Review of the political state of the USSR

Review of the political state of the USSR for December 1928

Top secret

January 1929

Moscow city

At the same time, an overview of the political state of the USSR for December 1928 is being transmitted. The review is compiled on the basis of data from the Information and Secret departments of the OGPU.

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 chiefs of the provinces, and the OGPU oblotdets 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 Chairman OGPU Trilisser

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev

WORKERS

Campaign to renegotiate collective agreements

December is the month of the deployment of the collective agreement campaign in all large industrial regions of the USSR. During the campaign, a number of serious shortcomings came to light, the main ones being: 1) late start of the campaign, 2) insufficient preparatory work on the part of party and trade organizations for the mass development of new collective agreements, 3) haste to discuss draft agreements among workers (often during lunch breaks) , discussion of contracts at meetings of workers after representatives of the administration and trade union organizations have already signed the contract in the center.

All these moments negatively affected the mood of the workers and led to low attendance at meetings at a significant number of enterprises (on average 30‐50%) and weak activity (there were cases when workers almost did not speak out on the draft collective agreement and it was adopted “mechanically”).

In most cases, the discontent of groups of workers was due to the insignificant increase in wages, separate proposals were made for a general increase in wages, and the question of the commodity ruble was raised. These requirements were associated with an increase in cost.

In some districts (Moscow, Leningrad, Ukraine), oppositionists were observed demanding a general mechanical increase in wages. Their resolutions were adopted, however, in isolated cases.

Along with this, attention is drawn to the actions of individual party members against the party line on the question of the content of new treaties.

[1]

a) The general course of the campaign. By the end of December, a massive discussion of new collective agreements had not yet been completed for a number of the largest enterprises in Moscow and the province (Kolomensky, Podolsko‐mechanical, Lyuberetsky, Krasnoye

Znamya, Krasnye Ozera, Trekhgornaya m‐ra), discussion on Krasno Polyanskiy f‐ke and f‐ke № 12 of Mostrikotazha.

In Leningrad, no discussion was started on such large enterprises as the factory. Khalturin, ʺNorthern [erny] cableʺ, them. Kulakova, ʺRed Nail Artʺ, ʺElectrosilaʺ and a number of others. In Ryazan lips. the campaign ended only for small businesses. Discussions have not begun on most of the Central Asian cotton plants.

b) Formal attitude to the campaign. At a number of enterprises, the attitude of trade‐union organizations to meetings, to the discussion of collective agreements was of a formal nature, projects were discussed in a ʺcabinet orderʺ.

At the Krasnoye Sormovo plant (Nizhniy Novgorod), workers were poorly informed about the day of meetings, meetings were held hastily ‐ during lunch breaks. In a number of Ural factories, meetings, according to the workers, ʺwere held with courier speed.ʺ In the Kytlymsko‐Kosvinsko‐Platinum okrug, a member of the presidium of the regional committee of the Minersʹ Union spent all the work on discussing the collective agreements ʺin shock orderʺ ‐ in 4‐5 days (2‐3 shops gathered and the discussion ended in one and a half to two hours). On the Nadezhdinsky Metallurgical Plant, the workers at meetings were almost not allowed to speak, a member of the regional committee of the Union of Metalworkers said: ʺIf we give everyone the floor, we will drag out the discussion for 10 hours, and I have five more meetingsʺ; the workers said: ʺIt would be better not to come to us with their contracts, to discuss in their office and not to persecute the workers.ʺ Along the Tver lips. the factories of the factories ʺProletarkaʺ and ʺVagzhanovkaʺ did not carry out any preparatory work; the department of the Textile Workersʹ Union sent speakers to these factories, but the last agreements worked poorly; one speaker was sent to hold several meetings; in the mechanic department of ʺProletarkaʺ this speaker stated that ʺhe has one hour and 20 minutes of time.ʺ In response to the protests of the workers, the rapporteur said: ʺThe collective agreement will not be worked out, since the amendments and changes were made in advance by the governorʹs department, the report will be of an informational nature,ʺ after which some of the workers left the meeting.

In Leningrad: at the Bolshevik metal plant, a representative was sent to Moscow without the workersʹ knowledge to sign the agreement; at the delegate meeting of this plant, the workers who spoke said: ʺIs it generally appropriate to discuss the agreement when it is already being decided in Moscow.ʺ The Presidential Committee explained: ʺIf we sent a representative, it was due to lack of time, but the directives with which he went were approved by the party activists.ʺ

In the Yaroslavl province. even before the discussion of the draft of the new agreement at the workersʹ meetings of the united factories ʺRolmaʺ, ʺRed Weaversʺ and them. Rosa Luxemburgʹs representative went to Moscow to sign the agreement.

c) The passive attitude of workers to the discussion of a new contract. Insufficient preparatory work, official attitude on the part of trade‐union organizations and the administration to the campaign, violation and non‐fulfillment of a number of clauses of past agreements, noted in a number of enterprises, resulted in a passive attitude on the part of workers at a significant number of enterprises to meetings to discuss a new agreement.

At a number of enterprises, meetings were disrupted due to the absence of workers.

At the Cotton Printing Factory (1st GKhBT, Moscow), meetings were disrupted 6 times. At the Krasny Tekstilshchik factory (Ryazan Gubernia), due to the fact that workers did not come to the meetings (out of 1106 workers, 53 people came to one of the meetings), the meetings were moved to the villages where most of the factory workers live, but this gave no results; it was decided to postpone the discussion of the new contract to the factoryʹs working conference.

At meetings of a number of departments of Tver factories (ʺProletarkaʺ and others), draft agreements were adopted ʺmechanicallyʺ, 100 workers out of 2000 attended the meetings of the Vagzhanovka spinning mill, most of the working youth came to the end of the meeting ‐ ʺspecially for the cinemaʺ ...

In 6 workshops of the Izhevsk factories, meetings were disrupted due to the small number of those who appeared, in all 33 workshops of these factories the discussion was held within 6 days ‐ December 6‐12. At the Yartsevskaya Cloth Factory (Smolensk Gubernia), 4 meetings were not held due to the small number of those who showed up, the workers said: ʺWhy should we go to meetings in vain and scratch our tongue, it wonʹt be our way.ʺ

A very high attendance was noted at the enterprises of Donugol (SKK) ‐ up to 70% instead of 35% last year, in Grozneftepromyslam ‐ up to

75%.

d) Procrastination of the renegotiation of the collective agreement. The delay in the renegotiation of collective agreements, due to disagreements between trade unions and business executives on the terms of remuneration, was noted in Leningrad and the SKK.

On Leningrad, an agreement has not yet been signed for such large associations as Mashtrest and Sudotrest.

In the JCC, negotiations between the regional committee of the Minersʹ Union and representatives of Donugol are dragging on. The negotiations that had begun were thwarted, since the mandates of the Donugol representatives were found to be unauthorized; then, by the 20th of December, the negotiations were moved to Rostov, and here it turned out that there were disagreements on 17 points. Later, by January 1, after lengthy disputes, both sides nevertheless came to a final agreement on 4 points, and it was decided to move the issue to Moscow for permission from the Central Committee of the Minersʹ Union.

It is characteristic that one of the controversial points that Donugol insists on being implemented is the provision according to which laidoff workers are not hired for 6 months. In this form, this event comes close to the ʺblacklistsʺ.

A delay in the renegotiation of collective agreements is also noted for some enterprises in other industries. On the Sulinsky plant, Yugostal demanded the conclusion of an agreement in Kharkov (to be considered on January 7).

At the conclusion of the collective agreement between the regional committee of the Union of Metalworkers and YUMT, disagreements arose on all points of the agreement.

Due to the fault of the business executives, the renegotiation of the contract for the DGTF for Aviation Plant No. 31 (Taganrog) is being delayed. Collective agreements concerning the enterprises of the Kraischweiprom in Rostov were referred to arbitration.

Workersʹ demands for higher wages. At a significant number of workersʹ meetings, groups of workers came out with a demand for a mechanical increase in wages (from 10 to 20%), the demands were motivated by an increase in the high cost and insufficient increase (Moscow, Leningrad, Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province, Ukraine, SKK, etc.).

At the regional conference of workers of the factories ʺZaryadyeʺ, BIVM and NIVM (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province), at which a new collective agreement was discussed, 300 out of 1000 workers were present; the worker of the BIVM factory said: “We must urgently demand that a clause be included in the collective agreement ‐ in view of the lack of food and the rise in prices for food, the wages should be considered low and demand a 20% increase” (applause). The worker of the NIVM factory said: “We have been waiting for help for a whole year and have waited for a 3‐kopeck increase, let it be given to the poor” (applause). At the end of the conference, only 100 people remained. There was no proper leadership at the conference from the professionalists of the party members and the administration.

At the fields of Azneft, a number of workers indicated that the increase in the first category does not exceed 5 kopecks. per person, administrations are increasing salaries to 20 rubles. “Let them take these 5 kopecks. the trade unions will wash out the collective agreement. ʺ

At the Grozneft fields, workers submitted 41 proposals to raise wages. Proposals for higher wages were also made at meetings of the mining workers of the JCC. Similar proposals were noted at the meetings of the coal and ore industry of Ukraine, and among the auxiliary workers there were isolated cases of refusal of the increase due to its insignificance.

Attention is drawn to the conflict at the mine. Artem (SKK). On December 2, at a meeting of the workers of this mine to discuss a new contract (200 workers were present), a group of rollers, carriages, machinists of cutting machines demanded an increase in wages; shouts were heard: ʺThe worker is not a cash cow for you, you need to demand that all the same rates be set, there is nothing to fool us.ʺ The party member, who made a statement that ʺyou cannot make unrealistic demandsʺ, was greeted with shouts: ʺDrive, beat him, he defends the commission.ʺ The attempt of the chairman of the meeting to reassure the workers was not crowned with success, and the workers demanded that the party member be removed from the meeting. This demand was so insistent (the workers even intended to beat the party member who spoke) that the head of the police was forced to take the party member out of the hall.

In Leningrad, in 4 cases, proposals for a mechanical increase in wages were accepted at workersʹ meetings (Metal Plant, Engels Metal Plant, 10th and 2nd Bakery Plants).

In Ukraine, proposals for a mechanical increase in wages were accepted in two cases: on December 7, at a shift meeting of the blast‐furnace shop of the plant. Dzerzhinsky and at the delegate meeting of the Krasny Profintern plant. At the Krasny Profintern plant, an item was adopted to increase wages by 4%.

In some cases, groups of workers deliberately reduce productivity in order to achieve lower rates or higher rates.

At the factory ʺRabotnitsaʺ (Leningrad), in the 2nd bobbin department, several bags with spools were found hidden in order to reduce the output (the output rate under the new contract was increased). At a general meeting of this factory, the women workers demanded an increase in wages, no resolution was adopted.

At the plant them. Kolyuschenko (Urals) On December 13, a group of sanding machines reduced the output, bringing it to the existing norm (instead of 40‐50 pieces ‐ 25‐28 pieces). The decrease in output was due to the desire to consolidate the old norms. The only party memberemery worker was the first to reduce the output and misled the administration, saying that ʺthe output decreased due to the poor quality of the emery wheels.ʺ The conflict was eliminated after the director announced that ʺthe norms will not be revised.ʺ

The question of the commodity ruble. Along with the demand for lower prices for food, the workers made proposals for calculating wages for the commodity ruble (a number of enterprises in Leningrad, the Nogin Textile Factory, metal ‐ ʺRed Putilovetsʺ, factories in the Tver province. ‐ Vyshnevolotskaya m‐ra, Tula military plants, Azneft).

Due to the insignificance of the increase, workers at Azneftʹs fields spoke out in favor of “investing in cooperation” the fund for increasing wages in order to reduce food prices.

At one of the meetings at the Metal Plant (Leningrad), a worker said: ʺThe real wages are decreasing, and therefore when concluding a new collective agreement, it is necessary to demand from the Union every month to indicate the cost of a set of products and thus regulate wages.ʺ

At Krasny Putilovets the statement of one worker: “We do not need an increase in wages, but we demand a reduction in food prices,” was greeted with applause.

At the enterprises of the Cement and Slate Combine, some workers said: ʺOne of two things ‐ either raise wages, or lower prices for consumer products, since there is no longer any strength to endure, do not wash, so by rolling, but wages are reduced.ʺ

Other requirements of the workers. Particularly acute were the questions about work clothes and the number of exits per month in the mining industry (coal mines in Siberia and Grozneftepromysl).

At almost all meetings of workers of the Anzhero‐Sudzhensk mines and mines of Kuzbass, the workers demanded the inclusion of clauses in the new agreement on reducing the period of wearing overalls. At the same meetings, the workers sharply opposed the 20 monthly exits for the workers provided for by the agreement: ʺThis is the second serfdom.ʺ In view of the poor preparation of party and trade organizations, these questions were not explained to the workers at the meetings.

On the fields of Grozneft, out of 396 proposals made by the workers, 124 proposals related to the issues of overalls.

At some mines of the SKK (named after Krasin, OGPU), individual workers declared: ʺWe need to force the administration to wear our overalls, and then it will probably issue overalls with beaver fur.ʺ

Opposition speeches. In a significant number of enterprises, at meetings to discuss new collective agreements, there were opposition speeches demanding higher wages and a number of improvements in working conditions.

There were 24 opposition speeches in Moscow. In 4 cases (small enterprises), their proposals to raise wages from 10 to 15% were adopted by the meetings (Drilling Tools Plant, Armatrest, Apakovsky Trumpark (one shift), Shesternya plant of Mossredprom, Laboratory Equipment Factory of the State Labors Supply Trust).

In other cases, the agreements were accepted without changes and the proposals of the opposition were rejected (AMO plant, Moselectrom, Osvobozhdeniye textile factory, Gas factory, GOMZ Instrument factory, Novaya Zarya perfumery factory, Vysokovskaya print factory, etc.) ...

In Leningrad, opposition speeches were noted in three enterprises. At two of them (the Baltic plant and the Sokolov printing house) the oppositionists demanded that the salary be calculated for the commodity ruble.

At some enterprises in Ukraine, the opposition carried out preparatory work among the workers in connection with the new collective agreement (agitation in workshops, distribution of leaflets).

At the plant them. Petrovsky, under the influence of a group of oppositionists, the workers of the refractory shop carried out an ʺItalianʺ strike. In Kharkov, at the textile factories [named after] Kutuzov and Krasnaya Nit, as well as at the VEC plant and the 8 Marta cartoning factory, there were attempts by the opposition to distribute special leaflets dedicated to the collective agreement campaign. One leaflet is signed: ʺProletarian opposition ‐ Kharkov groupʺ, the other: ʺBolshevik‐Leninistsʺ.

Speeches by the opposition took place at the meetings of the GOMZ Machine Plant No. 1 and at the sectional meeting of the workers of the GEMZ Plant No. 1 (Kharkov), the proposals of the opposition at these meetings were rejected.

Speeches by anti‐Soviet people. At some enterprises (Moscow, Ukraine, SKK), there were speeches by anti‐Soviet people (including former members of anti‐Soviet parties).

At the conference of workersʹ factories, them. Lancutsky (Moscow) during the discussion of the draft of a new collective agreement, three anti‐Soviet workers tried to disrupt the conference. Under the influence of their speeches, no more than 80 people out of 357 who were present voted for the Unionʹs proposals (out of 80 party workers, 10% were present at the factory, and none of them spoke).

At the Verbilkovskaya factory, a former anarchist, who was elected as a delegate to the office of the Chemistsʹ Union for the final approval of the agreement, spoke with a demand for a wage increase. In the Urals, a worker at the Theological Coal Mines of the Tagil District (a member of a group that had decomposed last year) wrote a declaration demanding an increase in wages and a lower rate. The worker intends to propose this declaration to a meeting at which a new collective agreement will be discussed. On

At the Zlatoust Mechanics Plant, a worker (former SocialistRevolutionary) is agitating among groups of workers in connection with the renegotiation of the contract: ʺThey say that the capitalists abroad are preparing a noose for the workers, but while we have already thrown over, why do we need trade unions when they help strangle the workers.ʺ

Among the workers of the Batumi branch of the Oil Syndicate, the discontent of the workers, due to the lack of an increase under the new collective agreement, was used for agitation by a group of former Mensheviks (4 people).

Failure of the Unionʹs proposals. At a conference of 3 sewing factories of Sevkavshveiprom (300 workers were present), against the Unionʹs proposal ʺto introduce a clause into the collective agreement, according to which, after introducing organizational and rationalization measures, the trust board has the right to revise the norms after examining the Union,ʺ one of the anti‐Soviet persons said: you need to be on your guard, since the Union wants to entangle the workers and, together with the business executives, suck the juices out of them. The worker himself must defend his rights. ʺ As a result of this speech, the Unionʹs proposal was rejected and the speakerʹs proposal ʺon firm consolidation of the existing norms until January 1, 1930ʺ was accepted.

Anti‐party demonstrations of the communists. At a number of enterprises there were speeches by party members who put forward proposals that contradicted the party line on the issue of a new collective agreement (Moscow — the Sickle and Hammer factories, AMO, the Rassvet embroidery factory; Vladimirskaya gubernia, Izhevsk factories).

At the working conference of the All‐Russian Central Executive

Committee (Vladimir) factory, one water‐worker, a member of the AllUnion Communist Party, a member of the provincial committee, said: “We, water‐women, should get more weavers, because in the last campaign they were understated, if we do not get more, we will do what we did in the past year Gusev workers ‐ they have achieved their goal. We will send our delegation to sign the treaty. The former owner Buzin paid more dearly to the water women. ʺ This performance met with the sympathy of some of the water ladies.

At the Izhevsk factories in the pattern workshop, on the initiative of a professionally qualified candidate of the CPSU (b) and two former members of the CPSU, a subscription list was launched demanding an increase in wages. A number of demagogic speeches of the party members were noted at the meetings of Azneft workers. The speakers put forward unrealizable demands (equal leave of the administration and workers, etc.).

Food difficulties

In December, there were serious shortages of bread in a number of the largest industrial centers: in Moscow, Baku, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Bryansk.

In Moscow, by December 15, the queues for bread increased to 400‐500 people. Due to a significant overconsumption of flour in November, the Moscow grain supply plan for December was slightly reduced. The reduction was made unevenly, some bakeries received the November norm in full, some bakeries ‐ 30‐40% less than the November norm. The lack of bread in some bakeries created panic among the population, leading to the creation of queues. Another reason for the interruptions is the criminal squandering of flour by some artels of the Moskopishcheprom yuz, who sold dozens of poods of flour and bread to speculators. Thanks to the measures taken, the queues completely stopped by the 19th. At the end of December, a shortage of bread was felt only at certain enterprises in the districts (Istomkinsky factory in Bogorodsky district, Yakhromsky factory in Dmitrovsky ‐ 300‐400 people in lines for black bread).

Since December 1, the grain supply of the workers of the oil fields and other urban population of Baku has sharply deteriorated. The queues for bread were established from one in the morning and reached 400500 people. A significant part of the workers of Plant No. 1 left their jobs to take a queue for bread. On the part of the townsfolk standing in line, in some cases of workers and their wives, sharp attacks against the Soviet regime and the All‐Union Communist Party were noted. By December 7, the grain crisis was overcome.

In Kharkov, there were interruptions in bread on December 6, when until 12 oʹclock. there was no day bread on sale. On December 7, due to industrial difficulties, the workers of the first shift of the Kharkov Rope Factory did not work for 20 minutes, who did not manage to get bread. There were shouts: ʺYou make us hungry to work 8 hours. We will not swell with hunger, give us bread.ʺ Workers of the same plant, standing in line for bread at the Central Regional Center store, tried to smash the store.

In Dnepropetrovsk there were several major misunderstandings in connection with the lack of bread. On December 22, at 1st Chachelevka, those in line for bread smashed the windows of the bakery and broke the oven. On December 23, at Kaydaks, there were threats and attempts to beat up the employees of the cooperative from the queue. In the same place, the workers took away the bread from the distributor of the Central Regional Committee without paying for it. In Bryansk there were interruptions in the supply of rye bread. Seasonal workers, unemployed and white‐collar workers were temporarily stopped supplying black bread due to insufficient delivery of rye flour. By the end of December, the interruptions were eliminated.

Serious conflicts due to food difficulties were in a number of small towns, receiving bread products last. Especially large conflicts were among the population groups removed from the planned supply (employees, artisans, ordinary people).

On December 2, the employees and artisans of the city of Sumy standing in line for bread, having learned that they were taken off the supply and would not receive bread, made a scandal. The crowd did not allow to take away the grain intended for the workers. Under the pressure of the crowd, the iron gates opened and the crowd rushed into the bakery yard, some tried to smash the bakery and make out the bread. Teens, children in the crowd, encouraged by adults, threw stones at the bakery windows and logs in the bakery workers. The chairman and the secretary of the Sumy regional executive committee, who arrived at the scene, were not allowed to speak, they shouted from the crowd: ʺBeat them.ʺ A stone was thrown into the car. The crowd was driven back by the police. By 6 oʹclock the crowd had dispersed. The most active were bazaar traders, handicraftsmen and the declassed element. The instigators were arrested. In the evening of the same day, several leaflets were discovered calling to beat the Jews,

On December 14, there was a major scandal in Proskurov in connection with the cancellation of the sale of bread to non‐members of cooperatives. The office workers, artisans, workers standing in line, not members of the cooperative, having learned that they would not be given bread, shouted indignantly: ʺEveryone should eat, not only the members of the Central Central Committee, give bread to everyone, otherwise we will distribute the counter and take it ourselves.ʺ Order was restored by the police. The workers of the Woodworking Factory, having learned about the order of the Central Regional Committee, quit their jobs to stand in line for bread.

In Odessa on December 11, there was a demonstration of handicraftsmen (200 people took part) to the regional executive committee, the handicraftsmen demanded bread. The speech was prompted by the Central Committeeʹs decree on the removal from the supply of part of the handicraftsmen and reducing the rate for the rest of the handicraftsmen.

The situation with grain supply also worsened in the North Caucasus. A number of new points, which have not yet experienced difficulties, have been seized by interruptions (Sulin, Dagestan, Novocherkassk district). In Sulina, the queues reached 300 people. In Vladikavkaz, queues were established in the evening. In stts. Tikhoretskaya introduced bread cards. In January, a further deterioration in the situation with grain supply is expected, the regional supply plan for January has been severely cut by NKTorg. Due to the lack of shoes on sale, some workers of the Novorossiysk cement plant do not go to work. The workers are in a low mood. The number of protests by individual workers demanding free grain trade for private traders increased.

There is also an increase in the anti‐Soviet elementʹs protests against the Soviet regime and the party and, in particular, against the partyʹs policy on the peasant question (mainly seasonal workers).

Some deterioration in the situation with grain supply is noted in Penza (there are 200‐300 people in the queue for bread) and in some cities of the Central Black Earth Region ‐ N. Oskol, Alekseevka, Yelets. In Yelets, from December 3, a quota has been set for workers and their families of one pound of bread a day, for employees and their dependents ‐ ʹ/ 3 pounds, handicraftsmen have been removed from supplies. In N. Oskol there are up to 500 queues. There are interruptions in wheat bread in Kazan. There are also interruptions in the county towns of the Nizhny Novgorod province. (Semenov, Arzamas, Sergach) and some districts of the Leningrad region (Cherepovets, Luga districts). On December 11, in the city of Luga, the population received 100 g of bread per consumer.

A card system is being introduced in a number of regions. In Penza, special registration sheets have been introduced for the right to receive bread. In Artyomovsk and Lugansk, bread is sold by ration cards. In Leningrad, on January 1, intake books were introduced. In IvanovoVoznesensk, the rationing distribution of bread was introduced on December 1.

The last event made some improvements in the grain supply of workers and other groups of the working population of cities and industrial regions, which is noted in Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Artemovsk, Lugansk.

The sale of poor‐quality bread, poorly baked and not very suitable for consumption, does not stop. Workers of the Shcherbinovsky mine (Artyomovsky district) indicate that straw, twine, etc. are often found in bread. In Kazan, a worker at a meeting said that a shard of glass was found in the bread bought in a stall of the Central Regional Committee. In Leningrad, Moscow, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, in the Urals, there were complaints about the sale of bad bread.

Strikes and conflicts at state‐owned enterprises

In December, as in November, the largest percentage of strikes falls on textile enterprises (8 with 1452 participants in December and 16 with 1729 participants in November). The reasons for the strikes are the same (lower wages for certain groups of workers due to poor quality of raw materials, production discrepancies, shortcomings in the calculation of wages, etc.). This is especially noted in enterprises that have switched to a 7‐hour working day and compacted work.

In total, there were 18 strikes in December with 2015 participants (of which 3 were among metalworkers, one was miners; 6 were strikes at enterprises of other industries). In November, there were 41 strikes in total with 6988 participants. ʺ

The decrease in the number of strikes at enterprises in December is largely due to the wait‐and‐see attitude of workers in connection with the forthcoming renegotiation of collective agreements.

Strikes in textile factories. The largest strikes took place at the Krasnoye Znamya factory (Moscow) and the Kom [munisticheskiy] avant‐garde factory (Vladimir province).

720 people in the spinning department went on strike at the Krasnoye Znamya factory in connection with a decrease in wages after the transition to a 7‐hour working day. The factory committee and party organizations did not carry out any explanatory work. Written demands from workers to keep their wages at the same level (workers with a basic rate of 2 rubles 78 kopecks with an 8‐hour working day earned up to 3 rubles 29 kopecks per day) were not answered within 1 ʹ/ 2 months. Discontent was exacerbated in connection with gross errors made by the settlement department of the factory. All these moments led to a major conflict (on December 15, two shifts went on strike, and on December 17, the 3rd shift joined the strikers, despite the fact that on the eve of December 16, the factory conference unanimously condemned the spinnersʹ strike). The meeting held on December 17 of the workers of the spinning department passed violently, the strikers demanded the issuance of the difference in wages from the day of the transition to a 7‐hour working day (from January 1), guaranteeing a firm rate of 69 rubles. 55 kopecks, plus extra earnings. In addition, a demand was made to remove the head of the spinning department from work. The explanation of the representative of the directorate that the demands put forward for wages should remain open until the conclusion of a new contract did not satisfy the workers, and they dispersed, rejecting the resolution proposed by the presidium. At 9 oʹclock. On the evening of December 17, after lengthy negotiations with the director, the spinners got down to work.

The exacerbation of workersʹ discontent was facilitated by the old employees of the factory (among them former members of the Union of the Russian People 337, former manufacturers, etc.). The head of one of the departments of the factory Filatov (he has been working at the factory since 1880, a former member of the Union of the Russian People, before the revolution had 6,500 tenths of land, an anti‐Semite) during the strike told the workers: “No matter how hard you try, we will still have a shortcoming ʺ,ʺ It will soon be easier to work as the factory will switch to two shifts again. ʺ The head of the spinning department Dmitrov (the manufacturerʹs son) systematically deteriorated the quality of the cotton mixture, back in November, when the workers asked to explain the reasons for the deterioration in the quality of cotton, Dmitrov said: “What does it matter to me; and you want to go on strike, or not, this does not concern me. ʺ

The head of the settlement office, Smagin, a former member of the Union of the Russian People, and the closest assistant to the manufacturer Bardygin, informed the police and the manufacturer about the mood of the workers before the revolution.

At the factory ʺKom [munistic] avant‐gardeʺ 300 winders went on strike (20 minutes), demanding an increase in prices. The discontent of the winders was associated with a reduction in prices, which the administration carried out after the rationalization measures (after these measures, the output of the winding department increased and at the same time the salary increased from 1 ruble 75 kopecks to 2 rubles 20 kopecks, while in the same departments in other factories of the province, the salary was much lower). Workersʹ dissatisfaction with the reduction in prices had a negative effect on the re‐election of delegates: back in November, the workers refused to elect trade union delegates, saying: ʺWe will not elect them, since they do not protect our interests.ʺ The delegates were elected only at a secondary meeting. Despite the tense mood among the workers, no parties,

Strike at other textile factories due to the increase of duds, lower prices, and so.d. Attention is drawn to the conflict at the Faculty of. Abelman (Vladimir Gubernia), which lasted 8 months and turned into a strike on December 8.

24 workers went on strike for 2 hours. 45 minutes The discontent of the workers was caused by a shortcoming, since after the transition to a 7hour working day, the norms remained the same, the number of workers was reduced, and the prices were increased by only 8% (the Union insisted on increasing the prices to 12%, since such prices exist on Ivanovo‐Voznesensk factories, but the administration strongly objected). On the initiative of a subdivision of the Union of Textiles, a commission was created, which found prices low. The issue was considered in a number of instances (4). The last of them, the Supreme Council of the National Economy, did not resolve the issues. On December 11, a group of rattlers (9 people) went on strike, demanding higher prices and lower rates.

Strikes in connection with a decrease in wages due to an increase in dud were noted at two Ivanovo‐Voznesensk factories: at B. Dmitrovskaya (on December 7, a group of water‐women, 60 people stopped working) and at Sosnevskaya (on December 8, a group of 35 people). At the Vysokovskaya deposit of Tverhlopbumtrest, Moscow province. On December 7, 85 water‐women stopped working, and on December 13, 40 water‐women stopped working there, due to the proposed introduction of compacted work and an increase in rags.

A strike at the Kapitalnaya mine of the Yekaterininsky mining administration of the Stalin district. On December 28 and 29, 230 workers went on strike. The strike was preceded by the workersʹ dissatisfaction with the collapse of the roof due to the weak fastening, the worker was killed by the collapse. The technical inspector who arrived at the site told the workers that ʺdue to malfunctions, work cannot be done and the mine must be stopped.ʺ Despite the explanation from the mine manager, the workers, under the influence of the agitation of the technical inspector and two other workers, organized a meeting in the mine, urging all workers to quit their jobs. None of the representatives of the mine committee and the party cell was present at the meeting. The workers started work only on December 29 in the evening. However, agitation on the part of the technical inspector for stopping work continued, he collected 260 signatures from the miners of the diamond workshop under a statement demanding the elimination of technical problems ʺthreatening the lives of workers.ʺ

PEASANTRY

Prodzones

Consuming band. The situation with the grain supply of the population in a number of provinces of the consuming strip (IvanovoVoznesenskaya, Tverskaya, Tula, Ryazanskaya, Kaluzhskaya, Nizhegorodskaya) continues to remain tense. Almost everywhere, plans for the delivery of grain products to rural cooperatives in December have not been fully implemented.

The situation is aggravated by the unsatisfactory registration of those in need of bread in rural areas and numerous shortcomings in the grain supply itself. The lists of those in need often included peasants who had their own grain reserves and did not need it (Kaluga, Tula, IvanovoVoznesensk provinces).

In with. Kormovsky Serebryano‐Prudsky district, Tula province. The agricultural sector included 80% of all households in the lists of those in need, while there are only 30‐40% of those in need.

In Ivanovo‐Voznesensk Gubernia, in view of the previously practiced distribution of grain among shareholders, the well‐to‐do, having 2‐3 share books each, received twice or three times more bread from cooperatives than the middle peasants and the poor. In this regard, real help to those who really needed bread was completely inadequate. In many villages, on the initiative of the population itself, decisions were made to change the order of supply, based on the principle of the actual need of the population. The degree of need was usually determined at village gatherings.

Removal of wealthy shareholders of consumer societies from grain supply meets with active opposition on their part, which in some cases results in sharp excesses. For example, in the Kantsevsky village council of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. prosperous shareholders of the consumer society, embittered by their removal from the grain supply, disrupted the general meeting of citizens, beating two poor people and the chairman of the village council during the break.

The number of settlements and the percentage of the population consuming bread surrogate increased in December. In the Shakhovsky village council of the Tula province. bread consumed by the poor contains 60‐80% very low‐quality substitutes.

Diseases have been reported due to the consumption of food [bread] of very poor quality.

In the Kaluga and Ivanovo‐Voznesensk provinces, bagging is increasing. At the same time, the market prices for bread continue to rise. In some districts of Tver province. (Bezhetsky, V.‐Volotsky districts) the price of rye flour reaches 8‐9 rubles. pood.

In the Tula province. in the villages there is a particularly acute shortage of grain, the sale of livestock by the poor and the low‐powered middle peasantry has increased significantly.

In with. Aksinevo, Venevsky district, the poor sold off small livestock to buy bread. There are also cases of peasants selling iron from their rooftops to buy grain.

The political mood of the poor and middle peasants is deteriorating due to the food crisis. In the Kaluga province. at all reporting meetings, the issue of grain supply was invariably raised, and often this issue was included in the official agenda of the meetings.

In the Tula province. the poor and middle peasants at a number of village meetings demanded from the representatives of the authorities an organized and regular supply of bread to the countryside.

The dissatisfaction of the poor and middle peasants with the lack of grain sometimes spills over into sharp protests at meetings against Soviet power (ʺThey do not pay attention to the plight of the peasantsʺ) with threats of an uprising if the situation with grain supply is not radically changed, etc.

“In 1917, the workers rebelled against the tsar, and the peasants will now rebel against Soviet power” (Odoevsky District, Tula Gubernia).

In Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province, in connection with the defeat of a significant area of winter crops by a worm, partial soaking of bread and an aggravation of the food crisis in the current year, alarming moods are observed among the population of certain villages.

The dissatisfaction of the poor and middle peasants with food difficulties is used by the kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements of the village for intensified agitation for ʺfreedom of private tradeʺ, against cooperatives ʺunable to cope with the grain supplyʺ (Nizhny Novgorod province), for spreading all kinds of provocative rumors in order to deepen the discontent of the peasantry and counter‐revolutionary agitation ...

ʺThe peasants will certainly make an uprising by the spring, since bread will cost very much, and maybe it will not be there at allʺ (IvanovoVoznesenskaya province).

LVO. The situation with grain supply in a number of districts of the Leningrad Region. (Pskov, Velikoluksky, Novgorodsky, etc.) and remained tense in December.

Due to the aggravation of the food crisis in rural areas, sacking and speculation in bread increased.

At st. Chudovo of the Novgorod District is loaded daily up to 100 poods baked bread arriving from Leningrad, which is sold in the villages for 40 kopecks. kilogram. Market prices for bread reach 8 rubles. pood.

On the basis of industrial difficulties in the Pskov, Novgorod and Velikoluksky districts, the migration of peasants from non‐fertile regions to Siberia, the Far Eastern Region and other regions is growing.

In the Velikie Luki Okrug, the resettlement of peasants is massive and the requests for resettlement far exceed the usual outfits provided to the okrug.

It is possible to relocate according to orders:

to Siberia, 3,000 farms ‐ applications were submitted by 8934 farms, to the Urals, 500 farms ‐ applications were filed by 1219 farms, and 1374 farms submitted applications to the DVK of 1000 farms.

A particularly strong desire for resettlement is noted from the regions most affected by crop failure: Velizhsky, Usvyatsky, Sebezhsky, Nevelsky and Ilyinsky. A similar situation is observed in the Pskov district.

Since the resettlement authorities are not able to fully satisfy all the requests, the peasants leave without permission: in the Opochetsky region in October‐November and part of December 1928, up to 200 families left without permission.

The majority of the migrants are the poor, the underpowered peasantry, and partly the middle peasants. There is no craving for resettlement among the kulaks.

There have been registered cases of incitement of the poor to resettlement by kulaks who buy up for a pittance the property of farms that are liquidated in connection with the resettlement.

Dissatisfaction with food difficulties is reflected in the course of the election campaign of the village councils.

The issue of food is invariably raised at all reporting meetings. The antiSoviet elements, using their dissatisfaction with the production difficulties, tried to give it an anti‐Soviet character, inciting the poor and middle peasants to anti‐Soviet protests.

In the Velikie Luki District of the Loknyansky District, a prosperous man at a pre‐election meeting, grabbing the poor man by the collar, pushed him into the middle with the words: ʺWhy are you silent, demand that the authorities give you bread.ʺ

In the Andreevsky district, a well‐to‐do man, making his way to a meeting of the poor, shouted: “We will soon rise up and chase the communists out. They corrected it to the point that there is no bread. ʺ

In the Cherepovets Okrug, under the influence of the kulaks, the plenum of the Oskopolsk Village Council decided: “Give the Village Council a 3‐day period for the delivery of 3000 poods bread, otherwise, the peasants are asked not to take offense at them, as they will act as they see fit. ʺ

Ukraine. Food difficulties in December escalated again, invading new groups of the poor.

The aid provided to those in need of bread in the AM SSR, in the Zinovievsky and other southern‐steppe districts of Ukraine is insufficient. The poor of some villages all over the world feed on substitutes for bread.

In the AMSSR, scurvy has been reported due to malnutrition and hunger. In the future, a significant improvement in aid is foreseen, since 600,000 rubles have been allocated for reclamation work.

In the Zinovievsky district, where the food difficulties are especially acute, the poor come in groups to cooperative and Soviet organizations, demanding the distribution of bread (Campaneevsky, Bratsky, Rovensky districts).

The speculative rise in the price of bread by the kulaks and the well‐todo is angering the poor and the underprivileged middle class. The tendencies towards the forcible seizure of grain from the kulaks and reprisals against malicious speculators have intensified.

In with. Kozyrevka of the Zinovievsky district there is intense talk among the poor that it is necessary to burn the kulak farms, which inflate the prices of bread. In this village, straw was burnt at the fist.

On the basis of aggravated industrial difficulties, the migration from the Zinovievsky district to more productive areas increased. The massive sale of livestock continues due to lack of feed and to buy food.

The mood of the poor in connection with food difficulties in some regions is very alarming: ʺThe state does not have a supply of grain and it may happen that we will be left without breadʺ (Nikolaev District).

DCK. Khabarovsk District: In areas affected by floods, there is an acute shortage of bread and fodder. In December, it was planned to bring 38 wagons to the district, but only 8 ʹ/ 2 wagons of grain and 1 wagon of bran were received.

In a number of villages there is absolutely no bread and the population eats surrogates.

The anti‐Soviet elements use the difficulties to incite the peasants to anti‐Soviet actions. In the town of Iman, Kalininsky District, a crowd of peasants of 90‐100 people standing in line for bread, under the influence of rumors spread by anti‐Soviet elements that bread would not be distributed for three days, broke down doors, knocked out windows and broke racks in the cooperative Trud ʺ.

Grain procurement

Grain procurement progress. Despite the fact that in a number of procurement regions (TsChO, NVK, Siberia, Ukraine) grain procurements in December increased compared to November, the overall rate of procurement continues to remain insufficient everywhere, as a result of which the December procurement plan for the Union was fulfilled in the amount of 60%. The December grain procurement plan has not been fulfilled everywhere. A particularly strong decrease in blanks is observed in the CCM and CBO. The percentage of implementation of the plan for individual districts is expressed by the following figures: Urals ‐ 96.5%, Central Black Earth Region ‐ 47% (in November 55%), in NWO ‐ 50% (in November 80%), in NWK ‐ 52% (in November 47% ), in the NCC ‐ 59 (97% in November), in Siberia ‐ 76% (against 61% in November) and in Ukraine 68% (in November 57).

The main reasons for the failure to fulfill the plan in November were: the gap between the market and procurement prices, interruptions in the supply of manufactured goods to the countryside, the continuing and increasing disorganizing activity of private traders and bagmen. The opposition of the kulaks and the wealthy to grain procurement, as well as, to a large extent, the laxity, negligence and passivity of the procurement apparatus and insufficient participation in grain procurement of the grassroots co‐apparatus and party organizations.

In addition, in Ukraine, Siberia and NVKrae, methods of economic influence and encouragement of peasants to sell their grain reserves (collection of agricultural tax, insurance payments, collection of loans and other types of debt) were not used sufficiently.

Interruptions in the supply of manufactured goods. In the Central Black Earth Region, NV Krai, NWO and Siberia, there continues to be an acute shortage of scarce goods (leather goods, manufactory, iron, glass, etc.), and interruptions in the supply of the village with nonscarce consumer goods (salt, sugar, kerosene, soap, etc.) .P.). Queues are set for receiving goods.

The lack of goods and, in connection with this, the need to purchase them at high prices from a private trader, cause discontent among the peasantry, especially among low‐power groups, complaints about grassroots cooperation and talk about the need to expand private trade. In the NV Krai (Stalingrad and Saratov districts), there have been cases of agitation for a ʺgrain strikeʺ until the authorities supply the cooperatives with the necessary manufactured goods. In the Ukraine, the SKK and NVKrae, excesses took place due to the dissatisfaction of the peasantry with the lack of manufactured goods.

In stts. Calm Otradinsky district (Armavir district) in the local consumer district received another batch of scarce goods, mainly manufactory. As soon as the population became aware of this, a line of 300 people gathered at the store, consisting mainly of women. Since the goods received were given out primarily to the poor, according to the KKOV certificates and to persons who donated grain crops, the rest of the shareholders began to worry and demand the issuance of the manufactory to everyone: ʺGive the goods, otherwise we will beat the shopʺ ... ʺTake the stones and beat the cooperative, and then the secretary of the cell so that they do not supply the poor in the first place. ʺ Fearing defeat, the consumer society board closed the store. Taking advantage of this, as well as the fact that none of the representatives of the village council came to the scene, a group of anti‐Soviet Cossacks of 5 people (three of them are former white) took the leadership of the crowd into their own hands and began agitating for the destruction of the shop: ʺLetʹs break the shop ... in other places the leaders have already been defeated, we need to deal with them too.ʺ ʺDown with consumerism ... letʹs sort out the goods at least a quarter of a yard to all shareholders in a row ... Letʹs sort out the shares, and let the poor and the grain carry them, and give loans,ʺ etc. The crowd dispersed only when the chairman of the threatened to call the police. and let the poor and the grain carry them, and give them loans” and so on. The crowd dispersed only when the chairman of the board threatened to call the police.

All L. Konstantinovka B. Mechetinsky district (Melitopol district, Ukraine) a crowd of peasants gathered near the cooperative, led by the churchmen and incited by them, rushed to the counter shouting: ʺPull the board members ‐ get out from behind the counter.ʺ The crowd insisted on an immediate re‐election of the board. I had to close the store and stop distributing goods.

Scarce target goods sent to grain procurement areas in a number of districts of the Ukrainian SSR (Belotserkovsky, Cherkassky, etc.) are used by cooperative organizations for other purposes, diverge among cooperative workers who speculate by them, goods are sold to private traders, etc. Therefore, despite the significant delivery of scarce goods to certain regions, grain procurements are made on an insignificant scale.

Lebedinskoe consumer society (Cherkasy district), which received 25,000 rubles. manufactured goods, bread prepared only for 2000 rubles.

Sinelnikovskaya base (Dnepropetrovsk district) sold various goods (threads, iron, matches, soap, etc.) to the private owner for 55,000 rubles.

A similar situation takes place in the Kupyansky, Izyumsky and other districts of Ukraine.

Weak collection of all kinds of debt from peasants. In a number of districts of Ukraine, NVK, SVO and Siberia, the collection of various types of arrears on agricultural taxes, insurance payments, loans and other types of debts is carried out by gravity, without forcing the payment of persistent defaulters, as a result of which the amounts of arrears reach significant amounts.

For the Rubtsovskiy District (Siberia) alone, all kinds of overdue loans were in excess of 3 million rubles. In the Zinovievsky district (Ukraine), there are 800 thousand rubles of uncollected overdue loans. In SVO on December 15, out of the total amount of insurance payments, 1,828,736 rubles. only 829,700 rubles were collected.

Because of their unwillingness to aggravate relations with the peasants, the workers of the Soviet apparatus do not take any measures to increase tax receipts and pay off debts, referring to the fact that “we will be re‐elected anyway, so there is no need to make enemies for ourselves by pumping out arrears and various fees” (Pugachevsky Okrug, NVK ). The same is observed in a number of Siberian districts (in Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Kansk and Novosibirsk districts).

The activity of a private trader and bagmen. In the Central Black Earth District, NWK and SKK, the active activity of the private trader continues to disorganize the grain market and contribute to the gap in bread prices. In the NVK speculators‐buyers of grain buy grain from peasants in exchange for sunflower oil, salted fish and other products.

In with. Urazovo (Ostrogozhsky Okrug, TsChO), local traders buy all the flour they export from the peasants and send it to other cities. Rolled flour price from 3 rubles. 50 kopecks per pood rose to 5 rubles. 50 kopecks

At the bazaar in Kozlov (TsChO), private traders in one day purchased 10 carriages of rye, 15 supplies of oats, 30 supplies of flour, 20 supplies of wheat and 30 supplies of sunflower at prices significantly higher than the state procurement prices.

In Ukraine, the activities of a private trader as a result of measures taken to limit speculation in bread (bringing to justice non‐patent buyers of bread, etc.) has significantly decreased. After these events, non‐patent private traders‐buyers of bread began to avoid purchasing large grain lots in townships and cities and moved their activities directly to villages and remote areas, where they also prefer to buy grain in small lots.

The influx into the Central Black Earth Region, the NWK and other grain‐procurement regions from the consuming provinces (Ryazan, Kaluga, etc.) and areas affected by crop failures of the bagmen who take a significant amount of bread from the grain market continues. Increased speculation in bread by railroad employees and their families.

From sl. Urazovo, Ostrogozhsky District (TsChO), railway workers and their families take out from 2000 to 4000 poods of provisions every day. bakery products.

An increase in the influx of bagmen from the central provinces is also observed in certain grain‐procurement regions of the Urals and Siberia.

Bread speculation. Bread speculation by the kulak‐prosperous strata of the countryside continues to develop, taking on organized forms in some places (Ukraine, Central Black Earth Region). To buy bread, the kulaks use their agents in the villages, often consisting of the poor.

Fist hut. Novoselovka (Romensky district, Ukraine) buys bread through three poor people who, under the guise of buying bread for personal consumption, are preparing grain for it.

The bread prepared in this way is transported mainly by tug to the consuming regions, where it is sold at speculative prices. Profit from such operations in some regions is 200‐350% of the working capital (CCC).

Well‐to‐do with. Baika of the Pavlovsky District (Rossoshansk District,

TsChO), speculating in flour, earns up to 200% on this. Fist s. Rozhdestvenki (Borisoglebsk district), speculating in flour, earns 400 rubles. and more per week.

In Ukraine, in the NVK and other regions, workers of the Soviet apparatus are also engaged in speculation in bread, and in some cases even party members. The peasants, seeing this, say: ʺIf the communists trade in the market, then we, the peasants, even more can do it.ʺ

The growth of speculation in bread causes a sharp discontent among the peasants, who handed over their surplus to state producers, with the failure to take measures to suppress speculation. “It is necessary to categorically prohibit the sale of bread with flour, otherwise the kulaks and the wealthy, taking advantage of the fact that they are not persecuted, openly sell flour for 4‐5 rubles. for a pood ʺ(NVK). “How can the authorities carry out the procurement, when the peasants bring bread to the market, and there no one is fighting with them; it is necessary to arrange barrage detachments and to squeeze the fist and the speculator” (Ukraine).

Speculation of millers with harntsʹ collection. In the Central Black Earth Region, NVKrai and Ukraine, the collection of garnets continues to be weak. The measures taken to increase the income are met with opposition from the kulaks‐millers and mill tenants, who refuse to conclude contracts and continue to sell the incoming garnets tax in their favor on the private market.

In Ukraine for the month of December instead of the expected 4 million poods garnts collection received only 737 thousand poods In a number of districts (Cherkassk, Umansk, Mariupol, etc.), the owners of the mills refuse to conclude contracts and continue to engage in the appropriation of garnets tax and speculation (see Appendix [No. 1]).

It should be pointed out that in a number of regions of the Union, Soviet and cooperative organizations did not take timely measures to encompass the owners of the mills with contracts and to compel them to hand over the garnets tax.

Ducking garnets collection and squandering it is observed not only at private mills, but also at cooperative, artisanal and even state mills (Ukraine, Central Black Earth Region) (see Appendix [No. 1]).

Resistance of millers to the surrender of the harntsev tax by refusing to conclude contracts and closing mills is also observed in a number of consuming provinces of the Center (Tver, Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya, etc.), in the LVO and the BSSR.

In order to combat the misappropriation and speculation of the garnets tax, the OGPU bodies have taken measures to confiscate the malicious hijackers of the garnets tax and speculators‐millers.

The opposition of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do procurement campaign. Continuing to hold on to their grain surpluses, often expressed in 1000‐3000 poods or more per farm (Siberia, NVK), the kulaks and the well‐to‐do everywhere oppose the grain procurement campaign by agitating among the rest of the peasantry against the delivery of grain to the state producers, calling for organized resistance (ʺgrain strikeʺ ) and spreading provocative rumors about the resumption of emergency measures, imminent famine, war, etc. (see Appendix [No. 1]).

The vicious delay in grain surpluses by the kulaks and the well‐to‐do continues to displease the underpowered groups of the peasantry: “We do not want a break with the workers, and this break does not depend on us, but on the leaders who do not want to fight the kulak and the speculator who hide their grain reserves; do we live in another state that we cannot put our paw on the kulak and the speculator ”(Stalingrad District, NVK).

The passivity of the procurement apparatus. In some areas of the NWK, the Central Black Earth Region, Ukraine, with the termination of the gravity flow of grain, the grassroots procurement organizations completely curtailed grain procurements, without taking any measures to speed up the rate of procurement, citing the exhaustion of all grain surpluses from the peasants.

In with. Voskresensky, Volsky District (NVK), the main grain procurers ‐ the local consumer society and the credit partnership ‐ completely stopped procurement, referring to the fact that ʺthe man has no luck with bread.ʺ

Chairman of Soyuzkhleb in sl. Nikitovka, Ostorogozhsky District (TsChO), has harvested only 5 kg of millet in half a month.

Almost everywhere among the workers of the procurement apparatus, negligence and inactivity continue to be observed. Very often the peasants, who brought their surplus to the collection points, were forced, due to the absence of receptionists, to take the grain home or sell it to a private owner.

In with. Demidovka (Kremenchug district, Ukraine) at the general meeting it was decided to collectively hand over the surplus grain to the cooperatives. The harvested bread was brought to the agricultural enterprise, but it was not handed over due to the absence of receivers.

A similar thing happened in the village. Red Plowman of the Artyomovsk district (Ukraine), where the peasants organized a red train and solemnly arrived in the village. Luhansk for delivery of bread to the cooperative (800 pounds). Despite the fact that the board of the consumer society was notified of this in advance, the bunker was not prepared to receive grain: the scales turned out to be unusable, the bins were faulty, due to which a long queue was formed at the bunker and the deliverers had to lose several hours to return the imported bread.

The same is observed in all the main procurement regions (TsChO, NVK, SVO, Siberia).

The mood of the workers of the procurement apparatus. The need to display a great deal of activity in the procurement apparatus in order to maintain the same rate of grain procurement has caused some of the workers of the procurement apparatus, including some party members, to evade further work on grain procurement. “Better to go to the village and do agriculture than work on these damned grain procurements; and you will not get bread, and you will make enemies” (Kremenchug District, Ukraine).

In Biysk, Omsk and other districts of Siberia, there were facts of refusals on the part of workers of the procurement apparatus ‐ party members to carry out grain procurements with reference to the fact that ʺthey are demanding the impossible from us.ʺ

In the Central Black Earth Region, Siberia and the Urals, isolated cases of coercion by workers of the procurement apparatus of peasants to hand over grain surpluses were recorded (see Appendix [No. 1]).

Preliminary results of the reporting and pre‐election campaign of the Soviets

The pre‐election campaign of the Soviets, which ended in most areas of the Union, took place in an atmosphere of acute class struggle in the countryside.

The kulaks and the well‐to‐do in the current election campaign have shown much greater activity and flexibility in the fight against the poormiddle peasant bloc and the party leadership in the countryside in comparison with past campaigns, using a number of new methods of struggle.

Shortcomings in the preparatory work of the lower Soviet and party apparatus for the re‐election campaign. In the presence of increased activity of kulak elements and anti‐Soviet elements in the countryside, the grassroots Soviet and party apparatuses in a number of districts did not timely pay sufficient attention to the preparation of the election campaign and the organization of the poor‐middle peasant bloc. As a result, the campaign was blurred in a number of areas.

The main and biggest shortcomings in the preparation of the election campaign were: 1) late and too slow deployment of all preparatory work in most regions of the Union (the creation of election commissions, work with the poor, etc.); 2) insufficient activity and often formal attitude of workers of the lower party and Soviet apparatus to this campaign; 3) insufficient resistance to kulak activity, revealed in the course of the pre‐election struggle on the part of lower party and Soviet bodies, as a result of underestimating the need to fight the kulak and organize the poor; 4) the cases of direct merging of a part of the workers of the grass‐roots sovrapparat, including individual members of the CPSU (b) with the kulaks.

At the same time, in Ukraine, Siberia, the DCK, and the CCK, there were some excesses in the direction of wiping out the middle peasant from active participation in pre‐election work and isolating work with the poor from the general preparation for the re‐election of the Soviet active in the village.

Weak development of the election campaign. Almost everywhere the deployment of the campaign was carried out by apparatus within the village councils and public organizations of the village and was very weakly linked to propaganda and explanatory work.

In a number of the provinces of the Center, the districts of the LVO, SKK and NVK, the grassroots co‐apparatus (village councils, VICs, RIKs) did not carry out any preparatory work until the very beginning of the reporting campaign, referring to the fact that “there is still a lot of time, and therefore there is nowhere to rush” (Pugachevsky district).

In some places, the workers of the village councils, arguing that ʺI will somehow finish my term, and there it is clear what will happenʺ (Nizhny Novgorod province), did not carry out any, even technical work to prepare for the re‐elections.

As a result of poorly conducted work, the reporting campaign in a number of provinces of the center and districts of the SVO, Ukraine, the Central Black Earth Region and the NVK began with a great delay against the planned dates, which in turn necessitated postponing the elections to a later time.

The delay in the construction of election commissions and their clogging with alien elements. Among the main shortcomings of the election campaign, it is necessary to note the late organization of rural, volost and district election commissions. If the provincial, district and uyezd election commissions were created in time, the volost (district) and especially rural election commissions were created with a great delay. As a result of the subsequent haste with the organization of the electoral commissions, the latter were constructed without sufficient participation of public organizations and the Soviet activists of the village ‐ within the apparatus. This led to the fact that in many cases, when organizing election commissions, the instructions of the AllRussian Central Executive Committee on the procedure for allocating members of the election commission and representation in election commissions from public organizations, the poor and farm laborers were violated.

There are only two farm laborers in the 36 election commissions of the Penza district. In the Ulyanovsk region of the same district, 11 out of 238 members of the agricultural election commissions are farm laborers.

Insufficient participation in the construction of electoral commissions of the Soviet activists and public organizations in the countryside led to numerous cases of penetration into the electoral commissions of an anti‐Soviet element and even persons who themselves are subject to deprivation of election rights (kulaks, former policemen, participants in the white movement, etc.). For example, the chairman of the Boundary Agricultural Electoral Committee of the Barabinsk District is a kulak. A former policeman was elected a member of the Ivanovo Sellezbirkom of the Novosibirsk District. The former commander of the armored train of the Petliura army was elected chairman of the Boobiv village council of the Uman district. Even more frequent are cases of littering of election commissions by podkulaks, morally corrupted elements associated with the kulaks, under its influence and pursuing a kulak line in their work.

The unsatisfactory composition of rural electoral commissions in a number of districts has led to numerous cases of distortion of the class line in the issue of deprivation of electoral rights (lack of deprivation of electoral rights) or excesses in terms of deprivation of persons who are not subject to the instructions of the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee on “deprived”.

Reinstatement in elections of persons subject to deprivation of the right to vote. Cases of reinstatement in elections subject to deprivation of voting rights are numerous. It is not uncommon for the agrarian election commissions to restore ministers of religious cults, active participants in the struggle against Soviet power (former whites), former police officers, former landowners, kulaks using constant hired force, engaged in trade and usury, etc. There have been cases of restoration of voting rights persons previously systematically, from year to year, deprived of their electoral rights. Especially numerous are the cases of reinstatement in the elections of family members of “disenfranchised” (see Appendix [No. 2]).

Selizbirkoms in a number of cases restored kulaks, who were obviously subject to deprivation of electoral rights, based on the following motives: “they give cars to the poor for free” (village Ilyinka, Achinsk district), “good trudoviks” (village Zimino, Tulunovsky district). In with. In the Slavgorodsky district of the same okrug, the agricultural electoral committee restored several kulaks who had liquidated their economy and engaged in trade, explaining the restoration by the fact that they are ʺno longer kulaksʺ. In with. Sandyri of Moscow province. members of the family of the merchant Dorofeev are not deprived of electoral rights. The chairman of the village council said at a meeting of the village electoral committee: ʺDorofeev himself trades, we deprived him of his voting rights, but the family should not be deprived, since they are peasants like us.ʺ

During the current campaign, the ʺdisenfranchisedʺ have shown great activity in an effort to restore their voting rights. Many of the kulaks were engaged in bribery and soldering of members of election commissions, appealed to the poor, tried in every possible way to prove that they were ʺlabor masters.ʺ For this purpose, the kulaks produced fictitious sections of property, disguising themselves as the middle peasant.

It is characteristic that in some places the ʺdisenfranchisedʺ kulaks, who had previously been engaged in systematic anti‐Soviet activities, tried to show themselves as ardent supporters of Soviet events on the eve of the consideration of the voter lists, while simultaneously submitting applications for reinstatement in the elections as ʺsocial activistsʺ.

In the Pakhomovsky district of the Tula province. Kulaks‐

ʺdisenfranchisedʺ, wishing to restore their electoral rights, began the first, in spite of bad weather, to bring firewood to schools, while other peasants did not go for them due to bad weather. Some ʺdisenfranchisedʺ unexpectedly became active instigators of all campaigns carried out in the village, at the same time submitting applications for the restoration of their voting rights as ʺsocial activistsʺ.

Excessive excesses in the direction of depriving the middle peasants and other Soviet elements of the village. Along with the reinstatement of a significant number of “disenfranchised” in the elections, there were registered cases of deprivation of the electoral rights of middle peasants who used temporary hired force or had agricultural machinery, all citizens over 60 years of age, etc. In Siberia, there have been cases when the middle peasants were deprived of the clearly illegal motives: “to deprive a poor man of the right to vote as an opponent of collectivization,” “for refusing a poor man to thresh bread,” “goes to church and sings in the choir”, etc.

The Suzuno‐Zavodskoy Selizbirk of the Kamensk District deprived a poor shoemaker from his election rights because “his brother has such a fierce face, and then he himself brags that he was strangling the people, what else is needed” (this is how the election committee of the mission was recorded in the protocol).

Cases of deprivation of electoral rights “for criticizing government events” are quite common (Siberia, Ukraine, CCK, NVK, LVO). Under this pretext, the electoral commissions often deprived [the right to vote] of all ʺrural buzoters.ʺ It is interesting to note that the election commissions, realizing the illegality of such deprivations, counted on the fact that ʺwhile the illegally deprived will apply and be reinstated in the elections, the Soviets will be re‐elected.ʺ

At the insistence of the secretary of the party cell, the Kuraginsky village electoral committee of the Minusinsk district deprived of the electoral rights of all those who criticized the activities of the village council, and the secretary of the party cell said: ʺWhile they are busy, we will hold re‐elections.ʺ

In with. Nizhne‐Kolonsky, Kursavsky district, Stavropol district, 22 middle peasants were deprived of election rights for ʺthey were engaged in criticizing government events.ʺ The heads of the re‐election of the village councils decided to deprive these middle peasants of the right to vote only for the duration of the re‐election, fearing that these ʺbuzotersʺ would not get into the new composition of the village council.

In Oparinsky, Nikolsky, Vokhonsky and Nyuksinsky districts of Severodvinsk province. all ʺscreamersʺ are deprived of their electoral rights for the period of re‐elections, regardless of their social status, and the representatives of the electoral commissions of these districts stated at the meeting that ʺalthough, perhaps, the complaints of the deprived of electoral rights will be satisfied by the provincial executive committee, as long as the answer comes, the re‐elections will be held without screamersʺ ...

It is not uncommon for workers of village councils and representatives of public organizations in the village to settle personal scores through the election commissions with persons who have ever opposed them, with village correspondents or “competitors” at re‐elections. In a number of cases, even members of the CPSU (b) were deprived of their electoral rights.

In with. An active public worker was deprived of election rights by K. Marx of the Mariupol district. The chairman of the village council, when asked by the ʺdisenfranchisedʺ about the reason for depriving him of the right to vote, said: ʺAnd I will beat you to the end for writing against me.ʺ

In with. Aleksandrov] Guy ASSRNP Selizbirkom included in the list of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ one candidate of the CPSU (b) allegedly for speculation. The reason for the deprivation of his electoral rights was the fear of the chairman of the election commission (candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks) represented by this party candidate to have a competitor during the re‐election of the village council.

In with. Afanasyevna of the Saratov Okrug, the village electoral commission deprived the candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, a public teacher who exposed a number of abuses in the work of the village council.

Kulak sentiments among the workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus and rural communists. Along with the underestimation of the activity of the kulaks by the workers of the grass‐roots soviet and rural communists, there were clearly expressed kulak sentiments among some of the rural workers, cases of anti‐poor performances on their part, cases of direct ties with the kulaks, participation in drinking binges with kulaks, etc.

In the village. Derevyagino Sukhinichesky u. Kaluga lips. a member of the CPSU (b) assigned to work with the poor said at a poor meeting: ʺYou idlers are used to receiving benefits from the authorities and do not want to work.ʺ This party member earlier, drinking with two fists, made a toast: ʺLong live the middle peasant and the kulak, down with the poor peasant, the idler and the sloven.ʺ

In with. Dubov of the Balashov district, the secretary of the VKP (b) cell campaigned among the kulaks and the well‐to‐do: “During the reelection of the Soviets, you, the wealthy, should not be divided into plots, but should stand for the re‐election of the Soviets not by polling stations, but in one place, you you will be able to get your people into the composition of the village councils and the VIC ”.

Work to organize the poor. With satisfactory preparation of the poor for re‐elections in certain districts (DCK, SKK, Ukraine) in most districts, this work, although it improved in comparison with the previous re‐elections, was still poorly carried out. The grassroots party and Soviet apparatus did not pay sufficient attention to the work of organizing the poor for the election campaign. The attitude of some grassroots workers towards working with the poor is characterized by this kind of reasoning: ʺWhy do we need to hold separate meetings of the poor when we are all peasants ‐ the poor.ʺ “We have no economic kulaks, but only political ones” (statement by the secretary of the cell of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in the village of Takhtanovka in the Slavgorod District).

Often, directives on the development of work with the poor were filed to the case or only formal decisions were made on them.

Meetings of the poor. Meetings of the poor were often organized without any preliminary preparation for them by the lower party and Soviet organizations and were therefore not sufficiently active. Many meetings and conferences of the poor were attended by the kulakwealthy and anti‐Soviet elements, in which the poor were afraid to speak out openly.

In the course of the election campaign, numerous cases of disruption of meetings of the poor were noted due to the absence of speakers from district agricultural election commissions, etc.

In stts. The Ust‐Labinsk Kuban District, due to the absence of the speaker, disrupted the meeting of the poor people. On their way home, the poor said: ʺWe come and there is no one, that they are laughing at us or something, let them now try to call us together again.ʺ

The speeches of the poor at a number of meetings and conferences boiled down to complaints about the lack of systematic work and demands to strengthen, in connection with the increased activity of the kulaks, this work: “The party needs us only during the re‐elections of the Soviets. By this time, great promises are promised to us, and as soon as the re‐elections are over, then we will again be left behind ʺ(the statement of the poor man at the regional conference of the groups of the poor of the Pugachev district of the NEC).

At the same time, it should be noted that where appropriate attention was paid to working with the poor (DCK, SKK, Ukraine), the poor showed rather high activity both at the poor and at reporting meetings, subjecting the work of the grassroots apparatus to healthy criticism, joining the orders proposed by party organizations, and voting for candidates nominated by party organizations.

In a number of provinces of the Central Industrial Region

(Yaroslavskaya, Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya, Vladimirskaya, Kaluga, Tverskaya, Ryazanskaya), due to the aggravation of the situation with grain supply in these provinces, at the poor meetings, the main issue around which all the debate took place was often the issue of food. Sometimes all other questions, including the question of the work of the village councils, were completely blurred by the questions of grain supply.

Wiping out the middle peasantry during the election campaign. In Ukraine, the CCM, Siberia, and the DCK, there were several cases of ignoring and wiping out the middle peasants from their participation in election commissions (representatives of the middle peasants were not introduced into the election commissions), in preparation for reelections in general.

Paying all their attention to the organization of the poor, re‐election commissioners and rural party cells sometimes did not carry out any work among the middle peasants and even spoke out against the participation of the middle peasants in the work of election commissions.

There were cases when the re‐election commissioners, against complaints from the middle peasants that they were not being recruited to participate in the election campaign, stated: “Now the middle peasants are not needed, the poor can hold re‐elections without them” (Mariupol district). There were cases when middle peasants (including rural activists, former Red partisans) were removed from poor peasantsʹ gatherings (Chita Okrug, Yaroslavl Province).

As a result, some aggravation of relations between the poor and the middle peasants was observed in these areas. In some villages, the kulaks took advantage of this to attract the middle peasants to their side, dissatisfied with the fact that ʺthe Soviet power bypasses the middle peasants, paying all attention to the poor.ʺ

The activity of the kulaks and the wealthy. During the pre‐election campaign, the kulak‐wealthy strata of the village showed considerable activity.

The main slogans with which the kulaks were preparing for the reelection were: ʺSoviets without communistsʺ, ʺSoviets of strong economic peasants.ʺ Disguised, but essentially the same slogan ʺSoviets without communistsʺ is the slogan thrown by the kulaks in the DCK: ʺto the Soviets ‐ the indigenous inhabitants of the village.ʺ

New is the demand of the kulaks and the prosperous to construct village councils ʺon an equal footingʺ, on the basis of ʺequal representation from all social groups in the village.ʺ

In with. The monastery of the Vladivostok district, a grouping of the wealthy, campaigned among the poor and middle peasants for the construction of a village council on the basis of equal representation from all groups in the village: ʺThe list must be drawn up together, introducing representatives from the wealthy, middle peasants and the poor to the Council.ʺ

In a number of areas of the Tula province. the kulaks agitate: ʺThe Soviets must elect the same number of members from the workers and peasants, and from the latter equally elect the poor, the middle peasants and the wealthy.ʺ “There is no need to elect the poor to the Soviets, then it will be more difficult for all of us to live, since the poor will press us down with taxes; it is necessary to elect deputies from all the peasantry, let there be poor, middle peasants and well‐to‐do people ”(SerebryanoPrudsky District, Mamonovsky Village Council, Uzlovsky District, Makletsky and Klinsky Selsovety, Schekinsky District, Gretsovka village). This agitation, however, does not meet with support among the broad masses of the peasantry.

The agitation of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do against ʺparty interferenceʺ in the election campaign, for ʺdemocratic electionsʺ was noted almost everywhere.

In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. under the influence of kulak agitation, the peasants of the Klevovsky village council refused to listen to the secretary of the wolf committee of the CPSU (b), saying: ʺGive us our elected officials, and we will talk with them.ʺ

In with. Marinskoe Yaroslavsky u. at a meeting at the VIC, a well‐to‐do man who spoke said: “I propose this year the party not to interfere in the nomination of candidates and not to impose anyone on us. We will conduct the preparation ourselves and discuss in advance whom to choose. Nobody needs your meetings with the poor. ʺ

Long before the start of the campaign, the kulaks began to group together, organizing illegal meetings at which they discussed methods of fighting for re‐elections, discussed lists of candidates for the Council, outlined ways to disintegrate the poor‐middle peasant bloc and discredit candidates nominated by party cells and meetings of the poor.

In with. Ushaty N. of the Zabaikalsky District of the Chita District, a kulak group was organized on the initiative of the wealthy. The group, having arranged a meeting under the guise of organizing an agricultural cartel, discussed the issues of the re‐election campaign and outlined its list of candidates, and nominated a well‐to‐do peasant, a former Minister of Agriculture in the FER government, to chair the village council.

In with. Lokhmatovka of the Pugachevsky district gathered a group of kulaks and the wealthy, consisting of three people to discuss the issue of the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets. One of the members of the group said: ʺIn order to bring your people to the Council, you have to buy someone, arrange a drinking bout, and then they will be for us, and we will take our own, if only our people were in the Council.ʺ Those present, supporting him, said: ʺWe must start preparing for the reelection as soon as possible, then we will do everything, we will conduct our candidates.ʺ

Preparing for re‐elections, the kulaks tried in every possible way to create discord between the poor and the middle peasants, agitating that ʺthe poor, having entered the Soviets, will strangle the peasants with taxes,ʺ recruiting the most authoritative middle peasants into their groupings and at the same time trying to corrupt the organization of the poor by bribery. drinking and making promises to the poor for supporting the candidacies of the kulaks and speaking out against the candidates of the cells.

In order to win over the middle peasants to their side, the kulaks nominate to the Council candidates for the middle peasants who are under the influence of the kulaks, as opposed to the candidates put forward by the poor peasantsʹ assemblies.

In with. Shevchenovka, Vinnitsa district, kulaks, wealthy and churchmen, having united in a group, are preparing for re‐

elections. The group has drawn up its list of candidates. She nominated the middle peasant‐podkulachnik to the post of chairman of the village council in order to win over the middle peasant part of the village.

In with. Borovoe of the Kuznetsk District (Siberia), on the initiative of the wealthy, a meeting was convened, which was also attended by the middle peasants and the poor. The meeting outlined a list of candidates for the new composition of the village council. After the meeting, one of those present brought this list to the village council and asked to hang it in a prominent place as a list of candidates from non‐partisan youth.

Considering the importance of the poor peopleʹs meetings, the kulaks tried in every possible way to interfere with the work of these meetings, acting through the bribed poor peasants who were under the kulaks, they sent “rumors” to the poor peopleʹs meetings in order to find out in advance the lists presented by the poor, etc.

The kulaks and the wealthy showed great activity in relation to the treatment of women, sending their wives to delegate meetings and through them pursuing their line. In the Vladivostok district, at one of the womenʹs delegate meetings, a delegate, the wife of a wealthy peasant, made the following statement: ʺIt will not be as you do, but it will be as the kulaks want.ʺ

Everywhere on the basis of the pre‐election struggle, there is an increase in kulak terror. Attention is drawn to the following fact: in ulus 338 Bosogol of the Irkutsk district a fist deprived of the right to vote caught a poor activist, dragged him to his apartment and beat him. Then, having brought him bound to the village council, he declared: ʺHere is the Soviet power for you, we will do this to everyone who will deprive us of the right to vote.ʺ (On terror, see the section ʺAnti‐Soviet manifestations in the countrysideʺ).

Anti‐Soviet activity of churchmen. The clergy were also very active during the election campaign. In the Proskurovsky district of the Arkhangelsk province, the Luga district of the LVO and the Votsk region. the clergy, in order to disrupt reporting meetings, organized their meetings at the same hours, discussing questions about candidates for the new composition of the Soviets, outlining tactics for them at the elections themselves. In one of the villages of the Votsk region. local churchmen convened an instructional meeting of evangelists, at which the question of re‐election of the Soviets was discussed. A special instructor‐evangelist came from Izhevsk to this meeting to instruct the “brothers in Christ”.

In with. Morkhalevka, Gorodoksky district, Proskurovsky district, after the reporting meeting of the village council, a meeting of the religious activists of the village took place. The speakers said: “We need to try to disperse the old composition of the village council, since it is pulling the last skin off us, and elect our people to the village council. You will see for yourself that it will be much easier for us to live. We will pay less tax”. Among the population, churchmen are campaigning for their candidacy.

In with. Arkhangelskoe evangelists, numbering 15 people, ostensibly for the purpose of conducting religious interviews, organized a sortie to the surrounding villages, where they campaigned among the population about holding prosperous candidates to the village councils.

In the Luga District, the nuns of the Nezhadvinsky Monastery gave hay to the poor peasants free of charge, persuading them to support ʺreligious peopleʺ in the elections.

In with. Kaleyevka of the Glukhovsky district, in connection with the re‐elections of the village council, a kulak group was organized, numbering about 40 members. The group is led by ministers of a religious cult.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations in the countryside

Groupings. The grouping struggle of the kulaks, as noted in the previous survey, is mainly aimed at disrupting the re‐elections of the village councils and holding their proteges. So, last month, out of the 80 registered kulak anti‐Soviet groups, 70 spoke at the re‐elections of the village councils. In December (according to incomplete data) 56 groups were registered and all of them spoke at the re‐elections of the village councils.

In terms of territoriality, the grouping struggle takes place first of all in

Ukraine ‐ 21, then SKK ‐ 9, Siberia ‐ 8, etc.

Terror. Along with the continuing activity of the kulak anti‐Soviet element in the countryside, it is necessary to note the continued growth of terror directed mainly against the workers of the grassroots soviet. So, according to incomplete data, in the month of December 1928, 337 cases of terror were registered in the Union, of which 146 against workers of the grassroots soviet, 74 against the activists of the poor, 53 against members of the CPSU (b) and the Komsomol, 20 cases against workers of cultural organizations in the village and 49 ‐ others.

By its nature, terror is distributed as follows:

Total cases

Of them

Kills

Unsuccessful

attempts

assassination

Injured

Arson

Beatings

Threats

337

The terror of the 189 cases identified (for 148 cases the reasons were not established), for the most part, was committed on the basis of the reelection campaign (97 cases). The number of death threats has increased significantly.

Leaflets. In total, 40 facts of distribution of anti‐Soviet leaflets were registered in the Union during the reporting period (Ukraine ‐ 24, SKK ‐ 5, Siberia ‐ 8, NVK ‐ 3), of which 7 were caused by the campaign for the re‐election of the Soviets, 7 insurgents, 2 Petliura‐chauvinistic leaflets. and leaflets of a terrorist nature] containing threats to the workers of the grassroots apparatus and the assets of the poor ‐ 10 facts.

Noteworthy is the distribution of leaflets in the Donskoy District (CCK), where members of the counter‐revolutionary organization threw up to 11,000 copies of leaflets into mailboxes sent to 4,000 addresses of villages and villages of the CCM (see Appendix [No. 3]).

COP. There were 72 facts of campaigning for the organization of the Constitutional Court, 43 of them in the central provinces, LVO ‐ 10, in

Ukraine ‐ 5.

Mass performances. In December, 13 mass demonstrations were registered, of which 4 in the Center, 2 in the North‐West, 1 in Ukraine,

2 in the North Caucasus, and 4 in the Northwest Military District.

These protests took place on the basis of food difficulties (3 facts), distribution of manufactured goods (2), religious (3), in connection with the arrest of pickpockets (2) and others (3).

EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS

Re‐election campaign of the Soviets

UZBEKISTAN

The social composition of election commissions. In the composition of the regional election commissions, there are 10% of people from socially alien elements, and half of them are former merchants. In some areas, farm laborers are extremely poorly represented. The available data on the social composition of district election commissions give the following picture:

Counties	Farm laborer s	Poo r	Middle	Handicraft s	People from socially alien background s	Of employee s	Not clarifie d
Andijan	26	34	fourtee n	3	thirteen	eleven	3
Fergana	7	37	24	1	ten	thirteen	12
Tashkent	3	19	eightee n	‐	6	thirteen	five
Samarkan d	6	12	nine	1	five	2	4
Khujand	4	nine	ten	‐	1	4	3
Syr‐ Darinsky	1	4	eleven	‐	4	‐	3
Total:	47	115	86	five	39	43	thirty

In the okrug election commissions, as well as in the district election commissions, 50% of the alien elements are merchants. It should be noted that the largest percentage of alien elements falls on the share of representatives from the Uzbek population (35%), and the increase in the number of aliens is due to the reduction of representatives from the farm laborers and the poor.

Shortcomings in the work of election commissions. In a number of districts, the electoral commissions, when depriving of election rights, were guided exclusively by the list of past re‐elections (KashkaDarinsky and Fergana districts). As a result, there has often been an unlawful grant of privileges to an alien element. A number of cases have been noted when employees of electoral commissions and individual communists were in favor of granting electoral rights to the ʺdisenfranchisedʺ. In some places the election commissions are completely inactive.

In the Ak‐Darya region of the Samarkand district, until mid‐December, not a single campaign and reporting meeting was held.

In the Fergana district, the Kokand electoral commission was disbanded due to its inactivity.

Participation of the poor, farm laborers and middle peasants. Despite the lack of organization, the poor and farm laborers show considerable activity, coming out with an insistent demand that the Baysko‐antiSoviet element be deprived of elections and excluded from the electoral commissions. Among the middle peasantry, there is not enough explanatory work on the part of local co‐and party organizations, as a result of which there is a lack of activity of the middle peasant.

The activity of the anti‐Soviet element. In all districts, the bayskokulak element is making intensive preparations for the re‐election of the Soviets: conferences are convened, questions are being discussed about nominating themselves to the Soviets and fighting the poor. At the same time, there is an agitation for the dissolution of election commissions, consisting of the poor and communists. There were 5 registered cases of organized performance of the Baystva by creating a group, in one of which former Soviet workers who were dismissed from work for supporting the Baystva and the wealthy are involved. In some places at reporting meetings, the Baystvo demanded restoration of the elections, accompanied by threats and even beatings (Andijan, Khojent districts).

KYRGIZSTAN

Generic struggle. There is an intensification of the struggle of clan groups in connection with the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets. In the Talas canton, two bai, the leaders of two hostile groups, summoned the population from all the villages to a feast (that), which almost ended in a fight. In the same canton, the chairmen of the village councils of two villages to the reporting meeting invited only their relatives and relatives, who recognized the work of the council as satisfactory.

Activities of anti‐Soviet elements. Bai are strenuously recruiting supporters, arranging meetings, nominating candidates for the Council, etc. In some places, the manaps and atkaminers resort to bribery of the poor so that the latter support their candidacies in the reelection of the Soviets (Kalininsky and Alamedinsky districts). Along with this, there are cases of terrorizing the poor and farm laborers on the part of the manap bays.

In the Osh canton, Bai beat up a farm laborer, according to which Bai was deprived of electoral rights.

In the Talas canton in the aul No. 7 of Rykovskaya vol. in view of the failure of the Bai candidates, the bais beat two farm laborers, breaking their heads.

TURKMENISTAN

The social composition of election commissions. The percentage of a socially alien element in the composition of the district election commissions is 72. The overall percentage of contamination of the district election commissions is somewhat lower. For individual regions, the figures are distributed as follows:

Areas		Members commissions	of	election	Of these element	alien
Ashgabat		4			2
Bakhardensky		3			2
Geok‐Tepinsky		4			3
Krasnovodsk		3			2
Hasan‐Kuli Atrek	and	3			2
Tejensky		3			2
Kaakhkinsky		five			4
Iolotan		3			2
Serakhsky		4			1
Total:		32			20

Bai, smugglers, teryakesh 339, etc. are classified as alien elements.

KAZAKSTAN

Clan and group struggle. Tribal groups, mostly led by bays and Soviet workers, developed especially vigorous activity as the election campaign approached. Often, not only employees of the grassroots Soviet apparatus, but also individual party members and Komsomol members are drawn into the grouping struggle. The greatest revival of the group struggle is noted in the Syr‐Darya and Aktobe districts, which in some places threatens to disrupt the re‐elections. Members of the groups travel around the auls and campaign for the exclusion of the poor from participating in the re‐election. In order to bring their protégés to the new village councils, the groupers organized special meetings to which the poor and representatives of the grassroots coapparatus were attracted. At the meetings, resolutions are passed not to admit a single poor peasant or farm laborer to the new composition of the village councils (Syr Darya district).

Dirty election commissions. The revitalization of the group struggle, the intensification of the activity of the anti‐Soviet element, on the one hand, and the insufficient attention of the campaign for the re‐election of the Soviets of the lower party and Soviet organizations contributed to the fact that the village and auliz election committees in many cases turned out to be clogged with anti‐Soviet elements. In this regard, in the work of election commissions, there are numerous cases of distortion of the class line, which is expressed in the illegal deprivation of the election rights of some groups of the middle peasantry and, conversely, in not depriving the election rights of kulaks, bays, atkaminers and other anti‐Soviet elements.

Activity of the kulaks and bays. Baystvo together with the Muslim clergy in the struggle for mastery in the upcoming re‐elections by the Soviets uses various means to recruit supporters: arranges mass meals, convenes meetings of the beys and their supporters, uses connections with the workers of the grassroots soviet, heavily contaminated with an alien element, etc. Along with the beast, the kulaks are showing increased activity. A number of cases of threats against communists and Komsomol members from kulaks have been registered. “Soon we will hang communists and Komsomol members for depriving us of our voting rights” (Syr‐Darya district).

DAGESTAN (FLAT AREAS)

Shortcomings of the campaign. It was noted: the weakness of propaganda and explanatory work, the lack of work to rally the poor and the middle peasants, insufficient involvement of mountain women in the re‐election of the Soviets, the weakness and inaction of the composition of the re‐election commissioners and the contamination of a number of agricultural election commissions with a socially alien element. The most littered election commissions deliberately contributed to the granting of election rights to clearly anti‐Soviet elements. Cases were noted when election commissions completely unjustifiably deprived the poor and farm laborers of election rights.

Kulaks and Muslims. In a number of cases, lists of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ (Derbent District) were disrupted by kulaks and representatives of the Muslim clergy. In some places, the kulaks and mullahs convened special meetings at which they discussed issues of the upcoming reelections. At the same time, agitation is being carried out among the poor and middle peasants with attempts to discredit the candidacies of the factions and provisions on deprivation of electoral rights, resorting to soldering, threats and other methods of influence. Cases of beating of re‐election commissioners were recorded.

In the Derbent region, by members of the kulak group in the village. Zimyak attempted to beat up the re‐election commissioner. In the hut. Kazan, Kizlyar District, on the initiative and under the leadership of a local kulak, a group of peasants beat up the OIC representative for the re‐election of the Soviets.

The mood of the poor and middle peasants. The poor people lively discuss issues related to the re‐election, actively participating in the identification of alien elements that have penetrated the election commissions. Among the middle peasants and part of the poor, there are fears of a ʺlack of democracyʺ in the upcoming elections. Individual cases, when party members and co‐workers are working to prepare public opinion in favor of their candidacies, reinforce these sentiments among the middle peasants and the poor (Tabasaran and Makhachkala districts).

NATIONAL REGIONS OF THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

Electoral commissions. A huge part of rural and district election commissions turned out to be littered with kulak‐anti‐Soviet elements and persons who had compromised themselves with various abuses in Soviet work.

The greatest contamination was noted in Chechnya, Kabarda and Ossetia. In this regard, in some regions the electoral commissions were re‐elected or renewed by partial cleaning them, despite the fact that their contamination is still great, which noticeably affects their activities. Numerous cases of misinterpretation of electoral instructions, excesses on this basis, illegal granting or deprivation of electoral rights have been registered.

In a number of villages in the Nagorny District of Kabarda, about 24% of voters were included in the lists of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ, which was the result of an incorrect interpretation of the instructions.

In the village of Mikhailovskoye, divorces, family disputes, etc., served as the basis for depriving a number of middle peasants. causes.

In some places, the kulaks who have penetrated into the election commissions are settling personal scores with rural activists.

In Kabarda, four former Red partisans were deprived of their electoral rights as a ʺvicious elementʺ for allegedly being noticed stealing vegetables from the kulaksʹ gardens during a time of famine.

Along with this, numerous cases of granting electoral rights to antiSoviet elements, Muslim clergy and kulaks were registered in all national regions.

The poor and the middle class. Despite the lack of timely work with the poor, the activity of the latter has significantly increased in comparison with the previous elections. However, this activity, as a rule, proceeds spontaneously, without the leadership of party organizations. As a result, in a number of auls, the poor are gathering themselves into groups in search of ways of organized resistance to the kulaks.

Due to the fault of the regional and district council and party organizations, who did almost nothing to attract the middle peasants to active participation in the campaign, there is an extremely low percentage of participation of the latter in the composition of election commissions, absence or passive participation in reporting and reelection meetings.

In 5 districts of Chechnya, middle peasants are represented only by 17% in the electoral commissions. In addition, middle peasants were not allowed to attend village party, Komsomol and poor meetings throughout Chechnya. In Adygea, the Khakurinsky district election committee approved the plan of the Yegorukhaevsky agricultural election committee, according to which only two poor peasants and one womenʹs meeting were held without the participation of at least one middle peasant.

The activity of the kulak‐anti‐Soviet element. Despite the fact that the kulaks in their struggle widely use tribal ties, trying to influence the poor through threats, drinking, promises, the facts of the influence of kulak agitation on the poor are recorded only in isolated cases (Adygea). The influence of the kulaks and the Muslim clergy on the female part of the population is much stronger. In almost all regions, there are demonstrations of women demanding the restoration of the Muslim clergy in the elections. In places, kulak‐anti‐Soviet elements, taking advantage of the prerequisites for breaking up the poor‐middle peasant bloc, are drawing the middle peasants into their groupings, appointing them to the new composition of the village councils. Along with the above methods of struggle, the kulak‐anti‐Soviet elements have resorted to terror. The kulaks are especially active in Chechnya.

Sovapparat. There is a revival of the activity of various groups and individual workers of village councils, regional executive committees and others who are afraid of being blackballed at the upcoming reelections. The fighting groups are mutually discrediting. Cases have been recorded when individual Soviet workers, wishing to be re‐elected to the village councils, seek support from local authorities, reinstating them in the elections.

AZERBAIJAN

Weediness of agricultural election commissions. The largest percentage of an alien element in election commissions is made up of former people (foremen, police officers, etc. and their details) and former traders. There was also a large percentage of the penetration of decomposed grassroots workers, who compromised themselves in Soviet work, and party members under the influence of the kulaks, into the electoral commissions. The contamination of agricultural electoral commissions is especially noted in the Agdam district. and NagornoKarabakh.

The activity of the kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements. Kulak‐antiSoviet elements are intensively campaigning among the poor, attempts are made to come to terms with individual communists, Komsomol members and grassroots Soviet workers. 6 kulak groups and 4 cases of threats of reprisals against the poor were again registered.

GEORGIA

The course of the campaign in Adjarian. Work among the poor is completely absent in some places (Keda and Khuli districts). Former people (guards, policemen, etc.), kulaks, merchants and smugglers, distorting the class line, penetrated into a number of election commissions, both by those and by counties. The kulaks and smugglers in a bloc with representatives of the Muslim community publicly oppose the candidacies of the communists (Khuli and Kobuleti districts). There were also speeches of individual middle peasants protesting against the lists of the factions and demanding ʺfree electionsʺ (Khulinsky u.).

ARMENIA

The activity of the kulak‐anti‐Soviet element. In a number of counties, there is a lively activity of the kulaks and former active workers of antiSoviet parties. Several cases of contamination of election commissions by them were registered.

In with. Armor of Novo‐Bayazetsky district a former member of the Dashnak party, who at one time fought against Soviet power, joined the election commissions.

The kulaks are taking all measures to bring their representatives or the Communists under their influence on the electoral commissions and the Soviets, and to defeat the candidacies of the poor and the communists. The kulaks are especially active in the Leninakan and Novo‐Bayazet districts. 5 groups were registered, leading an organized struggle and preparing for re‐elections. Among the members of some groups there are communists and Komsomol members, as well as workers of the village councils, who expect to stay in their old places with the support.

CRIMEA

Deprivation of election rights. In a number of settlements, the number of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ has increased by 40‐50% in comparison with the previous elections.

In the village. Shuli, Sevastopol region, the list of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ has increased by 13 people (in the past 28). In the village. Uppa added 5 to the list of 23 people. A similar phenomenon is observed in a number of other villages and districts.

A number of facts of illegal deprivation of electoral rights of low‐power peasants (Karasubazar, Yalta, Simferopol districts) were registered. Along with this, in some cases, election commissions show a desire to support the kulak, sometimes even denying its existence.

In the Skasiev‐Kontansky village council of the Kerch district, the election commission, on the basis that ʺthere are no kulaks in this village council,ʺ is going to restore 60% of the ʺdisenfranchisedʺ in the elections during the last re‐elections. For the same reasons, in some villages the electoral commissions consider it unnecessary to convene meetings of the poor.

Errors in relation to the middle peasant. In a number of cases, no attention was paid to the involvement of the middle peasantry, both in the construction of electoral commissions and in the convening of poor meetings. Of the 145 members and candidates of the Sevastopol district election commissions, there were only 15 middle peasants. In a number of election commissions, the middle peasants were completely absent. In some places, the middle peasants were not at all involved in the election campaign. In the Taganash village council of the Dzhankoy region, 10 poor meetings were held without the participation of the middle peasants. As a result of the lack of involvement of the middle peasants in the campaign, there were frequent cases of pronounced hostility of the latter towards the poor. In the village. Jermek of Karasubazar region, the pre‐election meeting was divided into two hostile groups ‐ the poor and the middle. All the proposals that were made by the poor were thwarted by the middle peasants.

Along with this, there have been registered cases when certain middle peasants opposed the nomination of the poor to election commissions or to the new composition of the Soviets.

Mistakes in relation to the middle peasant cause the greatest dissatisfaction in connection with the wrong deprivation of privileges. In these cases, the middle peasants group together in protest for organized attempts to re‐establish themselves in the elections.

Kulak groups. Of the 20 kulak groups registered in connection with the election campaign, the majority consists of “disenfranchised” and well‐to‐do kulaks. Actively operating groupings hold their own special meetings at which issues of the upcoming re‐elections are discussed. Some factions include members of church councils, merchants, ex‐guards and ex‐bandits. Only in some cases do groups include individual middle peasants and poor peasants. Kulak groups disrupted a number of reporting meetings.

BASHKIRIA

Farm laborers are extremely poorly represented in agricultural election commissions (1%). The kulaks and the wealthy make up over 4.5%. In the agricultural election commissions, the kulaks and the well‐to‐do in the Birsk and Sterlitamak cantons account for over 2.5%.

The kulak‐wealthy elements and the clergy are intensively campaigning to discredit the candidacies of the poor activists, and the middle peasants are being recruited on the basis of the ʺburden of the tax.ʺ

TATARIA

The penetration of the kulak‐anti‐Soviet element and the Muslim clergy into the electoral commissions takes place in a number of cantons. The Art [aro‐] Shaimurzinsky electoral committee is entirely constructed from socially alien elements (Buinsky canton).

To gain prestige and attract the poor peasants to their side, the kulaks grind the flour of the poor in their mills out of turn, arrange refreshments, and get the poor people drunk ‐ members of election commissions and workers of the grassroots administration. At the same time, a number of cases of threats and beating with fists of members of election commissions and poor activists, disruptions of meetings of the poor (Chistopol canton), reporting meeting (Buinsky canton), etc. were registered.

In some cases, the rural intelligentsia in a bloc with the kulaks actively speaks out at meetings against depriving the kulaks, merchants and other anti‐Soviet elements (Chistopol canton).

CHUVASHIA

In some areas farm laborers and poor peasantsʹ meetings were not held. Due to the negligent attitude of the grass‐roots soviet to the campaign, there is a low attendance at reporting meetings and insufficient voter turnout. Election commissions in a number of cases are littered with socially alien elements. Cases of misinterpretation of electoral instructions and excesses on this basis have been registered: illegal provision of electoral rights or deprivation of them.

The prosperous kulak elements, actively speaking at the meetings of the peasants, try in every possible way to discredit the local Soviet workers and communists in their eyes, making extensive use of the shortcomings of the Soviet apparatus.

MARI REGION

In some cantons, there is a provision of electoral rights to anti‐Soviet elements (Novo‐Toryalsky and Zvenigovsky cantons). Due to the weak activity in the election campaign of the selected workers, there are a number of cases of penetration into the election commissions of an alien element and middle peasants under the influence of the kulaks (election commissions of the Nikolsky village council, Yoshkar‐Ola canton and the election commission of the Pentubaevsky district of the Novo‐

Toryalsky canton).

Grain harvesting campaign

KAZAKSTAN

Workpiece travel. A further decrease in the rate of procurement is explained, along with the discrepancy between conventional and market prices, the vigorous activity of the private owner, the inactivity and negligence of the procurement apparatus, etc. 114.7%, according to Petropavlovsky on December 15, the tax was fulfilled by 100.3%, on Akmolinsky, 223.7% of the annual amount was fulfilled on December 15). Insufficient delivery of the necessary manufactured goods to the procurement areas, mainly manufactory, leather goods, as well as essential items (salt, sugar, kerosene, etc.) also negatively affects the progress of the workpieces.

The December plan for the Petropavlovsk District for December 20 was fulfilled by 29.5%, the annual plan for the same number was fulfilled by 38.7%. In the Akmola district, in the first five days of December 2097 tons were harvested, in the second ‐ 1864 tons, in the third ‐ 1624, in the fourth ‐ 1762 tons. The annual grain procurement plan in the Okrug for December 20 was fulfilled by 51.1%. In the Syr‐Darya district, the annual plan for December 1 has been fulfilled by 48%. In the Kostanay district, the December plan was fulfilled by 52.2%.

Difficulties in the export of harvested grain. Significant interruptions in the shipment of harvested grain continue to be noted, in connection with which significant stocks of it have accumulated in the deepest points. Up to 2,952,000 poods accumulated in the Akmola district on December 20 at deep points. unshipped bread. Export is hampered by the lack of transport and packaging. Due to the untimely shipment of harvested grain and the lack of adapted storage facilities for storing grain in some regions, the harvested grain begins to deteriorate.

Inactivity of the procurement apparatus. In a number of districts, workers of the procurement network did not take any measures to revive the rate of procurement. Among the workers of the procurement bodies, there is talk about the need to stop grain procurements, about the pointlessness of their further implementation in view of the peasantsʹ surplus of grain, etc. Red tape, bureaucracy, abuse, weighing, incorrect definition of the nature of bread, etc. continue to take place. The bungling admitted by the workers of the procurement apparatus in the Belorudsk district of the Syr‐Darya district in organizing the red convoy caused discontent and a lot of complaints from the peasants.

Fists and wealthy. On the part of the kulaks and the wealthy, there is a stubborn unwillingness to surrender their grain surpluses. “We wonʹt take bread, we have money, enough to pay off taxes” (Kustanai district). Without exporting them themselves, well‐to‐do kulak elements are campaigning among the rest of the peasantry against exporting grain or for selling grain surpluses on the private market.

BASHKIRIA

Despite some revival of the rate of procurement in December (compared to November), the monthly plan for December 25 was fulfilled only by 50%. The local annual plan for Bashkiria on December 25 was fulfilled by 70%, centralized by 77% against 77% (local) and 84% (centralized), scheduled for implementation on January 1, 1929. In some cases, clearly reduced plans were presented. Of the reasons affecting the normal course of procurement, it should be noted that the peasants have significant cash surpluses, along with the fact that the tax has not been paid in full and the subscription to the loan is proceeding weakly.

The delivery of scarce goods to procurement regions far from satisfies the increased demand for them, due to the availability of cash reserves in some places by peasants, the lack of manufactured goods threatens to disrupt grain procurements. The situation is aggravated by the fact that some cooperative organizations, littered with a socially alien element, supply the wealthy and speculators with scarce goods. Some cantons lack basic necessities: kerosene, sugar, tea, etc.

Private trader. In the Belebey, Birsk and Ufa cantons, there is a lively activity of a private trader buying up bread at high prices and disorganizing the grain market. The workers of the grassroots soviet do not take the necessary measures to combat the private trader.

TATARIA

The workpiece tempo remains insufficient. Despite the fact that in the third five‐day period of December 1297 tons were harvested more than in the first five‐day period, the December plan for December 5 was fulfilled only by 13.5% (6633 tons were harvested against 49140 tons of the planned target). The successful progress of procurement is influenced by the lack of manufactured goods, interruptions in financing of grass‐roots procurers, discrepancy in prices and the activity of a private procurer (inactivity, criminally negligent attitude to business, etc., do not get rid of). At the same time, the contamination of procurement bodies by former traders, kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements is noted. In the Chistopol, Sviyazhsky and Bugulma cantons, cooperation often lacks not only manufacture, but also consumer goods: kerosene, matches, tea, sugar, etc. On this basis, there is strong discontent, mainly the poor and middle peasants. In the Chistopol and Menzelinsky cantons, there is an influx of private buyers of bread, raising prices for rye and wheat and disrupting the normal course of procurement.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations

Terror. The increase in the number of terrorist acts in the eastern national republics and autonomous regions, which became especially sharp in November, continues to be observed in December. Against 34 cases in November, 44 facts of murders, assassinations, injuries, beatings and arson were registered. It should be noted that information for December for a number of regions is available only on the 1520th. Along with the committed terrorist acts, a significant number of threats were recorded (in November ‐ 27, in December ‐ 33).

The overwhelming majority of terrorist acts were committed by fists and bays, with the participation of bribed poor people in isolated cases. Terror is mainly directed against grassroots Soviet workers and activists ‐ the poor and farm laborers. Terror on the basis of the electoral struggle occupies a significant place.

For the months of November and December, according to individual types of terror and indicating the soil on which it took place, the figures are distributed as follows:

Causes	Murders		Assassination attempts		Wound s		Beatings		Arson
Causes	Nov	Dec	Nov	Dec	Nov	Dec	Nov	Dec	Nov	Dec
Fight against kulaks and bays	ten	6	1	2	2	‐	2	4	4	‐
Election	4	4	1	2	‐	‐	‐	eleven	1	‐
Land use	1	3	‐	‐	1	‐	‐	five	‐	‐
Female campaign	2	3	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐
Religious	‐	3	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐
Not clarified	‐	‐	3	‐	‐	‐	2	‐	‐	1
Total	17	19	five	4	3	‐	4	20	five	1

Of the individual republics and regions, the strongest activity of the kulaks is observed in Bashkiria, where in November there were 7 cases of terror, in 15 days in December ‐ 5, where the assistant to the prosecutor of the Sterlitamak canton was killed.

Leaflets, anonymous letters. The number of distributed leaflets and anonymous threats has significantly increased. In December, 17 leaflets and anonymous letters were registered against 3 in

November. According to their content, leaflets and anonymous letters are distributed as follows:

On the basis of electoral struggle ‐ 7

On the basis of anti‐tax ‐ 2

On the basis of insurance ‐ 1

On the soil of state farms ‐ 1

Call for the overthrow of Soviet power ‐ 2

National and religious ‐ 1

Others ‐ 3

(For the text of the most typical leaflets, see Appendices [3 and 4]).

Groupings. Most of the groups in December were organized and operate on the basis of the re‐election of the Soviets. In Crimea, out of 20

registered groups, 13 are actively acting on the basis of the re‐election of the Soviets. In Azerbaijan, 15 kulak groups were registered on the basis of an election struggle, in Armenia ‐ 7, in Bashkiria ‐ 3, in Chuvashia ‐ 2, etc. In Kazakstan, tribal groups have significantly revived, developing special activity in the Syr‐Darya and Kustanai districts. In the national regions of the North Caucasus, the greatest revival of kulak‐mull groups with the participation of former Soviet workers is noted. In Chechnya, 22 groups emerged during December. One of the groups (the village of Aslanbekovskoye) posted a leaflet in Arabic calling for the admission of ʺhonest Muslimsʺ to the Councils. In Karachay, five new groups emerged during the last week of December, operating under the leadership of former bandits and foremen. 7 new groups have been registered in Adygea, leading intensive preparations for the re‐election of the Soviets.

In all national regions in the reporting period, 9 groups were liquidated (of which 6 in connection with terrorist acts) with a total number of participants in 51 people, of which 23 kulaks, 2 mullahs, 6 ex‐whites, 8 ex‐bandits, 8 middle peasants 10, poor people ‐ 2.

In November‐December last year, kulak‐religious groups that had a single leader of the Dagestani sheikh Ali Gadzhi Akushinsky were liquidated in the Dargin district of Dagestan. These groupings carried out their activities not only within the Darginsky district, but also extended their influence over the whole of Dagestan. So, in early December in the Khasav‐Yurt district, several copies of the leaflet were found: ʺMessage to Muslim brothersʺ (see Appendix [No. 4]).

Churchmen

In a number of districts, the strengthening of religious sentiments continues to be noted ‐ facts of active opposition to the closure of churches and the production of collections of money for the repair and construction of new churches have been recorded.

Yaroslavl province. The special commission, which came to close the former Tolgsky monastery, was greeted by a crowd of peasants up to 200 people, who drove the commission out of the church.

Vladimirskaya lips. In the town of Vyazniki, in connection with the arrests carried out, the churchmen organized a demonstration, which took place under the slogans: ʺGive us bread,ʺ ʺEnough to torture,ʺ ʺGive us freedom.ʺ Demonstrators in the number of 50 people, going up to the police, demanded the release of the arrested, at the same time the second half of the demonstrators, going up to the PEC and then to the VKP (b) ukomu, presented demands for the release of the arrested, distribution of bread, etc. The demonstrators (up to 300 people) tried to attract the peasants of the surrounding villages to the performance.

In with. Velikyodvorie Kovrovsky u. Vladimirskaya lips. churchmen collect voluntary donations for the construction of the church. In the m. Semenovka, Vladimir province. spent on the repair of the church 1000 rubles.

In the villages of Avilo‐Fedorovka, Kamenno‐Tualovskoe, Gostevka (North Caucasian Territory), churches have been built and repaired with money collected by believers.

In an area where religious life begins to fade, churchmen are trying to intensify their activities by arranging concerts in churches: in Leningrad, in the Spassko‐Uspensky Cathedral, in order to revitalize church activities and involve more believers in the church, the clergy hold two weekly literary and artistic evenings, at which excerpts from the works of L. Tolstoy, Turgenev, Pushkin, Lermontov and Yesenin are read. After the concert part, disputes are arranged.

In connection with the re‐election campaign of the Soviets in the village, the churchmen are agitating among the peasants against the nomination of candidates for communists and the poor: ʺChoose our candidates, they will not allow the export of peasant bread if they are in the Councilʺ (Mogilev‐Podolsk, Artyomovsk districts).

Sectarians. In the Moscow Vegetarian Society, a “group of war opponents” (12 people) is organized from among young people. This group sets itself the task of conducting intensified propaganda among the population against war and the carrying of weapons, actively helping prisoners and exiles with advice and means for refusing to serve in the Red Army.

Baptists continue to agitate against the opening of schools, peopleʹs homes, etc., trying to draw young people into their ranks

(Tatrespublika, Irkutsk, Artyomovsk districts).

Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Trilisser

Pom. Head of SOU OGPU Deribas

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

ANNEX No. 1 to the December 1928 review

BAKERY

Agitation of the kulaks against the export of grain

LOWER VOLGA REGION

Pugachevsky district. Group of kulaks with. Orlovka, appearing at a general meeting of peasants, at which the issue of exporting grain was discussed, said: “We will not give the bread we have to the Soviet government until they come with bayonets and take it away. We do not want this power, give us a king, and if you continue to rob us, we will take the pitchfork and drive this power away. ʺ

URAL

Shadrinsky district. Fists der. Shalyunin urge the peasants ʺto be organized and not to fall for the bait ‐ not to hand over grain to the state and to respond more resolutely and more courageously to the policy of the Soviet government in relation to the peasantry.ʺ

UKRAINE

Starobelsk district. Well‐to‐do with. Shpotino at the bazaar in the village. Yevsuge led agitation among the peasants against grain procurements, arguing that “if the peasantry does not give bread to the state within two years, then the end of Soviet power will come, since the workers will oppose the communists on the basis of hunger, and the peasants will take advantage of this and kill all the communists in the countryside ʺ.

Kharkov district. Fist s. B. Danilovka is agitating among the rest of the peasantry: ʺWe need to organize so that not a pound of grain is given to the state, without organization you will never achieve anything.ʺ

Shevchenko district. Well‐to‐do with. Vygoraevo, a former Petliurite, opposes grain procurements: ʺThere is no need to give the authorities bread — let the workers and employees die of hunger better, but for

such a price we will not give it, let it rot better.ʺ

Fists holding back grain surpluses

LOWER VOLGA REGION

Khopersky district. Wealthy stts. Glazunovskaya, who have significant grain surpluses (from 800 to 2000 poods), refrain from handing them over to the state producers, getting the money they need on the farm by selling livestock, pigs, poultry, etc.

On the hut. Grachevsky, a well‐to‐do Cossack has up to 3000 poods in stock. various grain crops, of which he did not hand over a single pound to the state producers.

In the hut. Razdarskoye prosperous Popov and Frolovʹs fist have up to 1800 poods grain stocks, of which not a single pound was taken to the collection point.

Kulak Frolov on the delivery of grain to the state said: “I will not sell any grain. I have stocked up on manufacture and other goods since last winter, and if the authorities need bread, let them take it by force. ʺ

Balashov district. In with. Novo‐Mikhailovka, Balashovsky district, the local kulak has 1,500 poods grain surpluses, of which I did not hand over a pound to the state producers.

In with. Pestrovsky of the same district and okrug, the kulaks and the well‐to‐do do not hand over their surplus to the state producers. So, a fist with 1500 poods grain handed over to state producers only 40 poods sunflower. He refrains from surrendering the rest of the bread in the hope of raising the price of bread in the spring.

Saratov district. In with. V. Bakury, Petrovsky district, kulaks with 1200 poods each. grain stocks, they refuse to hand over to state producers.

Astrakhan District. In with. Well‐to‐do kulaks refuse to surrender the surplus to Kanakovka, Enotaevsky district: “We will not hand over our bread to the state, it will cost 4‐6 rubles in spring. for a pood ʺ.

The Cossack fists of the Kashkinsky village council say: ʺWeʹd better be left without clothes, but we wonʹt give the state bread.ʺ

UKRAINE

Kharkov district. The kulaks and the well‐to‐do refuse to hand over their surpluses to the state producers, declaring: ʺLet the poor carry it, the authorities help them in case of need, but we should not take it out.ʺ

Kremenchug district. The kulaks have a negative attitude to the collective surrender of bread, saying: ʺIt is better to feed the cattle with this bread or sell it on the private market than to give up the authorities.ʺ

SIBERIA

Krasnoyarsk District. A survey of two villages (the most economically powerful) in the Novoselovsky district found that the main suppliers of grain are the poor and middle peasants. In one of the surveyed villages, not a single well‐to‐do peasant took out a pound of grain; in another village, 31% of the well‐to‐do gave bread; on average, in both villages, 43% of the well‐to‐do did not export grain to the state producers at all. The percentage of the kulaks who did not surrender a single pound of grain is 14, and the average figure of grain delivered by the kulaks (91 pounds per farm) compared to the availability of marketable grain (an average of 800 pounds in each farm) is absolutely insignificant.

Novosibirsk district. In many areas, a significant part of the kulakwealthy elite did not donate a pound of grain to the state. So, for example, in Karpysaksky district 81 people of kulaks and wealthy people did not hand over a single pound of bread to state producers, in Bitkovsky district ‐ 31 people, Bugrinsky ‐ 186 people, etc.

Rubtsovsky district. In with. Trusovo, Kurvinsky district, three kulaks with up to 1000 poods each of them holds back their surplus in the hope of price increases in the spring.

Kansk district. In the village. Aleksandrova, Kansk district, a local kulak keeps his bread not threshed, declaring: “I don’t need money now, and when money is needed, then I will thresh and sell”.

Kamensky district. In with. Podoinikovo of the Pankrutikhinsky district is well‐to‐do with 15 dess. sowing and threshed at least 1000 poods bread, not a single pound handed over to the state procurement companies, but hid all his surplus. In the last grain procurement campaign, he was also prosecuted for hiding bread. Now he is agitating among his fellow villagers: ʺSince we will not fulfill the procurement plan given for our village, we must provide ourselves with grain reserves in advance ‐ all the same, the bread will be taken away from power.ʺ

Barnaul district. In with. Talmenki, according to the poor people, the kulaks and the wealthy have at least 22,000 poods grain surpluses, of which they did not hand over a single pound to the state producers.

Bread speculation

CChO

Lgovskiy district. Wealthy peasants with. Krylevka, Konyshevsky District, which have 300 and more poods of insurance stocks of bread, continue to buy bread at every market in order to sell it at a higher price.

In the same area a kulak with. Zakharyevo in a conversation with fellow villagers said: “You have to be a fool to give bread to the authorities for 96 kopecks. pood while on the market it costs 4 rubles. In the spring it will cost 10 rubles. Therefore, we will not take bread ‐ let the power take by force. ʺ

LOWER VOLGA REGION

Kamyshinsky district. In with. Nikolayevka is a local well‐to‐do man who has threshed more than 1000 poods flour, sells it in parts (200 poods each), declaring: “It’s unprofitable to sell all the flour now ‐ where to put the money, there are no goods in the stores, but it’s probably dangerous to hand over to the savings bank, next year the tax will be increased, so it’s better that bread lies until spring, and then we will see. ʺ

Volsky district. The middle peasant in Balakovo is engaged in the systematic buying and selling of bread. The purchased bread is sent to them on boats to Volsk, where it is sold at speculative prices.

ASSRNP

In with. Generalskoe of the Pokrovsky Canton, almost the entire population is engaged in grinding grain into flour and selling it on the private market at higher prices. Speculation is especially strongly developed in the village. Shumeikove, where the grain procurement commissioner is also engaged in flour speculation. Local middle peasant, grinding 500 poods bread brought it to Saratov, where he sold it on the private market at a higher price.

In with. Cherebaevo of the St.‐Poltava canton, a member of the rural councilʹs revolutionary commission, middle peasant, ground 200 poods grain and flour for 5 rubles. sold for a pood on the private market.

Saratov district. In with. Asmetovka, the local kulak, who in the past was engaged in usury, now systematically speculates in bread. Buying up bread at the Petrovsky market, he takes it out to Penza, where he sells it at the private market. In the same village, a local well‐to‐do is also engaged in bread speculation, who has made several trips with bread to Penza.

UKRAINE

Dnepropetrovsk district. 11 kulaks, owners of a steam mill in the village. Kolpakovka of the Kotovsky district, became closely connected with local speculative kulaks, and the latter systematically bought grain in the Poltava region, delivered it to the mill, where it was secretly ground into premium flour and sold at speculative prices in a private market in Dnepropetrovsk.

In the Izyumsky, Cherkassky and Kamensky districts, bread speculation with fists does not decrease. The latter continue to buy grain, secretly (for bribes) grind it into flour and sell it at speculative prices in bazaars.

Poltava district. In Kobelyaksky, Senzharsky and Karlovsky districts, there are cases of use of agricultural loans by middle peasants for the purchase of grain for speculation. The purchased grain is processed into flour and sold at higher prices.

Refusals of millers to hand over the harnets fee

CChO

Oryol lips. Melnik s. Maslovki, Oryol district, despite the fact that he received a deposit of 300 rubles from the local agricultural partnership. on the delivery of the garnets tax, until now the garnets tax does not pass, selling it at the same time on the private market.

Millers of the Novosilsky district of the same district do not fulfill contracts for the delivery of the garnets collection. The miller of the Podyanovskaya mill sold 35 poods to a local merchant. harntsevoy collection. The miller of the Krasin mill sent 8 rye supplies to Oryol.

There is a steam mill, 3 water and 12 windmills in the Gnilo‐Plossky village council of the Moscow‐Arkhangelsk region. The millers do not fulfill the contracts for the delivery of the garnets collection, and the bread coming from the grinding is sold to the private owner.

Yeletsky district. The head of the Cherenyansk state mill in the Lebedyansky district, a member of the CPSU (b), sells the collected garnets tax to private buyers at a speculative price.

In the village. Viktorovka of the Russko‐Brodsky district, millers, owners of private mills, do not hand over the garnets tax to the state, using it for speculation.

UKRAINE

Artyomovsk district. Tractor Association named after Shevchenko in the village. Kurotovka, which includes 4 party members and strong middle peasants who have their own mill, process all the garnets collected into flour and sell them in the markets of Druzhovka and Konstantinovka at speculative prices.

Kremenchug district. The mill ʺTrudmelnikʺ, owned by the artel, despite the fact that it has already been fined 500 rubles, continues to speculate with the garnets collection, throwing out lots of 200 poods or more on the private market. The proceeds from the sale are divided among the administrative elite of the artel.

Nikolaev district. The tenants of the Kaluzhskaya mill of the Bereznegovatskiy district systematically produce unauthorized highgrade grinding of grain collected from the garnets harvest. Flour is sold through dummy peasants in Nikolaev to bakers at speculative prices.

Bryansk lips. Millers with their own mills in Velyaminovskaya parish. Karachevsky u., Having received a notice of the surrender of the garntsev tax, organized an illegal meeting at the mill in the village. Yushkovo, which was attended by 4 millers and the secretary of the Yushkovsky village council. The meeting discussed the issue of closing the mills in protest against the collection of the harntsev tax, and the closure of the mills was supposed to be carried out in such a way as to cause discontent among the peasants (“so that the peasants would rebel against the government.”) It was decided to contact millers from other regions to close to carry out the mills in an organized manner.

The use of compulsory methods in grain procurement

CChO

Ostrogozhsky district. In with. At a general meeting of peasants at a general meeting of peasants, at which the issue of exporting grain was discussed, the head of the mill, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, spoke to Efanovka of the Volokonovsky District, declaring: “We will take the bread from the peasants anyway, it’s better to export it voluntarily”.

Belgorod District. The chairman of the Assumption village council of the Rakityansky district with one of the members of the rural cell came to the middle peasant and demanded information on the amount of grain he had. Despite the fact that the middle peasant promised to take out the bread he had in stock (20‐30 poods), the chairman of the village council searched his house, even dismantling the straw on the roof. Not finding any hidden bread, he nevertheless offered the middle peasant to take out 75 poods of bread.

URAL

Trinity District. In the V.‐Uralsky district, with the sanction of the chairman of the RIK and the secretary of the district committee of the CPSU (b), a barrage detachment was organized, taking grain from peasants and visiting workers from Bashkanton. The bread was taken from inns and bazaars. In one day, up to 3,000 poods were selected and poured into warehouses for consumer society and Soyuzkhleb. The bread was taken not only from people who came from Bashkanton, but also from the peasants of the Urlyadinsky, Karagai and NovoZamorikhinsky villages, who brought bread for grinding to the mills. The introduction of repressive measures aroused strong discontent on the part of the workers and peasants who came for bread. The district party committee was besieged by factory workers who asked for permission to export the grain they had bought, referring to the fact that ʺno orders to prohibit the export of grain to the V.‐Uralsky district were published.ʺ

Perm district. The secretary of the Sosnovskiy RK VKP (b), seeing that the population is bringing bread to the market, but does not hand over to the state producers, summoned a Komsomol activist with. Klenovki and instructed them to organize a barrage detachment. All the peasants who came to the bazaar were detained by Komsomol members and sent to the village council, where acts were drawn up against them, and bread was poured into the cooperatives.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

ANNEX No. 2 to the December 1928 review.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE REPORTING AND PREELECTION CAMPAIGN OF THE COUNCILS

Littering of agricultural election commissions

Tyumen district. The son of a mullah, a protege of the clergy and kulaks, was introduced to the Yarovskaya Selizbirk of the Yalutorovsk District.

Novosibirsk district. In the villages of Gilevsky, Taskaevsky, Karakansky, N.‐Loktevsky and Zimovsky of the Cherepanovsky district, the composition of the electoral commissions is littered with kulak and anti‐Soviet elements (the son of a priest, the daughter of a merchant, Kolchakʹs punisher, etc.).

Stalingrad district. On the hut. B. Perekopka of the Ilovlinsky District, the SelElection Commission included: a former policeman (the head of the Electoral Commission), one who was deprived of his electoral rights for an active struggle against Soviet power.

Vinnytsia district. In with. The Yuzvi of Vinnitsa region, a group consisting of kulaks and an anti‐Soviet element, due to its active preelection activities, held its representatives in the Selizbirk and took over the leadership of the work in it. The representative of the Komsomol, not having the strength to fight them, filed an application for withdrawal from the election commission.

Borovichi district. The well‐to‐do were included in the Sellezbirkom. Members of the electoral commission often get drunk at the expense of peasants who are afraid of being deprived of electoral rights.

Uman district. In with. Boytovka, a former officer of the tsarist army (who served under the hetman in the police 340) was included in the sellerskom. In with. Stebnom of the Zvenigorod district, a kulak, who in the past actively spoke out against Soviet power, joined the election committee. In with. Boobnovka, Umansky district, the former commander of an armored train of the Petliura army was elected chairman of the election committee.

Bryansk lips. Pochepsky u. The Setolovsky Selizbirk was constructed from an anti‐Soviet element (a former officer of the gendarme corps, a deaconʹs daughter, etc.). Loshovskiy selizbirkom is mostly constructed from the wealthy.

In Plyusnovskaya Vol. Selizbirkom is mainly constructed from the well‐to‐do part of the village. There are almost no representatives from the farm.

In Pochepskaya vol. a significant part of the electoral commissions are constructed mainly from the well‐to‐do stratum of the village; there are no representatives of farm laborers in the electoral commissions.

Armavir district. In stts. In the Barsunovskaya Nevinnomyssk district, a former participant of the White Guard uprising, who received the rank of cornet 341 during the White movement, was held in the election committee.

In the same area in the village. A former member of the Cadet Party, who at present has close ties with the kulaks, was held wide in the election committee.

Tula lips. The Ilyinsky Selizbirkom included a shank 342 and a fortune teller who had previously worked as an authorized representative of the RIK and was filmed for a number of unseemly acts.

Don district. The Elizabethan stanizbirkom included proteges of the kulaks who took part in drinking bouts and took part in the work of the kulak group.

Reinstatement in elections of rights subject to deprivation of the right to vote

A SSRNP. In with. Lauve of the Zelman canton had 40

ʺdisenfranchisedʺ. The electoral committee decided to leave a list of 23 people instead of 40. Thus, the electoral committee restored one large trader, one kulak, which has two permanent workers and three or four seasonal workers, and the wife of a former large trader in the electoral rights. At the same time, the statement of a member of the Central Election Commission of the Republican Peopleʹs Party, living in the village. Lauve, who, when asked if the election commission was working correctly, answered: “Back in 1926 I had the opinion that in the village. Lauve went too far during the deprivation of the right to vote ‐ 40 people were deprived. Now they were doing their work correctly, and in 1926 there were counterrevolutionaries in the electoral committee who, in order to embitter the peasantry against the Soviet regime, deprived 40 of the owners of their votes. ʺ

Biysk district. Ereminsky Selizbirkom issued a resolution: “Persons subject to deprivation of electoral rights in the village. Eremino was not there. The commission considers it necessary to restore the persons deprived of their rights in elections in 1927”. As a result, fists were restored.

Kaluga lips. In Kozelskaya parish. Sukhinichesky By the SelElectoral Commission, up to 100 ʺdisenfranchisedʺ were restored to the elections. Among those restored are former landowners, former police officers, former merchants, etc.

Don district. In with. After participating in a party organized by the kulaks, the chairman of the election commission in the Krugly Azov region reinstated three merchants in the election.

In the Staro‐Minsk district in the stts. Novo‐Yasenskaya, a former volunteer of the White Army, the leader of the White uprising, was restored to the voting rights.

Armavir district. In with. In Ivanovsky, Nevinnomyssk district, the electoral committee did not deprive the ministers of the religious cult and their families of election rights.

Mordovia District (SVO). On the initiative of the chairman of the village electoral committee Zinovki of Ruzaevsky district (maintains contact with the kulaks), two merchants have been restored to their voting rights. And the chairman of the electoral committee, defending them, said: ʺWell, what kind of traders they are, they have sold the last horses, they are not subject to deprivation of citizenship rights.ʺ

Vinnytsia district. In with. Yastrubtsy of the Dashevsky district are not deprived of electoral rights: 1) a kulak, a former guard, in the past an active member of the ʺUnion of the Russian peopleʺ and a participant in active anti‐Soviet protests under the hetman; 2) a strong middle peasant, a former guard who beat up villagers during the hetman regime.

In with. Wide Rowing is not deprived of the suffrage of the ministers of religious worship.

Cherepovets district. In the Timoshensky village council of the Belozersky district, the former secret secret police officer 343 is not deprived of voting rights.

Excessive excesses in the direction of depriving the electoral rights of the middle peasants and other Soviet elements of the village

Tula lips. In the Kurkinsky district, all persons over 60 years of age were deprived of voting rights in the Mikhailovsky village council. In the Sukhodolsk village council of the Aleksinsky district, all men over 65 and women over 50 were deprived of their electoral rights.

Moscow province. In the Morozovsky district village council, Khotkovskaya vol. Sergievsky u. The SelElectoral Commission deprived 20 middle peasants of their electoral rights for the reason that they are engaged in the sale of milk (they are taken to Moscow).

Balashovsky district (NVK). In with. B. Melik, on the initiative of a member of the Selizbirkom (chairman of the agricultural credit partnership), one middle peasant, a former Red Army soldier, was deprived of voting rights for criticizing the latter of the work of the chairman of the credit partnership.

Kuban District. In stts. Severskaya of the same district, due to the contamination of election commissions at the 5th polling station, 40 poor and middle peasant farms were deprived of election rights. In the 6th precinct, the families of the ministers of the religious cult and the family of the merchant are not included in the lists of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ.

Tara District (Siberia). The village electoral committee of the Malinovsky village council at its meeting decided to deprive the middle peasant of the right to vote. The deprivation of electoral rights was motivated by: ʺTo deprive of the right to vote as an opponent of collectivization.ʺ

In Bolshe‐Rechinsky district, 16 middle peasants and 15 families of Red Army men were deprived of voting rights in 4 village councils.

Kansk district. Berezovsky was deprived of election rights by 9 middle peasants on the grounds of ʺgoing against the poor ‐ unreliableʺ.

Kamensky district. The Ural Selizbirk has deprived of the voting rights of several middle peasants who have a mower.

Chita district. In a significant part of the villages of the Aleksandrovsky District, there were cases of deprivation of voting rights of former partisans, Komsomol members and communists.

Kulak sentiments among the workers of the grass‐roots soviet and rural communists

Tverskaya lips. The chairman of the Chemerovsky volost KKOV, on the participation of the poor in the election campaign, said: ʺWe do not have the poor, but there are idlers, drunkards, whom the Soviet government supports with benefits and loans, and then they also want to allocate them to the village councils so that they spend money there on drinkʺ ...

Tula lips. At a meeting of the chairmen of the agricultural election commissions of the Klenotkovsky district, one of the chairmen of the agricultural election commissions, speaking, said: “It is useless to talk a lot about the kulak, the poor, and that kulaks can disrupt the campaign. This is not true since there are very few kulaks in the region and they cannot do anything. ʺ

Pugachevsky District (NVK). The chairman of the N.‐Pokrovsky village council, regarding the re‐election of the village councils, says: “This year we did a good job by setting a long term for re‐elections, and therefore we have nowhere to rush, and the voters are well‐disposed: they have learned in 11 years whom they need to choose, so work with the poor there is no need, because there are no kulaks, and the well‐todo and middle peasants will never go against our measures. We do not engage in deprivation of voting rights, because we have no one to deprive us of”.

A member of the Petropavlovsk electoral commission said at a meeting of the electoral commission regarding the deprivation of electoral rights: “We have no kulaks; we have peasants who workday and night. They made up their farms by their labor. That you are forcing us to be enemies of each other. We have no one to deprive. ʺ

Speech at the reporting meeting of a middle peasant with a declaration

Moscow province. At the reporting meeting of the village council with. Sharapovo Iv.‐Shnyrevsky parish Zvenigorodsky u. a local middle peasant read out a declaration written by him with the following content.

“I have never been a party or political leader, but I have always been a political supporter. Every mass movement of the people in me aroused a lift of spirit, and I sympathized with everyone, without examining the parties.

At this time, since 1918, after the end of the German war, I live among the peasants, studying their life and political aspirations, and I notice that Bolshevism, with its direct party line, not only did not attract the peasantry to itself, but, on the contrary, separated it from itself.

The workers for the peasant not only became a friend and comrade, but, on the contrary, became an implacable enemy with all his power, which legally destroys his small individual economy.

Legislative directives of the Soviets in relation to the peasantry are often rude, like the Arakcheevism 344 (100 years ago). At that time, too, Tsar Alexander I was building a federation. Then the cruel despot Arakcheev led the violence, building military settlements, without asking the wishes of the people. Now, the will of the peasantry under individual small farms is being violated by the force of the collective law, called the workersʹ dictatorship, and they are forced through collectives to go over to the commune.

In this way, the ʺgiganticʺ agricultural machinery of our country got a stick in the wheels throughout its course and in a short time stopped its productivity, paralyzing the energy in the laboring masses of the small peasantry.

The Soviets were carried away not by living activity, but by soulless paper formalism. People who understand the true views of the broad masses of the peasantry, under the pressure of the dictatorship of workers and peasants (we name it), where a direct general line of the Bolsheviks is being pursued, unceremoniously cutting off deviations from the right and left, silently moved away from the peasants out of fear of going to prison or Solovki.

A person expresses his views against the directives of the Soviet government ‐ he is already an enemy of the workersʹ party and he is being unceremoniously dealt with according to the law. The workersʹ power by such repressions in relation to the small farms of the peasantry reveals its cowardice towards the capital that is pressing on it and by means of attracting the peasant masses to itself. ʺ

This nervousness and twitching of the small peasantry on the part of the workersʹ power not only does not unite the worker with the peasantry, but, on the contrary, tears them apart and separates them from each other.

The peasants reason like this: ʺWe have nothing to do with the factory industry, the workers ‐ for themselves, and the peasants for themselves.ʺ The workers have achieved their well‐being in life, so do not interfere with the peasantʹs life as he wants. Create your own household according to your own way of thinking.

Give a soft loan with a low interest rate for broad strata of the peasant masses. Move to the aid of chemistry and agronomy for the purpose of cultural development. Tax only land (although you should charge no less than your current rent). Do not hit the labor economy with a progressive tax.

The state should not interfere in the management of the well‐being of the peasant and count the income in his wallet. Levy a progressive tax on those farms that exploit hired labor in their management. Give full play to individual strengths and abilities (if you wish, create teams as well). And you workers will see that the land, like mushrooms, will be covered with cultural economic units and in a short period of time the country will be unrecognizable. And these cultural and economic units, like an epidemic, will infect a backward and passive economy with the cultural movement. Even a bum and he will find a job.

With this approach, reduce the influx of unemployed people into cities from the countryside. The labor exchange will be empty.

The peasant does not need to shorten the working day; he himself will find time to rest.

This order of business will quickly increase the yield of the fields, and the markets will be inundated with agricultural products and bread.

The peasants will be satisfied and the workers will be fed.

Only in this way will the worker and the peasant rally into indissoluble ties and give a brutal rebuff to the pressing capital and intervention. ʺ

Signature.

Kulak anti‐Soviet groups

Sarapul district. In with. Ashabaevo of the Danilovsky village council, the kulak group, wishing to find out who is at the poor meeting, who opposes them and what issues are being discussed, sent women and children wrapped in shawls to the meeting; the poor, noticing the appearance of the latter, began to hide behind each other for fear of revenge from the kulaks.

Pugachevsky district. In with. In Lokhmatovka, Novouzensky District, a group of kulaks and well‐to‐do people gathered in the apartment of a wealthy person, consisting of 5 people, who discussed the issue of the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets. One of the members of the group said: “Now they will soon come from the RIK to deprive us of our voting rights because the re‐elections of the Soviets are beginning. In order to bring your people to the Council, you have to buy someone, arrange a drinking bout, and then they will be for us, and we will take our own, if only our people were in the Council. ʺ Those present, supporting him, said: ʺWe must start preparing for the re‐election as soon as possible, then we will do everything, we will conduct our candidates.ʺ

Tomsk district. In with. Sukhorechenskoye kulak group of 18 people attracted the secretary of the village council, to whom they promised to sew a fur coat for their joint work.

Kamenets district. In with. Glubochek Mankovetsky district, a group of former members of the ʺUnion of the Russian peopleʺ, kulaks, having gathered in the house of the moonshiner, decided by all means to prevent the poor from choosing to the village council: “We will not allow the poor to get into the village council; we will make it so that at least 3 people will get well‐off. ʺ

Mozyr District. In the Yurevsky village council, the kulak group, by drinking, recruited part of the grassroots workers of the Soviet apparatus of the villages of Khobnoye and Dobnoye to their side. The population of the village. Khobnoe, under the influence of the members of the group, intends to appoint one of the active members of the group to the chair of the village council. In the village of Dobnoe, the activists of the poor and middle peasants are so terrorized by the group that they are afraid to campaign. One of the activists, fearing revenge from the group, had to leave the village.

Kuznetsk district. In with. Maryino Kondalsky District, on the initiative of two kulaks, a meeting of the local kulaks was organized, at which tactics were discussed during the elections to the village council, and it was decided: we need to elect non‐party people to the Council who could work in our favor. ʺ

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

ANNEX No. 3 to the December 1928 review.

ANTI‐SOVIET MANIFESTATIONS

Kulak terrorist groups

UKRAINE

Proskurovsky district. In with. In Novoselovki, Derazhnyanskiy district, an anti‐Soviet group tried to blow up the building of the village council while the meeting was taking place there. For this purpose, a bomb was placed in the stove. The bomb was discovered in a timely manner, and thus the explosion of the premises of the village council was prevented. A search carried out by the OGPU found members of this grouping: a bomb, a sawn‐off shotgun and 10 rifle cartridges. In the course of the investigation, it turned out that the group intended to kill the chairman of the village council, the chairman of the KNS and the head of the school ʺfor their connection with the communists.ʺ

All members of the group with the exception of one (who fled from the village) were arrested.

Zaporozhye district. In with. A group of former Makhnovists was actively involved in anti‐Soviet activities by Verbav of the Chubarovsk region. Members of this group have repeatedly spoken out at gatherings against the measures of the Soviet government, conducted chauvinistic agitation, called for an uprising for the ʺliberation of Ukraine.ʺ

In the midst of the election campaign, this group sent an anonymous letter to the village council with the following content: ʺWe, an unknown group, suggest that you immediately stop the campaign, otherwise we will openly speak out against you at an unknown time for you and destroy you.ʺ

5 people were arrested in the case. It turned out that one of the members of the group had repeatedly threatened to kill the secretary of the village council and individual village activists.

Kiev district. In with. Maksimovichi, Khavin district, there was a group of 7 people (6 kulaks and 1 well‐to‐do, all deprived of the right to vote; the leader of the group is a former merchant; among the members of the group there are employees in the hetman police, the treasurer of the church community and a former bandit Struk, who was tried 4 times for various crimes) , engaged in the systematic terrorization of workers of the grassroots soviet and rural activists.

This group began to act especially sharply and insolently from the end of September this year. In the village there was a fairly close‐knit village activist ‐ the chairman of the KNS and the chairman of the village council (party candidates), it was against them that the terrorist actions of the group were directed, expressed in the following.

On September 24, the buildings of the chairman of the KNS Irilenko were set on fire, in whose house the office of the village council is located.

On September 24, an attempt was made to murder a poor activist.

On October 18, the buildings of a member of the village council, party candidate Yevseenko were set on fire.

On October 22, an attempt was made to damage the engine of the thresher of a poor machine partnership.

On October 25, a cloon with bread was burned at a member of the village council and a member of the tax commission Korchenny.

In addition, the glass in houses, property, etc., were repeatedly broken from individual agriculturalists by members of the group.

The actions of the group completely terrorized the village activists. Public work began to freeze, some activists, fearing attempts, did not spend the night at home. Only the arrest, made on November 19, brought peace to the village. In the course of the investigation, it turned out that the group was preparing the murder of the chairman of the village council.

Kiev district. In with. Ivankovo, Boryspil district, starting from 1926, a kulak group consisting of 19 people (18 kulaks and 1 middle peasant) systematically terrorized the rural activists and workers of the grassroots soviet.

In early 1926, poor Kulish, who took an active part in the social life of the village, was wounded by a shot through the window. Before the attempt, he received death threats.

On January 14, 1927, the chairman of the KNU, Kozlov, was wounded by a shot through the window, actively defending the interests of the poor against the kulaks. Before the assassination attempt, he also received verbal death threats.

In 1928, in the village. Ivankovo, the building of the village council was set on fire, and the land lists burned down. As it turned out, the arson was carried out by members of the group in order to ʺslow down land management.ʺ

The activities of the group especially intensified in the fall of 1928. The members of the group became so insolent that they came out with open threats against the poor. At the same time, terrorist activity intensified: in September and October last year, there were 3 arson attacks and several attacks on poor activists, and on November 3, poor activist Makarenko was killed, who had been assassinated even earlier.

Members of the group were arrested in October. As it turned out, the group, before committing terrorist acts, organized secret meetings at which targets for terrorist acts were outlined. The liquidation of the group met with the active support of the poor, who helped in the search for the kulaks to be arrested. The work of all public organizations revived, in one week 20 people signed up for the KNS, after the liquidation of the group, 4 meetings of the poor were held.

Terror

WEST

Gomel District. On October 25, 1928, a horse was killed in the meadow of the secretary of the Nizhne‐Sharovsky village council Shary.

On August 8, 1928, 400 poods were burned from him. hay.

On July 20, 1928, a horse was shot in the meadow of the chairman of the same village council Klimenko. Klimenko refused to work in the village council. Sharyʹs secretary is not included in the village council, fearing to be killed.

Bryansk lips. On September 10, 1928, an active social worker, forester Morozov, was summoned to the house by a group of wealthy loggers and brutally killed with an ax.

CENTRE

Kaluga lips. In with. Peskovatsky Mikhlinsky par. and the county, starting in 1928, local kulaks terrorized the village activists.

In 1928, a poor man was raped by Zimenkov and his hooligan friend Lapshin.

In the same year, they fired at members of the Komsomol returning from the meeting. During a search by the police, they found a sawn‐off shotgun. In addition, Zimenkov and Samokhin carried out illegal searches of citizens with weapons.

In 1926, the shed of the land surveyor Arkhipov was burned down. On the same day, the shed of the peasant Bogolyubov was set on fire.

In 1928, on October 8, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Menshikov burned down a barn with bread; before that, threats were noted on the basis of the agricultural tax.

On December 16, 1928, there was an attempt to burn down the barn of the peasant Bochkov (the fire was extinguished). On December 19, 1928, Bochkovʹs shed burned down.

On the night of January 1, 1929, a seven‐year school was set on fire.

The kulaks Bykovs, Zimenkov and Samokhin have been arrested and the case is under investigation.

Kostroma lips. November 7, 1928 in the village. Poch‐Krutoy Mezhevskaya Vol. a shot through the window wounded the organizer, who is also the chairman of the collective farm ʺNew Wayʺ poor man Manin. The attempt on Manin was made on the basis of a struggle against the organization of the poor.

Before the assassination attempt, the following terrorist attacks were noted by the kulaks.

The secretary of the wolf committee of the CPSU (b) was planted with anonymous letters: ʺIf you push, we will kill.ʺ

In November, an attempt was made on the life of his father brutally tortured during the uprising of the Chekist.

In the same month, the property of the village correspondent Sirotin was set on fire.

Tverskaya lips. Recently in Tysyatskoyvol. Novotorzhsky u. a number of cases of arson of buildings by the kulaks among the workers of the

Soviet apparatus were registered:

a) November 10 in the village. Malashevo, a member of the village council set fire to sheds with agricultural implements and hay.

b) November 4, 1928 in the village. Plistikh, two sheds were set on fire at a member of the village council.

c) November 19, 1928 in the village. Krotovo set fire to an agricultural workerʹs shed.

d) November 18, 1928 in the village. Markovo, the agricultural contractorʹs shed burned down from arson.

e) November 5, 1928 in the village. Zubarezo at a member of the village council set fire to a barn.

f) In November 1928 in the village. Malashevo set fire to the barn of a member of the village council, and during the fire, shouts were heard in the crowd: ʺThatʹs right, why is he serving for two years in the village council.ʺ As a result of the arson, the workers of the lower Soviet apparatus are terrorized and submit applications to refuse to work in the Soviet apparatus.

CChO

Tambov district. On November 7, 1928, an unknown person fired two shots at the window of the house of a teacher, an active worker, Yartseva. On December 2, a second attempt was made on Yartseva.

Belgorod District. On November 30, 1928, Levchenko, chairman of the Golovchansky beet‐grower of the Graivoronovsky district, was killed.

In December, a letter was sent to the deputy district attorney demanding the immediate release of those arrested and that a number of people would soon be killed.

NVK

Balaklovsky district. On December 12, poor man Bordachev was killed on the grounds of deprivation of electoral rights. The organizer of the murder is the son of the kulak Goryunov, who, having drunk two poor people and one kulak, forced them to kill Bordachev.

Leaflets

CCM

Don district. On December 1, 1928, up to 11,000 copies of the proclamations were discovered, sent by mail to 4,000 addresses of the CCK villages.

“To all the peasants and Cossacks, to all who earn bread by the sweat of their brow.

To everyone who does not want to be either a slave or a master.

Manifesto

In the fall of 1928, an initiative was taken to create the Russian Union of Field Workers ʺSunʺ. In proclaiming myself as interim supreme leader, I appeal to all honest citizens.

For 11 years, the Communist Party has been sowing enmity between grain growers, dividing them into kulaks, middle peasants and poor peasants, and poisoning one group against another.

The party ruins the wealthy and does not help the poor. She does not want life in the world to become more beautiful. It does not want to make the poor prosperous, but on the contrary, seeks to make the wellto‐do poor, because otherwise no one will go to the communist paradise.

There is no free speech in Russia, it is severely punished, the mouth of the working intelligentsia is clamped down.

The party covers up all its dirty tricks, robbery of workers, violation of existing laws in the name of the dictatorship of the working class. But the workers take the same part in management as the peasants; tricks, and where and threats in all government bodies the communists crawl.

In cities, as well as in villages, thousands of hungry people, unemployed, homeless, prostitutes roam. The party has hundreds of millions of rubles for empty campaigning, but not for the fight against poverty.

The whole state rests on us, toilers of the fields. Our forces are scattered and therefore we are being bullied. The workers and labor intellectuals who have emerged from our midst must help us, the peasants and the Cossacks. Our strength, our might is in the ʺSunʺ peasant union.

Do not believe someone who says that the ʺSunʺ wants to return the land to the landowners, and the factories to the capitalists. No. The ʺSunʺ only proclaims labor property sacred, wants to cut off the hands of those who encroach on someone elseʹs labor.

I urge all peasants and Cossacks to extinguish within themselves both class and group strife and unite to fight the enemies of the working people, the communists.

Organize ʺSunʺ groups. Fail the communists at all re‐

elections. Organize fighting squads, chase communist parasites in the neck. A. Konstantinov. Order supreme leader ʺSunʺ

On December 12 of this year an armed uprising of all the villages of the South‐East of Russia against the communist parasites was appointed.

The entire population capable of holding weapons shall be considered mobilized for a period of one hundred days.

Mobilization is entrusted to the ʺSunʺ group.

In an uprising, arm yourself with everything you can ‐ rifles, sawn‐off saws, axes, pitchforks.

Interim local power is transferred to elective troikas.

There is no place for panic.

The oath

In the sweat of my brow I extract bread that is taken from me. I do not want to be either a slave or a master, but I am oppressed.

Therefore, under the blue banners of the Russian Union of Fields ʺSunʺ, I wish to fight for the truth.

My friends are all with sweat; my enemies are all who mock a person.

My banner is blue sky. My union is the sun, which gives life everywhere. By the name of my life, which I am ready to give for the ʺSunʺ case, I swear:

I will not stain our banner, I will be honest, I will not be a traitor.

Workers of the fields. Take oaths to each other, organize ʺSunʺ fighting squads, go on the offensive against the communist parasites.

Blank: ʺSoviet plowmanʺ, regional cross [yanskaya] newspaper Sev [ero] ‐Kav [Kazskiy] regional and Donskoy okrkoma of the CPSU (b) 345. November 18, 1928

Dear citizen, you have sent a letter in which you complain about various iniquities. But how can these disorders be destroyed, if not only in your villages, but also in the city, in the center, power is in the hands of communist parasites.

These parasites rob us, taking away the bread they get in the sweat of their brows, they scoff at us, considering everyone who does not live on the neck of others as fists.

Another life will be only when we, grain growers, organize the ʺSunʺ alliance and destroy the dictatorship of the communist parasites. And if you, a citizen, are honest, you are obliged to organize a secret group ʺSunʺ of 10‐15 people.

Defeat the communists in all elections and nominate your candidates. Collect funds. When peasant uprisings break out, support them in every way.

Keep the letter private. Edition ʺ.

ʺThe sunʺ

The Russian Union of toilers of the land ʺSunʺ is a union of people who do not want to be either slaves or masters. ʺSunʺ sets one goal ‐ to destroy the oppression of man by man, for whatever purposes it is committed.

Under the dictatorship of communist parasites, the life of peasants and Cossacks will not become more beautiful, since the party deliberately seeks to proletarize, impoverish the countryside, because otherwise the grain grower, the small owner, will not end up in the communist paradise.

Therefore, the real task of the ʺSunʺ is to destroy the dominion of uninvited benefactors. The ʺSunʺ in no way intends to return the land to the landowners, the factories to the capitalists.

The ʺSunʺ proclaims labor property sacred and therefore fights against those who take away grain by various taxes or self‐denunciations, rob the village, who, being himself a parasite, call the labor farmers fists.

Only the state should take care of the protection of life, health and property of citizens, without interfering in the economic and cultural life of the country. The national economy should be governed by a specially elected independent economic council, and cultural activities ‐ by associations of scientific and educational workers, for otherwise not only power, but also the stomach and mind of people is subordinate to the state.

The ʺSunʺ sets its task not to make the wealthy poor, but to help the poor get back on their feet. Therefore, all‐round assistance to the poor should not be at the expense of impoverishing strong farms.

To restore the electoral rights of all labor farmers, even if they have hired labor.

Voting at any re‐election should only be secret.

ʺThe Sunʺ repeats many times pronounced demands: complete freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, which did not exist before and now.

We will make our life more beautiful if we extinguish the enmity within ourselves and join forces against the enemies of the people ‐ the communists.

We, toilers of the earth, will win, because the whole state rests on our shoulders.

We will win, because now our forces are not scattered, but united in the greatest and most powerful alliance ʺSunʺ.

A. Konstantinov, Supreme Leader of the Sun.

Uman district. In with. Babanke of the same region was found on December 19, 1928, an appeal with the following content:

“Long live the Ukrainian Peopleʹs Republic, long live the unity of all Ukrainians living in all corners of the predatory states that hold us in their paws: Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. Gather together, all Ukrainians, unite, for even now in Lviv our brothers are fighting to death, and we do not pay attention to them, despite the fact that they are fighting because of us. Look, what the damn katsaplapotniks want to do with us now. When the revolution took place, the Katsaps took all the lands: priestʹs, factory and state ones, but why did they not give this land to the landless peasants. Lenin gave such an order to his communists (katsap): persuade the Ukrainian communists to agitate their people that it is good to live in the commune, and they tried so hard to fulfill it, so fluttered with their tongues that foam came out in clubs from their mouths.

Ukraine is grain‐growing, it gave bread to Moscow ‐ itself hungry. Now Muscovites eat wheat, and fools‐Ukrainians eat barley chaff. Ukrainian weevils gave all the bread to Moscow barns” (translated from Ukrainian).

Belotserkovsky district. December 27 in m. Fastov near the building of the regional executive committee at 2 oʹclock. militiaman Fefelov found three leaflets pasted on a pole.

“Dear comrades villagers, we are living in vilny power, mi bachimo, as soon as a bourgeoisie is being born, we, bidni villagers, have a hard life again. As far as the peasantry is concerned, we will hold a heavy yoke on our own power, let’s consider the look of our enemies to the Ridna Ukraine. Roads to the villagers, hai live Ukraine and the rural authorities” 346.

Amur District. In with. The following leaflet was found in Surazhevka, Slobodnensky district:

“Citizens. We are on the verge of ruin, your homeland is plundered by various self‐proclaimed ʺrulersʺ of the ʺcommunist‐Jewish powerʺ, plundered, the people have been tortured, the peasants have been completely tortured with their taxes and the workers are deceived; everywhere and everywhere the Russian people are starving, they go without work, they send their communists to work, and you are dying, there are many of you, the commune mocks you, but they themselves live well, they have everything and do not go without work; and the Russian people are dying hungry and cold, there is devastation everywhere and the ʺcommunist‐Jewishʺ power cannot be restored, it is not able to. Foreigners will not help until then, until the Russian people put in a new government. So foreign powers decided at the conference, and also not to let in Russia any goods or food, and our country is surrounded by an armed blockade by the first‐class armies of foreign powers. Everything is at the ready, and after some ʺenduranceʺ our homeland will easily be cleansed [Xia], and they are not able to resist ‐ the communist‐Jewish army. Russian people, protest against the violence against you. Beat the Jews and Communists.

One blow ‐ blow and the whole commune is in your hands, hit, there are not so many of them.

Russian Union for the Salvation of the Motherland”.

Orenburg district. In with. Rybkino, Pokrovsky District, teacher Kiselev, the secretary of the VKP (b) cell, was planted with an anonymous note written in pencil on a quarter of a sheet of writing paper.

ʺComrade. Kiselev, we tell you openly, get out of here, while youʹre whole. Donʹt upset our village, roll out of here while youʹre alive. We can live without you communists. If you live here, then dig yourself a hole. ʺ

Shevchenko district. In with. Kolontaevo, Chigirinsky District, on the door of the premises where the meeting took place, an anonymous letter was pasted, which listed the village activists.

“Employees and suspicious people will burn:

1. Krivoruchenko Danil Aleksandrovich

2. Nekrasa Miron Faddeevich

3. Nekrasa Petr Stepanovich

4. Nemchenko Mikhail Potapovich

5. Golovko Pavel Ivanovich

6. Yushko Vaska

7. Nekrasa Prokhor

8. Nekrasa Mikhail

9. Babchenko Anton Ivanovich

10. Babchenko Nikolay

11. Babchenko Ivan Potapovich

12. Babchenko Ivan Prokhorovich

13. Tsimbalenko Potap Timofeevich

14. Kuzmenko Kornei

15. Kurilovich Vasily

16. Pichka Onopry 17. Kitayenko Timofey will be killed.

All those on the list will be killed, some will be burned. Mingʹs head, too, beware, for you will burn.

I wrote, my enemies. Oh, you will have garlic and onions. Watch out, lads. ʺ A leaflet with the following content was found in the town of Smela: “Announcement. By the decree of Pilsudski, after order No. 21, it was decided that we would soon attack the USSR and we would mercilessly slaughter Jews and communists.

Beat the Jews and communists, down with Soviet power, long live Pilsudski and Levitski. ʺ

It was established that the author of the leaflet is the engineer Yevgeniy

Korchevsky, a former white officer with ties to Poland.

Mass performances

Yaroslavl lips. On December 20, 1928, a commission consisting of the head of the general subdivision of the UAO, representatives from the department [of the Main restoration] workshops under the Glavnauk, an inspector of the UFO and a member of the Tveritsky VIK left for the former Tolgsky monastery (located 8 km from Yaroslavl) to terminate the contract with the religious community and the transfer of the monastery church, the introduction of an orphanage located on the territory of the monastery (sanctioned by the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee).

By the time the commission arrived, the archimandrite of the former Tolgsky monastery, the chairman of the church council, one of the members of the church community and one of the monks, were summoned to hand over the property. Upon arrival, the commission announced to them the closure of the church and proposed to proceed with the delivery of property administered by the church community. The chairman of the church council refused to hand over the property, saying that he had no right to do so and that the believers intend to petition to leave the church. Having received such an answer, the commission proceeded to check the property on its own.

Knowing about the arrival of the commission, the monks and individual members of the church council before this arranged a meeting at the apartment of the abbot of the monastery, at which it was decided not to allow the closure of the church. And as soon as the commission arrived, two members of the church council immediately went from the abbotʹs apartment to nearby villages in order to inform the peasants about this. Soon a crowd, mostly women, began to flock to the monastery. Those gathered tried to break into the church where the commission worked. There were shouts: “Enough to suck blood from us. Where is the freedom. We are starving, and the communists scoff at us, our feelings. ʺ

Monks and members of the church council, scattered in the crowd, called on the audience to oppose the closure of the church, declaring, addressing the women: ʺWhy, women, are not helping, bring down, nothing will happen for you.ʺ

Meanwhile, the crowd grew rapidly, numbering up to 100 people. Moreover, the men, not paying attention to the protests of the members of the commission and pushing them away, went to church, and one of the believers even stabbed a member of the commission. When the commission asked the abbot of the monastery to calm the crowd, the latter categorically refused to do so, saying: ʺI will not take any measures, as I myself am very excited.ʺ

The crowd bursting into the church at that time demanded that the commission members stop working, and they were forced to leave the church, heading to the office of the orphanage. They were followed by members of the church council with a group of women and began insistently demanding a copy of the executive committeeʹs decree on the closure of the church, threatening otherwise not to release the commission from the monastery.

Due to the fact that it was impossible to continue working in such conditions, the members of the commission tried to leave, but it turned out that the horse on which they arrived was taken away by someone unknown.

The crowd, gathered around the office, grew all the time and numbered up to 200 people. Shouts with threats were heard from the crowd at the administration of the orphanage, accusing it of closing the church. Some of the men present called for armed opposition to the closure of the church.

Under the pressure of the crowd, the commission was forced to give a copy of the travel certificate of one of the members and, without finishing work, at 8 oʹclock. I left in the evening. After the departure of the commission, the abbot of the monastery, addressing the crowd, said: ʺThe commission will probably come again, so you, Orthodox, run immediately after the people.ʺ On the same day, two members of the church council decided to convene a gathering in the village and pass a sentence to protest the closure of the church. Without notifying the village council, they wrote a verdict at the landlordʹs apartment, in which the poor also signed under pressure from the wealthy.

The next day, representatives of the church council for the villages of Zherebkovo, Rokino, Kryukovo, Zharki and Tolgobovo among the

peasants collected signatures under this verdict.

On the same day (December 21), three representatives of believers from the Tolga religious community appeared at the UAO and announced that, according to the resolution of the general meeting of community members, they were going to Moscow to clarify the issue of closing the church, and the believers would oppose the closure until then, until they receive an exhaustive answer from the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee. On the same day they left for Moscow.

On December 23, a meeting of the church council took place, at which one of the members put forward a proposal to re‐elect the church council. When discussing this issue, it was pointed out: ʺNow we cannot be in the council, since we are considered prosperous and will not reckon with us in the matter of leaving the church, we need to reelect the church council and elect more poor people and young people there.ʺ

Don District (SKK). In stts. Kislyakovskaya, Kushchevsky District on December 24, 1928, in the evening a two‐story barn, belonging to a local kulak and described by the district federal district for arrears, caught fire. Fire transports of the oil plant and the Stansovet arrived at the scene, but due to the fact that the tip from the hose was lost on the way, the pumps at the fire engines of the Stansovet did not work well.

At that moment, when the chairman of the stansovet approached the fire engines and began to give instructions to those who worked at the pump, at his address, as well as at the address of the secretary of the VKP (b) cell who was present here, shouts began to be heard from the two podkulaks from the side of the two podkulaks, accusing the fire train of a malfunction. Here, a group of 4 kulaks gathered, inciting the crowd, shouting: “Beat the communists, beat the representative council. Itʹs time to show them where self‐taxation is going. ʺ At this time, one of the podkulachnikov jumped up to a member of the CPSU (b) who was working at the pump and hit him. Seeing the agitated state of the crowd, many of whom had pitchforks and axes, the cell secretary drew his revolver and fired into the air.

At that time, 9 Red Army soldiers from a cavalry regiment located in the village, led by a platoon commander, who arrived at the fire, rushed to shoot and, thanks to the confusion that occurred in the crowd of the representative council, the secretary of the cell and the beaten member of the CPSU (b) managed to escape. When they disappeared, one of the kulaks, shaking a pitchfork, shouted at the Stansoviet: ʺItʹs his happiness that he ran away, I would show him so that he would stretch his legs.ʺ

On the day after the demonstration, the mood of the population continued to remain excited. The recruits of one of the squadrons of the cavalry regiment, located in the village, discussing the reasons for this performance, justify it.

The kulaks were preparing for this performance in advance, soldering individual poor people and red partisans, who subsequently actively participated in the performance in the fire. 9 people were arrested in the case.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

ANNEX No. 4 to the December 1928 review.

SHEETS

EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLIC

Dagestan. December 22. In the first days of December this year. in the Khasav‐Yurt district on the road from the village. Aksai in the village. Khanmamat‐Yurt, former landowner Hajiyev found several copies of an anti‐Soviet leaflet written in the Kumyk language without a signature as follows:

“Message to Muslim Brothers.

Muslim brothers, several hundred years ago the Turkish state became the caliphate 347 (the head of the Muslims) of our prophet 348 (may God have mercy on him), and therefore it became the defender and patroness of the religion of Islam. It kept in its heart and never forgot about the Muslims all over the world. It sought to restore Islam and to this day saved them from destruction, as it was in its power. This is a great Turkish state 349 over the past centuries, it has not been able to save the Muslim nationalities from oppression as it wanted, for it itself constantly suffered from the oppression of neighboring Christian states and, in general, from all Christian nationalities. These oppressive Christians wanted to destroy Islam off the face of the earth and convert everyone to Christianity. Despite the fact that they tried very hard to implement this evil idea, God, who with one word ʺbeʺ created everything that exists, wanting to implement his decision, i.e. to preserve this great religion and the caliphate of the great prophet for the rest of his life ‐ the Turkish state 350, did not give them the opportunity to do this and retained Muslim nationalities. In recent years, according to his predestination and according to the words of our prophet (may God have mercy on him), who said: ʺIslam will always rise higher and higher, and no one will stand above it,ʺ God bowed the nationalities and united into an alliance a strong by military means, rich in economic terms, clean and disciplined German nationality with Turkey 351, the patroness of Islam and the Caliphate ‐ our prophet, thanks to which the Muslim king achieves his goal and achieved. If we compare our situation with the past, then we received more positive results than we expected. The Muslim king had the intention of freeing not only Muslims under Russian rule, but also all Muslims from the oppression of Christians by the power of a heroic army. By freeing us, he has achieved part of his goal, by freeing all Muslims, with the help of God, he will achieve the rest of it. We have a proverb: ʺIf the frog piss, it is in favor of the lake.ʺ Our heroic and strongly religious Caucasian Muslims in the amount of 20 million, if they join Turkey, it should be clear to everyone that it will be strong. Everyone knows that the strong dominate the weak and that if the state has a large population,

Brothers, I want to show you one example: in the year 1310 of our chronology (1891) 352 a plague appeared in Turkestan, Khiva, Bukhara 353... It has spread far beyond these areas. Of course, you well remember that this disease did not destroy everyone in these areas, but it destroyed many people, and all the places it touched were devastated by it. The reason for this, as doctors explain, is dirty air and germs that are born from dirt. Brothers, like this, in recent years a disease called Bolshevism has appeared in Russia. It turns out to be stronger than the plague and destroyed Russia so that it cannot be restored for centuries. This disease turned the whole of Russia upside down. How they did it ‐ there is no need to talk about it, because they did it and are doing it before our eyes, as well as in front of your children. This disease of Bolshevism equally destroys earthly life and religion, and therefore it was believed that the microbes of this disease are a phenomenon inherent only to Christians, but in the last days the same phenomenon has been noticed among Muslims, which is the most terrible misfortune for the latter. It is not surprising that provocateurs appear among the Muslims of our last century, for they were even at the time of the prophet in mosques. These provocateurs are such persons who outwardly show themselves to be Muslims, but in fact are of a different conviction. You donʹt need to believe the beautiful words of the Bolsheviks, which will not be followed by anything real, you need to know their interpretation and see what they are doing, and if you think carefully about what they did in the central provinces of Russia, then not a single person who has the courage and religious feeling, will not listen to them and no one will enter their organization, except those who have sold their religion. Perhaps the dark, illiterate masses, as well as incapable Arab scholars, think that if now they are allowed to pray, observe fasts, then Islam remains intact. Just as a foolish shepherd cannot find out how and who steals his rams, just as Muslims who do not understand Islam well with its many disciplines do not know how and how their religion was stolen. They will constantly destroy religious beliefs, and religion will be like a tree that has no branches. The disease of Bolshevism is like a plague ‐ it comes and goes, like a cloud and a shadow, is fickle, does not last long and goes away. Our religion is a stocky and eternal fruit tree. God Himself said the following about Islam: ʺIt is like a tree, from which a pleasant smell spreads, the roots of which are firmly held, and the branches are in the sky.ʺ354. If we keep our religion in its purity, if we are Muslims with honest religious convictions, no doubt God will help us. God Himself said the following: ʺWe are obliged to help Muslims.ʺ If we fulfill our responsibilities, he will fulfill his promise.

Brothers Muslims, if you look and think about the Bolsheviks from all sides, it will become clear to us that they are enemies of religion. In addition, it should be clear to us how difficult and great an obstacle they will be when the Turkish heroic troops, who are the joy of our hearts, come and dispel the black clouds. Brothers, we must consider the enemies of religion as our enemies and the friends of religion as our friends. We must know that for Turkey in the implementation of its idea and good goals of liberating Islam, the strengthening of Bolshevism is a very big wound. May God help us, all Muslims to unite their hearts, arm themselves with great religious convictions and such united power to do things. Amenʺ.

Chuvashia. In with. Tarkhonakh of the Krasno‐Chetosevsky district, a leaflet with the following content was found:

“Comrades. On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of Soviet power, we, workers and peasants, celebrated this holiday together. Comrades. And what did the Soviet government give us? Lots of. Special:

1) She came up with a way to exchange the last peasant grain for manufactured goods.

2) Forbidden to sell their own bread.

3) Does not allow the middle peasants to attend poor meetings and thereby excludes them from participation in public life.

4) If a peasant brings trash from the forest, he is charged 10 rubles. fine. What is the difference between the previous situation under the landlords and the present situation?

5) They said that under Soviet rule, taxes would not be collected from the peasants. What do we see? Increase in agricultural tax by 80 million rubles. comparing with the previous year. If last year they paid 320 million rubles, now they paid 400 million rubles.

6) If earlier they took 6% for using a bank loan, now they tear up 10‐

12%. The peasant endured before, and is enduring now.

7) Insurance premiums have also been increased compared to last year, etc.

The Communist Party speaks of all this as an achievement, as useful for peasantry. It is not true. The Communist Party regards the peasants as ex‐bourgeois and therefore oppresses them. When asked who is in charge of our Soviets, the Communist Party says, ʺworkers and peasants.ʺ It is not true. Now, instead of the former bourgeoisie, there were communists. They turn everyone around. The peasants are far from running the state. There are also workers who are dissatisfied with the Soviet regime. For example, take the Samara province: in November, at closed meetings, they adopted resolutions with the following content: “The Communist Party did not strive to improve the situation of workers and peasants ... It made a number of mistakes ... It did not involve the masses in Soviet construction. must oppose itself to the Communist Party, not allowing command over itself. ʺ

Similar meetings were held here in the Chuvash Republic, where the same resolutions were adopted. These meetings need to be held everywhere.

The next tasks before us, the peasants, in the near future should be the following:

1) In the re‐election campaign of the Soviets, prevent class stratification in the countryside.

2) By all means strive to defeat the candidates nominated by the party and Komsomol cells, and to send their people out.

3) Do not export bread to bazaars and donate to cooperatives at cheap prices.

4) Strengthen agriculture in every possible way and prevent the imposition of agricultural taxes.

5) Organize and unite in groups and discuss a number of issues. Lead the youth. This is the strength, and only in this way can the peasant improve his position. The peasant needs freedom.

Peasants, unite.

November 29, 1928

Chuvash Committee of the Peasant Union, uniting 351 people. ʺ

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

List of addressees to whom the review of the political and economic state of the USSR for December 1928 is sent. (Removed. LM)