Review of the political state of the USSR

Review of the political state of the USSR in February 1928

Top secret

March 31, 1928

Moscow city

At the same time, an overview of the political state of the USSR for the month of February 1928 is being transmitted. The review was compiled on the basis of data from the State Information Department of the OGPU, supplemented by materials from the OGPU departments: Transport, Secret (clergy and anti‐party), Counterintelligence (banditry).

This survey, in view of its top‐secret nature, should be kept on par with the code. Making copies and making extracts is not allowed in any case.

The PP of the OGPU and the heads of the provincial and regional departments of the OGPU can give an overview for reading to the secretaries of the regional committees, provincial committees, regional committees and the Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b).

When reviewing 5 applications and one table.

Deputy Chairman of OGGIU Deribas

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev

[GENERAL BY WORKERS, PEASANTS AND EASTERN NATIONAL

REPUBLICS]

WORKERS

Renewal of collective agreements. The renegotiation of collective agreements continues to be the focus of attention for significant groups of workers. A significant number of conflicts on this basis in February have the following reasons: on the one hand, a delay at a number of enterprises (and especially in transport) in the discussion of new collective agreements, on the other, complications in the implementation of new collective agreements (due to the lack of clarity for the workers of the essence of worsening conditions for certain groups of skilled workers). To a large extent, the shortcomings of the collective agreement campaign are due to the insufficient study of them by the trade union organizations and the administration. In a number of cases, workersʹ discontent is used by anti‐Soviet individuals and groups and oppositionists expelled from the party for their speeches (a number of enterprises in Moscow, Vladimir Gubernia, Ukraine).

Interruptions in the supply of industrial areas. The situation with the supply of industrial regions with food continued to remain tense due to insufficient supply of regions and in some regions, due to a sharp reduction in the export of grain by the peasantry to local markets, caused by arbitrary actions of local authorities (barrage detachments, coercion to hand over grain to cooperatives, etc.). The situation is most acute for bread in the provinces of Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya, Tver, Vladimir, a number of provincial centers (Stalingrad, Astrakhan, Kostroma, Pokrovsk, etc.), the Kuznetsk basin (Siberia), urban centers of the Caucasus, etc. Cases of agitation for a strike (IvanovoVoznesenskaya gubernia), sharp criticism of the activities of cooperatives and government agencies, and a number of anti‐Soviet protests were noted on the basis of supply interruptions.

Responding to the campaign to increase grain procurement. Measures to increase grain procurement met with a new response among the workers. Complaints about the preferential supply of goods to the village are not widespread. Among the workers who had ties with the countryside, measures to strengthen procurement created an alarming mood, and the letters received from the countryside about coercion to export grain, purchase a loan, severe collection of arrears, etc. were especially strong. In some places, this was the basis for agitation about the introduction of War Communism and rumors about peasant uprisings that had begun. The distribution among the workers of the loan for the restoration of the peasant economy caused considerable dissatisfaction at a number of enterprises and a number of refusals to subscribe. Workers indicate that they have not yet paid off the industrialization loan bonds93. In February, the number of strikes remains at the same level (54 in February against 52 in January), while the number of participants has decreased (5203 against 8541). Most of the strikes fall on the main industries (18 strikes with 1310 participants among metalworkers and 18 and 2505 among textile workers). Most of the strikes in February were caused by the re‐entering of collective agreements ‐ 26 and 1906 (in January ‐ 5 and 2804).

PEASANTRY

In the reporting period, the mood of the village continues to be determined by the ongoing grain procurement and financial campaigns (tax, self‐taxation, and loans).

Grain procurement. Grain procurements in February are already partly due to the export of grain by the more prosperous groups in the village. The facts of administrative arbitrariness to increase grain procurements are noted, although in a smaller amount compared to January, but are still significantly widespread; in particular, it is necessary to note the incorrect application of Art. 107 94 in relation to the middle peasants (Center). As a result of the interruptions in the supply of grain to the cooperatives in the consuming regions, the low‐power layers of the village in some places suffer from an acute shortage of bread (the Central Industrial Region, a number of districts of the North‐West, where flax procurement has been weakened in this regard, and some lean small regions in Ukraine and the North Caucasus) ...

The simultaneous implementation of a campaign to collect arrears on various payments (tax, insurance, land management), self‐taxation and the spread of loans created a significant tension in the balance of payments of the middle peasantry. Numerous cases of distortions of directives and the class line in places arouse sharp discontent among some of the middle peasants. Among the poor and low‐power middle peasants, in the reporting period, a noticeable shift towards more active participation in the campaign was revealed, which is expressed in helping to identify surpluses, demands for the eviction of kulaks ‐ large holders of surplus (North Caucasus), more active participation in selftaxation, etc. However, in the presence of this turning point, massive repressive measures in relation to arrears (in the Urals, for example, the property of 20‐25% of farms was described in certain districts), as well as in connection with self‐taxation, carried out in a large number of cases without observing the class line, in some cases, created a sharp exacerbation of discontent and the poor. Characterized by individual facts of resistance of the poor to the inventory of property and a number of mass demonstrations on this basis in the Center, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, the Volga region and Siberia. It should be especially noted the massive use of repression against the families of the Red Army without observing any benefits, which caused a significant influx of letters to the Red Army with complaints about the illegal actions of the authorities and negatively influenced the mood of the Red Army. The campaign for the sale of the loan, due to the coincidence with other payments and partly due to its poor preparation, therefore, with rare exceptions, is proceeding weakly, in some cases the bonds were distributed compulsorily.

In areas where there were excesses in relation to the middle peasantry, there was talk about the need to reduce the cultivated area; the kulaks and the well‐to‐do are developing broad agitation in this direction.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. The sharpening of the struggle against the kulak during all campaigns leads to a significant increase in anti‐Soviet activity, which demanded the use of repressive measures in a number of places (up to 1,600 people were arrested for counter‐revolutionary agitation in January‐February, of which in January ‐ up to 750 and in February ‐ up to 850; most arrests fall in the North Caucasus, Ukraine, the Urals and Siberia). In almost all districts, demonstrations of kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements for the necessity of an uprising were recorded. In Ukraine, there have been isolated attempts to establish communication between villages to resist pressure on them. Along with this, the number of anti‐Soviet manifestations continues to grow ‐ 198 in January and 230 in February (growth at the expense of the Center, with a slight drop in other regions), the number of murders ‐ 3 and 13, groups identified 88 and 162 (growth at the expense of the Center, West,

EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS

In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, vigorous activity of the Baystva continues to be observed, aimed at the seizure of allotments alienated by the land and water reform. This is often supported by local land bodies and the grassroots administration (Turkmenistan, Bakhardensky, Bayram‐Aliysky and other regions, Uzbekistan).

Land and water relations in Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan, a number of shortcomings in the implementation of land and water reform threaten to partially disrupt its consequences. The re‐election of 95 mirabs (water distributors) in Uzbekistan caused an unprecedented activity of the poor and middle peasant masses of the dekhkans and an increase in the opposition of the baysko‐wealthy elements.

Re‐elections of the Soviets in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The preparatory and reporting campaigns in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan were accompanied by an extraordinary revival of Bai and tribal groups. Election commissions in many cases were constructed from representatives of the most powerful groups, causing a tendency to unite small groups.

Disruption of the womenʹs campaign in Uzbekistan. The curtailment of the campaign for the emancipation of women in Uzbekistan continues with increased opposition from anti‐Soviet elements. There were registered cases of mass closure of women who threw off their veils during the campaign (Samarkand).

Campaign for self‐taxation and implementation of the peasant loan. The campaign for self‐taxation and for the implementation of the loan to strengthen the peasant economy was everywhere met with vigorous opposition from the bays and the kulaks (national regions of the North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Central Asia). A number of cases of self‐taxation were registered as a result of the actions of the kulaks (North Caucasus). The poor and middle peasants of the native and Russian peasantry in most cases have a positive attitude towards selftaxation and loans. Individual cases of dissatisfaction of the poor and middle peasants take place as a result of the distortion of the party line by local Soviet party workers (North Caucasus, Kazakstan).

Pre‐conscription training of natives in Central Asia. The campaign to involve the indigenous youth of Turkmenistan and Kazakstan in preconscription training met with increased opposition from anti‐Soviet elements, in some places with the support of workers from the grassroots Soviet apparatus. On this basis, an aggravation of the clan struggle took place, and representatives of certain clans resort to various kinds of tricks to free themselves from training representatives of their clans.

WORKERS

Strikes and conflicts

Metalworkers. Among metalworkers in February, there is an increase in the number of strikes with a decrease in the number of participants (18 with 1310 participants versus 8 with 2994 participants), mainly due to small groups of skilled workers dissatisfied with a slight decrease in wages under new collective agreements (9 strikes with 750 participants ). The rest of the strikes were caused by dissatisfaction with the existing level of wages and unsatisfactory working conditions (in 4 cases the reason for the strike was the low temperature in the shops). The most significant was the strike at the Izhevsk factories, where 200 workers of the sawtooth workshop went on strike for two days (the temperature in the room reached 0). The head of labor protection did not take action even after the delegation separated from the workshop filed a complaint with the factory committee. The aggravation of discontent was facilitated by the tactless behavior of the head production (threatened to call the military guard). The next day, for this reason, a group of stove workers (20 people) went on strike. Some factories in Ukraine are dissatisfied with the reduction. At the Metallurgical Plant. Frunze (Artyomovsk district) reduced in a number of shops groups of workers from 80 to 150 people. One group collects money for a trip to Kharkov96 with a complaint to Comrade Petrovsky, since the laid‐off received compensation only for two weeks, although it was announced to them that they are being reduced by rationalization (Appendix No. 1, paragraphs 1‐2).

Textile workers. Among textile workers, 18 strikes with 2505 participants were noted in February, compared to 15 with 2038 participants in January. A significant part of the strikes was caused by dissatisfaction with the terms of payment for labor under the new collective agreements (7 ‐ 493), the rest of the strikes arose for various reasons, of which the main one was a decrease in wages, due to the deterioration of working conditions (change in yarn varieties, poor quality of raw materials supplied to processing, etc.). etc.). At the Bolshoi Dmitrovskaya deposit, Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. in connection with the increase in rags, 80 female spool workers went on strike. The initiators of the strikes removed from work two Komsomol members who had stood at the machines during the strike. A commission specially created by the administration found the raw materials quite suitable for work and announced the settlement to the strikers, after which the spoolers began to work. At the Leningrad factory ʺKrasnoe Znamyaʺ 350 workers of the knitting and knitting department went on strike in connection with the establishment of a half‐hour lunch break at the expense of the workers (earlier the workers worked without a break for 8 hours). The break was established by the administration contrary to the decision of the general meeting of workers ‐ to work without a break.

Rationalization of production. At a number of textile factories, in connection with the transition to compacted work, there is discontent among certain groups of workers ‐ refusal to work, deliberate reduction in output, etc. (Moscow province). At the factory ʺKrasnoe Znamyaʺ of the 2nd Gubernatorial Trust, the water women issued a decree on a voluntary transition to compacted work, referring to the lack of preparation for the transition; a group of water women, due to the poor quality of raw materials, arbitrarily switched from 4 to 3 machines. At the meeting of the Yakhroma factory, no more than 40 out of 400 workers voted for the resolution on the transition to compacted work. rags (acceleration of the machines [was] decided by the trade union bureau). After checking, it turned out that the water ladiesʹ demand was unfounded. The calculation was announced to the water‐women.

Transition to a 7‐hour working day. At some factories, which were transferred to a 7‐hour working day, there was a slight decrease in the wages of groups of workers, mainly due to the insufficient technical preparedness of departments for a dense work. At the f‐ke them. Nogin (Moscow Gubernia), the salary of workers in many departments decreased due to a number of technical inconsistencies, in the bankthrowing department, the salary fell from 2 rubles. 21 kopecks up to 1 rub. 85 kopecks, in the weaving department, the decrease was caused by the reloading of the yarn grade, etc.

Downsizing in oil fields. Sharp dissatisfaction was noted at the fields of Grozneft in connection with the ongoing reduction. There have been cases when the laid‐off men threatened to deal with the administration and professional workers, forcing them to cancel decisions on the issue of layoffs. In the old fields, one of the reduced ones of the first group tried to stab the chairman of the industrial committee with a knife (this is a second attempt on the part of the said worker). 30 laid‐off workers there also came to the manager of the fields with an ultimatum demand to take them back to work. The worker of the 7th field threatened to kill the head of the field. At the 6th field, the manager, fearing revenge, temporarily left a worker at work, threatening him with murder. At the new industries, workers declare: ʺIf they donʹt give us work by April, we will take sticks and beat just anyone.ʺ

Other industries. In February, there were 17 strikes with 1336 participants (of which, in connection with the renegotiation of the collective agreement, 7 with 453 participants). Attention is drawn to the plight of seasonal workers (7 strikes with 472 participants in February and 11 strikes with 1967 participants in January) in logging. In the Novo‐Utkinsky logging region of Okrselzaga (Ural) on February 6, 200 horsemen stopped working due to salary delays. The workers, in connection with inaccurate payment of wages and poor working conditions, do not go to work in logging. Of the 460 currently required supply, only 82 are available, which threatens to disrupt the launch of the sawmill. Dissatisfaction with the delay in wages for two months was noted at logging sites at the Vadzamas glass factory (Votsk region). The workers threaten to crack down on the administration (Appendix No. 1, p. 6).

Renewal of collective agreements

The atmosphere of the collective agreement campaign. The implementation of new collective agreements in February caused complications, conflicts and strikes at a number of enterprises (Center, western provinces, Ukraine, Leningrad, Ural). At the same time, on some enterprises, the discussion of collective agreements has not yet ended in connection with the inconsistency of many issues between business executives and union bodies (Vladimir province, railway transport). The main points that caused difficulties during the collective agreement campaign, both at the stage of preliminary discussion and during the introduction of already concluded agreements at enterprises, were: 1) the question of the essence of the tariff reform is unclear (largely due to the insufficient elaboration of issues by trade union organizations and business executives) and 2) partial deterioration of conditions under new collective agreements for certain more qualified groups of workers and individual enterprises. Dissatisfaction on this basis created a fertile ground for the actions of opposition and anti‐Soviet elements in a number of enterprises. In some cases, individual party members also took an active part in conflicts.

The nature of strikes based on collective agreements. Noteworthy is a number of ʺItaliansʺ in February, held exclusively by qualified groups of workers, dissatisfied with the decrease in wages, but due to their small number did not dare to open strike performances (Vorovskiy Glass Factory, Vladimir Gubernia, Kulakov and Karl Marx Metal Works) —Leningrad, Novo‐Smolyaninovskiy chemical plant ‐ Ukraine, Textile factory ʺIII Internationalʺ ‐ Vladimir province, Metallic plant named after Kolyushenko ‐ Ural). Strikes, however, took place mainly at those enterprises where, according to new collective agreements, conditions for more significant groups of workers worsened, and the occurrence of strikes was facilitated by the lack of sufficient explanation from the trade organizers: Dulevo plant ‐ 548 people were on strike during the day, Istomkinsky factory (Moscow) ‐ 7 ʹ/ 2 hour. 300 people were on strike, the Bolshevik factory of the Rodnikovskaya area (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province) ‐ 3 ʹ/ 2 hours. 171 people went on strike, at the plant. Rykov (Artyomovsk district) went on strike for 6 hours. 103 people, at the plant GEZ number 1 (Kharkov) ‐ 1 ʹ/ 2 hours. 390 people went on strike. In total, in February, in connection with the renegotiation of collective agreements, 23 strikes with 1996 participants were noted (in January 5 and 2894).

Complications during the preliminary campaign to discuss collective agreements. Complications during the preliminary campaign to discuss collective agreements continued to be noted at the enterprises of the Vladimir province. and by rail. Conflicts at the Vladimir glass factories and textile factories were caused by the cancellation of utilities [payments] (included in wages) and wage cuts. In some cases, the workers refused to approve a new collective agreement (the Krasnoe Echo Glass Factory and the Third International Textile Factory). Abrupt protests for the breakdown of the collective agreement and the sending of delegations to ally bodies took place at the Glass Factory named after. Bukharin and at the Zolotkovsky glass plant. At the “Krasny Profintern” textile factory, the conflict lasted more than a month (from January 14 to February 20). The workers sent delegates three times to the province and Moscow.

The postponement of the introduction of new collective agreements until April causes discontent among significant groups of workers. In some cases, discontent on this basis takes on rather sharp forms. At st. Ivanovo Northern Railway among the workers of the traction service workshops there is a strike mood. On the Moscow‐Kursk railway. (station Lyublino) at an illegal meeting of drivers PM‐2 discussed the issue of a protest strike against the payment of salaries at the rates of the old agreement, the drivers demand the introduction of a new agreement. Among qualified groups of railway workers, there are fears of a decrease in wages under the new contract (workers of some points have already been informed about a partial reduction). The point of the new collective agreement on the reduction of the issuance of single tickets was also negatively received by a significant part of railway workers. On behalf of the workers of the Voronezh workshops, a letter was sent to the local committee of the Saratov workshops with an appeal to demand an increase in the rate of issue of single tickets. A letter of a similar nature was sent to the Konotop workshops. Dissatisfaction with the reduction in the issuance of single tickets was also noted among the workers of the Western railways. and RyazanUral railways (workshops and depot, st. Tambov).

Conflicts and strikes in the implementation of collective agreements. In enterprises where the preliminary campaign was relatively calm, a number of conflicts and strikes arose during the implementation of collective agreements, since during the preliminary campaign the workers were not informed about the forthcoming reduction in wages. The largest number of strikes during the implementation of new collective agreements was noted among metalworkers (9 strikes with 750 participants).

Metalworkers. The strikes mainly involved individual skilled groups of workers (20‐100 people) and were caused by a decrease in wages. In Leningrad, strikes took place at two metal plants (Bolshevik and Kulakov). Dissatisfaction with the reduction in wages under the new collective agreement was noted among qualified groups of workers and at a number of other large factories (named after Engels, named after Lenin, Krasny Putilovets and Krasny Shipbuilder). At meetings to discuss collective agreements to these groups of workers, representatives of the trade union organizations said that their salaries would not be reduced. A number of conflicts, in connection with the revision of prices and norms among groups of qualified metalworkers under a new collective agreement, were noted at the Ural plants (UstKatavsky, Yuryuzansky, Nadezhdinsky, etc.). Attention is drawn to the strike on February 15 at the plant. Kolyushenko in the emery and forging and stamping shops after the rates were reduced when the salary was issued. Until February 15, the prices were not known to the workers, since when the collective agreement was renewed, the question of prices remained open. One of the workers (worker correspondent) on the day after the strike called for support of the strike by workers in other shops. The conflict lasted until the first days of March. Thirty workers left production, the remaining workers went on an ʺItalianʺ strike and deliberately spoiled tools and machine tools, which were replaced by women workers. In Ukraine, on February 14, 103 workers of the sheet‐rolling shop of the plant named after I. Rykova (Artyomovsky district). In the middle of February, serious discontent arose in the rail‐finishing workshop of the same plant (workers began to deliberately reduce labor productivity). When asked by the workersʹ representatives called in the MAE ‐ ʺdo they admit that they used to produce 160‐170 pieces a month, and why now production has fallenʺ ‐ some of the workers said that ʺthey admit this, but that they do not quit their jobs. the same spirit will continue to work on. ʺ The workers did not agree with the norms proposed by the MA. There were conversations: ʺWe need to protect not the norm, but health, we will work in the old way, then they will come to us and reduce the norm.ʺ The 390 workersʹ strike at Electrozavod # 1 (iron foundry) was triggered by a 15% cut in prices (workers were warned of a 10% cut).

Textile workers. Among textile workers, 7 strikes with 493 participants were noted in connection with the renewal of collective agreements. The cause of strikes and conflicts, as among metalworkers, is a decrease in wages among groups of workers (sizers, weavers, piecers). Discontent in a number of cases is aggravated by the fact that workers learned about the reduction in wages only during the payment of wages. Along the Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya lips. two strikes were noted during the implementation of new collective agreements. The most significant of them took place at the ʺBolshevikʺ factory in the Rodnikovskaya area. The workers at the organized meeting demanded an increase in wages. In Moscow, of the three strikes, the most significant was at the Istomkinsky factory of the 3rd GKhB (piecing staff ‐ 300 people). The administration, despite the insistent demands of the workers on the eve of the strike, did not explain the reasons for the reduction in wages. The adopted resolution noted the weakness of the outreach work on the treaty, which led to a misunderstanding with the pieters. Reduction of wages in the course of the payment of wages under the new collective agreements caused two strikes at the factory ʺIII Internationalʺ, Vladimir province.

Chemical industry. At the enterprises of the chemical industry, in connection with the renegotiation of collective agreements, 5 strikes were noted (Dulevo Porcelain Factory ‐ Moscow, Aniline Factory, Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya Province, etc.). At the Nizhne‐Lyalinskaya paper factory of Kamuralbumtrest, workersʹ dissatisfaction with the increase in norms under the new collective agreement took sharp forms. On the night of February 1, a group of workers beat the foreman. On February 1, the head of the factory received an anonymous letter signed by the Action Committee, the letter containing a threat to the address of the factory [and] administration. The mood of the factory workers was also largely affected by disagreements due to the ambiguity in the new collective agreement between the workers of the regional committee. One of the representatives of the regional committee, who came to the factory, told the workers that ʺthe production rates will not be changedʺ Another representative who arrived a few days later raised the question of raising the rate at the meeting. In addition, the essence of the new collective agreement was not sufficiently explained to the workers. At the Anilinov Plant (Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya Gubernia, Kineshma), 35 workers of the mechanical shop went on strike, having learned about the reduction in prices from payment cards.

Activity of anti‐Soviet and opposition groups of workers. Anti‐Soviet workers (loners and groups of workers, former members of the CPSU, oppositionists expelled from the CPSU at a number of enterprises) used insufficient clarification of new collective agreements by trade union workers in order to aggravate conflicts. On the enterprises of the

Vladimir province.

there were several groups: a group with the participation of former Socialist‐Revolutionaries and expelled from the CPSU ‐ at the Textile factory ʺKrasny Profinternʺ, at the glass factories of Zolotkovsky them. Sverdlov ‐ with the participation of former anarchists 97, at Urshelskoe ‐ led by a former Menshevik. Along the Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya lips. at the Bolshevik factory (Rodnikovskaya district) the strike was initiated by an anti‐Soviet turner who organized a meeting of workers. A group of oppositionists (5 people) performed in Moscow at the Krasny Oktyabr factory of Mosselprom. Groupings also took place at some factories in Ukraine and Crimea. At the Metal Plant them. Rykov (Artyomovsk District), a group of anti‐Soviet people and oppositionists actively spoke out. At the Sevastopol Marine Plant, among a group of anti‐Soviet workers, a former Menshevik stood out, having repeatedly spoken for the opposition.

Party membersʹ speeches. In a number of cases, party members sharply opposed new collective agreements. Across Moscow at the Istomkinsky textile factory ‐ a member of the CPSU, a candidate of the CPSU and a Komsomolets. At the glass factory. Bukharin (Vladimir Gubernia), several members of the CPSU (b) stood out among the actively serving group. At the Bolshoi Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya convent (IvanovoVoznesensk province), the group was headed by a shop delegate, a member of the CPSU, and a former member of the CPSU (b). A number of party members also performed at the fields of Azneft (Appendix No. 2, p. 1‐10).

Interruptions in the supply of industrial areas with essential products. Interruptions in the supply of food (mainly wheat and rye flour) continue to occur. The most protracted interruptions are in the Moscow, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Vladimir provinces, as well as in a number of air defense districts (Borovichi district), the Urals (Sverdlovsk, Perm districts), Siberia (Kuzbassky of Ukraine (Artyomovsk district). Extremely cut applications of workersʹ cooperatives are not fulfilled Thus, according to the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk EPO for the first half of February, grain cargoes arrived in small batches and with long breaks; a total of 86 wagons arrived instead of the 120 expected to be delivered, the stock for the whole province for the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk EPO was 7 wagons on February 17th. Gubernia Trade Department, where a representative of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Trade was present, the situation in the province was recognized as ʺextremely tense.ʺ In a number of districts, local authorities express concern that if flour is not currently delivered to the working districts remote from the gubernia center (Vladimirskaya and Ivanovo‐Voznesensk provinces), then with the onset of the spring thaw, these areas will remain without food. In those areas where rye flour is available, there are still long queues for bread (Stalingrad, Transcaucasia). This is due to the insufficient flexibility of the cooperative apparatus (insufficient bread baking, lack of shops). On this basis, in the city of Orsha, the workers of the Dnepropetrovsk m‐ry, having joined the trade union, made a scandal with the demand to organize the baking of bread. In the Astrakhan province due to standing in queues, absenteeism of workers takes place. Because of this, the issue of food supply is still one of the defining moods of the workers. In a number of meetings, workers raise these issues, often blurring the rest. In the Astrakhan province. at the meeting of builders, the issue of housing cooperatives was removed from the agenda, and the meeting (attended by 250 workers) began to discuss the issue of ʺfoodʺ. A number of meetings in Tver (for example, ʺVagzhanovkaʺ, ʺTabolkaʺ) adopted resolutions on the need to ʺtake measures for the uninterrupted supply of food.ʺ In the Vladimir province. a delegate was sent from one of the factories to Moscow to clarify the question of supplies. The successful trip of the delegate (two wagons of flour sent) sparks talk in other factories about sending delegations. The reporting campaign of cooperation arouses great activity of workers. Along with the manifestation of indifference by individual workers to cooperation (ʺall the same, you canʹt improve supplies by talkingʺ), the bulk of the workers come out with rather sharp criticism of the cooperatives. “We need to place orders to the center in a timely manner and listen to the voice of consumers, then only you will beat private traders, and now they beat you” (Kemerovo mine, Kuzbass). ʺThere is no need to contribute a share to the cooperative, there is still nothing, but you can buy from a private owner without a shareʺ (ʺProletarkaʺ factory in Tver province).

In Belarus, there have been cases of agitation for withdrawing from cooperation: “If they demand shares, we will give our books, all the same, the cooperation does not have the necessary goods” (Krasnaya

Zarya, Minsk).

The excesses of shareholders with cooperative workers also continue. In Batum, there was a case when the store manager refused to give out bread to those in line, announcing that the available bread was booked for an authorized representative of the Peopleʹs Commissariat of Trade. Those present invited a policeman and under his pressure the store manager began to dispense bread. In the queue, conversations rang out: ʺEveryone should get together and go to the session of the CEC (Georgia), then they will swing.ʺ The workersʹ dissatisfaction with the delay in the settlement of the issue with the import of food and goods is trying to use anti‐Soviet elements. The fears of the workers (ʺa war is possible in the spring, the food crisis will aggravate againʺ) are used by anti‐Soviet elements for defeatist and pogrom agitation: ʺIf there is a war, then we will not go to war, but we will start a war in the rear against all the unrest created by the Soviet regime.ʺ “They begin to give bread according to coupons, the cause of the Communists is no good, we must take them by the collar” (Kostroma, Vladimir). In IvanovoVoznesensk, at a number of factories, inciting workers to strike was noted: ʺLetʹs go on strike, as in 1925, let them give them bread.ʺ Under the influence of these individuals, there is talk among the workers that ʺthere is nothing in the EPO, only wine on the shelves, we need to leave the factory and show what we expect from the government.ʺ Similar conversations were noted among workers at enterprises in the Urals. Sharp speeches were also noted at general meetings of workers (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Republic of Volga Germans, Astrakhan). At the meeting of the Pokrovsky railway workshops, a delegate from the carriage workshop spoke: ʺOn the orders of the workers, I must declare that although we do not have enough flour, our government continues to export grain abroad.ʺ The workersʹ speech met with sympathy. Several cases of leaflet distribution were registered. In Stalingrad, a letter to the newspaper ʺStruggleʺ was found in the mailbox98, which stated: ʺIn order to eliminate the queues for bread, we need to send less propaganda of Bolshevism abroad.ʺ In the town of Bologoye (LVO), two leaflets of an almost similar nature were removed: ʺThe communists sold bread and essential goods abroad for their profit and to retain power, and we are starving for their health.ʺ

The mood of workers in connection with measures to increase grain procurement

The progress of the grain procurement campaign and measures to increase grain procurement aroused considerable interest among the workers. Among certain groups of workers who have no connection with the countryside, there are guild moods: dissatisfaction with the dispatch of goods to the countryside, talk that ʺthe peasants are given more preference, all the goods are sent to the countryside, but there are no goods for the workersʺ (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk factories , plant named after Petrovsky in Dnepropetrovsk, Penza enterprises). Among the backward strata of workers, measures to increase grain procurements are causing anxiety. There was talk that the procurements were being intensified for the needs of the army, since ʺwar is coming in the springʺ (Tula arms factories, Uralzavody, the mines of the Sorokinsky mine administration in Ukraine, railway workers of the Moscow‐Kursk and Moscow‐Kazan railways, etc.). Among the workers associated with the village there is an increase in [pro] peasant sentiments (talk about the plight of the peasantry, inequality in the position of workers and peasants). ʺThe situation of the peasants is difficult, a bad time has come for them again, the peasant economy is being ruinedʺ (Ukraine ‐ miners, Saratov, Tomsk, Azerbaijan, Tambov). The letters sent to them from the countryside with complaints of ʺpressureʺ and indications of certain distortions of local Soviet bodies have a significant influence on the mood of the workers. Messages received from the countryside are widely disseminated in the working environment: ʺIn our village, grain surpluses are taken by force, 1919 returned to the village.ʺ ʺThe last sheep are taken away for taxes.ʺ ʺThe peasants were robbed, they left three pounds for the eater, this was not even under the tsar.ʺ ʺThe authorities requisition bread from the peasants, the bread is taken by force, under escort it is sent to the delivery pointsʺ (Moscow, Tula, Ukraine, Ural, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, etc.). The discontent of some of the workers associated with the countryside is exploited by the anti‐Soviet element. Rumors are spreading about the resistance of the peasants during grain procurements, uprisings, suppressed by armed force. ʺIn Ryazan province, the peasants went on strike because of the cheap sale of grain; a detachment was sent to pacify them.ʺ ʺIn with. Sinister peasants revolted, killed the representatives of the authorities, hammered nails into their heads, poured wheat into their mouths ʺ(Leningrad ‐ the plantʺ Red Shipbuilder ʺ, Zinovievskʺ ‐ the plant

ʺKrasnaya Zvezdaʺ). peasants (Moscow ‐ Button factory).

Anti‐Soviet speeches and agitation at workersʹ meetings were noted. At the Dnepropetrovsk plant, an anti‐Soviet worker spoke out on a report on grain procurements: “Why do the communists want to get the last pennies from the peasants? There is little tax and self‐taxation, they want to take all the bread. The peasant gives his bread only by force of arms. ʺ “Bread is being prepared intensively because there will be a war in spring, they only know to plunder the peasants. But we donʹt have to wait long, soon we will disperse this bastard” (Komintern plant, Voronezh). Anti‐Soviet elements in their speeches often refer to the opposition, emphasizing the correctness of its criticism of the measures of Soviet power. The opposition was telling the truth that “Manifesto 100 for the peasants it will not give any improvement. ʺ ʺNow the peasantry is opposed to Soviet power, if there were several leaders like Trotsky, another revolution could break outʺ (Ukraine ‐ miners, Voroshilov Machine‐Building Plant, oil fields ‐ Azerbaijan). This kind of agitation does not meet with support from outside the main cadres of workers. At a number of enterprises, workersʹ speeches were noted with explanations of the reasons for the slowdown in grain procurement and instructions on the correctness of the partyʹs policy.

Mood of workers in connection with the spread of the loan to strengthen agriculture

The spread of a loan to strengthen agriculture at a number of enterprises caused discontent among workers, who indicated that they had not yet paid off the loan for industrialization (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk ‐ Bolshaya Krasnaya Factory, Tulinovskaya Cloth Factory ‐ Tambov, Ural enterprises). Some of the workers indicate that the state cares little about them: ʺWhen there is flour in the cooperative, then we will sign up for a loanʺ (Vorontsov mine, Ural). Of the 30 apprentices in the Bolshoi Dmitrovskaya block (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk), only three signed up for the loan. The rest refused, saying: ʺA loan is a hoax, a trap.ʺ The rest of the groups of workers, under the influence of the anti‐Soviet element agitation, categorically refuse the loan, declaring: “Enough to deceive us with various prizes, we signed several times, but never won anything, but only wasted money. We help and donate

PEASANTRY

CENTRAL DISTRICT

Arbitrariness by local workers. In a number of districts, a significant number of cases were recorded when, in order to strengthen the procurements, a household allotment for the export of grain was introduced or almost universal searches were carried out in order to identify surplus grain. In the Voronezh province. in with. Maryevka, a troika was created to check the barns; in with. Berezovo militiamen checked the barns under the guise of searches in order to confiscate moonshine or weapons, etc. In Kursk province. in a number of volosts and villages, household and per capita allotment of grain was carried out for delivery to delivery points, and the surplus was preceded by a courtyard verification of available grain.

Application of Article 107 in relation to the middle peasants. In some cases, they were prosecuted under Article 107 and arrested along with the kulaks and middle peasants. In the Voronezh province. the middle peasants were arrested and brought to justice, who, during a search, found 50‐250 poods surplus bread (the villages of Podgornaya, Goncharovka). In Kursk province. in with. Belitino from the middle peasant, who refused to take out 50 poods at the suggestion of the village council. bread, a search was carried out and 70 poods were seized. bread, and the owner himself was prosecuted under Article 107; Zlydnevsky village council also arrested the middle peasant, who refused to take out 10 poods bread, etc.

Perversion of the class line in the collection of agricultural tax. A number of cases of perversion of the class line on the part of the workers of the grassroots soviet were noted during the collection of agricultural tax, various arrears and payments. In the Tula province. the facts of connivance by the well‐to‐do were noted with simultaneous pressure on the poor, and the workers of the village councils declare: ʺThe wellto‐do are able to pay the tax and they will pay without inventory, but it is more difficult to collect from the poor.ʺ In with. Uspensky, Kursk province. a group of poor people in the amount of 12 people was sent to the court for late payment of agricultural tax, which fined them in the amount of 10 to 50 rubles. etc.

Self‐tax campaign. Self‐taxation meets with strong opposition from the kulaks and the wealthy, who openly campaign against self‐taxation, inciting the antagonism of the middle peasants to the poor: “War communism is returning, this is not self‐taxation, but indemnity” (Tambov province). “It is necessary to tax everyone equally and not recognize any categories, the power incites antagonism among the peasantry; this is how the authorities will not pass, because they press too much on the middle peasant” (Moscow province). There have been cases of disruption of self‐taxation meetings (in Tambov province ‐ 23 cases, Kursk ‐ 16 and Orel ‐ 5).

Agricultural Restoration Loan Implementation Campaign. The poor and middle peasants usually refer to the lack of funds and the burden of other payments, pointing out the untimely distribution of the loan: ʺAll these loans should be carried out in the fall, but now we are impoverished and no one has money.ʺ The kulaks and the well‐to‐do are agitating against the acquisition of a loan, pointing out that a loan is ʺanother taxʺ and a means of ʺsqueezingʺ the last money from the peasantry, that the loan bonds will disappear, ʺjust as the loans issued by the tsarist government disappeared.ʺ A number of disruptions were noted by the kulaks of meetings discussing the issue of the loan (Tver and Ivanovo‐Voznesensk provinces).

Forced placement of a loan. In a number of regions, there are facts of forced placement of loans. In with. Karai‐Saltyki, Tambov province. the village council took away signatures from peasants on the obligatory purchase of a loan. In sl. Streletskaya Oryol province. the chairman of the village council, when distributing the loan, intimidated by arrest, and arrested one peasant who refused to sign on the loan. In Kursk province. Medvenskoe selhoztovarischestvo at payment for farmers with outputs from the cartsʹ / 2 to 3 / 4 earnings loan bonds. Similar facts took place in the Moscow and Ivanovo‐Voznesensk provinces.

Prodcrisis in consuming provinces. In the Central Industrial Region, a shortage of grain is beginning to be acutely felt in some localities. The village councils are groups of peasants and require the issuance of a certificate 101for a trip to other regions (Vladimirskaya guberniya) for grain and fodder. Chairman of the village council village. Demidovo, together with the chairman of the KOZ, sent a telegram to the VIK and GIK with the following content: “The poor and middle peasants of our village are starving. The situation is deplorable. Take measures to supply. ʺ In Vyksa u. Nizhny Novgorod province. there were the sale of the last horses and cows by the poor to buy bread, which rose in price to 3‐4 rubles. for a pood. In Lukhskoy parish. Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. rye flour rose in price to 3 rubles. 50 kopecks and there have been cases when peasants travel to the cities of Rodniki and Shuya 4060 miles away for baked bread. Poor Shuisky u. demands to stop the distribution of flour to the wealthy and middle peasants.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. In February, there is an increase in agitation for the Constitutional Court (113 facts against 78 in January) and the number of kulak and anti‐Soviet groups that have shown their activity (36 against 13 in January).

Mass performances. In the village. Bokarevo, Tver province. When confiscating property for non‐payment of tax from the meat dealer, a crowd of 100 local peasants rushed into the yard and began to threaten the financial inspector and police officers. The latter were forced to leave without confiscating the described property (Appendix No. 3, item 2). In with. Bogorodsky, Vyatka province. at the bazaar, a crowd of 300 peasants forced them to return grain taken by the police from the carts of dealers. In with. Gavrilovsky Posad, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. at the bazaar, countering the lynching of the caught pickpocket, one of the police officers mortally wounded a peasant. A crowd of 1,300 peasants, approaching the VIC, demanded the handover of a pickpocket and a policeman who had wounded the peasant. Despite the persuasion, the crowd did not disperse from 1 hour. up to 3 hours. of the day and elected from her midst a commission of 5 people, instructing her to investigate the incident. On the way to the VIC, four policemen were beaten by the crowd (Appendix No. 3, item 1).

Leaflets. In sl. Ilovka, Voronezh province. a leaflet with the signature ʺThe Thinker of Truthʺ was found, indicating the hard life of a peasant under Soviet rule. In the leaflet found in the sl. Titarevken of the same province, it is indicated that the peasants, as a result of pressure on them, will be forced to organize an uprising, kill local workers, and then take over the top.

Terror. In Kursk province. the well‐to‐do killed the chairman of the village council. 15 cases of beatings, assassinations and threats against workers of the grassroots soviet and selaktiv were also registered. NORTHWEST

Flax harvesting. Despite some recovery, the rate of flax harvesting in February continues to remain unsatisfactory. One of the reasons for the slow rate of flax procurement is the lack of bread and seasonal goods and the untimely delivery of the latter to flax procurement regions. In the Velikie Luki district in November ‐ December there was an increased demand for bread and cloth, but in a number of cooperative organizations these goods were absent. Currently, there is an increased demand for agricultural implements and building materials (saws, axes, nails, etc.), which are also in short supply. The owners of flax are the kulak wealthy strata of the village and part of the middle peasantry. Some groups of middle peasants in the Pskov district have flax stocks up to 20‐40 poods In the Novorzhevsky district of the same district, over 50% of the wealthy have stocks of flax from last yearʹs harvest. In the Pskov region, some kulaks have from 100 to 200 poods flax. The kulaks refrain from exporting flax, saying: “When the Soviet government increases the price of flax by one and a half times, then we will not delay it, but now the prices are such that it is more profitable to sow clover than flax” (Pskov Okrug).

Prodcrisis. In a number of areas of the AKSSR, Pskov, Borovichi, Velikoluksk, Novgorod districts, Vologda and Arkhangelsk provinces, there is an acute shortage of bread. In the Trekhvalovsky district of the Velikie Luki district, 10% of the population has no bread at all and only 10% are provided with their own bread until the new harvest. In the Torbinsky district of the Borovichi district, peasants eat only potatoes and oat cakes, which are also in short supply. In the Medvedsky District of the Novgorod District, crowds of peasants stand in lines at the cooperative shops for flour and bread.

In a number of regions, bagging is developing 102 (Borovichi, Velikie Luki okrugs and AKSSR). Some cooperatives in the AKSSR introduced a rationing system to supply the population with basic products. In the flax‐harvesting regions, among the poor and part of the middle peasants, who have already exported the surplus of flax they had, there is a strong dissatisfaction with the supply of bread only to the suppliers of flax (Pskov, Luga districts).

Loan implementation campaign. The campaign to sell the loan is weak. The poor and middle peasants point to the untimely issue of the loan, stating: “If the loan were issued in the fall, then we [would] have money, but now we are out of money and it is difficult to sign up for a loan” (Pskov District). The kulaks are agitating against the loan: ʺBuy a bond, and you will be properly taxed for it, well, take the last cowʺ (Borovichi district). “A loan is the same tax, but only in a different form, one fraud with these loans” (Pskov District).

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. In the town of Bologoye, Borovichi District, leaflets were pasted on telephone poles, informing that at the end of February ʺthe day of the heavy reprisal against the communist infection was set.ʺ 5 cases of campaigning and speaking for the Constitutional Court were registered in three districts. There were 8 cases of beatings, assassinations and threats against workers of the Soviet apparatus. 14 kulak groups have been registered.

WEST

Grain Procurement Campaign. Intra‐district procurement in most regions of Belarus is poor. The kulak‐prosperous strata of the village, having grain reserves, hold it in the hope of raising prices in the spring, as well as a reserve in case of poor harvest: “In the spring, bread will be expensive because the spring crops are almost completely gone and the bread must be held back” (Minsk, Vitebsk, Orshansky and Polotsk districts). In a number of districts, there have been cases of buying up grain by kulaks, wealthy people and flour speculators. In the Vitebsk District, the activity of buyers who come from the neighboring Velizhsky district is developed. Pskov lips. Measures to resolve the grain market by the poor and lower‐middle peasants 103 met with approval.

Attitude towards the self‐taxation campaign. The self‐tax campaign has sparked a number of rumors among the peasants, who view it as ʺthe introduction of a new tax.ʺ The kulaks and the well‐to‐do are categorically against self‐taxation. The intensification of defeatist agitation on the part of the kulaks and some middle peasants was noted: ʺTherefore, a war is needed to stifle this whole pack.ʺ

The ratio of the poor and middle peasants to the loan. The poor and middle peasants of the village for the most part, without opposing the loan, often refuse to sign, citing a lack of funds. In addition, among this part of the village, there is a certain distrust of the loan: ʺThe bonds of the cross‐loan will burst just like the sovznaki.ʺ

The attitude of the kulaks and the wealthy towards loans. Fists and well‐to‐do people refuse to buy loan bonds and are campaigning for a loan breakdown. In the village. Kosteni, Doban district, Bobruisk district, due to the agitation of the well‐to‐do, the offer to purchase the loan bonds failed.

Cases of forced placement of a loan. A number of cases of forced placement of a loan were noted. The latter took place, mainly, in logging organizations in the production of settlements with peasants engaged in logging. In the Ushachsky district of the Polotsk district, the clerk of Dvinles, when settling with the peasants, tried to impose bonds on everyone in the amount of 2 rubles. 50 kopecks, but the peasants refused to receive the bonds. In the Norovlyansky district of the Mozyr district, Lesbelʹs office paid with part of the bonds, as a result of which some peasants went home without receiving payment. Similar cases took place in other districts (Bobruisk, Polotsk district and Bryansk province). There were also cases of forced placement of a loan under the threat of being put on trial and refusing to issue various certificates (Bobruisk and Polotsk districts).

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. Terror. In connection with the collection of tax and self‐taxation in the Kalinkovsky district of the Mozyr district, on February 23, at a meeting on self‐taxation, the chairman of the Sukhovichesky village council was beaten with fists. On the night of February 26, a poor non‐partisan activist was killed in the same area. In addition, 28 groups that showed themselves in February were registered.

Agitation for the creation of the COP. 10 cases of agitation for the CS were registered (of which 7 cases were in Smolensk province).

UKRAINE

Self‐imposition. Self‐imposition takes place in an atmosphere of acute struggle against it by the kulaks and the well‐to‐do. There are isolated attempts by the kulaks of different villages to contact each other to establish contact in the struggle against self‐taxation by sending messengers. So, for example, in the village. Two days before the meeting, the kulaks sent messengers to the neighboring villages and to the neighboring area to find out how self‐taxation was going on. In with. Ivanovka of the Kiev district with their fists during the meeting received a note from the kulaks of the neighboring village. Voronovka: ʺWe did not give up, do not give up either.ʺ The kulaks are conducting provocative agitation that ʺself‐taxation is carried out to help the poor at the expense of the middle peasants,ʺ that ʺself‐taxation is a poor idea,ʺ and so on. In some places, on this basis, there is a partial deterioration in the relationship between the middle peasantry and the poor. In order to corrupt the poor peasants with their fists, a variety of methods were used, ranging from terror and economic pressure on the poor peasants and farm laborers who were dependent on them to bribery and bribery. Group of kulaks with. The chest of the Volyn district on the eve of the meeting offered the poor people 2‐3 rubles. for each vote against the resolution on self‐taxation. At the meetings, the kulaks behaved extremely defiantly, openly speaking with clearly antiSoviet speeches. In almost all districts, numerous facts of disruption of meetings on self‐taxation by fists were noted. In with. Karpovtsy Berdichevsky district fists broke the gathering, putting out the light in the room. In with. Noskovites of the Mogilev district kulaks disrupted the meeting by arson of clooney Karpovtsy Berdichevsky district fists broke the gathering, putting out the light in the room. In with. Noskovites of the Mogilev district kulaks disrupted the meeting by arson of clooney Karpovtsy Berdichevsky district fists broke the gathering, putting out the light in the room. In with. Noskovites of the Mogilev district kulaks disrupted the meeting by arson of clooney104 one poor man. Similar facts were noted in a number of districts. In some cases, the kulaks, often supported in this by both the middle peasants and with the connivance of the village councils, succeeded in passing a resolution on self‐taxation or involving all peasants in self‐taxation without exception (Berdichev district). The middle class, who in most cases did not object to self‐taxation, in principle put forward a demand to reduce the amount of self‐taxation and postpone its implementation until the next harvest year. The strengthening of the position of the kulaks in their struggle against self‐taxation is greatly aided by inactivity and, in a number of cases, direct assistance to the kulaks of the lower apparatus and agitation against self‐taxation and distortion of the Party directives by the lower apparatus. For example, in the Lubensky district, the chairman of the Trandintsovsky District Electoral

Commission arrested several people, speakers at the meeting in with. Deeply against self‐taxation: at night by the chairman of the Regional Electoral Commission and the head of the district militia, all those arrested were beaten. In with. In the trenches of the Nizhyn district, the chairman of the RIK, who was holding the meeting, seeing that selftaxation was failing, pulled out a revolver and began to threaten and scold those present. In almost all districts, facts of over‐taxation were noted with the spreading of shares for self‐taxation of low‐power and under‐taxation of wealthy groups of the peasantry. The self‐taxation campaign caused a significant increase in anti‐Soviet activity in the countryside. In particular, the number of arson increased. For example, in s. Popovka Berdichevsky before the meeting on self‐taxation fists were set on fire 10 farms of the poor, who campaigned for self‐taxation at the meeting.

Placing a winning peasant loan. The placement of a peasant winning loan is weak, with the exception of certain districts (Dnepropetrovsk, Lugansk, Mariupol, Melitopol and Chernigov). The situation is especially bad with the placement of loans in the Glukhovsky, Kamenetsky, Konotopsky, Stalin, Nezhinsky and Mogilevsky districts. The kulaks and the well‐to‐do have a negative attitude towards the issued loan, categorically refusing to sign up: “Let them shoot me, but I wonʹt buy the loan,” some kulaks declare. If they do sign, then it is exclusively under pressure from the lower party apparatus. At the same time, the kulaks are campaigning for disrupting subscriptions among the middle peasants, spreading provocative rumors about the impending cancellation of money and securities (Mogilev district), about the war and predicting that “holders of a winning loan will suffer the same fate as those who hold loans, issued by the interim government ”. The poor and middle peasants, while approving the issuance of a peasant loan, however, in most cases point to [its untimely release. There is also a certain distrust of them in the loan (ʺwill the money be lostʺ) and dissatisfaction with the low interest rate (ʺit is more profitable to give money to the cooperatives, they give 8% instead of

6%ʺ).

Forced placement of a loan. In Zinovievsk, Melitopol, Dnepropetrovsk and other districts, village councils practice appropriation for the distribution of loans. Counterparties come to the house of this or that peasant, leave him bonds for a certain amount, declaring: “Bring the money by that time; as you like, but take the bonds, they are issued forcibly” (Zinovievsky district). In with. Ivanovka of the Dnepropetrovsk district, the chairman of the village council drew up a subscription list, where on one side with the inscription ʺfor Soviet powerʺ signed up for a loan, and on the other with the inscription ʺagainst Soviet powerʺ ‐ those who refuse.

Distortion of the class line. Arbitrariness of the grassroots Soviet apparatus. The campaign to eliminate agricultural tax arrears, owing to numerous facts of distortion of the class line by the grassroots coapparatus, largely hit the underpowered strata of the peasantry. In a number of cases, the last property and even the last bread were described and sold among the poor and low‐powered middle peasants for insignificant arrears. In with. Sholokhovo, Kryvyi Rih District, the chairman of the village council, threatening to sell the property, suggested that all debtors transfer arrears to the RIK by mail. No exception was made for those who had a few kopecks in arrears. One peasant, who had an arrears of 1 kopeck, had to spend 17 kopecks on the transfer. In Shepetivka and Dnepropetrovsk districts in remote villages, the last grain was sometimes taken for arrears. In the Poltava district, a poor man was arrested only because he refused to immediately deposit money, since he was taking the child to the hospital. In Seredinkovtsi of the Shepetovsky district, the poor man in his absence was described for arrears of a wild boar, although the poor man warned the chairman of the village council that he was going to submit the tax to the post office. Returning back, the poor man refused to hand over the boar, ʺfor resistance to the authoritiesʺ was sentenced to 6 months in prison. On the basis of these perversions, a number of sharp actions of the poor and middle peasants were noted: “70 types of fines were imposed on the peasant. The peasants will have to organize themselves and repeat the example of the October Revolution” (statement at a meeting of the poor peasant of the Kupyansk District); “First they shook their fists, then they got to the middle peasant, and now to the poor peasant” (poor peasant, Kherson district).

Anti‐Soviet manifestations in the countryside. Anti‐Soviet leaflets. 19 leaflets were found in 9 districts. In with. Aleksandrovka of the Artyomovsk district at a meeting after the disruption of the question of self‐taxation, the chairman of the RIK was planted with an anonym, beginning with the words: ʺComrades, partisans, unite, letʹs beat the communists.ʺ Leaflets found in the village are characteristic. Perevolochnaya of the Priluksky district and with. Privolnoe Dnepropetrovsk district, containing threats to all active workers in the village, who advocated self‐taxation.

Kulak groups. In 9 districts, 17 kulak groups showed themselves, opposing grain procurements and self‐taxation.

Cross unions. In 6 constituencies, there were 13 appearances for the Constitutional Court, mainly in connection with the self‐taxation campaign and grain procurement (11 cases).

Terror. According to incomplete data, it was registered: 5 murders, 3 assassination attempts, beatings and injuries (Appendix No. 4, p. 3).

Mass demonstrations of peasants. In the Spassko‐Mikhailovsky village council of the Aleksandrovsky district of the Artyomovsky district, the kulaks, having learned that a plenum on the issue of self‐taxation was taking place in the village council, gathered a crowd of about 100 people and went to the village council. The crowd rushed into the premises of the Soviet, shouting that the Soviet government was robbing and ruining the peasants by self‐imposition, and thwarted the plenum.

Operational activities. During the OGPU grain procurement campaign, a total of 367 people were arrested: for anti‐Soviet agitation ‐ 367 people (180 kulaks, 132 middle peasants, 33 poor peasants, 12 employees and 10 former people 105 ) and for terror ‐ 59 people (29 kulaks, 18 middle peasants, 10 poor peasants and 2 with an anti‐Soviet past), of which 150 people were arrested in January.

NORTH CAUCASUS

Improving the mood of the poor. Recently, in connection with a decrease in the number of facts of perversion of the class line, there has been a definite change in the mood of the poor towards increasing their activity in identifying surplus grain from the kulaks and the wealthy and organizing the collective delivery of grain. In a number of districts of the Terek and Maikop districts, the poor farm laborersʹ assemblies passed resolutions on the exclusion of the malicious holders of grain surpluses from the zemsovostvo and resolutions on their eviction from the district. The kulaks, in order to paralyze the activity of the poor, exert economic pressure on the poor, refusing to lease land from the poor and middle peasants, terminating contracts with farm laborers and threatening the poor with refusal to cultivate the land in the spring.

Interruptions in the supply of flour to cooperatives. The interruptions in the supply of flour to the grassroots network of cooperatives, noted in a number of districts, created grounds for anxiety of the poor, who feared an aggravation of the food crisis with the export of grain. The situation with food was especially acute in the Stavropol District. In some areas of this district, the poor eat exclusively corn, and there is a shortage of it. In the Mechetinsky district, where, in addition to the food supply, there is also a fodder crisis, many poor and low‐powered middle peasants, due to lack of fodder, are selling off their last draft animals. In the Prokhladninsky and Vorontsovsky districts of the Tersky District, private traders, taking advantage of the lack of flour in cooperation, raised the price of flour to 3 rubles. 50 kopecks for a pood. Interruptions in the supply of flour caused in some places the demands of the poor to stop exporting grain from the regions, reserving a certain amount of bread in the localities to supply the poor and underpowered sections of the village. Fears of being left without bread sometimes lead the poor to speak out ʺagainst pumping out bread from the wealthy.ʺ In with. In the Levokumsky district of the Terek district, a group of twenty poor people came to the cooperative and demanded the sale of bread. Having received a certificate that there is no bread, the poor raised their shouts: ʺYour power would fail, you all promise, but you give nothing, we are starving to death, and our bread is sent to no one knows where.ʺ

Arbitrariness of grass‐roots workers in grain procurement. The facts of manifestation of arbitrary actions by the workers of the grassroots coapparatus still continues to be noted. In the Kuban, Stavropol and Armavir districts, in a number of stanitsas, general searches of peasantsʹ barns took place. In stts. In the Ust‐Dzhegutinskaya Armavir district, the chairman of the stansovet conducted searches of all the peasants, not excluding the poor, and he himself broke the locks on the barns.

Self‐imposition. The struggle of the kulaks against self‐taxation. The struggle of the kulaks against self‐taxation is mainly aimed at cultivating and degrading the poor and manifests itself in bribery, the spread of provocative rumors, intimidation and methods of economic pressure (refusal to rent land, hire labor, threats of refusing to cultivate the poorʹs land, provide any ʺhelp »Seeds, agricultural implements, etc., dismissal of farm laborers). In a number of villages in the Kuban District, the kulaks practice the distribution of bread to the poor, conditional on the agreement to support themselves in the matter of self‐taxation, and one kulak stts. For this purpose, Popovichesky arranged a dinner party for the poor in the church. In stts. Kalnibolotskaya kulaks on the eve of the meeting on self‐taxation dismissed 30 farm laborers, motivating the dismissal with ʺmaterial difficulties in connection with self‐taxation.ʺ After being fired, the farm laborers launched a sharp campaign against self‐taxation. There, where these methods of disintegrating the poor turned out to be insufficient, the kulaks resorted to intimidation of the most active poor people, workers of the grassroots soviet, etc. So, for example, in the Donetsk district, a group of kulaks of the Nikolaev zemsovostvo attempted the murder of an authorized zemsovostvo who actively advocated selftaxation. In a significant number of cases, resolutions on self‐taxation at the first meetings failed and were adopted only at repeated meetings. In the Kuban District, for example, in 11 settlements, resolutions on selftaxation were adopted at 3 or 4 meetings.

Distortion of party directives on self‐taxation. In the course of the campaign, numerous facts of over‐taxation and under‐taxation of individual farms were noted. In the Kuban and Tersk districts, the poor are involved in self‐taxation, who are exempted from paying the agricultural tax. Even more frequent are cases of involving in selftaxation and re‐taxation of the poor, who are not exempt from the unified agricultural tax as a result of improper distribution of tax benefits. Often, the well‐to‐do and the kulaks were taxed on a smaller scale than the middle peasants. In view of the formal approach to the allocation of self‐taxation according to the amount of tax paid, the poor often turned out to be over‐taxed, having surrendered almost all their land to the wealthy, but paid the agricultural tax on their own behalf. In stts. In the Urupsk Armavir District, some poor people released under the unified agricultural tax are obliged to pay self‐taxation from 10 to 25 rubles.

Placing a peasant loan. Loan placement is proceeding poorly. The kulaks and well‐to‐do people categorically refuse to buy loan bonds, campaigning against subscribing to it by the middle peasants, and if they do acquire a loan, then in most cases only under pressure from the lower government apparatus. The grassroots government, having received a directive to strengthen the campaign for the placement of the loan, in some places began to impose a loan forcibly. Some village councils refused to issue any certificates to those who did not have loan bonds (Afghanistan, the village council of the Sh [Akhtinsko] Donetsky district), to register marriages (st. Kislovskaya, Essentuki, Tersky district and st. insurance premiums (stts. Kanevskaya, Kuban district), etc. In stts. The head of the school in Abinsk (Kuban District) threatened to fire students whose parents would not get a loan. Many peasants therefore stopped letting their children go to school. In a number of areas of the Donskoy District, counterparties intimidated those who refused to buy a loan with reprisals. In the village A poor man, a former partisan commander, was arrested by the local unit in the Maki Stavropol District for saying in a conversation that the loan should be distributed exclusively on a voluntary basis.

The progress of the campaign to collect arrears for the Unified Agricultural Tax and State Insurance. In February, arrears on agricultural taxes and insurance payments remained mainly for the underpowered strata of the peasantry and Cossacks and a numerically small group of malicious defaulters of the kulaks and the wealthy. In a number of districts there were still numerous facts of distortion of the class line by the lower apparatus in the collection of arrears. In the Donskoy, Tersky, Sh [Akhtinsko] ‐Donetsky districts, the poor people in a number of cases described and sold the last property, the last foodstuffs and even outerwear for arrears. In some cases, the inventory was made for arrears in the amount of less than a ruble (hut. Grushevsky Sh [Akhtinsko] Donetsk district, a suburb of Pyatigorsk,

Tersk district, etc.). In a number of cases, the poor and low‐power middle peasants resisted the representatives of the authorities who made inventories of property (Tersky,

Terror. Three cases of attempted murder were registered (Stavropol, Donskoy, Salsky districts).

Groupings. In seven districts, the activity of 18 kulak groups was noted, of which 15 were formed on the basis of the struggle against selftaxation.

Leaflets. In five districts (Armavir, Kubansky, Tersky, Salsky and Donskoy), 33 leaflets were found in February: counterrevolutionary leaflets containing a call for an uprising ‐ 11 and directed against grain procurements, self‐taxation, cross‐loan and a campaign to eliminate tax arrears ‐ 14 (Appendix No. 4, p . 2).

Cross unions. The number of appearances for the Constitutional Court in February compared with January has significantly decreased (20 facts against 45).

Operational activities. During the grain procurement campaign of the OGPU, a total of 720 people were arrested, of whom 423 were kulaks, 164 were middle peasants, 31 were poor, and 102 others, of whom 216 were in January.

POVOLZHE

The opposition of the fists and the well‐to‐do against self‐taxation and the creation of a semfond. Self‐taxation is everywhere met with sharp resistance from the kulaks and the wealthy, who regard it as ʺindemnity.ʺ There are a number of cases when the kulaks and the wellto‐do refused from self‐taxation and the creation of a semfond and the resolution failed under their influence. Quite often the kulaks and the well‐to‐do succeed in leading a part of the middle peasantry, which, regarding self‐taxation as “a second tax that will go to the salaries of employees and workers,” refused to carry out self‐taxation (Penza province). In with. Durovka of the Penza district and the province of the middle peasants, declaring that “the communists are robbing us anyway without any self‐taxation; therefore, we refuse to self‐taxation,” voted against self‐taxation.

Implementation of the loan for the restoration of agriculture. The implementation of the peasant loan in individual provinces is proceeding poorly. Its distribution in some areas (Votskaya oblast, Nemrespublika) does not exceed 3‐6% of the checksum. The most successful is the placement of a peasant loan in the Penza and Ulyanovsk provinces (in the first, 40% of the task has been completed, in the second ‐ 31.7%). The kulak‐prosperous elite of the village is opposed to loans and shies away from the purchase of bonds, opposing the spread of loans: ʺIn case of war, money may be lostʺ (Penza province). ʺA loan is an indemnityʺ (Ulyanovsk province). When asked to sign up for a loan, well‐to‐do people often say: “If you voluntarily, go to hell, and if you are forced, take your cattle” (Samara province). A number of cases of demonstrative refusal of the wealthy from acquiring loans (Ulyanovsk, Samara, Stalingrad provinces) have been recorded.

Forced placement of a loan. In a number of districts (Samara, Saratov provinces), there were cases of forced placement of a loan among middle and poor peasants when issuing various certificates, handing over bread, etc. In the city of Stavropol (Samara Gubernia), there were two cases when the poor were given loan bonds instead of money when handing over bread; both came to the party cell with a complaint: ʺWe, the poor, hired a cart to bring bread, sell it and pay off our debts, and instead of money we are given bonds.ʺ The chairman of the Krestovsky Village Council (Saratov Gubernia), distributing the loan, said to the middle peasant, who refused to buy the bond, referring to the lack of money: “If you don’t sign up for a loan of 10 rubles, then we will describe your cattle, and we will put you in prison as a person who does not obey the orders of the Soviet government. ʺ After these threats, the middle peasant borrowed 10 rubles from his neighbor. and paid for the bond. Village Council with. Razily (Samara Gubernia), sending out the following relations to the peasants: “Citizens s. Itʹs messy. According to the resolution of the enlarged plenum of the village council, you are invited to hand over bread in grain to the delivery point in Turgenevka in the amount of 100 rubles. and to hand over this money within 3 days to the village council in payment for the bonds of the peasantʹs winning loan.

The mood of the poor in connection with grain procurements. On the part of the majority of the poor, the measures taken against the kulaks meet with approval. In some districts (Samara Gubernia), a sharp antikulak mood is observed among the poor, expressed in demands ʺto shake the kulaks properly,ʺ ʺto bend the kulaks and the wealthy into a ramʹs horn.ʺ Along with this, in a number of districts (Samara Gubernia, Nemrespublika, Votskaya Oblast, Ulyanovsk Gubernia), the poor are expressing fear that by spring there will be a shortage of bread in the village and the poor will find themselves in a difficult situation, since “now the kulak is angry against the poor and bread does not giveʺ. In this regard, the poor point to the need to supply them with bread through cooperation (Samara province).

Lack of bread among the poor. In some districts (Izhevsk and Glazovsk uyezds, Votskaya oblast, Novouzensk uezd. Saratov gubernia), a part of the poor lacks bread for food, as well as for seeds. As a result of the weak export and supply of bread, market prices for it increased significantly. In Burkovskaya parish. (Izhevsk u. Votskaya obl.) Poor peasants sell their last livestock for food. Seeds for sowing in a number of volosts of Izhevsk u. a significant part of the poor and middle peasants do not have it. In Novouzensky u. Saratov province. isolated facts of hunger among the poor have been registered.

Counteraction of grassroots workers and agricultural assets to the spread of loans. The placement of a loan is often met with opposition from individual grassroots Soviet workers (Nemrespublika, Saratov, Samara provinces, Votskaya oblast). The following statements are characteristic: “If all the orders were followed, the whole village would have been robbed long ago and allowed to go around the world” (Saratov province). ʺThere is no such law that would compel people to pour grain into the Semfond and buy loan bondsʺ (Saratov Gubernia). In with. Sakhchi (Samara province), teachers categorically refused to counterparty to distribute loans, arguing that ʺthe loan will be a great burden on the peasants.ʺ

Perversion of party directives and class line. In the course of procurement and other campaigns, numerous cases were noted when, in order to increase the pace of procurement, collect all kinds of payments, grassroots Soviet workers (workers of the soviet and procurement apparatus) introduced a surplus, made searches to identify surplus grain, used methods of administrative pressure and threats against surplus holders. Representative of the Baranovsky VIK (Saratov province), who spoke at a general meeting of peasants with. Keys, said: ʺIf the peasants do not hand over their grain before February

20 voluntarily, then they will have to take revenge under the whisk.ʺ Especially frequent are the facts of the distortion of the class line in the collection of various arrears and payments. In some places (Atkarsky and Balashovsky districts of Saratov province), cases of the use of repressive measures against the poor and middle peasants were massive. Krasnoznamensk VIK Balashovsky u. Saratov province. it was ordered to all authorized VICs and chairmen of village councils “to produce accurate inventories of property from all non‐borrowers of both the Unified agricultural tax and the State Insurance, which include all the property available in the peasantry, from large to small things. If the farm has nothing to foreclose, then describe the last cow and horse. ʺ The consequence of this prescription was a massive inventory of the property of the poor and middle peasants. Chairman S. Samodurovki Volsky u. Saratov province, middle peasant, is trying to spread the tax on the poor, saying: ʺThey will not take anything from them anyway.ʺ In with. K. Kazabulak Volsky of the same province was arrested and kept under arrest for 8 days as a hard‐core non‐payer 65‐year‐old poor man, later it turned out that the poor man is not a non‐payer,106.

Groupings. During the month of February, 23 kulak groups showed themselves, mainly in connection with the current campaigns.

Speeches for the COP. 20 cases of demonstrations for the organization of the Constitutional Court were recorded, of which in Saratov province. ‐ thirteen.

Terror. During the reporting period, cases of terror also increased (21 cases), of which: murders ‐ 2, beatings ‐ 6, attempted murders ‐ 6, threats ‐ 6 and arson ‐ 1, most of them directed against workers of the Soviet apparatus, members of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and Komsomol and the poor, actively working to identify surplus grain from the kulaks. In with. Pavlo‐Antonovka of Buzuluk u. (Samara Gubernia), a local poor communist, an active social and party worker, who recently carried out work on grain procurements and on the placement of peasant loans, was killed. The initiators of the murder are the former Socialist‐Revolutionaries, with whom he actively fought in 1918. In with. Samara urine Unidentified persons threw a bomb into the house where the local party member lives. Due to the fact that the capsule was damp, the explosion did not follow.

Mass performances. In total, there were three cases of mass demonstrations (Samara province ‐ 1, Saratov ‐ 1, Stalingradskaya ‐ 1). In the village of Sretenka, Samara district and the province after the delivery of bonds of the cross‐loan to a local wealthy peasant in the amount of 150 rubles. the son of the latter, being drunk, tried to hang himself. The rumor of this quickly spread throughout the village and a crowd of peasants gathered at the house of the wealthy. Despite the fact that he was able to be pulled out of the noose alive, the excited crowd (among which many were armed with pitchforks) went to the village council. The chairman of the village council and the agricultural representative who handed over the bonds, who were in the building, were forced to leave the village. In with. Chechushka Volsky u. Saratov province. under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks, a crowd of 100 people came to the building where the court was sitting, discussing the cases of non‐payers, shouting: “This is not Soviet power,

Leaflets and appeals. In February, 14 cases of distribution of anti‐Soviet leaflets, proclamations and proclamations were discovered. Most of them (9) are anti‐tax in nature.

URAL

Attitude towards the export of bread. Along with the strengthening, under the influence of repressions, the export of grain by the kulakprosperous strata of the countryside, there continues to be a tendency to hold back the grain in anticipation of an increase in prices (the latter is also noted by part of the middle peasantry). In some districts, there is a partial overstocking and poor sales of the manufactory (Irbit and other districts). Among some of the poor, the increase in the export of grain causes in some places fears that “after the grain procurements, the poor will sit hungry, since the kulak will not give us bread and the government will have to give us bread back” (Tyumen District).

Attitude towards collection of payments and arrears. The simultaneous collection of all payments (agricultural tax, insurance, self‐tax) and various arrears and increased repression against non‐payers causes strong criticism and discontent from all layers of the peasantry. It is necessary to note the significant size of the use of repressive measures in connection with the collection of various payments. So, as of February 15, a total of 11.1% of all peasant farms were subject to inventory in the region, and in three districts this percentage is much higher (Sarapulsky ‐ 19.2%, Zlatoustovsky ‐ 25.2% and Troitsky ‐ 23%). In addition, 5,776 trades were made, over 11,000 peasants were tried, 5,224 were convicted. Repressions were also widely applied against workers of the Soviet apparatus: 964 workers were dismissed from their jobs (of which 4 were district workers, 14 were district workers), 2373 workers were put on trial (of which district ‐ 10, district ‐ 162). Among some of the low‐powered middle peasants and poor peasants, the reduction of payment terms and repressive measures in places cause depressive moods: grave ʺ(Tyumen district). “This is a direct mockery of the poor man” (Chelyabinsk District). They also noted speeches of a sharp anti‐Soviet character: “The Soviet government is pushing harder than Kolchak. Had they known this; they would not have let the Red Army in” (Tyumen District). ʺThe old order went again, soon you will introduce whips to our brotherʺ107 (Chelyabinsk District). The kulaks in their agitation regard these measures as a return to the methods of war communism.

Perversion of the class line. In a number of districts, there were cases of gross distortion of the class line when repressive measures were applied to non‐payers. So, for example, in the Trinity District in the village. Petropavlovsk from a poor man for an arrears of 7 kopecks. the village council wanted to describe the heifer; The party member sent to make an inventory refused to comply with this order. In the Sarapul district in the Bardymsky district, in connection with the collection of all arrears, many families of the poor are starving, there are cases of flight from the district. So, in one of the village councils, out of 370 farms from the fall of 1927 to the present, 57 farms have left, having boarded up their houses. In the same village, after the payment of payments, 150 people left to look for work, and in the upcoming sowing campaign only 10 farms can sow the fields.

Self‐imposition. The self‐taxation campaign, which was widely developed during the reporting period, proceeded in an atmosphere of sharp organized resistance from the kulak‐wealthy strata. The question of self‐taxation has often failed with fists, and it was held only at secondary meetings, and sometimes it was necessary to convene meetings 4‐5 times (Zlatoust, Tagil, Kurgan and other districts).

Abnormalities in the self‐taxation campaign. In a number of cases, selfassessment contributions were misdirected, often arbitrary and excessive. So, for example, in the village. Ust‐Uisk of the Chelyabinsk District, the well‐to‐do who paid agricultural tax from 105 to 260 rubles were imposed from 150 to 300 rubles. self‐taxation; for the middle peasant who paid 19 rubles. tax imposed 300 rubles; for the middle peasant who paid 2 rubles. 94 kopecks ‐ 150 rubles, for a poor man who paid a tax of 1 rubles. 80 kopecks imposed 30 rubles. self‐taxation (the same amount was imposed on a well‐to‐do person who paid 150 rubles in tax). Such mistakes on the part of local authorities were widely used by the kulaks in their agitation against self‐taxation. There are a number of cases of agitation on the part of members of village councils and RECs against self‐taxation.

Implementation of a peasant loan. In total, 41.35% of the task for the implementation of a peasant loan has been completed in the region. In some cases, local workers practice methods of intimidation of the wealthy during a campaign to sign up for a loan (threats of weapons, arrest, deportation). In the village. Cherny Yar of the Voskresensky District of the Chelyabinsk District, the secretary of the VKP (b) cell and the chairman of the village council call the wealthy (one at a time) late at night and, putting a revolver on the table, declare: “Take 150 or 200 rubles. if you don’t take a loan, in the morning you will be sent to the GPU and your bread will be taken away from you for this amount”.

Talk about reducing the area under crops. Measures to strengthen the export of grain caused in a number of areas among the well‐to‐do and, in part, the middle peasant part of the village, statements about the need to curtail the economy. “You need to give up the peasant economy and go to the factory” (well‐to‐do Irbit district). ʺWe will cut the sown area by half, since the bread is raked to the grainʺ (prosperous Trinity District). “You have to give up the sowing, there is nothing else to do” (middle peasant of the Kurgan District). ʺThe poor live and do not pay taxes, we need to run our economy this way, it will be betterʺ (middle peasants of the Komi‐Permyak District). “If the state conducts such a policy, then we will not sow” (middle peasant of the Chelyabinsk District). Similar facts were noted in Tyumensky, Zlatoustovsky and a number of other districts.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. Agitation for the uprising. The pressure on the kulak‐wealthy elements of the village led to an increase in their activity. There are a number of facts of agitation for the uprising: ʺThe Communists again want to force us to take axes and pitchforksʺ (Trinity District). ʺWe will not accept self‐taxation, but rather we take arms and show us how to tax usʺ (Zlatoust District), etc.

Agitation for the COP. In January and February, 16 cases of agitation for the Constitutional Court were noted, mainly in connection with measures to increase the export of grain.

Kulak terror. During the reporting period, there were two murders, six beatings and assassination attempts and one arson of workers of the Soviet apparatus and village activists. In the Kungur district, two unknown persons wearing masks raided the Artinsky district committee of the CPSU (b): while looking for the district committee secretary, they beat the regional organizer and tore up the portraits of the leaders. In the Sverdlovsk district in the village. Fomina [a peasant], a former headman under Kolchak, meeting a member of the village council on the street, began to scold him for making an inventory of the property, the son of the former headman immediately killed the member of the village council with a shovel. In the Perm district, three peasants, catching up with the chairman of the village council, who was returning home after making an inventory of the property, offered him a ride and, when he got into the sleigh, tied him to the sleigh and dragged him one and a half versts after the sleigh.

Anti‐Soviet leaflets and appeals. There were six cases of distribution of anti‐Soviet leaflets (3 in the Kurgan District and 3 in Chelyabinsk District) directed against the ongoing shock campaigns.

Operational activities. During the grain procurement campaign, the OGPU bodies arrested only 183 people, mainly kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements. SIBERIA

Village response to the use of repression against large holders

of bread. The bulk of the middle peasants and poor peasants approve of repressive measures in relation to the malicious holders of bread: ʺThis is how they need itʺ, ʺit would be high timeʺ, ʺlet us not be robbed anymore.ʺ In a number of cases, the poor actively help local workers in identifying bread hidden from the kulaks, unloading confiscated bread, etc. (Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Kamensk, Rubtsovsk, Irkutsk and other districts). Along with this, a part of the poor, who are economically dependent on the kulaks, expresses fear that ʺthe repressive measures applied to the kulaks will discourage them from selling bread to the poor in springʺ (Kamensk, Irkutsk and Novosibirsk districts). The kulaks and the well‐to‐do in a number of regions respond to repressive measures by refusing to sell grain to the poor. ʺThere is no bread, your government has taken everything.ʺ

Self‐taxation campaign progress. The self‐tax campaign in most counties is not doing well. The performances of the middle peasants at meetings against self‐taxation are noted. “Because of self‐taxation, we have lost confidence in the Soviet government, there is no way out” (Tomsk District). “Comrades, as long as we endure this punishment, we must change our mind and not pay” (Minusinsk District). The poor and the underpowered part of the middle peasantry in most cases support self‐taxation and its class principle.

Implementation of a peasant loan. The campaign for the placement of a peasant loan in Siberia is weak. In Tulunovsky, Minusinsky, Biysky districts, work on the implementation of the loan did not even begin until February 4. The allocation of loans to village councils and the often‐practiced semi‐coercive method of distributing them arouse strong discontent in a number of districts. There are cases of categorical refusal to purchase loans for entire villages (Barnaul, Omsk and other districts). In stts. Art. Gorochenino, Barnaul District, the question of a peasant loan was ruined even at a poor meeting. In the Barnaul district, a meeting of one village elected a delegate to visit Comrade Kalinin with a complaint about the forced distribution of the loan. The negative attitude towards the loan is often aggravated by the rude, tactless approach, practiced in some cases by administrative methods of loan distribution. So,

Counteraction of the kulak‐prosperous strata of the countryside to measures to increase grain procurement. The ongoing campaigns for self‐taxation, the sale of loans and the collection of various payments proceeded in an atmosphere of sharp resistance from the kulak‐wealthy strata and various anti‐Soviet elements in the countryside, which manifested itself in the aggravation and growth of anti‐Soviet agitation, disruption of meetings on self‐taxation and peasant loans, increased spread of provocative rumors, etc. .d. The simultaneous implementation of a number of shock campaigns and a number of distortions in their implementation created fertile ground for kulak agitation in relation to the impact on part of the middle peasants and the poor. Numerous cases of self‐taxation and peasant loans failing as a result of kulak agitation have been noted. In a number of cases, government officials and communists were not allowed to speak (Kamensky, Rubtsovsky and other districts). In a number of districts, self‐taxation and peasant loans were thwarted by kulak groups (Irkutsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Barabinsky, Rubtsovsky, Biysk and other districts). Attention is drawn to the cases of organized demonstrations of kulaks at meetings demanding a protest against the arrests of kulaks and the confiscation of their property (Achinsk, Rubtsovsk and other districts) and direct calls for an uprising: ʺStand up against the government with a pitchfork in your handsʺ (Biysk district). “Letʹs take a pitchfork, axes and letʹs go kill the communists” (Minusinsk district). “If we undertake to defend ourselves, they will not do anything to us, the entire Aleisky district agrees to rebel against violence” (Barnaul district). The attempts of the kulaks to win over to their side a part of the poor and the low‐power middle peasantry by providing individual poor peasants with bread mutually deserve special attention, money to pay taxes and arrears, posing as the defender of the poor against the government. The agitation of the kulaks for the reduction of the cultivated area and the curtailment of the economy intensified. ʺIt is necessary to reduce crops, otherwise they will be ruined by taxes.ʺ “It is necessary to give up half of the crops and reduce the cattle” (Irkutsk District). “It is necessary to reduce the sowing area in order to get rid of the waste dump once and for all” (Rubtsovsky district).

Perversion of the class line. In a number of districts, there are still numerous cases of perversion of the class line by representatives of local authorities during measures to strengthen grain procurement. So, for example, in the Rubtsovsky Okrug and the district, the self‐taxation was carried out on the principle of having livestock and, as a result, the kulaks and the wealthy had to pay 30%, and the poor and low‐powered middle peasants up to 300% of the tax rate.

The inactivity and opposition of the grassroots co‐apparatus to measures to strengthen the export of grain. In almost all districts, there are numerous cases of inactivity, tailing and direct opposition from local authorities to campaigns. The chairman of the Ryutinovsky village council of the Tomsk district, before the meeting on the issue of selftaxation, first went to the local kulaks and warned them about the upcoming meeting, advised them all to come to the meeting in order to thwart self‐taxation. A member of one of the village councils of the Tulunovsky district, regarding the peasant loan, in the presence of the peasants, said: ʺI will not distribute the loan, the Soviet power will not last long, there will be a coup, therefore they are squeezing the last juice from the peasants.ʺ

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. Terror. In total, during the reporting period, 21 cases were registered with signs of kulak terror against local joint and party workers (versus 15 in January).

Kulak groups. During the reporting period, 22 kulak groups have shown themselves (against 8 in January).

Agitation for the COP. There were 24 registered cases of campaigning for the Constitutional Court.

Anti‐Soviet leaflets and appeals. Found 23 anti‐Soviet leaflets and proclamations (against 8 in January). In with. Olgino, Omsk District, on the market day, four proclamations were posted around the village, calling for the overthrow of Soviet power. In the Barnaul district, leaflets found in a mailbox were addressed to Art. Karmanovo and Verkh. Chumysh district with a call to arrange St. Bartholomewʹs Night 108 over the communists.

Mass performances. Three mass demonstrations were recorded in connection with the ongoing shock campaigns. In the Slavgorod District, in connection with the confiscation of property from malicious defaulters under the influence of the well‐to‐doʹs agitation, two demonstrations were organized ‐ seeing off the described property with the participation of 30‐40 people. In with. M. Minus of the Minusinsk District in connection with the arrest of a kulak, a malicious holder of grain surpluses, the gathered crowd tried to beat the responsible officer of the OGPU who made the arrest. In with. Spasosiyak of the Ishim District of the Tomsk District during the trial of a kulak, a large holder of grain surpluses, a crowd of kulaks and wealthy and some middle peasants disrupted the trial and tried to disarm the police chief, the court was forced to leave the village under police protection.

Operational activities. The organs of the OGPU arrested only 158 people, of whom 1220 people and sabotage and arbitrariness of workers of the Soviet apparatus were arrested for counterrevolutionary activities aimed at disrupting preparations. Of the total number of arrested kulaks ‐ 81, middle peasants ‐ 23, poor peasants ‐ 3, office workers ‐ 39 others ‐ 15, of which in January ‐ 123 people.

FAR EASTERN REGION

Anti‐tax agitation of the wealthy and the kulaks. A number of measures to increase the flow of agricultural taxes, insurance and other payments caused a widespread growth in anti‐tax agitation of the kulak‐prosperous part of the village. In a number of districts (Vladivostok, Sretensky, Amur), there were cases of refusals of the wealthy to pay agricultural tax and insurance. There are also isolated cases of group refusals of insurance (Amurskiy, Sretenskiy districts).

Under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks, the general meeting of s. Demyanovka (Amur District) refused to insure crops and livestock. After the explanation of the district workers who left for the village, the population agreed to pay the insurance, with the exception of 14 people who refused to accept salary slips. A similar thing happened in the village. Talakan N. Zavodskoy district (Sretensky district), where, thanks to the agitation of the former partisan commander, the population refused insurance. Under the influence of agitation by the same former partisan in the village. Assimun of the same area and district of 18 ex‐guerrillas refused insurance. The poor people for the most part, not expressing sharp dissatisfaction with the tax and the compulsory insurance, are dissatisfied with the collection of the old debt on the loan. In certain areas (Svobodnensky, Khingano‐Arhatinsky Amur District),

Product hunger. The observed crisis in manufactured goods (lack of manufacture, cloth, as well as essential products: flour, tea and other products) continues to be felt in a number of districts (Amur, Chita, Sretensky, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk), which causes an increase in smuggling. Due to the lack of goods among some of the middle peasants and the poor, there is discontent with grassroots cooperation: “The peasants are robbed of taxes, but they do not give the goods. You stand in line for five hours and leave empty‐handed. They do not pay any attention to the peasants, you know, pay them ʺ(middle peasant of the village of Ignatievo, Blagoveshchensk District, Amur District). The well‐to‐do, especially in the Cossack regions, uses their dissatisfaction with the lack of goods for agitation and protests against the Soviet regime: ʺThe power is not good for hell, they only say that it is growing, but in reality there is nothing.ʺ109 ʺ(Vladivostok and Amur districts). In the border areas (Mikhailovsky and Amur districts), the well‐to‐do are openly involved in smuggling and, for the selection of smuggled goods, they threaten to beat up agricultural workers. In some places (Chita Okrug) the well‐to‐do stopped selling flour to the poor, in connection with which the latter, for fear of being left without flour, begins to sell livestock and stock up on bread.

The progress of the loan to strengthen agriculture. Partial material (Chita, Amur, Vladivostok and Sretensky districts) speaks of weak placement of the loan. In a number of districts of the Chita District (Titovsky, Byrkinsky), preparatory work for the placement of the loan was not carried out at all. In a number of districts (Tambov, Mikhailovsky, Svobodnensky) of the Amur District, the population did not attend meetings convened on the issue of placing a cross‐loan. The poor and part of the middle peasantry have a positive attitude towards the loan, speaking out in favor of purchasing it: ʺThe government is meeting us halfway, and we must also respond.ʺ On the part of the kulaks, the spread of loans is met with resistance and attempts to break the subscription. At general meetings, kulaks and well‐to‐do people are campaigning: ʺFor us, the peasants, every penny is worth paying taxes and insurance, and the Soviet government will find money even without usʺ (p. Kaklastui of the Chita district). In with. Peretinsky, Suchansky District (Vladivostok District), under the influence of agitation by the wealthy, the population refused to purchase loan bonds.

Political hooliganism. During the reporting period, in a number of districts (Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Sretensky) there is an increase in political hooliganism. In the Vladivostok district alone, 13 cases of political hooliganism were registered (in January and February). In with. Berezovka of the Nekrasovsky District (Khabarovsk District), three hooligans beat two sailors who had come to the evening until they lost consciousness, after which they spoke out: ʺThis is how scoundrelscommunists should be taught.ʺ In the same area in the village. A middle peasant in Voronezh brought a portrait of Lenin to the general meeting, threw it on the floor and trampled underfoot under the general laughter of the majority of those present, condemning all kinds of offensive words.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. In total, 23 cases of demonstrations for the organization of the Constitutional Court were registered in January and February (9 cases in January 14 in February), in the Amur District ‐ 16, in Vladivostok ‐ 5 and Chita ‐ 2. During the reporting period, 6 kulak district ‐ 3, Chita ‐ 2, Vladivostok ‐ 1), of which two were organized to prepare for the re‐election of the Soviets and three during the reelection of cooperation.

EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS

UZBEKISTAN

Re‐election of mirabs. The campaign for re‐election of mirabs (water distributors) has caused unprecedented activity of the dekhkans. The attendance of the re‐election meetings is significantly higher than the attendance of the meetings for the re‐election of village councils. Numerous cases of active opposition of dekhkans to the aspirations of the bays to carry out their proteges with mirabs have been registered. Along with this, there are frequent cases of attempts to disrupt meetings. There is also the negligence, inaction, or arbitrariness of the commissions for the conduct of re‐elections, the assistance of members of the commission to the bays and former emir‐officials 110 (Appendix

No. 5, p. 1‐4).

Re‐election of boards of agricultural cooperatives. In a number of cotton districts, local organizations did not hold pre‐election meetings, cotton growers, members of the cooperative were not notified of the reelection (Dargan District). A case was noted when a re‐election meeting was called in the house of a bai, a former emirch official, and the chairman of the village council had previously announced that it was not necessary for farm laborers to attend the meeting. As a result, there were almost no poor people at the meeting. In another aul, the reelection commissioner also tried to arrange re‐elections in the baiʹs house (Kashka‐Darya district). In a number of cases, the delegates, by means of pressure on the voters, carried former emir officials into the government. The gangs and wealthy elements in some places led their proteges into the reign, disrupted re‐election meetings and terrorized the poor activists (Andijan and Khojent districts).

Loan to strengthen the peasant economy. Local co‐and party organizations in many cases showed complete inactivity and negligence in the implementation of the loan. There are cases when cooperative organizations and Soyuzrabzemles completely refused to take part in the campaign, not considering it their duty. Discontent and negative attitude of the dekhkans to the loan was almost universally explained by the abnormalities in the actions of Soviet workers (in particular, the forced placement of loans among cotton growers). At a number of meetings, cotton growers, responding positively to the loan, asked for payment in installments for bonds or guarantees of cotton cooperatives. Some of the gains from the industrialization loan have prompted an even greater desire by farmers to acquire the bonds of the cross‐loan.

Land relations. The bayism, cut by the land and water reform, continues attempts to restore the pre‐reform land relations, intimidating the newly endowed farmers. In a number of cases, the bais attempted to kill the poor, beat their laborers, forcibly seize their former plots, continuing to exploit the poor (especially the Bukhara district). In the Kashka‐Darya district, rumors about the upcoming land and water reform were widely spread, as a result of which there is a massive fragmentation of their lands by the bays between relatives.

Womenʹs campaign. During February, the campaign to emancipate women almost stopped. In some places, co‐workers and party officials are campaigning for the closure of women who have already been revealed (Samarkand), campaigning for women not to attend election meetings (Kashka‐Darinsky district), etc. In Samarkand, in one of the blocks of 210 women that remained open, they again put on the veil 205. The gangs and the clergy, taking advantage of the curtailment of the womenʹs campaign, intensified their activities to completely disrupt it. Bai in some places openly call on farmers to disrupt the campaign. There was a case of rape of a farmerʹs wife by a bai (Zeravshan district). Imams of some villages call womenʹs meetings, campaigning for a collective refusal to disclose, attend meetings (Bukhara district) (Appendix No. 5, p. 5‐8).

Banditry. After a fight with our units, Pakirʹs Dargan gang, having lost one man killed, retreated into the mountains that are difficult to pass. The gang pursuit continues.

TAJIKISTAN

Re‐election of the Soviets. Re‐election campaign to bottom sovapparata accompanied baystva enhanced activity, especially in Penjikent and Barrow‐Tube wilayats 111... The littering of the previous composition of the village councils with Bai elements contributed to the success of the struggle of the Bays in a number of places to seize the new composition of the Soviet apparatus. In some cases, the workers of the village councils and RIKs reinstated the bays in the elections, convened meetings of the bays and merchants. The election campaign was often carried out without any preparation. The workers traveling to carry out the campaign committed all sorts of tactless actions. So, the chairman of the election committee sat down. Sarai‐Kamara of the Kurgan‐Tyube vilayet ordered one farmer to bring his wife to the election meeting, for failure to do which the farmer was arrested for 8 days. Upon his release, the farmer fled to Afghanistan. The election commissions in many cases consisted of supporters of the Baystva, who promoted the implementation of the Baystva candidates at the expense of the poor. A dekhkan in the village of Baimush, Kulyab vilayet, who opposed the candidacy of a merchant, was arrested by a member of the election commission. Along with all this, the organized opposition of the poor and middle peasant strata of the Baystv (Garm and Kulyab vilayets) was often observed (Appendix No. 5, p. 9‐11).

Cotton blanks. At many ginning stations, there are a number of abnormalities in the treatment of farmers‐cotton growers: weighing, receiving cotton at a significantly reduced price, rough treatment, inappropriate threats of arrest, etc. At some points, farmers have to wait 10‐15 days for receiving cotton. Baysko‐speculators buy cotton for more than the prices of Cotton, reselling it to artisans in mountainous regions. In order to sell cotton to speculators, farmers bury cotton in the ground (Nurek region).

Banditry. Bandshaika Khojamkul after a collision with our detachment and the loss of one dzhigit disappeared (Penjikent vilayet). After the battle with Chariʹs gang in the Kurgan‐Tyubinsk vilayet, our units took Chari himself prisoner. Kurbashi 112, living in Afghanistan, are campaigning among the emigrants for opposing the USSR.

TURKMENISTAN

Re‐election of the Soviets. The preparatory campaign for the re‐election of the Soviets was accompanied by the energetic activity of individual clan groupings, striving to seize the electoral commissions and through them to bring representatives of their clan into the new composition of the Soviets. In a number of districts, election commissions were constructed exclusively from representatives of the most powerful families. Members of these election commissions incorrectly deprived representatives of other clans of election rights, giving the right to antiSoviet elements of their clans. In view of this, in a number of cases, small clans united for a joint struggle against a large clan (Serakhsky district). In one case, one of the clans demanded the reinstatement of their representatives in the elections, otherwise threatening to migrate to Persia (the bek‐mamed clan in the Bakharden region). The struggle between the tribal groups

Land relations. In a number of cases, the poor, who received land under the land and water reform, lease it to the bai and the wealthy due to the lack of working animals and agricultural implements among the poor themselves. Along with this, cases have become more frequent when land commissions take the lands of the poor, endowed under the reform, and lease them to the bays (Bakhardensky, Bayram‐Ali and Kara‐Kalinsky districts).

Sowing campaign. In Tejen district, there is a danger of disruption of the sowing campaign due to the fact that the agricultural partnerships have not drawn up lists of dehkans subject to seed loans. Wheat intended for distribution among farmers is under the threat of spoilage due to the inadequacy of the premises. In the Kara‐Kalinsky region, there is also a danger of a strong reduction and partial disruption of crops due to the lack of seed material, despite the timely requests of village councils and RIK.

Pre‐conscription training of Turkmen youth. Pre‐conscription training in the Ashgabat region was accompanied by a hidden struggle between separate clans and groups; the workers of the village councils included in the lists young people of a hostile clan, hiding representatives of their clan. In the Bayram‐Ali district, rumors are widespread about the upcoming war, for which supposedly all pre‐conscripts will be taken away. Desertion is highly developed on this basis.

KYRGIZSTAN

Zemreform. Poor inventory of newly endowed farms threatens to partially disrupt the land and water reform. In the work of the land commissions, there is an extremely slow registration of land documents, the allotment of land to farm laborers who have long left these areas, etc. (Osh, Jalal‐Abad cantons). Along with this, a number of cases of bribery on the part of workers of the land commission and co‐and party workers (Osh, Jalal‐Abad cantons) were recorded. The executive secretary of the Jalal‐Abad Kantkom and the chairman of the Kantispolkom, having received a bribe from large landowners, ordered to leave their farms behind them. Baystvo continues to campaign against the land reform, in some places collecting signatures under statements about the wrong liquidation of their farms (Jalal‐Abad canton), and representatives of the Soviet apparatus take part in the collection of signatures. In Bazar‐Kurgan vol. bai offer the poor, endowed with their land, to return it back, threatening reprisals for non‐fulfillment. In Uzgen parish In the Osh canton, some bais ensured that instead of farm laborers, the baysʹ relatives were given land. Generic groupings. The struggle of individual tribal groups is especially widespread in the Alamedin region. The two warring factions here are led by large manaps. At meetings of the leaders of the groupings, issues of seizing the Soviet apparatus are discussed, materials that compromise the hostile group are being worked out, and attempts are made to recruit supporters from the workers of the Soviet apparatus. In the Naryn canton, the struggle between the groups of the evicted manaps resumed. One of the groups contacted the cantonal judiciary and succeeded in arresting the members of the hostile group.

Banditry. A part of Dzhanybekʹs gang that crossed from China to our territory is not showing activity. Our patrol detained 16 of Dzhanybekʹs accomplices, including his brother. Among the representatives of the Basyz and Boru clans (Osh canton), there is sympathy for Dzhanybek and readiness to support him in case of performance.

An attempt to organize a union of former red partisans. In the city of Frunze ʺ 3, a group of unemployed, former Red partisans, with the goal of organizing aʺ committee of assistance to former Red partisans ʺ, arranged a preliminary meeting in the house of one of the former Red Guards. Then, with the permission of the head of the Hormilitia, a meeting of the unemployed, who had nothing to do with the partisan movement, was called in the same house. At the meeting, the leaders of the movement raised the issue of organizing a ʺcommittee for aid to former Red partisans.ʺ This meeting was attended by the deputy. chief of the Frunzensky ITD (member of the CPSU). The next meeting, with the assistance of the executive secretary of the city committee of the AllUnion Communist Party, again with the permission of the head of the municipal department, was moved to the club of the Soviet trade employees. Among the 280 people gathered, there were 100 unemployed who had nothing to do with partisans or Red Guards. The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Peopleʹs Commissar of Labor. The deputy was also present. head of the ITD. Before the beginning of the meeting, one of the leaders of the movement (convicted of selling moonshine) collected money for expenses on a petition to organize a “committee”. On the day of the meeting, an anonymous proclamation with the following content was removed from the mailbox: “Long live the rule of the partisans. Down with the Soviet commissars. The strike of the partisans reads a coup. Long live the new revolution. ʺ The author of the proclamation was not found. Upon learning of the proclamation, the leaders of the movement were confused and ceased their activities. The inspirer and main leader of the movement was the unemployed who had recently arrived from Taganrog. At first, the active, led by the said former partisan, turned to some Frunze organizations for assistance in organizing assistance to the unemployed, former Red Guards and partisans.114 feuilleton under the heading ʺWalking through the ordealsʺ, castigating the bureaucracy of these institutions.

KAZAKSTAN

Grain procurement. In February, a further increase in the rate of grain procurement is noted. Some decrease by the end of February should be attributed to unfavorable weather (blizzard). Along with this, the wellto‐do kulak elements continue to hold back the grain in the hope of a rise in prices in the spring. “We intend to hold all the surplus until spring, and then sell it, knowing that the bread will then cost at least 3 rubles. pood. Weʹll bury ourselves in the pits, and then weʹll take ours. ʺ “We wonʹt hand over the bread until we take 3 rubles. for a pood ʺ. Kulaki village N. Ivanovka, fearing taking away from them a surplus of grain at fixed prices, distributed their own bread in an amount of up to 2500 poods to the poor with the condition of returning such when harvesting (Ural province and district). In parallel with this, well‐to‐do and kulaks are intensively spreading rumors about an imminent war, requisition and appropriation, openly calling on the peasants to hide grain, bury it in the ground, and in case of application of compulsory measures ʺgo out with a pitchfork, but not give bread.ʺ In some cases, kulaks talk about the need to reduce the area under crops. ʺThis year you donʹt need to sow anything, they will take it away anywayʺ (Kustanai district).

Self‐tax campaign. Resistance to the self‐taxation campaign on the part of wealthy kulak elements continues to be noted. On the other hand, there is an unpreparedness of the co‐and party workers and the absence of an explanatory campaign on the ground, as a result of which the poor and middle peasants do not always understand the class essence of selftaxation. Individual cases of threats of arrest, in case of refusal of selftaxation, by workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus and party members (Akmola province) have been registered.

Peasant loan. The implementation of the loan to strengthen the peasant economy is proceeding poorly. Local organizations approached the campaign without sufficient preparation of public opinion. A number of facts of compulsory distribution of the loan were recorded (Akmola province, Kostanay district). Prosperous kulak elements are agitating against the loan. At a general meeting of peasants of the village. Stepanovsky Borovsky District, under the influence of the well‐to‐do, passed the proposal to sell the loan only by 25% (Kustanaysky District).

Bread crisis in the Dzhetysu province. The poor population of a number of villages in Lepsinskaya, Cherkasskaya, Gerasimovskaya and other Dzhetysuyskaya provinces. starving. There are deaths: in st. Lepsinskaya died of hunger 2 people, 1 person died on the Bakzarek tract, in the village. Jalanash ‐ 1 person. 20 families sts. Lepsinskaya and about 70 families of stts. Topolevskaya and hut. Dzhaman‐Terekty Sarkan parish are in a state close to death. In this regard, the mood of the poor is depressed. Poor population stts. Kolpakovka came to the village council demanding the immediate release of grain, otherwise threatening to crush the kulak farms that had grain reserves. In stts. In Sarkand, the poor peasantsʹ attempts to destroy the kulak barns were noted. The well‐to‐do, fearing withdrawal, distribute their grain reserves among their relatives and friends. The kulaks are using the moment for anti‐Soviet agitation. The local authorities took 1900 poods grain from the procurement points of Khlebtorg and some partnerships for distribution to grain‐free poor farms, 20 people were sent to less affected areas to increase grain procurements, but since market prices are much higher than conventional ones, peasants prefer to donate bread not for manufacture, but for money to private owners.

Campaign for registration of pre‐conscripts. Baysko‐Aksakal elements continue to vigorously oppose the campaign to register pre‐conscriptsKyrgyz, vigorously agitating against registration and spreading rumors about war and the mobilization of all pre‐conscripts to the front. At some Baysko‐Aksakal meetings, resolutions are passed on organized opposition to the campaign (Aktobe, Syr‐Darya provinces). The prerecruits of the Baysa area, under the influence of the Bai agitation, fled from their aul in order to hide from the registration (Syr‐Darya province). At the same time, the bais widely practice hiding their sons from accounting. Often, the concealment is carried out with the direct assistance of the workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus. A number of cases have been registered when the chairmen of the village councils hide the sons of the beys for bribes. In this regard, there is strong discontent among the poor and middle peasants. In the Syr‐Darya province. on the basis of incorrect registration (hiding from registration of representatives of one genus and registration of representatives of another genus), an aggravation of the tribal struggle takes place. The normal course of the campaign is also hampered by the absence of an appropriate explanatory campaign (Appendix No. 5, paragraphs 12‐

19).

Spiritualism. The attention of the Muslim clergy is focused mainly on religious propaganda. Along with agitation for the expansion of the network of religious schools, 115 mullahs in a number of cases practice illegal teaching of religion (Syr‐Darya province, Kara‐Kalpak region). At the same time, representatives of the Muslim clergy campaign against the Komsomol, the Koschi union and call for a boycott of Soviet schools. In the Kustanai district, as a result of the agitation of the mullahs, cases of withdrawal from the Komsomol and the Koshchi union were noted. Mullahs and ishans also practice collecting taxes from the population, sometimes forcibly. The strongest influence of the Muslim spirituality is in the Kara‐Kalpak region. Kara‐Kum‐Ishan lives in Chimbay district, which enjoys great popularity and authority among the population. It has over 15,000 tanapas 116 land (including 3000 tanapov vakuf land), for irrigation of which aryk is cleaned annually. Up to 270 poor people and farm laborers take part in the cleaning of the irrigation ditch free of charge.

National antagonism. Recently, there has been an increase in ethnic strife among the students of the veterinary technical school in the Dzhetysu province, reaching major conflicts and fights. Existing national groupings have taken on a more serious character since the organization of the KIM 117 battalion. Cossack youth expresses strong dissatisfaction with the fact that the command staff is Russian. ʺOnce again, the Russians have been given all the advantages, soon the Russians will again ride on our necks in the same way as before the revolution.ʺ In this regard, a group of Cossacks is campaigning for the replacement of the Russian commanders with Cossacks, and if this petition is rejected [threatens] to refuse military service and demand the organization of a separate Komsomol battalion exclusively from the Cossacks.

NATIONAL REGIONS OF THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

The political mood of the mountain population in connection with grain procurements. In the first half of February, the state of the mountain village continued to remain as tense as in January. The agitation of the kulak‐wealthy elements against the grain procurement campaign was noted. The saturation of the aul soon with manufactories and agricultural implements, the provision of an opportunity to purchase goods for money, the elimination of the revealed excesses and perversions and the removal of the kulak‐speculative element contributed to a change in the political situation. Only in isolated cases did the poor express fear that ʺin the event of a crop failure, there will be no one to borrow bread from, since it was taken from the kulak.ʺ The same measures also determined the position of the middle peasant, who dissociated himself from the kulak, whose influence on him by the beginning of February was still quite strong. In this regard, the activity of the kulaks noticeably fell, which, left without support,

Self‐imposition. The campaign for self‐taxation is receiving active support from the poor and middle peasants, who are pushing their fists. In a number of regions, self‐taxation is proceeding with a significant rise (Circassia, Adygea, Kabarda). Thus, in the Abazino‐Nogai region (Adygea‐Cherkess oblast), contributions began to arrive even before the REC approved the minutes of general meetings. In this regard, the agitation and speeches of the kulaks against the poor and middle peasants were noted, who ʺdo nothing in the summer to support themselves, but seek to increase begging, trying to turn the kulaks into the poor.ʺ Along with this, the kulak‐prosperous elements spread provocative rumors, trying to convince the population that self‐taxation will be carried out systematically (Karachay‐Chechnya). There was a case when kulaks, at the very moment when a decision on self‐taxation was made, disrupted a general meeting (Chechnya). Despite the overall success of the campaign, noted in almost all national districts of the JCC, a number of distortions of the directives on the implementation of the law on self‐taxation on the part of the grassroots government, in places clogged with kulaks and their henchmen (Karachay), were recorded. Along with the insufficiently conducted explanatory campaign, the inaction and negligence of local Soviet workers, there were cases of intimidation with arrests (Circassia) and attempts to carry out self‐taxation by compulsory order (Karachay).

Peasant loan. The campaign for the implementation of the peasant loan provoked strong opposition from the kulaks, who were more active and more successful than in connection with self‐taxation. In almost all national regions (Kabarda, Karachay, Adygea, Ossetia, partly Chechnya), there is a very weak rate of implementation of the peasant loan. Along with the activity of the kulaks and clergy, significantly larger and more gross distortions of the directives on the introduction of peasant loans were recorded. Often a peasant loan is carried out according to the appropriation system and even without a preliminary explanation of the basic provisions on it. The commissioners who carried out the subscription brought with them the lists prepared in advance in the regional executive committee, according to which they summoned the peasants, forcing them to buy the appropriate amount of bonds, using the method of intimidation and pointing out, that the refusal would be viewed as resistance to Soviet power (Chechnya, Nozhai‐Yurt district). Often, the lists included low‐powered peasants who had no way of paying the amounts demanded from them. There was a case when the latter replied to the complaints of the poor to the chairman of the DEC: “If the poor people on the list cannot pay the amounts imposed on them, then those who were not on the list should help them in order to help their fellow villagers out of trouble” (ibid. ). Often, people who tried to object to this distribution procedure were arrested. Offers to sign up for a slightly lower amount were ignored by the co‐workers, and the peasants were faced with the alternative ʺeither ‐ all, or ‐ arrestʺ. In Chechnya, by order of one of the district workers who carried out the subscription, pickets from party members and Komsomol members were exhibited, who did not let the residents leave the village until they signed up for a loan (Staro‐Sunzhanskoye village of the Aslambekov district). In a number of districts, the employees conducting the subscription resorted to the help of representatives of the clergy, trying to realize the loan through them (Circassia, Adygea). These defects and perversions, along with a common weakness for all national regions, and in some places the absence of an explanatory campaign, could not but affect the campaign itself. The slow pace of implementation of the peasant loan is explained in some places (Adygea, Cherkessia) by the lack of free funds, which have already been largely spent on the purchase of manufactured goods and self‐taxation contributions (Appendix No. 5, p. 20‐26).

Class struggle in the mountain village. Along with the desire of the kulaks to seize the Soviet apparatus, and through it to influence the poor and middle peasants, the kulaks are becoming more active along the line of direct economic pressure on the poor and the enslavement of farm laborers. A number of cases have been recorded of the purchase of a spring shower allotment from the poor for negligible prices, the giving of agricultural machinery for use on enslaving terms, lending money for usurious interest, malicious exploitation of farm laborers (Dagestan, Ingushetia), etc. Along with this, there is also an increase in cases of reprisals used by kulaks against the poor and laborers who are showing resistance. In Karachai, a well‐to‐do man, not wanting to pay off the farm laborer, killed him by burying his corpse in the snow. In Ingushetia, there were cases of beating of farm laborers by their fistsemployers (Appendix No. 5, p. 27‐29).

ORDER

ARMENIA

The activity of the kulaks and the wealthy. The revival of the activities of the kulak‐prosperous elements of the village is noted in connection with the campaigns for the re‐election of the cross committees, cooperatives, credit partnerships, etc. Kulaks and the well‐to‐do are vigorously campaigning against the candidacies of communists and poor activists in order to send their proteges to the re‐elected bodies. In order to take under their influence, the poor, the organized kulak groups, in addition to campaigning against the poor gatherings, often invite the poor to specially arranged carousing (Lori‐Bambak u.). Not limiting themselves to pre‐election campaigning, kulak groups act in an organized manner at their re‐election meetings, where they try in every possible way to discredit the candidates nominated by the poor and the lump. As a result of the activity of the kulaks, in some places they manage to fail the lists of the poor and bring their supporters to the reelected bodies (Daralagez and Lori‐Bambak u.). Along with this, the kulak‐well‐to‐do elements continue to exert increased opposition to the collection of the unified agricultural tax, land management work, state insurance and other measures of the Soviet government. The kulaks are most active in the land issue. In addition to the unauthorized seizure of poor peasantsʹ plots and waste of their crops, kulaks, dissatisfied with the land plot, together with other anti‐Soviet elements of the village, call secret meetings, collect signatures from peasants in order to achieve a new plot of land (Zangezur, Daralagez and Dilijan districts) (Appendix No. 5, p. 43 ‐46).

Opposition campaigning. In a number of districts, systematic agitation for the opposition is observed on the part of anti‐Soviet elements. In all places where peasants gather, on the streets, on carousing, etc., antiSoviet elements criticize the party for the repressions taken against the opposition, while pointing out that the opposition ʺis entirely on guard for the protection of the interests of the peasants, demands equalization of wages, tax cuts , the strengthening of private trade or the satisfaction of peasants with manufactories and other necessities ”, etc. (Zangezur, Echmiadzin and Lori‐Bambak districts). Similar agitation for the opposition is being conducted by a number of those expelled from the ranks of the CPSU (b), who are trying in every possible way to prove the fallacy of the Central Committeeʹs policy and justify the views of the opposition (Lori‐Bambaksky u.). A case of agitation for opposition on the part of a party member and a Komsomol member among the workers of the Kattarsk copper rolling plants (Zangezur district) was recorded. In a number of districts of the Erivan district there are opposition groups from the Komsomol, spreading opposition slogans among the peasants (Appendix No. 5, p. 30‐36).

Activities of the former Dashnaks. Together with the kulaks, the former Dashnaks continue to carry out systematic work to disrupt certain measures of the Soviet government (tax, insurance, land management, lending, etc.), while inciting the population against the communists and village activists. Cases have been recorded when, at weddings and carousing, former Dashnaks, with the active support of other antiSoviet elements, proclaimed toasts to the active participants in the Dashnak adventure of 1921 118 (Erivan district) arrested and in Persia. Along with anti‐Soviet agitation and the spread of provocative rumors about the inevitable defeat of the Soviet regime in the upcoming war, the former Dashnaks resort to inciting national antagonism between the Turks 119 and Armenians. In their agitation, the former Dashnaks persuade the Armenians to move to those villages where there are no Turks, and the latter to leave for Azerbaijan (Zangezur and Echmiadzin districts) in order to avoid “inevitable massacres” (Appendix No. 5, p. 37‐42).

Dissatisfaction of the population with the lack of goods in the cooperative. The lack of consumer goods in cooperatives continues to cause strong discontent among the peasantry, which is forced to purchase the goods they need from private owners at significantly higher prices. Anti‐Soviet elements ‐ merchants, kulaks, former Dashnaks, priests ‐ are spreading all kinds of rumors about the cause of the shortage of goods: “The USSR transfers all its grain to France and other European states, thus repaying its debt. Until the debts are paid, there will be no bread. That is why the high cost of goods and the grain crisis” (Lori‐Bambak and Dilijan districts). The private traders and kulaks, who, along with the spread of provocative rumors, are campaigning against the cooperatives, trying in every possible way to undermine the authority of the newly elected boards of cooperatives, make use of the position especially widely.

ANTI‐SOVIET PARTIES

Anarchists

In a number of provinces of the Central Region, there is an increase in the underground activities of anarchists. From Vyatka, underground anarchist leaflets signed by the ʺUnion of Young Anarchistsʺ are being sent to the addresses of various universities. In the Tver province. an underground anarchist group of opposition‐minded students was organized. As a result of the developed underground activity during the re‐election of the factory committee at the Zolotkovsky glass plant (Vladimirskaya gubernia), the anarchists managed to appoint their candidate as chairman of the factory committee and members of three sympathizers. In Ukraine, individual anarchists are raising the issue of using terror against prominent figures of the Soviet regime and the CPSU (b). Links are forging between disparate anarchist groups. There is a certain revival of the activity of the exiled anarchists. Ties with the anarchists of the USSR are strengthening, Correspondence is underway with a group of anarchists in Paris (Arkhangelsk province). A group of exiled anarchists of the Samara province. arranges underground meetings. Among the exiled anarchists in Kazakstan, there is talk about the need to develop underground work, organize escapes and use terror.

SPIRITUALITY [AND SECTANTS]

Reactionary clergy. At the beginning of February, a group of Yaroslavl churchmen (Agafangel, Joseph Petrov, Seraphim Samoilovich 120, etc.), in order to break with Metropolitan Sergius, issued an appeal to Sergius on their behalf: the highest government of the church. ʺ This speech by the reactionary clergy did not have a large number of followers, except for opposition‐minded bishops. In order to influence Sergius in the question of canceling the decree on the commemoration of the authorities during the service, a delegation of Moscow monarchical churchmen visited him. On the other hand, all Moscow deans 121, supporting the need for commemoration, sent a collective letter to Sergius on this occasion. Similar letters expressing the need to commemorate and condemn all those who break ties with Sergius were sent by many exiled bishops and priests located in the Komi‐Zyryansk region. Anti‐Semitic agitation is still being waged by the reactionary churchmen, which is now linked to grain procurement and selftaxation. So, for example, in Ukraine, some churchmen (peasants) declare: ʺWhy do they take the surplus from us, and not take it from the Jewish pocket,ʺ and immediately add: ʺHow soon will we slaughter the Jews.ʺ In the Kaluga province. agitation is being made against the industrialization loan. To this day, there is still talk about the coming war and the obligatory death of Soviet power. So, one psalmist spoke in the EPO tearoom (Yaroslavl province), that ʺin the spring there will be a war, the Soviet power will fly off, the communists will be hanged and crushed.ʺ In Armenia and the Kirensky district, many churchmen assure the peasants that ʺthe day of liberation from these ragged, atheist communists is not far off.ʺ The decline in religiosity is marked in a number of places by such facts as the closure due to the lack of believers in the church (Kirensky district). In the same place, in the last 3‐4 years, only one wedding has been performed in the church. In order to raise religiosity, priests resort to intimidation of believers by excommunication and divine punishment (Dzhetysu and

Semipalatinsk provinces).

Sectarians. The past plenum of the Central Council, the Molokan 122 recognized military service in the Red Army on an equal basis with all citizens and in all forms, and decided to discuss this issue at the upcoming All‐Union Congress. On the part of the sects that have unconditionally recognized military service, attempts are being made to soften opposition moods. For example, the Baptists who are part of the union of the central provinces assure their followers that conscripts will not meet condemnation in the communities. In the same spirit, they are trying to treat the Crimean Baptists, whose community in Kerch is closed for refusing to recognize military service. Evangelists 123are trying to avoid openly raising this issue, since in some communities they are trying to refuse to sign a subscription that they will not accept persons who do not recognize military service into the community. The liquidation of four Moscow communities of evangelicals who do not recognize military service went quite smoothly. Alliance evangelicals accepted the liquidation with satisfaction, with the exception of the sober‐colossus 124, who in their sermons opposed liquidation, calling it a ʺviolation of freedom of faith,ʺ ʺpersecution of faith by the Bolsheviks,ʺ etc., and called on their followers to defend religion. In the Ukraine, in Belarus, in the Ulyanovsk province. the formation of separate, officially unrelated groups of ʺKrasnodragonsʺ continues. They do not recognize Soviet power, do not pay taxes, refuse to serve in the Red Army, calling Soviet power the power of the ʺred dragon.ʺ This group is predominantly made up of the poor, led by former city policemen and other elements hostile to us.

Deputy Chairman of the OGPU Deribas

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

Appendix No. 1 to the February 1928 review.

WORKERS

Strikes and conflicts

Metalworkers. 1. Leningrad plant them. Kulakov of the Trust of weak currents (1564 workers). On February 7, 10 workers of the 15th and 16th departments stopped working, protesting against the transfer of 45 workers of these departments to the Elektropribor plant. Seeing the transfer as a rationalization exercise, workers are demanding three monthsʹ compensation. In addition, the workers demanded permission to send their representative for preliminary acquaintance with the situation at the Elektropribor plant. The workersʹ demand is satisfied.

2. Zavod. Dzerzhinsky (14208 workers, Dnepropetrovsk district). On February 13, a brigade of workers (20 people) from the general works shop went on strike under the influence of agitation by three workers sent from another brigade. The initiators pointed out that ʺthe work is hard and it is necessary to ensure the provision of working conditions.ʺ The strikers began to work at the machines after the strike leaders were sent to work in another brigade. The strike lasted 1 hour. The next day (February 14) the brigade went on strike again for an hour thanks to the agitation of the same three workers.

Textile workers. 3. The 1st printed cottons f‐ka 1st MCB Trust (2810 workers), Moscow. On February 17, 80 workers in the bleaching workshop were not working; they were transferred (due to rationalization) to work in the yard with a decrease in the category from 3rd to 2nd. The workers intend to apply to the Union to resolve the issue.

4. Bolshaya Dmitrovskaya block (about 5000 workers, IvanovoVoznesensk province). On February 6, 80 female spool workers went on strike for 2 hours due to the increase in yarn tears. The initiators of the strike dismissed two Komsomol members who had started work after the cessation of work as spoilers, threatening to deal with them if they continued ʺtreacherous work while everyone is on strike.ʺ The strike threatened to stop the weaving department of the factory, as the stock of finished yarn was very small. The commission created to resolve the issue, consisting of the factory committee, the director of the factory and two workers, recognized that the salary would not have decreased in the given state of raw materials. The administration considered the strike illegal due to the absence of substantive reasons for stopping work and instructed to prepare a calculation for those workers who did not start work. This caused indignation of female workers and agitation on the part of the initiators of the strike to continue the strike. The employee, who was instructed to prepare the calculation, they threatened with violence. On February 7, the spoolers started to work.

5. Factory ʺWorking workerʺ of the 2nd MHB trust (3041 workers, Moscow province). On February 2, at the womenʹs delegate meeting on the issue of working on 4 machines, in the debate, the workers pointed out: “We were so locked up with 4 machines that we would soon fall at the machines. On these bases, with 4 machines, we are driven, as it was before with Gusev. If we earn less on 4 machines than on 3 and do not pay for the defect, then we do not need 4 machines. We were forced to switch from 3 to 4 machines, it became more difficult to work, and the salary is still not visible. We need to give up 4 machines and go on strike. ʺ On February 7, they went on strike for 10 minutes. 1200 weavers, demanding an increase in prices for the 4th loom (the factory switched to work from 3 to 4 looms). The workers agreed to postpone resolving the issue until a meeting was called.

Other industries. 6. Shoe factory ʺSkorokhod” (6350 workers, Leningrad). The workers of the 1st cutting department are dissatisfied with the transfer to piecework to the brigade of the secretary of the shop of the CPSU (he has been working in production for about a year and, according to the workers, was transferred to piecework incorrectly, since workers with 20 years of experience were left out). The workers protested. The administration, taking into account the mood of the workers, canceled its order. On February 21, the workers, having learned that the secretary of the workshop had again been transferred to piecework, went on strike in protest, demanding that the secretary be removed from the brigade. The workersʹ demand is satisfied. The strike lasted 1 hour; 100 people were on strike. Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

APPENDIX No. 2 to the February 1928 review.

RELEASE OF SHARE AGREEMENTS

Metalworkers. 1. Kramatorsk metallurgical plant Glavmetalla (Ukraine). After elaboration and discussion of the new collective agreement, on February 10, announcements about the norms were posted in the blast‐furnace shop. The new norms caused discontent among the cadre workers, who said that the new norms were high and it was necessary to call a meeting and send a letter to Petrovsky or Kalinin with a complaint. Some workers suggested sending a delegation to the chairman of the Metalworkersʹ Union, and there were also individual proposals on the need to go on strike. Many workers agreed with the last proposal. Party members and Komsomol workers from among the workers began to prove to the others that they were wrong and proposed to demand the convening of a meeting. As a result, on February 16, a general workshop meeting was held, where, according to the report of the head of TNB Marchenko, who pointed out that the norms are not difficult and can be worked out, the workers who spoke said: “Thank you for such a surprise, you start robbing us. ʺ When the party secretary, who in his speech supported Marchenko, spoke, the workers did not let him speak and shouted: ʺNew traitor, in England the Unions are selling workers, and he is a traitor here.ʺ The workers who spoke in the debate categorically protested against the increase in the norms, and the workers, plumbers and locksmiths, supported the workers, declaring that the work of the workers was very hard and they needed to lower the norm. Trying to speak in the debate pom. the head of the shop, Koskin, was not admitted by the workers to the podium. The question of the norms was put to a vote, and 170 people voted for the proposal of the katals ‐ to leave the norm of 17 innings ‐ (almost unanimously). After the meeting, the workers said: “Will our Union really make concessions to the business executives? If it does, then we will have to send a delegation to the center or go on strike, nowadays no attention is paid to the worker. In the West and in America the workers live better than ours. ʺ Such conversations were observed in the majority on the part of workers, newcomers. On February 20, the skating workers told the chairman of the trade union bureau of the blast‐furnace shop Burkov that he would find out the final results within 3 days, otherwise the workers would stop working.

2. Plant ʺProfintern” (12824 workers). On February 9, groups of riveters and drillers (90 people in total) went on strike in the workshop of heavy‐duty wagons. The workers indicated that the norms established under the new contract were only 50% feasible. A workshop meeting convened on the same day (only three people were present from the riveters) condemned the strike, proposed to start work immediately, and transfer the question of norms to the Union bodies for permission. However, the next day (February 10), 18 riveters did not go to the machines. 5 people dissatisfied with the norms demanded a calculation. Dissatisfaction with the norms of production under the new contract also takes place in the machine shop.

3. Plant them. Kolyuschenko (1049 workers). On February 15, a group of workers from two workshops (emery and forging and stamping) stopped working after the rates were lowered when the salary was issued (until February 15, the rates were not known to the workers, since when the collective agreement was renegotiated, the question of rates remained open). The workers of the emery shop, who previously earned 4 rubles. per day, with the introduction of new rates, earnings decreased to 2 rubles. On the initiative of one worker, 6 workers of the 3rd shift took their passes and went home. As a result, the entire shop did not work. In the forging and stamping shop, 25 people went to work on 12. On February 16, a toolmaker (rabkor) who came to the shop called for the support of the emery workers: “In the emery shop, everyone quit their jobs, and you bastards do not support them, cowards.” On February 16, 80 people were “Italian” in the stamping department. The issue was temporarily settled after the representatives of the plant management and FZK promised to discuss the prices at the general meeting of workers. The conflict lasted until the first days of March. Thirty workers left production, the remaining workers went on an ʺItalianʺ strike and deliberately spoiled tools and machine tools, which were replaced by women workers.

4. Plant them. Kulakov of the Low Current Trust (1564 workers). On February 28, two brigades of workers (12 people) of the 18th department were “Italian” due to the reduction of prices for the “diffuser”. The workers demanded an increase in prices to 30 kopecks. apiece. ONT agreed to increase the rates up to 26 kopecks, the workers are dissatisfied with these rates and turned to RKK. RKK decided to increase the prices to 23 kopecks, but ONT does not agree with this. The workers say: “We are getting lower prices without organizing production. The administration is seeking to reduce costs by increasing the intensity of workersʹ labor. ʺ

5. Metallurgical plant ʺRed October” (5569 workers). Among certain groups of piecework workers, dissatisfaction with the reduction in wages under the new collective agreement is noted. A group of rollers in the blooming shop filed an application with the Central Committee of the All‐Russian Socialist Republic of Moldova demanding an increase in prices. In this shop and in the large‐sized one, workers deliberately reduce labor productivity. The workers say: “The plant management took away “for unforeseen expenses” more than half of the 70,000 rubles allocated by the center. to raise wages for low‐grade workers. And so, they tear up the earnings, and here they also take away what belongs to us. ʺ

Textile workers. 6. F‐ka ʺBolshevikʺ of the Rodnikovskaya m‐ry. A significant strike took place in a mechanical construction shop (103 people). The reason for the strike is a decrease in wages and a mismatch in pay for workers with the same qualifications. Under the new contract, neither at the workshop meeting, nor at the production meeting, an agreement with the workers was not reached, and on February 22 at 7 oʹclock. In the morning, the workers, under the leadership of an anti‐Soviet turner worker, stopped work, remaining at the machines. At 10 oʹclock. In the morning, under the influence of the agitation of the same turner, a rally was opened, and 68 more workers of other qualifications joined the striking workers of the mechanical workshop. After the promise of the administration and the factory committee to resolve the issue at the meeting, the workers began to work. The main workers of the workshop were not working 3 ʹ/ 2hours, the rest of the workers ‐ 30 minutes. At the meeting (held on the evening of February 22), there were a number of attacks against the factory committee and the administration, since after the information of the initiator of the strike, who had previously traveled as a delegate to the office of the Textile Workersʹ Union, that “the GOST promised to increase the salary,” the chairman of the RKK said in his report that the salary will not be increased, because it is already increased, and the director even pointed out the need to reduce the salary. In the adopted resolution, the workers agreed with the rate established in the new treaty for 1928, but found it necessary to apply for an increase in it next year. For the final resolution of the issue, it was decided to send two delegates to GOST.

7. F‐ka ʺ3rd Internationalʺ (6128 workers). Dissatisfaction was caused by a decrease in the wages of workers in the machine shop. The lack of clarification of the terms of the new treaty contributed to the aggravation of discontent. On February 10, a group of foundry workers stopped working and told the factory that if they did not receive salaries at the old rates, they would not start work. The initiators of the strike were: expelled from the CPSU (b) and a non‐party worker. Some workers refused to receive wages calculated at the new rates. After the threat of dismissal, the workers began to work. On the same day, a group of workers at the Spinning Factory (15 people) left work before the end of the working day due to a decrease in wages by 5‐6 rubles. per month. The workers arrived at the factory and demanded an increase in prices. The conflict was eliminated after a corresponding explanation.

Chemists. 8. Glass factory ʺRed Echoʺ. At a meeting to approve a new agreement (there were 200 people), a group of workers (among them 4 members of the CPSU) urged not to accept the collective agreement. One of the party members said: ʺBusiness executives and trade unionists beat workers in the same way, and therefore I propose to carry out work according to the old contract.ʺ A similar speech was noted by another party member: ʺWe will not work under a new agreement.ʺ Their performances were supported by shouts of ʺrightʺ. The proposal of the factory committee to approve the collective agreement by a majority of votes was rejected, and it was decided to create a commission for further elaboration of the collective agreement, and those who opposed the agreement were elected to the commission. The commission at a joint meeting with representatives of the factory committee made a decision to agree with the contract, but the next day it refused this decision. One of the members of the commission stole the minutes of the meeting. Of the 4 shifts working at the plant, only one shift (35 people) accepted the contract, the rest demanded the convocation of a general meeting, which was scheduled for February 12. However, the meeting did not take place due to the absence of workers. The meeting convened a second time was disrupted by a group of workers, and the party members were especially active. At a meeting called for the third time on February 12 (workers of the 1st and 4th shifts were present), collective agreement was adopted by a majority of votes; at the meeting of the 2nd and 3rd shifts on February 14, workers opposed the new treaty. At this meeting, one member of the CPSU said: ʺThey are reaching into our pockets, taking away the last pennies.ʺ.ʺ One of the speakers suggested ʺnot to give a decisive vote to the workers and peasantsʺ125. However, despite the speeches, the collective agreement was also adopted by the workers.

9. Urshel Glass Factory (1042 workers). At a meeting of workers, which was attended by 400 people, the majority of the speakers (15 people) spoke out against the new agreement, calling not to approve it. One worker, addressing the meeting, said: “Where is the dictatorship of the proletariat? Before, under the old owner, everything was free, but now you pay for everything. Send the contract to the former owner abroad, let him see how our workers live. ʺ During the speech of the secretary of the cell, shouts of “down with it, you wonʹt let the truth be told” were heard, and a group of workers led by a former Menshevik was especially active. This group bypassed the workers, agitating against the approval of the contract. The meeting dragged on until 2:00. nights, and when the voting was started, no more than 60 people remained at the meeting, of which 30 people voted for the agreement, 18 people were against, and 5 abstained.

10. Plant them. Vorovsky. In connection with a decrease in wages under the new contract, a group of masons (among them a member of the All‐Union Communist Party) refused to work on the mandrel of a double rod at a section furnace, despite the fact that the untimely performance of this work could lead to an increase in the breakage of products. A group of lamp furnace masters filed an application demanding that their earnings be equalized with those of the profiled furnace masters. The statement ends with a threat to stop work by February 15 if their demand is not met. The initiators are a group of workers, including a member of the CPSU (b), expelled from the CPSU.

Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

APPENDIX 3 to the February 1928 review

MASS PERFORMANCE

1. Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. February 13 at the bazaar in Gavrilov Posad Yuryev‐Polsky u. lynching was committed against the thief. A peasant was killed by the police, who were trying to save the thief from lynching. The crowd, outraged by this fact, went to the City Council demanding to immediately punish the murderer. The peasants elected from among their midst a commission of five people to resolve the conflict, but the commission did not start work, since the peasants themselves, who were elected to the commission, abandoned it and went home. The details of the case are as follows: February 13 at 11 ʹ/ 2 hour of the day at the market was caught red‐handed, a pickpocket, a citizen of Ivanovo‐Voznesensk. The peasants who were at the bazaar rushed to beat the thief. The police, seeing the lynching taking place, tried to beat off the pickpocket in order to take him to the police. Despite the persuasion of the police to stop the beating, the crowd did not obey. Then the militiamen fired several shots into the air, but this did not work either. At the time of the lynching, an URO agent and several other police officers arrived, who, seeing that it was not possible to stop the lynching by talking, also fired several shots. As a result, one of the shooters, who has not been identified, seriously wounded Mr. Novikov, 58 years old, from Staro‐Pahotnaya Sloboda, the groom of the local EPO, who died without regaining consciousness. A pickpocket was taken from the crowd by the police and was taken to the police on horseback, and when he was being taken, the crowd walked behind the sled, trying to grab the thief and finish him off. Then a crowd of about 1,300 people approached the building of the VIK, where the police are located, and insistently demanded the extradition of the pickpocket and the policeman who had killed Novikov. Despite the persuasion of the secretary of the wolkom of the CPSU (b), the authorized provincial court and the chairman of the city council, who are here, the crowd did not disperse until 3:00. day. During the pickpocketʹs transportation to the police station, 4 police officers were beaten up by the crowd.

2. Tver province. February 14 p. in the village. Bokarevo, Bezhetskaya par. and the county to confiscate the described property and livestock for non‐payment of tax (1100 rubles), the financial inspector of the city of Bezhetsk and two militiamen came to the meat‐trader A. V. Kaslovsky. Kaslovsky categorically refused the offer to voluntarily surrender the property, the arrivals called several more militiamen from the volost, and when the latter arrived, up to 100 local peasants gathered near Kaslovskyʹs house. The mood of the crowd was excited. The militiamen were resisted with the threat of beatings. Kaslovsky set a dog against the policemen and did not comply with the request to withdraw the dog. One of the peasants present knocked a lamp out of the hands of a policeman. The crowd rushed into the courtyard and did not allow the seizure of property. In view of this, the police officers and the financial inspector were forced to leave. The seizure was carried out on February 16 by a newly arrived group of policemen and was carried out without conflict. The intercession of the peasants for Kaslovsky is explained solely by his economic influence in the countryside, since more than half of the peasants of the village. Bokarevo are his debtors, they receive meat and goods and, as the peasants say, ʺif Kaslovsky does not help, then no one will help except him.ʺ

3. Ural. In with. Arokashevo in the same area of the Ishim District on the night of January 20 this year. During the feast day of Epiphany, for some unknown reason, a fire in the detention facility broke out, in which a drunken citizen Kazantsev, detained by the police, burned down. The brother of the burned‐out man, Kazantsev Fyodor Nikolayevich, who arrived at the scene of the fire, appealed to the assembled crowd with an appeal to overthrow the authorities, beat up the communists and burn down the premises of the RIK, the district committee and the police. In addition, he did not allow the population to extinguish the fire by pouring out the imported water. A group of 9 peasants, excited by Kazantsevʹs shouts, rushed at the communist Kiselev and a policeman present at the fire with the aim of beating them up. With the help of some citizens, Kiselev and the policeman managed to escape. From this group, the peasant Nikulin Zakhar (middle peasant), shouted: “We are being shot, arrested, they are being burned alive. We will not endure any more. Beat the communists. Down with power. ʺ After that, he called upon the district officials to go to the apartments to beat them up. The next day Kazantsev, waving the clothes of his burnt brother in front of the population walking down the street, tried to gather a crowd of peasants, shouting: ʺToday 1921 came to us.ʺ On the evening of January 21, the same Nikulin Zakhar drove up to the RIKʹs premises, shouting “Down with Soviet power,” “beat the communists,” “burn the RIK,” and to the chairman of the RIK who came out to him, he said: “You only have to live until the 15th. We had a meeting where this issue was resolved. ʺ

Torture of peasants when placing a peasant loan

4. Armavir district. In stts. In the Ubezhinskaya Uspensky District, the district troika authorized to place a peasant winning loan applied the method of ʺindividual treatmentʺ to the well‐to‐do kulak part of the population, which manifested itself in beatings, threats with weapons, etc. In the evening, the workers were summoned to the executive committee, led one by one into an empty room and offered to sign up for a loan for 100‐200‐500 rubles. If the person summoned refused to subscribe, at the signal of the policeman Chepurny, two farm laborers, invited for ʺprocessingʺ, would appear, who began to twist the arms of the ʺprocessedʺ. If the victim refused even then, he was beaten with fists and boots until he lost consciousness. Other methods of torture were also used: one ʺprocessedʺ, who refused to subscribe, was placed against the wall, pointing a rifle at him. In relation to another well‐todo man (68 years old), a mock hanging was made due to the fact that he refused to sign up for a loan in the amount of 500 rubles. In total, 7 people were beaten, of which one was middle peasant. The sons of some of them are Terarmy126, and one of them has a son recently returned from the Red Army. The Terarmy, who participated in the campaign as signalmen, having learned about the beating of their fathers, appeared at the executive committee and freed the tortured. A meeting of citizens was immediately convened, at which the report of the torture was greeted with a storm of indignation, and the most sharply opposed such methods of placing a loan by the Terarmy. All direct participants in the beatings were arrested. Authorized representatives Aleksintsev and Khoroshavin by the district committee of the CPSU (b) were dismissed and brought to justice. In the course of the investigation, it turned out that the farm laborers acted as executioners because they were promised a certain percentage of the realized loan amount. It was also found that the area is widely practiced using the ʺMalinsky methodʺ (the representative of the okrtroyka Malykhin, now removed from work, recommended to local workers ʺto bring a few recalcitrants to the Kuban, creating the appearance of preparing an execution by the riverʺ). Such actions were also encouraged by the deputy okrtorg, who, bypassing the districts, recommended to use ʺmore abruptlyʺ with fists. Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

APPENDIX No. 4 to the February 1928 review.

LEAVES IN THE VILLAGE

1. Mariupol district. (Ukraine). January 22 p. in the Budennovsky district in the village. About 25 leaflets were pasted up and scattered around Budennovka, 10 of them were written in block letters through carbon paper, with a brush, in the form of slogans. The content is given below: “Down with the commune leading the people to impoverishment, Russia to ruin. Down with the commune leading Russia to ruin. Beat the Jews, the culprits of our misfortune. ʺ Appeal: “Citizens, today it is 4 years since the so‐called “great leader Lenin” died. What, in fact, did he do and who is he that you worship him with such fervor and worship blindly, not realizing who and for what, elevating him to some kind of genius who gave Russia freedom. But if you delve deeper, you can, of course, see that this person is no more, no less, like an adventurer who has set the goal of his life to achieve honor and glory. And he achieved this and gave us ʺfreedomʺ at the cost of the lives of many thousands of citizens dear to you. What did freedom give us? You can see it yourself. That apart from general devastation, a mass of innocent victims, the decline of industry, art, human morality, etc., it has given nothing more and will not give anything, and could it be otherwise when former convicts and Jews are in power, who only strive to one ‐ how to live better. They cheat you with huge taxes and generally have an income that no state in the world has, but there is something to take from the population, there is still something to profit from these predatory anarchists from the working people; but there is an end to everything, and this end is soon. Now there are many, many thousands of brave citizens who are just waiting for the right moment to put an end to these bloody antichrist predators once and for all, and you, dear citizens, for the sake of saving Russia and ourselves, we must help them. Down with the commune and Soviet power. Long live (the coming new Russia). ʺ

2. Salsky district. In the village an appeal was found in Kuberle of the Zinovnikovsky district. Here is the content of the appeal. The first appeal of the peasant organization of peasant labor and defense: “Comrades peasants, we are being strangled at the present time and we have to live hard, we are being strangled with taxes, self‐taxation, and this is what will be announced one of these days for every peasant, i.e. it will be taxed at 25% self‐taxation. This is said ‐ they milk a cow while it gives milk, and at first they take a little tax from the peasants, the peasants are silent and pay, the next year they will add a tax ‐ they are silent, moreover, in a year they add tax. They see ‐ the peasants are silent, letʹs still pump out bread for a pittance, and they carry the bread, and so this shop will never end. They milk and milk from the peasants, but as soon as they kick, they will stop milking. Comrades peasants, how long will we be silent, how long will they suck blood from us, how long they will fog us up, are we really so dark, are we powerless, that a small group of workers owns us and wherever they want, they will return us there. After all, we also fought, even more workers, and the workers took possession of us, harnessed us like in the yoke of a bull. Comrades peasants, we can get out of the yoke if we are grouped. We need to shout one yoke in meetings. Also, comrades, poor peasants and farm laborers, you think it will be better for you if you point out to a peasant that, they say, he has bread, or you need to take more tax, no, comrades, you are mistaken, if the peasant does not have bread, then you you will starve. Letʹs take about 1921, because whoever went hungry more ‐ a farm laborer and many peasants even ate dead meat. And what kind of disaster did the worker endure? No. Why did it happen that the worker did not eat dead meat, that all the bread was taken from the peasant and taken to the city, and the farmhand was an assistant in pumping out grain and the farmhand helped to pump out bread from the peasant barns, and he himself began to starve in the fall of 1921. Now it comes up that the laborer is being fooled, they say, indicate the bread, we will take it from him and give it to you. So, comrades, in order not to be hungry, we need to be strong and organized, not to be afraid at meetings, but to speak at same time ‐ if one said, and the other supported, but not ‐ on horses with a rifle. ʺ The signature is illegible.

Proclamation 2. “Comrades, peasants. Today, January 24, 1928, all be organized, all as one for one, all against 25% self‐taxation. This shop will not end ‐ yesterday there is a single tax, and today it’s pumping out grain for a song, and tomorrow it’s self‐blogging, and the day after tomorrow they will invent something else, and so this shop will not end until the peasants protest, then the peasant will feel better; as they say, first they take a little ‐ the peasants are silent, then they impose ‐ they are silent, and so little by little they try until everyone goes on strike. ʺ

Kulak terror

3. Ukraine. Pervomaisky District. In with. On the night of February 27, 1928, Chaikovka, Lyuboshevsky District, a bomb was thrown at the window of the peasant Melnik Yakov. The explosion will kill Melnikʹs wife and daughter. Melnik Yakov ‐ member of KNS 127, a former member of the CPSU (b). He actively helped to carry out the events of the Soviet power in the countryside. As a result of the investigation it became clear a group of kulaks with Chaikovka repeatedly threatened Melnik with reprisals if he did not stop his social work. During the meeting on the issue of self‐taxation, all the kulaks protested, as a result of which the issue of self‐taxation was thwarted. Melnik, however, came up with a proposal to adopt a law on self‐taxation, saying: ʺAll villages have already adopted and we must not lag behind and stand out from other villages.ʺ The present kulaks raised a shout and noise, declaring: “Who authorized Melnik Yakov to speak for us and to tax us. It is good for him to speak, because he will not pay. ʺ After the meeting on the night of February 27 this year. at 4 oʹclock. a bomb was thrown into the apartment of Melnik Yakov. According to the statements of many peasants in this village, the murder was committed by a group of kulaks from. Seagulls. When they came to one kulak, a member of this group, during the murder as an authorized person to declare what had happened, he pretended to be sick, but in reality he was completely healthy, which was established by the arrived doctors. In addition, during the interrogation, the suspect testified that on February 26, the day of the murder, he came home at 1 oʹclock in the afternoon, and his wife testified that he had come before the evening. The said kulak, a former volunteer of the White Army, was in Sorokaʹs gang, in the autumn of 1927, being in the house of a teacher of the same village, he said: ʺI would have slaughtered all the communists, and I would have destroyed the poor in one day.ʺ In the village, he is constantly fighting fighting against the poor. but I would destroy the poor in one day. ʺ In the village, he is always fighting against the poor.

Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

APPENDIX No. 5

[EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLIC AND AUTONOMOUS AREAS]

MIDDLE ASIA

Re‐election of mirabs

1. Zeravshan District. March 1. During the election process, the commissionʹs negligence and a number of abnormalities were noted. Thus, the deputy chairman of the Narpai regional executive committee, sent to the Tashkkupryuk and Missit districts, neglecting the assigned work, ordered the elections to be held by the aksakal (former emir aksakal), who conducted the mirab of the former emir official, who was disenfranchised. In the Kermininsky district in the Urta‐Kurgan village council, the commission, having arrived at the place, without registering its mandate in the village council and without conducting an election campaign, independently chose a mirab middle peasant, with whom it stayed in an apartment and was treated to pilaf.

2. The influence of the baiya on the re‐election of mirabs is noted, expressed in their participation in the meeting and promotion of their supporters to the mirabs. So, in the Kenimekh district, the Shadybek village council, in the village of Karamangit, at a meeting, at a meeting, at the time of the nomination of the poor man, they opposed and began to persuade their supporters to carry out the candidacy they had nominated. The member of the commission asked the beys to leave the meeting, as they were deprived of voting rights; Bais supporters pounced on the commission member, punched him in the face, and a fight ensued, which disrupted the meeting. In the Nurata district, in the village of Ustuk of the same village council, before the opening of the meeting, Bai conducted agitation: “Women should not be present at the meeting under any circumstances. The Soviet government wants to corrupt our wives. ʺ As a result, not a single woman was present at the meeting. In the Khatyrchinsky district, the Khoja‐Kurgan village council, a resident of the kishlak bai Ishnazar Rasulev, who is also an imam, was campaigning: “The Soviet government only arranges meetings, takes farmers away from work, farmers will not get any benefit from these meetings; mosques, the world will end soon. ʺ In the village of Naukar, Daura‐Kurgan village council, the commission admitted to the meeting for the re‐election of mirabs persons deprived of their voting rights ‐ former emir officials.

3. Fergana District. In a number of districts, such as Buvaida, Bagdat, Rishtan, Kuva, Margelansky and others, re‐elections of mirabs are very weak, which is explained by the unsatisfactory selection of commissions and commissioners for re‐elections. The members of the commission for the re‐election of mirabs in the Gandumdan agriculture were the son of the bai and the former imam. It is not uncommon for people with a compromising past or no authority whatsoever among the farmers to pass through the mirabs under pressure from the authorized representatives. So, in the village. Muyan, Fergana region, re‐election commissioner, pom. Prosecutor for the Fergana region, using his official position, nominated at a meeting of farm laborers the candidatures of former horsemen‐Basmachs.

4. Khojand district. Nausky district. In the village of Khtai, they nominated the old mirab. After the rejection of such by the farm laborers and the poor, these bai tried to disrupt the meeting with noise and shouts. In the village of Gul‐Khena in the same district, a group of beys who had gathered invited about 10 dehkans, whom they began to agitate about the need to exclude a farm laborer from the position of a mirab, since he would allegedly never enjoy authority and would not be able to work.

Female campaign

5. Zeravshan District. Katta‐Kurgan region. Deputy the chairman of the Kara‐Darya agricultural credit partnership (party member) was raped by the daughter of a farmer, who was revealed in the process of a woman campaign.

6. Bai of the Sary‐Bazar kishlak raped the newly discovered wife of a poor man ‐ one kishlak.

7. Bukhara district. The chairman of the village council CharbagShamon (member of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan) did not allow the citizen to take off her veil, which she intended to do at one meeting.

8. Samarkand District. Ibrahim‐Khoja 128 (Samarkand), a member of the zentroyka of the quarter [artala], is campaigning among the women of the quarter for the reverse closure. The women of the KalandarKhanin part (Samarkand city) are gradually beginning to close. Family circles are inactive. Party and Komsomol members in the overwhelming majority of their wives were closed. In general, all the women of the old city 129 of Samarkand again wear the burqa. The Old Town Party Committee is not taking any measures. Offensive Commission 130 (Samarkand), where KP (b) member Uz Usmanov is the representative, does not work at all. In the Dari‐Zanjir quarter, out of 210 Uzbek women who opened, 205 closed. The clergy and bai of the Karabay‐aksakal quarter (Samarkand) and others are campaigning among the population against women visiting family circles and schools to eliminate illiteracy. As a result of agitation, schools and circles were closed.

Re‐election of the Soviets and the tribal struggle

9. The chairman of the Kabadian Tumien Executive Committee 131, wishing to be re‐elected to the post of the Tuman Executive Committee, promotes the restoration of the rights of persons deprived of them, in order to influence the farmers through them. So, at his insistence, a bai, a former emirchikov, a member of the Basmach movement, who surrendered at the end of 1925, was deleted from the lists of deprived of voting rights.

10. Jilikul region. A large Turkmen bai, having arranged tui 132, which was attended by the Turkmen bai, told the bai that they should not leave the region now, since in connection with the re‐election campaign it is necessary not to scatter their forces.

I. Chuisky canton. The former foreman of the village, who lives in the village of Karabulak of the Kichi‐Kemin village council, is campaigning among the population to hold the son of Manap Abyshkaev in the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets as representatives of the KichiKemin village council. In the house of sagyn 133 Kondubaev 134 a meeting of his group took place. His relative was also present at the meeting. The Pressel Council at the meeting proposed to collect material on the leaders of the hostile group. This decision was carried out immediately. Those present began to fabricate sentences against Baizakov on behalf of the Koshchi union and the village council. Manap, the head of the Koljoke branch, is negotiating with the attack branch in order to speak together at the upcoming re‐elections of the Soviets and bring his people to the Council. In connection with the reelections of the Soviets, the population of the village. Kashkelen Bystrorechensky parish split into two groups. The leaders of one group are Maychinov and the chairman of the village council Abyshkaev and the head of the second group ‐ the schoolteacher Yusupov with atkameners and Deininbaev. The tribal elders of aul No. 6, deprived of their voting rights, are preparing for the re‐election of the Soviets,

KAZAKSTAN

Campaign for registration of pre‐conscripts

12. Syr‐Darya province. Atkaminers of the Turt‐Kul village of the Karmakchinsky vol. are conducting agitation among the population against the campaign to register pre‐conscripts, trying to persuade all youth of pre‐conscription age not to go to military service, saying: ʺYou were registered in order to drive you to the war in China afterwards.ʺ Under the influence of their agitation, the pre‐conscripts from the Baysa area fled from their aul in order to hide from the register. A similar campaign is being conducted by atkaminers of the village No. 1 of Chilik vol.

13. Alma‐Ata district, Asparinskaya vol. Bai aul No. 6 held a meeting on the upcoming conscription. One of those present spoke as follows: “Soon there will be mobilization, since there is something wrong in the center, so we must all come to one thing: if the summer of our sons is right, then it will be necessary to hire the sons of the poor for cattle, for all the same, our cattle will be taken away and sold to the poor. ʺ

Tashkazak u., V.‐Chirchik vol. An influential bai (Uzbek) of the village of Khatynaylyk is campaigning among Uzbek youth against registering pre‐conscripts, calling to hide their real age and beat the chairman of the village council for registering young people.

14. Kazalinskaya vol. Aul No. 4. During the registration of the indigenous population of the pre‐conscription age, the chairman of the aulkom did not add the beys to the list of sons. Imam of aul Khojakent of Niyazbek parish is campaigning against the registration of preconscription youth, spreading rumors that soon there will be war and all pre‐conscripts will be driven to the front, urging young people to hide their real age. Kum‐Aryk vol. In aul No. 10, the registration of draft youth is slowed down due to the lack of an appropriate explanation about the purpose of the registration. A similar phenomenon takes place in the Akjar VIC.

15. Baiaul of Kurailinsky Karmakchinsky parish. Kazalinsky u. (antiSoviet) hid his employee from the account, indicating in the contract concluded with him 25 years instead of 21 years. A similar shelter by the bai from keeping track of their sons took place in Yany‐Kurgan vol. Turkest [ansky] u.

Kazalinsky u. and the volost, aul No. 4. The chairman of the aulkom, who registered the indigenous population of pre‐conscription age, registered only the poor youth, hiding all the sons of the beys. Bai Karakol parish they receive fictitious certificates about the age of their sons through the village councils and thus hide them from registration.

16. Kam‐Bash vol. The lists compiled by the village councils for young people of pre‐conscription age are 20‐30% incorrect, because the lists were compiled at their own discretion, contrary to the certificates presented, in connection with which 24‐26‐year‐olds were included. Moreover, this number includes mainly the poor.

17. Aktobe province. Baystvo is actively campaigning against the campaign for registering Kazakh youth. So, bai aul No. 3 ChulakDzhedinskaya vol. Chelkarsky u. is campaigning against the registration of Cossack youth, saying: “In the spring of this year. there will be mobilization of Kazakh youth, who will be driven to the front in China, therefore, it is necessary to make sure that at the moment of mobilization all the youth are hidden. ʺ

18. Bai aul № 8 Emba‐Baysarinsky vol. Temirsky district with the aim of disrupting the campaign for registering the Kazyouths, he says to the latter: “Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow Trotsky’s army will arrive, 135 and rather than join the Communist army, better join Trotsky’s army, and for this time you hide somewhere, we will give you horses and will supply everything necessary. ʺ

19. Aksakals of aul №7 Emba‐Temir vol. in order to hide part of the youth of their aul from the registration, they organized a meeting, as a result of which only 12 of the 23 persons subject to registration were registered, all the poor; the remaining 11 people, mainly the sons of bays and middle peasants, were covered by the chairman of the village council. A similar campaign against registration is carried out by the

merchants of Chelkar, spreading various provocative rumors about mobilization of pre‐conscripts to the front, etc.

NATIONAL REGIONS OF THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

Peasant loan and self‐taxation

20. Chechnya. In with. Nozhai‐Yurt at the general meeting at the very moment when the decision on self‐taxation was made, supported by a number of speeches by the poor and middle peasants, the fist behind him began to shout: “Do not pass a resolution,” which caused disorganization. While trying to isolate him, the kulaks disrupted the meeting. The kulak arrested by the police was immediately repulsed by other kulaks.

21. In the village. Benoy of the Nozhai‐Yurt district came to distribute the bonds of the peasant loan, an authorized person who brought with him a list of 82 citizens [village] Benoy, drawn up in advance in the regional executive committee. Without conducting any explanatory campaign, the commissioner suggested that the village council call all citizens on the list and let them sign. In response to the refusal of some of the peasants, the commissioner arrested them, as a result of which the latter were forced to sign. In general, when signing up for a loan, the authorized representative did not take into account the financial situation of the peasants, declaring to them: “If you don’t sign, I will arrest you. You still have to pay. ʺ The method of intimidating the peasants was also used by the chairman of the district administration, who came to the village, to whom the poor began to complain about the actions of the representative. So, he told the peasants, that the refusal to subscribe to the loan would be viewed as resistance to Soviet power. Frightened peasants secretly from the village council organized a meeting and allocated delegates who left for Vedeno at night to send a telegram from there to the regional center.

22. Sharoyevsky district. In with. Sharoi arrested 8 poor people and 4 kulaks during the implementation of the peasant loan. At the same time, by order of the authorized person, household items and livestock were taken from those who did not pay the money for the loan.

23. Adyghe‐Circassian region. All L. In Novo‐Sevastopolskoye, the commissioner who came to carry out the campaign for the implementation of the cross‐loan summoned the priests to village council and invited them to preach sermons in the churches so that the population would willingly subscribe to the loan. In the village of Koshehabl, the chairman of the RIK, having summoned one of the villagers to the village council, imposed a 15‐ruble bond on him, stating: “If you don’t pay the money now, I’ll put you in jail.”

24. Circassia. In the village of Kasaevsky, at a general meeting, a standard was worked out for what amount and who should take the peasant loan bonds. As a result, the population had the impression that the loan was distributed by compulsory order. In the village of Atazhukinsky, the secretary of the local communist cell began to practice the implementation of a loan through the clergy. Only thanks to the intervention of the authorized organizing bureau was this method of implementing the peasant loan terminated.

25. Karachay. In the village of Eltarkach, the chairman of the village council is a kulak, who deliberately does not carry out any work to distribute peasant loans. As a result, only 100 rubles worth of bonds were sold in the aul. In the village of N.‐Marinsky, the chairman of the village council, a party member, said that a list would be drawn up for those who did not want to subscribe and sent to the right place. All L. Marukhskoye, local kulaks, speaking at a general meeting, said: “The Soviet government is robbing us ‐ now a tax, now self‐taxation, now a loan. We will not buy a loan and we do not advise others to buy bonds.”

26. In the village of Elbrus, under the influence of prosperous kulak elements who tried to convince the population that self‐taxation would be carried out systematically, the population adopted self‐taxation after long explanations and persuasions, asking to reduce the percentage of self‐taxation.

Class struggle in the mountain village

27. Dagestan. In the village of Kokbas, a kulak, an immigrant from the Turkmen district of the Stavropol district, taking advantage of the poor peopleʹs lack of funds to purchase food, buys from them for negligible prices the land of the spring shower allotment. So, from several poor people, he bought about 17des. for meat at an average rate of 28 pounds, meat per tithe. All L. Baba‐Yurt, a kulak, having agricultural machines, gives them to the poor and middle peasants for use, taking half of harvest from them. In addition, the kulak lends money to the needy poor at high interest rates.

28. Ingushetia. All L. V. Achaluki kulak cruelly exploits farm laborers. After work, one of his laborers went to read a newspaper as a laborer. A kulak came for the laborer, which, having pounced on the laborer, beat him and, threatening to kill him, suggested that he immediately leave him as a laborer. At the same time, the kulak threatened the chairman of the farmhand who stood up for the farmhand. In the same village, several farm laborers, working on harvesting corn from the kulak, demanded a calculation from the latter. Instead of paying money, the kulak beat the farm laborers, threatening them with murder. The village council does not take any measures to protect farm laborers.

29. In p. After praying, the Surkhokhs burst into the mosque, the sectarians of the Batal‐Khadzhins 136 and tried to inflict fist reprisals on a member of the village council (a poor man) who was in the mosque. The latter, from whom the Batal‐Khadzhins had taken the dagger, went to the village council to report the incident. The sectarians followed him to the village council, where they also tried to deal with the poor. Under the threat of weapons, the sectarians were asked to leave the village council, and a protocol was drawn up for the leaders. However, the sectarians were not prosecuted, as they offered to make peace with the poor man, return the dagger to him and pay 30 rubles. money and one ram.

ORDER

ARMENIA

Opposition campaigning

30. Zangezur district All L. Artsevanik of the Kafan district, a number of anti‐Soviet elements, in connection with the exclusion of Trotsky 137 and other oppositionists from the party, spread provocative rumors, speaking out among the peasants. “The opposition is right in its views. Trotsky demanded an equalization of wages, free trade, and also that no distinction be made between party members and non‐party members, since all people are the same. Trotsky believed that the

October Revolution did not improve the economic situation of either the workers or the peasants, that only communists receive a good salary, that those persons who defend only the interests of communists are elected to village councils, etc. Most of the communists sympathize with the opposition, even Stalin himself is an oppositionist, only he, out of principle, so as not to give up his words, does not speak for the opposition. ʺ

31. In p. The angelout of the Sisian sector, the anti‐Soviet element is campaigning for opposition among the population, saying: “The peasants must submit to the opposition, since the opposition defends the interests of the peasants, wants to strengthen private trade in order to satisfy the peasants with manufactories and basic necessities, while the Communist Party and the Comintern oppress the peasants with various taxes and want to destroy private trade. ʺ

32. In p. The Karakilis of the same area, well‐to‐do, anti‐Soviet, systematically on carousing, on the street and in other places where peasants gather, speak out for the opposition, criticizing the party for the repressions adopted against the opposition, who ʺare entirely guarding the interests of the peasants.ʺ

33. In the same district, at the Kattarsky copper rolling mills (1484 people are employed), a member of the Lenrudnikov community cell, upon returning from the city of Erivan, where he was at a party congress, began to conduct agitation among the workers for opposition. In his agitation, the party member pointed out that the opposition in the person of Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev and others was forced to organize a separate faction to fight the majority of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) ʺfor the liberation of the workersʺ and that the situation of workers working 10‐18 hours. per day, will not improve until the opposition wins. The agitation of a member of the Communist Party influenced some workers, who began to speak favorably about the factional work of the opposition.

34. Echmiadzinsky. In with. Aghavnatun of the Saimagar district, the chairman of the village council, in the presence of a number of peasants, spoke out: “Trotsky was right when he spoke about the need to equalize wages. Why Sako Hambardzumyan (Chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars) receives several hundred rubles, while other employees receive a penny. After all, we are all Soviet employees. The opposition is right in speaking of the impossibility of building socialism, 13 ʺand indeed only fools are capable of thinking about building socialism.ʺ

35. Lori‐Bambaksky district in with. Rykovo (formerly Saratovka) of the Vorontsov section Vasily Tamplan and Ivan Bogdanov, both well‐to‐do and highly respected in the village, spoke to the peasants in the village council office: “The government is fighting the opposition because it is trying to free the peasants from all taxes. How can such a burden be borne by the peasants? Workers and employees receive wages, and the peasants work and suffer for them. ʺ

36. Erivansky district in with. There is an opposition group of Komsomol members in the Chatkran of the Kotayk district, which maintains contact with the opposition members of the Erivan organization, receiving appropriate directives from them. This group has a connection with Moscow. This opposition group of Komsomol members among the peasants of the village is spreading slogans. So, during one wedding they spread the following slogans: ʺDown with nepman ‐ kulakʺ, ʺLong live Zinoviev and his supportersʺ, ʺLong live healthy criticismʺ, etc. Ive has a similar opposition group of Komsomol members. Berjalu of the same area and district.

Activities of the former Dashnaks

37. Erivansky district in with. The former Dashnaks, with the support of the clergy, are conducting intensified agitation against the Soviet regime in the N.‐Akhty Akhtinsky area. For example, at one wedding, a priest proclaimed a toast to the health of the arrested and the emigrants, declaring, ʺThe day is not far off when the sun will look out for our people.ʺ The priestʹs speech was interrupted by cheers from the Dashnaks present at the wedding.

38. In p. The caravanserai of the same area and the district, a former Dashnak, who was the commandant during the Dashnak adventure of 1921, is vigorously agitating the peasants not to pay membership dues in a cross. In his agitation, the former Dashnak points out that only the Soviet government is robbing the peasants with all sorts of fees and that the opposition was right to fight against these excessive taxes. At the same time, the former Dashnak said that the levy was made to increase the salaries of employees.

39. In the same county in the village. B.‐Vedi of the Veda district, a former Dashnak, in a conversation with a peasant, said: ʺWhen, finally, the time will come when I can strangle communists with my own hands, such as the deputy chairman of the executive committee, and drink their blood.ʺ

40. Etchmiadzin district in with. The Arjarch of the Kurdukuli area, a former Dashnak, persuades the Turkic population to move to Azerbaijan, pointing out that with the declaration of war on the USSR by England and the capture of Armenia, the Armenians will cut out all the Turks. Under the influence of this Dashnak agitation, six Turkic households moved to Azerbaijan, from where, however, they returned to their village.

41. The same area and county in with. B. Shagriar former Dashnaks falsely interpret newspaper information to the peasants, saying: “The Soviet government does not participate in the League of Nations, since the 139 powers participating in the League of Nations do not recognize it, for the leaders of the Soviet power are ragged, boys and atheists. These boys, instead of justice, which they always talk about, expelled oppositionists from the ranks of the CPSU (b), who demanded an improvement in the economic situation of the peasants and the equalization of wages. ʺ

42. Daralagezsky u. Population with. Akhkend of the 1st section (a mixed village: Armenians and Turks), wishing to have a separate village council in its village, intends to file a corresponding petition with the uezdispolkom, which is hindered by anti‐Soviet elements, including a number of former Dashnaks, who resort to inciting hatred between the Turks and the Armenians, saying to the latter: “If we have a separate village council, then the Turks will enter there and will dispose of us. Therefore, we must not allow this to happen”.

The activity of the kulaks and the wealthy

43. Lori‐Bambaksky district in with. In the Gagaly of the Dsekh district, the existing kulak group is conducting an intensified campaign against the poor peasantsʹ meetings, at which candidates for re‐elected bodies are preliminarily discussed. In addition, the aforementioned group of kulaks often invites the poor to their weddings and revels in order to take them under their influence. In with. Nikitino of the Karaklis district, a number of kulaks and the well‐to‐do entered the poor meeting, at which the issue of the upcoming re‐election of the cross committee was discussed. Thanks to their campaigning, the latter managed to fail the list of candidates put forward by the cell.

44. Daralagezsky u. In with. Erdanin, at the re‐election of the cross committee, under the influence of the agitation of the kulaks, the middle peasants and the poor spoke out against the candidacies of the poor, proposing to choose the haves in the cross, since the latter would be able to cover them in case of waste or shortage of money. As a result, the list of the poor was ruined and the kulaks succeeded in bringing their henchmen to the new composition of the cross committee.

45. Dilijan district in the villages of Geolkend and Chaikend of the Krasnosolsk area, the wealthy are campaigning against agricultural tax and insurance. At the same time, they urge the population to abandon tax and insurance contributions. Similar campaigning against the Unified Agricultural Benefits and insurance is carried out by kulaks in the village. Shikhlyar of the Sisian section of the Zangezur district

46. Zangezur district in the villages of St. Peryusy, Tanzatof and other Gorski [] region, as well as in a number of villages of the Sisian area, kulaks and other anti‐Soviet elements, dissatisfied with the land plot, are conducting intensified agitation against the latter. In order to achieve a new plot of land, they organize secret meetings at which they collect signatures from the peasants about the need for a new plot of land.

Secretary of INFO Kucherov