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Review of the political state of the USSR
Review of the political state of the USSR in June 1927
Top secret
August 11, 1927 Moscow
At the same time, an overview of the political state of the USSR for June 1927 is being transmitted. The review was compiled on the basis of data from the state information of the Information Department of the OGPU, supplemented by materials from the OGPU departments: Secret (clergy and anti‐Soviet [ethnic] parties), Counterintelligence (banditry) and Transport department (railway workers).
This survey, in view of its top‐secret nature, should be kept on par with the code. Making copies and making extracts is not allowed in any case.
The PP of the OGPU and the heads of the provincial and regional departments of the OGPU can give an overview for reading to the secretaries of the regional committees, provincial committees, regional committees and the Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b).
When reviewing 4 applications and one table.
Deputy prev. OGPU Yagoda
Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev
WORKERS
The month of June is characterized by a rise in the mood of the workers in connection with the aggravation of the international situation in the USSR. The upsurge is especially characteristic of workers in factory state industry; in transport and seasonal work, the mood of workers is lower.
The deterioration of the political mood of workers in individual enterprises (mainly in the textile industry) is caused by the implementation, without sufficient preparatory work, measures to intensify labor (in connection with rationalization).
The strike movement, in comparison with May, gives a significant increase, coming at the expense of seasonal workers (122 strikes with 13,426 participants against 101 strikes with 6591 participants in May). The number of strikers in seasonal work more than doubled, but in relation to the same month of 1926 the strike movement among seasonal workers gives a significant decrease (in 1926 there were 81 strikes with 13,332 participants with an average strike duration of 1.6 days, 1927 ‐ 6 strikes with 8554 participants with an average duration of 1.2 days).
Strikes and conflicts at enterprises
Metalworkers. A further decrease in the number of strikes continues in June (12 with 1325 participants versus 17 with 1488 participants in May and 27 with 1680 participants in April). Most of the strikes were caused by wage cuts. At the Dnepropetrovsk plant, 140 workers went on strike in the bridge shop on the grounds that wages dropped after the introduction of the label system. At the meeting there were sharp attacks against the factory committee and the management: ʺDo not strangle us, our children are dying of hunger, we have been placed in worse conditions than under the old regime, the workers are now ignored.ʺ On the manufactured parts, the inscriptions were made: ʺBeat the Jews ‐ save Russiaʺ and others.
At the Cartridge Plant (Tula), a strike of 150 workers of the foundry was caused by the introduction of fines for defects (from 14 to 60 rubles). The fines were imposed by the head of the department without any warning. The conflict was resolved after the withheld money was returned to the workers.
At the Duminichesky iron foundry, Bryansk province. (240 workers were on strike) and at the Trud plant (Vladmetalltrest), the strikes were caused by delayed wages. Cases of delayed wages at metal plants in June‐16 (12 in May), are observed mainly at the enterprises of Gosachugplav and Tagilmetalltrest.
At the Dubenskiy plant (Gosachugplava, Tula), a group of workers refused to work, claiming that they ʺate nothingʺ (I, 1‐3).
Textile workers. The number of strikes among textile workers gives a slight decrease, however, in the presence of the consolidation of individual strikes (11 with 1662 participants against 15 with 982 participants in May). Strikes are caused by dissatisfaction with wages. The largest strike (1,100 workers) was at the Krasny Duljapinets textile factory of the 1st Flax Administration of Kostroma Province. associated with measures to rationalize production. It was supposed to transfer some of the machines to other factories, and the workers were not informed about the purpose of this transfer. The workers got the impression that factories were being closed. This rumor was started by a group of anti‐Soviet people working at the factory (a former cadet of the Kolchak army, a former criminal who terrorized the entire district at one time, etc.). One member of the CPSU (b), who was also in the group, called on the meeting to ʺexpel the entire administration from the factory.ʺ The group established written communication with some of the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk workers.
At the Teikovskaya factory, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. a group of female workers went on strike in connection with poor yarn; it is characteristic that the director of the factory found out about the strike only two weeks later (I, 4‐6).
Seasonal workers. The strike movement among seasonal workers (construction workers, peat bogs, logging workers) has increased significantly. Out of 76 strikes with participants ‐ 8554 (in May 43 strikes with 3028 participants), the majority falls on builders ‐ 47. In relation to the 1926 season, there is a decline in the strike movement the number of strikers by 36%), with a significant increase in the number of those employed in seasonal work. Most of the strikes among seasonal workers arise out of dissatisfaction with the size of wages (rates and rates). In many cases, payment is made bypassing the terms of the collective agreement. On this basis, a large strike took place at the Mezinovskiye peat‐mining areas of the Vladimir province. (20 artels of up to 1000 workers went on strike). The workers demanded that the administration strictly adhere to the collective agreement and increase prices. The strike was liquidated by the intervention of party and professional bodies, which promised to eliminate the abnormalities existing in the development. In March, a strike had already taken place at these peat extraction sites (220 out of 320 workers went on strike). The strikers threatened to strike again at the height of the construction season if wage conditions had not been improved by then.
Noteworthy is the strike of 500 workers to load ballast onto platforms on the North Caucasian railway. on the basis of low prices. Other strikes are less significant in terms of the number of participants (50‐200 people). It should be noted the organization shown by seasonal workers in some conflicts (agitation for support among workers of neighboring buildings and developments, removal from work by compulsory order, etc.; for example, the construction of Sokstroy, Moscow).
On the outskirts, seasonal workers are seriously displeased by the poor supply of food. On the Kokchetav railway (Akmola province) seasonal workers were given bread with manure. The outraged workers said: ʺWe must kill the entire administration.ʺ A group of workers tried to arrange the crash of a motor railcar on which the administration was traveling. It should be noted that last year on the same road, workers, outraged by the arbitrariness of the administration, staged a railcar crash, 8 people were injured.
Workers Art. Taincha and Kiyaly (Kokchetav railway) approached the TPO section with a request to improve the quality of bread, agreeing to a price increase. Having received a refusal, they entered into a condition with a private trader (I, 7‐9).
Other industries. In June, there were 23 strikes with 1,885 participants, most of them on the basis of dissatisfaction with the level of wages. A major strike took place among the loaders of Tatlestrest and Sevvostlestrest (16 artels were on strike ‐ 700 people working to unload timber from a barge). The loaders worked at the rates of 1926 and, working piecework, did not even work out their daily wage (2 rubles 62 kopecks). The strike was eliminated after the appointment of new higher rates (I, 10).
Delays in wages have also been the cause of strikes and serious discontent among workers, albeit in a significantly smaller number of factories than in May (32 versus 47 last month). In 8 cases, the delay was long‐term (up to 2‐3 months). In the carpentry shops of Komborbez (Romny, Ukraine) 80 workers went on strike due to a 3‐month delay in wages; the party members who remained at work, under the threat of the strikers, were also forced to leave their machines.
Production rationalization
The consolidation of the working day, reduction, transfers to other enterprises, etc., carried out in order to rationalize, continue to cause discontent among workers in a number of factories, which is largely due to insufficient preparatory work on the part of factory organizations. In some cases, discontent turns into conflicts, accompanied by threats to stop work, calls not to allow rationalization, attacks against the party and the Soviet government.
Transition to an increased number of machines and sides. The transition to an increased number of machines and sides (from 2 to 3 and 4 machines and in some cases from 8 to 10 and 14) is the main reason for the dissatisfaction of textile workers (Moscow, IvanovoVoznesensk and Tver provinces), in features associated with the village. At a number of meetings, workers objected to this measure, pointing out the difficult working conditions (severe wear and tear of equipment, poor quality of yarn, untimely delivery of materials from different departments, etc.). At a number of meetings, open protests against the party and the Soviet regime were noted. At the Dedovskaya factory (Moscow 2nd Cotton Trust), at a meeting on the transition to 3 machines, shouts were heard: “Down with rationalization, it is aimed at enslaving the workers. The Soviet government and the party are deceiving the working class. ʺ
At the f‐ke them. Nogin (1st Moscow Paper Trust) no one voted for the proposed resolution to switch to 3 machines; in the same place, during a meeting devoted to the question of a break with England, the speaker was interrupted by shouts: ʺWhy do we need England, we have to sort it out at home, we donʹt need any resolutions.ʺ A particularly acute conflict took place at the textile factories of the Tver province. A group of workers from the factory ʺVagzhanovkaʺ came to the editorial office of the newspaper and said that they did not want to switch to 4 machines, as this would increase unemployment. Some of them even required switching to 2 machines. At the production conference of the ʺProletarkaʺ factory, the chairman of the trust could not start the report on rationalization for 30 minutes. because of the noise and shouts: ʺDown with 4 machines.ʺ The Presidium received notes: “If 4 machines are introduced, we will break all the glass. You communists are beaten, and we, proletarians, we will hang you, the ropes are ready. ʺ The aggravation of workers ʹdiscontent was facilitated by the demagogic speech of the Komsomol member Glebov, who declared that
ʺrationalization is carried out on the workersʹ necks, all the blood is sucked out of the workers,ʺ etc. The resolution proposed by him at the meeting demanding the transition back to 2 machines was adopted unanimously. The next day, Glebov gathered a group of workers, urging not to allow the transition to 4 machines.
At the Gorko‐Pavlovsk factory of Ivtextil, workers and peasants sharply opposed the introduction of 4 machines: ʺThe Soviet government exploits more than the imperialistsʺ, etc. The party members who spoke were not allowed to speak. A weaver (a well‐to‐do peasant) urged ʺin no case to switch to 4 loomsʺ, another weaver (also a well‐to‐do peasant) demonstratively left the meeting and took along a significant group of workers (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya gubernia).
The transition to the maintenance of an increased number of looms (from 42 to 48, from 45 to 50), in connection with the rationalization of production, causes discontent among the weaving masters and apprentices. At the Oktyabrskaya Revolution spinning and weaving mill (Bronnitsky district, Moscow province), an anti‐Soviet worker tried to use the discontent of a group of apprentices and craftsmen (40 people) with the transition from 40 to 48 looms (I, 11‐15).
Reduction. The downsizing caused by rationalization in some cases leads to sharp conflicts. At the Rogachev factory of the 1st Flax Administration of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. (for 3 factories of this association, it is planned to lay off 500 people), a downsized locksmith worker appeared drunk in the managerʹs office and wounded him (I,
16).
Other industries
Dissatisfaction caused by rationalization is also noted among workers in other industries (metal, mining, printing), but so far at a small number of enterprises. In some cases, discontent is used for their own purposes by anti‐Soviet persons working at enterprises. At the Dobriansky iron‐making plant (Prikamsky district, Ural), in a steam electric plant, a group of two former members of the CPSU and a worker who had evacuated with Kolchak was agitating among the workers. At a delegate meeting at the Zaprudnensky Glass Factory of Glavlektrotrest (Moscow), a worker (Menshevik‐minded) spoke at a delegate meeting: ʺWe fought for the revolution, soon, perhaps, we will have to sniff gunpowder again, and when we are downsized, personal scores are settled.ʺ One of the workers slated for layoff
In the mining industry, there have been isolated cases of deliberate damage to mechanized equipment (mine ʺCominternʺ, Krivoy Rog district). Strong discontent is noted among printers in Moscow, where a number of printing houses have been liquidated (I, 17‐18).
The mood of workers in connection with the latest political events
The mood of the main workers. In connection with the latest political events (the Anglo‐Soviet rupture, etc.), the mood of the main cadres of workers in all large industrial regions (Center, Leningrad, Ukraine, the North Caucasus Territory, the Urals, etc.) and meetings, and in the conversations and speeches of individual workers. The mood of the railway workers and miners of Siberia is lower.
It is characteristic that at a number of factories (Center, Ural, etc.), where serious discontent on economic grounds was previously noted, recent events have caused a change in the mood of the workers.
An indicative performance of a worker at the plant. Kolyuschenko (Urals): “Let the bourgeoisie not think that if we quarrel among ourselves, we will not go to war. After all, we know that it will not be better than under the Soviet regime, we will not give power to an insult, even if we only reckon more with the workers. ʺ
The bulk of the workers fully approves of the policy pursued by the Soviet government in relation to the capitalist encirclement. At the meetings, the workers made calls to focus all attention on issues of military training and the strengthening of industry: ʺWhat we did at 08:00, we will be at 06:00.ʺ
A part of the workers advocated the use of decisive measures against the bourgeois countries. However, some of the workers find the policy pursued by the Soviet government not decisive enough (“the Soviet government follows in the footsteps of Christ — they hit on the right cheek — substitutes the left”).
At the Miass Sawing Plant (Ural), the following addition was made to the resolution: ʺLet the USSR government declare its protest on paper to foreign predators for the last time, and in the future, if such cases repeat, it is necessary to use weapons.ʺ
At the Cloth Factory in Omsk, a group of workers applauded a party member who said: “How long will we stand on ceremony and treat them (bourgeois countries) with pieces of paper. Give war! ʺ
The mood of the workers in connection with the publication of materials on espionage and sabotage. In a number of speeches and conversations, the workers (of the largest enterprises in Moscow and other regions), fully approving the measures taken by the Soviet government to combat espionage (shooting 20) and sabotage, spoke in favor of using more brutal measures. The workers demand an immediate cleansing of factories from counterrevolutionary elements, proposals are being made to ʺexpand the powers of the GPUʺ, ʺto declare a red terrorʺ (ʺCome on in an emergency, this will most likely bring back to life the dispersed NEPs 232 and former peopleʺ ‐ workersʹ performances at factories in Ukraine).
Counterrevolutionary actions within the country caused a surge of mistrust among some workers (mainly in Siberia and the Urals) towards specialists, especially those associated in the past with the white movement.
At the ʺProletarskaya dictatorshipʺ mine (Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk district), the workers, having learned about the arrest of the technician, turned to the head of the mine for an explanation. The manager explained the absence of a technician with a disease. This was followed by a remark from the workers ‐ ʺyou all seem to get sick soon.ʺ
At the Kasli plant (Ural), a former sailor said: “The Communist Party gave too much encouragement to the White Guards, they took up responsible posts and do what they want, probably doing underground work. In addition to the party, it is necessary to kill all the White Guards, with this we can only save the Soviet regime. ʺ
The mood of the backward groups of workers. Among the most backward part of the workers (some low‐grade workers, auxiliary workers), there are tendencies to ʺreckonʺ, in the event of a declaration of war, with the administration of enterprises and (less often) with individual workers of the Soviet and party apparatus. Similar sentiments are found even among members of the party and the Komsomol.
The hostile attitude towards the administration is especially pronounced among the workers of Cherembass and Kuzbass
(Siberia). “Yes, if we go to fight, then we will not leave these bastards who are drinking our blood alive”, “we will have to settle accounts with internal enemies, and only then go to war” (statement of workers of the Cheremkhovsky mines). ʺIf there is a war, we will first kill the local rulers ‐ members of the CPSU, and then we will go to war with Englandʺ (worker, member of the Komsomol, Brewery in Orenburg).
While the main cadres of workers consider the possibility of the defeat of the Soviet regime as their own death (“the living will have to crawl into the noose,” “to lie down alive in the coffin”), small groups of philistine workers (mostly financially secured) declare their disinterest in the existence of the Soviet authorities. “What difference does it make whether the British or the Germans come here, we will not touch them and they will not touch us, but we will have to work the same, both under Soviet rule and with foreigners” (worker of Avtopromtorg in Irkutsk). “Now it makes no sense to keep the Soviet money, because the
USSR can win and everything is canceled. It is better to buy something with this money in a timely manner” (the foreman of the electrical department of railway workshops in Barnaul is hastily building a house, following his example one of the locksmiths bought flour for a whole year).
Lowered mood of workers due to economic discontent. At some enterprises, serious discontent of workers on an economic basis (Vyshnevolotskaya district, Tver province, Kivdinskie mines ‐ Siberia) led to a large number of attacks against the Soviet regime and the spread of panic rumors while a significant part of the workers was passive.
The mood of the transport workers is lower than the mood of the factory workers. The mood of Siberian railway workers is characterized by a number of negative aspects. Several protests were sluggish with low attendance. Frequent statements from the workers: ʺLet those who receive 300 rubles each go to fight.ʺ Anti‐Soviet attacks in a number of cases do not meet with a proper rebuff.
Anti‐Soviet agitation. Anti‐Soviet agitation at enterprises, in connection with the recent events, has noticeably intensified. The main content of the agitation is the statement about the inevitability of the defeat of Soviet Russia and the death of the dictatorship as a result of the war with the bourgeoisie. The inevitability of defeat is motivated by the technical weakness and internal instability of the USSR. The internal danger from the unemployed is especially emphasized. The conflicts of the USSR with Britain and Poland are interpreted as a consequence of ʺagitationʺ, ʺbold and rudeʺ policy of the USSR towards the capitalist powers. Calls for desertion from the army and reprisals against the communists continue.
In most cases, speeches of this kind are brightly colored by anti‐
Semitism.
Rebuffing anti‐Soviet actions by the main cadres of workers.
In most cases, anti‐Soviet actions not only do not meet with support, but at a number of enterprises they are resolutely rebuffed by the main cadres of workers.
At the Ivotskaya glass factory workers, having heard the statement of a group of skilled workers (5 people) about their unwillingness to participate in the war, replied: ʺOld regime workers, we will hang you with our own hands, if you do not go with us.ʺ
At the Don State Tobacco Factory (Rostov‐Don), a worker (Polish by origin) laughed when she learned about the murder of
Comrade. Voikov 233, and the administration had to use great efforts to keep the rest of the workers from reprisals against her.
UNEMPLOYED
The mood of the unemployed. In connection with the latest political events, there is an increase in anti‐Soviet agitation and demagogic speeches on the part of certain anti‐Soviet individuals.
At the same time, the mood at the labor exchanges of large centers (Moscow, Leningrad) was somewhat defused, due to the increased sending to work (in Moscow, the number of unemployed decreased by 15,000, in Leningrad ‐ by 7,000).
Conflicts at labor exchanges. Serious dissatisfaction arises at a number of exchanges in connection with the incorrect sending to work (protectionism), insufficiently adjusted work of exchanges (confusion in the queue when sending to work), as well as rude treatment of employees and administration of labor exchanges. On this basis, a number of threats from the unemployed towards the staff of exchanges (Tiflis, Erivan, Crimea) were noted. For example, two unemployed people in Tiflis came to the office of the head of the labor exchange after classes and threatened to kill him if he did not provide a job within 5 days. Some unemployed people (Sevastopol, Novosibirsk) are spreading rumors that in Moscow the unemployed broke the labor exchange, ʺthe same must be done soon with us.ʺ In Tiflis, one unemployed person tried to drown himself, but was held back and brought to the stock exchange, where in a frenzy he called on the unemployed to help him. The crowd of unemployed, excited by this, demanded the head of the stock exchange, and, moreover, there were calls to smash the stock exchange and deal with the ʺleadersʺ of the government, who ʺrip off our skinʺ. The crowd of the unemployed tried to throw the head of the section of the labor exchange from the balcony and calmed down only after promising to get the needy unemployed to work in the first place.
Campaigning is under way in a number of points to create control over the labor exchange (Leningrad, Crimea). In Yalta, on the initiative of the unemployed widow of a Red Army soldier (who has been wounded at the front), a meeting of the unemployed was called, where the election of a control troika took place.
Conflicts in public works. Sending to temporary and public works does not satisfy the unemployed due to low pay; there were many cases of refusal to work. Among the unemployed employed in public works, there were 4 conflicts, accompanied by the termination of work (Ukraine, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kursk ‐ about 1,500 unemployed participated). The termination of work and dissatisfaction with the unemployed involved in public works is caused by the fact that the administration of the work does not take into account the unemployed at all (arbitrary changes in prices, calculations). So, in the mountains. Frunze of the unemployed artel, working to drain the swamps, a week after the start of work, the prices were reduced (agreed to work 6 rubles 48 kopecks for the extraction of 1 cubic meter of soot peat, it was proposed to work at 3 rubles 03 kopecks per day). The administration explained to the requests of the unemployed, that the reduction in prices was made due to the economy mode. Some of the workers, dissatisfied with these explanations, went back to the labor exchange.
Speech by the unemployed in Kursk. Attention is drawn to the speech of the unemployed employed in public works in the mountains. Kursk. On the basis of dissatisfaction with the calculation (agreed on 1 ruble per day, calculated at 45 kopecks). The unemployed (300 people) gathered a rally, at which they elected a delegation and decided to go to the city council. On the way, new groups of unemployed joined, and a crowd of about 1000 people approached the Council building. All claims of the unemployed were recognized by the City Council as legal.
Agitation for organizing demonstrations was noted in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Leningrad: “We need to get together and after the meeting go with a demonstration to the Mossovet”, “You wonʹt get any work here, you need to take a white flag and go to Smolny” (II, 1‐7).
PEASANTRY
The political state of the village
As before, the focus of attention of all strata of the countryside is questions connected with complications in our international situation. The severance of diplomatic relations at the initiative of England, the murder in Warsaw of Comrade. Voikov, the terrorist and espionage work of British agents ‐ all this excites the peasantry very keenly, convinces them of the reality of the danger of war and creates in the vast majority of the peasantry the conviction of the intention of England and Poland to attack the Soviet Union.
The desire of the Soviet government to avoid war, the persistently pursued peaceful policy, and at the same time the line to strengthen the countryʹs defense, meet with full sympathy among the middle peasantries.
The poor and the former Red partisans, being mostly defensive, at the same time often display Soviet‐patriotic sentiments in the person of their most active elements. Like large groups of workers, the poor in a number of cases express dissatisfaction with the pliability of the Soviet government and demand a decisive rebuff to foreign imperialist states.
The kulaks, for the most part, are anti‐Soviet. The defeatist speeches of the kulaks constitute the majority of all such speeches.
Areas of the greatest distribution of defeatist agitation are: Right‐Bank
Ukraine, Polish regions of Belarus, Cossack regions of the North Caucasus and individual districts of the Far Eastern Territory.
The number of defeatist actions registered by the OGPU bodies in the listed areas ranges from 20 to 40 per district. In other regions of the Union, they are much smaller ‐ from 3‐5 to 10‐15 per district or province.
In a number of regions of the Union (especially where defeatist agitation is strong) among the peasantry, which does not have exhaustive information about the events, there is panic: the massive purchase of essential items (salt, flour, kerosene, manufactory), etc. mostly negative facts in the regions of the Union.
Negative moments in the mood of the broad masses of the peasantry and anti‐Soviet manifestations in the countryside
CENTRAL DISTRICT
Rumors of war caused some revival among the kulaks and elements alien to the Soviet regime. However, the kulaks of the Central District do not show any noticeable anti‐Soviet activity, confining themselves to anti‐Soviet agitation around rumors of war. In some cases, antiSoviet agitation takes on a sharper character, accompanied by threats against Soviet‐minded peasants and communists.
Anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulaks and the anti‐Soviet element. In the Tula province. the kulaks openly declare that ʺall peasants who are supporters of the Soviet power will soon be shotʺ, ʺthere will be a war, we will hang all communists and Komsomol members on telegraph polesʺ (Bronnitsky district of Moscow province). In the Vladimir province. a former landowner, a merchant and a former volost foreman are campaigning that ʺsoon there will be a war and all communists and Komsomol members will be cut out without exception.ʺ In the village Troekurovo Ranenburgsky u. Ryazan lips. kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements of the village, led by a former large landowner, are campaigning among the poor and middle peasants of their village, as well as nearby villages, urging them to ʺexpel all workers from the Council and elect independent people there,ʺ since ʺpeople are in power who they do not know how to cope with the task entrusted to them, and only like to fill their pockets. ʺ In another volost of the same province, the kulaks, headed by a former landowner, tried to disrupt the general meeting of peasants by shouting ʺDown with the communists.ʺ Fists der. Olenʹi Gory (Kaluga Gubernia), attending open party meetings, they are torn down in an organized way by shouting: ʺEnough oratory, soon the war and all of you are grave.ʺ Fist s. Tenkino Yukhnovsky u. of the same province spoke at a meeting and declared: “We, the peasants, lived better under tsarism, since the Soviet government, although it took the land from the landowners, did not give it to the peasants, but transferred it to the state farms. Hurry, the war, then we will talk with the communists. ʺ Fists of the village of N. Dorki, Vyshnevolotsky u. Tver lips. when concluding a contract for a forest of local importance, they said to the forester: ʺSoon there will be a war, the Soviet regime will be overthrown and then without any contract the forest will be ours.ʺ
Agitation for the creation of peasant unions. Of the 62 speeches with agitation for the cross union, noted during the reporting period throughout the Union, 40 performances relate to the Central District (of which 17 in Moscow province), in May 57 speeches for the CC were registered in the Center. By the nature of the appearances for the Constitutional Court in June, they are divided as follows: clearly political ‐ 10 facts (in May also 10), appearances with the requirement of the Constitutional Court to regulate prices ‐ 9, to fight tax policy ‐ 4; in 9 cases, proposals to organize a CC are not motivated Attention is drawn to the fact that statements for the Constitutional Court are associated with the issue of the war. A significant number of speeches for the Constitutional Court took place at meetings, in most cases dedicated to the international situation (13 cases) (III, 1‐6).
NORTHWEST
The growth of anti‐Soviet activity of the kulaks. In recent years, the anti‐Soviet activity of the kulaks and the anti‐Soviet element of the Northwest has noticeably increased. The following facts are symptomatic. In one of the villages of the Novgorod province. the group, consisting of kulaks, a local priest and a rafting commissioner Drevtrest, organized a May Day in the forest dedicated to the break with England, which was attended by the kulaks and priests of the surrounding villages and discussed how to act at the time of the declaration of war. In the village. Ivanovka, Leningrad province. the shepherd handed over to the village council representative several leaflets handed to him by an unknown young man, calling on citizens to ʺan armed uprisingʺ for a new peopleʹs power. ʺ One of these leaflets contains Finnish citizens of the village. Ivanovka (the rest of the leaflets are addressed to the Russians) are invited to a secret night meeting with the order of the day: 1) the split of the peasantry, 2) miscellaneous and 3) preparation for a secret case. The isolated facts of agitation for the cross‐unions (6 facts in total) are almost all of a clearly political nature. On the question of the war, the kulaks of the North‐West took a clearly defeatist position, expecting a coup as a result of the war. The kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements are trying to spread their sentiments among the broad middle‐peasant masses by spreading provocative rumors, intimidating the peasants and direct anti‐Soviet agitation: ʺLet there be a war sooner, then with a change of power there will be free trade, tax will not be strangledʺ (kulak v. Knyazevo Leningrad province.). ʺIn the event of war, it is necessary to direct the rifle against the new bourgeois communistsʺ (kulak of the village of Elakino, NorthDvinsk province).
Kulak terror. In some cases, the intensified activity of the kulaks finds expression in a series of arson, murder, beatings, assassination attempts and other acts of terror. So, in Krasnoe Selo, Leningrad province. in two days, there were 7 arson of peasant houses located near the quartermasterʹs warehouses. In the mountains. Vytegra in one night there were three arson, in the district ‐ several arsons of the reading room. In the Arkhangelsk province. from. Selkor Tamilov was mortally wounded in Pinega. The village correspondent was also injured in the Leningrad province. Fist s. Harino, Pskov lips. fired a gun at the poor who took his land, etc. In total, there are up to 15 cases of terror in June, while in May there was only one fact.
The mood of the rural intelligentsia. The majority of the rural intelligentsia of the North‐West, together with the bulk of the peasantry, consider the war undesirable. The smaller part, closely associated with the kulaks and the wealthy, takes a defeatist position.
The mood of the Finnish border population. The bulk of the middle peasants and poor Ingermanlanders (Finns), in connection with rumors of war, expresses their loyalty to the Soviet regime. So, the middle peasant of the village. Zippelmeks of the Leningrad province. declares: “It would be better if there were no war, otherwise everything will be destroyed again. And if we pass into the hands of Finland, then our life will be even worse. ʺ In Pargolovskaya parish. In the same province, a middle‐class Finn argued about Soviet power with a former white bandit, and when the latter said that Soviet power was fragile, he beat him up. Wealthy Finns and some of the participants in the Ingermanland movement of 1919 (in some areas of the Leningrad province there are up to 60‐80% of the population) are anxious and take a vacillating position, not knowing which side to take in case of war. For example, the Finnish peasants of the village. Kolyasovo and Skotnoe of the Leningrad Gubernia, which are Finnish citizens, at the very first rumors about the war, they began to show the desire to issue documents proving their citizenship. In the village. Kaidolovo Kuivazovskaya Vol. of the same province, a well‐to‐do Ingrian in a circle of kulaks and well‐to‐do people asked: ʺIf there is a war, what do you think is it worth fleeing to Finland again, as in 1919, or is it better to sit in Russia,ʺ to which the kulak replied: ʺGo now to Finland is dangerous because if the Soviet regime wins again, they will not be accepted back to Russia for the second time. ʺ Only active participants in the Ingermanland movement associate hopes for the autonomy of Ingermanland with its obligatory annexation to Finland with the war. So, the middle peasant of the village. Mistolovo of Leningrad Gubernia, an active participant in the movement, in a conversation with neighbors about the war, said: “We cannot overthrow the USSR government earlier until, on the occasion of the war, rifles are given to us, which we will be able to turn against the Soviets. ʺ In the village. A Finnish peasant who returned from Finland in 1926, the Corosary of the same province, scolding the Soviet regime, said: “There is little to wait now. The time will soon come to take revenge on those who were not in Finland and did not participate in the war against the Reds in 1919”
(III, 7‐11).
WEST
Defeat and anti‐urban sentiments of some of the middle and poor. In some areas of the West, where there is discontent of some part of the middle peasants with certain measures of the Soviet government or the activities of the workers of the Soviet apparatus, in particular, tax, slow land management, non‐delivery of timber, etc., among an insignificant part of the middle peasants and the poor there are statements about unwillingness to fight and anti‐urban sentiments.
Depressive mood in the border strip. In some of the border villages of Belarus, especially affected by the Polish occupation, rumors about the war caused a depressed, decadent mood among the majority of the population (including the middle peasants and the poor), expressed mostly in an underestimation of the military capabilities of the Soviet Union and an overestimation of the forces of enemies.
Activation of the kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements. Recent political events have caused a rise in the mood of the kulak‐wealthy elite of the village and various anti‐Soviet elements that have shown significant activity in the development of anti‐Soviet agitation and the spread of provocative rumors, especially in the border zone. Everywhere the hopes of the kulaks are pinned on a war ʺwhich will liquidate Soviet power and lead to the old order.ʺ In a number of cases, the kulaks openly reveal their orientation towards capitalist intervention. The most characteristic of the mood of the kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements in Belarus are the following statements of the kulaks: “Soon we will wait for the moment when all the communists will be shot, there will soon be a war, and the Soviet regime will be liquidated”, “we need to acquire weapons and find a place to hide from the Reds. When the war breaks out we will beat the Bolsheviks in the tail” (statement of a group of kulaks). “When the Poles arrive, we will hang and shoot communists like dogs. The first bullet was given to the chairman of the village council” (Koydanovo, Minsk district). ʺIn case of war, I will not go to defend the commissars, but I will hang themʺ (kulak village Sloboda Smolensk province.). It should be noted that such pogrom statements are made by the kulaks quite openly, often in public speeches. In Belarus, there have been such cases of open agitation of kulaks with call for active assistance in the defeat of Soviet power in the event of a war by organizing gangs, uprisings and desertions from the army.
Intimidation of the poor. Almost everywhere the kulaks pin their hopes on the return of the seized land with the beginning of the war; in connection with which the kulaks and former landowners intimidate the poor, who received kulak lands in their time: ʺNot today, so tomorrow there will be a war and we will show you how to cut our lands and give it to tramps.ʺ ʺWait, poor peasants, you just have to use our scraps a little, now the war is coming, then you wonʹt want the lands themselvesʺ (Vitebsk district). ʺThere will be no land management, foreigners will show you how to take land from the wealthy.ʺ “Pilsudski will come and we will take away all the land” (Orsha district).
Anti‐Semitic agitation of the kulaks. Along with the anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulaks in Belarus and other provinces of the West, there is an increase in anti‐Semitic agitation, which often comes down to calls, in case of war, to send weapons against the Jewish population: “There will be war and it is needed, because Jews and commissars are sitting on the peasantsʹ necks. During the war it will be possible to deal with them” (Rechitsa District). “Let the Jews and communists, who now live well, fight” (Minsk District).
Anti‐Soviet activities of the Polish kulaks, gentry and clergy. Recent events have caused a revival among the Polish gentry and part of the Polish middle peasants awaiting the arrival of the Poles in connection with the possibility of war. In the Slutsk District, a fact was noted when a well‐to‐do Pole served a prayer service on the occasion of the AngloSoviet break. In the border zone, there is an increase in the correspondence between Poles and their relatives in Poland.
The anti‐Soviet activity of the Polish kulaks, the gentry, as well as the Catholic clergy and non‐evicted landowners is manifested mainly in the spread of provocative rumors and anti‐Soviet agitation around them.
It should be noted that groups of the Polish gentry gathering illegally and discussing recent events and prospects for the future take an active part in anti‐Soviet agitation. In the Bobruisk district, up to 10 Polish kulak groups are actively spreading provocative rumors, intimidating the poor. Intensive anti‐Soviet agitation and the spread of provocative rumors have a negative effect on the mood of wide circles of the Polish peasantry, causing in places a panic mood among the part of the Polish population loyal to the Soviet government. Thus, in the Mozyr District, some Soviet‐minded Poles, under the influence of the agitation of the anti‐Soviet element, surrendered their MOPR 234 tickets for fear of persecution if Poles arrive. There are also other facts depicting the panicky moods of these strata of the Polish countryside (buying food, etc.) (III, 12‐18).
UKRAINE
ʺKombedovʺ moods of the poor. On the basis of rumors about a war among a part of the non‐cheaters, there are kombedov moods, which are manifested in characteristic conversations about the need, in case of war, to secure the rear from enemies and, first of all, to deal with the kulaks. “If we have to go to war, then we will first kill all the kulaks who do not want to knock the dreams out of their heads about property, and then we will go to fight” (Kharkov district). ʺIf something happens, then all the kulaks lie down alive in the pit, you still wonʹt live thenʺ (Kremenchug district). ʺIn the event of a retreat at the front in our border zone, it is necessary to destroy the entire counter‐revolution, otherwise the kulaks will take revenge on usʺ (Odessa district). Similar sentiments of some non‐chewers are observed in a number of other districts of Ukraine.
Revival of anti‐Soviet activities of the kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements. Immediately after the re‐election campaign to the Soviets, in connection with the beginning of field work, there was a slight decrease in the anti‐Soviet activity of the kulaks in Ukraine. Recently, in connection with the complications in the international situation of the Soviet Union, the kulaks and all the elements alien to the Soviet power and anti‐Soviet elements of the village have raised their heads again. Basically, anti‐Soviet activity in the countryside proceeds along three lines: the creation of defeatist sentiments in broad circles of the peasantry, anti‐tax agitation, and the incitement of anti‐Semitism.
Defeat agitation. On the question of the war, the Ukrainian kulaks (as well as the anti‐Soviet elements of the countryside, of former officers, policemen, etc.) took a clearly expressed defeatist position, which is closely linked with an orientation toward intervention.
The role of the kulaks in defeatist and anti‐war agitation is illustrated by the following data for the first half of June: 379 cases of defeatist agitation in 274 were carried out by kulaks and the wealthy, in 55 by the middle peasants, in 17 by the poor and in 33 by others. Most cases of defeatist agitation fall on the districts of Right‐Bank Ukraine.
Separatist tendencies of Ukrainian chauvinists. At the same time, chauvinistic speeches are especially common there, along with the kulaks are former Petliurists and part of the Ukrainian rural intelligentsia, [who] associate hopes of separating Ukraine from Soviet Russia with the possibility of war and are campaigning accordingly: ʺIf there is a war, Ukraine will achieve independence.ʺ (Uman district). “Soon there should be a war, as a result of which an independent Ukraine will be formed. Currently, there is no equality. In Ukraine, the power of the Katsaps and the Jews” (Shepetivka district).
Anti‐tax campaigning attempts to disrupt land management and threats to deal with the poor. In some places, the kulaks are campaigning against the new tax, making extensive use of the dissatisfaction with the tax of certain groups of peasants and calling for tax refusal in view of the imminent war and a change of government. At the end of May, in the Mogilev district, under the influence of the antitax agitation of the kulaks, a group action of peasants with resistance to the militia under anti‐Soviet slogans took place.
Along with anti‐tax agitation in many districts of Ukraine, there are attempts by kulaks to disrupt land management by threats of impending reprisals and the spread of provocative rumors.
Threats of kulaks to ʺget rid ofʺ the poor for ʺdispossessionʺ are widespread.
Strengthening anti‐Semitic agitation. Attention is drawn to the widespread increase, in connection with rumors of war, of anti‐Semitic agitation of the kulaks; accompanied by threats of organizing Jewish pogroms in case of war: ʺThere will be a war in the fall and all the communists, together with the Jews, will be strangledʺ
(Dnepropetrovsk district). “Woe to the Jews, for then the peasants will show how to pan over us” (Priluksky District). Individual middle peasants also carry‐on anti‐Semitic agitation in a number of districts.
The mood of the kulak‐prosperous part of the Polish peasantry. The well‐to‐do part of the Polish population of Ukraine (especially the border regions) is defeatist, expressing the hope that the part of Ukraine adjacent to the border, in case of war, will be occupied by Polish troops, whose arrival is eagerly awaited. In most cases, the anti‐Soviet activity of the Polish kulaks boils down to an increased spread of provocative rumors about the movement of French and British troops to the border of the USSR, about the encirclement of the Soviet Republic by imperialist states, etc. In with. Tsvetyansky of the Volyn District, the kulak Poles, in connection with receiving information about the events in China, say: “We will also have a coup dʹetat soon, and we will free ourselves from the Soviet yoke. In China, the bourgeoisie pays 500 rubles. for every communist you find. When we have a change of power, we will seek communists for free, just let the Poles or Germans come to us. ʺ ʺIf there is a war, then victory will be on the side of the bourgeoisie, all power will be in the hands of Poland, and then we will see how the communists will fleeʺ (III, 19‐21).
NORTH CAUCASIAN REGION
The mood of the former Red partisans and demobilized Red Army soldiers. Along with the positive sentiments of the majority of the former Red partisans expressing their readiness to defend the Soviet power in the event of intervention (“the red partisans who defeated the Russian counterrevolution and the army of Denikin and Baron Wrangel, etc.), on the part of the former Red partisans and demobilized
Red Army soldiers due to the difficult financial situation, unemployment in cities, lack of land, etc., there are anti‐Soviet sentiments and unwillingness to go to war.
Panic mood of some nonresidents. In connection with the agitation that has recently intensified against nonresident and direct threats to inflict reprisals on them from the kulak‐wealthy elite of the Cossacks, a panic mood is observed among part of the nonresident population.
In the Kuban and Salsk districts, on this basis, there are facts of refusal of land plots by nonresidents. In the Maikop district, there is an aspiration of nonresidents to leave the boundaries of their village, where the Cossacks know them as active Soviet workers, in order to avoid persecution ʺin the event of a change of power.ʺ Typical in this respect are the following conversations among nonresidents: ʺIn case of war, you need to run, you wonʹt leave, they will kill hereʺ (Maikop district). ʺWhites will come from abroad and deal with us for everythingʺ (Kuban District). “If there is a war, the Cossacks will expel us from our huts” (Tersk district).
The tendencies towards the departure from the North Caucasus of individual families of nonresident are also observed in the Black Sea region.
Tendencies towards the restoration of Cossack privileges and antiSoviet agitation. The revival of anti‐Soviet activities of the Cossack kulaks is noted throughout the North Caucasus. The anti‐Soviet kulakprosperous elite of the Cossacks, closely connected with the anti‐Soviet element of the village (re‐emigrants, former officers, former Whites, etc.) and leading defeatist and hostile propaganda to the Soviet government around the issue of war, in some cases, manages to unite around itself a part of the Cossacks. middle peasants and even the Cossack poor through agitation that the Soviet government ʺtrampled on the primordial freedoms and liberties of the Cossacksʺ, that ʺthe war will return the Cossacks to their estate privilegesʺ, etc. In districts with a compact Cossack population, under the influence of kulak agitation, there is a slight increase in class strife between Cossacks and nonresidents. Along with these places, there are tendencies towards the restoration of the former Cossack traditions, and also autonomist tendencies. At festive drinking parties, toasts are made to the old leaders of the Cossacks who are in exile, songs like “Nema Batka in the Kuban”, “About the Cossack Glory and the Ruined Share of the Cossacks”, “God Save the Tsar” (Kuban, Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk, Maikop districts) are sung ...
Activities of anti‐Soviet groups. The anti‐Soviet part of the Cossacks, not confining themselves to scattered and isolated anti‐Soviet speeches and agitation, sometimes creates semi‐legal and sometimes illegal groups aiming to fight the Soviet regime in every possible way through anti‐Soviet agitation, threats and terror, as well as by disrupting the measures of the Soviet government and the party in the village and in the village. In most cases, the groupings are organized by anti‐Soviet elements, but some of the Cossack groups include individual middle peasants and poor peasants. The decrease in the number of groups newly registered in June (less than ten) is undoubtedly connected with the operations carried out by the OGPU to seize the most active, energetic representatives of the Cossacks (III, 22‐28).
Crop failure in the North Caucasian Territory. Due to the severe drought, the state of crops in the region deteriorated significantly during the month of June. According to the regional statistics department, the average state of crops in the entire region according to a five‐point system was assessed on June 1 ‐ 2.7, on June 15 ‐ 2.4, on July 1 ‐ 2.2.
Deterioration of crops occurred in all districts, moreover, the crops of the Stavropol District ‐ 1.5 points, the Black Sea ‐ 1.5 points, Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk, Donskoy, Salsky, Armavir ‐ 2 points each turned out to be in a particularly bad condition. In some districts of the Stavropol District, crops died almost entirely: in the Divensky District, out of a total sown area of 56 thousand dessiatins. killed 54 thousand, in Blagodarnensky from 32 thousand dess. killed 20 thousand, in Stavropol of 19 thousand, 14 thousand dessiatines died. and so on, about 25% of the total crop area ‐ 259 thousand dessiatins ‐ was destroyed in the district by drought. In other districts of the region, there are (according to preliminary data from the Krai) 147 thousand farms with drought‐affected crops with a total area of 295.5 thousand dessiatins. The lack of bread is expected to be 6104 thousand poods.
In mid‐June, in the districts with a particularly low sowing state, a radical change in the mood of the broad masses of the population was outlined. The main factor determining the mood is the issues of the
state of crops and the fear of the possibility of a repeat of the famine of 1921.
The purchase of grain by the population, observed under the influence of rumors about the war, was further intensified in connection with the poor harvest. This is aggravated by the agitation of anti‐Soviet elements and the kulaks, spreading rumors about “imminent famine, sending grain abroad and requisitioning it for the army,” etc. In the Stavropol, Donskoy, Armavir districts, there is a massive sale of cattle by the poor and partly by the middle peasants to buy bread. Livestock prices have dropped significantly, the desire for a hasty purchase of grain is used by the kulaks to enslave the poor by lending wheat and grain at very high percentages.
There is a significant increase in the price of bread, in some cases up to 100%. Hoping for a further rise in prices, the kulaks are holding back their grain reserves, asking for up to 4 rubles. for a pood of wheat.
All this creates the threat of disruption of the conciliatory procurement prices. The lack of bread on the market is used by a private trader who has begun importing flour to some regions and selling it at speculative prices.
Seed and food loans are needed in a number of regions.
POVOLZHE
Depressive moods and unwillingness to go to war on the part of the middle peasants and the poor. Basically, the mood of the middle and poor masses is stable. However, in some provinces of the Volga region, part of the middle peasants and poor peasants are showing depressive moods, which is caused in places by poor harvest views, a lack of flour and unprecedented hikes in flour prices (in Astrakhan province, grinding flour has risen from 1 ruble 40 kopecks to 3 rubles 60 kopecks., rye from 1 ruble 20 kopecks to 3 rubles), tax pressure (Penza province, Votskaya obl.). “The war cannot arouse in us peasants the desire to defend the Soviet power, since it gave us very little good; tax is taken from peasants, agricultural products are valued very cheaply on the market, which makes it difficult for a peasant to live. “We don’t need war, get us better bread” (poor and middle peasants from the village of Bolkhun, Astrakhan province).
Revitalization of the anti‐Soviet activities of the kulaks and elements alien to Soviet power. The anti‐Soviet activities of the kulaks and elements alien to Soviet power, merchants, priests, former whites, former landowners, etc., noticeably revived in connection with the complication in the international situation of the Union. Sharp antiSoviet and defeatist agitation calls for reprisals against the communists, threats to the poor, and individual public speeches of kulaks depict an intensification of anti‐Soviet activity of elements of the Volga village hostile to the Soviet regime.
The size of defeatist agitation is insignificant ‐ 8‐10 cases are registered in the provinces.
Public speeches of the kulaks and the wealthy. Particularly striking cases of open agitation are the following: in the village. Krasnoyarka, Samara province. at a general meeting of peasants in the debate on the report on the international situation, an anti‐Soviet speech was made by a poor man, a demobilized Red Army soldier, under the influence of the wealthy and kulaks. “The party has degenerated into a caste of the nobility, it gives the responsible workers a rate of 500 rubles or more, not to mention the specialists, at a time when the cultural level of the country is low and the peasants are begging. In the coming war, the peasants will not follow the party, but will make another revolution, making sure that the voice of the peasant is heeded. Before it’s too late, lower the rates for the workers in charge, equate us, the peasants, with the workers, and we are ready to go to war and bear all the burdens of the revolution, but bear these burdens together with the workers and workers, but not alone. ʺ In resolution, adopted after his speech on the report, it says: “General meeting of citizens of the village. Krasnoyarsk residents in the number of 100 people are protesting against the attacks of England and provoking us to the war. Having achieved freedom for ourselves, we peasants must repulse the enemy, but on the condition that the peasant is given complete freedom to dispose of his labor, freely develop his product and sell it in the market at prices desirable for the peasants. Responsible workers and employees in general should be reduced their wages to the level of a worker. ʺ freely develop their own product and sell it in the bazaar at prices desired by the peasants. To reduce salaries to responsible workers and employees in general to the level of a worker. ʺ
The mood of the Cossacks in the Stalingrad and Astrakhan provinces. In the Cossack districts and areas of Stalingrad and Astrakhan province. prosperous Cossacks are opposed to the defense of Soviet power in case of war. The following speeches are characteristic: ʺWe will not go, and if they mobilize, we will still go over to the side of the Whites, but we will not defend this power.ʺ “No one needs war and no one will go to defend the communists who have settled in warm places. They promised to give a lot, but as a result, besides ruin, they brought nothing ‐ they strangled them with taxes so that everyone quits sowing. ʺFor what will we lay our heads ‐ we won a good life for some handful of communists and Komsomol membersʺ (Stalingrad province). “We will not go to war, let those who need it defend this power, you cannot fool us” (Astrakhan province).
In connection with the rumors about the war in the Volga region, as well as in the North Caucasus, the class strife between the kulaks and the nonresidents intensified. The Cossacks threaten the latter to arrange a St. Bartholomewʹs night, to cut out with the whole family, in some cases they refuse to allot land (III, 29‐35).
URAL
Anti‐Soviet sentiments on the part of the middle peasants. Due to the dissatisfaction of a part of the middle peasants of the Urals with the tax policy of the Soviet government (the agricultural tax of 1926‐1927 for some groups of the middle peasantry was many times higher than the tax of previous years) and anti‐urban sentiments, a part of the middle peasants, under the influence of the anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulaks around rumors of war, are showing anti‐Soviet sentiments: it is beyond our strength, our work is not appreciated by the Soviet government. The workers were given free labor, but we live in the Soviet regime as farm laborers” (Irbitsky Okrug). “Every year the peasants are getting worse, they will have to forge peaks and make an uprising, take everything away from the communists” (Ishim district). Anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulaks in connection with rumors of war. The attitude of the Ural kulaks to a possible war is characterized by the same features as in other regions of the Union — an orientation toward war, the defeat and destruction of Soviet power.
Noteworthy is the fact that took place in the village. Kostelevsky, Chelyabinsk District, where, according to a report on the possibility of war, the kulak of the Petrovsky Village Council proposed a resolution with the following content: “We do not want war and protest against the antics of foreign capital, but we also demand that the Soviet government make the life of workers and peasants easier. Under these conditions, we will use all our strength to repel such antics. Under the current situation, we cannot fulfill all the requirements of the government”. The proposed resolution was rejected (III, 36‐41).
SIBERIA
The mood of the former red partisans. Most of the former Red partisans (especially the poor peasants) express their readiness to actively support the Soviet regime in the event of war. “We will be the first to go to war, without waiting for the call for military service, and will fight to the last drop of blood and defend the Soviet regime. We will be ashamed if we now refuse to fight” (Minusinsk District). The former head of the partisan detachment said to his fellow villagers: “In case of war, every last man must go to fight, remember the oldfashioned way, just hold on to me, and then we’ll show the bourgeoisie whom they want to fight with” (Tulunovsky District).
However, a significant part of the partisans, who are in a difficult financial situation, dissatisfied, in particular, with the deprivation of voting rights and other advantages, the failure to provide tax benefits, in connection with rumors of war, are showing anti‐city and anti‐Soviet sentiments. Similar sentiments are noted in individual villages of the Barnaul and Kamensky districts.
The anti‐Soviet position of the kulaks on the issue of war, threats of reprisals against the communists. In connection with the recent events, the kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements of the countryside took an anti‐Soviet position on the issue of the war. There have been registered cases of protests for the death of the Soviet regime and the return of the ʺtsar from the house of Romanovʺ, threatening in case of war ʺto outweigh all the communists.ʺ
Of particular note is the fact that took place in the village. The backlash of the Baraba district, when the kulaks, in their anti‐Soviet agitation among the peasants, put forward the following slogans: “Beat the communists, you give purely Soviet power. Create peasant unions. Power should be dictated from below”. There are 10‐15 cases of defeatist performances per district.
The mood of the former white officers. Complications in the international position of the Union and rumors of war caused revival and alarm among the former white officers. Officers who have worked together with the Soviet government in co‐institutions and are not afraid for a piece of bread, show a loyal attitude towards the Soviet government. The anti‐Soviet officers perceive events in a completely different way. Some of the anti‐Soviet former white officers are passive, fearing reprisals, trying to withdraw into themselves, avoiding talking on political topics.
Another part of the former white officers, expecting the fall of Soviet power in the event of a declaration of war, pins great hopes on England and White Guard organizations abroad, often expressing hopes for intervention in their circle (III, 42‐49).
FAR EASTERN REGION
Anti‐Soviet sentiments of some middle peasants in some DCK districts.
In some districts of the DCK ‐ Chita, Zeya, Amur and Vladivostok, antiSoviet sentiments are widely spread among the middle peasants, which is due to the discontent of the middle peasants with the agricultural tax of 1926‐1927. and individual measures of the Soviet regime, the presence in some of these areas of a large number of former rebels, as well as the influence of significant anti‐Soviet agitation. In this regard, some middle peasants noted statements about their refusal to go to war in the event of mobilization: ʺWhat will the communists fight with, the peasants will not go, the communists themselves threw out the slogan
‐ down with the warʺ (Chita district).
The mood of the former partisans. Among a significant part of the former partisans of the DCK, in connection with the dissatisfaction with the policy of the Soviet government, poor material security, rumors of war, a number of anti‐Soviet judgments and a tendency to ʺcrack down on communist bureaucratsʺ were noticed. “Now you cannot lure partisans into fighting, because now partisans have been removed from everything, despite their military merits in the struggle for Soviet power” (Barkinsky District of the Chita District). Similar performances were recorded in Sretensky, Chita and Amur districts.
Anti‐Soviet activity of kulaks and former insurgents. Most of the anti‐Soviet actions of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do are associated with the latest international events and the threat of war. Particularly vigorous anti‐Soviet agitation is being conducted in the Amur district. There are frequent cases of direct calls for the overthrow of Soviet power from individual wealthy peasants (sometimes participants in the 1924 uprising) at meetings. ʺSoon, Britain and America, as well as Poland, will go to war on Soviet power, the peasants will help foreigners and the communists will then be happyʺ (a participant in the 1924 uprising in the village of Gilchin, Amur District). ʺWe will make an uprising again, but not in the same way as we did in January 1924; now foreign troops will comeʺ (former rebel of the Amur District).
Agitation for the cross unions. In the Vladivostok and Amur districts, isolated facts of actions for the cross unions of an obviously anti‐Soviet character were noted: “The workers have a union and their labor is paid, but the peasants have no union. Well, nothing, soon the peasants will have an alliance. All power is evil violence against the people, Soviet power is worse than Romanov. Letʹs endure a little more and there will be a peasant union” (Amur District).
Distribution of anti‐Soviet leaflets. During the months of May and June, monarchist leaflets from Nikolaiʹs group were distributed in the Amur District
Nikolaevich, delivered across the Chinese border by smugglers and individual anti‐Soviet individuals. The leaflets that were distributed are part of the old edition (the address of the Russian Foreign Congress to the Russian people, Dear Brothers), and partly new, for example, a leaflet entitled Dear Amur people dated February 26, 1927, and the journal Struggle for Russia ... In the aforementioned leaflet, signed by the Primorsky Committee for Struggle, the author calls on the Amur people to revolt, not expecting the overthrow of Soviet power with the help of foreign powers.
The mood of the Far Eastern Cossacks. Among the Cossacks, defeatist sentiments are widespread: ʺAll the same, the Bolsheviks will be suppressed by other statesʺ (Uletovsky district of the Chita district). Expecting the fall of Soviet power as a result of the war, prosperous Cossacks threaten with reprisals the communists and all who support the Soviet power (Chita and Amur districts) (III, 50‐51).
EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS
MIDDLE ASIA
Political building. Rumors of war. Anti‐Soviet agitation.
Uzbekistan. Against the general background of the reluctance of the wide strata of the dekhkans and the urban population, there are individual defeatist or clearly anti‐Soviet actions, in particular, among the unemployed. There are frequent judgments about the possibility of the fall of Soviet power in the event of war, in view of the technical superiority of the capitalist countries. Anti‐Soviet elements add to this argument ʺinternal contradictionsʺ in the USSR and ʺpublic discontent with the authorities.ʺ
The gangs, the Muslim community, merchants and former emir officials, use the general anxious mood of the population for a more successful fight against the womenʹs campaign, land reform and other measures of the Soviet regime. Spreading all sorts of provocative rumors, the bai in some places call special conferences at which the issues of war, the fall of the Soviet regime and the role of the bai in the upcoming events are discussed. Threats of mass beating are thrown at the poor people endowed by the Zemreform in the event of a coup. The same threats are thrown by the clergy against the revealed women.
Rumors spread among the national intelligentsia about the impending offensive of England through Afghanistan and about the imminent ʺend of the Bolsheviks.ʺ Some chauvinistic representatives of the Uzbek intelligentsia speak of ʺliberating the Uzbek people and giving them independence.ʺ Among the anti‐Soviet part of the intelligentsia, the issue of the need for military training in order to take an ʺactive part in the coming warʺ (Fergana) is being discussed.
Among the Russian state employees, the fear of the massacre of the Russian population by the natives is noted as a mass phenomenon. On this basis, some Russian employees went with their families to the Russian regions.
Rumors of war in the cities caused an increase in prices for basic necessities, long queues at jewelry stores, where there is an intensive purchase of valuables, a massive exchange of paper money for silver, etc. There was a case of a trade transaction in Persian lira. In some cities, cooperatives trade 10‐11 thousand rubles a day instead of the normal 1000 rubles. In a number of villages, dehkans are stocking up on wheat.
Turkmenistan. As a result of the widespread dissemination of provocative rumors and anti‐Soviet agitation of bays, in a number of auls in the Poltoratsk district, a massive purchase of wheat by farmers in case of war was noted. There is a desire to exchange Soviet money for Persian crowns. Baysko‐Basmach elements, foreshadowing the death of the Soviet regime, threaten to deal with the poor people who have been endowed with their lands. In Tezhensky, Atrek and Bezmeinsky districts, the mood of the dekhkans is depressed, due to the death of crops due to lack of water, the appearance of locusts and plague on livestock.
Kyrgyzstan. Bayskomanapskie elements spread rumors about the troops of England and China, allegedly concentrated near our borders. At the same time, references are made to the performances of Dzhanybek‐kazy. The Kyrgyz population in most cases is under the influence of these rumors. Drought in Karabalta and Belovodsk districts reinforces the depressed mood of the indigenous population. Among the Russian population, there is an increase in dissatisfaction with taxes and abnormalities in land issues (V, 1‐22).
Banditry. The Shaltai‐Batyr gang, despite the withdrawal of accomplices, continues to seize livestock and robberies in the Kunya‐
Urgench, Khojeyli and Kungrad regions. In the Andijan district
Uzbekistan, the Divonaev gang was liquidated, which consisted of
Kyrgyz and included representatives of Dzhanybek‐Kazy.
KAZAKHSTAN
Political mood. Rumors of war. Anti‐Soviet
agitation. Kirghiz. Information about the events in England, China, Poland and inside the USSR reached the masses of the Kyrgyz population, mostly through the tops of the aul ‐ bays, Muslims, traders and former Alashordyns. Exaggerating rumors of war and foreshadowing the inevitable death of the Soviet regime, these elements threaten with reprisals against communists, members of the Koschi union, members of the Komsomol and poor activists. Having great authority among the masses, bai and representatives of the Muslim community with their anti‐Soviet agitation in some places create panic among the masses of the Kyrgyz population. There have been cases of exits from the Koshchi union on pain of being drafted into the army in case of war. There was a case when, under the influence of Bai agitation, more than 100 farms migrated from one region to another in order to avoid mobilization (Syr‐Darya province).
Particular attention of anti‐Soviet elements, in particular, from the national intelligentsia and former Alashorda residents, is drawn to the Chinese revolution, in the defeat of which they see the beginning of the end of Soviet power.
Russians. (Peasants and Cossacks). The poor and middle peasants of the Russian peasantry generally speak out against the war, fearing ruin and deprivation. The intensified anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulaks, former white officers and chieftains is accompanied by numerous threats against the communists and Komsomol members. It is not uncommon for certain anti‐Soviet elements, meeting communists or poor activists, to intimidate them with murder in the event of a war and the fall of Soviet power. A particularly strong revival of anti‐Soviet activity is observed among the Russian Cossacks, in particular, in the Dzhetysu province, moreover, strongly aggravated relations between the Russians and the Kyrgyz contribute here to the success of the antiSoviet agitation of the kulak‐ataman top of the village, as well as the penetration of such sentiments into the poor‐middle peasant part of the Cossacks. ...
Among the Russian city employees, especially among the former officers, there are widespread opinions about the inevitability of the fall of Soviet power, both due to the technical backwardness of the USSR, and ʺdue to internal contradictions and disagreements in the CPSUʺ (V, 23‐33).
Massacre. Along with anti‐Soviet agitation and spreading rumors, the bayship is actively involved in the daily life of the aul. Continuing vigorous opposition to the redistribution of hayfields and arable lands, the bai, in many cases with the support of grassroots Soviet workers, seize the poor lands, use the lionʹs share of the semssud, introducing their protégés into the commissions for the redistribution of land and the distribution of seed loans. At the same time, the bai began to use the method of intimidating the poor with the prospect of war and the fall of Soviet power, as a result of which the resistance of the poor to the aggressive actions of the bai weakened. At the same time, the bayism intensified the campaign to disintegrate public organizations through open agitation for their liquidation in cases where their apparatus could not be seized.
Spiritualism. Participating together with the Baystva in the campaign to persecute members of the Koschi union, communists and Komsomol members, representatives of the Muslim clergy are conducting religious propaganda with increased activity, calling for the strengthening of religion and ʺopposing it to the corrupting influence of communism.ʺ The campaign for the renovation of old and construction of new mosques has noticeably revived and assumed considerable proportions. At the same time, agitation is under way for expanding the network of religious schools and for a boycott of Soviet schools. For the construction of mosques, the opening of schools and the maintenance of the Muslim community, taxes are collected from the population, in most cases they are forced, and sometimes on pain of “deprivation of citizenship rights”, those who refuse to pay contributions (V, 42‐49).
The kulaks. The intensified anti‐Soviet activity of the kulak‐ataman elite of the Russian village and the Cossack village, in addition to spreading rumors about sowing panic, also goes along the line counteracting various kinds of construction initiatives, primarily land management. Having launched a campaign against the new agricultural tax, the kulaks are campaigning for a reduction in the sown area, in places achieving success not only among the middle peasants, but also among the poor peasants. At the same time, the kulaks are working to disintegrate or disrupt the work of public organizations, mainly the cross‐committees (V, 50‐55).
NORTH CAUCASUS
Political mood. Rumors of war. Anti‐Soviet agitation. Information about the events in England, Poland and China reached the broad masses of the population of the Dagestan SSR and the autonomous regions and districts of the JCC in most cases in a distorted form. The ʺinterpretersʺ of events and spread of rumors about the war were kulaks, merchants, former white bandits, mullahs and other anti‐Soviet elements. The latter intensified their anti‐Soviet activities, using panic to fight against cells of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and Komsomol, with measures by Soviet and public organizations, to increase religiosity, etc. In places, the activities of anti‐Soviet elements were accompanied by a direct call for the organization of counterrevolutionary actions and support for the arrival of the new government (Dagestan ‐ Gunibsky and Khasav‐Yurtovsky districts, Chechnya ‐ Vedensky, Shatoevsky, Nozhai‐Yurtovsky districts). The mood of the bulk of the mountain peasantry is reduced to the unwillingness of war and the ruin of the economy, hunger and hardships associated with it. Along with this, the war is increasingly linked by them with the arrival of the counter‐revolutionary Cossacks, ʺthe selection of lands and the physical destruction of the mountaineersʺ (especially vividly in Chechnya and Ingushetia). The moments favoring the provocative activities of anti‐Soviet elements are the absence of a more or less broad explanatory campaign (V, 56‐62).
Land management. Numerous intra‐settlement and inter‐settlement disputes continue to be noted, in most cases arising from the destruction of crops and hayfields and the seizure of land. Weak punitive policy in relation to poisoners and invaders, and sometimes its complete absence, inactivity, negligence and abuse of the Semorgan further contribute to the deepening of land disputes, generating discontent, mainly among the poor. The unsettledness of land use issues is noticeably reflected in the relationship between Russians and highlanders, on the one hand, and between representatives of individual mountain nationalities, on the other (Ossetia, Karachay, Kabarda). Particularly aggravated by national antagonism are border land disputes, which in some places threaten to result in serious conflicts (Ossetia, Kabardino‐Balkarian region). Not limited to open campaigning, aimed at disrupting land management work, prosperous kulak elements organize special groups with the aim of opposing land management and retaining the best and large land plots (Chechnya, Karachay, Adyghe‐Circassian region). In some cases, the kulaks oppose land management under the leadership of representatives of the grassroots Soviet apparatus (Adygea‐Circassian oblast) (V, 63‐71).
Spiritualism. The activities of the Muslim clergy are aimed mainly at religious propaganda, agitation for the doctrine and against Soviet schools. Under the influence of this agitation, in a number of districts there is a decrease in the number of students in Soviet schools, their transfer to theological schools, as well as the opening of new madrassas (Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Circassia, Kabarda). Often, representatives of the grassroots Soviet apparatus, knowing about the existence of illegal theological schools, do not take any measures to close them. In order to consolidate religious propaganda, the Muslim community resorts to discrediting the local cells of the VKP (b) and Komsomol, Soviet and public organizations, inciting the population to the events of the latter (Dagestan, Kabardino‐Balkar and AdygheCircassian regions). At the same time, the Muslim clergy is actively campaigning for the repair of old and the construction of new mosques and the collection of funds from the population for religious needs and the maintenance of the clergy (Chechnya, Cherkeia, Kabarda). In some cases, this agitation is accompanied by threats of excommunication from the mosque (Kabardino‐Balkarian region). Attention is drawn to the intensification of work among women to recruit muridoks, as well as the noticeably increased activity of murids (Dagestan) (V, 72‐83).
ORDER
Political mood. Rumors of war. Making wide use of the rupture Anglo‐Soviet relations and the events in China, anti‐Soviet elements do not stop spreading rumors about the war and the impending death of the Soviet regime and the communists. In public speeches of individual kulaks and traders, it is indicated that the war has already begun, foreign troops have crossed the Persian border, a number of cities have been taken, all the Transcaucasian railways have been closed, in connection with which the import of goods will be stopped, etc. In some places the kulaks terrorize the poor and farm laborers. threatening the seizure of their property and reprisals against them in case of war (Azerbaijan, Georgia), and foreshadow the inevitability of massacres between Armenians and Turks (Armenia, Azerbaijan). On this basis, cases of peasantsʹ refusal to participate in the social work of the village (Armenia) were registered,
Activities of former members of anti‐Soviet parties. There is a significant revival of the activities of former members of anti‐Soviet parties ‐ Mensheviks in Georgia 235, Dashnaks in Armenia and Musavatists in Azerbaijan. In addition to spreading rumors about war and sowing panic, the activities of former members of anti‐Soviet parties are aimed at countering individual measures of the Soviet government (land management, tax, disarmament of the population, etc.) and the Communist Party. In their agitation, former members of anti‐Soviet parties point out that the disarmament carried out by the authorities is explained by the difficult international situation of the USSR, its fear of an uprising within the Union, that the upcoming war will inevitably lead to the defeat of the USSR, its transformation into a colony of Western Europe and the establishment of Menshevik power in Georgia. In places, defeatist agitation by former members of antiSoviet parties reinforces the depressed mood among the population.
The activity of the kulaks. In addition to the intensified anti‐Soviet agitation in connection with the events in England, China, Poland and within the USSR, the activity of the kulaks is manifested most strongly in matters of land management. Kulaks often disrupt land surveying with organized performances at village gatherings. Providing vigorous opposition to the redistribution of land, the kulaks in a number of cases, with the support of grassroots Soviet workers, seize the poor plots, introduce their protégés into the land commissions and frighten the poor with the prospect of war and the fall of Soviet power. Along with this, the kulaks are working to decompose or disrupt the work of Soviet, public, cultural and educational organizations (insurance, Soviet schools, artels, cooperatives, KKOV, etc.). There have been cases
Banditry. In a number of regions of Azerbaijan bordering on Persia (Lankaran and Karyaginsky districts, part of the Salyan district, part of the Nakhichevan region), a significant increase in foreign gangs was noted. This is explained by the revolt of the Shahsevans in Persia and the revitalization of the activities of foreign Musavat and Ittihadist organizations 236. A number of raids on Soviet workers in Karyaginsky district were registered. Three policemen, two communists and one shepherd were killed. There have been several attempts to transfer bandit groups from Persian territory to ours.
In other regions of Transcaucasia, the manifestation of small‐scale banditry continues to be observed, mainly consisting in robbery and cattle stealing.
Internal national republics
Political mood. Rumors of war. Anti‐Soviet agitation. Crimea, Bashkiria, Tataria, Chuvashia. The alarming mood, intensified by the broad anti‐Soviet activities of the kulaks, clergy and merchants, engulfed all strata of the native and Russian peasantry. Anti‐Soviet elements, linking the prospects of war and the fall of Soviet power with drought and famine, created a panic mood in a number of regions of Crimea, as a result of which the population began to sell livestock and purchase grain in case of war and famine. In Tataria and Chuvashia, the peasantry of a number of regions is stocking up on basic necessities. In a number of cases, the peasants, under the influence of anti‐Soviet agitation, suspend various types of public construction work, fearing to be caught by the war.
At the same time, anti‐Soviet elements carried out intensive work to terrorize the communists, Komsomol members and the poor, threatening reprisals in the event of the overthrow of the Soviet regime. In the Dzhankoy region of Crimea, there was a case when former landowners made a list of persons subject to eviction after the coup (V, 111‐125).
Anti‐Semitism. Crimea. Cases of manifestation of anti‐Semitism among peasants, workers and especially among state employees and unemployed have become more frequent. There have been registered cases when certain groups of workers or employees are agitating against the participation of the USSR in the war with the capitalist countries, putting forward the slogan: ʺBeat the Communists, Komsomol members and Jewsʺ (V, 126‐129).
Agitation for the cross unions. Crimea. 4 cases of agitation of kulaks and well‐to‐do people for the organization of peasant unions were noted, and a case was noted when, along with the economic justification of the need for the Constitutional Court, the slogan of the Constitutional Courtʹs intervention in the foreign policy of the USSR was put forward. In one case, the agitation for the Constitutional Court was accompanied by anti‐Semitic attacks (V, 130‐133).
Spiritualism. Representatives of the Muslim clergy significantly intensified work on the construction of new mosques and the repair of old ones, on the collection of donations, etc. The activity of the Muslim clergy also intensified, aimed at disrupting the work of Soviet schools and expanding the network of theological schools. Religious agitation of Muslims is accompanied by indications of the proximity of war and the fall of Soviet power (V, 134‐139).
Land management. Crimea, Bashkiria, Tataria, Chuvashia. Along with the strong craving of the poor and middle peasants of the native and Russian villages to carry out land management work, there is an increased activity of the kulaks and the wealthy, opposing land management work and capturing the poor lands. In Crimea, in a number of cases, the peasantry, under the influence of the kulaks, who fear the impending fall of Soviet power, postpones land management until autumn, or removes it altogether from the order of the day (V, 140147).
BURYAT‐MONGOLIA, OIROTIA, KHAKASSKY DISTRICT
Rumors of war. Anti‐Soviet agitation.
Anti‐Soviet elements of the indigenous and Russian population frighten the population with the intervention in the USSR by capitalist countries immediately after the defeat of the revolution in China. In some cases, the poor and especially the middle peasants succumb to anti‐Soviet agitation, refusing in advance to give their sons to the army, acquiring supplies of basic necessities, etc. In the Khakass Okrug, cases of withdrawal from the pioneer detachments under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks were noted. In the same place, kulaksʺdisenfranchisedʺ, speaking about the imminent fall of the Soviet regime, disrupted a meeting at which the question of savings banks was discussed. Cases of threats of kulaks and former White Guards with reprisals against communists and the poor have been recorded (V, 148151).
Land management. The campaign for the redistribution of lands provoked active opposition from the kulaks, who were striving to retain the previously occupied lands. At a number of meetings, the kulaks, with organized speeches, helped to postpone the question of redistribution or to remove it altogether from the order of the day. In the Khakass region, the Khakass kulaks incite antagonism between the natives and the Russians, agitating against the allotment of land to the latter.
A similar activity of the kulaks is manifested in matters of insurance, cooperation, cross committees and other public organizations, moreover, the kulaks, where they fail to seize these organizations in their hands, tend to decompose them (V, 152‐160).
BANDITRY
Centre. In the movement of banditry in the territory of M VO, a significant decrease has been noticed over the past time. Bandshaiks in the regions of Tambov, Ryazan and Voronezh provinces. (there were 5 of them) partly liquidated, partly disintegrated themselves. Of the individual moments of criminal banditry, the case of robbery of the cash desk at Art. Potapovo Ryazan‐Vladimirskaya railway e. Armed robberies in Voronezh, which became more frequent at one time, decreased after the seizure of 25 people.
West. The reporting period is characterized by active landscapes of a political nature. Killed: member of the village council s. Domanichi (Bryansk province), chairman of the agricultural cartel in Lukomya (Borisov district), chairman and secretary of the Piloslavic agricultural cartel (Kalinin district). Moreover, in the Iskrovsky VIC, malefactors stole the blanks (without a seal) of military registration documents and military registration documents of those liable for military service. In the area of the 11th outpost of the Zhitkovsky border detachment, an armed gang of 4 people tried to cross from the Polish side to Soviet territory. A Red Army soldier was wounded in a shootout with a border detachment. It is assumed that the gang is part of the Burmich ‐ Garasʹ gang, which tried to cross over to Soviet territory for the second time with the aim of sabotage.
A gang (3 people) passed from Poland and went to the Glussky district. 7 active bandits from various gangs were caught and Siniloʹs gang was detained. In addition to the robbery of several institutions and cooperatives, there is a significant number of criminal cases.
Ukrainian SSR. Organizational formation of single criminals into small gangs and an increase in their activity, which is of a purely criminal nature (Shepetovsky, Mogilev, Kiev, Berdichevsky, Lugansky, Kherson and Artyomovsky districts), is observed.
Of the manifestations of sabotage banditry, the Garasʹ gang deserves attention, which crossed from Poland to Soviet territory and united with the local gang, the ʺLovkovitesʺ, attacked the station. Berezhest (Yugo‐Zapadnaya railway), damaged telephones and telegraph devices, seized money and took the station attendant away. In the area of art. Glorious they also robbed the cooperative.
North Caucasian Territory. After the region was declared unfavorable in terms of banditry and the work carried out by the OGPU bodies, there was a noticeable decrease in criminality throughout the region. A gang of 14 people operating in the Sochi region was liquidated. 54 units of various weapons were seized from the population. Filimonovʹs gang was noted ‐ 5 people (Armavir district).
Volga region. On the territory of the Stalingrad and Astrakhan provinces. with the opening of navigation, the growth of small‐scale banditry increased due to the arrival from other areas. In the Filonov area (South‐Eastern Railway) a gang of 10 people carried out an armed attack on passing peasants; taking away 105 rubles. and wounding one, the bandits fled. Two of them were subsequently detained. The escape of large criminals is noted, which threatens to increase the activity of criminals.
The work to combat banditry was expressed in the elimination of the Ozon‐Ochaev gang. After the murder of its leader, Kiselevʹs gang did not show itself for 9 months (Stalingrad). The leader of Zhdakayevʹs gang, which operated for three years, was arrested.
Ural. Criminal banditry has decreased somewhat. Gang 35 was liquidated and bandit Malygin was detained.
Siberia. As a result of the work carried out to combat banditry, the activity of the landscapes has significantly decreased. From individual cases, armed robbery by bandits (5 people) of peasant walkers (Taishet district) is noted, 170 rubles, clothes and linen were taken away.
Noteworthy is the attack by a gang of 20 people armed with revolvers and grenades on the village. Gorenskaya, 35 km from Taishet.
A peasant was killed, 5 women were raped, during the robbery the question was asked: ʺIsnʹt it a communist?ʺ or ʺAre there no communists?ʺ The activity of the bandits of Beketov and others (Krasnoyarsk district) is noted. With the exception of a separate case of robbery, Zhemchugovʹs gang is not active.
DCK. Over the last period, there has been a transition of criminal and political gangs from abroad to our territory. Faleevʹs gang, well‐armed ‐ has horse and foot, is distributing monarchist literature among the population (Borznyansky district). The second gang of Yakimov (6 people) is armed with Japanese rifles and has a machine gun. Particularly noteworthy is the sabotage gang of the former gendarme officer Ptitsyn, whose goal is to establish contact with the peasant population and unite them for military espionage. Its slogan: ʺRob the plunderedʺ. Ptitsyn traveled from Harbin to Matsiohe and Mut with the aim of recruiting, for which he entered into intercourse with the former bandit Yemlin. In the Vladivostok District, the Khunhuz 237 traffic. Having attacked research groups at the top of the Gribovaya Span, the gang took four workers away, demanding a ransom of 100,000 rubles. Chinese population with. Romanovka is taxed at 2 rubles. per person. The workers of the Artyomovsk mine are taxed at 10,000 rubles.
Subsequently, this gang moved to Chinese territory, where, in a clash with the troops, its leader was killed, 11 hunghuzes were taken and weapons were seized.
ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES
Mensheviks. There is no open activity of the Mensheviks in the
USSR. The lone Mensheviks are mainly engaged in discussing the Anglo‐Russian divide. Like those abroad, they are negative about the possibility of war, but they consider it necessary to use the difficulties of the Soviet regime in order to weaken the regime and establish democracy.
Anarchists. In the Leningrad province. the anarchists are fully intensifying their activities among the workers and the Red Army. Among the latter, work is carried out under the guise of
Esperantist circles 238.
Tverskaya lips. Among the exiled anarchists, the prevailing trend for active underground work. Ties are being established with Moscow and other places in the USSR.
Vladimirskaya lips. The planned conference was postponed due to the absence of some of the delegates.
Moscow province. The main organizer and leader of the anarchounderground congress in Ukraine was arrested. The originals of the resolutions of the congress and weapons were found.
Ukraine. The underground group of anarchists that participated in the underground congress in Mariupol in December 1926 was liquidated.
Oryol lips. A group of anarchist youth who had ties with the antiSemitic union in Moscow was liquidated. A mandate from the Moscow group and a typographic font were found.
Ural. An underground group of exiled anarchists was liquidated, a shapirograph was found.
Zionists. Over the past month, there have been no changes in the
Zionist movement in the USSR.
CLERGY
Reactionary churchmen. Recent events are finding a lively response in the mood of the churchmen. They are waiting for war, considering the conditions for an attack on the USSR to be especially favorable. There is an increase in anti‐Soviet activity of churchmen, manifested in the spread of anti‐Soviet rumors, inciting religious fanaticism and predictions of the fall of the Soviet regime (Moscow, monks Georgy, Semeon, Bishop Serafim Vityukov ‐ former director of the factory). These ʺpropheciesʺ serve as a topic for interviews with believers (Moscow province, Ukraine, Kuban). The clergy openly express sympathy for the counter‐revolution, indicate that there will be many more terrorist acts (Moscow, priest S. Shogaeva, Bishop Kratirov, etc.). Some suggest responding to the war with Jewish pogroms (Ukraine). In their agitation, they try to sow discord between the workers and peasants, speaking in the sermon, that the Russian proletariat of power is not dear and that power is not with the peasants (Leningrad Gubernia and Moscow — Pop Rachinsky), that the peasants have nothing to fear intervention, they will not be touched if they hold on to the church (priest Akulovsky). Agitation for the monarchy is carried out in places, mainly by itinerant monks (Donskoy and Danilovsky monasteries, Moscow) and nuns (Sormovo and Orenburg gubernias).
Monarchist agitation by the clergy is conducted not only orally, but also in writing. The Solovetsky declaration is being spread throughout the Union, and Bishop Andrey of Efimsky (former prince, Kolchakite) is sending brochures about the need to restore the old state order in Holy Russia and the role of the church in saving the Russian people.
In some places the churchmen managed to develop riots. The most serious were in the mountains. Tulchin, organized by a former member of the RNC, and operating under the flag of the ʺmonarchist sect of Michael the Archangel.ʺ
More than 300 ʺInnokentievsʺ came to Tulchin with monarchist slogans to protest against the arrest of the organizer of monarchist demonstrations, More (a defector from Romania).
It should be noted that a significant part of the clergy, headed by Metropolitan Sergius, is loyal to the Soviet regime, considering it stable. Having organized a temporary synod with him, which made a decision to stop the counter‐revolutionary act, demanding from foreigners to sign a refusal of anti‐Soviet work, he invites the clergy of the USSR to become loyal to the Soviet regime or leave the Orthodox Church.
Many churchmen do not agree with the position put forward by Metropolitan Sergius ʺloyalty to Soviet power is not treason to Orthodoxyʺ, such as the ʺirreconcilableʺ, the Agafangel group, the exiled bishops, the Novoselov group. These groups are holding on expectantly so far. At the same time, they accuse him of selling out to the authorities. A number of bishops refuse to submit to him. In turn, the Tikhonites are active in the fight against supporters of the position of Metropolitan Sergius and with the renovationists (VVTsS and others).
Sectarianism. In connection with rumors of war, the activities of sectarian groups intensified. All of their struggle takes place under the slogan of fighting against participation in the war and service in the Red Army. At the congress of the Baptists of the unification of the Northern Territory (Leningrad), they thwarted the resolution on compulsory military service, replacing it with the slogan ʺservice according to conscience.ʺ They pay special attention to the national republics and intend to organize special detachments to direct propaganda work among national minorities.
Deputy before the OGPU Yagoda
Head of INFO OGPU Alekseev
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 1
WORKERS
Strikes and conflicts
Metalworkers. 1. Cartridge plant (Tula). On June 9, during the payment of wages for the month of May, strong discontent arose among the workers due to the fact that 9 molders and foundry workers were fined without any warning for marriage in the amount of 14 to 68 rubles. Excitement on this basis engulfed the entire workshop, including 150 workers. Workers of both shifts at 11 oʹclock. In the morning, a general meeting was held, at which they decided to stop work, demanding clarification of the issue of fines. After the meeting, the second shift did not start work.
After the representative of the factory committee explained that this conflict would be immediately resolved in the REC, the second shift began to work; didnʹt work 1 ʹ/ 2 hours. The incident was soon liquidated completely and the money withheld from the workers was returned to them. The illegal withholding of fines from workers was carried out by order of the head of the labor economics department, engineer Trofimov.
2. Duminichesky iron‐smelting plant (Bryansk province, workers 1073). On June 15, the workers of the foundry, in connection with the systematic non‐payment of wages on time, submitted an application to the factory committee signed by 44 workers. In the statement, the workers indicate: “We categorically declare that the pay for May will be paid within three days. In addition, we ask that a general meeting be held to discuss issues of salary payments and maternity leave. ʺ Based on this, the factory committee convened a workshop meeting, where the plant manager pointed out the difficult financial situation of the plant. The workers who spoke in the debate noted: ʺIf we are not given salaries by June 18, then we must quit our work,ʺ in addition, the question of sending delegates to the Central Committee of the metalworkers was raised. The meeting decided to inform the regional committee of metalworkers about the systematic delay in wages and instruct the plant management to take all measures to raise funds. On June 20, due to non‐payment of wages for the month of May, workers of the foundry (240 people) from 5 oʹclock. did not start work in the morning. The break in work lasted until the morning of June 21, when the plant manager promised to pay the salary on June 25.
3. Plant named after Petrovsky (Dnepropetrovsk). The workers of the bridge shop were seized by the strike mood on the basis of lower wages after the introduction of the tag system of work. The increase in prices (for those working on assembling 50 soot bridges by 4.6% and assembling 25 soot bridges ‐ by 18%) by the commission did not satisfy them after analyzing the submitted collective application; they demanded 35%. On the assembled parts it was written in chalk: ʺGive me a coin, then we will workʺ, ʺDown with Ryabovʺ (assistant to the head of the shop), ʺHit the Jews ‐ save Russia.ʺ After breakfast, the workers began to gather in groups and turned to Ryabov: ʺHow long will you oppress the workers and increase your bonus at the expense of our earnings?ʺ Ryabov answered rudely: “Work as before, your conversations will lead nowhere. Everything will be my way”. At 9 oʹclock. 30 minutes. In the morning, these workers quit their jobs and began filming the rest.
Sharshaveikoʹs henchman campaigned among the workers to go to the machinists and stop the condensers. Despite the explanation, the workers did not work until 3 oʹclock when a general meeting was called. Two shifts came to the meeting. During the speech of the prezavkom, shouts were heard from the audience: “Down with Ryabov; sort out the question of salary; do not lull us; do not strangle the workers, give us a living wage; our families are dying of hunger; prezavkom pay 162 rubles. for him to persuade us at 30; Ryabov and the factory management put us in worse conditions than under the old regime; do not torment us with unnecessary conversations ‐ you will not take it; letʹs add as we demand, or calculation. ʺ When the prezavkom objected that the plant management would not agree to a 35% increase, the workers said: “But we will not work; workers ʹand peasantsʹ power means only in words, but in fact the power of those sitting in institutions; under the old regime, even then they went to meet the workers, and now, under the Soviet regime, the workers are the least of all attention. ʺ AT 7ʹ/2 hours in the evening, the meeting nevertheless decided to start work, instructing the head committee to revise the prices, call the meeting in 3 days and report to him the results of the revision. The pickers left the meeting extremely irritated. One said: “Parasites, bloodsuckers of workers. Itʹs time to knock you out, you bastards, only then can the situation of the worker improve. ʺ As a result of the strike, the first shift did not work for almost the entire day on June 2 ‐ 124 people, and out of 170 [people] on the second shift ‐ 13 (a total of 667 collectors in the shop).
Textile workers. 4. Faculty of Novo‐Pistsovskaya m‐ry of Gostrest (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). On June 9, workers (42 people) of the finishing department went on strike, dissatisfied with the reduction in prices. The salary dropped from 40 to 33 rubles. On June 10, the first shift came to work, but did not start work. Negotiations between the members of the factory committee and the management with the workers were fruitless. One of the workers said during the negotiations: ʺIf we are not protected by a professional organization, we will find help and support from the workers.ʺ Since March, workers have been earning only 27‐30 rubles a month. maximum. By agreement with the chairman of the [production] department of the Union of textile workers 239 the directorate intends to replace the striking workers with unemployed registered at the labor exchange. On June 11, after a categorical refusal on the part of the administration and the factory committee to revise the prices, the workers began to work. The workers intend to complain to the center.
5. F‐ka them. Nogina (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya gubernia, workers 1985). At the factory in the water department, due to the strong stuffiness (temperature 34 ʺ), on June 29 at 1 oʹclock in the afternoon, the water women of the 3rd floor (30 people) did not start work for 35 minutes, demanding to take measures to change working conditions the workers started to work, learning that measures had been taken to improve working conditions: the invoices were changed, the floor was watered, the windows were curtained. On June 30, at a meeting of the plenum of the factory committee in the presence of the most active workers, the issue of the conflict was considered., who did not take timely measures to change the working conditions of the water women. Some water women said: ʺWe have repeatedly appealed to the administration, to the chairman of the trade union bureau, but did not see any help, we turned to the master Toporkov, and he replied:ʺ
6. F‐ka ʺRed Duljapinets” of the 1st Flax Administration (Kostroma province). On June 1, 1,100 workers went on strike motivated by dissatisfaction with measures related to the rationalization of production. At the factory, it was supposed to transfer some of the machines to other factories, and the workers were not informed about the purpose of the transfer. The workers got the impression that the factory was being closed. This rumor was started by a group of antiSoviet people working at the factory (a former cadet of the Kolchak army, a former criminal who terrorized the entire district at one time, and one member of the CPSU, also part of this group, called on the assembly to expel the entire administration from the factory). The group established written communication with some of the IvanovoVoznesensk workers.
Seasonal workers. 7. Zhilstroy at the plant. Dzerzhinsky (Dnepropetrovsk district). On June 7, masons suspended work due to low prices. They demand an increase in prices, proceeding from the fact that the stone laying reaches the 3rd floor and Zhilstroy will not allow the work to be disrupted. The administration of Zhilstroy, at the suggestion of the plant management, has begun production of a complete measurement of the work and then proposes to announce to the workers that they begin to work on the conditions worked out by RKK together with the administration of Zhilstroy. In case of further refusal of the masons, they are supposed to announce the calculation. On June 8, concrete workers stopped working on the same soil. Strike sentiment is also common among carpenters demanding higher prices.
8. North Caucasian railway. e. 500 workers working on loading ballast onto platforms along the Rostov narrow‐gauge railway stopped work on June 2, demanding an increase in prices to 3 rubles. 50 kopecks instead of the existing 2 rubles. 10 kopecks for loading one platform. The conflict was referred to the resolution of the conciliation chamber, and until this issue is resolved, the workers agreed to work at the old rates. The break lasted 16 hours.
9. Mezinovskie peat extraction sites of the Moskvotope (Gus‐Khrustalny, Vladimir province). On June 14, 20 peat‐bog artels, numbering 940 people, left their work on the basis of high production rates, unsatisfactory living conditions and technical lack of equipment. The workers presented the development administration with a demand to lower the norms, increase the prices and precisely fulfill the collective agreement. A special commission consisting of representatives of local party, Soviet and professional organizations that left for the place of the strike, by means of explanations and promises to eliminate defects, contributed to the liquidation of the strike. The strike lasted the entire working day on June 14. On June 15, all the strikers began work.
Other industries. 10. Tatlestrest and Sevvostlestrest. June 22 p. In the morning, 16 loader artels (a total of 700 people), working in the road unloading bureau at the summer pier for unloading timber from Tatlestrest and Sevvostlestrest barges, quit their work. The strikers presented to the road unloading bureau a demand to work out exact quotations and to immediately make a full payment for the work performed. This was preceded by the following circumstance. On May 31, work on unloading the timber of barge No. 344 was completed, and the salary was paid on June 28, whereas according to the tariff agreement of 1926, the calculation should be made two days after the end of the work. The office did not have new rates for 1927, but calculated at rates from 1926. Due to this, the working loaders, working from May 12 to this time, did not know the rates, receiving a weekly advance payment. As a result, when calculating, it turned out that, working piecework on this job, the loaders did not earn the daily wage ‐ 2 rubles. 62 kopecks, receiving 2 rubles. 18 kopecks the beginning of the disruption of the work was the refusal of the work of the Vedminsky group, followed by the Tolstorozhev group, which, in turn, breaking up into small groups, went through the rest of the artels to agree on joining their demand, which was a success. The artels stopped working. The chairman of the [local committee] Shchenyaev and the chairman of the transport workersʹ department of transport workers, Ignatov, immediately left for the place of the conflict, and they held a rally promising the workers to introduce new prices acceptable to them. This calmed the workers and on June 24 they began to work. On June 23, new prices were worked out and approved.
Production rationalization
Textile workers
Transition to an increased number of machines and sides. 11. Faculty named after Nogin of the 1st Moscow Cotton Trust (workers 3558). In connection with the transition to three machines and the compacted work on other machines, there is great discontent among the workers, which manifested itself on May 26 during a protest rally on the occasion of the break with England, where the speaker was not allowed to speak by shouts: “Down with three machines, what do we need England, we have to deal only with ourselves, we do not need any revolutions, ʺand so on. Nobody voted for the proposed resolution.
12. Grandfatherʹs factory 2nd Moscow Cotton Trust (workers 2600). On June 2, a meeting of senior, middle and lower technical personnel was held together with the active workers on the issue of rationalizing production. The workers speaking on the report expressed dissatisfaction with the transition from 10 to 14 machines, citing difficulties associated with the late delivery of the necessary parts. In addition, workers fear that, due to rationalization, some of them will be cut. The meeting was going on violently, shouts were heard: “Down with rationalization, we were already cheated when we switched to 10 machines. We do not need any rationalization; it is aimed at enslaving the workers. We are running a regime of economy at the expense of workers, and not at the expense of technical improvements. We were repeatedly promised relief, but in fact everyone is increasing the load; we thought that the Soviet government would make us easier, but it turns out the other way around. The party deceived the working class, at first it called for help and could not have coped without it, but now the workers are bypassed. ʺ
13. Istomkinsky factory named after Trotsky 3rd Moscow Cotton Trust (workers 3131). Water ladies (65 people) express dissatisfaction with the rationalization of production and the transition from 2 sides to 3 sides, the workers say: “We are offered to move to 3 sides when the machines are 75% worn out, water and cars have not been checked since 1923, There are no cartridges, for lack of such they work on mules, etc. ʺ The administration does not pay attention to the repeated statements of the workers to the above abnormalities.
14. Factories ʺProletarkaʺ and ʺVagzhanovka” (Tver province). Rationalization of production at the Tver textile factories (ʺProletarkaʺ and ʺVagzhanovkaʺ) causes discontent among the workers, which begins to take sharp forms.
June 22 at the Faculty of. Vagzhanovʹs workers (70 people) came to the editorial office of the local newspaper and said they did not want to switch to 4 machines, as this event would increase
unemployment. Some of them even required switching to 2 machines.
On June 25, at a production conference of the weaving department of Proletarka (attended by up to 100 workers), where the question of rationalizing production was raised, there was noticeable strong excitement among the audience. There were shouts: ʺDown with 3 machinesʺ. The speaker, the chairman of the Tver Cotton Trust, Kondratyev, because of the noise, could not start the report for 30 minutes. The Presidium received notes with the following content: ʺIf 4 machines are introduced, then we will go on strike and break all the glass.ʺ ʺYou communists are being beaten, but we workers,
proletarians, will hang up, the ropes are ready.ʺ ʺIf you do this to the workers, you will lose your heads.ʺ “If you lay off workers, the resulting army of millions of unemployed will have to do something,” etc. Worker Glebov, who spoke in the debate he has been working at the factory for about 2 years and enjoys prestige among the workers) said: “They want to rationalize production on the neck of the worker, they are ready to drink all our blood, they receive 500 rubles each, and they are satisfied with 200, and let the rest be spent on construction of a new factory”. In conclusion, Glebov proposed to the meeting a resolution he had drawn up demanding the abandonment of work on 2 machines and the improvement of auxiliary materials. The workersʹ resolution was adopted unanimously. Other workers (Abysov, Markov and Shantaev) who spoke after him said: ʺWe fought to make our work easier, and they are imposing 3 and 4 machines on us.ʺ These speeches were supported by the majority of the workers, and shouts were noted at the administration: ʺDown with rapists, down with 3 machinesʺ, etc. The next day, before the start of work, the Komsomolets member Glebov gathered a group of workers of up to 100 people near the factory, who urged ʺnot to allow the transition to machines 3 and 4, to fight this event.ʺ Glebov did not work during the entire shift, agitating in all departments of the factory against the transition to an increased number of machines. At this time, rumors began to spread among the workers that Glebov had been arrested and 100 workers came to the factory demanding to explain why Glebov had been arrested. At the factory committee, they learned that the rumors of the arrest were not based on anything; moreover, Glebov himself soon appeared and addressed the workers with the words: ʺComrades, I have not been arrested.ʺ
15. Gorko‐Pavlovsk factory Ivtekstil (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province). On June 16, a general meeting was held at the factory; there were questions: 1) the transition to 4 machines, 2) approval of the estimates of the factory committee, 3) sending on an excursion to Leningrad, 4) elections to the congress of textile workers. According to the report of the director of the factory and the representative of Ivtextil about the tightening of the working day, the workers behaved very uneasy. Communist speakers were not allowed to speak; shouts were heard: ʺDown with the Communists.ʺ Particularly sharp protests against the transition to 4 machines were noted among workers associated with the countryside. Worker Golychkin, a middle peasant, said: “We lived better under tsarism, and they mocked us less than now; çce we will not let work on 4 machines, but let them transfer us to 2 and take our children”. The next in the debate was Marychev F. P., a wealthy peasant, who stated: ʺThe Soviet government is already pulling the skin off us and still wants to transfer to 4 machines, but we will not go and we will not obey you.ʺ Weaver Demyanov (a peasant) said: ʺThe Soviet government exploits more than imperialism, it makes you work for 16 hours, and not for 8 ‐ where is equality and brotherhood.ʺ At the end of his speech, he urged the workers not to agree with the transition to 4 machines and leave the meeting. Many workers joined him, especially Kosterin, a weaver (a peasant of the Andronikha village) stood out, who with the words: ʺThe Soviet government is drinking our last blood and we will not tolerate them anymore, well, to hell with them,ʺ took the whole group of workers away from the meeting. The rest of the workers who tried to follow him were held back by explanations from the party members present. The party members who spoke were prevented from speaking, especially the weaver Vaskova stood out, shouting: ʺDown with all the upstarts of the communists.ʺ Party membersʹ performances were disrupted. It was decided to switch to 4 machines voluntarily. Among the workers, threats were noted against those who intend to switch to 4 machines. Despite the decree on voluntary transfer, the discontent has not been eliminated. Weaver P.G. Kalachev (peasant in the village of Novinskoe) On June 16, walking home from work, in a group of 15 weavers said: “If a strike broke in Ivanovo in 1926, then we will not fail ‐ here are 4 looms for them. We just need to be united with each other and then no one will transfer to 4 machines, those who go ‐ we need to despise and persuade those”. The weaver Smirnova is also campaigning against the transition to 4 looms. On June 20, walking home from work, in the presence of 10 female workers, she said: “They (the communists) are only tearing our skin off and the money we earn is spent on drink; there is not enough money so they make us work on 4 machines; we must persuade those who have already given consent not to go to work on 4 machines. ʺ Most agreed with her.
Reduction. 16. According to the directives of the 1st Flax Board for three Yakovlevsky factories, in connection with the rationalization of production, 500 workers of various qualifications were assigned to layoff. On June 6, a general meeting of workers of the Rogachev factory was held on the issue of staff reductions. 575 out of 1,556 workers participated in the meeting. It was unanimously decided to reduce 41 people. It is planned to reduce workers with 3‐4 people in the family, working in production, as well as those who have connections with agriculture. The administration was instructed to draw up a list of those to be reduced. In pursuance of this decision, the manager of the Rogachev factory Korolev (a member of the AUCP), together with the chairman of the factory committee Tretyakov (a member of the AUCP) and a member of the factory collective, Kosukhin, drew up a list of persons to be dismissed. The reduction began on June 7. Locksmith Krylov, 52 years old, was laid off having secondary agriculture. On June 7, Krylov, having received a notice through the timetable about the reduction, drunkenly went to the factory manager Korolev and asked to write out a certificate of his honesty in production. Korolev refused, arguing that upon receipt of the final payment in the office, he would be issued a corresponding certificate, as dismissed according to the approved form H KT, and they did not issue any other documents to those quitting. On the morning of June 8, Krylov again appeared in the Korolyovʹs office and asked: ʺAm I fired?ʺ and from Korolyov he received an answer: ʺIf you have received the payment, then you are considered dismissed.ʺ After that, Krylov in the factory smithy took a piece of wire arshin length, thicknessʹ / and they do not issue any other documents to those leaving. On the morning of June 8, Krylov again appeared in the Korolyovʹs office and asked: ʺAm I fired?ʺ and from Korolyov he received an answer: ʺIf you have received the payment, then you are considered dismissed.ʺ After that, Krylov in the factory smithy took a piece of wire an arshin long, thick ʹ/4 inches, sharpened on the anvil, and then headed back to the Queenʹs office. There he wounded the Queen with a wire edge in his left hand near the elbow, then struck a second blow in the palm of his hand. Krylov was drunk. A medical examination recognized the Queen as harmless. Krylov was arrested.
Other industries
17. Dobriansky ironworks. (Prikamsky district). According to the proposal of the UOSNKh commission, the staff of workers is reduced. A group of two former members of the All‐Union Communist Party and a worker who had evacuated with Kolchak emerged in the steam on the electric shop. The mood was especially aggravated in connection with the statement of the chief engineer Sigov at the last factory conference that ʺthe party members will not be dismissed,ʺ since he has a directive to do so.
18. Zaprudnensky Glass Factory Glavlektrotrest (workers 549). On May 31, up to 200 people were present at the delegate meeting on the issue of reducing workers. A sympathizer with the Mensheviks who spoke in the debate said: “In layoffs, qualifications and material conditions are bypassed, and they are being cut on personal accounts. We fought for the revolution, sniffed gunpowder on the fronts of the Civil War, and maybe weʹll have to sniff again soon. ʺ On the part of those present, especially those who were slated for redundancy, his speech met with support. There was a noise and shouts: ʺWhy are you cutting me, and not this one.ʺ At that moment, a gutta worker, who was slated for layoff, burst into the presidium of the meeting in order to beat the prezavkom and grabbed him by the throat and tore his shirt. The worker was taken out of the hall. As a result, the list of those scheduled to be cut (145 people) was adopted by a majority vote.
APPENDIX # 2
UNEMPLOYED
Agitation against trade union organizations.
1. Moscow Labor Exchange. Metalworkers section. The unemployed in a group of 10 people said: “We will not expect anything from the Union. The meeting will not give us anything either, they clamped us in a vice and we wonʹt get out of them in a good way. Meetings will not give us work, to give us work we have to fight, riot, boycott temporary jobs and defiantly demand permanent ones. ʺ
2. Section of textile workers. An unemployed in a group of 10 people said: “The Union does not help us to fight unemployment and does not put forward demands to give the unemployed work ‐ that means it does not reflect our demands, but follows the instructions of the authorities. The unions help the state to exploit workers. The workers themselves are no longer allowed to organize. This means that the interests of the workers have been driven underground. Soon we will stop whispering in the corners and decide to openly present our legitimate demands for the right to work and human life. ʺ The listeners supported him.
3. Garment section 240. An unemployed person in a group of 8‐10 people said: “Apparently, we have nothing to expect from the Union, no matter how many times we organize meetings, the Union pursued its policy, not at all considering us; we must look for another way out. We need to organize together with all the sections. The slogan for us should be: “Unemployed, unite”.
Conflicts at labor exchanges.
4. Crimea, mountains. Yalta. The widow of the murdered Red Army soldier (she herself was wounded at the front) led to agitation for the creation of control over the labor exchange on the basis of incorrect dispatches to work. She herself drew up an ad, collected the signatures of the unemployed and handed it over to the head of the labor exchange, who called a meeting of the unemployed. At the meeting, a control troika was selected, which included the widow of a Red Army soldier.
5. Tiflis Labor Exchange. On June 15, one of the unemployed tried to drown himself, but was rescued by the nearby unemployed. The unemployed explained his attempted suicide by the desperate financial situation and the indifferent attitude towards him on the part of the labor exchange. In this regard, strong unrest began among the unemployed, shouts were heard: “You are ripping off our skin. It is necessary to defeat such a government. ʺ “If you are honest people, if there is no protectionism on the stock exchange, then why are such orphans not sent to work. What should he do? The head of the stock exchange sends to work those whose faces he likes and women who give in to his desires, but such remain overboard. ʺ At this time, the unemployed, who attempted suicide, in a frenzy beat himself in the face and all bloody shouted: ʺGive advice what to do, where to go.ʺ This further increased the excitement of the unemployed, calls were heard from the crowd for the destruction of the stock exchange and the murder of the ʺleadersʺ. Having surrounded the head of the stock exchange, the unemployed tried to throw him off the balcony. Only after the head of the section promised to assign to work in the first place all the unemployed in need, the crowd calmed down and dispersed. The next day, the aforementioned unemployed person was hired as a courier at the exchange on a note from the Transcaucasian Central Executive Committee, where he filed a complaint against the labor exchange.
Conflicts in public works.
6. Kursk. Public works to strengthen the river. Tuskar. Up to 200 unemployed people sent by the labor exchange were hired. The work was carried out haphazardly, the technical staff paid little attention to the work, and there were not enough instructors. The workers were also in difficult conditions, they had to work waist‐deep in water, there was no insurance, no medical assistance was provided. The wages of the workers were established by the department by the day (1 ruble per day), but the work was done on a piece‐rate basis, and the technical staff concealed the production rates from the workers. When receiving a salary, it turned out that many received, due to the underdevelopment of norms, instead of 1 rubles. ‐ 45 kopecks each. On this basis, a meeting spontaneously arose among the outraged workers, where a statement was drawn up and a delegation to the City Council was elected, which included an unemployed member of the City Council. In the statement, the workers pointed to deception in the calculation, measurements when accepting work, rudeness of administration and technical staff. When the delegation went to the city council, then all those present followed it, and groups of the unemployed joined them along the way. As a result, up to 1000 people came to the City Council in an organized way. After submitting a statement to the City Council, the demonstration dispersed. The city council decided to satisfy all the demands of the unemployed. The next day, one of the initiators of the demonstration at the meeting said: “Comrades, I realize that we have acted badly towards our brothers and the native workers ʹand peasantsʹ government, and now we must apologize to him, to the provincial party committee and to the city council, for we thereby helping the bastards who killed Comrade. Voikova. If they want to overthrow our Soviet power, we all workers will go to its defense. ʺ This statement was supported by all the unemployed.
In early July, in connection with the reduction of 400 people, discontent arose again among the unemployed, and it was decided that if on July 7 no exact answer was given, when they would be sent to work, they would again go with a demonstration to the executive committee. Discontent was eliminated by the intervention of the provincial committee.
7. Kyrgyz Republic. Work on the construction of a water supply system in the mountains. Frunze. Out of dissatisfaction with low prices (56 kopecks for excavation of a cubic meter of soil), 160 unemployed workers quit their jobs and demanded an increase in prices to 94 kopecks, as well as better housing conditions, delivery of food and the issuance of advances against earnings. The administration agreed to an increase in prices up to 71 kopecks, otherwise it threatened the settlement. At a spontaneously arisen meeting, the workers said: “The government is acting against our interests, if the economic agencies do not meet halfway, delegates must be sent to Comrade. Kalinin and achieve justice. There is no Lenin and no one to defend the workers. Kalinin is alone and he was also pecked. The discontent of the workers was fueled by a speech by a member of the Council of Trade Unions, who said that the administration was to blame for everything.
The workersʹ demands, with the exception of an increase in prices, were met and the workers (130 people) went to work two days later.
A group of workers, including the candidates of the All‐Union Communist Party, continues to incite to continue the strike.
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 3
PEASANTRY CENTER
Anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulaks and anti‐Soviet element.
1. Voronezh province. June 17. Well‐to‐do with. Okmarovka Bogucharsky u. agitates among the peasants: “Until then they will reap the peasant, until the war starts or the people themselves demand the war. Only war can change the position of the peasants. They said that the power of the people, but it turns out that we are ruled and we are oppressed. Our opponents are in power, and they make the whole people indignant. ʺ
2. Tambov province. A letter was sent to the Tambov Provincial Committee of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) under the title ʺPeasant note from 5000 peopleʺ with the title slogan: ʺDeath to Soviet power and communism.ʺ The letter says that the Soviet government does not care about the peasantry, that the peasants live three times worse than before the revolution, and therefore ʺwe do not want to defend you, long live victory on the side of England.ʺ The letter ends like this: “Now we donʹt need such a bastard. Enough for you to torment the peasants. Long live the British government and its war against the beast. Long live the white terror. Long live the terrorist Boris, down with communism and trade unions, and the labor exchange. As soon as England is on the first step, and here we are on another, to the rear of the scoundrels. We are waiting, we will not wait for this collapse of the Soviet regime. Long live victory on the side of England. Long live English technology. Down with the Chinese Revolution. ʺ
3. Ryazan lips. In the village Troekurovo Ranenburgsky u. kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements of the village, headed by a former large landowner, openly conduct anti‐Soviet agitation among the middle peasants and poor peasants of their village, as well as nearby villages, urging them to expel all workers from the Council and elect “independent people” there, declaring: “At this time, the authorities are people who do not know how to cope with the task entrusted to them, but only like to fill their pockets. This power cannot exist for a long time, we need a power that knows how to rule the economy. ʺ
4. Tula lips. June 8. The kulaks and the well‐to‐do stratum of the countryside express their gloating over the break with England and regard it as ʺthe end of Soviet power.ʺ Anti‐Soviet activity has noticeably intensified and there are threats ‐ ʺall the peasants who are supporters of the Soviet regime will soon be shot.ʺ
Speeches for peasant unions.
5. Voronezh province. June 29. Rossoshansky district in with. Marchenkovo Olkhovatsky parish the meeting of the peasants was attended by up to 300 people. When reading a resolution on reports on the IV All‐Union Congress of Soviets 241 And the well‐to‐do man spoke out to the international situation, saying: “We do not need this resolution, the Soviet government has given nothing to the peasant, the power is not a workersʹ and peasants’s, but a workers’ bourgeois dictatorship, which also does not need to be defended, just as there was no need to defend the power of Romanov. The peasants need a peasant union, without which they will not be able to defend their rights. The workers did everything for themselves, but nothing for the peasants. Only peasant unions can defend peasant interests. ʺ After his speech, it was decided to adopt a resolution point by point. When a point was put to the vote, which indicated that if the bourgeoisie imposes a war on us, it is necessary to act as one to defend the Soviet Union, one of those present spoke up: “We should not give such an obligation, if there is a war, let them go to defend those, whoever needs it, we do not need to defend ourselves, because whoever comes will not be worse. A similar statement was made by the second peasant. After these speeches, the meeting was divided into two parts. During the voting, 40 people voted for the resolution, while the rest abstained.
6. Tula lips. May 31. In with. In Dubki, Obolensk District, a school worker (daughter of a former volost foreman) agitates: “The worker lives much better than the peasant and in the future the peasantry will not see anything good from the Soviet regime if he is not given wider rights. The peasant makes attempts to unite and organize his peasant union, but the Soviet government does not allow this, because then there will be no workersʹ and peasantsʹ power, but a peasantʹs and workersʹ power, since not the workers, but the peasants will be at the head. In the near future, the peasants will achieve their right and they will be allowed to organize their own cross union. ʺ
In the same village, the middle peasant says: “The peasants can have only one organization ‐ the peasant union. Until now, peasant unions have not been created, and only because the communists and the Soviet government are persecuting this organization. It is advantageous for the Soviet government, like the tsarist autocracy, to keep the peasantry disorganized; it does this so skillfully that the bulk of this deception does not notice and will not soon notice it. The communists go against the cross unions and say that if we let the peasantry organize, it will be like an ocean in a storm, and the working class will be a boat thrown to the mercy of fate. The authorities overwrite the question of the cross unions and never discuss this issue. If we look at the resolutions of various congresses, both party and non‐party, we will find absolutely nothing about the cross union. If you look at all the legal press during the existence of the Soviet regime, then there is nothing there either. When we submit questions about the cross‐union in writing, they are not answered, but only asked who wrote it. The cross union is necessary for us, because through the union we will advance at an accelerated pace along the path to socialism. The peasantry will be interested in their union, we will not regret anything for it, and we will all be elected to the union. The Union will pay special attention to the marketability of agriculture. He will find a sale for peasant goods, organize all kinds of associations and will help to raise agriculture. Agricultural machines will then go directly to the peasantʹs field and there will be a complete machine revolution. The peasantry would then begin to carry out social cultivation of the land, public canteens would open and in the end everything would become public. ʺ The protests for the cross union meet with sympathy among the middle peasants and the wealthy.
NORTHWEST
The growth of anti‐Soviet activity of the kulaks. 7. Novgorod province. 12 June. In Polischek parish. Malo‐Vishersky u. authorized for the rafting of Drevtrest on the river. Holova, a former merchant, two kulaks and a priest with. The Morozovichs organized a ʺMay Dayʺ dedicated to the break with England. The priests and kulaks of the surrounding villages were present at the May Day, the question of how to act at the time of the declaration of war was discussed.
In the village. Borisovo Medveditskaya par. Valdaysky u. the peasants were building a bridge over the stream. Three wealthy people campaigned against the construction of the bridge, pointing out: ʺLet the Soviet government build the bridge, because it rips us off with taxes.ʺ Seeing that their agitation was not working, they came to the bridge with stakes, dispersed the workers and broke the bridge. Upon learning that the construction of the bridge had begun on the initiative of the Komsomol members, they threatened to kill them. Under the influence of threats, the work of the Komsomol cell fell.
8. Pskov province. June 22. Prosperous village Ladies of the Opochetskaya parish and the county spreads rumors that the whites will soon come and destroy the Soviet laws, “then we will get even with those who now insist on land management. Then I will talk with a rifle with those who want to take my land. ʺ
9. Murmansk province. June 22. In with. Puzameni, a former merchant in the presence of the pre‐village council and other peasants, said: “If there is a war, then let only the communists fight, we do not agree to fight; and if they drive us by force of arms, we will kill all the leaders at the front, and we ourselves will say that we are comrades and you too, and we have no need to beat each other. ʺ
10. Leningrad province. 12 June. June 17 to the shepherd village. Ivanovka Uryupinskaya parish Leningradsky district on the pasture, an unknown young man approached, handed him several pieces of paper and asked them to be handed over to the representative of the village council for announcement to the peasants. The shepherd, without considering the papers, took them down to the representative of the village council, the latter handed them over to the VIC. The papers turned out to be handwritten anti‐Soviet leaflets with the following content: “June 1, 1927. Leaflet. Peasants raise a general uprising in the struggle for a new power. Give up manual hard labor, unite into one mass and go to fight for the improvement of your economy and life, against the power of the Soviets and against Soviet exploitation over you. In the struggle for a new power, for a united union of world communism. Rise up, toiling masses, to an armed uprising for a new peopleʹs power, for a united alliance of world communism, for an uprising for the improvement of the situation, life and work, against exploitation. People be ready now for an uprising for a new power. To an armed revolt! ʺ “Announcement: Today, June 17, at 12 oʹclock. nights, a general secret meeting of only Finnish peasants from vil. Ivanovka. The order of the day: 1) the split of the peasantry, 2) miscellaneous, 3) preparation for a secret work. Peasants, to the general meeting! Attention, peasants, you need to prepare for a secret general meeting with arms in hand for a single defense for the new government. The attendance of the entire mass of peasants at this meeting is obligatory. Please vacate the premises in view of the meeting. June 17, 1927. To an uprising for a new peopleʹs power! Long live the workers ʹand peasantsʹ union of world communism! ʺ
11. North‐Dvinskaya province. In the Nizhne‐Ustyug village council, under the leadership of a priest and one of the kulaks, a kulak group of 8 people was organized. The group openly opposes the pre‐village council, the hut and the cells of the CPSU (b), putting forward the slogan: ʺDown with the communists and the poor from the
Soviet.ʺ Members of the group are also campaigning for the creation of a cross union. In a group of peasants, one of the kulaks who were part of the group said: ʺThe regional congress of Soviets that was underway was not a peasant congress, but a congress of white‐collar workers and white bones, who absolutely do not know the interests of the peasantry. When a radio receiver was acquired in the local hut‐reading room and one end of the antenna wire was attached to the bell tower, the group opposed this. Under the influence of the agitation of the members of the group at a meeting of believers, the peasants threatened to throw the hut from the bell tower and change the village council,
WEST
Activation of the kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements.
12. Belarus. June 7. In the Orsha district, a former landowner agitates: “There is no order under Soviet rule. Communists are atheists and soon the time will come when they will be destroyed. The war between Belarus and Poland has already begun, and Minsk is captured by the Poles. Poles recognize God and do not have any commune, and they live much better than here. ʺ In the same district, a former usurer said: “There will be war soon. The Soviet power will then change and we will take away all the land. ʺ
In the Gomel district in the village. Zhgun Dobrush district, a peasant, a former employee, addressing the pre‐village council, said: “Why do you close our eyes, tell us straight out that the war is already on the way, it should be because the communists are not the government, but impostors chosen by no one. The Constituent Assembly is the master of the Union. You say that we do not have any of the political prisoners as in Poland, meanwhile, we have revolutionaries and are now in prison.
13. Bryansk province. June 15th. Pochepsky. In the village. Buda Balyk parish Bezhitsky u. The (well‐to‐do) moonshiner, in the presence of 10 poor peasants, one middle peasant and four kulaks, said: ʺWe will drown all the poor peasants and communists and we will ride them because England has already defeated China.ʺ One of the kulaks present also threatened the poor: ʺThey went on us, and now we will soon go on you.ʺ
14. Smolensk province. June 15th. In the village. Mikhalevo Batyushkovskaya par. Gzhatsky u. the kulak agitates: “Judging by the course of events, the Soviet power will not exist in the future. In fact, no state recognizes the Bolsheviks and they will have to abandon their laws and statutes. You will need to elect a president. ʺ
Anti‐Semitic agitation of the kulaks. 15. Belarus. June 7. In the Rechitsa district, a well‐to‐do peasant agitates: “There will be war, it is necessary since the peasants are taxed heavily and are not given access to anywhere. Jews and communists ride on the peasantsʹ necks. During the war, it will be possible to deal with all of them. Currently, nothing is available to the Russian. You come to get a job, there are Jews everywhere. ʺ
In the same district, the former estate manager agitates: “War is inevitable, since the imperialists have grown stronger and want to crush the Bolsheviks, because the further the Bolshevik contagion spreads. With the beginning of the war, there will be an end to Jewish domination over the peasant, the Soviet government will make concessions and hand over Belarus and part of Ukraine to Poland. ʺ
Anti‐Soviet activities of the Polish kulaks.
16. Belarus. June 7. In one of the villages of the Polotsk District, two well‐to‐do Poles are agitating: “It is absolutely impossible to live under the order of the Soviet regime. Communists are the second nobility. All former jailers are now commissars. There is no free trade in the countryside, and cooperation is not worth a damn thing. Soon the peasants will be evicted from the 500‐meter border strip and soldiers will be settled here. ʺ
17. Mozyr District. The kulak‐Pole (former officer) agitates among the peasants: “One of these days the war will start. The British government summoned its mission, and also offered the Soviet representative to leave the borders of England, in addition, the British government ordered Poland to withdraw its mission from the USSR and prepare for war. Soviet money is falling every day and will soon lose any value. ʺ
18. Minsk District. The middle‐class Catholic spreads rumors that: “The Bolsheviks will declare war on Poland in early July. In this war, the Soviet power will not win since there will be a war in the Union itself. Belarusians will beat Jews, and workers in the center of Russia will beat communists. ʺ
UKRAINE
Performances of the kulaks.
19. Uman District. In with. Rumors about the war are spreading by the kulak element in Krasnopolka of the Granovsky District. Kulak Yakimovich Grigory, in a defeatist mood, says: ʺIf there is a war, Ukraine will achieve independence.ʺ A similar performance by the kulak was noted in the Shepetivka district.
20. Zhytomyr district. In the village. Lozinki of the Volodarsk region kulaks, in particular, kulak Koritskiy Adam, spread rumors about the beginning of the war. Koritsky in a group of peasants agitated that they should not pay the tax, as ʺthere will be a change of power.ʺ
21. Shepetivsky district. In with. The kulaks of the
Starokonstantinovsky district are actively spreading rumors about the war. The fists will intimidate the poor with repression if they divide up the land. In this regard, several peasants refused to carry out land management, saying: ʺThe gentlemen will come soon, then where then to look for their lanes.ʺ
NORTH CAUCASIAN REGION
Panic mood of the poor and nonresident in connection with rumors about the war.
22. Black Sea District. From stts. Gastogaevskaya, under the influence of threats from the Cossacks to get rid of the Cossack land with the beginning of the war, left two nonresident, one of them was a former member of the CPSU (b). Two other nonresidents are selling things and are also preparing to leave.
23. Maykop district. Several poor members of the agricultural partnership stts. Kurdzhinskaya filed an application for their withdrawal from the partnership in connection with the agitation of the kulaks about the possible reprisals against all ʺSovietʺ ones upon the arrival of the new power. In stts. Khanʹs poor for the same reason refuse to work in KKOV.
24. Kuban District. In stts. A poor Ladoga nonresident in the circle of peasants said: ʺThere will soon be a war, all the newspapers are writing about this, but how can we go to fight if the Cossacks will surely start a massacre in the villages and not only our families will be cut out, but the economy and all the houses will be taken awayʺ ... Similar sentiments are among the nonresident of the Krapivinsky district of the Armavir district.
Reactionary Cossacks.
25. Salsky district. In stts. Andreevskaya Dubovsky district of the same district, the Cossacks are spreading the rumor: ʺWhite troops will come here, who will disperse all the Antichrists and Ukrainians who have occupied the Cossack lands.ʺ
26. Don district. July 1. In connection with the recent events, the activity of anti‐Soviet elements of the farms of the Kovylensky and Petrovsky Oblivsky regions has been revived. The reactionary Cossacks are in favor of the war, as they are waiting for the arrival of Cossacks from abroad to overthrow the Soviet regime and to expel nonresidents from the Don.
The mood of the former red partisans.
27. Maykop district. Former partisans say about the proximity of war: ʺIn case of war, we will be given the rights of 1918 to get rid of the bureaucrats who have settled in institutions, the White Guards, so that we can cleanse the USSR of various reptiles that hinder and undermine the authority of the USSR government.ʺ
28. Salsky district. In with. Former partisans say in the Lopansky West [adno] Konnozavodsky district: “Let the Soviet government not expect us partisans to succumb to a second slaughter, to a second deception, as it was in 1918. The peasants were promised land, freedom and freedom, but the result is nothing. Previously, landowners owned land, but now state farms and state funds, but the peasants have nothing. The workers have more advantages from the power, so let the worker defend his Soviet power, and we, the peasants, do not go ‐ instead of support for our services to the revolution, they pay incredible taxes. ʺ
POVOLZHE
Depressive sentiments of the middle and poor. 29. Astrakhan lips. June 26. The middle peasants of the Baskunchak, Kharabalinsky and Bolkhunsky districts in conversations, conversations and at rallies regarding the latest events declare that in case of war they will not go to war. “We have fought, there is nothing to fight for, except for the fact that excessive taxes are squeezing the peasant, do not give an opportunity to expand arable land. Everything is very expensive on the market, and you will not always find what is necessary for agriculture.
ʺ
Among the population with. Bolkhun of the Bolkhunsky region rumors about the beginning of the war with England are circulating.
During a fair meeting on June 12, following the report of the representative of the provincial committee, the middle peasants definitely stated that they would not go to the front, that let those who want to go, that the defense should be voluntary, that he, the peasantry, does not care until the government decides: to fight or not to fight, the land will still not go anywhere further and no one will take the land away from him. The peasant s. The middle peasants openly declared this, saying: ʺI would rather die on the spot, but not at the front.ʺ
30. Non‐republic. July 1. In with. To the courage of the Pokrovsky canton, on the occasion of the severance of diplomatic relations with England, the peasants say: “War is inevitable, but we will not go to war, but we will hide in the bushes; whoever needs it, let him fight, and we will go to fight for what. We don’t care about bread, but manufacture, iron, timber is terribly expensive, we want to live”. This is said by the middle peasants and even the poor, while the well‐to‐do do not speak out and only sarcastically ask: ʺWell, letʹs go to fight the enemy.ʺ
Anti‐Soviet agitation and performances of wealthy and anti‐Soviet elements in the countryside.
31. Astrakhan province. June 20. In with. At a rally in Zhitnoy, Biryuchekosinsky District, at a rally about the latest events, under the influence of the agitation of two well‐to‐do people, those present for a long time did not dare to pass a resolution of protest: “Why do we need a war and who only wants to fight. We do not want war, but we want to live peacefully and build our economy. Only now the peasants are needed, and before we were not asked, but only give taxes. Now they will give you everything ‐ land and water. ʺ
In with. Krasa from the well‐to‐do at the rally shouted: “That they came to us to make a report when we do not want to fight. We will not go to war ‐ thatʹs enough, there are no fools, after that war they gave us three fingers of water and earth ‐ they put a yoke around our neck. Let the party members go to fight, they need to be sent forward, they knew what they were fighting for. ʺ
32. Samara province. June 25. In with. Krasnoyarka Buguruslansky district a certain dominance of the wealthy and the kulaks is noted, who, through agitation, managed to subordinate almost the entire population of the village to their influence. At a general meeting of citizens, a poor man, a demobilized Red Army soldier, who was under the influence of the wealthy and kulaks, spoke on the report on the international situation: “The speaker explained to us the international situation of the USSR and wants to know our opinion about the war, so we will tell him our opinion, and he must convey our statement farther. We would not be afraid of any threats of war and Russian White Guards if the Communist Party did not oppress the peasants, but would give the opportunity to live the same way as others on an equal footing. The party has degenerated into a caste of the nobility, it gives the responsible workers a rate of 500 rubles or more, not to mention the specialists, at that time, when the cultural level of the country is low,
and the peasants are begging ‐ thatʹs what ruins the ideological side the communists. In the coming war, the peasants will not follow the party, but will make another revolution, making sure that the voice of the peasant is heeded. Reduce, before itʹs too late, the rates of the responsible workers, equate us, the peasants, with the workers and we are ready to go to war and bear all the burdens of the revolution, but bear these burdens as a whole, together with the workers and workers, and not alone. ʺ The resolution adopted on the report says: “General meeting of citizens with. Krasnoyarsk in the number of 100 people, protests against the attacks of England and provoking us to the war. Having achieved freedom for ourselves, we, the peasants, must repulse the enemy, but on condition that the peasant is given complete freedom to dispose of his labor, freely develop their own product and sell it in the bazaar at prices desired by the peasants. Responsible employees and employees in general should be reduced their wages to the level of an average worker. ʺ
Panic over rumors of war.
33. Saratov province. In with. Almazovo Balashovsky u. the peasants are trying to sell their livestock and buy the necessary goods with the money received. They try to spend all their savings, because the peasants are afraid that in the event of war ʺthere will be another government and Soviet money, accumulated with such great difficulty, will not be accepted.ʺ
34. Ulyanovsk province. In the villages of the Astradamovskaya parish. among the peasants, in connection with rumors of war, a panic mood is noted. Many handicraftsmen have returned from their seasonal work, there is an intensified procurement of food, especially salt, which has been taken apart in cooperatives. Private traders take advantage of this and raised the price of salt to 2 rubles. for a pood. Despite this, the peasants took it all apart.
35. Samara province. Many peasants from. The M‐Malontsevkas of the Samara district, in connection with rumors of war and the agitation of well‐to‐do kulaks, are in a hurry to recruit seeders and other agricultural machines on credit, saying: “There will be a war, and with it, there will probably be another government, so we will get the machines for free, there will be no one to pay. ʺ
URAL
The anti‐Soviet sentiment of some of the middle peasants.
36. Tyumen District. In the village. At a meeting of peasants, Zyryanka, the middle peasant, spoke with the words: ʺWe have been completely strangled by taxes, and they do not help the peasant in any way.ʺ On attempts by the speaker to explain to him, he shouted: ʺItʹs enough for us to rub our glasses, we have figured out and know you.ʺ His speech was supported by another peasant, adding: “What is true is true, the Soviet regime rips us off no worse than the tsarist one, if you are late in paying the tax for a day or two, the last heifer is sold by auction; it was easier for us before, but now they talk a lot about helping us, the peasants, but they do not give anything except meetings, but what are these meetings for us”. After the chairman of the meeting tried to stop the debate, the peasants shouted: “Why donʹt you let us talk about our grief? tell me, guys, whoʹs sick of something, itʹs enough to endure. ʺ
37. Chelyabinsk District. Chudinovsky district. In with. Chudinov, when the peasants discussed the current situation, the middle peasant Beketov said: “The worker lives better than the peasant. The workers have conquered power and oppression of the peasants, so let them defend the Soviet power. Now none of the peasants will go to war. ʺ
38. Kungurt District. Chudinovsky district. Middle peat village Zueva of the Kashirinsky village council, in a conversation about current events, said: “The war is in the balance, after all, after all, England will not be able to tolerate the policy of the Soviets. Men often ask me why the Soviet government does not give up agitation in other countries, why violate agreements with them on this. They could live quietly and calmly, they could not find fault, but now the party policy will have to pay the peasantry, which does not want war, since only the workers are in power, the peasantry is on the sidelines. We are now being told: ʺRevive the work of Soviet bodies, take an active part in the work, etc.ʺ, and how many decisions and wishes we have made ‐ have we fulfilled at least one hundredth part. No ‐ all power is with the workers, they are organized and united, but we, like sheep, act apart. The worker, of course, makes sense to fight, and we got nothing good. We live in poor peasants and lack of culture; we do not know how instead of 40 poods. receive 150 poods from tithes. and more, but uncivilized because when you don’t know how to pay the tax, you won’t dream being cultured. For 10 years, the poor have been given all sorts of privileges and benefits aimlessly and they still cannot rise, it turns out ‐ either the Soviet government helps in words and not in deeds, or it really helps, but she (the poor) sits on her neck like a parasite. Take, we used to have a foreman and a clerk in the volost. All expenses were expressed in 2000 rubles. in year. Now they have made 4 village councils and spend 140 rubles on them. per month. They say that this is to bring the authorities closer to the masses, but we are not fooling and we see that the “approach” only turns our pockets inside out. You look and think ‐ power is good, but there is something in it that crushes us, like a stone. That is why there is also a difference in the thinking of workers and peasants. No matter what the issue of the newspaper, there are articles about waste, forgery and so on. They commit crimes because they drink to the point of disgrace, every responsible worker drinks, if not openly, then on the sly. And it turns out, as different officials used to get drunk, and now. Only then they did not hide, but now they gloss over it, and a little the seriousness of the international situation will again be speeches and words. Of course, our brother, a peasant, can be used anywhere and in any way, in peacetime, as a source of income, in wartime, as an armed force ‐ there is a cash cow all around. The peasantry got used to their share, but there may be a turning point, which means that the authorities need to ease our situation, give them an opportunity to improve life, and then we will always go for it. ʺ
Increased activity of the kulaks and the wealthy. 39. Chelyabinsk District. In the village Kostylevsky, on a report on the possibility of war, the kulak of the Petrovsky village council proposed a resolution: “We do not want war and protest against the antics of foreign capital, but we also demand that the Soviet government make the life of the workers and peasants easier. Under these conditions, we would use all our strength to repel such antics; under the current situation, we cannot fulfill all the requirements of the government”. The proposed resolution met with the approval of the majority of the peasants, but was rejected by the communists present.
Miass district. In the village Ustyantsevsk, the kulaks are active. Kulak (non‐partisan, 55 years old, has two sons of warrant officers in China) agitates among the peasants: ʺAs soon as the war starts, the first duty is to cut the communists, then everything will be ours.ʺ
40. Perm District. Kachinsky district. In the Kachin village council, a significant activity of the kulaks is noted, and the most active are the kulaks, which exert their influence on the work of the land commission. So, for example, during the redistribution of land to the poor of the village. Sludki was the last to produce an uncomfortable plot of land for sowing. At a general meeting, one of the kulaks said on this issue: “We need a war, then we would have dealt with this blackness; although we pointed them out to the white people, some were shot and arrested, but this is not enough. Newspapers predict war, then we will work, then you will have land. ʺ
41. Zlatoust district. Miass district. In the village Syrostan among the population on the basis of the severance of diplomatic relations with England, there are many judgments, moreover, the kulaks and the wealthy show sharply anti‐Soviet sentiments. So, a well‐to‐do peasant said: ʺWell, soon all the communists will die, God knows how they torture people, so they will be tortured, they will have nowhere to run, planes will arrive and strangle Moscow and Leningrad.ʺ
SIBERIA
The mood of the former red partisans.
42. Tulunovsky district. June 22. Former partisans say about a possible war: “We will be the first to go to war, without waiting for conscription, but we will fight to the last drop of blood and defend Soviet power. We will be ashamed if we now refuse to fight. After all, we used to wander through the taiga, saw grief, suffered hunger and cold and must be the first to go to war. The former head of the partisan detachment says to his fellow villagers: ʺIn case of war, every last man must go to fight, remember the old‐fashioned way, just hold on to me, and then we will show the bourgeoisie whom they want to fight with.ʺ
43. Kamensk district. Former prominent partisan of the village. Ukhanovsky, accusing the local officials of a bureaucratic attitude towards the poor, threatened: “I will arrange so that these bastards communists do not laugh at us. They, bastards, perverted our
Leninist conquest, Iʹll try to get a few pieces of grenades and beat some bureaucrats. I will select good reliable guys for the implementation my goal, we will seize money from the State Bank, we will take the car from the firemen and go to the taiga. ʺ
The mood of the former white officers.
44. Irkutsk District. A former white officer who recently returned from a concentration camp said: “The hour of reprisals is not far off, there will not be enough pillars for the Bolsheviks. First of all, let us deal with the officers who have become Sovietized. ʺ
45. Achinsk District. Former white officers agitate: “The Soviet government will not only not fight, but will not defend itself. In order to overthrow the Soviet power as soon as possible, it is necessary to conduct widespread underground agitation, especially among the peasants, proving the harmfulness of the Soviet power and guilt in its breaking off diplomatic relations with Britain. ʺ
46. Rubtsovsky district. A former white officer, an employee of the OkrFO, said: “Our boors were kicked out of England, thatʹs how it should be, donʹt get involved in other peopleʹs business. Now, if there is a war, the GPU will keep an eye on our brother, two agents for one, they will shoot for every word. Well, nothing, they wonʹt shoot everyone, but they will register for them.
Peasantsʹ panic over rumors of war.
47. Biysk district. In connection with the spread of rumors about a possible war, a crisis of products and goods, the depreciation and complete cancellation of Soviet money, in some villages of the district, the withdrawal of peasant deposits from labor savings banks, the sale of livestock and increased procurement of products and goods is observed.
48. Barnaul district. Mamontovsky district. Peasant s. Suslovo refused to sell hay for money, as well as to take money for sewing pims, demanding payment in bread: ʺOnce the government changes, money will change too.ʺ
Other negative phenomena in connection with rumors of war.
49. Barnaul district. In with. Voronikha, Vorovskiy district, a rumor about the upcoming war is spreading intensely, as a result, conversations were noted: ʺWe need to think about cutting down the sowing, anyway, soon there will be mobilization and there will be no one to harvest.ʺ
DVK
Anti‐Soviet leaflets.
50. Amur District. June 15th. Excerpts from the proclamation: “Dear Amur people. What we are going to tell you, we are also telling our friends from Transbaikal at the same time. A dozen years have already passed since the moment when we Russians, who did not understand each other, attracted to the same goal ‐ the good of Russia and the Russian people ‐ went along two different paths. These roads, both for you and me and for our brothers abroad, turned out to be too thorny. I must say ‐ enough discord, enough Russian blood. All for the cause. What is the matter, what is our common work, each of us, from old to small, knows? Our first highest task is the expulsion of the selfproclaimed government, hated by all of us, despised by all of us. But how to do it? Many people think that someone else should do this task and point definitely to other states. They pin their hopes on emigration, which supposedly makes it easier and more possible, while forgetting that it is in foreign territories, disarmed and without funds. Therefore, without our direct participation with you, she can do nothing. As for help from other states, neither the emigration, nor you and I, Russians who love our homeland, can hope to receive this help. Each of us must understand that for foreigners a great Russia is unnecessary, and harmful. After all that has been said, you have the right to ask the question, how can you save us, save Russia? And we will answer you: only by our own strength and by our own means, by our solidarity, organization and our sacrifice. Remember, dear neighbors of the Amur people, the times of Minin and Pozharsky and take them as an example. We, Primorye, and you, Transbaikal and Amur, should, having organized, expel the Jewish government from our three regions. We can do this if we get down to business together if we do not spare ourselves and our funds. And when we accomplish this, then we will not ask for help either from France, nor from England or others,
but will demand from them to hand over our money, which they have kept several tens of millions of rubles. Then they will be obliged to give them to us, and they will, but again we repeat, only then will they give them to us and will reckon with us when we expel the international rogues from our three regions and form our Russian government. So, brothers Amur, with God for the initiative. For the glorious, great Russia and its peoples. With God. Primorsky Committee for Struggle
ʺ. Note: The leaflet was distributed in the village. K. [ozmo] Demianovka of the Tambov region of the Amur district as a priest.
51. Amur District. June 15th. The following leaflet was found in the village. Sukhotino Amuro‐Zeya region by a local peasant in the amount of 50 copies: Portrait with the inscription: ʺFor Russia, holy faith and people.ʺ “Wake up, brothers, great in spirit and with faith in your heart, with a tricolor flag you go into battle beyond Holy Russia. Dear brothers. Wait, dear brothers, for another misfortune, now the time has come to collect taxes from you by the guardsmen of the Jewish government. The Zhidov government has already begun to increase the number of punitive tax‐collection units. The people who are in these punitive detachments are Magyars, Koreans, Jews, Latvians and Russians, who sold themselves to the Jewish government, who have lost love for their homeland, and especially for you, dear brothers. From you, Amur people, they decided to collect two million in taxes and two and a half million in arrears, and all this money does not go to improve the Russian state and your life, but is sent abroad to feed the Jewish rags, to support the commissars and envoys of the Jewish government, who drink and eat sweetly and live‐in palaces. Brothers, you all know very well how hard it is to get a penny and a piece of bread, and the Soviet government does not take into account anything and tries to rip off more from you, drinks your labor sweat. Just look at how much the maintenance of one Karakhan in China costs ‐ in 1925 he spent (45) forty‐five million rubles, and there are hundreds of such proteges of the Jewish government abroad. So, dear brothers, where do your labors, sweat and blood go. Red executioners with sharpened weapons extort taxes under the slogan ʺBrotherhood and Equalityʺ, but you can see for yourself what a lie and sheer deception. You have to sell everything in order to pay taxes to the Jews, they all think that only they should live well and that you are powerless. There will be executions and tortures, and again the basements of the GPU will be full, and the innocent blood of a Russian person will flow like a river, and tears of mothers, children and wives will flow. Come to your senses, Russian man, call on the name of God. Unite among yourself, arm yourself, acquire weapons, at your own expense, and when the hour of reckoning comes, then join the ranks of the defenders of the faith of Christ and the homeland. Do not waste, dear brothers, precious and golden minutes, while hastily arm yourself and wait for the moment and be cunning in acquiring weapons. Than to give these four and a half million to the executioners of the homeland, it is much less possible to arm and have a weapon of defense, then we can easily destroy all the thugs‐robbers and thereby free our homeland from tears and bloodshed, as well as poverty. Remember, dear brothers, that the power of the cross is with us, our dear Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich is with us. Do not shy away from my call. Men and women, this is our last and decisive one. So, each go to the defense of Russia and yourself and incline the soldiers of the Red Army into your ranks. Death to the bloodsucking executioners. Rise up all for the liberation of the dear homeland. Long live our homeland, the Russian people. Long live the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, unifier‐organizer. ʺ
Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov
APPENDIX No. 5
EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS
MIDDLE ASIA
Political mood. War rumors
1. Uzbekistan. Mountains. Samarkand. Events in England and Poland have triggered a rise in the prices of some basic necessities. When asked by buyers about the reasons for the rise in prices, traders answer: ʺMoney is falling in price, soon it will cost nothing.ʺ There is a shortage of silver coins and a massive exchange of paper money for silver. The purchase of gold and diamond items is observed in jewelry stores. There are long queues for flour at the Aziakhleb warehouse.
2. Mountains. Tashkent. On June 9 and 10, huge queues were observed at the savings bank and there was talk that ʺwe need to quickly turn money into things.ʺ
3. In the mountains. In Kokand, in connection with rumors about the war, one private enterprise was closed.
4. In the mountains. In Bukhara, part of the Persians are preparing to sell their property. A case was noted when, at the conclusion of a trade transaction, the contribution of money was provided not in money, but in Persian lira.
5. In the Tashkent, Khojent and Bukhara districts, the population is striving to purchase essential items. In Kuva, Margelan and other districts of the Fergana district, the turnover of cooperation has reached enormous proportions. Manufacturing, bread, sugar, matches, and soap are being sold out in large quantities. Shops that sold for 1000 rubles. per day, trade for 10,000‐11,000 rubles. A similar phenomenon was noted in the mountains. Old Bukhara. Talk about the need for stockpiles intensified in Tashkent as well. Rumors spread that the Soviet government was registering large bank depositors.
6. Mountains. Tashkent. Old town merchants, gathering in groups in shops, speak out about the desirability and inevitability of war and about the fall of Soviet power as a result of it. On the other hand, traders talk about the possibility of speculation and easy money without taxes in case of war. At the same time, hopes are expressed for the return of confiscated property and political rights. Some traders urged other traders not to pay taxes yet. At the same time, among the merchants, there are judgments about the inexpediency of rushing to the sale of goods, since ʺnot today or tomorrow England will declare war and the gold will be worthless.ʺ In connection with rumors about the war, three families of merchants (25 people) left Tashkent for China.
7. Mountains. Samarkand. One of the local imams spread rumors about Afghanistanʹs preparations for a war with the USSR.
8. Mountains. Tashkent. The clergy spread rumors about the Basmachismʹs performance prepared in Afghanistan under the leadership of Kurshirmat (former leader of the Fergana Basmachi).
9. Andijan district. The former chairman of the ecclesiastical administration spread rumors that war had already been declared by England and that Soviet power was living out its last days. In parallel with the spread of rumors, the Muslim clergy is campaigning against the land reform, the womenʹs campaign and the Soviet regime in general.
10. Samarkand District. The mullahs and imams, with the assistance of the baytah, are waging a campaign among the population against the womenʹs campaign, foreshadowing the imminent death of the Soviet regime and threatening to beat the revealed women. In the Zeravshan region, one of the imams refused the allotment of land given to him to reinforce his campaign against the land reform.
11. The cities of Tashkent, Fergana, Bukhara. Soviet employees from among former officials and officers in most cases began covert antiSoviet agitation, while expressing at the same time fears that in the event of war the Russian population would be massacred by the natives.
12. A similar fear of a massacre between Russians and Uzbeks was expressed by some mountain officials. Kermen. An employee of the Kashka‐Darya district insurance (Russian) said: ʺThe local population will rise up and cut all Europeans.ʺ The Russian state employees who were present at the meeting spoke of the need for resettlement. The same mood is noted in the mountains. Kokand.
13. Andijan district. Among the workers of the creamery there is an intensified purchase of essential products. Some workers say: ʺI would rather get rifles and accelerate the revolution in the rear.ʺ
14. Mountains. Kokand. Among the unemployed, in connection with rumors about the war, there are cases of anti‐Soviet protests. Some unemployed people say: ʺThe Soviet government does not care about us, there is no equality,ʺ and so on.
15. Unemployed people show antagonism to workers employed in industry, saying: ʺAlthough we are protesting against the war, but this is said by skilled workers who, in the event of war, will remain in the rear, and we will have to go to the front.ʺ
16. Mountains. Kermen. Some unemployed people in anticipation of war say: ʺWork or death ‐ we donʹt care, let it be war.ʺ
17. Mountains. Samarkand. At a meeting of builders, one of the workers made the following speech: ʺWhen there is danger, then the communists call us, and when we starve, they forget us.ʺ This speech was greeted with stormy applause and exclamations: ʺThatʹs right, the communists will not go to the front,ʺ etc. The demobilized Red Army soldier who opposed the first worker was not allowed to speak. After the speeches of a number of other speakers, a resolution was unanimously adopted: ʺWe want peace, but we are always ready to defend Soviet power.ʺ
18. Turkmenistan. The bai of the Takhta‐Bazar region, taking advantage of the shortage of wheat and the increased demand for it, are engaged in usury, taking 1 pood of 10 pounds of cotton for a pood of wheat.
19. Kaakhki merchants, in anticipation of the war, began to purchase silver items.
20. Baystvo of auls Kipchak and Geokchay advises farmers to stock up on wheat, motivating the proximity of war and the expected difficulties in moving along the railways.
21. At the Tekinsky bazaar in the mountains. Bai Poltoratsk buy large quantities of wheat. Dekhkans, explaining this by the upcoming war, themselves are preparing to buy grain.
22. In the village of Erik‐Kala, all wealthy farmers buy wheat. Poor people sell different things for the same purchase.
KAZAKHSTAN
Political mood
23. Akmola province. The widely spread rumors about the war are accompanied by anti‐Soviet speeches of bays, Muslims and other antiSoviet elements of the aul, calling for increased religiosity, boycotts of the cooperatives, Koshchi, the Komsomol, the registry office, etc., in view of the upcoming, supposedly inevitable, fall of Soviet power.
24. Semipalatinsk province. In a number of auls of the Semipalatinsk, Ust‐Kamenogorsk and Kara‐Karalinsk districts, the baystvo is conducting a wide campaign against the Koshchi union and cooperation, calling on the population to boycott these organizations. In some places, the bai scare the poor that supposedly the members of Koschi will be taken into the army in the first place. From the cell of the Koshchi aul of Zubair (Semipalatinsk u. Soviet Vol.), As a result of the agitation of the bays, 55 members left.
25. Dzhetysu province. Bai aul No. 5 of Kopalsky parish. Taldy‐Kurgan district the poor, who applied to join the Koschi union, were agitated, as a result of which the poor ‐ 10 people took their applications back.
26. Syr‐Darya province. A group of Soviet workers and beys of the Keneskaya vol. Alma‐Ata district, having gathered about 150 Kirghiz, began to discuss the issue of the forthcoming pre‐conscription training among the Kirghiz. The chairman of the Konesa VIC, who made a speech, informed the audience that cattle would be mobilized along with the youth, while the chairman of the VIC advised to hide the actual age of the youth in order to avoid conscription. As a result of this meeting, the sale of livestock and hiding it began throughout the parish.
27. Kara‐Kalpak region. Along with the spread of false rumors about an alleged war that has already begun, anti‐Soviet elements of the Kyrgyz aul openly express their joy in anticipation of the defeat of the USSR. In the judgments of loyal Soviet employees, fears of the defeat of the USSR due to technical backwardness are noted.
28. Kostanay district. In the Kyrgyz aul, bai and other anti‐Soviet elements are spreading rumors about an alleged agreement between all capitalist countries, led by Britain and Japan, against the USSR. Bai threaten with reprisals against the communists, members of the Koschi union, Soviet workers and teachers.
29. Aktobe province. In conversations with peasants and townsfolk, kulaks and anti‐Soviet‐minded persons from among the Soviet employees try to inspire the masses with disbelief in the combat capability of the USSR. At the same time, they refer to “technical backwardness, a split among the communists and discontent among the peasantry”. Traders and former officers, foreshadowing the death of the Soviet regime, threaten the communists and Komsomol members with revenge. Due to the lack of an explanatory campaign among the Russian peasants, depressive moods are noted.
30. Semipalatinsk province. Wealthy Russian Cossack village Glukhovsky Razin parish Semipalatinsky district in a conversation about the possibility of a war between the capitalist countries and the USSR, he said: ʺIf there is a war, we must fight to the last drop of blood, not because we are for the communists, but because living in dependence on the British does not smile.ʺ Judgments about the war gripped the Cossacks, and the kulaks and former chieftains, threatening the communists and the poor with reprisals in the event of the fall of Soviet power, explain to the population that the attacks of the capitalist countries were caused by the USSRʹs interference in the affairs of China and England: ʺThe Bolsheviks would sit and not rock the boat.ʺ
31. Dzhetysu lips. In Lepsinsky and Taldy‐Kurgan districts, rumors about the war took on enormous proportions, especially among the Russian population. Individual kulaks and former White Guards, in conversations with peasants, threaten reprisals against the Bolsheviks. In with. Chundzha Dzharkent district at a meeting of the activists, one of the Russian Cossacks (middle peasant) spoke out with the following words: ʺYou teach your children, but do not enroll in any organization, since there will soon be a war.ʺ All those present dispersed under the influence of this speech. And after that, rumors about the war spread throughout the village.
32. A group of Russian Cossacks s. Koktal Usek parish Dzharkent district discussed the situation of the Russian population. One of the poor people who spoke said: “My opinion is that with such an apparatus, the Russians will not be allowed to live, and in order to get rid of them once and for all, everyone, as one, needs to rise up, disperse the red tape and bureaucrats, and then go to open war against the Kyrgyz and restore the situation in 1916”. Another poor man added: ʺWe need to send a telegram to the province with a request to satisfy our demand, and only then come out and beat until we have finished with all the dogs (Kirghiz).ʺ Many of those present approved the proposals of the speakers.
33. Kostanay district. Information about the events in China and England penetrated primarily into the masses of the Russian peasantry. The kulaks, merchants and individual Soviet employees, spreading provocative rumors, intensified anti‐Soviet agitation. The ratio of the bulk of the village has not yet been revealed.
Fight
34. Akmola province. In the village number 2 of Atbasar parish. and the county bai and the wealthy in a number of cases seized the land of the poor and plowed it up for themselves. Repeated appeals of the poor to the village council remained without results.
35. Semipalatinsk province. Kara‐Karalinsky district Union of Koshchi aul No. 1 of Aksara vol. split into two hostile groups. One of the groups is led by the chairman of the village council ‐ a supporter of bayism, the other group is the poor, under the leadership of the poor. Each meeting of Koschi ends in fights between the groups.
36. Dzhetysu province. In the Turdymbekov aul of the Dzharkent district a number of seizures of poor lands by bays were noted. In all cases, the land commission did not take any measures to return the land to the poor. At the same time, the bai, to cover their actions, set the poor of one kind against another.
37. Syr‐Darya province. Bai Yangi‐Kurgan vol. Turkestan district arranged a treat for all local Soviet and party workers, where they decided to nominate one person from each aul from among those present to compile distribution lists for the semssud. As a result, received for the entire volost of the Semssud in the amount of 700 poods. was distributed among the participants of the treat, part went to relatives, and most of it was sold on the market and the money was divided.
Similar phenomena were noted in a number of other cases in the KyzylOrda district.
38. Kara‐Kalpak vol. In a number of cases, the Baysko‐Manap elements, owning large tracts of land, hand them over to the poor on enslaving terms. Bayam is assisted by local co‐workers.
39. The secretary of the Melteminar Union of Koshchi is an influential bai (Turkmen) who refuses to admit the poor and middle peasants to Koshchi.
40. In the cells of the Koshchi Biy‐Bazar parish. Bai, who own a large number of livestock and land, join the masses. At the same time, the bai facilitate the penetration of their supporters from the poor into Koschi, seeking to bring them into the governing bodies of the Koschi.
41. Bai aul No. 1 of Mynjargan vol. Kungrad district, having learned that a group of members of the Koshchi union had acquired a plot of land for collective cultivation, persuaded them to give the land to the bai, arguing that the poor, without agricultural equipment, would not be able to cope with the land. The members of the Koshchi ceded land to the bai, who in turn rented it out on a half basis.
Musculture
42. Ural province. The mullahs and bai of the Ulentinsky aul of Dengiz district call on believers to support the religion, stating that among Muslims, the majority of unbelievers are poor, for which God punishes them, and from jute 242 (lack of fodder) cattle falls almost only among the poor.
43. On the initiative of the bays and mullahs of aul No. 4 of the Baigutdinsky vol. Dzhambeytinsky u. 500 rubles were collected from the population of the aul. for the construction of a mosque. The collection of money was preceded by agitation in the mosque with an indication of the luxurious churches and mosques of the Russians and Tatars.
44. Akmola province. In the aul number 1 of the October parish. Kokchetavsky u. on the initiative of the former khoja, about 100 heads of cattle and small livestock were collected for the construction of a new mosque. To strengthen the collection of donations among the population, the following campaign is being conducted: ʺWe will build a mosque next to the Soviet school and we will teach children the doctrine, otherwise all the youth will become atheists.ʺ
45. Semipalatinsk province. Kara‐Karalinsky district Mulla Mendeshevsky parish leads the following agitation among the population: “The entire population under 30 is communists and you cannot be friends with them. They oppress our religion. We need to take youth under our influence to educate religious people. ʺ
46. Dzhetysu province. Representatives of the Chuy regionʹs Muslim clergy are conducting an intensified campaign to convene a regional congress of clergy. To create the material fund of the upcoming congress, the population is subject to special taxes. At the same time, the mullahs are campaigning for the strengthening of religion and the construction of new mosques. Each mullah has religious literature and magazines, which are read in mosques and yurts. Baystvo supports the spirituality in every possible way.
47. Musculature of Kokterevskoy parish. Lepsinsky u.‐imposed taxes on the entire Kyrgyz population of the volost in their favor.
48. In all the mosques of the Chui region, children are taught, in each from 50 to 20 people. The RIC is not taking any action.
49. Kara‐Kalpak region. The imam of the Sheikhabaz society is campaigning among the population against joining Koshchi, saying that there are people in the union who do not recognize God and have no conscience. They recommend ʺto avoid the proletarian pack, for they can become infected with Bolshevism.ʺ After this agitation in the mosque, during the prayer, the bais gave their word that they would not betray the Muslim faith.
Kulaks
50. Aktobe province. Poor village Pokrovsky Temir parish. Under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks, she began to move away from the local consumer society, not trusting the campaign to lower prices. The kulaks are campaigning against the co‐operatives at general meetings and among groups of peasants.
51. A group of kulaks of the village. Kazan Akbulak parish Aktobe u. led an organized work to provide a land allotment to a local priest and deprive farm laborers of allotments. In contrast to the kulak group, the poor, under the leadership of the Komsomol members, decided to divide the entire surplus fund between farm laborers and shepherds, and not give land to the priest. On this basis, a fight broke out between the groups, and the issue remained unresolved.
52. Akmola province. Fists with. Andreevsky Kokchetavsky u. spoke at a general meeting against the division of land. Thanks to the organization of the poor, the majority of the congregation decided to make the partition. In response to this, the kulaks stopped receiving poor grain at the steam mills (kulak). In a number of other villages, the kulaks, campaigning against land management, incite the Russiansʹ antagonism towards the Kyrgyz, in whose interests the land is supposedly redistributed.
53. Semipalatinsk province. Group of kulaks with. Ubinsky Ubinsky vol. Semipalatinsky district demanded that the Volzemkomissia give her a piece of land belonging to the poor. Refused, the kulaks drove out into the field with pitchforks and axes and attacked the working poor. As a result of the fight, many were beaten.
54. Ust‐Kamenogorsk district Some fists with. Kondratyevka Soviet Vol. reduced crops by 50%. At the same time, the kulaks are campaigning for the reduction of crops, motivating them with high taxes. A number of middle peasants and poor peasants fell under the influence of kulak agitation.
55. In a number of Russian villages, the kulaks are actively campaigning for a reduction in the cultivated area during the current campaign. In some places, the middle peasants are cutting down crops on the basis of dissatisfaction with the UCHN and the deprivation of the kulaks of electoral rights. The desire to reduce the area under crops was also noted among the poor (in isolated cases, dissatisfaction with land management).
NORTH CAUCASUS
Political mood
56. Dagestan. Khasav‐Yurt district. All L. Inche kulak urged young people to be on their guard and not succumb to the influence of the communists, because, otherwise, during the change of power, they would suffer the fate of the communists ‐ execution.
In with. Gertleyʹs fist provokes the population, saying: “In Persia recently the communists wanted to make a coup, but they did not succeed, since England helped the shah by sending troops and airplanes with machine guns. If we had found people with such a strong spirit, they would be able to destroy the local communists. ʺ
57. Chechnya. In the Vedeno and Nozhai‐Yurt districts, anti‐Soviet elements are spreading the rumor that Britain has allocated troops to the former leader of the mountain government under the White army, with whom the latter is moving to Chechnya in order to fulfill the order given to him by England ʺto conquer the entire Caucasus to the Don border.ʺ The same persons call on the population to get weapons and prepare food supplies for the ʺliberatorsʺ.
58. Kabardino‐Balkarian region. In connection with the circulating rumors about the war between the USSR and England, the majority of the poor and middle peasants‐Kabardians speak out against the war, fearing the ruin of the economy. The kulaks also speak out against the war for fear of confiscating their property during the war. The largest kulaks, former princes and nobles, want war, expecting a change of power after it. A number of speeches by large kulaks have been recorded, joyfully declaring that when the Soviet regime falls, they will begin to hang the communists. At the same time, the aforementioned kulaks are driving around the bazaars in order to collect information about rumors about the war coming from the district. The kulaks are supported by the mullah.
59. The kulaks and the well‐to‐do of the Cossack and Primalka districts (Russians) are looking forward to the war, seeing in it ʺdeliverance from the persecution of the Soviet regime.ʺ There is talk among the population that the Soviet government itself feels the instability of its position and is living out its last days. The kulaks threaten the poor and middle peasants, saying that they, together with the Soviet regime, fought against them. The poor and middle peasants, who are mostly from other cities, are expressing their readiness to fight for Soviet power in case of war.
60. Karachay. In with. The Hasaut group of kulaks in order to disorganize the Komsomol cell is spreading rumors that if young people do not change their behavior, lists will be drawn up on them when whites arrive, who will shoot them.
61. Sunzha district. In stts. Troitskaya (Cossacks), anti‐Soviet elements, in contrast to the poor and middle peasants, are eagerly awaiting the outbreak of hostilities, seeing in them a means of reprisal against the communists and the end of their deprivations.
62. Ossetia. In with. The Tulatov kulaks, former nobles and officers, express confidence in the inevitable death of the Soviet regime in the event of war. At the same time, they spread provocative rumors that the Chinese army, pursued by Zhang Zolin, is fleeing to Russia, that there are 13,000 Chinese in Vladikavkaz, and British troops are already concentrated on the borders of Mongolia, waiting for a signal to attack Siberia and cut off the path of the communists to retreat into the forests. and tundra, etc.
Land management
63. Dagestan. There are cases of land disputes both between individual members of the land society and between entire societies. These disputes are used by kulak and anti‐Soviet elements, who kindle them, and often they themselves are directly involved in these disputes. So, hut. B. Bredikhinsky of the Kizlyar district between the poor and the kulaks‐sheep breeders there was a dispute on the basis of the kulaksʹ refusal to take part in the performance of public duties ‐ the cleaning of the irrigation canal. As a result of the refusal of the kulaks, about one tithe of the crops belonging to the poor man was flooded with water. Among the rejected kulaks was a member of the village council.
64. Chechnya. Gudermes district. Between two societies from villages. Azamat‐Yurt and Omar‐Khadzhi‐Yurt, there was a fight because of the pasture, as a result of which one killed and one wounded from the side of the inhabitants of the first village. After the fight, both societies consider themselves blood enemies.
65. Karachay. In with. Hasaut‐Greek marked the aggravation of relations between Greeks and Karachais. The reason is the allotment of land to 16 Karachai households temporarily residing in the village. The Greeks categorically object to the desire of the Karachais to contribute money for land management work and in order to evict the Karachais completely from the village they intend to pay the money that follows for the land management work.
66. Ossetia. Dispute with the Kabardino‐Balkarian region. because of the border section in the Khaznikoy region, he does not exclude the possibility of complicating the issue and new conflicts (see the review for the month of May this year). The situation on the border remains tense, on the one hand, because a specially organized commission, with the participation of both parties concerned, did not finally resolve the issue, limiting itself only to temporary measures, on the other hand, the population of the Kabardino‐Balkarian region, who believes that the right to a plot Khaznik belongs to them, dissatisfied with the decision of the commission, which forbade them to build buildings on this site. This dissatisfaction is increased by agitation on the part of a number of citizens, who are calling to protest the decision of the commission and prevent Ossetians from entering the disputed area.
67. Digorsky District. There are frequent conflicts between the Ossetians and Kabardians of the border villages. The reason is the proximity of the border dividing the lands of Ossetia and Kabarda to the Ossetian villages of Lesken, Sredniy Urukh, Novy Urukh and DargKoh, whose cattle, crossing the border, causes harm to the Kabardians. Due to the tightness of land, Ossetians express dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime as a whole, pointing out that their lands were ceded to the Kabardians while they, the Ossetians, fought for Soviet power against the Kabardian counter‐revolutionaries.
68. Priterechny district (Cossacks). The influx of migrants (2264 people) from South Ossetia to stts. Zmeyskaya was sharpened by the antagonism between Russians and Ossetians. On this basis, cases of fights and mutual threats were noted on both sides, threatening to lead to serious excesses. On the initiative of a group of Cossack youth led by the secretary of the executive committee, 6 houses of Ossetian migrants were damaged. At the same time, there is a massive discontent of the Cossacks with the authorities, since all their petitions to stop the influx of immigrants have led nowhere. National enmity is intensified by new land clashes of the Cossacks with the neighboring Ossetian villages of Bukharino and Ardon. Due to the fact that the militia that left for the scene of the clash between the Ossetians and the Russians met resistance from the Bukharinites (Ossetians), the Cossacks say:
69. Kabardino‐Balkarian region. Between the villagers. Khabaz (Balkars) and villages. Kamenomostsky (Kabardians) resumed land dispute due to a plot of land in the Ugeshli area. The designated plot of land in 1926 was transferred to the Balkars for temporary use by the Balkars for one year. At present, oblZU is taking this section from the
Balkars and giving it to the Kabardians to complete the pastures of the villages. Kamenomostsky. The Balkarians, dissatisfied with the activities of the OblZU, intend to elect delegates to be sent to the region and the Center in order to retain the site.
70. There is friction between Balkars and Ossetians over a piece of land in the Tashlitama area. There is talk among the Balkars that if this land is given to the Ossetians, they will stop at nothing and will defend the land from the Ossetians with arms in hand.
71. Adyghe‐Circassian region. Takhtamukaevsky district. The resumption of the dispute between the land societies of the Panahes and Khashtuk auls over the 80s is noted. land convenient for vegetable gardens on the banks of the Kuban river. During the land surveying in 1925, the designated plot of land was transferred from the Panakhesians to the Khashtukites, from whom the same amount of less convenient land was transferred to the Panaches. The Panakhesians, who were deprived of the transfer of land and watering places for cattle, during the whole 1926 filed appropriate petitions in various instances, which, however, did not give any results. Currently, both sides, in order to secure the disputed area, have begun partial plowing and sowing, which entailed aggravation of relations between these societies. A former member of the Kuban Rada plays a leading role in the land dispute on the part of the Khashtuk village, a former officer, who, when asked by the Panaches to settle the conflict, said: “We will not give you a single fathom. If you protest, we will go to the neighboring village, take a hundred cavalry from there and knock you all out. ʺ The population of the Panahes aul is extremely suppressed by this and is afraid of putting the threats into execution, especially since the representative from the aul Khashtuk, the brother of the chairman of the regional executive committee, is the commissioner for land affairs. Musculture
12. Dagestan. Khasav‐Yurt district. All L. Kemen‐Aukh, two qadi 243 are campaigning against the Soviet school. Their donation is 150 rubles. on the school madrasah significantly improved the position of the school, which began to enjoy even more popularity in the village. As a result of the agitation of the aforementioned qadi, only 5 people remained in the Soviet school, while about 60 people visit the madrasah.
73. In p. Aksai in the same district, the senior murid of the deceased sheikh Umar Hajiyev, is actively recruiting muridoks. Currently, he has already recruited 60 women, with whom he gathers weekly at night at the grave of the sheikh, where they pray.
74. Avar district. Recently, there has been an increase in activity among the murids, who often gather and discuss issues aimed at strengthening the religion. So, in the village. Wed‐Haraderich murids, who gathered in the house of the senior murid Sheikh Magomed Khadzhi Arguaninsky, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to deny public assistance to persons who do not obey the laws of religion and to prohibit them from communicating with believers.
75. Chechnya. Shatoevsky district. All L. Ushkalai Mullah has been speaking in mosques for several months, urging the population to strengthen the Muslim religion. At the same time, he tells the students of the Arab school that the Soviet regime is an enemy of the Muslim religion and wants to destroy it. The mullahʹs agitation is successful.
76. Gudermes district. All L. The Eisungar public mullah encouraged the population to build an Arab school (hijiri), which was founded next to the mosque. Due to lack of funds, the work was temporarily suspended. Currently, the mullah is calling on the population to raise money for the completion of the school. The mullahʹs agitation is successful.
77. Circassia. In the village of Kalmykovsky, the muezzin maintains Koran courses for 10 people. Under the influence of two religious parents, their daughters left the Soviet school and began to attend a spiritual school.
In the same aul, Effendi maintains a madrasah for about three months, in which three people study.
78. In the aul JI. ‐Zelenchugskoe, a few days before the holiday of Bayram 244, the spiritual council at the mosque appointed two delegates to collect the fitir. The latter collected about 300 rubles. and handed them over to the senior effendi for safekeeping.
79. Ingushetia. Mullah S. Bamut, taking advantage of the fact that there is no Soviet school in the village, began work on the opening of an Arab school. Currently, a hut has been built for the school, in which classes take place.
80. In the village. The Long Valley mullah is campaigning among the population, mainly in the Kunta‐Haji sect, about the need to support the Muslim religion by teaching children in an Arab school. Thanks to the mullahʹs agitation, many parents take their children from the Soviet school and send them to an Arab school. Women especially fell under the influence of the mullah.
81. Kabardino‐Balkarian region. In with. Belaya Rechka, the wife of a former mullah, is campaigning among women for madrasah schools. With the indicated agitation, she also spoke at the delegate meeting of women. Agitation is a great success among women. A number of women banned their children from attending the Soviet school and expressed a desire to open a madrasah.
82. The village. Kamenomostsky. The inhabitant sat down. Mirzakano secretly teaches the sht (students), and he conducts classes only at night. At the same time, he is conducting hidden religious propaganda directed against the measures of the Soviet government, calling ʺnot to listen to those who are against religion.ʺ
83. Adyghe‐Circassian region. Of the total number of 23 madrasah schools registered in the region (of which 11 for adults and 12 for children), only 4 schools with 14 students belonged to the progressive trend. The remaining 19 madrasahs were under the jurisdiction of the reactionary clergy. Currently, 19 schools have been closed by withdrawing subscriptions through the administrative department, and the closure of the remaining 4 schools is expected in the near future. ORDER
Political tuning. War rumors
84. Azerbaijan. Gandzhinsky u. All L. The Dollar‐Dzhagir kulak group is systematically campaigning against the Soviet regime, predicting its imminent death. The poor and farm laborers, who relate to these rumors with great confidence, are depressed.
85. Zagatala district in the mountains. A number of kulaks and former officers have expressed their opinion about the fall of Soviet power in case of war, while spreading rumors among the population that an order has been issued in Tiflis to re‐register all cars in order to find out which car is easier to escape.
86. Nukhinsky district Population with. Nij (Armenians), frightened by rumors about the upcoming pogroms, leaves for Armenia. Former Armenian refugees are especially alarmed by rumors.
87. Georgia. Borchalinsky u. In with. Kapanakhchi kulaks spread rumors among the poor about the occupation of Kars by the British troops and the attack on Jleninakan (Armenia), declaring at the same time: “The same fate awaits you as the Chinese communists, defeated by England. You still wonʹt find a place to hide. We will kill you all. ʺ
88. Armenia. Erivansky. In with. Khalisa B. of the Veda sector, a kulak and a rural mullah spread rumors among the population about the arrest of Soviet delegates in Geneva, about the British airplanes flying over Armenia, about the impending war, etc. These rumors greatly disturb the peasants. There is a negligent attitude towards agricultural work and a significant decline in labor productivity.
89. Fist s. Kara‐Koin of the Kamarly section is campaigning among the Tajik population, calling for them to sell their property and move to Azerbaijan or the Nakhichevan Territory, since ʺthere will soon be a war, the Dashnaks will come and all the Turks will be killed.ʺ In support of this, the kulak himself leased all his property for 6 years for 520 rubles. and 13 poods. wheat. The kulakʹs act brought panic among the peasants. A number of peasants, having sold their property, intend to leave Armenia.
90. In connection with the rumors spread by the kulaks about the war, a number of peasants in the villages. Arinj of the Kotay area, who had previously taken an active part in public work, stopped this, saying: ʺThere will be a war soon, if we carry out active work, we will be lost.ʺ
Activities of former members of anti‐Soviet parties
91. Georgia. Ozurgeti district In Pigonskoye, in connection with the rise in price of corn flour (from 1 ruble to 2 rubles 10 kopecks), which half of the population needs, the former Mensheviks spread rumors that the government is sending flour to China and that war will soon break out.
92. Dushetsky district in with. Sonda, the former Menshevik told his neighbors that the disarmament of the population was carried out in connection with the declaration of war on the USSR by the Western states, that the war would entail the fall of Soviet power and return Jordania to Georgia.
93. Akhalkalaki district The Menshevik‐minded kulaks sat down. Tajrisi and Sakiri (among them a former foreman and a member of the headquarters of the Menshevik Guard) are spreading rumors among the population about the upcoming coup, after which the allegedly private property will be returned and the persecution of religion will stop.
94. In p. Khulgumo, during a conversation conducted by a local teacher with 20 peasants about the international situation, one of the listeners, a former Dashnak, expressed confidence that Western Europe would invade the USSR, which would turn into its colony.
95. Borchalinsky district All L. Khatis‐Soperi, a former Menshevik, explains the disarmament of the population to the peasants by the fear of the Soviet regime of an impending war with foreign states.
96. Ossetia. All L. In Tskhinvali, a former Menshevik told a group of peasants that England would declare war on the USSR in the coming months, destroy Soviet power, and that the communists would soon be exterminated.
97. Adjara. Kobuleti district in with. Kokhi, a former middle peasant Menshevik, leading anti‐Soviet agitation among the population, in the presence of a group of 7 peasants, said: “The truth was that the communists would eat the peasantry, they imposed taxes on everything, and the land was taken away. Canʹt we wait for the communists to get out and again come our Menshevik power. ʺ
98. Azerbaijan. Baku u. In the village of Roman, a former active member of the Musavat party gathers peasants in a merchantʹs shop, among whom he daily agitates about the upcoming war and the death of Soviet Azerbaijan. Thanks to his authority, the majority of the villagers believe in him.
99. Gandzhinsky u. In the mountains. Ganja, a number of former landowners, supporters of the Musavatists, are grouping and are conducting intensive agitation against the Soviet regime among their supporters, and through them among the entire population. In their agitation, the aforementioned elements point to the difficult situation of the USSR, which, in addition to external enemies, has many internal ones, including their workers and peasants, dissatisfied with the unbearable taxes and other measures of the Soviet government. This agitation is partly successful.
100. Armenia. Zangezur u. All L. The Vaguds of the Sisian area, former Dashnaks incite national antagonism between the Turks and the Armenians. So, the former Dash [Naksky] platoon commander provokes the Turks, saying: ʺThe Chinese are defeated, soon the British will take Manchuria, and then the Transcaspian region and you, the Turks, will get a lot from the Armenians, who will not leave a single Turk in the village.ʺ
101. Etchmiadzin district All L. Sarvanlar of the Zangibasar district, a former member of parliament, a former Dashnak, provokes the population with the imminent arrival of the British in Armenia, in connection with which the allegedly responsible Soviet and party workers are already fleeing Armenia.
The activity of the kulaks
102. Azerbaijan. Agdam district All L. During the distribution of land, the Kulaks, in order to seize large tracts of land, began to threaten the population with the imminent death of the Soviet regime and, in connection with this, the imminent transfer of the entire area of the land to them, suggesting that the population should not refuse them now to provide them with land in order to avoid troubles in the future. ... In response to the statement of one poor man, supported by 8 poor people who were present, that in the event of a war they would all stand up to defend the Soviet regime, the kulaks began to beat the poor man, inflicting a head wound on him.
103. Gandzhinsky u. In with. In Dalmamedli, the kulaks are agitating the population not to join the cooperative, because under the guise of organizing a cooperative, the local authorities want to take money from the peasants in their favor, this campaign is successful. The peasants refrained from organizing a cooperative in their village.
104. Shemakhinsky district All L. Damirchi of the Chukhur‐Yurt daira, a number of kulaks are campaigning among the population against the Soviet school, spreading provocative rumors about its teachers. So, the kulak, whose son is a village teacher in the village. Zorat says that nothing is taught at the Soviet school, that all teachers are atheists and alcoholics, and that only his son urges children not to forget God, but being alone, is not able to make everyone religious.
105. Georgia. Borchalinsky u. In with. Kapanakhchi (400 houses) a kulak group was organized, aiming to hinder the implementation of the directives of the government and society. So, thanks to the intensified agitation of the aforementioned group, one meeting called by the chairman of the society [on the issue] on the construction of a building for a school on land taken from the kulak was disrupted. Up to 70% of the local population is under the influence of this kulak group.
106. Akhaltsykh district in with. Anda kulak seized the land taken from him during the division of land and handed it over on a half basis to the peasants. The poor people who suffered have filed a complaint with the county land department, but have not yet received an answer. Similar seizures of land by kulaks take place in other villages of the district, and sometimes the poor, fearing revenge from the kulaks, do not complain.
107. Senaksky. The former prince, a kulak, openly declared to the peasants: “The Russians themselves are to blame for the aggravation of relations with England. Not today, so soon everything will change, and I will not be, if not 40 swindlers‐communists have disappeared. ʺ
108. Adjarastan. Kedinsky u. In with. Tsoniaarisi up to 90% of the population express dissatisfaction with the local government, which does not take any measures against the kulaks oppressing them. Thus, the kulaks do not give the peasants the opportunity to use water, taking it to their possessions and pastures, arguing that all the lands around the village previously belonged to them and they intend to seize them now.
109. Armenia. Novo‐Bayazetsky district in with. Gedag‐Bulag of the 4th precinct, a group of kulaks at the village gathering failed the issue of building a new building for the school, despite the fact that this issue was resolved in a positive sense both in the village council and at the poor meeting. After the meeting, the same group of kulaks said among themselves: ʺChina is already in the hands of England, which will soon attack the USSR, and they want to set up a school at the expense of the propertied.ʺ
110. Zangezur district in with. Angelaute members of the land commission are kulaks who, during the land division, supported the kulaks. As a result, there were cases of fists receiving over the norm from 1000 to 4000 soot. land.
Internal national republics Politpastroyis. Rumors of war. AntiSoviet agitation
111. Crimea. Evpatoria region. In a number of villages, the kulaks are contributing to the increased spread of rumors about the war and the fall of Soviet power. At the same time, the kulaks threaten with reprisals those who went against them.
112. Sevastopol region. Fists, traders and mullahs spread rumors of war. In the village. Chorchun mullah threatened to beat up all communists and Komsomol members in case of war and promise to form a ʺCrimean Tatar Republicʺ. Rumors of war among the cityʹs soviet employees are accompanied by anti‐Semitic protests. Voroshilovʹs arrival was interpreted as a sign of war and mobilization.
113. Simferopol district. Rumors of war are supported by the posted orders of the territorial administration. The kulaks, merchants and the wealthy foreshadow the death of the Soviet regime. There is anxiety among the poor.
114. Dzhankoy region. The fists of the Taganash village council are spreading rumors about the approaching fall of Soviet power, adding that ʺthe whites will not shoot peasants, but only Jews and communists.ʺ
115. Simferopol region. Former landowner Art. Sarabuz is conducting anti‐Soviet agitation and intimidating the peasants with the fact that there will soon be a war, why the peasants should not build up, since the work will be wasted in vain. At the same time, it threatens to deal with those who are under construction. Thanks to agitation, some peasants do not dare to start producing buildings.
116. Sevastopol region. In the village. Belbek, there is talk among the peasants that this year a bad harvest and that the upcoming war will cause hunger, why now it is necessary to stock up on bread for the winter. The peasants buy bread, exchanging livestock at the market.
117. Feodosia region. In the village. Recently, due to the grain crisis and the spreading rumors about the war, the peasants began to stock up on grain, and those peasants who have surpluses sell them to low‐powered peasants at very high prices, reaching 3 rubles. for a pood.
118. In the village. The wealthy from Sotkino took flour to the market and began to sell it for 3 rubles. for a pood. A similar phenomenon was noted in the village. Tokluk.
119. Bashkiria. In the Ufa, Sterlitamak and Belebey cantons, there is a tendency of peasants (mainly wealthy ones) to sell their surplus grain and turn money into a commodity. So, the daily revenue of the Toporkinsky EPO of the Ufa canton has recently become equal to 2,200 rubles, while earlier this amount could hardly be bailed out in a week. Along with this, there are cases that the peasantry seeks to exchange paper money for silver, mainly 50 kopecks. and ruble denomination. One of the peasants, to the question ‐ what did he need the silver for, answered: ʺThere will be a war, papers will go again, I had them, a whole bag, but they were gone.ʺ
120. Ufa canton. Abraevskaya Vol. A major trader with. Shingak‐Kul, in a group of 4 employees, said: ʺNow, without a doubt, England will declare war and the Bolsheviks will be shut up.ʺ Former landowner Volkov in a conversation with a citizen of the village. Gurovki Dmitrievskaya Vol. The Ufa canton said: “I look forward to the end of Soviet rule. The peasants use my land, it is clear that they stand for the Soviet power. Do not take their heads off as soon as there is a war with England. ʺ
121. Tataria. In a number of cases, the peasantry, fearing war, stocks up on basic necessities. Certain anti‐Soviet persons are spreading various kinds of provocative rumors. There is anxiety among the peasants and fear of higher taxes in case of war. Among the unemployed, there is an increase in discontent, cursing at the Soviet government and the Communist Party, and threats.
122. At a general meeting of peasants der. Tash‐Kichu Bayryakinsky vol. the kulaks under the leadership of the mullah called on the peasants to kill one of the communists present at the meeting.
123. Among traders (Tatars and Russians) since the beginning of the work of the Geneva Conference, there have been lively judgments about the weakening of the monopoly of foreign trade and further concessions to the Soviet government in respect of private trade. These judgments became especially widespread after the rupture of AngloSoviet relations, since ʺthe Soviet government will have to strengthen and expand private trade within the country in order to compensate for what was lost at the break.ʺ
124. Chuvashia. Batyrevsky u. Shikhirdanovskaya parish at the bazaar in the village. B. Batyrev, the former sergeant, deprived of voting rights, spread rumors among the peasants, saying: “Stock up on more food, as the Soviet regime will soon end. In China, the root of Soviet power has been destroyed. All relations with England have been severed and the war will begin not today or tomorrow. ʺ
125. Mountains. Ibresi. Mountain merchant. Ibresi (Tatar) forbade his son, who was a member of the pioneer unit, to join the unit, referring to the fact that all communists are being destroyed in China and war will soon begin here too, and that then the pioneers will be destroyed together with the communists.
Anti‐semitism
126. Crimea. Mountains. Yalta. A group of workers is conducting a systematic anti‐Semitic agitation among the workers of Doloss (400 people) under the slogan ʺBeat the Jews, Communists and Komsomol members.ʺ Some workers succumb to agitation, while the majority are depressed.
127. Mountains. Simferopol. In a conversation, a group of Russian railway workers spoke out as follows: ʺThe old Red Army men do not want to fight, because they believe that the government is Jewish and that it only cares about the Jews.ʺ
128. Mountains. Bakhchisarai. The secretary of the Edishel village council is campaigning among the peasants against the resettlement of Jews to Crimea, pointing out that the Soviet government is helping Jews with resettlement, denying other nationalities.
129. Feodosia region. Among the population of the village. The Black Kosh of the Kolchuginsky Village Council, there is a widespread rumor that up to 13,000 families will be resettled to Crimea, in connection with which there is strong discontent among the peasants and the demand to resettle not Jews, but Russians, since they would be more useful to the state than from Jews.
Similar anti‐Semitic sentiments take place in a number of villages in
Simferopol, Bakhchisarai and other regions.
Agitation for the Cross Union
130. Crimea. Dzhankoy region. Among the peasants with. The soldiers are talking about the need to organize peasant unions. Agitators for organizing the Constitutional Court say to the peasants: “We need to create peasant unions that will defend us, but what is it ‐ the grain in the field was lost, and it was estimated at 36 rubles. from tithes, and the union could protect us. ʺ
131. Evpatoria region. Wealthy peasant der. Tim, in a conversation with Izbach, asked him why they were not allowed to organize peasant unions and, having received the answer that the peasants had committees for mutual assistance, said: “We do not need committees, with such a power, after a while we will all die; Iʹm not the only one who has this attitude, but many others. ʺ
132. Wealthy peasants of the village. Donuzla, talking to the peasants in the presence of the pre‐village council on the topic of international events, said: “The Soviet government does not allow peasant unions. The peasants are milked as they want. Before there were landowners, and now there are nobles, and even worse than the old ones. The authorities broke off relations with England because of some Jew who was sent to England, where the latter did business, and we will have to suffer. ʺ One of the peasants present at this conversation said: “We, peasants, were entangled by the nobles. But nothing, we broke off relations with England, probably in two weeks we will confuse the commissars. ʺ Another well‐to‐do man added: “Just as the old government is not criticized, but it did not deprive the right to vote, and this government considers the peasants a rag, what they want, they do to us. In case of war, let those who are supported by the authorities go to fight. ʺ
133. Kerch region. At the German conference, one of the delegates asked a note to the presidium: ʺWhy the Soviet government does not allow the organization of peasant unions.ʺ
Musculture
134. Crimea. Simferopol district. Mulla der. Jaga‐Sheikh Eli daily gathers peasants and, along the way, with religious sermons, campaigns against the Komsomol and the Communists, urging parents not to let their children into the Komsomol. In addition, he persuades not to go to the red corner and not to read Soviet newspapers and literature.
135. Bashkiria. T. Katai canton. Along with the expansion of the doctrine, the network of illegal theological schools is also growing. So, in the village. Amanvuldina Tamyano‐Tangaurovskaya vol. the mullah illegally teaches the doctrine in the mosque; in the village. N. Kaishki of the Ufa canton also operates an illegal school of doctrine.
136. Tartary. In Mamadysh canton, there are 12 religious schools
(Muslim) with 222 students.
137. Buinsky canton. Mulla der. Chipmunka, having arranged a meeting of believers on the issue of opening a religious school, urged parents at the same time not to enroll their children in pioneers and the Komsomol. Under the influence of this agitation, a spiritual school was opened.
138. Chuvashia. Batyrevsky u. Mulla Shikhirdanov parish with the aim of expanding the network of theological schools, sentences are drawn up and given for signature to the population, who for illiteracy, not always understanding them, signs. In some places, the mullahs are widely supported by representatives of the Tatar intelligentsia.
139. Along with the campaign to expand the network of religious schools, representatives of the Muslim community agitate the population against the Communists, in particular teachers, accusing them of raising children in an anti‐religious spirit. On the initiative of the mullahs, a petition was filed with the Central Administration for the purchase of a printing house.
Land management
140. Crimea. Sevastopol region. Kulak der. Belbek (Tatars) agitates among the peasants against land management, pointing out that other authorities will come anyway, take away the land and all expenses will go to waste. At a meeting of peasants der. Vaga peasants decided to carry out land management in the fall, but the next day, thanks to the agitation of the kulaks, expressed in intimidation of the peasants with the impending change of power, the peasants refused to sign their decision, arguing that they did not have the means. The same is observed in vil. Musconia, where land management is hampered by agitation from the mullahs and kulaks.
141. Sevastopol region. The kulaks of the village. Sakhtip is campaigning against land management, saying: ʺWhy spend 20 rubles each, [we must] divide the land ourselves without any costs.ʺ The land council could not collect the required amount and land management was disrupted.
142. Prosperous villages Varnautka are trying to delay land management. They conduct conversations with the poor and middle peasants, and this is what hinders the implementation of the campaign. Similar activities of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do have been noted in many other villages.
143. Tataria. Bugulma canton. In the villages of Sula and Korobkovo Mikhailovskaya vol. three kulaks (former cutters) seized the land and the farmsteads of the poor for their use, in connection with which they were summoned to the VIC and to the question of the chairman of the VIC why they arbitrarily seize the land from the society, one of them said that these estates were bought by them under Stolypin, that they consider it completely legal, and they consider it their duty to obey the laws of Soviet power.
144. Spassky canton. A group of fists sat down. Takhtale Matakovskaya par. led intensified agitation against the transition to multi‐field. At the general meeting of the partnership, the group began to call on the peasants to refuse to move to the multifield, staging obstructions to the presidium and the canton land manager. As a result, the meeting was disrupted.
145. Chuvashia. Batyrevsky u. Kulaks and prosperous villages. Chichkanovo (Tatars) seized the best plots of land. Despite the efforts of the poor to carry out land equalization, the kulaks defend their plots. There are ongoing disputes between both sides.
146. Fists der. Asonova Shamkinskaya Vol. disrupted the general meeting, which discussed the issue of land management. The same kulaks spoke at a meeting of members of the local consumer society with threats against the communists and former Red Army soldiers.
147. Cheboksary district and parish. Peasants der. Arman‐Kasy decided to carry out land management, but this was prevented by the kulaks, who consulted for 4 nights in order to fail in land management and then turned for help to the defender in the Chief Court of the CASSR, who advised them not to allow land management to be carried out and to fight more actively at general meetings. As a result, land management was not carried out.
BURYAT‐MONGOLIA, OIROTIA, KHAKASSKY DISTRICT Rumors of war
148. Buryat‐Mongolia. The British and especially the Chinese events caused a wide spread of various kinds of provocative rumors, emanating mainly from anti‐Soviet elements, both Russians and Buryats.
The kulaks and former white bandits threaten to beat the communists. There are cases when peasants refuse to ʺrelease their sons to the army in case of war.ʺ Among the state employees there are speeches that come down to accusing the Soviet government of wanting war, ʺagitation in England and in other capitalist countries.ʺ At the same time, the fall of Soviet power is foreshadowed ʺin view of the discontent of the peasantry with it.ʺ As a result of the intensely spreading rumors, the population of some villages began to acquire a stock of basic necessities.
149. Oirotia. Rumors of war, spread mainly by the kulaks and the wellto‐do, create an uneasy mood among the peasantries. The kulaks in most cases consider the war desirable for liberation from the ʺyoke of the Bolsheviks, but in some places they are afraid of appropriation. The poor and middle peasants fear the ruin of their farms. Former officers and White Guards, claiming that the war has already begun, threaten to beat the communists.
150. Khakass District. Bagrad region. In with. Baghrad kulaks and the well‐to‐do campaign for the dissolution of the pioneer detachment, frightening children with beating after the fall of Soviet power. As a result of agitation, cases of exits from the pioneer detachment and the Komsomol were noted.
151. Charkovsky district. At a general meeting of peasants with. Charkov, when discussing the question of the savings bank, the ʺdisenfranchisedʺ kulak urged to tear down posters from the walls, calling for the deposit of savings in savings banks. In his speech, the kulak said: ʺSoon there will be a coup and the authorities, taking the money, will take away.ʺ After the kulakʹs speech, the peasants began to disperse, and the meeting was disrupted.
Land management
152. Oirotia. The Kosh‐Agach aimag has a number of controversial land issues. The population of the Jasatr tract refuses to pay for land management work, since this tract is located on the border of Kazakhstan and it has not yet been determined whether it belongs to the latter or to Oyrotia.
153. In the Ulagan aimak, where no intra‐settlement land management work was carried out, the wealthy part of the population seized the best plots of land. Repeated attempts of the poor to carry out land management were thwarted by the fists and the wealthy.
154. Khakass District. Bagrad region. At a meeting of peasants der. UstErba, as a result of the well‐to‐doʹs performances, the question of redistribution of land was rejected. At the second meeting, the kulaks passed a proposal not to redistribute (adopted by a majority vote).
155. Tashtyp district. At a meeting of peasants with. Bolshe‐Soisky discussed the issue of redistribution of land. The kulak group made a proposal to divide the land for 50 years, and to collect funds for land management equally from all peasants. With organized demonstrations, the poor turned down the groupʹs proposal, but the kulaks, about 30 people, chose a commissioner to apply for a cut.
156. A group of kulaks s. Tashtyp (15 people), in contrast to the poor peasantsʹ union for the redistribution of land, sent a petition to the okrZU to assign the lands that belonged to them to the kulaks, for collective cultivation.
157. Baghrad region. A group of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ kulaks sat down. Bagrad disrupted the general meeting, which discussed the issue of redistribution of land. Following this, the kulaks began to cultivate the lands they had in large quantities.
158. Askiss district. In the ulus of V. Kandyrly, at a meeting of peasants, a number of wealthy and middle peasants spoke out with agitation against joining the cross, proposing to remove him from the ulus. The majority of those present joined this proposal.
159. Bagrad region. At a general meeting of peasants with. The Bateni (Russian) kulaks and the well‐to‐do have intensified their agitation against insurance. Most of those present fell under the influence of the wealthy.
160. Charkovsky district. The Khakass kulaks of the Sapogovsky society are conducting intensified agitation against the allotment of land to the Russians. As a result of the agitation, relations between the Russians and the Khakass were significantly aggravated.
Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov