cases of delays and incomplete payment of wages in February, of which 21 were on railway lines and workshops and 4 were on backwaters. 7 facts from 1 to 2‐3 months, mainly among seasonal workers in railway logging. Due to the delay in wages at the Perm railway. that owed the workers over 600 rubles, there is a massive exodus of workers. On the 22 site of the workers owed in February, 36,000 rubles. paid 7000. On this basis, out of 2500 workers left only about 100 people. The entire logging plan is thwarted. Instead of the planned 150,000 cubic meters, only 33,000 were prepared, instead of 1,810,000 sleepers, 229680.
Ferment among telegraph operators. In February, telegraph operators on a number of roads (Moscow, Kursk, Ryazan, Ural, South‐Western, Transcaucasian, Central Asian)
there was a strong fermentation due to the low level of wages. In a number of cases, telegraph operators filed applications demanding higher wages, overtime pay and a switch to piecework pay. Discontent on the Moscow, Kiev‐Voronezh road, where, due to the refusal of the administration to pay for the overworked secret hours in 1924‐1926 at the rates of 1926, the telegraph operators began to communicate by telegraph in order to speak together; the message transmitted by the apparatus contained a call for rallying to declare a strike. A similar phenomenon took place on the Tashkent road. In the first case, the discontent of telegraph operators was exploited by a group of antiSoviet people who are trying to call telegraph operators to strike.
Other industries
Strikes. In February, there were 6 strikes against 12 in January (2 in the printing industry, 1 in the silicate industry, 2 in the construction industry, 1 in the food industry) with 421 participants.
Seasonal workers. Attention is drawn to the extremely difficult situation of seasonal workers, especially in logging. The weakness of the organization of professional work among them, and in some cases its complete absence, allows the administration to grossly violate the contractual terms and gives wide scope for arbitrariness of all kinds. On this basis, major conflicts are created, which are often acute. The fact is extremely characteristic of the logging of the Nizhne‐Saldinsky plant in the Urals. When hiring, promises to workers recruited in Belarus (on the provision of good housing, good pay, clothing and food supplies) were grossly violated on the spot. The workers were left homeless, food was given out at an exorbitantly high price and of poor quality, prices were extremely low, etc. When the workers (150 people) came with a demand to improve their situation, by order of the administration, they were arrested by an armed police detachment. On February 18, the workers went on a 12‐day hunger strike and made an appeal to all workers, urging them to ʺprotect and support.ʺ Some of the workers left, the rest live on alms. At logging sites in Severoles (Arkhangelsk province), 200 loggers went on strike because of wages. Before the strike, an initiative group of workers went around all the artels with a red flag, calling for a strike. Cases of arbitrariness and violation of labor laws are also typical for sugar factories in Ukraine.
Lack of raw materials and fuel and reduction. Interruptions at the food, leather and chemical industries due to lack of raw materials and fuel in February increased significantly. The closure of a number of Sevkavzhirmaslotrest factories and flour mills in the Kuban and the Volga region should be noted. Due to the lack of raw materials, reductions were noted. At the confectionery factory ʺBolshevikʺ MSPO reduced the second shift of two departments in the number of 100 people and 40 seasonal workers. At mill # 61 (Samara) 50 workers have been laid off. The workers of the State Oil Plant No. 11 (Kuban), in view of the layoff, say: ʺWeʹve been doing business, probably weʹll have to get another freedom.ʺ
Delayed wages. In total, 44 cases of delays and incomplete payment of wages were registered. Of these, 30 facts of long delay from 2 weeks to 2‐3 months. Large arrears were noted in sugar factories, mainly to workers on plantations (Ilyinsky sugar plant in Vinnitsa district ‐ 50,000 rubles, Karalinsky sugar plant in Kiev district ‐ 300 [rubles]). The delay in wages causes many conflicts between the peasants and the factory administration.
Workersʹ mood
Sentiment due to economic difficulties. In February, economic difficulties affect the mood of a wider stratum of workers due to the outlined size of the upcoming layoffs, temporary interruptions and stoppages in production, and a further rise in the cost of living. New materials confirm the fact of the workersʹ conscious attitude to the difficulties that have arisen, which does not exclude individual harsh actions and partial discontent of the workers. These sentiments were revealed quite fully at working conferences and meetings devoted to the discussion of economic difficulties in the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. In addition to questions about the rise in the cost of living, reductions, the wood crisis (the last moment was extremely acute here), workers most often put forward the question of their insufficient awareness of the economic situation in the country. “The government and the party turn to us only in difficult times, when things are going well, they donʹt contact us. This is wrong, it indicates a separation from the masses ʺ(from the speech of the worker Karulin at the inter‐union working conference in Ivanovo‐Voznesensk). “When comrades have no mistakes, we don’t know anything, they don’t want to talk to us; ʺBusiness executives find a common language with us only at meetings.ʺ There were a number of indications of insufficient leadership of economic work by the party. At meetings of IvanovoVoznesensk textiles, individual workers made proposals ‐ to transfer all funds allocated for capital construction to already operating enterprises or to increase wages at their expense. These statements were not supported.
Increased cost of ownership. The rise in the cost of living causes more and more talk at enterprises, workers point to insufficient regulation of the market by the state, to the weakness of cooperation and little attention to it. At a number of enterprises (the Kolomna machine‐building plant, the Kostroma textile factories, the Profintern plant (Bryansk), and the Dalles factories (Chita)), workers are demanding an increase in the cost. At the ammunition plant. Volodarsky (Ulyanovsk Gubernia), there was a strike demanding higher wages, and the workers, as a serious factor that prompted them to strike, pointed to an increase in the cost of living. On the Sickle. In factories (Vyatka Gubernia), workers, referring to the rising cost of living, demanded an increase in wages by 100%. The most painful rise in the cost of living was met by workers with lower qualifications. Cutbacks in production, causing some sharp attacks against the party leadership and instructions from the workers on the inadmissibility of reductions in the present conditions, give rise to great alarm. A number of cases have been noted when workers, for fear of layoffs, increase the intensity of labor, improve the quality of products, do not protest when wages are delayed and when measures are taken to intensify labor. The mood of the workers at the Krasnoye Znamya factory of the YegoryevskoRamensky Trust, where a major strike (2000 weavers) took place in February, is characteristic. Workers are expressing fear that the factory will be shut down ʺas it is already on the second strike.ʺ Weaver Kiselev, the initiator of the last strike, declares: ʺWe will not go on strike again, we will chase those who call for a strike with a weight.ʺ Taking advantage of the depressed state of the workers,
Increased discontent with the administration. Interruptions in the supply of raw materials and fuel to enterprises cause complaints from workers against the administration of factories and trusts, which are accused of lack of foresight, mismanagement, and unproductive waste (equipment of offices, etc.). In one of the speeches, it was pointed out that the cause of all economic difficulties is the unfair attitude to the case on the part of specialists. High rates of specialists, along with fluctuations in the material security of workers, increase the hostile attitude of workers towards the administration.
In connection with material difficulties among the workers, rumors about ʺexploitationʺ at state‐owned enterprises also intensified.
Anti‐Soviet agitation. The nervous mood of the workers is trying to exploit the anti‐Soviet element. The speeches of the SocialistRevolutionary] (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, plant named after MartyNikolaev) were noted, with the participation of former members of the CPSU, who prepared the meetings that worked out the resolution (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Ukraine). Leaflets were distributed at 4 points (Leningrad, Nizhny, Ukraine, Vyatka), where for anti‐Soviet agitation
the created economic difficulties were used. These protests do not meet with sympathy among the masses of the workers.
PEASANTRY
Preliminary results of the campaign for re‐election of village councils. The materials received in the reporting period on the progress of the reelections in most of the provinces and districts of the Union and already having preliminary results of the re‐elections (some provinces and districts of the Center, the Volga region, Siberia and the DVK) make it possible to identify in general terms the main points of the current reelection campaign. The present re‐election reveals a picture of both the political struggle between the groups in the village and the political moods of these groups, significantly different from that of last yearʹs reelections.
The characteristic moments of the current campaign are: the growth of the activity and organization of the poor, the intensification of the activity of the middle peasantry, which is already acting for the most part with the poor, and, finally, the isolation of the kulak and antiSoviet elements of the countryside in the significant majority of those cases when there were organized actions of the poor‐middle peasant bloc ... All these moments are far from the same clearly identified in all regions, but even in such regions as Ukraine and the North Caucasus, a serious change in the mood of the poor and middle peasants is evident (the elimination of the depressed moods of the poor, the formation of the Cossack middle peasants and the poor, the elimination of antagonism between the non‐chewers and the middle peasants ). The main factors behind the shifts observed in the elections are, first,
Election Poor
Increased activity and organization. An increase in activity and organization in comparison with the previous elections is noted in almost all districts. The poor are actively speaking at meetings, demanding the removal of kulak candidates and the re‐election of the clogged village councils. The poor farm laborerʹs part of the village councils has grown significantly in a number of districts, and sometimes even prevails.
In Ukraine, where the re‐election of the village councils coincided with the campaign to reorganize the KNS, which was viewed by the majority of non‐chewers as a turn of Soviet power towards the wealthy, there has recently been a change in the mood of the non‐chewers. In some districts of Vinnitsa, Kono‐topsky and Kharkiv districts, the noncheaters are actively preparing for the elections, leading the less prosperous part of the middle peasantry, the antagonism between the poor and the middle peasants has significantly smoothed out. In the North Caucasus, on the one hand, there is an elimination of defeatist sentiments among the poor and nonresident and, on the other, still some facts of independent actions of the Cossack poor. In the Donetsk district, the poor recovered after their defeat in March 1925 and last yearʹs confusion and passivity is not observed now, in some places the Cossack poor are blocked with nonresident and former Red Army men under the leadership of the party. In the Salsk district, the Cossack poor in a number of cases behaved more actively than other groups; in a number of village councils, the Cossack poor now constitute the majority. Particular activity is noted among the nonresident poor, where there were facts of organization of the poor under the leadership of the more active of the former Red Army soldiers, in addition to the participation of cells of the CPSU. In stts. In the Medvedev Kuban District, the poor, in view of the cellʹs negligent attitude to the issue of organizing the poor, convened an independent meeting, deciding to support the partyʹs directives. The poor in Siberia and the Urals showed considerable activity, where in some places they managed to lead the middle peasants.
Phenomena of passivity and disorganization of the poor. Despite the above facts, the phenomena of passivity and confusion of the poor have not yet been completely eliminated. This is observed especially often in areas where the economic situation of the poor is especially difficult (the non‐rich provinces of the Center, Penza Gubernia) and where the kulaks still represented a significant force in the elections (the North Caucasus, Ukraine and the Far East). The poor very often poorly attended elective meetings (“there are no bast shoes, they will do without me” ‐ Oryol province), they were afraid to openly oppose kulak candidates (“if you openly go against the kulak, he will not give a pound of bread in difficult times” ‐ Penza and others province), and sometimes remained passive because ʺthe Soviet government forgot about the poorʺ (facts of this kind in comparison with the previous elections were noted much less). In the Tula province. at the meetings of the poor, her downturn was strongly felt, came dressed in rags and often in the hope that “they would give something” (“at least a twig”). In the Penza lips. and in the Kuznetsk district, the poor gathered weakly for the convened meetings. The passivity of the poor in the Kuban and in the Armavir district was very strongly felt. In areas where party organizations did not carry out preparatory work and, as a result, there were kulak candidates, depressive moods manifested themselves very sharply. Such an outcome of the elections arouses complaints from the poor that “soon the kulaks will sit on their necks altogether” (Kursk province and others), “why gave the kulaks power, they fought against us, and now they are in command of us” (Kuban), etc. characteristic facts of such sentiments are noted in the North Caucasus. In stts. Leushovskoy and Nezamayevskaya, where 37 kulaks and well‐todo people entered the Council for 100 people, the former Red Army men propose to collect money and send a delegate with a complaint to Voroshilov. In stts. Poltava, the former Red Army men and the poor have authorized the female delegate to appeal against the elections in Moscow. In stts. A former Red Army soldier in Ladoga declares: ʺThe village council was elected as executioners, robbers and counterrevolutionaries, the demobilized will not obey such a council.ʺ In stts. Crimean (there are up to 300 former Red Army soldiers who could not be organized), you can hear conversations: ʺIt remains to leave for the Kuban, as in 1918ʺ53.
The middle peasants in the elections
The dominant role of the middle peasants in the elections. In a significant number of districts, the middle peasantry plays a dominant role in the elections, being the most active stratum of the village; often leading the poor. The unorganized poor usually follow the middle peasants (the North Caucasus and other regions). The middle peasants very actively manifest themselves at re‐election meetings and in the work of regional congresses (especially in the central provinces) and in a number of provinces they give the overwhelming number of representatives to the Soviets (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Tula, Kursk, Bryansk provinces,
etc.). The great interest of the middle peasantry in the elections is partly due to the better organization of the campaign compared to last year (delivery of summons, division into smaller polling stations, significantly fewer cases of imposing candidates).
In a number of cases, the middle peasants stand in elections independently, defending their own line against the kulak‐wealthy candidates (and sometimes the poor peasants). In the Cossack villages (Donetsk district, Maikop district, Stalingrad province), there were independent groups of middle‐class Cossacks, which were often followed by the Cossack poor. The response of a middle peasant Cossack to a poor peasant, who pointed to the predominance of the middle peasant at the meeting, is characteristic: ʺWho is to blame for you, I went to the meeting, but I brought my wife, son and daughter, and you came yourselfʺ (Donetsk district).
The attitude of the middle peasants to the organization of groups of the poor and the bloc with the poor. The organization of the groups of the poor by the middle peasants was generally received positively. However, in a number of cases, the middle peasants also came to the meetings of the poor, expressing their resentment that they were not invited (Penza province, Maikop district, etc.). In Ryazan lips. at one of the meetings, a kulak spoke out with agitation against the organization of groups of the poor (new commissars); part of the middle peasants at first supported him, but after clarification by the representatives of the election commission, they approved the organization of the poor.
The middle peasants for the most part reacted sympathetically to the bloc with the poor, especially when the corresponding explanatory work was carried out by the communist party organizations. Even in Ukraine, a bloc of middle peasants (mostly less prosperous) with the poor was noted in a significant number of regions.
Performances of the middle peasants against the poor in a bloc with the wealthy. The performances of the middle peasants in the bloc with the wealthy against the poor were noted in a significant number of cases. Most often they take place under the slogan of being elected to the ʺeconomicʺ councils. At election meetings, candidates are very often dismantled from the property side and low‐powered ones are thrown out. It is not uncommon for the middle peasants to oppose the poor peasants very sharply (ʺthe poor are idlers, they are engaged only in begging for benefits, they sit on the neck of the middle peasants and delay the strengthening of agricultureʺ, etc.). This is especially characteristic even for Ukraine and the North Caucasus: the bloc of the middle peasants often occurs on the basis of the Cossacks being elected to the Council, while the Cossack poor are also drawn into the bloc. These tendencies are most pronounced in the Kuban; in the Slavyansky district, only local Cossacks and 1‐2 communists were sent to the Soviets, considering it non‐political not to carry out the communists at all. Cossacks‐middle peasants support the wealthy, fearing that ʺotherwise the nonresident will divide the land among themselves and the interests of the Cossacks will be overwrittenʺ, ʺthere is no need to choose nonresident, maybe they will leave the Kuban.ʺ
Poor‐middle peasant block
The success of the poor‐middle peasant bloc. The joint actions of the poor and the middle peasants led for the most part to the isolation of the kulaks and the wealthy who followed them. In many cases, the active elements of the kulaks and even the group were obscured by the organized action of the poor and middle peasants, withdrew their candidacies, and sometimes left the elective meetings. “The rich have now sat in their galoshes, we must always act like that,” say the middle peasants and the poor (Trinity District, Urals). Ukraine is of particular interest in this respect. In a number of districts, the relations between the non‐swindlers and the middle peasants are noted as benevolent, especially where the co‐party organizations carried out the corresponding work, only a small part of the middle peasants from the former kulaks here keeps aloof and pursues an independent policy of holding “their own” in the Soviets. In the North Caucasus, it is noted
In the Armavir district at the elections to the stc. For the first time in Labinskaya, there were no speeches of Cossacks and nonresidents against each other, party members were elected unanimously. When one of the party members from another precinct, by order of the party meeting, withdrew his candidacy, stating that he was ʺa strangerʺ, the meeting insisted on leaving his candidacy, shouting: ʺvote, we need such.ʺ In stts. Radnikovskaya, the reactionary Cossacks completely avoided taking part in the elections. The same was noted in individual villages of the Terek District. In the Donetsk district, Cossack youth voted together with the Soviet part of the village against their old people. The same was noted for Siberia. In with. Ineisk, Tulunsky District, Irkutsk District, a group of kulaks and the well‐to‐do, taking into account the authority of the party members, negotiated with the secretary of the cell on the joint holding of their candidate, promising
Discrediting the kulak village councils. The blocʹs success in the elections in many cases was facilitated by the fact of discrediting in the eyes of the population the kulak‐prosperous village councils, elected in the last elections, as a result of their inactivity, drunkenness, patronage of hooliganism and moonshine and abuse. Quite often the kulaks and the well‐to‐do are fighting in the elections to leave the previous Soviets, while the poor and middle peasants expose their activities (Penza, Tomsk and other provinces). In the Kashira village council of Donokrug (North Caucasus), the population shouted at the former members of the village council: ʺWe do not need kulaks, they are rude to the population, they protect the interests of the wealthy.ʺ Often they say to the well‐to‐do: ʺWe chose him, but he did not attend a single meeting.ʺ
Shortcomings in the work of organizing the block. Election defeat of a poormiddle peasant bloc is a relatively rare phenomenon. In most cases, the failure of the poor and the communists was a direct consequence of the poor organization of the poor and their lack of agreement with the middle peasants. In a number of cases, the middle peasants, along with the well‐to‐do, thwarted lists that were offered only on behalf of the poor peasants and party members. A typical case is in the Salsk district (st. Lopanovskaya, Krasoveyskaya hundred), where an independent list of the poor was rejected by the majority of the assembly, but 4 members of the CPSU and one member of the RLKSM easily got into the Council. The disorganized poor and farm laborers sometimes joined the middle peasants and the wealthy against the communists (Tersk District, Saratov Gubernia). In the Kamensky district in the village.
Due to the passivity of the Plotnikovo cell, the poor and middle peasants were not organized, and kulaks entered the Council. The poor, dissatisfied with the results of the re‐elections, accused the cell of failure: ʺWhat are you looking at, this is how the kulaks are organized, and you are sleeping, the well‐to‐do have entered the village council and will continue to bend our necks.ʺ
In addition to the weakness of the preliminary work of the party members, the lack of agreement between the poor and middle peasants often stems from their lack of understanding of the party line. In some cases, cells and individual members of the party were lost in front of kulak activity (Tersk district), with the success of the wealthy, the communists left the meetings. In one of the regions of Belarus, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party, after the failure of a group of the poor in the elections, says: ʺOnly then will the meetings of the poor take place when they will be organized underground.ʺ In the Kamenets district, the VKP candidate declares that ʺthe middle peasants must not be allowed into the Soviet, since they are also kulaks.ʺ In the Penza lips. (N.‐Shkaptinsky district) the cell organizes only the active poor, declaring that ʺballast and inactive peasants will not be organizedʺ, which causes bewilderment of the poor. In the Armavir district, an asset was collected in some villages, which included both kulaks and middle peasants,
Kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements of the village in the elections
The activity of the kulaks. The role of kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements in the elections in this campaign has changed dramatically compared to the previous elections. Last year they were open for election, mainly demagogic interpretation of the new course of the party in the village 54as a policy of attracting the entire peasantry to the Soviet apparatus, exposing the shortcomings of the grassroots Soviet apparatus and the incorrectness of the elections, subordinating the middle peasants to their influence and isolating the party members and the poor. In the present campaign, the methods of the kulaksʹ struggle for influence in the Soviets change considerably. The kulaks and antiSoviet elements are most often organized more covertly (illegal meetings), more often they go to disrupt re‐elections, solder and bribe in order to hold their candidacies, and in their agitation they least of all concern the demands of “broad democracy”, using class antagonism, the mood of the middle peasants against “ non‐economic ʺcandidates, etc. The activity of the kulaks, nevertheless, remains extremely high, especially in the Ukraine, the North Caucasus and the DCK.
Kulak and anti‐Soviet groups. An indicator of activity is the fact that numerous kulak and anti‐Soviet groups participated in the election campaign. In total, up to 183 such groups were registered by this period, of which unregistered, created “and the time of re‐elections ‐ 124 and fully formalized ‐ 54. The groupings were distributed in the following regions: in the Center ‐ 22, in the North Caucasus ‐ 69, in the North‐West ‐ 3, West ‐ 31, Ukraine ‐ 24, Volga region ‐ 10, Urals ‐ 23, Siberia and DVK ‐ 21. The Stavropol District is extremely characteristic in terms of the number of groupings (North Caucasus, where there are 24 groups, of which 3 are socialist and a number of others with the participation of members church councils. Among the group members, 7 registered members of the Cross Union of 1905 55, 6 former members of the society ʺFor United Russiaʺ, 12 former police officers, 14 clergymen, 14 former elders, 6 former members of the All‐Union Communist Party, 43 kulaks, 6 middle peasants and 2 co‐workers. In the Stalingrad province. and Ukraine registered 7 kulak‐middle peasant groups. The local clergy (in addition to a number of kulakchurch groups in the Stavropol District) leads 10 groups in Ukraine and the North Caucasus. The local intelligentsia (teachers) leads 7 groups, Ukraine ‐ 5, Volga region ‐ 2. It should also be noted the organization of special pre‐election circles in the Oryol province. and the organization of an illegal sampling committee in the Berdichevsky district (Ukraine).
Programs and slogans of groups. The programs and slogans with which the groups come out are extremely characteristic of revealing the aspirations of the kulaks. Most of them aim to keep Communists out of the Soviets. Members of the group from the intelligentsia (agronomist and cooperators) at the Borisov volsezd of Mozhaisky u. Moscow province. motivate this demand by the fact that ʺthe Soviets must be independent of the parties.ʺ In the Oryol province. a group of well‐todo people is campaigning ʺfor the free purchase and sale of land, which should increase the power of agriculture.ʺ In the Kuban, the Cossack group, led by students who came from Kharkov for the holidays, aims to Ukrainize the Kuban, annex it to Ukraine, and then secede from the USSR. Grouping in stc. Kanaevskaya (North Caucasus) is led by the Tikhonists, who set a chain to seize the stanitsa apparatus in order to take the church from the Renovationists.
Other forms of manifestation of the activity of the kulaks. A characteristic form of manifestation of kulak organization and activity, in addition to organizing groups, is the organization of illegal meetings with the aim of preparing candidates; in the Parichsky district of the Bobruisk district (Belarus), a land surveyor organized illegal group meetings before the elections; in Transbaikalia, at one of such meetings, an instruction was drawn up for participation in the elections of supporters. In Primorye, the kulaks organized at the congresses their ʺnon‐party factionsʺ as opposed to the party ones. A similar fact was noted for Vyatka lips. In the North Caucasus, a struggle is being waged against the fragmentation of polling stations, which scatters the forces of kulak groups. Drinking and bribery of the poor and middle peasants is widely practiced. A number of cases of threats against the poor and beatings of those who actively oppose (Ukraine and others) were registered. In case of failure of their candidacies, the kulaks practice disrupting meetings; in the Bryansk province in the Kholmovsky village council, the meeting was disrupted several times by fists and the VIC decided to carry out a special investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice.
It is quite typical for the kulaks to nominate candidates for prominent counterrevolutionary figures: former white officers, bandits, landowners, policemen, etc. In stts. The Ladoga kulak group in the Kuban multiplied the list of candidates for the Soviet, which included the former general and chieftains, in the Kazan region of the Donetsk district, the candidacy of the former white general Shumilin was nominated. There are kulaks hut in the Shakhty district. Nut was sent to the city of Kamensk as a walker to the former assistant bailiff, inviting him to stand as a candidate in the elections.
Agitation against communists and Soviet elements in the countryside. The agitation of the kulaks is for the most part directed against non‐local party members ʺsuitcaseʺ 56, saying about them: ʺThey will plunder and take away.ʺ The facts of crime and tactless actions of party members are widely used to discredit them in elections. In general, the discrediting of party members by the kulaks through false accusations (of theft, hooliganism, etc.) is noted very often. Sometimes the rejection of party candidates is motivated by the fact that “the communists are overloaded with their party work and the work suffers from this”, “that a Council is needed that would work without jerking from the party,” etc.
The main motive of agitation against the choice of the poor is the need to “choose people who have workers and can break away from their economy for social work”, and “that the chosen poor will ruin his economy”, and “that it is necessary to send people to the Council who could cover the waste ʺ.
Composition of new village councils
The growth of the poor‐middle peasant village council. Partial materials on the composition of the new village councils indicate a significant improvement in most areas of the personnel of the village councils. In the central provinces, the composition of the new village councils, with extremely rare exceptions (in Tambov gubernia), is poor and middle peasant, and in some cases also poor peasant. In Vyatka Gubernia, for example, in the VICs of the province, there is an increase in horseless people from 16% to 18%, the percentage of communists increased from 34 to 44.
In the Voronezh province. the poor part of the village councils increased by 5.3%. In the Ulyanovsk province. along Usolskaya Vol. Syzransky u. elected middle peasants 49%, poor and farm laborers ‐ 42%, office workers ‐ 7%, artisans ‐ 2%, well‐to‐do not a single, in the province increased the number of chairmen of village councils, horseless and exempt from tax. The significant improvement in the composition of the Soviets is confirmed by the preliminary results for the North Caucasus. In the Stavropol district, the percentage of the poor in 67 village councils (2986 people) increased by 10.4% (60% instead of 49.6%), the percentage of middle peasants ‐ 36.4%, the percentage of party members increased from 8.5% to 12.5%. Up to 40.9% of the elect are former Red Army men. In the Armavir district, 494 middle peasants, 488 poor peasants, 42 prosperous peasants and 10 kulaks were elected in 36 village councils. The same is in other districts, with the exception of the Kuban district.
Dirty new Soviets. In the Tambov province. at the Pahoro‐Uglanovsky volsezd, out of 80 delegates, there were up to 20% of former Antonovites, among them the outstanding commanders of the Chernyshev gang, Shishkin and Podkovytov. In Borisov parish. a former White Guard was elected chairman of the VIC. Antonovtsy went to a number of village councils. In the Kuban, out of 32 village soviets, partly or completely passed the well‐to‐do, kulaks, former chieftains, etc. In stts. Slavic members of the well‐to‐do village councils refused to allocate a commission for collecting the unified agricultural tax, trying to shift it onto the party members, so as not to ʺspoil relations with the population.ʺ Along the Amur lips. the contamination of the new Soviets is very significant. In Nikolsko‐Ussuriysky. only kulaks and unreliable persons entered two RI‐Ka, as a result of which the PEC ordered the removal of all secret correspondence from the RIKs. The chairman of one of the RECs (Chernigov) Tregub was suing for tax evasion; RIK members, kulaks, declare: ʺWe will get to Moscow and we will put our own people there too.ʺ In with. Annovka Erkovetskaya par. Eighty poor people left the electoral meeting and protested the elections, saying that ʺthe elected government is not Soviet, but kulak.ʺ In with. Engorske Petrozavodsk u. Transbaikal lips. kulaks entered the Council, and immediately at the meeting a resolution was adopted, drawn up by kulaks, demanding not to pay 10 years of tax ʺon commercial termsʺ, not to take payments for quitrent meadows, mows, forests, etc.
Peasant unions
In February, 150 cases were again registered in 47 provinces and districts of the Union (149 were recorded in January) of demonstrations and agitation for the cross unions. The question of organizing the Constitutional Court in most cases (81 facts) is raised at re‐election meetings, regional congresses and non‐party peasant conferences. Most of the appearances for the Constitutional Court were noted in the Center (76 cases in 9 provinces), North‐West (14 in 6 provinces), Ukraine (13 in 7 districts), the North Caucasus (3 in 6 districts), the
Volga region (13 in 5 provinces) and Tatarstan 7.
The Cross Union is being promoted mainly as an economic organization to protect the interests and improve the material situation of the peasantry. The requirement of the Constitutional Court as a political organization for the struggle for the political rights of the peasants and in contrast to the workersʹ organizations was noted only in 11 cases. The main arguments for the CC are still put forward: the unification of peasants to regulate the prices of agricultural products (30 cases) and the unification following the example of workers (32 cases). In all other cases, the speeches consist only in asking questions about the possibility of organizing a CC. It should be noted that advocacy for the Constitutional Court usually does not meet with peasant support.
Of the initiators of speeches for the Constitutional Court, attention is drawn to the workers of the lower Soviet apparatus (12 cases), members of the CPSU and the Komsomol ‐ 6, former members of the CPSU ‐ 5, non‐peasant elements of the village (rural intelligentsia, workers, office workers, artisans and traders) ‐12 and anti‐Soviet elements (clergy, former members of anti‐Soviet parties, former officers, former policemen, etc.) ‐ 19.
Re‐election of CCVS
Participation in elections. Information about the progress of the KKOV re‐election campaign, received in December ‐ February in 13 provinces and districts of the Union and the North Caucasus, indicate the passivity of the population. The participation of the population in the re‐election presents a rather variegated picture, ranging from 10% (and in some places even lower) to 35‐50%. Quite active participation was noted only in Belarus, where 60‐80% of the population participated in the re‐elections, and in the Gomel province. 40‐60%. In some cases, reelection meetings were disrupted due to the absence of voters. Up to 100 such facts have been registered.
Negative assessment of KKOV. Due to the inoperability of most of the CCCS and the abnormalities and abuses that have taken place, as a general phenomenon, there is a negative attitude towards CCCS of all groups of the population, not excluding the poor. “All KKOV are only peasants on the backbone of the peasants and through the committees the peasants do not receive any improvement,” a peasant from Moscow
province points out at one of the meetings. At meeting in Kursk province. the peasant who spoke said: ʺThe committees are not able to give the poor people anything real, and therefore they are not needed.ʺ In the Voronezh province. the middle peasant who spoke at the meeting said: ʺOur committees are engaged only in self‐criticism, since all collected contributions go to the maintenance of those working in them, and therefore there is no need for the existence of committeesʺ; the poor man who spoke here said: “Of course, we need committees, but since they are inactive, you donʹt need them better. ʺ An interesting speech by the middle peasant at one of the meetings in the Moscow province: ʺBy organizing the KKOV, the Soviet government wants to show that it allegedly helps the peasants in some way, but in fact the committees are being organized in order to get rid of aid to the peasantry.ʺ There were 115 similar facts.
Refusal to organize KKOV. As a result of such an attitude towards the KKOV, there are cases of refusals from the organization of KKOV (121 cases). The reasons for the refusals in most cases are that “KKOV does not bring any benefit” and that “KKOV is a useless and unnecessary burden for the peasants”, etc. Also noteworthy are the demands of the organization instead of the KKOV of the cross union, put forward at reelection meetings (Moscow, Tver, Saratov Provinces, North Caucasus).
Organization of the poor around the KKOV re‐election campaign. Organized speeches, defending at re‐election meetings, the organization of the KKOV, noted exclusively by the poor. Criticizing the activities of the KKOV, the poor declared: ʺWe need a committee, who do we contact then, otherwise the kulaks will stop by,ʺ ʺwe need a committee, there is nowhere else to get helpʺ (speeches of the poor at meetings in Oryol province.). At one of the meetings in Belarus, the poor, to comment on the kulaks that it is more likely to get support from the wealthy, said:
ʺYour help is costly for the poor.ʺ In a number of districts of Gomel province. and in some areas of Oryol Gubernia, Belarus, Salsky and Donskoy districts during the election campaign, there were also joint speeches of the middle peasants and the poor. Cases have been recorded when, despite attempts by party organizations, it was not possible to unite the poor because of their negative attitude towards the KKOV, [which] was indifferent to the meetings of groups of the poor. Along with this, there was a reluctance, mainly on the part of the poor, to be elected to committees and cases of withdrawal of their candidacies, which was motivated by non‐payment of KKOV employees.
Kulaks and the well‐to‐do in the KKOV re‐election. The activity shown by the kulaks and the well‐to‐do in the re‐elections of the KKOV is mainly aimed at disrupting the organization of the latter. Taking advantage of the abnormalities and abuses that have taken place, in a number of cases the complete mismanagement of the KKOV, the kulaks and the well‐to‐do, conducting intensified agitation against the KKOV, insist on the elimination of the latter. “We do not need any KKOV,” say the kulaks in the Shakhty district, “we have already chosen KKOV many times, and there is no use for it. This KKOV is useless business. ʺ In the Astrakhan province. kulaks, agitating against KKOV, say: ʺWe do not need KKOV, this is a charitable organization, where all the parasites.ʺ In the Gomel province. there were cases when wealthy peasants tried to speak at meetings of groups of the poor, appearing at them without permission and agitating that the committees were an unnecessary organization, giving nothing to the population.
In most cases, candidates from the middle peasants and the poor are elected to the KKOV. At the same time, the kulaks do not show a great desire to get into the KKOV and the cases of contamination of the reelected KKOV are insignificant (a total of 25 cases in 7 provinces and districts).
EASTERN NATIONAL AREAS, INNER NATIONAL REPUBLIC
Economic situation. Attention is drawn to the difficult economic situation in the village in Chuvashia. In connection with the crop failure in the republic, a part of the population is on hunger strike. In many areas, peasants feed on surrogates (quinoa). Diseases and deaths of livestock develop. In some villages, up to 25‐50% of cattle from exhaustion cannot stay on their feet. The mood of the population is depressed. In some areas, peasants in droves go to local councils and committees for mutual assistance, demanding material assistance.
Political status. In parallel with the growth of influence in broad strata of the population, the authorities and the party are developing the activity of anti‐Soviet strata in the countryside. In number of regions of Tataria, Chuvashia and Crimea, the formation of kulak groups is noted. In Tataria (in the Russian part of the population) and Chuvashia, there are cases of the appearance of leaflets and proclamations directed against the Soviet power. In some Russian regions of Tataria, agitation is under way for the organization of peasant unions. In the Crimea, in the Tatar villages, numerous demonstrations of kulak‐nationalist groups are noted.
Re‐election of the Soviets. The re‐elections are taking place with the increased activity of the masses in comparison with last year. The poor and middle peasant strata are very active, often jointly opposing the kulaks. In a number of districts, there is an increase in the influence of party members during re‐elections, sometimes by the population themselves nominated as candidates for the Council.
Along with the noted, the development of the activity of the kulaks and related elements is observed. In Tataria, with the support of kulaks in the Russian districts, members of parish councils, former tsarist employees — guards 57, bailiffs, former members of the Union of the Russian People, and so on went to some Soviets. In the Tatar villages, during the elections, a significant influence of mullahs and merchants was felt.
In Crimea, in Tatar villages in most regions, active participation in the re‐election of local kulak‐nationalist groups is noted. In the groupings, one can feel the strong influence of the nationalist circles of the native intelligentsia (militirkists 58), whose representatives in a number of regions were nominated as candidates for the Soviets. In a significant number of cases, the groupings enjoy the patronage of local party members and some responsible Tatar workers.
NORTH CAUCASUS
The mood of the village is watered. There is an increase in the activity of the kulak‐Cossack layers of the Russian village and the clergy, and the patriarchal‐feudal aristocracy of the native aul. In the KarachayCherkess region. in the Cossack assets, which are under the strong influence of the kulak elite, there are growing tendencies to isolate communists from participation in the social and political life of the villages. In the Sunzha district, in the Cossack villages, there is agitation calling for the organization of cross unions.
In the indigenous villages in Chechnya, Dagestan, Karachai and Ingushetia, the Muslim clergy are working to strengthen and expand the activities of theological schools, simultaneously developing agitation against Soviet schools. In Chechnya, in connection with the liquidation of part of the Sharia courts, 59 the clergy are campaigning for the need to demand their restoration at the regional congress.
Re‐election. Significantly increased, in comparison with last year, influence on the partyʹs re‐elections is noted. In most cases, the newly elected Soviets are elected by the poor and middle peasants. In the Chechen villages, a significant percentage of the elite are Komsomol members. Parallel to this, a number of extremely abnormal phenomena are noted.
In Chechnya, in the Grozny District, at the stanitsa re‐election meetings, in some cases, the Soviets were all overwhelmingly anti‐Soviet.
During the re‐elections of the Grozny City Council, the delegates of the peasant districts formed an opposition faction grouping, tried to disrupt the meeting held under the influence of the Communists twice and, having suffered defeat in the elections, agitated among the population about the need for peasant representatives to refuse to participate in the work of the City Council and all public organizations.
In the native villages of flat Chechnya, re‐elections in a number of cases are strongly influenced by Elderkhanovʹs supporters. Representatives of surnames related to him are campaigning in the villages about the need to return him and elect his supporters to the Soviets. In the NovoChechen district, in connection with the activities of the elderkhanovites, 70% of the rural election commissions included supporters of Elderkhanov.
In the Urus‐Martan district, there were cases when the population, incited by the supporters of Elderkhanov, threatened to beat up members of the election commission. There were cases when representatives of the electoral commission left without holding elections.
What was noted in the native villages is parallel to sharp exacerbation of the family‐group struggle and active participation everywhere in the re‐election of the clergy and the former nobility. In Chechnya, groups are gaining widespread development even among responsible district officials who are striving to bring their relatives and supporters to the Soviets. In a significant number of cases, the Soviets are candidates nominated by mullahs, former princes, 60 effendis, 61 sheikhs, etc.
KAZAKHSTAN
Political status. There is an increase, in comparison with the last year, the activity of the masses during the re‐elections among the Kyrgyz population. In a significant number of cases in Kyrgyz auls, the entire population participates in the re‐election. This activity of the population in re‐elections, however, in most cases acquires an extremely unhealthy bias, focusing on the struggle for power led by the tribal clan groups. In Aktobe province. almost everywhere, all 100% of the population was drawn into the tribal struggle, including all the cells of the VKP and RLKSM. Responsible district workers ‐ party members who support various groups fighting for power take part in the tribal struggle. A case was noted when a native provincial newspaper took part in the grouping struggle.
The active participation in the re‐election of the 62 Alashorda Kyrgyz intelligentsia is noted.
Its activity in the current re‐elections in a number of districts is much higher than that of the last year.
In the Russian countryside, attention is drawn to the activity of the Cossack‐kulak groups in the Dzhetysu province. In Alma‐Ata district a case was noted when members of the electoral committee fled from an elective meeting, in view of the intention to beat them by the population incited by fists. In a significant number of cases in various provinces, there are demonstrations of non‐party peasants against the candidacies of communists. On the whole, the re‐elections in the Russian countryside are going on, in comparison with last year, more satisfactorily ‐ with the greater influence of the communists and the poor and the middle peasant elements loyal to the authorities. The main difference from the Kirghiz aul is the lively discussion of current issues of Soviet construction, especially land management, which is not observed in the Kyrgyz aul.
Compared to December, banditry has decreased from 10 gangs ‐ 216 people to 8 gangs ‐ 126 people.
ORDER
Political condition. In connection with the re‐elections, the desire of the kulak elements to seize the grassroots Soviets is noted. In various regions of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, the well‐to‐do strata are campaigning against the candidacies of communists and are nominating their candidates, in most cases anti‐Soviet people. In Georgia, there have been cases when at pre‐election meetings the Communists were asked to leave the meeting. In Armenia, former Dashnaks actively participate in re‐elections in a significant number of cases, blocking with wealthy strata. In Lor‐Bambak (among refugees) and Gangezur u. there are several kulak groups headed by former Dashnaks. Former Mensheviks in Georgia are also active in reelections. The latter are in Signakhsky. in a number of regions, they are nominated as candidates for the Soviets. It should be noted, that in most cases the kulak and counter‐revolutionary elements have failed to get their representatives to the Soviets. Those elected to the Council are middle and poor.
The re‐elections of the grassroots Soviets are especially abnormal in Ajaristan. Khimshiashviliʹs group, which includes many responsible and grassroots workers, launched a wide campaign about the need to elect him to the county congress of Soviets and return to his old position. For campaigning, special troikas were sent to the places, maintaining all the time in contact with Batum, to which money was issued for the patrols. Instructive letters and propaganda leaflets were sent out. Thanks to the inactivity of the re‐election commission, which often came to the place just before the re‐elections, after the appropriate campaigning had been carried out by Khimshiashviliʹs supporters, the latter had significant success in a number of regions. In Khulin u. in the majority of those (volost) Khimshiashvili and his supporters were elected to the Soviets. (In other districts, no information was received on the results of the re‐election.) Note that in some areas Khimshiashviliʹs supporters are trying to disrupt the re‐election. A case
was noted when, insisting on postponing the elections, they resorted to the threat of weapons.
Banditry in both internal and foreign regions continues to maintain its numbers: in foreign 12 gangs of 218 people, in internal ‐ 7 gangs of 54 people. Banditry activity focuses on petty criminal robberies. There were no major manifestations of banditry.
MIDDLE ASIA
Political status. National antagonism and intergeneric struggle continue to develop. Clashes occur mainly on the basis of land use and seizure of power. In Behbudtinsky district Kashka‐Darya region In Uzbekistan, on the basis of a dispute over pastures between the Kyrgyz and the Arabs, an armed clash took place, which ended in the serious injury of five people. In Kyrgyzstan, the population of the Russian settlements of the Bogishevskaya Vol., Who took an active part in the fight against the Basmachis, is terrorized by the Kyrgyz of the neighboring villages. From the side of the Kirghiz, threats are heard to ʺdouble revengeʺ on the Russians for the Kirghiz Basmachs killed in 1919 63. The aggravation of national antagonism is also taking place in Tajikistan between Tajiks and Uzbeks. Tajiks express dissatisfaction with the seizure of government by Uzbek workers.
The tribal struggle is developing in the Surkhan‐Darya region. Of Uzbekistan between the Turkmen clans ʺErsariʺ and ʺSheikhʺ. On the basis of oppression by the ʺSheikhʺ family of the Ersarites, the last of the 4000 households are going to leave the Surkhan‐Darya region.
Basmachism, both numerically and actively, continues to decline. On December 15, the number of gangs was about 700 people, on March 1 ‐ about 600 people. In parallel, Basmachism continues to degenerate into a purely criminal phenomenon. The stubborn character of the Basmachi remains in Tajikistan on the left bank of the river. Vakhsh. Here, the gangs of Ibrahim‐bek do not stop extortions from the population and terror is carried out over the clans that have refused to support the Basmachi. The Basmachi of this gang killed a delegation of 4 people sent to negotiate the surrender of the gangs.
Re‐election. The re‐election campaign is taking place everywhere under the sign of the struggle for the apparatus of power of various tribal and national groups. In the districts of Samarkand and Fergana regions. in this struggle, the election commission itself took an active part, carrying out its proteges. In with. Yukari of Kokand u. In response to the protest of the population against the protege of the electoral commission, the chairman of the electoral commission fired a shot, after which those present fled. In connection with such behavior of the electoral commission, the population refuses to participate in the elections. In Margelansky district Fergana region in one of the rural communities, out of 1,400 people, only 120 attended the meeting. On this basis, in Bukhara u. Zeravshan region dekhkans were forcibly driven by the police to elective meetings. In a significant number of cases, bai, former emir officials64 or persons under their influence.
It should be noted that, on the whole, the re‐election is still more satisfactory compared to last year. The percentage of those participating in re‐elections in the current campaign is significantly higher than the percentage of those who participated in the last year. The activity of the poor and farm laborers increased. In the Tashkent region. the poor vigorously oppose the appointment of ʺtyuryʺ (nobles) to the Soviets. In the Fergana region. from 60 to 70% of poor peasants and farm laborers and 20‐25% of middle peasants passed to village councils and VICs. At village meetings, those present speak on the issues of combating Basmachism and water construction.
RED ARMY
Economic condition. Autumn and winter 1925‐1926 characterized by a slight deterioration in the economic situation of military units. The deterioration in nutrition is mainly caused by the discrepancy between the norms of the welding salary and the actual value of the products on the market (in some parts this discrepancy reached 25‐30%). Lack of regulation with contracts for the supply of food, as a result of which procurers often refused to fulfill contracts, and the weakness of economic bodies and individual business executives, and their inability to use funds expediently were also the reasons for the deterioration of nutrition. Bread baking has deteriorated again, especially in connection with the departure of old bakers from the army and their replacement by inexperienced young people. In some parts of the Turkfront, poorquality bread was systematically given out. In 23 cases, the receipt of decomposed meat was noted.
In connection with the arrival of the 1903 conscripts, there is a lack of uniforms. In parts of the Turkfront and the Azerbaijan division (artillery regiment), the newly recruited were not equipped. In addition, it should be noted that the existing uniform is substandard and small in stature.
In almost all districts, and especially in the Western Military District, there is a shortage of government premises, as well as incomplete, unsatisfactory repair of such. In the Siberian Military District, repair work has been done only by 60‐70%. In the Siberian Military District, now only unsatisfactory repairs have been revealed. Stoves are falling apart, floors are falling apart, etc. (26.35 divisions).
Due to the overcrowding and unsanitary condition of the barracks, lice is again common among the Red Army soldiers. In the Special Cavalry Brigade of the Moscow Military District, 30% of the Red Army personnel, the 13th rifle corps, the 7th and 8th cavalry brigades, and the 4th rifle division ‐ up to 75% were affected by lice. Armenian division ‐ 50%. The same applies to universities (Moscow Art School, Tula Art School, 4 Comrade Frunze Cavalry School).
Political mood. The political mood in the Red Army units during the reporting period was determined by two factors: the demobilization of 1902 and the conscription of 1903.
Those subject to dismissal showed a sharply demobilization mood, due to which the discipline decreased, the attitude towards drill training became negligent. The mood worsened even in connection with the replacement of good uniforms with second‐term ones. Along with this, there was a noticeable heightened mood of the demobilized, who sought to stock up on literature and newspapers, especially on agricultural issues. The demobilization sharpened the dissatisfaction of the junior commanders, especially the department committees, who were dissatisfied with their financial situation. In the Siberian Military District, there were cases when the department committees threatened to ʺdisintegrateʺ 1903 if they did not improve their financial situation. The conscripts of 1903 who arrived at the unit were not met completely satisfactorily. In some parts, the young were not met (17th division of the MVO, VPO, LVO, UVO radio battalion). In the 134th regiment of the 45th division, the recruits who arrived from Moscow were not at all met by the representatives of the unit, and for 7 hours. we’re waiting at the station. In this regard, they were going to file a collective protest.
The deteriorating nutrition in army units, the lack of uniforms and the poor condition of the barracks made an unfavorable impression on the young animals of 1903. In their letters, many conscripts speak badly about nutrition, often calling it ʺswill for cattle.ʺ In the 1st Cavalry Division of the UVO, the Cossacks threw out the bread given to them. ʺThey cook some kind of a lump and you never get full.ʺ ʺWhat kind of army is this in 1925 ‐ no tables, no beds, they give one spoonful of porridge.ʺ “We entered the barracks, and it was horrible,” the draftees of 1903 write to the village.
Dissatisfaction with the material conditions caused complaints about the wrong conscription into the army. In the 26th division, 100 Red Army men filed applications for incorrect reception. In the 9th cavalry brigade, more than 15% of the Red Army men showed a desire to get rid of service by obtaining benefits.
With the arrival of the young in 1903, peasant sentiments intensified and took on sharper forms. During political hours and conversations, the question of ʺinequality of workers and peasantsʺ is constantly raised. ʺWhy is the dictatorship of the proletariat, and not the working class and peasantry.ʺ ʺThere are fewer workers, but they control the peasantry.ʺ ʺThe workers have unions, but the peasants do not have a peasant union,ʺ say the conscripts (parts of the Western Military District, the Turkic Front). Red Army men from the middle and poor peasants often declare that the policy of the Soviet government in the countryside is wrong, because ʺit protects the kulak.ʺ This is especially common in parts of the Siberian Military District and the KKA (3rd Regiment, 1st Caucasian Rifle Division, 2nd Division KKA, 26.21 Divisions of the Siberian Military District).
In the Siberian Military District, ʺdemocraticʺ sentiments were noticeable. There was talk about the need for an 8‐hour working day in the army, about the election of command personnel, about inequality between the command personnel and the Red Army, about the inadmissibility of punishing the Red Army before taking the oath. In the 35th division, there were several cases when the Red Army men raised the issue of an 8‐hour working day and the election of commanders. “We get a salary. RUB 1 40 kopecks, and they take more tax from us than from the command staff, they are also paid 70‐100 rubles, ʺsaid the Red Army (all divisions of the Siberian Military
District).
In general, the young growth of 1903 is culturally and politically much higher than the previous draft years. It is also observed among the Red Army men from national minorities, which is expressed in the requirement to separate them into independent national units (LVO, ZVO, Turkfront, KKA).
Insufficiently trained political workers often cannot cope with answers to all these questions of interest to the Red Army, which undermines the authority of the leaders. New recruits ‐ intellectuals with secondary and higher education ‐ also joined the real conscription into the army. Feeling their superiority over the commanders, they use it to ʺpryʺ and ʺteaseʺ the commanders. “The commander knows less than we do,” they say. Their attitude to the Red Army mass is also arrogant and disdainful. All this extremely complicates the work of the command staff and political workers (MVO, LVO, Siberian Military District, UVO).
Communists and Komsomol members also stand out against the general background of army life. Komsomol members claim a leading role in the units and behave defiantly in relation to the command staff. Hooliganism and boyish antics are often observed among the Red Army soldiers ‐ members of the RLKSM. There is indiscipline and dissatisfaction with the discipline existing in the army. In units of the 5th corps of the Western Military District, it was noted that indiscipline is manifested mainly by members of the RLKSM, who declare that they came to the army to lead the masses and that they are politically more developed than the command staff. Similar cases of unrestrained Komsomol members were noted in many parts of the VVO, ZVO,
PrivO, DVO.
Discipline in general in the army with the arrival of new recruits in 1903 is unsatisfactory. Youngsters, faced with military reality and, first of all, with discipline, begin to show their dissatisfaction, often comparing service in the Red Army with the tsarist. In addition to individual violations of discipline, there are also massive ones. So, the case of a massive refusal to fulfill orders took place in the hydrorot of the 7th separate cavalry brigade, where the Red Army men in an organized way refused to go to work to drain the swamps, arguing that the water was cold and their shoes were torn. In the 94th regiment of the 32nd division of the Privo Military District, there was a case of group refusal of 6 Red Army recruits to go into the outfit at night.
The fall in discipline was facilitated by the widespread drunkenness of the Red Army and the kompolitstaff lately. A strong increase in drunkenness is evidenced by the numbers of registered facts:
LVO
PrivO
HEI
3rd quarter of 1925
515
374
316
4th quarter [1925]
1186
696
1111
WORKERS OF SOVIET INSTITUTIONS
The position of workers in Soviet institutions has recently experienced a noticeable deterioration in connection with the increased high cost and low wages. The discontent of employees on this basis is taking on significant proportions, which is noted in 22 provinces and districts in various regions of the Union. Dissatisfaction covers various groups of employees (financial workers, communications workers, etc.) mostly in institutions that are on the local budget.
Finnish employees. Particularly sharp dissatisfaction manifested itself among the workers of the county financial departments of the Nizhny Novgorod province. Arzamas financial workers decided at the meeting to send a letter to employees of all financial departments of the Nizhny Novgorod province. with a request to discuss the issue of a salary increase. The employees of the Krasno‐Bakovskiy UFO responded to the letter, deciding to ask the head department of the Union to increase their salaries, otherwise threatening a strike. Financial inspectors of the Primorsky Gubernia Financial Department, whose increase of 12 rubles received since August was canceled. 50 kopecks (to the basic salary of 40 rubles. 50 kopecks), from December 19 they did not go to work, their demand as a result of the strike was satisfied. Financial workersʹ dissatisfaction with low rates was also noted in Aktyubinskaya and SyrDarynskaya gubernias, in Barnaul and Tarsk districts, mainly among technical workers of lower grades.
Communication workers. An extremely difficult situation is noted among communications workers. The average wage for a postal and telegraph employee is from 20 to 30 rubles. In Vyazma, Smolensk lips. a qualified employee who has a comprehensive knowledge of the postal and telegraph service and has served in the department for 7‐10 years, receives 29 rubles. In view of such a difficult situation, many leave the service and move to other institutions. Noteworthy is the case of the suicide of the Minsk postal and telegraph office, which received 21 rubles. salary. Strong dissatisfaction of communications workers with low rates also takes place in the Bobruisk district (Belarus), Aktobe and Amur provinces.
Local government officials. A number of facts of fermentation were noted among workers of executive committees and other uyezd institutions. In the Smolensk lips alone. there were 19 group statements that wages were low, that due to the increased cost of living the real wages were much lower than last yearʹs, etc. The Kiev komkhoz employees, supported by komkhoz workers, demanded that their wages be increased from 12 to 15 rubles. on the 1st category, threatening otherwise with the removal of the manager and his deputy in a wheelbarrow, they also demanded the convocation of a citywide union conference to discuss the issue of wages.
Employees of the judicial institutions of the Vitebsk and Kuban districts are categorically raising the question of an increase, otherwise threatening to organize strikes.
It is especially necessary to note the dissatisfaction of employees of all categories, from educators to firefighters, in Serdobsky district. Saratov provinces, who have not received salaries for 2‐3 months. They issued an appeal calling for the amicable presentation of the demand for the timely payment of wages.
INTELLIGENTSIA
In the reporting period, a number of facts were noted that testify to a significant increase in activity among the intelligentsia (professors and specialists ‐ engineers, etc.).
Professorship. The anti‐Soviet professors are active mainly in the direction of conquering the management of universities. At the reelection of the board of the Leningrad State University, the right‐wing professorial and teaching curia failed the candidacy of the provincial committee and student organizations of Professor Derzhavin, who was nominated by the provincial committee for the post of rector of the university, and appointed a former cadet Deryugin to this place. In preparation for the re‐election, the professors held several private meetings. The Deryugin election is a major political demonstration of right‐wing professors. Deryuginʹs program boils down to the gradual elimination of the initiated reform of the university and to the elimination of student and public organizations from participation in the management of the university. The professors of the IvanovoVoznesensk universities under the leadership of the reactionary Shaposhnikov also showed a desire to conquer the management of universities and completely ignore student organizations. Some professors, including Shaposhnikov, emphasize in their lectures that they have no desire to work in the new higher school. Professors of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute Timofeev and Makovin directly declare that they are forced to teach those whom you do not want and to whom you do not want to transfer their knowledge.
Specialized engineers and bankers. During the reporting month, fermentation was noted among the design engineers of some Leningrad metal plants in connection with the introduction of an 8‐hour working day for them. The resolution adopted at the Metal Plant by injection states that if the 6‐hour working day is canceled, ʺseparate performances by engineering and technical workers may occur at the factories, which could disrupt the correct course of the economic life of enterprises.ʺ
The mood of the special intelligentsia manifested itself very clearly at an open party meeting of the ʺRed Banketsʺ cell together with specialists in Baku.
The speakers, the chief accountant of the bank, Lukodyanov, and member of the board, Wolf, said about the impossible environment for the work of specialists, about the mistrust and half‐contemptuous attitude towards them on the part of some party members, about depriving them of any responsibility for the assigned work, etc. ʺSpecialists are people of the second orderʺ, “Specialists are not elected to the Council, although in the old days they were elected,” it was said in the speeches. A demand was put forward that the party should take rather measures to establish correct relations between the party and specialists, make it possible to teach children, etc.
ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES AND GROUPS
Anarchists
The activity of anarchists continues to intensify. In the Leningrad, Moscow and Tver provinces. they set about creating new underground circles. In Vyshny Volochyok, Tver province. an underground group of anarchists (ʺNativesʺ) is led by a former anarchist member of the CPSU. In a number of regions, anarchists are establishing contacts with other cities of the Union and abroad (Leningrad, Orenburg provinces, Minsk, Kharkov and Irbit districts).
The Yaroslavl underground group ʺKropotkintsyʺ was engaged in the theoretical training of its members. Rybinsk group ʺSingersʺ is preparing the release of an underground wall newspaper. Nizhny Novgorod anarchists are organizing illegal meetings, a library is being created. In Saratov province, in connection with the arrival of a number of prominent anarchists, underground activity is intensifying. In some districts of the Moscow province. the anarchic work intensifies and deepens. The Vologda anarchists, together with the SocialistRevolutionaries, shelter the anarchists and Socialist‐Revolutionaries who have fled from exile, providing them with material assistance.
In Kineshma, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. anarchists spoke at the Congress, trying to ruin the list outlined by the faction and get their candidates through. Anarchists are intensifying their agitation at the Verkhne‐Udinsky Glass Factory (Buryato‐Mongolia). Anarchists are trying to arrange expropriations by participating in robberies (Kharkov district, Primorskaya province).
SRs 65
The Socialist‐Revolutionaries still do not carry out any party work. The Moscow association of Left Socialist‐Revolutionaries and Maximalists completely collapsed, the club was liquidated, the property was sold out. The Artel ʺMuraveinikʺ, which has remained so far, is engaged in commercial affairs. In Tula, the escaped Left SR Gusev‐Znamensky was arrested. In Leningrad, three right‐wing Socialist‐Revolutionaries, who fled from custody at different times, were arrested ‐ Kulakov, PopovMeshcheryakov and Andreev. In Krasnoyarsk, a group of local intellectuals and exiles issued clandestine leaflets about 40‐degree vodka under the title ʺOld pogudka in a new way.ʺ
Abroad, the Right SRs are engaged in negotiations with the PPS 66, which does not provide any assistance and does not fulfill the agreement. At the beginning of this year, Chernov traveled to Warsaw to negotiate with the PPS, but no agreement was reached and the trip did not give the expected results. Chernov and Dan received permission to travel to Kressy, where they plan to give lectures in a number of cities.
CLERGY
Tikhonites. The split of the Tikhonovism deepens. The Black Hundred movement is trying to discredit them. The temporary supreme church council is spreading rumors that the order of Metropolitan Peter (on the transfer of power to the VVTsS college) is forged. The bishops consider the appointment of the collegium non‐canonical 67 as an act proceeding from the arrested person. Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod, appointed Deputy Metropolitan Peter Sergei, continues to pursue a hostile policy against the VVTsS and brought the entire VVTsS to trial, and issued a second appeal against him. To strengthen his position, he ordains new bishops, intending to create a new support for himself. Metropolitan Sergei appointed Bishop Pyotr Zverev as his deputy for the Moscow diocese, who would energetically support him in all his actions.
The bishops of the All‐Russian Central Council popularize among believers their appointment as Peter and prove their canonicity. Wanting to prove their loyalty, at the meeting of the AllRussian Central Council a proposal was made to include a clause on loyalty to the state in the formula for the bishopʹs oath.
The attitude of the clergy to the VVTsS is different. Some bishops consider it non‐canonical, equal to the renovationist, but more dangerous and characterize it as ʺepiscopal revolt.ʺ Most parish councils also have a negative attitude towards him. The ordinary mass of priests split into two camps.
The growth of Tikhonovshchina on the periphery has almost stopped. At the same time, the monarchical essence of Tikhonovism, supported by traders, kulaks, Black Hundreds and former members of the ʺUnion of the Russian Peopleʺ (Kaluga, Tver, Pskov, Smolensk, Bryansk, Chuvash Region, Stalingrad, Biysk, Rubtsovsky District), is becoming more and more openly manifested. The anti‐Soviet activity of monks has intensified in recent years (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya, Voronezh, Kaluga, Pskov provinces, Tyumen district). The Tikhonites are trying to work among the workers (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Gomel).
Among the Tikhonovism, another process of dissociation of the liberal element is also outlined. Influenced by the laity 68 in the Cherepovets province. and in the Omsk district, the Tikhonovites adopted resolutions on the loyalty of the authorities and their recognition.
Renovationism. The split in Tikhonovshchina and the hostile attitude of the All‐Russian Central Council to the renovationists strengthened their position. The laity begin to attend meetings of the Renovationists (separate districts of Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya and Amurskaya provinces, Uralsk, Irkutsk). After the report on the activities of the cathedral and the debates, Renovationism strengthened and went on the offensive (Kaluga, Stalingrad, Chita, Bryansk, Pskov, SeveroDvinsk, Arkhangelsk). In order to use the split of the Tikhonovschina to strengthen their position, the members of the synod intend to leave for the field with reports.
Sectarianism 69. In February, the All‐Union Congress of Spiritual Christians‐Molokans took place in Saratov. At the congress it was decided to take an active part in cooperative construction and, having united all cooperatives into one union, to join the general system of Soviet cooperation. The congress raised the issue of recognizing military service with arms in hand, the 6th congress did not take this decision, reaffirming its previous resolution ‐ recognizing service in the Red Army, but leaving the resolution of the issue of taking arms to everyoneʹs “conscience”. Adopted an appeal to the sectarians of the world with an appeal to refuse to serve in the army of the capitalists. The newly elected Council of Progressives intends to continue the struggle for unconditional service in the Red Army.
Baptist Central Council Presidium 70 energetically set about the organizational building of the union and strengthening ties with abroad. From funds received from London, a special fund has been booked to pay for 10 preachers and workers of the regional scale. Thus, in Georgia there is a special preacher who translates the Gospel into the spoken Georgian language. Money for the maintenance of the preacher and the house of prayer is also sent from Riga. Baptists also have cooperatives and are well‐functioning, of which they donate 10% of their income to promote Baptism (Saratov, Samara). Among the ordinary mass of sectarians, there is a striving for cooperative agricultural construction (Akmolinsk, Novgorod, Lubensky district, Melitopol). In some areas, within the Baptist sects, a struggle is outlined between the more prosperous and the poor on the basis of improper distribution of benefits and large collections (Khabarovsk,
BANDITRY
Centre. In some districts of the Nizhny Novgorod province. and in Rostov. Yaroslavl province. there has been a slight increase in criminality in the form of raids on cooperatives in rural areas and in cities and robberies of individual citizens on the roads. In the Nizhny Novgorod province. the gang robbed the mail following from Art. Novashino to Vyksa. Seven criminal gangs with a total number of 34 people were liquidated.
West. The actions of small criminal peasant groups and gangs continue to be observed, manifested in raids and robberies of cooperatives and warehouses and damage to telegraph wires (Starodubsky u. Gomel province.). Attacks are carried out by both small and organized gangs, sometimes reaching 15 people. There are 4 gangs with 28 bandits along the edge.
Ukraine. Attention is drawn to the increased activity of Chernovʹs gang, organized from among the criminals who fled from the N [ovgorod] Seversky DOPR, and operating on the territory of the Glukhovsky district. A gang of 15 people, well‐armed, after a robbery of a cooperative in the village. Orlovki made a raid on the village. Tuligolovo, where she smashed the regional executive committee, the police, the post office, seized weapons, money, opened the cabinet with secret correspondence and smashed the telegraph apparatus. In addition, the remnants of the Dubinʹs gang, the Vashchenkoʹs, Kushnirʹs, Ovcharukʹs gangs and several unaccounted gangs showed themselves: the robbery of the post office (N.‐Bykovo village), Art. Poplars of the South Railway etc., raids on the guardhouse of the NKPS security at Art. Estuary and the lodging house at st. Mironovka. There are 18 gangs with 110 bandits on the edge.
Volga region. In Krasnoslobodsky u. Penza lips. Boynevʹs gang reappeared and carried out a series of robberies. The Roshchin gang and a gang of cattle thieves that operated within the village were liquidated. Churatics of the Chuvash region There are 10 gangs with 60 bandits along the edge.
Siberia. There is a sharp increase in hooliganism in the countryside (disruption of the work of reading rooms, meetings, club performances), corrupting the lower Soviet apparatus, members of the RLKSM and individual party members. There were cases when hooligans killed representatives of local authorities, party members and Soviet‐minded peasants. The growth of rural hooliganism in some places provokes dissatisfaction among the peasant population with the Soviet government, which is not fighting vigorously enough, according to them, against hooliganism. There are 12 gangs with 108 bandits along the edge.
Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Yagoda
Pom. Head of the Information Department of the OGPU
Alekseev
APPENDIX No. 1
WORKERS
Metalworkers
1. Strikes
1. Plant ʺParostroy” Mashinotrest (workers 386 people). On February 24, 8 workers of the tender workshop (30 people) did not work for an hour in protest against the proposed reduction in prices by 17%. After an explanation from the factory committee and a specially elected commission, the workers agreed to a 13% reduction.
2. Cartridge plant (Tula). On February 21, the carpenters of the construction department (20 people) went on strike for about two hours due to lack of prices for work. After the prices were announced, the strike was ended.
3. Cartridge Plant named after Volodarsky (Ulyanovsk). February 15 at 7 ʹ/ 2 hour. locksmiths, installers, carriers and controllers of the bulletshell workshop went on strike in the morning, demanding higher wages. In view of the agitation of some of the strikers in the rest of the workshops, work in them also stopped. Summoned to the plant, the chairman of the office of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Moldova, Sadovets, began shouting at the workers how they dared to go on strike without the knowledge of the Union. The workers reminded Sadovets that they had warned him about the strike, to which Sadovets responded by threatening to call the soldiers. This angered the workers, shouts were heard: ʺYou want to make us work with bullets.ʺ At 8 oʹclock. 50 minutes the workers began work on the condition that the issue of wages would be considered in the evening. On February 16, the administration reached an agreement with some of the workers (installers and locksmiths) by transferring them back to piecework. Dissatisfaction with low wages has intensified especially since January 1 in connection with the transition of time workers from the average earnings in the factory to the average earnings in the shops. Workers point out that this measure, along with high prices, canceled out the October 15% increase. ʺWe added 15 rubles, and immediately reduced 20 rubles.ʺ
4. Machine‐building plant ʺRed barricades” (Stalingrad province) On February 6, workers of the iron foundry went on strike for 2 hours (78 people, including 16 members of the CPSU (b) and 18 RLKSM). On January 25, the shop workers submitted an application to the plant management to revise the prices. The plant management sent the demand on January 26 to chief engineer Medvednikov, who kept it until February 6 without taking any measures. Upon learning of this, the workers told the factory committee that if they were not informed of the results of the statement on February 6, the workshop would be stopped. Under the pressure of the VKP (b) cell, on February 6, the issue was resolved in the presence of the chief engineer (Medvednikov), the director of the plant and a member of the factory committee; the prices were raised, but the workers were not notified of this either on February 5th or on February 6th in the morning, as a result of which the strike took place.
5. Kharkov steam locomotive plant. A delegate meeting was called at the plant to discuss a new collective agreement. 200 workers showed up. The report on the new collective agreement lasted 15 minutes, and the agreement was not read out. The workers did not get any idea of the content of the collective agreement. Worker Terentʹev sharply criticized the work of the Union and the factory committee to renegotiate the collective agreement. He pointed out that the 3% allowance for pieceworkers (including Saturday hours) had not been agreed with the workers. Taking away 2 Saturday hours from pieceworkers, the Union made a combination, as a result of which the worker will receive only 3/ 4% net increase. As a result of the meeting, a sharp discontent arose among the workers, and on February 3, in the morning, 14 teams of locksmiths (up to 150 people) quit their jobs; 2 brigades, who joined them out of solidarity, soon got down to work. By evening, work was resumed. The conflict was settled by increasing the running‐in by 30%.
Workers (5 people) went on strike, working on marking the crankshaft on the basis of a decrease in prices for marking from 9 rubles. up to 4 rubles. 50 kopecks the strike was eliminated on February 3, and the previous prices remained.
6. Plant them. Petrovsky (Yekaterinoslav). Belinsky, Zhukov and
Kryzhanovsky, autogenders of the mechanical shop (members of the CP (b) U did not go to work from December 7 to 10 of this year, having submitted an application addressed to the chief engineer, in which they asked to increase their earnings to 160% (until December 1925 received 125%, from December ‐ 115%) or transfer to a monthly payment of 120
rubles for 24 days.Autogenicans started work on January 11th this year, warning that if their request is not satisfied by January 13th, they will demand payment. The initiator of this strike is Zhukov, a CP (b) U candidate since 1923, who previously worked in Leningrad at the Putilov plant.
7. 2nd State Mechanical Plant (Novocherkassk, Donskoy District). A group of turners (12 people) went on strike. 3 members of the factory committee took an active part in the strike, being the organizers of this strike. The workers set the following requirements: 1) to increase the prices so that the worker could receive from 75 to 100% on the basic rate, 2) to get rid of the inexpedient transfer of workers from the machine to the machine, 3) to distribute the work not to the marker, but to the shop foreman, 4) during the strike, pay according to the average earnings. With the assistance of the trade union, the workersʹ demand was satisfied.
8. Mechanical plant L? 5 labor collectives of the unemployed at the UET (Stalingrad province). On February 6, the workers went on strike because they had not received their wages for 1 1/2 months.
9. Workshops of Dontechnikum. Due to the delay in wages, partly in December and completely in January, part of the workers went on strike, which stopped the foundry.
2. Struggle of workers for higher wages
10. Kolomna machine‐building plant of GOMZ (Moscow province). 8700 workers. There is growing discontent among workers about insufficient wages due to the rise in prices for food. The departure of skilled workers continues. During the period from October 1 to February 12, 205 people left. Up to 7 workers leave the model workshop every day, they leave to look for work in Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod ‐ in Sormovo.
11. ʺKrasnoe Sormovo” (Nizhny Novgorod). Steam locomotive‐boiler shop. The workers are unhappy with the current rates. On this basis, the relationship between workers and rationers is extremely aggravated. There was a case of beating the rationing set by the workers. The rationers intend to leave the plant.
12. Plant them. Marty (Nikolaev, Ukraine). After 4 rationers were dismissed at the insistence of the workers, the rationers surrendered their positions under pressure from the workers. Workers often threaten TNB employees that they will take them out in a wheelbarrow if they give ʺbad rates.ʺ The professional plenipotentiary of the model shop Sosna‐Sosnenko, a member of the KP (b) U, tells the rationers that if they do not allow them to earn 150% on piecework (the number of contracts for piecework provides only 57‐58%), then he himself will lead the strike. In connection with the pressure of the workers, one shop receives a break‐in of 145%, the other, where the standardizer is harder, 85%. Recently, i.e. for 6 months, workers increased the percentage of extra earnings from 60 to 120‐125%. The plant incurs losses, salaries are not paid on time, since UMT takes into account only 57.5% extra earnings when drawing up the program, but in reality you have to pay an average of 150% for the plant. This frustrates all plans.
13. Plant ʺInternational” (Zaporozhye). The reduction in the work‐inwork rate by 20% under the new collective agreement, approved by the arbitration commission, causes strong discontent among the workers. In particular, the machinists say that until the salary is increased, they will deliberately not maintain normal boiler vapor pressure, and will also cause the cars to stop. The drivers are supported by electricians, one of them (Zilmer) says that an increase in wages should be demanded in an organized manner and in case of refusal to quit work or periodically stop the engines.
3. Delayed wages
14. Plant ʺBolshevik” (Kiev). At the plant, instead of January 7, the salary was issued on January 10, instead of January 22 ‐ January 25. The workers also have not been given money due for overalls and unused holidays. Every day the workers besiege the factory with a demand for payment, to which they receive answers that there is no money in the trust.
15. Klimkovsky plant of the Vyatka mining district (Omutninsky district). The plantʹs debt to workers reaches 56,000 rubles.
16. Tool and Mechanical Plant YMT (Taganrog District). There is a systematic delay in wages at the plant. In December 1925, salary instead of January 1 was issued on January 6, and instead of January 16 ‐ January 19.
The delay in the payment of wages is explained by the untimely delivery of money to YM Vol.
17. Hydroelectric power plant (Pervomaisky district). The salary is not issued within two months.
18. Mechanical plant ʺHammer and Sickle” (Barnaul district). For the second half of January, workers will be paid on 15
February. Skilled workers are expected to leave for other factories. In addition, there is talk among the workers that ʺeverything is getting more expensive, oil, manufacture, and wages, which are already small, are being delayed.ʺ In connection with the delay in wages at the plant, cases of theft have become more frequent.
4. Lack of raw materials and fuel
19. Syzran nail and wire plant (Ulyanovsk). The plant was suspended due to lack of raw materials.
20. Cartridge plant them. Volodarsky (Ulyanovsk). The box workshop workers are temporarily released as there is no zinc for the boxes. The workers of the capping workshop were transferred to other workshops, as there are no boxes. Laundry workshop on the eve of the stop, as there is no cartridge.
21. Baranchinsky plant ʺVolta” (Ural). There is an acute shortage of cast iron, which the administration did not prepare in time. Agents have been sent to all the factories of the Urals that produce pig iron, but the factories do not sell pig iron. The foundry stops.
22. Wagon plant ʺRevbazaʺ them. Comrade Trotsky GOMZ
(Moscow). There are severe fuel outages; only the main stoker of the mechanical workshop feeds on coal, the rest work on wood scraps. There is absolutely no material in the warehouse for car building.
23. Plant ʺTrubosoedinenieʺ of the joint‐stock company ʺVodokanalʺ. Due to the lack of coke, 15 furnaces stopped on 1 February. If the coke doesnʹt work out, the others will stop too.
5. Reduction of workers
24. Plant ʺKrasny Vyborzhets” (Leningrad). It is planned to cut 300 workers due to the lack of raw materials (zinc, yellow and red copper, etc.).
25. Plant ʺKrasny Putilovets” (Leningrad). Due to the lack of raw materials, it is planned to reduce to 300 mechanics by transferring them to other workshops.
Due to the temporary absence of work, it is planned to reduce the carpenters of the carriage workshop and workers of the construction shop, about 120 people in total.
26. Baltic plant (Sudotrest). There will be staff cuts due to lack of work. It is planned to cut up to 200 people in the machine shop.
27. Plant ʺBarricades” (formerly Armory, Stalingrad). The plant has cut 167 workers.
28. Izhevsk factories (Votskaya gubernia). At this time, 220 workers are being transferred from the Armory to the Steel Factory due to the fact that the monthly rifle program for January and subsequent months, compared with October ‐ December 1925, has been reduced by one and a half thousand monthly. The plant management and the factory committee are currently working on the issue of a possible reduction in April to 1000 people.
Textile workers
1. Strikes
29. Factory ʺKrasnoe znamya” Yegoryevsko‐Ramensky trust (8,350 workers). February 8 at 12 oʹclock of the day, a group of weavers demanded the convocation of a workshop meeting to discuss the issue of moving the payment of weavers from piece to meter. The administration objected to calling a meeting of both shifts during working hours, however, the meeting actually took place. Ten delegates were selected to travel to other factories to survey the wages of weavers. At 6 oʹclock. On the evening of the same day, a similar demand was made by the second shift of weavers. After the factory and the administration declared that it was unnecessary to select delegates, on February 9 at 12 oʹclock. a day shift of 100 weavers did not start work, and in the evening of the same day a second shift joined it (a total of 2,000 workers in both shifts). The stop lasted up to 10 hours. evenings.
The workersʹ demand was satisfied.
30. Vysokovskaya m‐ra of the Tver Cotton Trust (workers 5000 people). On February 19, 70 bank brokers and 30 tenants did not work from 10 to 11 oʹclock. in the morning, demanding an increase in prices. According to the new collective agreement, some numbers should be increased, but the agreement has not yet been concluded, since it is in the Central Committee of the Union, where the issue of transferring the Moscow belt to the Tver belt is being resolved. The strike was ended after clarification from the administration.
31. Faculty of the Bolshoi Dmitrovskaya micro ‐ry of Gostrest (IvanovoVoznesenskaya province). The 6% allowance is unevenly distributed among various categories of workers, on this basis 90 spools (received 2 ʹ/ 2 %) on February 22 at 10 oʹclock. mornings stopped work, demanding: 1) instead of a 2 ʹ/ 2 % markup set 6%, 2) equate their earnings with the earnings of spoilers of other factories, i.e. not less than 3 rubles. 90 kopecks. for 100 kilograms of yarn, 3) replace bad yarn with good, 4) supply workers with firewood. At 4 oʹclock. 30 minutes. after the administration with representatives of the State Trust and the trade union promised to satisfy the workersʹ demands, the strike was liquidated.
32. Rodnikovskaya m‐ra Gostrest (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province), mechanical shop. Since the workers have not yet been given the difference in leveling from July 1 of last year to February 2 of this year. workers ‐ hammers, locksmiths and turners (100 people) stopped work, demanding payment of the difference. Called at their request, a member of the factory committee, director and assistant. the directors explained that the difference would be issued shortly, since the issue would have to be examined in an arbitration court, to which representatives of the machine shop were also invited. The strike was terminated (lasted 1 ʹ/ 2 hours). Two workers were sent to the arbitration court, who, upon their return, informed that the issue was resolved in favor of the workers.
33. F‐ka ʺZaryadyeʺ of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk m‐ry of the State Trust. On February 9, the workers of the sprinklers, shirlok, glandra, measuring machines and the lavatory department of the Calico Factory demanded a revision of their rates and norms. On February 10, 38 workers of sprinklers and tillers, 40 workers of tonsils and 15 of measuring machines quit their jobs. The workers of the latrine department and the red barn are also in a strike mood.
34. Chertovishchenskaya flax spinning factory (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). Bobbins, warping machines, weavers from 5‐6‐8 screwdriver looms (120 people) stopped working, as their earnings decreased due to the poor quality of the yarn.
In addition, the salary of the Chertovischenskaya factory is 16% lower than in other factories. The decline in earnings also depends on the worn‐out machines and low qualifications of workers (new). A commission has been created to identify the reasons for the deficiency.
35. Yuzhskaya factory of Gostrest (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). On February 1, the foundry workers, according to the decision of the leveling commission, were transferred to piecework at the prices established by leveling. In this regard, earnings decreased from 3 rubles. 30 kopecks up to 1 rub. in a day. On February 1, the foundry workers (30 people) stopped working, demanding that the old prices be preserved. At the end of the day, the foundry workers went to work, warning that if they refused, they would leave work; two foundry workers have already quit.
36. Bolshaya Kokhomskaya linen of Mr. Gostrest. February 10 at 10 oʹclock In the morning, the water women stopped the cars, demanding that the cars slow down, due to the extremely large amount of rags they produced. There were 53 cars from 1 ʹ/ 2 to 5 hours. On February 11, the second shift (106 people) also refused to work in the morning and the work was resumed only after much persuasion from the administration, stating that the issue would be resolved in the trust within 24 hours. One member of the CPSU (b) and one candidate took part in the strike.
37. F‐ka ʺDawn of socialism” (Yaroslavl province). On February 1, workers (60 people), dissatisfied with the prices, quit their jobs and went to the factory, where they said they would not work anymore, as they were ʺdeceived with the prices, the director Shumilov promised an increase, but did not spend it.ʺ From the side of individual workers shouts were heard: ʺbloodsuckers, deceiversʺ, etc. From 5 oʹclock. evenings to 9 oʹclock. 80 machines did not work. On February 2, having received an explanation that the prices would be approved soon, and an advance payment would be made before approval, the workers began to work.
38. F‐ka ʺRed thread” (Leningrad). On February 5, due to a decrease in wages for the second half of January this year. on average up to 16 rubles. (instead of 20 rubles for the first half of January), among the 200 women workers, an hour before the end of the work, they stopped their cars and went to the factory, where they demanded a wage increase. Moreover, they indicated that with the transition to 6 sides (from 4), their earnings did not increase. One worker said that with 5 rentals she earned 20 rubles, and with 7 ‐ she earned 15. Accusations fell on engineers, members of TNB. The female workers indicated that the quota ‐ one meal in 12 minutes ‐ is performed by only 3 female workers out of 400. From 16 oʹclock the second shift started to work.
39. F‐ka ʺEquality” (Leningrad). In the second half of January of this year, despite the transition from 2 sides to 3, earnings decreased. Roughly, workers who received 25 rubles in the first half of January. 17 kopecks and 26 rubles. 68 kopecks received 16 rubles for the second half. 93 kopecks and 14 rubles. 82 kopecks on this basis, the workers of the water department ʺItalianʺ 71. On February 5, the production of vaters yielded 4000 kg, and on February 6 nothing was produced, since the workers of the muh department went to the factory, RKK, etc. By order of the factory director, prices were temporarily increased from 5 to 15%, the workers are still not satisfied ... The workers accuse the head of TNB Chernyak of incorrect development of norms and prices.
40. F‐ka them. Petra Anisimova (Leningrad). On February 8, due to a decrease in wages for the second half of January this year. from 24 rubles. up to 16‐19 rubles in the weaving department (500 workers) a strike broke out in the morning. At about 1 oʹclock in the afternoon of the same number, about 200 workers in the reel department, dissatisfied with the amount of wages indicated in the bay books (1013 rubles), while day laborers receive 34 rubles. per month also stopped working. The reason for the decrease in wages was the poor quality of the yarn. With the transition to 3 sides, earnings began to fall. The immediate cause of the strike was the order of the technical director to increase the number of revolutions of the car. According to the workers, if the quality of the raw materials was poor, this would inevitably increase the marriage and reduce earnings. At 14 oʹclock. 15 minutes. work was resumed on the same day.
On February 9, new rates were developed, according to which the weaving department received an increase of 20.7%, and the bobbin department ‐ 8% to the salary. The reel department, dissatisfied with this, did not work in protest for 15 minutes.
41. F‐ka ʺWorker” (Leningrad). On February 5, in the spinning department of building No. 2, the water workers stopped the machines out of dissatisfaction with the received wages. The workers point out that in the water department some of the machines are worn out and have no meters, however, the rates for them are high and the prices are low, and due to this, the monthly earnings of the workers do not exceed 35 rubles; on the best cars the pay is different and the earnings are higher. After half an hour of downtime, the workers resumed their work, filing a petition for a revision of prices.
42. Mechanical weaving factory them. Cherepakhina (Nakhichevan, Don District). Having received a refusal to demand a higher wage, the weavers of the 2nd shift went on strike. The workers, leaving the factory, were detained at the gate by the secretary of the cell and representatives of the FZK, who persuaded the weavers to get to work and resolve the issue peacefully. In response, shouts were heard: ʺHow many times have they filed applications, but there is no sense, but if we go on strike, then they will learn to reckon with us.ʺ After an hour and a half of negotiations, the workers managed to be reassured and they began to work, stating, however, that if their demand was not satisfied by February 15, they would quit their work from February 15. On February 13, workers, seeing that the administration was not doing anything, quit working, writing a statement to the RKK about their salary increase, where they pointed out that the equipment was worn out. thanks to which there is no way to work out a living wage on it. The commission appointed to investigate and resolve the conflict found the workersʹ demand to be true. The organizer and the main initiator of the strike was the chairman of the FZK, the candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party. On February 13, on the day of the strike, the chairman of the FZK, without the knowledge of the electrician, turned off the power going to the machines and called a meeting.
43. Hemp‐spinning factory of the collective of the unemployed (Oryol province). The workers went on strike for two days on the grounds of non‐payment for over‐produced rope. The strike was eliminated by paying workers 70% of their output.
2. Reduction of salaries in the low quality of raw materials and semifinished products
44. Pavlo‐Pokrovsk factory of the Bogorodsko‐Shchelkovsky trust (7025 workers, Moscow). The weavers are extremely unhappy with the transfer to three looms. At the last factory conference, workers proposed to cancel work on three machines, pointing out the poor quality of the cotton and the worn‐out equipment. Those who agreed to work on three machines were insulted by the workers, they even threw nuts at them. The factory management was forced to remove these workers from three machines.
45. Weaving mill Мv 1 of the Orekhovo‐Zuevsky trust (2,429 workers, Moscow). Among workers and apprentices in connection with a decrease in wages by 12‐15 rubles. discontent is observed. The reason for the decline is the poor yarn quality.
46. Faculty of the Bolshoi Dmitrovskaya m‐ry of Gostrest (IvanovoVoznesenskaya province). Recently, the factory has seen a large percentage of weavers leaving three looms for pairs, and even spare weavers refuse to go for triplets, arguing that the foundations are bad and the looms are outdated. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to work, health deteriorates more than in steam.
47. F‐ka Vyshne‐Volotsk m‐ry (Tver province), weaving and spinning departments (1026 people), and the factory ʺTabolkaʺ, weaving department. Workers put forward a demand to switch from 3 machines to 2 machines and increase wages due to: 1) poor quality cotton, and hence 2) insignificant difference in earnings between those working on 3 machines and those who still work on 2 machines (up to 15 kopecks per day). There is even talk of a strike. At one of the party meetings under the leadership of a member of the All‐Union Communist Party Anisimov, the water‐workers of the muhl department came and demanded that work on 3 machines be canceled. Ani‐simov made the following statement: ʺAll the juices have been squeezed out of us, our pre‐factory committee has got used to the director and does not pay attention to the statements of the workers.ʺ The workers said that they would not work on 3 machines.
48. F‐ka ʺKrasny Tekstilshchik”, 2nd Flax Administration (Melenki, Vladimirskaya guberniya, 3143 workers). The weavers do not work out the norms due to the poor quality of the yarn. The earnings of the weavers are declining. So, one of the best weavers produces no more than 20 rubles per month.
3. Dissatisfaction with work measures to save raw materials
49. Trekhgornaya m‐ra Krasnopresnenskiy cotton trust (Moscow). The shift to thin warp and weft numbers is causing discontent among workers. The workers point out that due to the poor quality of cotton and the worn‐out machines, working thin numbers, they receive a reduction in wages.
50. Kuntsevskaya weaving and finishing factory No. 14 Worsted trust (workers 1440, Moscow province). Due to the switch to lightweight fabrics and the alleged reduction in prices for some varieties, the mood of the workers is depressed. The weaving department switches to lightweight fabrics. This causes the transfer of 400 weavers from the 6th category to the 5th.
51. Krasnokholmsk weaving and finishing factory of the Worsted Trust
(2,200 workers, Moscow province). In view of the small stocks of woolen yarn, the administration stops the work of the 2nd shift of woolen products, transferring workers to work with paper products. 60 people are subject to transfer. This measure reduces the earnings of those transferred by 8‐10 rubles, which causes natural discontent among workers.
4. Abbreviations
52. F‐ka them. Lenin, Mossukno (940 workers, Moscow province). The stock of raw materials is only available for 10 days. The message about the need to shorten the 3rd shift due to the lack of wool and stop the factory for 1 month caused a sharp outrage among the workers. The workers accused the administration of mismanagement and
unproductive expenditure of funds (equipping offices, etc.).
53. Factory former Babkina Mossukno Trust (workers 1883 people, Moscow province). A reduction of 450 people a night shift in the month of May and a stop at the factory 1 ʹ/ 2 months from 1 May.
54. Wool spinning factory them. Profintern Worsted Trust (500 workers). Reduced 200 people.
55. F‐ka ʺ1st May”, Multicolored fabric (workers 2300 people). It is planned to cut 600 people, first of all 80‐100 people will be cut, in connection with the abolition of the 3rd shift, the workers of this shift are distributed among auxiliary jobs.
56. Worsted‐Spinning Factory named after Kamenev Worsted Trust (workers 1310). In addition to the 125 laid‐off workers, 28 spinners voluntarily left the production, which put the production in a difficult situation and caused machine downtime.
57. The Istominsk factory of the Bogorodsko‐Shchelkovsky trust (3249 workers). Due to the lack of raw materials, production is reduced by 18%, some workers voluntarily take the calculation; 40 people of various qualifications have resigned since February 27.
Miners
1. Strikes
58. Chechen‐Grozny District. On February 5, workers at the filling racks in the factory area (20 people) quit their job of filling the export product, demanding the return of fines for dumping the tanks, which takes place without the fault of the fillingers, and payment for washing. The conflict was resolved by introducing a payment for pumping out the tanks and washing them. After a few hours, the clerks started to work.
2. Collective agreement
59. Chechen‐Grozny District. The collective agreement concluded by the Union with Grozneft, for the 1st category, determined the rate at 17 rubles. On some points, such as: moving in the categories of workers with lower qualifications, increasing utilities for families 15 rubles, and for single people 10 rubles. and spa treatment, no agreement was reached and the case was referred to arbitration.
60. Grozneft. On February 2, at the 2nd group, a collective agreement was read out at a meeting of workers of the 2nd and 5th subgroups. 460 people attended. In the debate, all speeches boiled down to the fact that the collective agreement does little to improve the position of the workers, that the specialists are given frenzied wages, and the workers a beggarly handout. A member of the industrial committee Nezhevoy said: ʺAccording to the new collective agreement, Grozneft has given a beggarly increase, now it is a shame to force workers to increase productivity.ʺ Nezhevoyʹs speech was covered with applause. In the group of crafts them. Comrade Leninʹs workers made the following amendments to the collective agreement: to move in the ranks of laborers ‐ from 2nd to 4th, drilling workers from 4th to 5th, and others. Similar amendments were made at oil refineries. In all groups of industries, the workers believe that the collective agreement does not improve their situation and that the Union and the economic organization have again cheated the workers, having presented them the collective agreement already ready ‐ ʺnow no amendments will help.ʺ At the refineries, some workers are unhappy, calling on the rest to demand higher wages, saying that the Union cannot be trusted, since the Union is ʺnothing more than a sub‐department of Grozneft.ʺ
61. Azneft (Transcaucasia). The code agreement concluded between the
Union of Miners and Aznefgyu established an increase for day laborers of 12.5%, and for pieceworkers ‐ 9%. The workers of the 1st mechanical workshop of the Balakhany region (282 people) are unhappy with the increase. The workers say: ʺWe must give up piecework and go to day laborʺ, which will cause a decrease in productivity.
3. Dissatisfaction with salary
62. Krivoy Rog district. Group of mines them. Comrade Dzerzhinsky. In connection with the offer of work in the Urals, about 50% of the workers are going to move there. This mood is due to the fact that, although the rates have been increased under the new collective agreement, nevertheless, the movers receive the old salary. There is also a shift of workers to the gold mines and to the Nikolsky District, where wages are higher.
63. Kuznetsk district. At Lenrudnik, the miners who worked in wet faces received 46 rubles in November, and 38 rubles in December, which is why the workers are unhappy and go to other faces. After the workers began to leave, the head. Gorraboti announced the old rate ‐ 46 rubles. per running fathom 72.
64. Mining “Diobazaʺ (AKSSR). The average earnings of workers on frosty days is 80 kopecks. ‐ 1 rub. 20 kopecks. The workers consider this earnings insufficient and leave their jobs: out of 815 people, only 499 people remain. Mostly local peasants with their horses are leaving.
4. Incomplete payment of wages
65. Kuznetsk district. At the capital mine of Lenrudnik, workers are outraged that their earnings are incorrectly calculated, which was the case with the 2nd, 3rd and 8th artels, the first two were planning less than they worked out, and the 8th artel did not give quotations for a month. in the end they also measured.
66. Tomsk District. At the Anzhero‐Sudzhensky mines, workers are miscalculated when paying wages to cooperatives. So, at mine 5/7 Sudkopi, the artel worker Ukolov, having calculated the earnings of the artel, found that the payment to the workers was short‐circuited by 30 kopecks. from the team due to the fault of the foreman 73, who made the count. Upon clarification of the issue, the undelivered money was issued. There were conversations among the workers: ʺDo not press the administration and our work would be lost, it is good that the artel worker Ukolov realized, otherwise it would not occur to our brother, and then you go to find out ‐ they say where you were before.ʺ
At the 5/7 mine, there are cases of underpayment and omissions in the records of working teams. When workers turn to the accountant Belov for information about missed teams, they get a rude answer: ʺLook for the artel worker.ʺ The workers are outraged and are going to raise the issue at the meeting.
Transport workers
1. Strikes
67. Depot Korosten of the South‐Western Railway on February 2, workers stopped working in the morning due to a decrease in earnings. The workers intended to take the foreman out in a wheelbarrow for an unauthorized reduction in prices.
2. Fermentation among telegraph operators
68. Liaison department of MKV zh. e. Among telegraph operators, there is a massive discontent on the basis of low rates, non‐payment for overtime in 1924‐1925. at rates of 1926. By telegraph, the disaffected reached an agreement with the stations of the entire line about the need to rally and declare a strike in case their demands were not met.
69. 8th section of the Northern Railway e. Among telegraph operators, there are tendencies to leave transport due to low salaries. 5 people quit in January.
70. Art. Moscow Northern Railway and UT NKPS. The telegraph operators are raising the question of transferring them from a monthly payment to a piecework payment with the obligatory issuance of an extra earning to the basic rate. This requirement is due to the fact that the M [Oskovko] ‐Kazanskaya, Yuzhnye and Ekaterininskaya roads carried out piecework payments among telegraph operators and their earnings increased to 60‐80 rubles. On the Northern railway. e. earnings ‐ 40‐42 rubles.
71. Vladimirsky section of the M [Oskovko] ‐Kurskaya railway. e.
Telegraph operators have put forward a demand to raise the salary of ordinary telegraph operators to grade 10, introduce a bonus system and issue overalls that they do not receive.
72. Central telegraph station of the Office of the Omsk railway. e. The technical staff filed a second application for a salary increase, despite the fact that the road accident issue of salary settlement will be brought before the center. The statement states that if their request is not met, they will be forced to resign from the service.
73. Tashkent railway e. Telegraph operators are talking with neighboring stations about the demand for higher wages and overtime. 3. Workersʹ dissatisfaction with billing
74. Depot of Khashura. Transcaucasian railway e. Among the workers there is strong dissatisfaction with the reduction of prices: for painting work by 70%, for carpentry by 50%, for boiler houses by 30%. The workers and brigades declared that they would not accept the new prices and demand equalization in the prices with the Tiflis workshops. In view of the seriousness of the situation, a telegram was sent to the Road Administration with a request to send a commission to resolve the issue.
75. 22nd section of the path. Perm railway e. Among the workers, there is a sharp discontent with the increase in production rates without a corresponding increase in wages. This discontent was exacerbated due to the fact that the Directorate sent out production rates on the roads and at the same time gave a secret order to PCh ‐ 22 signed by the deputy. UPD and the pre‐trade union, in which it is recommended to increase the new standards at their discretion. In this regard, the norms were increased from 50 to 100%. The workers decided to leave their jobs if the production rates were not reduced.
76. Sverdlovsk workshops. Perm railway e. Among the workers, the reduction in prices is causing sharp discontent. Previously, they paid 2 rubles for the development of the castle. 80 kopecks, now 70 kopecks.
4. Variegated running‐in
77. Bobrin workshops of the South‐West railway. The running‐in in the locomotive shop ranges from 101% to 243%, in the carriage shop from
90‐336%, in the blacksmith shop 52‐298%.
78. Kiev main workshops. In the foundry, running‐in 11‐490%, in the carriage 73‐337%, in the mechanical 27‐349%.
79. Depot Novonikolaevsk. Among the workers in the carriage shop, there is strong dissatisfaction with the low wages compared to the earnings of lubricants, stokers and machinists.
A highly skilled artisan in the 9th grade receives 85 rubles. per month, stokers earn from 56 to 104 rubles, lubricants ‐ 78 to 96 rubles, assistant drivers ‐ 80‐120 rubles, machinists ‐ 140 rubles. Due to low earnings, skilled workers go to work as lubricants and stokers.
80. Depo Sasovo and Art. Syzran, Moscow‐Kazan railway e. A highly qualified locksmith receives from 40‐70 rubles, and a lubricator or fireman from 60 to 100 rubles. The earnings of oil pumping operators is equal to the earnings of a laborer.
5. Delay and incomplete payment of wages
81. Omsk railway On February 16, the workers of the carpentry shop of the Omsk backwater stopped work due to the non‐payment of January wages. The workers came to the agencyʹs office, demanding payment, and did not leave the office until 3 oʹclock in the morning, until they were forced to make the payment.
82. Service of the way and movement. South Railway e. Among the conductors, lubricants, stokers and locomotive crews of the 2nd section, there is an acute discontent with the non‐delivery of overtime for 19231924 and 1925. Among the conductor brigades, signatures are being collected for an application to the trade union organizations.
83. Logging of the Perm railway. e. In connection with the delay in wages, there are cases of workers leaving the blanks in large batches. At st. Oshenovo 1 1/2 months are not given wages to 7000 workers. The workers of the 8th procurement section instead of the 36,000 rubles due to be issued. only 10,000 rubles were issued.
Workers of other industries
1. Strikes and conflicts
84. 1st factory Goznak (workers 2921, Moscow province). February 25 at 8:00 In the morning workers of the printing department of the 2nd credit printing house (160 people) stopped working. The reason for the conflict was the order of the administration to remove one consignor from the machines producing the stamps, leaving the old norms of 11,000 sheets per day. The strike lasts 2 1 / 2 hour. The order to remove the escutcheons was canceled.
85. Ulyanovsk province construction (Ulyanovsk province). For more than a month and a half, workers have not been paid. The total indebtedness of the gubernia construction to the workers is expressed in the amount of about 3,500 rubles, there is no money in the cash desk. On January 31, the administration of the gubernia construction promised the carpenters to give out 475 rubles, but gave out only 300 rubles. In this regard, on February 4 at 9 oʹclock. 17 carpenters went on strike in the morning. Among the strikers were two members of the CPSU. The representative of the construction company agreed to pay the carpenters 200 rubles. The money was paid from 9 oʹclock. On the morning of February 3, the strike ended.
86. Logging of the N.‐Salda plant. (Ural). The working agent recruited in Belarus from the N.‐Tagil metal trust was promised to give out work clothes at the place of work on account of earnings, to supply food, to provide good living quarters, etc. substandard, out of date, at a price higher than that established by the contract. The living quarters turned out to be dirty, not equipped, cramped (in the barracks in 4 ʹ/ 2 sq. soot. fit 50 people). Warm clothes were not issued, while the workers arrived in light clothes, some of the workers fell ill, and there was no medical aid. Having gone to the forestry, the workers put forward a number of demands, while the administration in response called a detachment of militiamen to ʺcalm downʺ, who, revealing their weapons, announced 130 workers were arrested. Such an act embittered the workers, one of them snatched a naked saber from the chief police. The police were forced to leave. On February 17, 150 workers arrived at the trust and demanded or add to their cutting rates up to 7 rubles. 50 kopecks, or send them at the expense of the district home. The administration of the trust, in response to the demand, offered 20 kopecks. per person, to which exclamations were heard from the workers: ʺTake your Russian bitter, they are great protecting the working class.ʺ From 20 kopecks. the workers refused, declared a 12day hunger strike on 18 February and sent a telegram to Comrade Kalinin with a request to come to Tagil. On February 18, workers, being at the station. N.‐Tagil (they were not given another room), they threw out an appeal to the workers
Belarus, asking for their protection. On the same day, the trust made partial concessions, promising to send those who wish to their homeland, not to collect money from those who remain at logging sites for their transportation from Belarus; those who wished to stay were promised to issue documents to find other work. After long wrangling and shouts from the workers, ʺthey are pressing harder than ever,ʺ ʺyou don’t forget January 9, 1905ʺ 74, etc., the workers agreed with the trustʹs proposal. Some left for their homeland. Those who remained in the city collect alms and tell how in the Soviet Republic their legal demand was answered with weapons.
87. Logging in Severoles (Arkhangelsk province). On the grounds of low wages, poor quality of the oats and rye handed out, measurements of the administration when accepting logs and a number of other abnormalities, on January 18, 200 loggers quit their jobs and left the forest. The termination of the work was preceded by the agitation of the initiative group, which walked through the forest from artel to artel with a red flag. On the basis of violation of the contract by the administration of timber harvesting of the Murmansk railway. on st. Maselga, 200 peasants (75 people with horses) did not work for 3 days.
2. Delay and incomplete payment of wages
88. Antoninsky sugar plant (Shepetovsky district). In view of the delay in wages to the peat bog workers, the workers, leaving their jobs, went to the administrator of the plant, Rudenko, with a demand to issue money for the days worked. Administrator Rudenko, having kicked them out of the office, went hunting.
89. Khmelnytsky Beet Sugar Plant, (Jezhets, Sugar Trust). The salary is not paid out on time (the debt for the previous months is about 60,000 rubles). This situation is further complicated by the fact that the local EPO, due to the difficult financial situation, is unable to provide loans to workers. The workers are in favor of stopping work before the payment of their wages.
90. Gosrybtrest (Astrakhan). Since December 1925, there has been a delay in the wages of workers and employees (workers 5495
people and employees 1844 people). In December, the debt to one worker was expressed in 250,000 rubles. By January, the debt increased to 628,000 rubles. The situation is especially difficult in the fields. There is no money in Gosrybtrest, 90,000 rubles received in January. from Moscow was barely enough to issue advances of several rubles.
91. Glass factory ʺMonument to 13 fighters” (Krasnoyarsk). According to the collective agreement, the wages of the factory workers for the month of December, according to the collective agreement, should be issued on January 10, while the payment was started only on January 15 and ended on January 19. The peasants working at the plant for the transportation of goods and fuel were given only a part of their earnings, despite the fact that some of them did not receive wages for 3‐4 months. There is great discontent among the peasants on this basis. 3. Lack of raw materials and fuel and reduction of workers
92. Hleboproduct Mill (Orenburg). The mill ʺIII Internationalʺ from March 1 stops working due to lack of grain. 130 workers are leaving for the same reason. On April 1, the mill ʺTrudʺ is shutting down the grinding and flour‐grinding departments, 70 people are scheduled to be fired.
93. Paint and varnish plant ʺFree Laborʺ N91, Lakokraska trust. There is a shortage of raw materials and foreign lead, due to the shortage of which the work of two departments of the laundry production has been suspended, in connection with this it is planned to reduce 200 workers. There is a supply of copper for one‐month, acetic acid for 10 days, fuel ‐ dry firewood for 20 days. Lack of raw materials slows down the execution of orders.
94. State Oil Plant No. 9 of the North Caucasian Fatty Oil Trust (Kuban District). Reduced 60 workers due to the shutdown of the plant due to lack of raw materials.
95. Minsk Bristle Plant (Belarus). The factory was closed due to lack of raw materials.
96. State Oil Plant No. 1 of the North Caucasian Fat Oil Trust (Kuban). Due to the lack of raw materials, the plant stopped working on February 1.
97. Confectionery factory ʺRed October” (workers 3600 people, Moscow). There is a lack of materials and firewood. There is only firewood for a day and a half.
98. Bashprom Romanovsky Glass Factory (Ural). There is an acute shortage of soda. If the trust does not send the soda, the plant will stop.
99. Natalinsky Glass Factory (Ural). Due to lack of fuel, the plant was shut down for 3 days. The administration has not taken measures for the timely delivery of fuel.
100. Nevsky Stearin Plant (Leningrad). The candle compartment is closed and the soap compartment is partially rolled up due to the absence of fats and oils.
Political attitudes of workers 1. Moods of workers in connection with the rise in high prices
101. F‐ka ʺRabochiy kray” Ivtextil (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). The workers of the spinning mill complain about the rise in the price of food, especially the rise in the price of firewood causes discontent. The workers accuse the higher Soviet authorities of being hindsight and of weak influence on the market.
102. Kostroma. Rising prices for basic necessities are causing discontent among workers. The workers claim that the Soviet government and the party badly struggling with the high cost and the ʺorder of Dzerzhinsky remained voice in the wildernessʺ 75.
1st Republican faculty. The workers of the weaving and canvas department say: “The rise in prices for essential products continues, the 4% markup under the new collective agreement only makes the workers angry, throws us some alms, and the communists (we are talking about party members from the administration) receive 17th grade. The office refused to accept workbooks from the water department for the discharge of products from the cooperation, indicating that the price of flour of all sorts had risen and a special permission from the factory management was required for discharge. A large number of workers gathered in the office, there was a shout, demands for higher wages. They pointed out that ʺin other countries, workers are demanding an increase in wages, but here they are silent.ʺ
103. Plant ʺProfintern” (Bryansk province). In the plow shop, workers express dissatisfaction with the high cost of food. The workers point out that the regional committee of metalworkers does not care about the increase in wages due to the increase in food prices. On the instructions of the cellʹs secretary that the rise in prices is a nationwide phenomenon, the locksmiths Latyshev and Butolev said: “Itʹs enough to deceive us and fill the cannon. The worker receives little there too, but how Stepankovsky (engineer) receives 900 rubles, they will not lose money from him. ʺ
104. Izhevsk factories GUVP (Votsk region). The rise in prices is a subject of constant discussion by workers. Earnings in 18‐25 rubles. does not suit at all, it is more difficult to live every day. ʺThe co‐operatives support poorly, the peasants fight as much as they please,ʺ the workers say.
105. Sickle factories No. 1 and 2 (Yaransk, Vyatka province). At a general meeting, workers, referring to the rise in high prices, put forward a demand for a 100% increase in wages. After a long dispute with the administration, the workersʹ demand for the increase was reduced to 45%. The question has been referred to RKK. Leaflets were posted around the city demanding ʺan increase in workersʹ wages, increased assistance to the peasant poor, groaning under the yoke of the kulaks, and an improvement in the situation of the disabled.ʺ The authors of the leaflet are the Komsomol member Vyatkin and the disabled Shibaev.
Dissatisfaction with wages due to the rise in high prices is noted at all factories in Vyatka province.
106. Chita. The rise in prices for flour and meat among the workers caused talk that ʺthis phenomenon is caused by large overhead costs and the cumbersomeness of the apparatus of cooperationʺ (workers of Dalles), ʺthis is not a rise in prices, but a fall in the ruble exchange rateʺ (f‐ka ʺPlowmanʺ), ʺ the government is doing badly by allowing private owners to raise prices for meat and flour and not paying attention to the arbitrary price gouging of the cooperatives ”(power plant). In connection with the high cost of workers at the Dalles plant, they plan to raise the issue of increasing the living wage at a general meeting.
2. The mood of workers in connection with general economic difficulties
107. F‐ka ʺZaryadyeʺ Gostrest (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). The meeting devoted to the question of the economic situation in the USSR was stormy. The mood was especially aggravated after the report of Comrade. Arkhipov on the state of the market, in which the speaker argued that prices for consumer goods are stable and there will be no interruptions in their supply. An uproar arose, some of the workers left the meeting. Speaking in the debate, the workers pointed to ʺgrowing inequalityʺ, a member of the FZK Kuvanov said: ʺBy adding 7 kopecks, 60 are taken away from us, the last crumbs are stolen from the worker.ʺ Many pointed out that ʺthere is no need to build new factories when the existing ones will have to be stopped.ʺ ʺThere is no need to chase an eagle that flies in the air, it is better to hold a crow in your hands.ʺ After the closing remarks, Comrade Arkhipov, there was such a noise and shouts that the meeting was disrupted.
108. Faculty of the Bolshoi Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya m‐ry Gostrest. In the debate on the report on the economic situation, the workers dwelt mainly on the question of the supply of firewood, accusing the responsible workers of the province who had not made a supply in time for the lack of firewood. Worker Pichugin said: ʺOur responsible workers only begin to use their brains when they are whipped up by the worker.ʺ A demand was put forward for the issue of apartments. The speaker pointed out that this is impossible, since the apartment is included in the salary. To this Pichugin objected: ʺEverything is impossible with them, but if you push it tighter, it will be possible.ʺ A resolution was adopted: 1) to propose the GIK to urgently petition the NKPS for the provision of means of transportation for the transfer of firewood to workers; 2) apply to the Supreme Council of the National Economy for the release of 20,000 poods to the trust. oil to replace firewood with it, and divide firewood among the workers;
109. F‐ka Petrishchevskaya m‐ry (Ivtextile). The meeting was attended by up to 400 people. The report on the economic situation greatly interested the workers. According to the report, the following questions were asked: “why, when there is a lack of fuel, oil is exported abroad”, “why are the prices for firewood rising”. Some suggested postponing the construction of a tram in the city and focusing primarily on solving the housing problem.
110. Scribe weaving factory (Ivtextile). On the eve of the general factory conference, workers Yegorychev and Myasnikov (former member of the CPSU), mechanic mechanic Pukhov, repairman (former member of the CPSU), Gorbunov, a former member of the CPSU, gathered in one of their apartments and discussed all tactics at the conference. A resolution was worked out to be introduced at the conference. In addition, they conducted a preliminary agitation among the workers, indicating that ʺthey will oppose the factory committee and the management,ʺ and they called on the workers to support them. Pukhov and Egorychev spoke very sharply at the conference. They did not find support from the workers.
111. Mountains. Ivanovo‐Voznesensk. On February 17, an inter‐union conference of Ivano‐Voznesensk workers was held (300 people were present at a rate of 1 out of 50). On the agenda were questions: 1) the economic situation in the country, 2) the fuel and housing crisis. In the debate, Katulin, a metalworker at Plant No. 5, said that “at the conference of 1925 we were calledʺ boozer ʺand were not allowed to speak. The government and the party turn to us only in difficult moments, when things are going well, they do not turn to us. This is wrong, it indicates a ʺseparation from the massesʺ, further he pointed to the insignificance of the increase in wages (6‐10%), which was canceled by the rise in high prices, and the severity of the wood crisis, which he blamed on the plant administration. Worker Morozov pointed out in his speech that the reason for all the difficulties was the miscalculation of the business executives. Working conferences meet so rarely that it is impossible to prevent the emerging errors. Worker Lebedev, noting the mistakes in leveling wages, which he attributed to the elimination of workers from drawing up quotations, said: ʺThe party is pursuing the correct line, but many party members have broken away from the masses, bureaucracy is flourishing, our power, but we are not given freedom.ʺ Worker Potekhin (Socialist‐Revolutionary) proposed ʺin the present conditions to abandon all kinds of
construction and transfer the 200 million allocated by trust for the construction of new factories to other needs, or transfer it to the workersʹ wages.ʺ
A resolution was passed in which, as a measure to combat raw material difficulties, a transition to finer yarn numbers was planned. It was pointed out that it was necessary to combat the rise in the cost of living and the wood‐burning crisis, and it was proposed to convene working conferences more often. In conclusion, it was noted that there are no grounds for pessimism, the strengthening and development of the country will go forward at the same pace. After reading the resolution, there was a noise and shouts “not everything is written down”. The following additions were introduced (mainly by the Socialist Revolutionary Potekhin) and included in the resolution: 1) not to obstruct the transition from triples to pairs, 2) pay attention to a more polite treatment of the administration with workers, 3) discuss the collective agreement more broadly, 4) accelerate the provision of credit for housing construction through the Communal Bank,
112. Mountains. Kokhma (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province). On February 20, a general city meeting of members of the CPSU was held with the presence of non‐party members. The question of the economic situation in the country and the province was discussed. A member of the All‐Union Communist Party Kostyashkina, a member of the AllUnion Communist Party of the Soviet Union Kostyashkina, spoke in the debate, and she said: “When comrades have no mistakes, we do not know anything, they don’t talk to us, when they make mistakes, they arrange conferences after conferences. We have heard now that we do not have enough cotton for 200 million rubles, we shouldn’t get carried away with ideas. Instead of making it easier, the workers are transferred to higher grades, which increase the difficulty of the work. They promised the workers good things, and now they are bending their backs”. The meeting, including members of the CPSU (b), applauded Kostyashkina. Worker Evstigneev (member of the CPSU) pointed out in his speech that “we do not have sufficiently strong cooperation, which would be able to deal with high prices in the market. ʺ In conclusion, Evstigneev pointed to the weak leadership of the party in the national economy. Errors in the field of economy Evstigneev explained by the unfair attitude to the matter on the part of specialists. A resolution was adopted on the need to switch to work with high grades of yarn. An inter‐union working conference was held on February 21. About 600 workers gathered. A report on the economic situation in the country and the province was heard. After the report, a debate began, in which a number of workers spoke.
Worker Chichkin: “They donʹt pay attention to us; our need is of no interest to anyone. They are transferred to 3 machines, they increase labor productivity, improve the quality of products, putting into production high grades, while neither raw materials nor equipment are suitable for this, they make mistakes in calculations, and the worker still works for a split penny. High grades will squeeze all the juices out of the worker and drive him into the grave. ʺ
Worker Solovyov: “The Soviet workers console us; they say that our industry is expanding at a time when it will collapse at any moment. The high cost is enormous. Nobody says that executive committees and trade unions are not needed, order is needed. They talk about improving the quality of products and making them cheaper. Reduce the salaries of various specialists and responsible workers by half, and the goods will be cheaper.
Worker Vlasova: “We need to pay attention to our administration so that it treats the workers better. At the meeting they say one thing and well, but in production they donʹt talk to us ‐ they donʹt understand us there. ʺ
One of the workers pointed out that the transition to narrow varieties will raise the price of fabrics, since the peasant will need more narrow fabric than wide fabric. ʺ
On the part of the workers, there was a whole series of actions similar to the above.
After the final word, the resolution proposed by the Presidium is adopted as a basis. The resolution speaks of raising labor productivity, of the need to switch to the production of fine grades of yarn and narrow fabrics in order to save cotton. The workers are receiving written additions to the resolution, similar to the additions adopted at
the conference in Ivanovo‐Voznesensk.
The resolution, with additions, was adopted by conference unanimously.
113. Mountains. Sereda. On February 21, an inter‐union conference was held (1300 workers attended). The workers took the question of economic difficulties seriously. In the debate, among other things, proposals were made to strengthen the import of cotton by reducing the import of agricultural implements. The severity of the production of fine varieties was indicated. However, the workers recognized the switch to fine grades as the only way to prevent the plant from shutting down.
114. Krasnokholmsk weaving and finishing factory. Weaving factory ʺRed Textileʺ, Cloth factory named after P. Alekseeva of Joint Stock Company ʺCombineʺ, Spinning Factory of Worsted Trust, Factory ʺProletarskayaʺ of the Mossukno detachment. Rumors are spreading among the workers of massive layoffs and a two‐month shutdown of factories. During the work, the workers gather in groups and discuss this issue. The difficulties that have arisen are attributed by many to the mismanagement of the administration of factories and trusts. Many workers stock up on flour and other products.
115. Krasnopresnenskaya Trekhgornaya m‐ra Krasnopresnensky cotton trust (Moscow province). Due to the raw material crisis, the factory is expected to shut down for two weeks during the Easter period and in the summer for one month. The mood among the workers is nervous as the workers do not know how to pay during these downtime. Worker Trushin, in a conversation with the workers about the lack of raw materials, said: ʺThe day is not far off when we will hang the Communists on a stern thread.ʺ Other workers say: ʺThe
Communists have been in prison for nine years, but still there is nothing and there is nothing to take on.ʺ
116.7 th Pskov goskozhzavod ʺProletariat” (Leningrad). Warehouse worker A. Matveev is agitating, saying: “Now workers are exploited more than under the old regime. Manufacture and products are becoming more expensive. The Soviet government sends large sums of money abroad, and the workers
gives out low wages. We need to ensure that wages are paid at the exchange rate of the commodity ruble. ʺ
117. Patron Plant (Ulyanovsk Gubernia). There are rumors among the factory workers that an industrial crisis is imminent. The signs are allegedly the following: 1) the absence of manufactory on the market,
2) the absence of skilled workers needed for the developing industry.
3. The mood of workers in connection with the reduction
118. Ivanteevsk factory of Mossukno trust (1,500 workers). In connection with the cuts, the fear of unemployment among workers is so great that it prompts them to increase the intensity of work, improve the quality of products and strive to eliminate waste. Quite often rumors are heard among the workers: ʺotherwise they will cut it.ʺ
119. Cloth and weaving factory Mossukno (500 workers). Rumors spread among the workers that the factory will be shut down for several months due to a lack of raw materials. The fear of being laid off is forcing more backward groups of workers to work more intensively.
120. Factory ʺKrasnoe znamya” Yegoryevsko‐Ramensky trust (8475 workers). The possibility of stopping the factory due to the raw material crisis is being actively discussed among the workers. Among the workers, rumors were noted: ʺThe VSNKh trust can stop the factory because there have already been two strikes at the factory.ʺ Weaver Kiselev, who actively supported the strike on February 24, now says: ʺWe will not go on strike for the second time, whoever will call for a strike, we will drive them with a kettlebell.ʺ
121. F‐ka them. Lantsutsky. Due to the difficulties with wool, the weavers were transferred from one loom to two. The workers say that the administration, taking advantage of the general economic difficulties, quietly transferred the weavers to two looms, and the weavers, fearing redundancy, were forced to silently agree. Taking advantage of the depressed mood of the workers, the foremen are extremely rude to them, constantly reminding them that “the factory gates are open” 76. The workers do not respond to rudeness, fearing to be laid off in the first place.
122. Sosnovetsky sugar plant (Belarus). The mood of workers in connection with the forthcoming layoff is depressed. Despite the extremely inaccurate payment of salaries, they are afraid to voice their discontent with the administration, so as not to get cut.
123. F‐ka ʺRed October” (Moscow). The dismissed workers (900 people) are spreading rumors among the unemployed food industry section about the forthcoming reduction of another 1400 people. Under their influence, the unemployed intended to elect a committee to negotiate with the Union for a meeting and demonstration.
124. Plant named after Petrovsky (Ukraine, Kherson district). The mood of the workers, in connection with rumors about the forthcoming layoffs, is depressed. Many workers blame the administration and technical staff for, in their words, ʺliving off the workers.ʺ Some workers say that under the present conditions it is time for the worker to feel confident and secure at work, and not to shiver and expect to be thrown out of production every minute as unnecessary trash. The workers also point out that if the industry is in this situation, then there is no need for some to raise wages and cut others.
125. State Oil Plant No. 11 (Kuban). Due to the lack of raw materials, there will be a reduction in workers. On this occasion, there is talk among the workers that the trust is a bad boss. “We will probably have to find another freedom. They got busy to the point that factories stopped in the district. When there was a private owner at the plant, the seeds always remained for the next year, but now they throw us out in the middle of winter. Where we go, let us be fed, and then we will work. Letʹs see how they will settle accounts with us. ʺ During work, workers gather in groups and discuss their situation.
4. Conversations about exploitation in state‐owned enterprises
126. Faculty of the Vandyshevsky conurbation of the Gostrest named after Demyan Bedniy (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province). The workers in the conversation expressed the following opinion: “Our enterprises are capitalist, although, for example, take our factory, what kind of owners are we at it, when we work in the old way and you, if you come to your clerk 77 (director), he is with you and does not want to talk. 127. Plant ʺKrasnoe Sormovo” (Nizhny Novgorod). Tool shop. Worker Ryzhkov, in a conversation with other workers, said: “At the present time all factories and plants belong to the state and we say that we have state capitalism, but in reality this is not the case, and we see simply capitalism in which the worker is exploited, as and before. One fine time the trusts will declare themselves the owners of the factories and the workers will be left with nothing. ʺ
128. Plant named after Marty. On February 1, in the red corner of the main machine shop, during the lunch break, the KSM cell discussed the question of whether state‐owned enterprises are in operation. The issue was dealt with for several days and attracted a large number of elderly workers who asked a series of questions. Party member Rissenbergʹs report, arguing that there was no exploitation in state‐owned enterprises, attracted even more workers. On February 3, the former Socialist‐Revolutionary Turner Kukhman became 78 according to Pavlenkoʹs dictionary to explain to the workers the meaning of the word exploitation and to prove ʺwhat kind of heavy exploitation exists now in the Soviet state, worse than before for a private entrepreneur.ʺ The workers greeted Kuhmanʹs speech with applause. On February 5, 8 and 9, a number of other workers spoke out, arguing that exploitation and inequality did exist. Party members tried to object, but the workers did not allow them to speak with shouts: ʺWe know, the old thing has already been said.ʺ Everyone who spoke and proved the existence of exploitation was awarded with applause. Turner Golubev argued that ʺbefore the workers worked for one bourgeois, and now theseʺ tangerines ʺ 79 a lot and they all sit on the necks of the workers. ʺ His speech was covered with applause. In many speeches, the idea was slipped that workers should share in profits. Some reassurance was brought about by the speech (on February 8) by Balabanov, who gave a detailed answer to all speeches with questions, and on February 9 the dispute ended, but the workers, dispersed, for the most part continued to defend the view that there was exploitation at state‐owned enterprises.
True to the truth: Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 2
ELECTION OF RURAL COUNCILS
Election Poor
1. Growth of activity and organization of the poor
1. Ryazan lips. The day before the re‐election of the Rykovo‐Slobodsky village council, the election commission held a meeting of public organizations that outlined a list of candidates for the village council, including the two sons of the priest ‐ Uteshinsky (old members of the village council). After that, a meeting of the poor was called, which, when reading the list of candidates, began to shout in an organized manner: ʺPopov out of the lists, priests are not needed in the Soviets,ʺ and the Uteshinskys were excluded from the list. The poor have agreed in advance ‐ ʺas soon as the list is read, we will all shout at once.ʺ 28 people were elected to the Council, including two members of the CPSU (b), two members of the RKLSM, two women, and the rest are poor and middle peasants.
2. Bryansk province. On the re‐election of the Glybochevsky village council, Trubchevskaya vol. only middle peasants were elected to the new composition, as a result of which the poor part of the population demanded a second re‐election. On January 10, a second re‐election was carried out and the majority of the poor, activists, entered the newly elected village council.
3. Belarus. In the village. Tatenka of the Nesvyatsky village council of the Bobruisk district, part of the middle peasants, united with the kulaks, led their candidates to the village council. The poor peasants, dissatisfied with the results of the re‐elections, together with another part of the middle peasants who adjoined the poor, achieved the cancellation of the elections through the district electoral commission and ran their candidates in the secondary re‐elections, having out‐voted the kulaks.
4. Vinnytsia district. In the villages of Yuzvin, Maidan‐Yuzvinsky, Sokorintsy and other non‐chewers are actively preparing for reelections. They are joined by the poorest middle peasants. Wealthy peasants and kulaks are also preparing for re‐elections and at the same time are campaigning against the non‐cheaters. In the villages of Sitkovtsy, Kropivnoe, Raigorod, Smeshintsy, Krasnenkoe and Metlintsy, the least prosperous part of the middle peasantry follows the non‐cheaters.
5. Kharkiv district. 3 polling stations were established in the Bolgarevsky village council. In the last two, the re‐elections were predominantly poor and the re‐elections were held in an orderly manner. In one Simkovsky precinct, a separate group of kulaks demanded that the former gendarme Kolesnik be reinstated in voting rights, but the proposal was rejected.
6. Konotop district. With trial re‐elections in the village. Proletarskiy Altynovsky district felt the organization of the poor and its connection with the middle peasantry, which for the most part followed the poor. In the Dmitrovsky district, the poor took an active part in the election campaign. In the villages of Golenka, Grigorovka and Deptovka, non‐cheaters strive for an alliance with the middle peasant, but among the latter, isolation and craving for the kulak are often noticed. In Borzna borough the poor tried to blockade with the middle peasants.
7. Proskurovsky district. In with. Dzylintsy of the Cherno‐Ostrovsky district, the non‐cheaters are intensively preparing for re‐elections to the village council.
8. Donetsk district. In the Goryachi‐Klyuchevsky and Bryukhovetsky districts, the poor have recovered from the defeat of March 1925 and tend to bring their representatives to the Soviets. Last yearʹs confusion and passivity are not observed now. In some places, the Cossack poor are blocked with nonresident and former Red Army soldiers under the leadership of the party and trade‐union organizations to hold general candidates.
9. Salsky district. At the re‐elections of the Berezovsky village council (Vorontsovo‐Nikolaevsky district), the wealthy showed great activity in the first section, and the poor in the second. In the latter, the wealthy grouped around the underground lawyer N.M. Geslenko, whom the poor demanded to be deprived of the right to vote as having two hired workers. Geslenko nevertheless went to the Council. The majority in the Soviet is poor (19 poor, 8 employees and 10 middle peasants). Poor Cossacks were in the majority in the Soviets of Farmsteads, Zapadnovsky, Chegonatsky and Ternovsky Stansovets.
In with. Gorko‐Belkovsky, Beloglinsky district, a meeting of the poor was previously convened. The poor behaved more actively than other groups, followed by the middle peasants. The non‐party poor nominated party candidates, but at the same time they unanimously defeated one member of the CPSU. The composition of the village council became more partisan (8 instead of 3) and poor (28 instead of 24), the number of middle peasants, etc., decreased from 9 to 6.
10. Terek District. On the part of nonresidents, there is a tendency to unite nonresident to the Council. For this purpose, they unite, having the ideological leaders of Alexei Budkov and Ivan Lyapenko ‐ both grain growers, cultured poor people. In stts. Lukovskaya poor, demobilized Red Army soldiers and other Soviet strata of the population reproached the elderly and the unconscious from among their midst for voting “without understanding,” saying: “For whom do you raise your hands. Do you think they (the wealthy) will give you free plowing bulls? They will be bent you to death, they have their own policy. Vote for your own people, otherwise you will vote until they smoke out of the village. ʺ
11. Kamensky district. In with. Vylkovo, Ibmentsevsky district, village. Kamenushka, Suzunsky district, in the village. Spirino of the same area, in the village. Volchno Burlinsky Kruti‐khinsky district and other poor peasants, with the support of the middle peasants, actively manifested themselves in the elections, and in the aforementioned villages, only the poor and middle peasants were also elected. The wellto‐do had no success. The population is satisfied with the new composition of the village councils. Middle peat village Kamenushki Shevchenko Ivan said that ʺnow, with such a village council, we will successfully conduct land management and establish all the affairs in society, the poor should not be offended.ʺ
2. Cases of passivity and disorganization of the poor
12. Kursk province. The activity of the poor during the re‐elections was manifested in the smallest proportions, and therefore in the majority of the village councils of the province it was mainly middle peasants with a small percentage of kulaks. Poor people in some village councils did not pass at all (Shakhovskaya vol. Belgorodsky u. And Tamarovskaya vol.). The previous composition of the Bykovsky village council of Tamarovskaya vol. was better in its social composition.
For the re‐election of the 1st Polevopletsky village council of Shigrovsky vol. the majority were prosperous, there were almost no poor people, which is why only 3 poor people were elected from the 16 members of the village council. The Pressel Council elected the son of a large kulak, who served in the White Army and who is subject to eviction Klevtsov S.I. The poor say in this regard: “Where is our government looking, which gives the kulaks the right to take power, probably in 5‐10 years all the bastards will sit on our neck and the poor will be beaten, since the kulaks will have all the power. If Lenin was alive, he would have given them a hat ʺ,ʺ we have elected Klevtsov to the village council, so let him elect his uncle, the former landowner Ivanov, as the chief executive officer, otherwise this devil, as that devil, is our business to keep quiet, yes see what happens next. ʺ
13. Tula province. In the Serebryano‐Prudsky District, at re‐election meetings, the following statements of the poor were noted: ʺIf you openly go against the kulaks, they will not give a pound of bread and a pound of oats for seeds in difficult times.ʺ In the Obolensk District, there were cases when the poor, when notified of their attendance at a meeting, concealed their presence at home and representatives of the district election committee had to resort to comradely appeals by sending notes on their attendance at the meeting.
At the plenum of the Koltobinsky Regional Executive Committee, the poor as an active force were not felt. In Tulo‐Basovsky district at a meeting in the village. The priests and the Koptevo poor said: “How can we take an active part in the re‐elections; we are for 15 rubles. we cannot serve, we will have to abandon the economy. The well‐to‐do have good farms, strong workers, their own homes, good communication and can for 15 rubles. quite serve, although their work in our favor is nothing to expect. ʺ In the Teplyakovsky village council of the same area, a meeting of the poor in the village. Harino, in which the stratification is most felt, was not only the poor, but the entire population without exception. The poor were in rags and looked very pitiful, behaved extremely insecure and timid. Before the opening of the meeting, almost all the poor thought that they would be given something, although the requirements were limited, as they asked to release the twigs free of charge. In the Arkhangelsk village council, the poor feel very overwhelmed and declare that they talk a lot about her, but they do little, it is not so important for them who gets to the council, but help in the form of earnings is more important, at least at the local factory.
14. Belarus. In the village. Guzhe Bykhov district of the Mogilev district, the former secretary of the RIK in a speech at the elections said that the party had taken a kulak deviation and moved away from the poor. In the Mostok village council of the same region, at a meeting, the poor declared that they thought that the party had ceased to defend the interests of the poor and that the Soviet government would no longer provide real help to the poor.
15. Kuban District. The nonresident poor at the elections were passive in some places towards the elections. Many have not yet given up the opinion that the Soviet government forgot about the poor peasants who defended it, and went to meet the Cossack kulaks. In stts. In the Veseloy Pavlovsky District, the nonresident population is dissatisfied with the fact that a small percentage of their representatives got to the Council. The demobilized Red Army men say: “Why the hell is kulaks and Cossacks in general allowed into the Soviets? They command us all the time. ʺ The re‐elections in the stts took place in the same manner. S.Leushkovskaya and Nezamaevskaya. Out of 100 members of the Council, 37 7 kulaks passed to the Council . The demobilized Red Army soldiers are especially dissatisfied with such results, who intend to raise money and go with a complaint to Comrade. Voroshilov.
16. Terek District. In some areas, the poor were poorly organized. In stts. Staroderevskaya, Mozdok District, attempts by the only communist‐hut to rally the poor in convened meetings of the KKOV together with farm laborers, Komsomol members and demobilized Red Army soldiers did not give positive results. In the Chernolesky region, the poor were poorly organized and had no connection with the middle peasants. In stts. Aleksandrovskaya, the poor and farm laborers are not united among themselves, due to material dependence on the wealthy and the kulaks, the poor are passive, although they would like to have the poor in the Soviet. The same is noted in some other pages.
17. Tomsk District. In the village Kotlovka at the organizational meeting of the poor and middle peasants revealed the dissatisfaction of the poor with the dominance of the wealthy at meetings and in the village council. Poor people Denisov and Kutlaev, who spoke, said: “What are we going to do at meetings when all the rich are talking there; if we say anything, they will immediately shout at us. ʺ Poor Berdin said: ʺIn order to fight the rich people of the village, it is necessary to organize a gang of 10 people, which should be instructed to kill the rich in a secret order.ʺ
The middle peasants in the elections
1. Activity of the middle peasants
18. Oryol province. Voter turnout has increased dramatically since last year, due to a well‐run electoral campaign, an increase in the number of polling stations, and the unification of the poor and middle peasants. The middle peasant is more active than the poor, as can be seen from the percentage of attendance at meetings and those elected to new village councils.
19. Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. According to Yurievsky u. reelections of village councils and VICs took place with the active participation and contact of the middle peasants with the poor. The majority of the middle peasants and the smallest part of the poor are elected to the 87 village councils, since the poor are mostly engaged inside work.
20. Kostroma province. The middle peasants played a dominant role in the elections. At the Kalinin Volga Congress of Soviets, mainly middle peasants participated in the work of the congress, the poor were little involved in its work. At the same time, active peasants refused to be elected to the Soviets in view of leaving for work, and they had to look for those willing.
21. Tula province. The activity shown by the middle peasants in the elections is much higher, which is why the poor, despite their significant number at meetings, do not have a fully decisive vote (Turgenevsky, Rzhavsky districts). There are frequent cases of passiveness of the poor strata and their weak participation in the reelection campaign.
22. Bryansk province. In Makkhanovskaya and Plokhinskaya vol. the middle peasants participated most actively in the re‐elections; the poor behaved passively.
23. Donetsk district. In the settlement of Belaya Kalitva, an initiative group of Cossacks and middle peasants was created to carry out the slogan “to elect only non‐party people to the village council”. The group includes: Popov P.E., Rukovichkin A.V. and Mi‐
gulin. Rukovichkin repeatedly declared to the party: ʺWe will disperse you in the upcoming re‐elections.ʺ In with. Protsykovsky, the middle peasants began to act in a more organized manner, which nominated their candidates for the Council. The poor are not organized and partly support the candidates nominated by the middle peasants. An example of the activity of the middle peasant is the following case: in stc. Slavyanskoy, one of the middle peasants, remarked to the middle peasant: ʺThere are many of you here, you only choose your ownʺ, to which he replied: ʺWhat a fool is to blame for you, I was going to the meeting, but I brought my wife, son and daughter, and you came yourself.ʺ ...
24. Maykop district. In stts. Imeratonskoy noticeable groupings of the middle peasants with the aim of holding their candidates during the reelection to the Council.
25. Stalingrad province. In stts. In Nevinnomysskaya, groupings of middle peasants Cossacks were noted in all areas: only literate and well‐developed Cossacks and service Cossacks were identified as candidates.
2. Block of middle peasants with the poor
26. Ryazan province. In connection with the convocation of a meeting of the poor, the kulak Abrashin Peter began to kindle the middle peasants who had gathered for the re‐election meeting: ʺAgain they are starting to organize kombeds.ʺ During the elections, when the poor people proposed their list, Abrashin shouted: ʺDown with the lists, we do not need to present the lists, we ourselves have identified the candidates, and if you do not let the candidates be identified, we will leave the meeting.ʺ He was supported by the middle peasants, but the representative of the electoral committee explained about the goals of organizing the poor, after which the poor and middle peasants approved the policy of the Soviet government on this issue and the list of the poor passed.
27. Vinnytsia district. In with. Novaya Greblya of the Priluksky
District, the relationship between the non‐cheaters and the middle peasants is quite friendly. Only an insignificant part of the most prosperous middle peasants from the former kulaks is keeping aloof and conducting an independent election campaign, trying to get their own people into the village council. In the present composition of the village council, they have their representatives, through whom they seek to carry out their demands, in particular, the sanctions of the village council for the seizure of dispossessed land.
28. Maykop district. During the pre‐election meeting of the poor in Sukha Balka, the middle peasant who was present at the meeting spoke out and said, offended: ʺWhy do you forget the middle peasants, we also want to be organized together with the poor.ʺ
29. Donetsk district. During the re‐elections, the Cossack youth voted for the candidacies of the supporters of the Soviet power and called the anti‐Soviet old people “Romanians” 80.
30. Armavir District. The organization of the poor with the middle peasants was clearly visible at the re‐elections. The fraternity was organized around the RLKSM and the nominations were held with amicable support; the womenʹs department also tried to come forward with its candidates, gathering around itself poor‐nyak‐middle peasant women. This activity is explained by the fact that the commissioner tried to carry out preparatory work in two weeks.
31. Terek District. In stts. In Bugurustan, Essentuki district, the dominant role in the elections was played by the middle peasants and the poor peasants who accompanied them. The fraternity, being small in number (47 people), did not play any role. The well‐to‐do and kulaks had no influence on the elections, due to which the class antagonism in the elections almost did not appear. In with. Orlovskoe, Prikumsky district, part of the middle peasants sought to unite with the poor (at 3 quarterly meetings) to hold common candidates. In stts. Georgievskaya with the poor and farm laborers was only a part of the middle peasants; a significant part of the middle peasants went with the wealthy, nominating 81 former chieftains, former bandits, etc. to the Council.
32. Tyumen District. In stts. Stavropavlovsk poor peasants, farm laborers and middle peasants acted together, at the same time, the core of the poor peasants stood out in the form of a group of 30 people and the active role of the former Red Army soldiers, the Terarmies. In with. N.‐Zaimskiy of the same district during the re‐elections the poor acted in an organized manner and were supported by the middle peasants. The fists have been pushed back from re‐elections. During the re‐elections of the Pervunsky village council of the Talitsky district, the middle peasants supported the poor, for example, when one candidate was removed from the kulaks, the middle peasants said: ʺThatʹs right, otherwise he wonʹt help the poor anyway.ʺ
33. Stalingrad province. Khopersky district. In stts. Tishanskaya, there were cases when the middle peasants who came to the pre‐election meeting held with the poor were asked to leave the meeting, to which the latter said: ʺWhy are we expelled from the meeting, because the newspapers all around write to unite the poor with the middle peasant, but in the localities they do not.ʺ
34. Trinity District. At re‐election meetings of village councils, in most cases, the middle peasants voted along with the poor. The wealthier middle peasants supported the kulaks.
In the Logushinsky village council of the Mishkinsky district, the wealthy tried to hold their candidates at the meeting, but thanks to the joint speeches of the middle peasants and the poor, they failed. The same situation took place in the village. Shuchsi in the same district where after the meeting was closed the farm laborers and middle peasants said: ʺThe rich have now sat in their galoshes; we must always perform in such a friendly manner.ʺ
3. Speeches of the middle peasants against the poor and the communists
35. Kursk province. In with. Wed Raskhovets of the same volost of Shchigrovsky u. re‐elections were held twice. A demobilized Red Army soldier was elected to the Pressel Council, which caused discontent among the wealthy and their supporting middle peasants, who appealed against the election to the VIC. The latter appointed new reelections.
36. Belarus. In the village. Zaton Streshninsky district of the Bobruisk district, a strong middle peasant Verbitsky collected signatures from voters of the middle peasants in order to elect him to the village council. Among the middle peasants, he campaigned for the creation of a middle peasant union, motivating it by the fact that ʺthe poor peasants are not trying to raise the culture of their economy, but are only begging the authorities for various privileges and indulgences for themselves, and therefore one must dissociate ourselves from them.ʺ The peasants gave him signatures, but at the meeting they opposed him and his candidacy was rejected.
37. Proskurovsky district. In with. Dashlintsy of the Chernoostrovsky district, the non‐cheaters are intensively preparing for the re‐election of the village council, but they meet a sharp rebuff from the middle peasantry, which, with the exception of a few people, is on the side of the wealthy. This is due to the fact that the past village council, which consisted almost exclusively of non‐chewers, carried out a sharp struggle with the middle peasants‐moonshiners (this was in 1924). In 1925, 70% of the composition of the village council consisted of middle peasants, and the moonshiners remained unpunished.
38. Krivoy Rog district. In with. In Novogrigoryevka, Dolinsky District, there is a majority middle peasant group led by a former official. The group is campaigning against communists, non‐chewers and teachers.
39. Shakhty district. In the area of the Chistyakovsky village council, the middle peasants are entirely on the side of the kulaks, which was especially noticeable during the report of the village council, when several middle peasants made speeches directed against the poor, noting that the latter sits on the necks of the middle peasants and delays the strengthening of their farms. Mr. P. Kumov in his speech called the Soviet power ripped off power, ruling arbitrarily. On the hut. In Polyakovsky, the Oryol village council, kulaks and middle peasants are nominating the former chieftain and assistant chieftain. The poor who depend on them are passive. In the area of the Gankinsky village council, the kulaks, having subordinated the middle peasants to their influence, paralyze the activities of the poor, while they use part of the poor Baptists.
40. Luhansk district. In the V.‐Bogdanovsky village council of the Petrovsky district, middle peasants and wealthy peasants
nominate candidates to the village council exclusively from among the wealthy.
41. Kuban District. In the Slavyansky district, the re‐elections were held with the desire of the wealthy and middle peasants to bring to the Soviets only the indigenous inhabitants of the village ‐ the Cossacks. In this they were supported by part of the poor. The communist elections were especially negative. They took 1‐2 Communists to the Council, considering it non‐political not to elect to the Council of Communists at all.
42. Terek district. Stts. Alexandria. The middle peasants, for the most part, support the side of the wealthy, pursuing the goal of also not allowing the poor and nonresident into the Council, fearing that when such people are appointed to the Council, the land will be divided between the poor and the interests of the Cossacks will be ʺerased.ʺ In stts. Podgornaya prosperous and middle peasants sorted out candidates from the property side, the poor and farm laborers were thwarted.
Poor‐middle peasant block
1. The success of the poor‐middle peasant bloc
43. Oryol province. Thanks to the combined campaigns of the middle and poor in the elections, the wealthy and the kulaks were isolated.
In Stanovskaya parish. Livensky u. During the re‐elections, the prosperous kulak stratum tried to act in an organized way, nominating a number of its candidates (this was especially noticeable in the Kanshensky district), but did not succeed, since the poor and middle peasants acted in an organized manner.
In the Gorbunovsky district of Dmitrovsky u. the well‐to‐do tried to cheat their henchmen, speaking out against the poor, but seeing the hostile attitude of the middle peasants towards them, they withdrew their candidacies. Many such facts have been noted.
44. Kursk province. In with. Goststsevo Vistula par. before the reelection of the village council head. The hut‐reading room conducted preparatory work to unite the poor and middle peasants for a joint speech at the re‐elections. The poor and middle peasants have previously discussed the candidates for the new composition of the village council. The kulaks and the wealthy also organized themselves with some middle peasants. During the re‐elections, the poor and middle peasants managed to break the resistance of the kulaks and the wealthy, but the latter insistently demanded that two of their candidates be admitted to the village council, raising a noise and shouting. As a result, the poor and middle peasants agreed to let the aforementioned representatives into the village council, saying: ʺDamn them, let two be in the village council, we are still the majority and they will not do anything,ʺ but some shouted: ʺNot a single rich person in the village council.ʺ
45. Kharkiv district. In the villages of Novoselovka, Prosyan, Starye Vodolagi, Fedorovka and Stulepovka, the poor were united with the middle peasantry and therefore won the rest in the re‐elections.
46. Stavropol District. In with. Derbetovskoe was a strong kulak group, which until the last days of re‐elections felt like the master of the situation. This is explained by the lack of crops in this village and the economic dependence of the poor and part of the middle peasants on the well‐to‐do and, moreover, demagogy was set in motion that, they say, you will bring the communists to the Soviet, and they will again impose a communist on the chairmen, spoke out against the polling stations, stating that ʺWe will elect at onceʺ 82... The weak authority of the cell among the population made it possible for the kulaks to create a mood against the communists. But on the eve of the re‐election, a meeting of the poor and middle peasants was convened, at which the demagogy of the kulaks was exposed and an agreement was reached on the chairman, a demobilized Red Army soldier, who was nominated by the population itself. As a result, the well‐to‐do and the kulaks failed in the re‐election. The council was elected by the middle and poor, the wealthy managed to get their candidates on the farms and in one section of Derbetovka; the composition of the Council: poor peasants ‐ 21, middle peasants ‐ 29, prosperous ‐ 8, employees ‐ 8, handicraftsmen ‐ 3, of whom members of the CPSU ‐ 5, RKLSM ‐ 1 and women ‐ 3.
47. Armavir District. Stts. Labinskaya. The re‐elections in all polling stations were held under the sign of greater, in comparison with last year, organization of the poor and middle peasants. In the 4th precinct (there were 1000 people) there were no demonstrations of nonresident and Cossacks against each other. Party members voted in unison. Party member Selinsky, by decision of the party meeting, withdrew his candidacy, as not living in this area, but the meeting nevertheless elected him with shouts: ʺVote, we need more of them.ʺ The Terarmians were also very active. The kulaks were fading. A meeting was also held in 1 precinct (there were 850 people), where there was only an objection to the candidacy of one Komsomol member due to his youth. A certain exception is the 3rd sector, where, due to the work of a group of wealthy people, the meeting largely dispersed. The same group, together with the intelligentsia, performed in the 2nd precinct, the most prosperous (1000 people were present). Some of the candidate party members were defeated. The same picture is noted in the Kurgan region, N.Alekseevsky village council and hut. Khlebodarovsky. The anti‐Soviet elements that spoke here last year did not show themselves.
In stts. Rodnikovskaya elected to the Council almost all the candidates nominated by the cell and the meeting of the poor, the army, demobilized Red Army men, women and other organizations. The candidates passed unanimously. The poor and the middle peasants were completely united. A group of Subbotniks 83 voted for candidates nominated by a cell with other organizations. Subbotniks before the reelection contacted the cell and announced that they would vote for the cellʹs candidates. The well‐to‐do element and the reactionary Cossacks evaded elections.
48. Kamensk district. In with. Krutikhi at the meetings for re‐elections to the village councils, the poor with the overwhelming majority of the middle peasantry under the leadership of the VKP cell showed unprecedented activity and thwarted all the proteges of the kulaks. When discussing the candidacy of the old RIK member Yevsyukov (a baptist‐kulak) and the old pre‐village council Kochetov (kulak), who worked in the interests of the well‐to‐do, Yevsyukov said after the meeting: “Party members and the poor have now shown rare political activity, at the meeting they began to pinch Kochetov and me like that, that at least leave the meeting. ʺ
2. Deficiencies in the organization of the bloc of the poor and middle peasants
49. Belarus. In with. Dukhors of the Bykhov district of the Mogilev district were only middle peasants in the elections. The middle peasant Semenchik said: “Why are you bothering with this poor man like a cat with lard? Poor people are gults 84 and you cannot equate them with the middle peasant”. The poor were passive. After the meeting at a meeting of the cell, one of the party members pointed out that only then the meetings of the groups of the poor will take place when they will be organized underground.
50. Penza province. The poor in a number of areas actively manifested themselves only at special meetings of the poor, among ʺtheir ownʺ. There were cases of a split between the poor and the middle peasants; the middle peasants called the poor ʺidlersʺ and ʺbackbonesʺ. In with. Sweat. Ostrogʹs candidacy for the poor fell through. Only party members voted for the nominated candidates of the two Komsomol members. The women showed up at the meeting with their list, but they did not meet with support, and the list failed. The elections ended in victory for the wealthy and middle peasants.
51. Stavropol District. At the re‐election with. Kazinka Moskovsky district, when proposing a list of candidates of former Red Army men and the poor, the wealthy and middle peasants protested, the candidates voted personally and most of them passed. The cell in the district did not carry out work to unite the poor with the middle peasants.
52. Salsky district. In stts. Lopanovskaya in the Krasnovyeiskaya hundred was presented with an independent list from a group of poor people, the majority of the meeting rejected the list, at the meeting, however, 4 members of the CPSU and 1 member of the LKSM easily passed.
53. Terek District. Stts. Urukhskaya Georgievsky district. The preparatory campaign for the re‐election of the village council by the VKP cell was carried out weakly, due to which the poor and farm laborers, being not organized, adhered to the middle peasants and the wealthy. The middle peasants and the well‐to‐do opposed the poor in an organized way in order to lead “their own”. As a result, almost exclusively prosperous and strong middle peasants were elected to the village council. A similar fact was noted in the Velichevsky Council, where up to a third of the kulaks passed.
54. Saratov province. Serdobsky u. In with. Zmievka Saltykovskaya Vol. the poor were not organized, they were passive about the elections and voted for the candidacies of the middle peasants and the wealthy. As a result, not a single poor person was elected to the village council. In the presence of a VKP cell in the village, there was no leadership on its part.
55. Minusinsk district. Despite the presence in the village. In Berezovka, the VKP cell of 28 people, the poorest part of the population, as well as the cell itself, showed complete passivity during the reelections. Out of 28 party members, only 9 were present at the reelection. Thanks to this, only the wealthy entered the village council, with the exception of one Komsomol member.
56. Kamensk district. During the re‐election of the village council in the village. Plotnikov, due to the passivity of the local cell of the VKP, the poor and middle peasants were not organized and mostly kulaks entered the village council. The poor, dissatisfied with the results of the re‐elections, accused the VKP cell of failure, saying: “Why did you look, how the kulaks are organized, and you are asleep. The well‐to‐do have again entered the village council, and they will continue to bend our necks. ʺ
Kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements in the elections
1. Kulak and anti‐Soviet groups
57. Moscow province. In Mozhaiskiy u. Borisov parish during the reelection of the Borisov VIK agronomist Lukin, a group of 5 persons was organized, which included: member of the board of Borisov EPO Papkov, chairman of the Dytkinskaya agricultural cartel Zhurkin, chairman of the Borisov regional village council Tashikin, accountant of the Borisov agricultural association Andreev, Troparevsky district village council Litvinov. Before the re‐election, the group organized a meeting at which it outlined candidates for the VIC. At the local congress before the elections, the members of the group came forward with a proposal not to elect communists, saying that ʺthe Soviets should be independent of the party.ʺ The grouping attempt failed.
58. Oryol province. In Dolgorukovskaya vol. (Yeletsky u.) Before the elections, special circles were created among the wealthy, campaigning for the appointment of ʺexemplary ownersʺ to the Soviets. In conversations, they pointed out the need to establish free purchase and sale of land, which, in their opinion, would increase the power of agriculture.
59. Berdichevsky district. In with. The kulaks have created an illegal sample of the Spichentsi of the Vcheraishensky district, which is conducting a preparatory election campaign. They nominate teacher Pashkovsky (a white officer) to the post of the pre‐village council.
60. Kuban District. In stts. Staro‐Dzhereliyevskaya celebrated the work of the Cossack group, led by local students who came from Kharkov for the winter holidays. The group aimed to Ukrainize the Kuban, annex it to Ukraine, and then completely separate from the USSR. A former white officer who was recently removed from special registration 85 was elected chairman of the Council.
61. Donskoy district. Among the population of stts. Kopanskaya has a group of anti‐Soviet individuals, whose representatives are campaigning against the election to the Council of Communists and the appointment of ʺtheir own Cossack peopleʺ there. The group nominates former ataman henchmen as candidates for the Council. Mr. Zhurba, an opponent of the Soviet regime and an ardent Tikhonovite, nominated for membership in the election commission, says: “In the absence of communists in the governing bodies, it will be easier for Tikhonovism to develop in stts. Kopanskaya, because if it were not for the intervention of the Communists, the Tikhonites would have taken over the church long ago. ʺ
62. Stavropol District. In with. Kazgulek kulak‐church group speaks at the re‐election under the slogan ʺdown with land management.ʺ In the Medvezhinsky region, the kulak group is united under the slogans: ʺfor the old orderʺ, ʺdown with the communists.ʺ A member of the Zvyagintsev group, a former guard, says to the poor peasants: ʺWhy are you, poor peasants, climbing, quite destroyed everything to the ground, and if this continues, then we will not live on from you, let our old business executives rule.ʺ
63. Salsky district. In stts. Teronovskaya formed a group led by wealthy Cossacks, former chieftains, of 14 people. The goal of the group is to prevent Communists and Komsomol members from joining the Council. At general meetings, members of the group try to disrupt all measures of the Soviet government.
64. Terek District. In stts. The Urukh prosperous kulak element and part of the middle peasants have organized a group that agitates against the communists, nonresidents, women and Komsomol members and for bringing the wealthy to the Council. The group has a tendency to leave the chairman, assistant and teacher in the village council, and eliminate all the rest (secretary, policeman, employees), similar to the times of ʺchieftaincyʺ.
During the elections of the Levokum village council, the anti‐Soviet kulak group, supported by the poor peasants and farm laborers, materially dependent on it, actively acted.
Naursky district. Likensky village council. During the re‐elections in the 1st precinct, the kulak group was paralyzed by the arrived party members, who exposed the main leader of the group, who, thanks to this, never spoke during the entire meeting. The group, having lost the ʺleaderʺ, was disarmed and did not show any activity.
65. Irkutsk province. In Tulunsky u. illegal meetings of the kulaks and the wealthy take place. All prosperous villages gathered at the head of the Ikei village council, Gladkikh (prosperous), and decided, taking into account the authority that the VKP cell enjoys among the population, to enter into negotiations with the cell and promise it a chairman from among his midst who would work in contact with it. When the secretary of the cell was informed of this, the latter replied that it would not be the cell that would choose, but the meeting.
66. Primorskaya lips. In the Shkotovsky, Sufunsky, Chernigov and Spassky districts of the Nikolo‐Ussuriysky district. At the regional congresses, the actions of the well‐to‐do were manifested in the creation of peasant factions, which acted as a counterbalance to the factions. Election of Mikhailovsky and Chernigov regional executive commissions of Nikolo‐Ussuriysky district ended with the complete victory of the well‐to‐do kulak elements and the failure of the candidacies of the cells of the CPSU, the PEC and the Ukom.
2. Manifestation of the activity of the kulaks
67. Vyatka province. At the volost congress of Soviets in Krasovskaya par. Kotelnichesky a group of well‐to‐do delegates made a proposal to include the time for convening a non‐party faction in the regulations of the congress meeting. This offer was rejected by the poor.
68. Oryol province. In Terbukovskaya parish. Eletsky u. when VI‐Ka was re‐elected, bribery and soldering took place; so, delegate Ulogshin spent 100 rubles. for vodka and as a result was promoted to a member of the VIK. In Droskovsky vol. Maloarkhangelsky u. After the reelections, a group of well‐to‐do people, including three poor people, led by a local teacher, filed a statement about the wrong elections, arguing that there was a prosecutor at the meeting and therefore everyone was afraid to speak.
69. Vologda province. In the village. Sayanovskaya GakulaKokoshenskaya vol. Velsky u. two kulaks campaigned for refusing to participate in the re‐election of the village council, stating that the village council did not fulfill the tasks that were entrusted to it.
70. Penza province. In with. Abozhduevka N.‐Lomonosovsky u. the kulaks, feeling themselves, thanks to the organization of the poor, isolated, having drunk a group of peasants, came to the election meeting in a drunken crowd and, having made a brawl, thwarted the re‐election.
71. Belarus. In the village. Kozlovka, Parichsky district, Bobruisk district, kulaks under the leadership of a land surveyor in huts in groups organized meetings, campaigning for their candidates. For the most part, the meetings were held by the land surveyor, who enjoys authority among the population. In the hut. Dubrovo, the Usohsky village council of the Plichevsky district of the Bobruisk district, the kulaks, knowing that the teachers would be the tellers, persuaded the latter to reduce the votes of the poor peasants when voting, which was done by one of the teachers ‐ a former officer.
72. Kuban District. In the hut. Tikhovsky, Slavyansky District, during the re‐election of the Council, the voters of the Niva and Kolos farms, mostly poor migrants from the Bessarabian province, were organized in the Council of Communists, failing the candidacies of wealthy Cossacks. For this they beat three Hut peasants. Niva.
73. Suzhkoy district. At the re‐election of the village council of the Pavlovsk society of the Re‐chask district, the kulaks, taking advantage of the fact that the re‐election should take place in the open, did not go to the meeting until “the poor were freezing”. When the poor people began to disperse because of the cold, the specified group appeared, failed the list proposed by the electoral committee and brought almost all the wealthy to the village council, including the chairmen of the village council ‐ the former volost foreman 86.
74. Slavgorod district. In a number of village councils, there were cases when the well‐to‐do were sent to the counters, who deliberately reduced the votes cast for the poor, and shouted at the instruction of the authorized representative for incorrect counting: ʺGive us him here, we will show them how to count.ʺ
75. Starobelsky District. In sl. In Pavlovka, a group of kulaks led by members of the church council, trying to recruit voters to their side, are engaged in soldering the peasants. Arranging revels, the kulaks are agitating to support the candidates they are nominating and to get rid of the ʺstrangers.ʺ
76. Donetsk district. In the Sakhronovsky village council of the LeonoKalitvensky district, the well‐to‐do after the failure of their candidate to the village council, they demanded re‐election of the Council. After the second failure, the prosperous candidate announced to the instructor of the district committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks who led the re‐election that he would take revenge on him.
77. Kurgan District. In the village. Russia‐Molotovo, Mokrousovsky district, a group of kulaks in the number of 8 people tried to disrupt the re‐election, agitating among the population for failure to appear at the re‐election meeting.
78. Amur province. In with. Annovka Erkovetskaya par. Blagoveshchensky u. the wealthy insisted that elections be held in the open air, in order to force the poorly dressed poor to leave the electoral meeting. The well‐to‐doʹs attempt was crowned with success and they managed to get most of their candidates to the village council.
79. Transbaikal province. In with. V.‐Ali Sretensky the well‐to‐do and kulaks, on the initiative of one of the kulaks, organized a secret meeting, at which they identified candidates for the village council and worked out instructions for participating in the elections. In the re‐election, the kulaks succeeded in getting their candidates, including former bandits, to pass. The newly elected village council tried to disperse the cross, consisting of the poor.
3. Nomination of anti‐Soviet candidates
80. Kursk province. In with. Yakovleva Tamorovskaya Vol. Belgorodsky u. the kulaks and the well‐to‐do nominated and brought into the village council a former large landowner who had previously been involved in trade.
81. Belarus. In the Knyaz‐Ozersk village council of the Zhitkovichi district of the Mozyr district, the wealthy nominated a former official who had graduated from a theological seminary as a candidate.
82. Lugansk district. In with. In the rear of the Sorokinsky district, the wealthy in the Soviet in most cases nominate the candidacies of former whites and former gendarmes. In the Dubrovsky village council of the same district, a former white officer has been nominated to the previllage council.
83. Shakhty district. In the hut. Oreshkino, Kamensky district, kulaks and the wealthy Cossacks adjacent to them sent a walker to the city of Kamensk to ask the consent of the former assistant bailiff Khopersky to nominate him as a candidate for the pre‐village council.
84. Donetsk district. In one of the village councils, the kulaks, during the re‐elections, nominated the former white general Shumilin, who did not enter the village council as deprived of the right to vote.
85. Stalingrad province. In the hut. Novoselsky stts. Golubinskaya, the well‐to‐do in the village council assigned a former chieftain and a former assistant to the village chieftain. Former chieftains are also promoted to the hut. Korobkovo Ostrovskaya village and in the hut. Baskin of the Stepano‐Razinsky village.
86. Amur province. In with. Ilyinovka Tambov parish Blagoveshchensky u. the well‐to‐do came to the electoral meeting with their lists, demanding that their candidates be the first to vote. Among the candidates they nominated participants in the Zazei uprising 87.
4. Agitation against communists and Soviet elements in the countryside
87. Voronezh province. At the Chizhevsky district congress, a group of delegates sl. Chi‐zhevki campaigned against the election of communists, saying: ʺWe need to make sure that not a single communist is allowed into the RIK because they are always overloaded with their party work and things donʹt go well in Soviet institutions.ʺ
88. Kaluga province. At the Kremensky Volsezd of Soviets Medynsky u. one of the delegates, a middle peasant, speaking against the communists, said: ʺWe are faced with the question of elections to the VIC, here we need to speak out in favor of electing a non‐party member to the VIC, who will work without jerking the party.ʺ
89. Stalingrad province. In a number of farmsteads stts. Maledelskaya, Eterevskaya and Ust‐Medveditskaya kulaks, before the elections to the village councils, agitated not to send the communists to the Soviets, declaring that “through them things are lame” and that “although they are good people, they cannot cope with the economy. We need to choose our well‐to‐do people who will be able to put public affairs at the proper level. ʺ In stts. Sergievskaya kulaks, pointing to a number of malfeasances of the sent by the executive committee, say: “Here is a communist for you, ours would not do that. Therefore, we no longer need the sent ones, but we will choose only our indigenous people. ʺ
90. Samara province. In with. The pogrom of the same volost of Buzuluk u. at a re‐election meeting, a former member of the CPSU, campaigning against the election of communists, threw out the slogan ʺSoviets without communistsʺ, stating that ʺif the party did not interfere in the affairs of the Soviets, things would go better and the peasants would live well.ʺ
5. Demonstrations against the communists and the Soviet part of the village
91. Kuban District. In stts. The Ladoga Ust‐Labinsky region, the Cossack group was campaigning under the slogan ʺSoviets without communists and nonresidents.ʺ In the Primorsko‐Atkarsky region, at an expanded plenum of the RIK on the issue of re‐elections, the Cossack‐kulak spoke: “We need to elect to the Soviets only our own good residents, good masters who will work in the Council as a grain grower needs, and what to choose someone elseʹs if we don’t know where he came from. Previously, we had our own people in the office and things were going well, but now they steal and take away our goods. ʺ
92. Starobelsky District. In Tsapovka, Zologovsky district, at the reelection of the village council, one of the kulaks shouted: “You shouldnʹt elect the henchmen of the Soviet power who support the regional authorities and the Soviet power in general, who don’t give anything to the peasantry, but only pull everything from him. There is no trust in the communists, as this is the nobility of the Soviet system, which puts its prosperity on the grief and need of the peasants. ʺ
93. Kamensk district. Baevsky district. In with. Bayevo re‐elections were held under the slogan ʺDown with strangers and visitors from the village council.ʺ This slogan was put forward by a group of kulaks, whose members, speaking with the rejection of candidates at least living in Bayevo for at least 2‐3 years, declared: “We have enough good men of our own. Not our tugs and we donʹt need them. ʺ
94. Tomsk District. At a meeting of the Ishim village council of the new composition, when discussing the candidacy of Safronov (pre‐election commission), recommended by the RIK for the district congress of Soviets, the former partisan spoke out: “Why do we need suitcases to choose what the peasants will say if we send him to the paradise congress — this is a deception, a violation of the slogan” the link between the city and the village ʺ, we have our own, we know why he was sent ‐ instead of Dolgov (pre‐RIK) to the post of pre‐RIK.ʺ Other members of the village council also spoke out against Safronov.
95. Ishim District. At the re‐elections of the Kukurtsovsky and Tobolsk village councils of the Zhilyakovsky district, the kulaks, trying to hold their candidates, agitate: “We need to elect to the village council those people who have several workers on the farm, so that they can break away from their farm to work in the village council, and if , then they, breaking away from their economy, can go bankrupt completely. ʺ The poor, succumbing to this agitation, themselves refused to participate in the work of the village councils.
96. Krasnoyarsk District. In with. Ostrog, a group of prosperous people headed by a member of the village council, when voting for the teacherʹs candidacy, rejected, declaring that ʺhe is not needed in the council, since he writes to the newspapers and is the leader of the Komsomol members.ʺ
97. Minusinsk District. In with. Kazansko‐Bogorodsky, after reading the list of candidates, the kulaks made a proposal to exclude the farm laborer Bebelev from the lists: “He has neither a plow nor a harrow and cannot serve, since he must earn a piece of bread for himself, otherwise he will be lost of hunger”. Bebelevʹs candidacy was replaced by a wealthy one.
6. Cases of clogging of new village councils
98. Tambov province. Along the Plow‐Uglovskaya Vol. Tambov u. former bandit Antonov Kurdyumov was elected chairman of the Kazyvan village council. At the volost congress of Soviets, out of 80 delegates, 15‐20% of former bandits were present, among them the most prominent were the former commanders of the Chernyshev gang, Shishkin and Podkovytov. In the village council with. Krivets Borisovskaya Vol., With the exception of 4 poor people, included current and former merchants and the pre‐VIK Astakhov ‐ a former White Guard.
99. Stavropol District. The Hrushevsky village council included: chairman Lushnikov ‐ chairman of the church council, a former guard, deputy chairman Zubtsov ‐ wealthy, anti‐Soviet, and Verevkin, the former chairman of the For United Russia society, was a member.
100. Armavir District. Stts. Temizhbekskaya. The list of candidates for the Council proposed by the cell was violently rejected by the meeting. Elected to the Council were: former chieftains, their assistants, members of the military field courts and actively participating in the White movement. The mood after the re‐election of nonresident is depressed. The Cossacks proudly declare: ʺFrom such a Council, there will be only sense in our village.ʺ
101. Tyumen District. Gloomy and Obogrelov entered the new composition of the Kadsky Village Council, the first of them retreating with Kolchak and returning only in 1924, and the second for banditry in 1921 was sentenced to 5 years. The population is outraged by this.
102. Amur province. In with. Annovka Erkovetskaya par. Blagoveshchensky u. the poor, including 80 people, left the election meeting and filed a petition to protest the election, in which they say that ʺthe elected government is not Soviet, but kulak.ʺ In with. V.‐Poltavka Tambov parish. Onopriyenko, a member of the White Uprising of 1924, who had returned from abroad, entered the village council in the elections.
103. Primorskaya lips. In the Chernigov RIC of the Nikolo‐Ussuriysk u. Peasant Tregub, twice convicted for tax secrecy, was elected chairman. The members of the presidium were the kulaks Dayuba, Bulba, Shtepa, who after the elections declared that ʺwe will get to Moscow, we will also put our own people there.ʺ All secret correspondence from the files of the former Chernigov VIC was withdrawn by order of the executive committee.
104. Transbaikal province. In with. Engorske Hilok parish Petrozavodsk district, due to unpreparedness for re‐elections on the part of the local activists, the candidates nominated by the poor were voted down. The kulak candidates won the majority. Completely illiterate poor people were elected to the revision commission by fists. The meeting adopted a mandate to the new village council, drawn up by kulaks. The mandate contains the following requirements: 1) not to introduce a tax on schools, but to take from each one for the education of their children equally — from tithes, 2) to exempt from agricultural tax for 10 years due to commercial conditions, 3) not to take payment for rent mowing, forests and dr.
105. Burrespublika. In the Novo‐Bryansk village council of the VerkhneUdinsky district. 37 people were elected, of whom 9 were kulaks, 15 were wealthy, and 13 were middle peasants. Among those elected there are 2 former policemen. The entire composition of the village council consists of an anti‐Soviet element. The village council is headed by the Leonov brothers, who were noticed in connection with the Social Revolutionaries and who went to the village council. The well‐to‐do and kulaks organized by the Leonovs ruined the list of the local cell at an elective meeting. The poor were split, part of them voted for the list of the VKP cell, while the other part followed the kulaks. As a result of the outcome of the elections, there is acute discontent among the poor and threats to crack down on the kulaks. 5 well‐to‐do delegates have been elected to the Vol Congress, including one of the Leonovs. After the election of the delegates, the prosperous peasant Afanasyev said: ʺIt is enough for us to bring Leonov to the VIK and our case won, then we will mark the communists out.ʺ
35% attended the elections to the Zaudinsky village council. Only “their own people” from the Cossacks were elected to the village council. Former officer Pakhalov and former village chieftain were elected to the presidential council. The elections were preceded by the agitation of the well‐to‐do for not admitting communists to the village council, as a result of which 3 party members were elected only as candidates to the village council.
True to the truth: Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 3
[EASTERN NATIONAL AREAS]
Internal national republics of the RSFSR
1. Tataria. In with. Alekseevka Popovskaya par. the local forester has grouped around him kulaks, with the help of which he is working against the poor. When the deputy chairman of the council opposed him, the forester shot him with a revolver. This group is called ʺ20ʺ.
2. Crimea. In the village. Ulu‐Uzen, Yalta region, in connection with the re‐election of the management of the agricultural partnership, a group of kulaks (Tatars) organized illegal meetings, nominating their candidates. In view of the refusal of the local village correspondent to take part in the meetings, one of the leaders of the group twice tried to make an attempt on his life.
3. Chuvashia. Batyrevsky u. Hormaly vol. In with. The Klimov kulaks acted in an organized manner at the electoral meeting. The supporters of the kulaks, placed in the corners, voted for the candidates to the village council according to the conventional signs of the leader, who stood in front and alternately raised his hand now with a pencil, now with an empty one; in the first case, it meant that a vote had to be cast for the candidate being voted, and not in the second.
4. Tataria. In the Arsk canton during the re‐election of village councils in the village. Mishevka, Shushera, Permyaki and Usady Kalinskaya Vol., As well as during the re‐elections of the Kalinskiy VIK, the question of organizing peasant unions was raised. Everywhere, except for der. Mishevka, the speakers were former Socialist‐Revolutionaries.
5. Chuvashia. On the second day of the volost congress of Soviets in the village. Shibulgah Tsi‐vila u. on the door of the room in which the congress took place, the following proclamation was found: “Our congress seemed to me like a crowd of madmen. Is it conceivable to give the working people the power to govern the country? It is too early for the workers and peasants to take power into their own hands, because they are gray like wolves, not yet ripe for this. In addition, they want to put women in power, this is even more stupid. This will never be and should not be. Woman ‐ know the kitchen and thatʹs enough. ʺ
6. Tataria. In the city of Elabuga, 14 specimens were found. leaflets directed against the Communist Party and Soviet power. These leaflets were handwritten through a copier
paper and pasted on the walls of houses and on fences, mainly in places of greatest concentration of peasants, in two market squares.
7. In the village. Upper Otary (Arsk canton), the organizer of the ʺUnion of the Russian peopleʺ in the tsarist era, nominated by a handful of kulaks, entered the village council. In with. Pestretsy fists organized a non‐party faction.
8. In N.‐Chelninsky canton of Aktash vol., In the village Aktash entered the Council: three former white officers, one member of the parish council, one forklift who shot the sympathizers of the Soviet regime, the daughter of a priest, and the other 10 people are poor and middle peasants. In the same place, the following were elected to the revision commission: one member of the church council, a psalm reader and a school worker who was tried in court for counter‐revolutionary acts.
9. In the Vavlansky parish. in the village. Tat.Tumbarla, a local mullah held preliminary meetings of electors in the mosque, after which he outlined the candidates whom he needed to take to the village council.
10. Crimea. In the village. Kurkulet of the Yalta region, the local kulaknationalist group during the re‐election of the village council was supported by the responsible employee of Chapchakchi. As a result, the nationalists won the re‐election and a militirk member was elected chairman. It is characteristic that the nationalists, having held the Tatar responsible workers as honorary members, opposed the election of comrade Kalinin.
11. In the Bakhchisarai region in the village. Kuchuk‐Azenbash, at the insistence of the kulaks‐nationalists, the re‐election meeting was held in the mosque. The fists came to the meeting with knives and stones to defend their candidates. The leader of the kulaks was a former large merchant and a participant in the 1918 counter‐revolution.
12. In the Yalta region for the re‐election of the board of agricultural partnerships in the village. A responsible Crimean worker Khattatov came to Kareve. At a meeting of local nationalist kulaks, they discussed the issue of excluding the communists from the new rule. The elections were favorable for the nationalists.
North Caucasus
13. Sunzha District. On the part of the well‐to‐do elements and persons in the past associated with the counter‐revolutionary element, agitation is being conducted among the peasant masses for the organization of peasant unions. On the hut. N.‐Bekovichi, advocating unions, states: “The workers, having organized themselves, established an 8‐hour working day, as a result of which factories and plants cannot produce a sufficient amount of goods and the latter become more expensive. Government agencies made up of workers set prices for peasant products that are beneficial to the workers. Only by organizing their unions will the peasants achieve the desired prices. ʺ
14. Karachay‐Cherkess region. In early February of this year. in the city of Batalpashinsk, a small meeting of the Cossack activists took place at the open doors on the issue of re‐election of the City Council. The head of the asset of the deputy chairman of the executive committee, Udovenko, said: “We must hold the elections to the Council the way we want, and not the way we want to organize a section of the“ red fighter ”. Udovenko instructed the assembly to elect “suitable” people to the city council, saying that otherwise their interests would suffer from the highlanders, who, in the person of the responsible workers of the natives, allegedly wanted to recapture 10,000 dessiatins from them. land.
15. Citizen stc. Kardonikskaya Kiyashko, in order to prevent party members and Komsomol members from joining the Council in the upcoming re‐elections, incites citizens to demand that re‐elections be held not by the general assembly of the entire village, but by district (quarterly), saying: “If the re‐elections are general, then to the Council Communists and Komsomol members will enter, but at the quarter ones we will show whoever we want. ʺ Kiyashko is the organizer of the Cossack asset in the stts. Kardonikskaya on behalf of the deputy chairman of the regional executive committee Udovenko.
16. Dagestan. In the Khasav‐Yurtovsky district, the Muslim agitation against the Soviet schools is noted. Among the population worn
ʺKhabarʺ 88 that the clergy of the indicated district intends to send a delegation from themselves to Sheikh Ali Haji Akushinsky with a complaint against the communists who oppress them, and also to resolve the issue of Soviet schools and madrassas.
17. Chechnya. In with. Dyshno‐Vedeno, Vedeno District, most of the pupils of the school 89, under the influence of the local spiritual family and mullahs, moved to theological schools.
The kazii (spiritual judge), dismissed in connection with the reduction of Sharia courts, are spreading rumors throughout Chechnya that the ʺcampaign of the authoritiesʺ against the Sharia courts is the result of Elderkhanovʹs departure. In the Shali district, a group of mullahs are actively campaigning in favor of speaking at the regional congress of Soviets demanding the restoration of Sharia courts.
18. Karachay‐Cherkess region. Efendi aul of Ersakon Janov teaches children the Koran 90. Sokht 91 there are about 10 people, young elders are sent to the yards to collect bread for the ephendians and adult elders. The aforementioned effendi, with the help of his friends and with the assistance of the teacher of his native language, Petyzheva, often agitates among the population against the education of women in schools, saying: ʺA woman, according to our laws, must sit at home and obey her husband.ʺ They also incited the population of the aul to initiate a petition to open an official madrasah school in the aul of Ersakon.
19. Ingushetia. All L. Altievo Arab school has 30 students, of which 50% are kulaks, 30% are middle peasants, and the rest are poor children. Tuition fee is charged at 2 rubles. from each for the academic year.
S. Dollakovo. The Arab school has 25 students, of whom 7 are poor, and the rest are children of kulaks in the middle. The fee is charged at 15 poods. corn and one cart of firewood from each per year.
S. Plievo. There are 40 students in the Arab school. Payment of one ruble per student per year.
20. Chechnya. In stts. Grozny, long before the elections, a group of Cossack intelligentsia campaigned for the creation of their own Cossack Council, the election of only elderly people to the Council, and the failure of the communist elections. As a result, the electoral committeeʹs list was completely ruined and, with the exception of one person, the Council included representatives of the Cossack activists ‐ the wealthy.
21. In the Grozny district on election meeting farmers suburb Razbegaylovki, attended by over 200 people, according to the report of the City Council with a rough criticism were a number of well‐off peasants of anti‐Soviet bias, saying that the executive committee gave all the best land bandits Chechens‐ 92 . These speeches were accompanied by remarks “correctly” from the members of the meeting. As a result, all but one (a member of the All‐Union Communist Party) who were openly hostile against the Soviet regime were elected to the Council. A similar picture was observed in the Shchebelinovka settlement.
22. In p. Gekhi (the native village of the Elderkhanovs) on the eve of the re‐election, a close relative of Elderkhanov arrived. Together with the closest relatives and clan elders, he decided to conduct an Elderkhanov list for all cubes. At the elective meeting of the 1st cube came out of 800 people, 300, almost exclusively wealthy element. The electoral commission that appeared was immediately presented with a preprepared list, and when the committee members began to object to the nomination of representatives of the same surname from one cube, the crowd shouted and the most zealous rushed to the commission members, trying to beat them. Finding it impossible to continue working, the commission left the village.
23. Nadterechny district. The re‐elections of the village councils were preceded by agitation from a number of candidates for the presidency in the district: the pre‐election brigade Abaev, a representative of the trade intelligentsia and adherent of Edderkhanov, assistant prosecutor Davletukiyev, a former police officer, the current chairman of Kataev, the son of Sheikh Kan Khantiyev. During the elections of election commissions in auls, there was a general dissatisfaction with the policies of the members of the district election commission, who nominated their relatives or people sympathetic to them.
24. Karachay‐Cherkess region. In the village of Khasut, in connection with the re‐elections, a meeting was held in the house of Mr. Goguev Ali (a member of the All‐Union Communist Party), which was attended by up to 30 people. This collection united the names: Goguevskaya (in the majority), Kakanaevskaya, Gochiyaevskaya and Topalovskaya. All these surnames are related to the Goguevs in the direct and in the
female line. The purpose this group is to unite all these names to protect their interests, in particular, to seize the cooperatives, schools, mosques, KKOV and especially the Council.
25. Adyghe‐Circassian region. In the village of Gabukai, Ponezhukayevsky district, 4 middle peasants and one former white officer entered the election commission. The middle peasants are thinking of holding a former officer who joined the election commission as the chairman of the Council.
26. Ingushetia. The revival of the activity of members of various sects in connection with the re‐elections is noted. In some villages, mullahs in mosques are campaigning for the election to the Council of candidates nominated by the relevant sect. In a number of cases, the election to the Councils of persons nominated by sects is noted. Members of the Kunta‐Haji, Batal‐Haji, Ali‐Mitaeva, and Shamsutdin‐Haji sects are particularly active 93.
Kazakstai
27. Dzhetysu lips. In the Staro‐Chinjilinsky aul of the Uch‐Aral vol. Pepsinsky u. two tribal groupings were created on the basis of the seizure of power in the grassroots councils. The first of a kind ʺTyureʺ and ʺUvakʺ in 170 kibitkov owners, the head of which is Malaev, a former buy, with the Whites was a Wahmister. The second group is from the Aldiyar clan of 150 wagon owners, led by Dzhainak Kotkibaev and Kutav Oktayev, both bai. The re‐election leaders suggested: “Who will give us 100 rubles? ‐ he will be the chairman. ʺ
28. Aktobe Bay. In the city of Akmolinsk, the volost congress of Akmola vol. Before the congress of bai aul No. 1, Karpykbaev created a group around him and decided to hold a pre‐VIK Omarov, for which a treat was arranged for the delegates of the congress, on which 2 horses were slaughtered and 9 sabu 94 koumiss was drunk. Omarov is the son of a bai. 30 delegates ‐ supporters of Karpykbaevʹs group ‐ were elected to the county congress of Soviets. At the organizational meeting of the newly elected members of the VIC, Bay Omarov Sadyk was nominated as chairman.
29. In Temir district on the basis the struggle for power during the re‐election campaign, the leaders of one group use the provincial Kazakh newspaper ʺKedeiʺ for their own purposes.
30. In Aktobe province. the activity of Alashorda residents in the present re‐election campaign far exceeds their activity in the previous re‐elections. In many cases, the leaders of the Alashin‐Bai groupings pursue their line through candidates and members of the CPSU (b).
31. In Aktobe province. Chelkar vol. of the same county, 66 voters were unhappy with the re‐election of the VIC, who decided to appeal to the provincial election committee about the incorrectness of the elections. The head of the Chelkar police, Altayev, having learned about this, administratively selected the prepared statements.
32. Dzhetysu province. Group of kulaks stts. Trotskaya of Alma‐Ata U. in the apartment of Alexander Feoktistov (head of the Cossack movement, Stts. Trotskaya) decided that “if representatives from the district government come to our elections, then we will not let them speak, but we will bring our Cossacks to the Council, and we will tell them ‐ no matter how much you shout, but the power is ours.
33. In stts. Trotskaya Alma‐Atinsky u. at a general meeting on the issue of re‐elections, the electoral commission announced the list of those deprived of the right to vote 95... To this, the audience heard shouts: ʺDown with the election commission, if our representatives are not established in rights, then we will strangle you like chickens.ʺ Hearing such threats, the commission left the club, jumping out the window. The gathering, led by the kulak Feoktistov and others, elected its own presidium, after which the meeting continued. The first discussed the issue of restoring the rights of those deprived of vote, where it was decided to “ask the election commission to reconsider the issue of deprivation of the right to vote,” arguing that these citizens are a labor element. After this question, Aleksandr Feoktistov made a speech at once, saying: ʺI am going for the good of the citizens of my society with an open chest, I will continue the work I have begun, even if the executioners, thirsty for my blood, encroached on my life.ʺ
Transcaucasia
33. Azerbaijan. Residents the villages. Uchuon Kubinsky u. (Kurban Salim oglu, Freilan and Dzhangir) are campaigning among the population, saying: “You don’t need to campaign, wealthy people will be elected anyway”.
34. In the Kurdgajin region, the kulak Salah Nabi oglu, the brother of a well‐known counter‐revolutionary (Sultan‐bek Sultanov), received the right to vote, thanks to the chairman, Dair (Quliyev), whom Salah supplies with food.
35. Persons alien to the Soviet regime were elected to the election commission of the Yelenendorf Dair, such as: Albert Paizer ‐ a wealthy peasant, Arshak Balaev ‐ a former member of the police, etc. This composition of the commission worries the peasants.
36. Georgia. Dushetsky u. Kulaks and traders in the Kudamakar Gorge are campaigning to bring their supporters to the Soviets. The Kitokh trader (Karsimashvili) arranges drinking parties for the indicated purpose.
37. Shoropansky district Residents of the villages. Dilkauri (Abesalom Kakhniashvili, Chichiko Kakhniashvili, Sergei Kadagidze, Nestor Zalikiani and Yegor Beranidze) arrange meetings of peasants in order to be elected to the Council, trying to undermine the authority of party members and Komsomol members at the meeting.
38. Kutaisi district In the Sapaicharsky and Tabanersky themes, where the influence of the Mensheviks is strong, former Mensheviks have been nominated to the Council.
39. Kutaisi district In Mukhinsky, at the meetings of the activists, a group of former bandits and kulaks demanded that the communists be removed from the meeting, since only after that they would be able to nominate candidates and the elections would be democratic.
40. Adjaristan. During the election campaign, the Khimshiashvili group included the most prominent and influential Ajarian workers: the pre‐Central Executive Committee Surmanvdze, the former head of the Central Executive Committee Motskobili, deputy chairman of the SNK Abdiba, Batumi Executive Committee of Chal‐oglu, before. Kobuleti executive committee Gogitidze, before. Adjaris‐Tskhal
Executive Committee of Takdgeridze, before Khulinsky executive committee Demitradze, Narkompros Varshanidze, Commissar Katakhidze, CEC secretary Baramidze and others.
41. Khulunsky. In Chvanskoye, during the re‐elections, the peasants of several villages, under the influence of agitation, demanded the election of Khimshiashvili. Resident with. Tsivadze Takidze Abdul, on behalf of the entire population, said that Ordzhonikidze, during his stay in the district, promised to return Khimshiashvili in two months and that before Comrade. Ordzhonikidze, Eliava, Makharadze, Khimshiashvili and others will not be elected. Takidzeʹs speech met with support among a significant number of those present at the congress. The latter, thanks to the agitation of Khimshiashviliʹs supporters, was thwarted. The son of the main culprit of the disruption of the congress, Abdul Takidze, armed with hand bombs, threatened those peasants who stood for the continuation of the congress. Elections to the Council and the Temis‐regimental committees were appointed for the second time. Khimshiashvili was elected to the Council from many villages.
42. In Shalta, before the opening of the congress in favor of Khimshiashvili, Riza Sal oglu (former head of the militia), Kekeladze Mehtali, Kekeladze Jemal, Khimshiashvili Agali (resident of the village of Nigozuely) were campaigning in favor of Khimshiashvili. The list compiled by this group for membership in the Council passed almost completely, not excluding Sal oglu Riz himself, who was deprived of the right to vote. Elections were made for each village separately, and as a result of the elections to the Council, only Khimshiashviliʹs supporters and himself were elected.
43. Armenia. Zangezur u. In the villages of Akarak, Yagavart, Gilidkhori, Changer and Khodrants, groups of kulaks have formed, which, under the leadership of the Dashnaks, are campaigning, saying: ʺIn the elections to the Soviets, the peasants should choose themselves, and not under the dictation of the communists.ʺ In one of these villages, a member of the CPA (Barkhudaryan) joined them.
44. Lori‐Bambaksky district in with. Archut all the possessing kulaks entered the village council. All L. Nikitino of 19 members of the village council passed 16 sectarians‐jumpers 96 and 3 communists. A wellknown leader of the sectarians (Zadorkin) was elected chairman.
In some places, in connection with the re‐elections, groups of refugees who have arrived from abroad are noticed. The groups are led by a well‐known Dashnak (Khachaturian). middle Asia
45. In the Dzhinauz [aul] of the Bek‐Budinsky district Kashka‐Darya region In agriculture, there are strained relations between Uzbeks, residents of the Jinau village (mostly bai), and the Turkmen, residents of the Shurcha village (most of them are poor), on the basis of water use. A delegation was sent from both sides to Karshi. The Pressel Council has joined the side of the Jinauz beys. Due to the lack of water, the Shurchins do not produce crops (600 dess.) And will be doomed to go on hunger strike in the future.
46. Surkhan‐Darinskaya region. Boysunsky u. Among the responsible officials of the uezdispolkom of Uzbeks and Europeans, national antagonism has recently begun to manifest itself, which is strongly reflected in the work of the entire uyezd soviet. The leader of the indigenous group is Yusupov, who enjoys great influence from the sekrukom KPUZ.
47. Tajikistan. Kurgan‐Tyube vilayet. The intensified migration of Tajiks from the Aral valley to the Yavan tumen of the Dushambinsky vilayet, dissatisfied with the biased attitude of the Uzbeks in power (in the region), was noted. Within 4 nights, it took up to 80 households.
48. Kyrgyz Autonomous Region. Pishpek district. All L. White Picket was beaten by a drunken policeman of the okrmilitsia (Amurov), the secretary of the village council, a European, Operailov. His wife, who stood up for him, was also severely beaten. The villagers, who gathered to the noise, were dispersed by 20 Kyrgyz people called by the peopleʹs investigator from the village of Atayki. All the materials collected on this occasion by the senior militiaman of the Bystrorechenskaya vol., Who had come to make an inquiry, were eventually destroyed.
49. Jalal‐Abad District. In Bagish parish. The Kirghiz, incited by the bays of their village, threaten the Russians with revenge for the fact that the latter, during the Basmachism in 1919, provided active assistance to the Red units (some of the Kirghiz actively assisted the Basmachs). The Kyrgyz say that if the Russians then killed 40 people, they will now kill twice as many.
50. Uzbekistan. Recently, in the Surkhan‐Darya region. the enmity between the Turkmens of the Erseri tribe and the Sheikh clan intensified. The latter, mostly former aksakals, former emir officials and bai, oppress dekhkans from the Erseri tribe in every possible way. The leader of the sheikhs is a prominent bai, who at one time after the flight of the emir came to Afghanistan, from where he, at the head of his gang formed there, repeatedly raided the Erseri tribe (robberies and theft of women). Having returned to Surkhan‐Darya, he, with the help of his own sheikhs, continues to terrorize the population. Due to this oppressed situation, the Erserins intend to leave Surkhan‐Darya with the entire tribe (up to 4,000 farms), if the authorities do not take measures to protect them from the atrocities of the ʺsheikhʺ clan.
51. Uzbekistan. Samarkand region Katta‐Kurgan district During the reelection of the chairman of the Kalkurgan VIK, a certain Artykov, nominated by the population, received the majority of votes, but the latter was assigned to the re‐election commissioner as a non‐partisan, and a protege of the dismissed VIK, a former kurbashi and an accomplice of the Basmachi, got to the position of the pre‐VIK.
52. Margelansky. In Loyla‐Khaninsky rural society (Alty‐Arykskoivol.), The chairman of the election commission out of a list of 23 candidates (farm laborers and middle peasants) nominated by the assembly (there were up to 1000 people), 11 arbitrarily replaced with his like‐minded people (bays), after which he closed the meeting, delaying only the delegates indicated in the list for the selection of the village council. Some of the delegates were unhappy with the change in the list, but the pre‐election coma started shouting at them and forced them to disperse. Together with his remaining supporters, he drew up a protocol, according to which both of his protégés were elected to the Council with an alleged majority of votes.
53. Fergana region. Kokand district In the Sokh parish. in with. Yukari Kurgan, the chairman of the election commission, against the will of the voters, wanted to nominate his protege to the village council. When the assembled protested categorically against this, they were given a shot, after which those present fled.
54. Tashkent district In the Bash‐Kizylsay agriculture of the Djetykent vol. during the re‐election of a laborer, who gave discharge ʺlaborerʺ, a member of the CP, because the nearly 15 years he was the Imam of 97 mosques and cooperative embezzled money, the latter immediately on meeting dekhan was beaten.
55. Kyrgyz Autonomous Region. Jalal‐Abad District. In with. The October cell of the KP deprived of the right to vote persons who openly demanded at a meeting of the cooperative that the board be brought to trial for a large embezzlement committed by members of the board ‐ party members.
True to the truth: Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
APPENDIX 4
ELECTION OF THE CCC
1. Participation of the population in the re‐elections of the KKOV
1. Ryazan lips. In Sasovskaya parish. Sasovsky. from 7 to 27% participate in the KKOV re‐election. In with. Innino Elatomsky parish Kasimovsky u. 35% participated in the re‐elections, in the village. S. Nikolskoe Ryazan parish. and the county ‐ 25%.
2. Oryol province. In the Soskovsk parish. Orlovsky u. 25‐30% of the population participates in the re‐elections of KKOV, in Chernovskaya parish. the same district and in the Lenin parish. Maloarkhangelsky u. ‐ 35%, in Ternovskaya parish. Livensky u. ‐ 30‐40%, in Glodnevsky district of Dmitrovsky district ‐ about 60%.
3. Voronezh province. In sl. Andreevka, Berezova and hut. Dolgaev, Podgornensky District, Rossoshansky District 20% of the population participated in the re‐election of the KKOV; Aleksandrovka and Morozovka Rossoshanskiy district and district ‐ 15%, in the sl. Krinichnaya of the same county, the meeting appointed several times did not take place, and only the last time, when agricultural workers threatened voters with a fine for failure to appear, they managed to collect 30%.
4. Moskovskaya lips. Moscow u. In the village. N.‐Aleksandrovskaya, Voskresen‐ki, Poveltsevo Communist vol. and in the village. Troparevo Leninskaya Vol. from 11 to 23% of voters participated in the re‐elections of the KKOV. In with. Pekhra‐Po‐krovskoe Razin parish, in the village. Khlebnikovo Communist Vol. and in 8 villages of Kozlovsky parish. the re‐election was disrupted due to the absence of the population. On average, the number of participants in the county reaches 39‐45%.
5. Gomel province. In Unecha parish. Klintsovsky u. up to 50% of the population took part in the re‐elections of the KKOV, in the villages of Pavlovka, Shulonovka, Sudynka and Baturovka of the same volost, 6070% of voters attended meetings; Gnilusha, 40% of the population took part in the re‐elections, in the villages of Perelazi, Kolyuda and
Foshnoe, Krasnogorsk parish. Klintsovsky u. for re‐elections was 4750%.
6. Belarus. In the Voynilovichsky village council of the Chervensky district of the Minsk district, up to 80% of the population took part in the re‐election of the KKOV, in the Prusevichsky village council of the Begoml district of the Borisov district, in the Sirotinsky village council of the Vitebsk district willow. Kotelevskoe, Goretsky district, Orsha district, 70% took part in the re‐elections. 57% of the total population was present at the re‐elections of the Raevsky KKOV of the Starobinsky district of the Slutsk district.
7. Maikop district. In with. Khamyshki, 105 out of the total population of 802 were present at the meeting on the re‐election of the KKOV, in st. Imeritinskaya out of 2260 people of the population was present only 190, in stts. Shirovanskaya out of 1914 people showed up only 60, in the station. Novosvobodnaya of 3030 people was present at 29% of the population, st. Gubskaya ‐ 27%, st. Khamkotinskaya ‐ 22%, st. Chernoretinskaya ‐ 17%, sts. Salty ‐ 21%, sts. Bo‐gayevskaya ‐ 20%, Kostromskaya ‐ 15%, Ferry ‐ 9%.
A similar picture is observed in other districts of the North Caucasus.
8. Stalingrad province. In 15 volosts of the Ust‐Medveditsky district, on average, 59% of the population took part in the re‐elections of the KKOV. In the hut. Frolov of the same district, in order to convene a reelection meeting, they rang the bell for seven days, 25‐30 people came to the meeting. In with. Salt‐Zaymishche Chernoyarsk Vol. during November‐December, a meeting was convened several times to reelection the KKOV, but each time it was disrupted due to the absence of voters. In the area of the stts. Golubinskaya 2nd Don District, the participation of the population in the re‐elections of the KKOV does not exceed 10%.
9. Saratov province. In with. Baklushi Balashovsky u. 35 out of 4000 voters came to the re‐election of KKOV; N.‐Tulovka Novouzensky u. 15‐20% of the population took part in the re‐elections. In with. Berezovka Kamyshinsky u. ‐ 35%, in the village. Ershovka Volsky u. 22 people out of 653 voters came to the re‐election of KKOV. In the villages of N.‐Alekseevka and Synodskaya of the same district, meetings for re‐election of KKOV were appointed 4‐5 times.
10. Kuznetsk district. In the village. Inyushka, Leninsky District, 90 out of 400 voters were present at the meeting for the re‐election of the KKOV; Sartakova of the same district out of 569 voters — 176, in the village. Pesgerevo, Leninsky district, out of 712 voters ‐ 82 people, in the village. A third of 300 ‐ 60 people.
11. Amur lips. In the village. M.‐Sazanka Svobodnensky u. 25% of the population attended the re‐elections of the KKOV; Popovka of the same county — 40%, in the village. Chernigovka ‐ 31%.
In addition, in 14 provinces and districts of the Union, 94 cases of disruption of meetings for re‐elections of the KKOV were registered due to the absence of voters.
2. Negative attitude towards KKOV
12. Moscow province. In with. Vozharovo Luchinskaya parish Voskresensky u. The middle peasant at a meeting on the reelection of the KKOV said: ʺBy organizing the KKOV, the Soviet government wants to show that it allegedly helps the peasants in some way, but in fact the committees are being organized in order to get rid of helping the peasantry.ʺ
13. In the village. Frolovskaya Volokolamsky u. one of the peasants who spoke said that ʺall the KKOV are just superfluous peasantsʹ backbonesʺ and that the peasants are not getting any improvement through the committees.
14. Kursk province. In with. Puzachah Manutrovskaya Vol. at the reelection of the KKOV, one of the peasants who spoke pointed out: “We are being told about the organization of the poor, but this is of little use. The committees are unable to give the poor people anything real, and therefore they are not needed. ʺ
15. Oryol province. In Troitskaya Vol. Orlovsky u. the peasants, referring to the re‐election of the KKOV indifferently, declare: ʺWhatʹs the use of them, they will give 1‐2 poods of oats, and even then when good people are eliminated.ʺ
16. Voronezh province. In with. Usman of the 2nd Prvdachensky district, the middle peasant who spoke at the meeting said: ʺOur committees are engaged only in self‐criticism, since all collected membership fees go to the maintenance of those working in them, and therefore there is no need for the existence of committees.ʺ The poor man who spoke here said: ʺOf course, we need committees, but since they are inactive, it is better not to have them.ʺ
17. Gomel province. In Yudinovskaya Vol. among the peasants, not excluding the poor, there was an opinion that committees are a free subsidiary organization of the village council, which helps to pump out agricultural taxes and perform other work.
18. Don district. In stts. S.‐Minskoy, at a meeting on the re‐election of the KKOV, the peasants said: ʺIs it possible to do without KKOV, since, despite the fact that we gave good people there, all the same KKOV did not give anything.ʺ
19. Stalingrad province. In with. Vladimirovka Leninsky u. the population did not take any part in the re‐election of the KKOV, declaring: ʺThere is no job anyway, so why elect it.ʺ
There were 115 similar facts in 22 provinces and districts of the Union.
3. Refusals from the KKOV organization
20. Moscow province. In the village. Zatesovo Sudislavl par. Volokolamsky u. the peasants refused to elect KKOV, motivating
their refusal by the inoperability of KKOV.
21. In the village. Pestrinovo, Volochelovo, Koverino and Unavino Myachkovskaya vol. Kolomensky u. the peasants categorically abandoned the KKOV, motivating their refusal by their complete uselessness.
22. Belarus. In the Pozharischensky village council of the Beshenkovichi district, the peasants, having abandoned the KKOV, said: ʺWe do not need committees and their help is not needed.ʺ
23. Salsky district. In the Dukhobor 98 community of Petrovka, at a meeting on the proposal of the SelKKOVs to send out family‐property lists to register the taxable population, the peasants issued a resolution: “In view of the fact that the information of the SelKKOV is required to allocate the collection of money to such a fund, it is absolutely unnecessary to give information and recognize the organization of the SelKKOV ʺ. A similar resolution was passed at a general meeting of the Veselaya community.
24. Terek District. In with. Mogilno‐Posselskoe, Bolynerechensky district, a resolution was passed at the meeting, which states that the population refuses the KKOV organization, since ʺit does not see any benefit from it.ʺ
26. Peasants der. Petrova, Yekaterininsky district, refused to organize KKOV and out of 114 farms only 25 people expressed their desire to join ‐ almost all of the former Red Army soldiers. As a result, KKOV is not organized. The majority of the poor dependent are against the cross‐comas, one of the poor said in his speech: “Why do we need to create cross‐comas, since they do not give us anything. 40 poods. Krestkomsky bread and 20 rubles. money, if we share, then there will be more benefit. ʺ
Cases of refusal to organize KKOV were registered in 22 provinces and districts of the Union — 121.
4. The poor and the middle peasants in the re‐election of the KKOV
27. Oryol province. In the Markinsky district of Droskovskaya vol. Maloarkhangelsky u. the poor at the re‐election meeting actively criticized the activities of the KKOV. At the same time, one of the poor people pointed out the need to strengthen the material fund of the KKOV, declaring: ʺWe need a committee, who do we contact then, and the kulaks will then completely bite us.ʺ
28. In Zhernovskaya parish. Livensky u. at the re‐elections of the KKOV, the middle peasants and the poor, as opposed to the wealthy, striving to eliminate the KKOV, declared: ʺWe need a committee, we have nowhere else to get help.ʺ
29. Voronezh province. In with. Makarya R.‐Khavsky district of Voronezh u. At the meeting for the re‐election of KKOV, one of the poor spoke especially sharply: “This meeting is wrong, because there are middle peasants and well‐to‐do people, I demand that they be removed from the meeting and only the poor people should vote, since KKOV is a poor organization. Is it here that the poor will find protection for themselves when gendarmes, former officers, a private owner, a former landowner are present”? Offended by this speech, the middle peasants and the wealthy declared that if only the poor people needed this organization, they would leave the meeting.
30. Belarus. In the Brodetsky village council of the Berezinsky district, during the re‐elections of the KKOV, the population was divided into two camps. The kulaks tried to convince the poor of the uselessness of the KKOV, saying that the poor would be able to get support from the wealthy peasantry rather than from the committee. The poor, actively opposing the desire of the wealthy to eliminate KKOV, declared: ʺYour assistance is costly for the poor.ʺ
31. Gomel province. In with. Dubrovka Surazhskaya parish. Klintsovsky u. In the re‐elections of the KKOV, the middle peasants and the poor, jointly opposing the group of the wealthy, who nominated their own candidates, they brought only the poor to the KKOV.
32. In the Vetka parish. in the village. Khalch, Rudnya‐Sponyatskaya, Kupreevka and Besed before the re‐election of the KKOV, pre‐election meetings of the poor, farm laborers and middle peasants took place. Such meetings were approved by all those present and the opinion was expressed that such meetings should be held more often, and it was also pointed out the need for joint speeches of the middle peasants and the poor as opposed to the wealthy and the kulaks.
33. In the village. New Scales of Mglinskaya Vol. Klintsovsky u. during the re‐election, in spite of the well‐to‐do performance of the well‐to‐do, the majority of the poor entered the KKOV. The latter, triumphant in victory, declare that this victory was a success thanks to the group meetings of the poor.
34. In p. Chaussi Starodubsky u. thanks to the solidarity of the poor and middle peasants, the kulaks who tried to get their candidates into the KKOV were unsuccessful. Only the poor are held in KKOV.
35. Don district. In sl. The Semikarakorsk preparatory campaign for the re‐election of the KKOV was carried out under the slogan of uniting the poor and middle peasants. At the meeting of the asset, the middle peasants and the poor took an active part.
36. Terek District. In stts. In the Chernoyarsk Prokhladninsky district, during the re‐election of the KKOV, despite the attempt by a group of the wealthy to nominate their own candidates, the poor won the candidates on their own. The meeting acknowledged the work of the KKOV as unsatisfactory, noting mainly the lack of work among the poor and middle peasants and the lack of cohesion between the poor and the middle peasants in the daily work of KKOV.
5. Countermeasures of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do organization of the
KKOV
37. Kostroma province. In the village. Burkhulovo, Nerekhtsky district the well‐to‐do in connection with the re‐elections of the KKOV declare: ʺWhat do we need cooperation, KKOV and the government, if we ourselves are good masters and work well, we will live like that.ʺ
38. Moscow province. In Pavlovskaya sl. Voskresensky u. a group of the wealthy at a meeting for the re‐election of the KKOV demanded that they be given the right to organize their own self‐help committee, separate from the rest of the population.
39. Gomel province. In the Vetka parish. wealthy peasants tried to speak at meetings of groups of the poor, appearing at them without permission and agitating that the committees were an unnecessary organization, giving nothing to the population.
40. Shakhty district. In the hut. According to the report on the work of the KKOV, the well‐to‐do prosperous declared: “We do not need any KKOV, for many years we have lived without it and will continue to live, we have already chosen KKOV many times, and there is no benefit from them. This KKOV is useless business. ʺ
41. Taganrog District. In with. Kamenno‐Andrianova, M.‐Kurgan region, the kulaks, trying to disrupt the meeting on the re‐election of the KKOV, pointed out: ʺWhy do we need a cross, because he takes pounds from us and drives us out to clean up funds, and he himself is doing that by drinking everything on drink.ʺ
42. Astrakhan province. During the re‐election of the KKOV KKOV of the Enotaevsky district, the former chieftain who spoke said: “We do not need KKOV. This is a charitable organization, where all the parasites. Everything is fine ‐ the KKOV, the authorities, and the party, but why are they forcibly tying us into collectives? Donʹt we see that KKOV is the lining with which they want to ʺwarmʺ us all”.
43. Kuznetsk district. In the village. Inyushka of the Leninsky District, at a meeting on the re‐election of the KKOV, one of the wealthy spoke out against the KKOV organization, declaring: ʺWhy do we need a committee, we will live without a committee, the committees do not give us any benefit, he only helps the poor, let them organize it.ʺ
6. The clogging of the re‐elected CCAC
44. Moscow province. During the re‐election of KKOV in the village. Shustovo, Ilinsky district, Dmitrovsky u. a former policeman was elected to the revolutionary commission. In the village. Zhukovo Dmitrovskaya parish and the county, a merchant was elected to the KKOV. In the village. Petrovsko‐Labanovo Ulyanovsk vol. Moscow u. hooligans and drunkards are elected. In Nikiforovsky KKOV Turovsky vol. Serpukhovsky u. the son of a timber merchant passed. Three merchants and an anarchist entered the Ozersky KKOV volost.
45. Belarus. In the Osovsky village council of the Borisov district, a drunkard and a bribe‐taker was elected chairman of the KKOV, and is under investigation.
46. Don district. In with. B.‐Logskiy of Aksay region the former chieftain who is under investigation for bribes was elected as the chairman of the KKOV. In with. Yasensky and Hut. Former atamans were elected as chairmen of the KKOV in the Kukhorovsky Yeisk district.
47. Taganrog District. In the village Mikhailovsky, Fedorovsky district, the chairman of the KKOV was a kulak, which after his election immediately gave 15 poods to the KKOV. wheat, declaring: ʺIf there is not enough, then I will let go, let them know that I am also a man and let them not consider me a fist.ʺ
48. Stavropol District. In with. A former policeman was elected to the Tatarka of the Stavropol district as the chairman of the KKOV ʺ.
In total, 25 cases of contamination of the newly elected KKOV were registered in 7 provinces and districts of the Union.
True to the truth: Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev
APPENDIX No. 5
STRIKE MOVEMENT AMONG EMPLOYEES
1. Nizhny Novgorod province. The meeting of the employees of the Arzamas Ufinotdel decided to send a letter of appeal to the employees of all the financial organs of the Nizhny Novgorod province. with a request to discuss the issue of a salary increase. A proposal was also accepted to raise the issue of raising wages in the board of the Union of Soviet Trade Employees, which was entrusted to the board member comrade Latyshev. Latyshev is sent to the gubernia trade council with all the material to clarify the issue within a week.
In an appeal to the gubernia trade council, it is indicated that pom. the accountant receives 27 rubles. 50 kopecks, that only firewood and an apartment absorb more than half of the earnings, while the employees of the State Bank are well provided for, as are the employees of the postal and railway departments, cooperative and economic institutions. ʺWe note this injustice and can never agree with this, since this division only introduces a split in the union organizations, creates a murmur of financially disadvantaged employees and their departure to more secure institutions.ʺ In conclusion, there is a request for a petition to the higher authorities for an increase of 40% from October 1925.
Upon receipt of the letter by the local committee of Kr. Bokovsky UFO at the meeting decided to ask the governor department to increase the salaries of employees, otherwise threatening to organize a strike committee and a strike.
Only thanks to the energetic opposition of the head. The UFO and the secretary of the party cell, the minutes were not approved by the general meeting.
The local committee of the Balakhna district financial department (Sormovsky district), having received the letter, handed it over to the chairman of the Union, Brunov, who warned about its non‐
disclosure. The nature of the letter nevertheless turned out to be known to the employees, who at a general meeting decided to fight illegal (unpaid) overtime work, which has become chronic in the district federal district and is in the form of exploitation. There are still no responses to the letter from Arzamas residents from other regions.
2. Oryol province. Among the employees of a number of Orel and Lieven institutions, dissatisfaction is caused by the poor financial situation ‐ delayed wages and low salaries. Institutions on the local budget have not paid their December salary yet (police, CEC 11 , UFO, etc.). The employees of the house of pre‐trial detention are talking about absenteeism, suggesting leaving the guard of prisoners. The Union of Soviet Workers receives daily applications to accelerate the issuance of wages. Employees accuse not only the administration of being passive, but also trade‐union organizations, which care little about the fate of employees.
3. Belarus. In NKZem, due to the large difference between the rates of lower employees and the rates of responsible employees (25‐30 rubles and 150‐186 rubles), dissatisfaction is noted among lower employees. Businessmen Parfimovich, Misyukevich and Gusak say that ʺif the Soviet power were destroyed, then with an increase in salary, they agree to go over to the side of the monarchists.ʺ
4. Minsk District. At the end of last year, a messenger of the Minsk post and telegraph office attempted suicide, leaving a note that he commits suicide due to the desperate financial situation, as to live on 21 rubles. per month is impossible. The position of the messenger offices is very difficult, the highest rate for them is 28 rubles, and the majority receive 21‐25 rubles.
5. Bobruisk district. Employees of the Bobruisk postal and telegraph office are unhappy that they have not been given an increase from the new budget year and declare that in those institutions where there are many Jews, everyone receives decent rates. The dissatisfaction of the postal and telegraph workers was especially strong at the district conference of communications workers, where only non‐party members who had previously served in the white armies, and a similar element, entered the district government of the Union.
6. Smolensk province. 20th of December. In connection with the shortage of goods and the increased cost of the most essential goods, the discontent of the employees of the general department of the Vyazemsky PEC is increasing, who declare that the real wages are now significantly lower than last year. Employees say that neither the management nor the union is paying attention to them, while those in charge receive substantial wages.
Among the employees of the Yartsevsky district offices, there is also a massive increase in dissatisfaction with wages.
Discontent with low wages was noted among the lower employees of the Roslavl PEC, judicial investigation stations and the police. Clerks of these institutions receive 18‐22 rubles, while clerks in economic institutions receive 40‐45 rubles. Employees are looking for more profitable positions.
The accountant of the general department of the Gzhatsk PEC in a conversation with the employees said: “You cannot live on the salary you receive; if it were not for private ancillary work, all of us, the workers, would have gone with the bag long ago. If the salary is not increased, then this time will soon come and we will have to die of hunger. ʺ
Communication workers in the city of Vyazma are dissatisfied with the meager wages. Many of them leave the service and move to other institutions. Average rate for Vyazemsky expressed in 29 rubles. This amount is received by a qualified employee who is well versed in the postal and telegraph service, who has served in the department for 710 years.
7. Kiev district. In the Kiev komkhoz, in December, there was a strong discontent of employees due to the fact that the Union demanded a minimum wage of 15 rubles, and the zavkomkhoz offered 12 rubles. even threats to ʺtake them out in a wheelbarrowʺ (there were also workers at the meeting). The Arbitration Commission, where the conflict was referred, decided it in favor of the administration, after which the employees began to accuse the Union of “covering up the exploitation of employees”. At the delegate meeting, where this was announced, one of the speakers said that ʺin 1905 we fought against the exploiters, now we will have to do the same with business executives, we will not allow exploitation,ʺ while a demand was made to convene a city‐wide union conference. At a meeting of workers of the collective farm,
8. Kubansky District. Judicial technicians, whose rates have been increased in the new fiscal year, are showing discontent, intensified by higher costs and a 60% increase in judicial officer rates. The inferior workers talk about the strike. At a general meeting of the staff of the permanent session, the peopleʹs courts, the inheritance and the prosecutorʹs office, the staff accused the union of inaction in protecting the interests of ordinary workers. With a majority of only one vote, the resolution to reject the 7% increase received was overturned.
9. Saratov province. In Serdobsky u. there is growing discontent among the employees of the co‐institutions in connection with the delay in wages and their reduction. This mood has covered all layers of employees from educators to firefighters, among whom there is a special activity. They presented a demand for payment of salaries to the PEC; it was decided that the firemaster would go to Saratov to raise this issue at the GIK. The position of the employees is really very difficult, the salary due to the deficit of the local budget is not paid for two or three months. Here is the text of the appeal distributed by the employees.
ʺAppeal to all comrades who do not receive timely salaries
Dear comrades, for more than 2 months now, many of us have not received a salary, and yet life requires compensation (replenishment) of the material resources necessary, mainly for the purchase of food. But there are no material means, no food, and is it possible to exist in this state of affairs. Thanks to such a phenomenon, one has to experience all the sorrows of life: hunger, cold and all the proletarian need. Meanwhile, people who are closer to the authorities receive a decent salary and on time without delay. Think deeply, dear comrades, and you will clearly understand the whole falsity of the slogan ʺEverything for the working people.ʺ Whether our administration is in the position of working people ‐ no. First of all, the Soviet bureaucracy is ensured, which is no different from the decayed monarchist, which also likes to shout. Dear comrades, are we celebrating at this time without a penny in our pockets ‐ no. So, together we demand timely payment.
There is no service without timely payment of salaries.
Proven workers”.
10. Primorskaya lips. Financial inspectors of the financial department dissatisfied with the cancellation of the increase of 12 rubles received since August. 50 kopecks (to the basic salary of 40 rubles. 50 kopecks) and the introduction instead of an increase in bonuses, on December 19 they did not go to work, having filed a collective complaint to the Union against the administration of the province. Their demand is satisfied.
True to the truth: Secretary of INFO OGPU Soloviev