Review of the political state of the USSR

Review of the political state of the USSR in July 1928

Top secret

August 21, 1928

Moscow city

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

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

The PP of the OGPU and the 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 3 applications, 2 diagrams and one table.

Deputy Chairman OGPU Trilisser

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev

[CITY]

Strikes and conflicts at state‐owned enterprises

Strikes and conflicts at metal factories. In July, 4 strikes with 35 participants were recorded among metalworkers (in June 4 strikes with 643 participants). The July strikes were insignificant and continued to be motivated by the enactment of new collective bargaining agreements and related changes in norms and rates (Stalin and Frunze [plants] in Ukraine, Sudoverfinsky in Nizhny Novgorod province and Sevastopol marine plant in Crimea).

A particularly serious conflict took place at the Izhevsk factories (Trust RUZh, Votskaya oblast) with time workers (up to 5,000 people).

Due to mistakes made by the TNB, significant groups of these workers, when switching to the 8‐bit grid, were reduced not by two, as it was supposed under the new collective agreement, but by one; some of the groups were left with the old categories. As a result, there was a cost overrun, which the plant management refused to accept from the MA and ordered the re‐tariffication.

The lowering of the categories after the tariffication was carried out caused strong discontent among the time workers, aggravated by the fact that the workers were not given the difference between the old and the new collective agreement.

A sheet was posted in the foundry for collecting signatures demanding an increase by one grade, and three teams of workers immediately signed the statement. In a short period of time, the Izh [evsky] district committee received over 200 applications. In the hunting workshop, the workers stopped work.

The discontent reached the greatest acuteness at the meeting on July 10 (there were 900 time‐attendants) after the administration announced that the difference would not be issued from January (the time of the conclusion of the collective agreement), but from March due to previously existing ʺoverpaymentsʺ to workers. This statement provoked violent protests from the time workers. At the address of the factory committee, factory management and factory party organizations, a number of sharp attacks were noted: “the factory committee has broken away from the workers and does not protect their interests, the factory committee is following the lead of the business executives, the activities of the business executives smell like Shakhty business, the factory committee and the district committee of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the factory management continue the policy of Smolensk dealers 246 , the factory must be dispersed, ʺand so on.

Under the influence of a speech by one party member, a group of workers proposed to elect a delegation to the center. This proposal was accepted by the meeting. The delegation consisted of 3 people (one party member, a former member of the CPSU (b) and non‐party).

On July 11, the delegates, in view of the refusal of the factory committee to give them funds for a trip to Moscow, notified the workers of this and offered to collect money from the workers themselves.

On July 12, chalk inscriptions appeared at the plant: ʺOn July 13, a meeting is scheduled near the coal gate, come and bring pieceworkers with youʺ, ʺtime workers, all go to the meeting, enough deceptionʺ delegates to the center).

The meeting did not take place only due to the fact that the factory committee took timely measures (announcements were posted that the meeting was convened without the knowledge of Izhraikom and it was recommended not to attend the meeting).

On the same day in the evening the Izhraykom plenum and the delegate meeting took place. It was decided on the issue of paying the difference to request the center in such a way that the answer was received before the arrival of workers from maternity leave. It was also decided to deny the delegates a leave of funds for a trip to Moscow. Despite this, on July 14, former party members in some workshops collected money for the trip (shop‐box and sawtooth workshops).

It should also be noted that in the electrical department, two party members were in charge of the dissatisfied time workers. In recent days, these party members have managed to organize a group of up to 60 people, under the influence of the agitation of these party members, the workers finished work every day for 15‐20 minutes. earlier, in addition, they demanded an extraordinary re‐election of the trade union representative. In a number of workshops (barrel‐box, shop‐box, tool shop), there were also tendencies to leave production among repair workers. A group of repair workers from a hunting workshop announced the calculation, but they were not given the calculation, promising to increase their salaries.

Conflicts at Ivanovo‐Voznesensk textile factories due to worsening working conditions. Among the workers of a number of IvanovoVoznesensk factories, dissatisfaction was noted in connection with the deterioration of the quality of raw materials entering the processing. The discontent is intensified by the fact that the administration does not pay attention to the statements of the workers. Individual conflicts are protracted (Seredskie factories, Dmitrovskaya, etc.). Workers demand additional payments for deficiencies.

On July 5, a group of water women went on strike at the Seredskaya fke in connection with an increase in the rags. The administration did not pay attention to the repeated statements of the workers. The water women elected two delegates to the factory. After the order of the administration to change the overhead gears, the water‐workers got down to work. This event, however, did not produce particularly tangible results. On July 10, the water‐workers again delegated two workers to the head. factory, but the results were not achieved. On the same day to the head. a group of tenants came to the factory, who also have a big defect as a result of the torn. Head the factory promised to take action. Water ladies and tenants intend to present an ultimatum demand to eliminate the rags and issue a surcharge. In case of refusal, complications are possible.

At Bolshaya Dmitrovskaya, 400 workers in the spinning department were dissatisfied with the poor cotton. Some female workers called for a strike.

On July 9, under the influence of the agitation of one water woman (“they mock us, again all the cars are torn, all that remains is to go on strike, since the administration and the factory are not paying attentionʺ) a group of water women went to the factory, where they were promised to take measures to stop the torn.

The dissatisfaction of the female workers intensified in connection with the statement of the head. factory that the factory management ordered to use the available stocks of bad cotton.

On July 12, at a meeting (attended by 350 people), a number of female workers demanded the issuance of an additional payment for a defect and an examination of the reasons for the tear. The meeting elected a commission, which was instructed to petition GOST for an additional payment for a defect.

The commission that worked at the meeting, together with representatives of GOST, did not find any reasons for the shortcomings and did not report on its work to the workers. The commission decided to postpone the issue for discussion by the GOST board.

Seasonal workers. The number of strikes and participants in July is almost the same as in June (79 with 8087 and 81 with 8977). But there is a sharp drop in the number of lost man‐days (10,875 versus 18,466).

Compared with July 1927, the reporting month shows a slight increase in the number of strikes and participants (8087 participants in 79 strikes in June this year, against 77 strikes with 6399 participants in July last year).

In most cases, the reasons for the strikes among seasonal workers are: dissatisfaction with the level of wages, delayed wages, shortfalls and difficult living conditions.

Rough treatment and arbitrariness on the part of the administration contributes to the aggravation of discontent. The work of trade union organizations among the seasonal workers is weak.

Noteworthy are individual strikes, which engulfed significant groups of workers (from 500 to 1000 people and more).

On 11 July 1500 peat bogs went on strike at the Shatura peat extraction sites (Yegoryevsky district of Moscow province, 14,000 workers). The strike arose in connection with the deduction from earnings from 26 to 38 rubles. everyone has it. Deductions were made due to the issue when recruiting money for grub, etc. Most of the workers, after deductions, received no more than 5‐7 rubles in their hands. On July 12, 750 people resumed their work, on July 13 ‐ another 250 people. These workers started to work on the same terms. The rest took the calculation and left for their homeland.

500 workers went on strike at the construction of Sorting Factory No. 2 in Uralazbest (Ural). Some of them agitated against the party members and the trade union: “we must lather all communistsʹ heads” and so on. Cases of delayed wages have also occurred earlier (on July 25, 300 workers went on strike in Uralazbest).

In some cases, serious excesses arose due to the delay in salaries for seasonal workers.

At the Sharovskaya economy of the Sablino‐Znamensky sugar plant (Zinovievsky district), the strong discontent of the workers (400 people) was caused by the delay in wages.

The discontent of the workers was especially aggravated in connection with the rough treatment and arbitrariness of the help. Head of Economy Khomenko. When the workers, according to the promise on

July 31, appeared for the money, Khomenko told them: ʺThe devil brought you, who announced to you that there is money.ʺ After that, exclamations were heard among the workers: ʺYou are still swearing, you yourself announced on the plantation.ʺ The outraged workers surrounded Khomenko and began to beat him.

On July 5, when paying out wages, the administration of the economy ordered ʺto pour water from the fire pump on all workersʺ in order to ʺpush back the workers crowding around the payer.ʺ This caused great anger among the workers.

At the construction of the bridge of the Tashkent railway. (Buzuluk district), there was a serious discontent in connection with the delay in wages. On July 16, only a group of skilled workers was paid. For the payment of wages to the rest of the workers, the office did not prepare statements. In this regard, on July 17, an initiative group of 5 people was organized, calling on the workers to declare a strike. The decision of the workers to go on strike was facilitated by the affirmative answer of the head. the office to the question put to him by the initiators: ʺWill it be paid if the workers quit working?ʺ The initiators of the conflict demanded from the construction committee to convene a general meeting, and when this was refused, they began to remove workers from work. One of the party workers, who continued to work, was beaten.

The workersʹ discontent was especially aggravated when three guards came to the place of work. The workers began to beat them, and they tried to take away the rifle from one of the guards. The beating of the guards was stopped after one of them fired a shot into the air.

The conflict was liquidated after a mixed commission of representatives of the administration and workers found the workersʹ demands legitimate and made a number of decisions to eliminate the abnormalities existing at the construction site.

In Moscow and the province, a significant drop in the strike movement was noted among seasonal workers (14 strikes versus 23 in June).

The mood of the unemployed

In July, a decrease in the number of unemployed seasonal workers was noted in certain regions of the Union. In Moscow, the number of unemployed seasonal workers has decreased by almost 20,000. This is due to the departure of seasonal workers (builders, unskilled laborers) to the countryside for field work (according to the Moscow Exchange, as of June 1 of this year, there were 66,941 unemployed seasonal workers, as of July 1, 43,951 people).

At some labor exchanges, unemployment continues to be acutely discontent. At the Moscow Stock Exchange, there were cases of refusal of significant groups of the unemployed from work due to low wages (a case was noted when more than 300 of the 1000 people sent refused). At the Novorossiysk, Tashkent and other stock exchanges there were excesses in connection with the weak sending of the unemployed to work (beating the administration of the stock exchange, etc.).

On July 14, the Novorossiysk Labor Exchange planned to send 150 people to public works, and 25 women were nominated from the laborer section. At the time of sending to work, a group of 50 women burst into the sectionʹs premises and demanded that they also be sent to work. Released for clarification head. section was beaten by a group. Also, two delegates were beaten when they were selecting the unemployed to be sent to work. In addition, unemployed women demonstratively tore their professional cards and sheets for receiving benefits from the insurance office, there were calls to ʺsmash the stock exchangeʺ. One of the demobilized women incited the women to ʺtake away the weapons from the policemen.ʺ On July 15, the unemployed woman came to the office of the head of the labor exchange and threatened that if the women were not sent to work, ʺthey will arrange the same things that took place on the 14th.ʺ

On July 15, one of the unemployed of the Tashkent Labor Exchange, having appeared at the exchange, demanded to be sent to work and tried to beat the head. section of Soviet salesmen. When the head. Section grabbed the unemployed by the arms, she began to shout that “the head. beat her with a section. ʺ Up to 25 unemployed people came running to shout, intending to beat him. Head section was forced to hide. The conflict was settled after the unemployed were sent to work.

A large excess took place at the Shuya labor exchange (IvanovoVoznesensk province). On the night of July 9‐10, the exchange was destroyed, the telephone wires inside the building were ripped off, the telephone set was broken, furniture was broken, registration cards for the unemployed were scattered and partially destroyed.

In some cases, there were calls for a demonstration of the unemployed, demanding the submission of work (Zaporozhye district, Ukraine).

In Ulyanovsk, leaflets were posted (on July 20, two leaflets were found in the stock exchange, on July 26 ‐ on telegraph poles on one of the city streets) with an appeal ʺto demand work or free food for the unemployed and their familiesʺ, as well as an organized fight against unemployment by ʺ elimination of protectionism, reduction of the rates of co‐employees ʺ, etc. The leaflets were signed ʺThe Ulyanovsk group of front‐line partisans in 1917ʺ.

Interruptions in the supply of bread

Difficulties in supplying bread to the urban population continue to be noted in the following areas.

Center ‐ Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Kostroma,

Yaroslavl and Ryazan provinces.

Western Belarus ‐ Bryansk province.

Volga region ‐ Stalingrad, Astrakhan, Saratov [provinces], ASSRNP, Tataria and Bashkiria.

Ukraine ‐ Lugansk, Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, Stalin and Kherson districts.

Leningrad region ‐ Velikoluksky and Cherepovets districts and the Karelian ASSR.

Ural ‐ Tagil and Sverdlovsk districts.

Georgia ‐ Samtredi.

Long queues (300‐600 people) are observed in the Tver, Kostroma, Tula, Tambov, Stalingrad, Bryansk provinces and the Tatar ASSR. In a number of cities (Tataria, Bryansk and Tver provinces), queues are set on the eve of the evening.

In the Bryansk province. in connection with the lack of bread, workers are noted for bagging for bread in the Ukraine.

Improvement in grain supply was observed in Nizhny Novgorod,

Yaroslavl province. and Belarus.

Interruptions in grain supply slowed down the campaign to increase the cooperative share (Crimea, Vladimir), causing the refusal to increase the cooperative shares.

In all these areas, as a general rule, flour is not dispensed. Bread is released according to established norms and mainly for members of cooperatives, as a result of which in a number of cities (Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Leningrad region, Dnepropetrovsk) seasonal workers remain out of supply.

In July, due to interruptions in grain supplies in a number of districts, strike moods were noted among workers (Stalingrad, Bryansk and Ukraine). A significant strike mood, turning into absenteeism and short‐term strikes, was observed among seasonal workers, caused mainly by the exclusion of seasonal workers from the planned supply (as non‐members of the cooperative).

Suspension of work and leaving of seasonal workers due to nondelivery of bread took place in the following regions: Ural ‐ Tagil district, Ukraine ‐ Dnepropetrovsk district, Leningrad region ‐ Cherepovets district, Volga region ‐ Saratov province, Center ‐ Vladimir, Tula and Ryazan provinces, West ‐ Bryansk province .,

Central Asia ‐ Tashkent district.

There were also noted excesses due to non‐delivery of bread.

Due to the lack of bread, the Temryuk City Council of the North Caucasian Territory removed about 1000 fishermen from the supply. On July 2, in the queue at the co‐melter on the part of the withdrawn from the supply, there was talk about the need to ʺbeat off the bread.ʺ July 3, head. the shop announced the list of those excluded from the supply. The list was ripped out and destroyed by the crowd. Those gathered in line went to the secretary of the party cell No. 1. Having received an answer from him that he could not do anything, the crowd, which had reached a thousand people, went to the city council. Having met near the city council the deputy. chairman, the crowd demanded immediate satisfaction with bread. Under the influence of shouts from the crowd, “beat the communists,” “we must kill all their city councilors,” “under the tsar, we had a better life,” some

began to beat the deputy. chairman of the city council.

PEASANTRY

Food difficulties in the village

Mitigation of the food crisis. The severity of the food crisis in the producing regions by the end of July has significantly softened. Only in the districts, where unfavorable crop prospects were finally determined, the peasantsʹ desire to insure themselves against famine (sale of livestock, implements and the purchase of grain) continues to be noted. Hence, there are still observed interruptions in the grain supply.

In Ukraine, facts have been recorded when starving families in search of food moved to regions more prosperous in terms of harvest (Nikolaevsky, Kremenchugsky districts). In the Kherson District, there have been cases of individual resettlement to the Urals, as well as the initiation of applications for collective resettlement.

Peasants with. Pavlovka of the Snigirevsky district filed a statement with the REC with the following content: “In view of the natural disaster and the great crop failure, we are in a critical situation. In order not to travel to another district, we ask the executive committee to save us from starvation and open the communal boiler 247 for the whole of 1929; if this cannot be done, then we ask collectively to allow us to leave for the Urals. ʺ

In the consuming provinces, interruptions in the grain supply of the peasantry are also eliminated, but more slowly due to insufficient delivery of grain products. In the central provinces (Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Tver, Ryazan, Kostroma, Kaluga) and in the Leningrad region. (Cherepovets, Velikoluksky districts) there were numerous cases of group walks of peasants (from 5 to 10‐20 people), mainly the poor, to the VICs, village councils and cooperative organizations demanding the distribution of bread. Peasants of Kaluga province. alone and in groups go to the Moscow and Vladimir provinces in search of bread. In the West, in the districts of Orsha, Polotsk, Vitebsk, cases of diseases have been registered due to the consumption of bread substitutes.

Abnormalities in the distribution of bread. The planned supply of needy peasants with grain products in a number of cases was violated by the wrong approach of the workers of the grassroots soviet and cooperatives to the distribution of grain (non‐observance of the class principle, lack of accurate accounting). As a result, the bread booked for the poor often fell for the wrong purpose.

In a number of village councils of the Polotsk district, the entire population of the village was included in the lists of those in need of bread, ʺso that there were no offended.ʺ In the Yezershchevsky district of the Vitebsk district, out of 600 poods reserved for the poor. bread 120 poods was given to the fists. In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. (Yuryevsky u.) Numerous facts of distribution of flour by cooperative organizations to kulaks and well‐to‐do people and refusals to give out bread to the poor, as not having contributed full cooperative shares, were noted.

Bonded deals. Due to the food crisis in the consuming regions, cases of concluding deals with the kulaks, enslaving for the poor, have become more frequent. When giving a loan to the poor, the kulaks usually condition it with the requirement to work in the ʺmild seasonʺ or return the grain taken after the harvest ʺwith interestʺ (Yaroslavl, Vladimir provinces, Cherepovets and Orsha districts).

The mood of the village in connection with the food crisis. The prodcrisis caused fears among the poor and low‐power middle peasants of the possibility of a repeat of the famine of 1919‐1921. These sentiments are aggravated by the kulak‐prosperous and anti‐Soviet elements who, in addition to agitation and incitement to protest, spread all kinds of rumors about war, riots, workersʹ uprisings, the separation of Ukraine and Belarus from the USSR, etc.

In Ukraine, there is an increase in Petliura‐chauvinistic sentiments.

In the consuming gubernias, the anti‐Soviet element is strenuously striving to inflame antagonism towards the city, pointing out that workers and employees live in better material conditions at the expense of the peasantry.

Dynamics of mass demonstrations on the basis of industrial difficulties. The number of mass demonstrations in all regions of the Union in connection with the mitigation of the food crisis has sharply decreased.

If in June there were 101 mass demonstrations, then in July only 15

(with the number of speakers from 100 to 1000 people).

Of these, by regions: Ukraine ‐ 5, North Caucasus ‐ 2, North‐West ‐ 4, West ‐ 2, Middle Volga region. ‐ 2.

Group performances in June ‐ 89 (versus 25 in July) with the number of speakers from 20‐30 to 70 people in each case; of them in Ukraine ‐ 6, North Caucasus ‐ 4, North‐West ‐ 5, West ‐ 2, Ural‐1, Middle Volga region. ‐ 5, Central provinces ‐ 2.

Most of the performances are in the first half of July. Performances in Ukraine took place in the following districts: Proskurovsky, Shepetovsky, Zinovievsky, Kherson, Kremenchug, Chernigov,

Vinnitsa, Starobelsky and Odessa (one each).

In the North Caucasus ‐ in the Kuban (3) and Armavir (1), in the North‐

West ‐ in Cherepovets (4) and Velikie Luki (6).

In the West ‐ in Polotsk (1) and Orsha (1) districts, Smolensk province. (1).

In the Central provinces, 2 group performances were registered in the Kaluga and Tver provinces.

The demonstrations in the producing regions took place mainly on the basis of the export of grain. The peasants, opposing the export, sometimes took away the grain and distributed it among themselves. It is interesting to note that in a number of cases such an unauthorized distribution of bread was carried out according to lists drawn up in advance or drawn up right there with the obligation of those receiving bread to pay its cost or return it in kind when harvesting (Ural). In the consuming provinces, the protests were caused by interruptions in the supply of bread and the imposition of a ʺrigid normʺ.

A significant number of protests were provoked by the kulakprosperous and anti‐Soviet elements, inciting the peasants through the poor and middle peasants ‐ ʺunder the kulaksʺ to perform.

Agricultural tax

Positive results of the accounting campaign. The preliminary results of the accounting campaign for a number of districts revealed an increase in comparison with last year in the sown area, livestock, and especially non‐agricultural earnings.

The available incomplete figures for Siberia show an increase in the sown area in a number of districts: in the Krasnoyarsk District by 22%, Irkutsk by 14.9%, Biysk (by 5 districts) by 20%, Achinsky by 19.9%, Kamensky by 15%, etc. In some districts of these districts, the increase in the cultivated area reaches 40 percent or more (in the Togul district of the Biysk district and other districts, the increase in the cultivated area in comparison with last year reaches 100%). An even greater increase is provided by the figures for accounting for non‐agricultural earnings: in the Irkutsk district by 85%, in the Achinsk district by 77.8%, in the Kamensk district by 109%, etc.

A very significant increase in the accounting of non‐agricultural earnings is also observed in the central provinces, Belarus and other regions.

The positive results of the accounting campaign, in particular the increase in the sown area and non‐agricultural earnings, is mainly due to a more complete and careful consideration of the sown area and other sources of income this year compared to last year and, to a certain extent, by the actual increase in the sown area in certain regions (Siberia, etc. ) the poor and middle peasants.

Hiding taxation objects. Along with the achievements noted, this year, in comparison with last year, the counting campaign revealed in all regions and especially on the outskirts (Siberia, DVK) a significant shelter of taxable objects, mainly by the kulak‐wealthy strata and partly by the middle peasantry, which is taking on a massive character in some areas. ... In Siberia and the DVK, the well‐to‐do and kulaks often managed to hide up to half of their crops. In a number of cases, the wealthy, without sowing their allotment land, sowed rented or seized land elsewhere and thus hid this area from the account.

In the Omsk District, due to the concealment, there is a 2.3% decrease in sowing versus last year (and a 13% decrease versus the target figures).

Comparatively correct information is given only after a number of measures have been taken against the malicious harbourers (measurement of the crop area, verification of taxpayersʹ records according to settled lists, and fines for harboring harbors). The shelter of non‐agricultural incomes, which often decrease by 5 times or more, has a particularly significant size. As a rule, the clogging of the kulaks and wealthy tax commissions and the weak work of the lower Soviet and tax apparatus contribute to the shelter of income.

The tendencies towards the curtailment and fragmentation of farms. The accounting campaign revealed in the North Caucasus and Siberia and other regions a tendency towards fragmentation of farms, mainly on the part of the kulak‐wealthy strata of the countryside, in order to reduce the size of the agricultural tax. In the Kuban Okrug, in some regions, sections cover up to 9% of the total number of farms. In most cases, these sections are fictitious, especially in kulak and prosperous farms.

In some districts of Siberia and the North Caucasus, isolated cases of a reduction in the cultivated area were recorded among the wealthy and kulaks (Kamenskiy, Omskiy, Barnaulskiy, etc.). In the Barnaul Okrug, in connection with the existing cases of malicious reduction of the sown area by kulaks and well‐to‐do people, land societies are raising the issue of confiscating unused land from kulaks. There are also isolated cases of refusal of the wealthy from part of their land plots in favor of zemsovtsy in order to avoid a large tax (Irkutsk District). It is interesting to note that familiarization of the population with the new resolution on grain procurements this year has significantly reduced the number of cases of closing down farms and even talk about it.

Weakness of preparatory and awareness campaigns. In a number of regions of the Union, preparatory and explanatory work on agricultural tax was not carried out at all or was carried out extremely weakly (Tula, some areas of Kursk province, a number of districts of the LVO and Siberia). The weakness of explanatory work contributed to the spread of various incorrect and provocative rumors about the excessive tax this year, about the even taxation of all layers of the village, etc., which even caused panic in some villages, the sale of livestock, etc. (Kursk province, Krasnoyarsk district, etc.). In the Omsk district, some village councils did not carry out any mass explanatory work and did not even discuss the issue of a new agricultural tax at their meetings, and having received directives from district and district organizations to conduct a tax campaign, they directly proceeded to register taxable objects.

So, for example, the chairman of the Yanovsk village council of the Novoselovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk district explained to the population that the new tax would be equal to the amount of the farmʹs profitability, as a result of which panic arose among the peasants, many began to slaughter livestock, etc., and only after the RIK explained the panic subsided.

The weakness of explanatory work on the part of local organizations made it easier for the kulaks and the wealthy to conduct anti‐tax and anti‐Soviet agitation.

Negligence and inactivity. Insufficient pace of work on accounting, incomplete coverage of taxable objects due to negligence and inaction shown by the accounting and tax commissions, is noted in almost all regions of the Union. In a number of districts of the North Caucasus, Siberia and the DCK, the criminal negligence of the accounting commissions contributed to the massive concealment of taxable objects and made it necessary to re‐register them in entire regions (Omsk, Barabinsky, Rubtsovsky and Amur districts).

The accounting commissions showed particular inactivity with regard to accounting for non‐agricultural earnings and the income of handicraftsmen (central provinces, LVO, Siberia). The sown area and, in particular, non‐agricultural incomes were often taken into account ʺaccording to wordsʺ, without any verification of them, in some places there was no control over the activities of technical tax workers (accountants, registrars), often poorly selected and associated with the kulaks (central provinces, a number of districts of the LVO, Siberia and DCK). In a number of districts, the poor, agricultural laborers and rural trade organizations (Omsk, Rubtsovsky and other districts) were not at all involved in participating in the accounting campaign (in the case of identifying the harbourers). As a result of the inactivity of the grassroots co‐apparatus, the concealers often remained unpunished and were not brought to justice (Tula province, Donskoy district and a number of Siberian districts).

Sometimes the inactivity of the village councils and tax commissions takes on the character of direct sabotage and direct assistance to the kulaks and the wealthy.

So, for example, in the Teplinsko‐Ogarevsky district of the Tula province. Most of the village councils in every possible way avoided identifying hidden objects of taxation and from accounting for farms subject to individual taxation. In the Barnaul District (Siberia), a number of accounting commissions have been brought to justice for inactivity.

Fist indulgence. The concealment by tax commissions and village councils of the sources of income for the kulaks and the well‐to‐do from taxation is a phenomenon noted in many villages in almost all regions of the Union (central provinces, Central Black Earth Region, LVO, Siberia, etc.). There are a number of cases when the chairmen and members of the village councils and tax commissions themselves petitioned the RECs to reduce the tax to certain kulaks and the wealthy or to exempt them from individual taxation (Tula province, Karelia, a number of Siberian districts, etc.). In a number of cases, tax commissions exempted individual kulaks and the wealthy from tax or provided them with benefits, denying them to the poor, and exempted them from individual taxation (Central Black Earth Region, Tula, Karelia, a number of Siberian districts, etc.). The indulgence of the kulaks on the part of the grassroots Soviet apparatus is often expressed in the production of fictitious sections of their property by the village councils (Velikoluksky, Omsk okrugs, etc.). In the Barnaul District, a number of tax commissions have been brought to justice for direct sheltering from the imposition of kulaks and the wealthy. Often, members of registration commissions and village councils themselves concealed their income.

Perversions of the class line and excesses in the policy of accounting for taxation and fines. During the accounting campaign, numerous cases of perversion of the class line in relation to the poor and middle peasants were registered. So, for example, the majority of farms, which are scheduled for individual taxation by the Teplinsko‐Ogarevsky District Administration of the Tula Province. is typically average. In the Rubtsovsky district, a number of cases of individual taxation of middleclass labor farms were registered.

There are a number of cases of over‐taxation of poor and middle peasants, non‐provision of benefits to the poor, etc. (Moscow, Tula provinces, Karelia, separate districts of Siberia, etc.). In Tulunsky, Kamensky and other districts of Siberia, some accounting commissions forced taxpayers to record increased, untrue crop sizes.

It is especially necessary to note the existing excesses and abnormalities in a number of districts of Siberia, the North Caucasus and other regions in the policy of fines. The poor and middle peasants in these areas are often fined for insignificant and non‐malicious shelters, sometimes even for mistakes of the accounting commissions themselves (Kamenskiy, Tulunskiy, Krasnoyarskiy, Rubtsovskiy, Donskoy and other districts).

So, for example, in stc. Novo‐Shcherbinovskaya Yeisk district middle peasant was fined 0.08 dess. sowing. In Kamyshevskaya stanitsa, 30 middle peasant farms were fined less than 0.5 dess. sowing (Donskoy district). In a number of villages in the Tyumentsevsky district of the Kamensky district, some poor people were fined 5 times for shelter 0.30.4 dess. sowing or 3 sheep. In some areas of the Krasnoyarsk District, tax commissions have imposed fines that are beyond the strength of the economy. In the Rubtsovskiy district, a number of facts were noted that the poor were fined for insignificant shelters and the sale of property, buildings and agricultural implements by tax commissions to collect a fine illegally imposed (Kuryinskiy district). In some areas of the Krasnoyarsk and Donskoy districts, even those who voluntarily revealed their hiding places were fined.

In the North Caucasus, in the Kuban District, there have been cases when tax commissions and village councils, littered with wealthy and anti‐Soviet elements, were fined 3‐5 times for sheltering the wealthy, and 10 times for the poor.

Attitude of different strata of the peasantry to the tax campaign

The attitude of the poor and middle peasants to the new tax. The bulk of the poor and middle peasants generally approve of the new law on agricultural tax, but part of the poor, mainly economically dependent on the kulaks and the wealthy, expresses dissatisfaction with the increase in taxation of the wealthy strata of the countryside and the taxation of non‐agricultural earnings out of fear that all these increases will indirectly fall on the shoulders of the poor (central provinces, Central Chernozem region, LVO and other areas).

Characteristic of the mood of this part of the poor performance are as follows: ʺIf the Soviet power will be taxed Horselover 248 for the cultivation of land in the poor, the latter is no relief from releasing it from the tax will not receive, because then have to pay Horselover five times as much.ʺ “It is better to increase the tax on the poor than to tax the income of the middle peasants from agricultural work, because the horseman will always do without the poor, while the poor cannot do without him” (speeches of the poor at a meeting in Yaroslavl province.). “With an increase in tax, the power will lead the poor to the point that they will have to howl like a wolf and not be able to use the reserves of the wealthy and middle peasants, and without this the poor cannot live” (TsCHO).

There are similar demonstrations by the poor in other regions (LVO, Belarus, etc.). The dissatisfaction of a part of the poor for the same reasons also causes an increase in the taxation of handicraftsmen.

Strong dissatisfaction with the taxation of side earnings is expressed by a powerful part of the middle peasantry (central provinces, LVO, Siberia and other regions). In some places, this discontent was aggravated by the food crisis and the loss of crops (LVO, Tula province, Ukraine and other regions), and the anti‐tax actions of the middle peasants in a number of cases took on a sharp anti‐Soviet character. “The Soviet government, with its tax policy, will ensure that the peasants will shout ʹDown with the Communistsʹ, as they shouted in their time, ʹDown with the Tsarʹ” (Leningrad District). “All that remains for us is to sing ʹGod Save the Tsarʹ” (Tula Province). “There will be a war, we will not go to war, we have deceived the peasants, and the second time will break down” (Omsk District).

In the Moscow, Yaroslavl and Vladimir provinces, there have been cases of failure of resolutions to approve the new agricultural tax and the adoption of resolutions demanding the abolition of taxation of income from side earnings (Vladimir province). In a number of cases, the middle peasants, like the poor, expressed dissatisfaction with the increase in taxation of the wealthy and the kulaks, fearing the transfer of the tax by the wealthy to the middle peasants by increasing payments for the use of agricultural machinery, mills, etc. ʺThey impose on the wealthy, but in the end we will payʺ (Leningrad District). “We have imposed a large tax on our wealthy, owners of creameries and wool products, but we will have to take the rap for the middle peasants, since they will be able to take a double payment from us” (Tula province).

On the other hand, the statements of the middle peasants, who have taxed income for cultivating the land of the poor, are characteristic: “If the authorities press us, we will press the poor” (Yaroslavl province).

In the northern regions, on the part of a significant part of the poor and middle peasants, there was also dissatisfaction with the too early payment of the first tax contribution (Moscow, Tula, Yaroslavl provinces, Belarus and the Amur district, DCK).

Particularly noteworthy is the sharp dissatisfaction with the new agricultural tax of handicraftsmen, especially in the provinces and districts of the Central Region and the BSSR, where they are taxed this year with a significantly higher agricultural tax compared to last year.

For example, in the Moscow province. Karpov parish Bogorodsky u. agricultural tax in 1927‐1928 was expressed in the amount of 16,000 rubles, and in 1928‐1929 in 68,000 rubles. The increase was due to the large taxation of handicrafts. In Orekhovo‐Zuevsky u. individual farms of the handicraftsmen of the Annenskaya vol., who paid 50‐52 rubles last year, this year they are taxed at 350 rubles.

Such a significant increase in the agricultural tax was mainly due to a more accurate accounting of the size of the income of handicraftsmen, but also partly due to the re‐taxation of individual farms.

Counteracting the kulaks and the well‐to‐do agricultural tax campaign. The campaign that unfolded during the reporting period to register taxable objects and hand out salary sheets provoked increased opposition from the kulak‐prosperous strata of the village, which was expressed in broad anti‐tax and anti‐Soviet agitation, the spread of various provocative rumors, disruption of tax collections, etc.

The kulaks, in their anti‐tax activities, tried in every possible way to attract the middle peasants and the poor. The most typical method of anti‐tax kulak agitation is to call for a refusal to accept salary slips and appeal against decisions of local bodies. “There is no need to accept salary slips, we must refuse such taxes and nothing will come to us for this” (Moscow province). “If we organize together and act together, although there are two villages, the authorities will still be unable to do anything to us” (Tula province).

Similar statements against the acceptance of salary sheets and for the need to appeal were also noted in Kherson, Shepetovsky, Tulchinsky, Kremenchug, Kryvyi Rih and other districts of Ukraine. In Moscow Gubernia, in a number of Siberian districts, kulaks and well‐to‐do people campaigned against the election of representatives to rural and district tax commissions. The speeches of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do at meetings and especially in group conversations on the issue of agricultural tax are almost as a rule of a sharp anti‐Soviet character. “All the peasants must get together and make their protest, let them know abroad that we are being crushed here by these extortions and fines” (Krasnoyarsk District). ʺThe communists must be crushed, otherwise they, with their power, will make us beggarsʺ (speeches of the owners of brick cars in Yaroslavl province.). “The Communists should be offered that if you cannot rule the country,

In the Krivoy Rog district, a case of agitation by kulaks for organizing an uprising was registered.

The defeatist agitation of the kulaks, which intensified during the tax campaign, should be especially noted. “At least there was a war sooner, a Pole or a Frenchman would come and put an end to this Jewish bandit power” (Bryansk province) In Ukraine and Siberia, the kulaks spread various provocative rumors about the war, etc.

There have been a number of cases of anti‐tax resolutions passed as a result of kulak agitation and an organized refusal to accept salary sheets and disruption of meetings (Moscow, Bryansk provinces,

Dnepropetrovsk, Barnaul districts, etc.). It is interesting to note that opposition to the tax (disrupting meetings, passing anti‐tax resolutions, etc.) kulaks are often led through the middle peasants and even individual poor peasants ‐ ʺpodkulachnikovʺ, for which they pre‐solder them, distribute bread to them, provide them with work, etc. ... (a number of districts of the LVO and Siberia).

During the reporting period, there were also a number of cases of murders and beatings by fists and wealthy tax and Soviet workers (Moscow, Tula, Vologda provinces, Berdichev, Omsk, Salsky, Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk and other districts). Several anti‐tax kulak groups were revealed that organized underground meetings with the aim of sending walkers to the center and fighting against the tax (Moscow province, Pskov, Berdichevsky, Salsky, Maikop, Amur and other districts). In the Pskov district in the village. Kamenka, Opochetskiy district, there was a massive protest against the tax. In with. Cherkizovo Proletarian Vol. Moscow province. on the initiative of the chairman of the village council, a meeting of kulaks and the wealthy was organized to pass a resolution on reducing the tax. In the Tersk district in the city of Prikumsk, a leaflet was posted with an appeal ʺto strike and not pay the ESNH.ʺ

Anti‐Soviet manifestations in the countryside

Mass performances. In total, 60 mass and group performances were registered in July (189 in June). Mass demonstrations on the basis of food difficulties (see [under] the section ʺFood difficulties in the countrysideʺ) in July began to decline sharply.

Along with this, a number of speeches were noted on the basis of land management (6), on religious grounds (3), in connection with lynching

(3), etc.

Protests against land management took place in Ukraine (5) and in the Tver province. (1) Their immediate cause was the allotment of land to agricultural collectives and communes. The initiators of the protests were mainly kulaks, wealthy and anti‐Soviet elements (churchmen, former whites).

Attention is drawn to the recent increase in mass performances at fairs and bazaars. The reason for such anti‐Soviet actions was the lynching of thieves. Under the influence of anti‐Soviet elements, they developed into mass political actions and were often accompanied by the rout of Soviet and party organizations and mass terror against the workers of the Soviet apparatus.

An example of such excesses is the performance of 3000 crowds in the village. Ponomarevka, Buguruslan District, July 12. On the opening day of the fair, a crowd of peasants, up to 200 people, tried to arrange lynching over the caught pickpocket. When the police tried to prevent lynching, the kulaks and anti‐Soviet elements, using the agitated state of the crowd, led an agitation for the need to beat up the communists and defeat the VIC. Armed with sticks, pitchforks and scythes, the crowd, which by that time had grown to 3,000, under the leadership of an anti‐Soviet element, shouting “beat the communists, beat the police” rushed to smash the VIK. As a result, the premises of the VIC were destroyed and the grain procurement officer was brutally killed. The rest of the district workers fled in complete confusion.

Almost as a rule, at moments of such excesses, the complete unpreparedness of police officers and a threat to maintain order in such large crowds of the public are revealed, as well as confusion and indiscriminateness of the workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus.

Similar performances were recorded in the village. Aginsky, Kansk district, in Troitsk, Orenburg district. Of the speeches on religious grounds, a speech that took place in the Maksinsky district of the Cherepovets district is characteristic, where the population of four villages, agitated by the clergy and kulaks, opposed the seizure (by order of the RIK) of church property from the community that violated the agreement on the use of the temple in the village. Usishchevsky. At the same time, representatives of the village council were beaten. The performance was due to the inept approach of local workers to the withdrawal.

Terror. In total, 115 facts of terror were registered in the Union (information on the Leningrad Military District and the Siberian Territory is incomplete), of which there were murders ‐ 10, injuries ‐ 7, beatings ‐ 24, attempted murders ‐ 21, arson ‐ 26.

Terror is distributed by regions as follows: Center ‐ 13, Central ChO ‐ 2,

North‐West ‐ 3, West ‐ 12, Ukraine ‐ 27, SKK ‐ 16, Wed [edne] ‐

Volzhskaya oblast. ‐ 1, Ural ‐ 11, Siberia ‐ 21 and DCK ‐ 6.

Of the total number of terrorists (112 people), kulaks and well‐to‐do people ‐ 82 people.

Most of the terror cases (34) occurred on the basis of taxes, grain procurements and food difficulties (24) and land management (8).

Attention is drawn to the frequent burning of the property of the kulaks and the wealthy by the poor (Ukraine). In the Nikolaev district 13 arson attacks were registered.

The kulaks and the well‐to‐do are warned of arson by anonymous letters, the content of which boils down to threats to destroy the entire economy if the kulaks raise the price of bread and hide grain reserves.

ʺHand over the grain surplus, otherwise we will set it on fire.ʺ “Destroy the economy of all kulaks for taking and taking 12 rubles each. for a pood of flour. ʺ

Leaflets. According to incomplete information, Art. In July, 29 cases of distribution of anti‐Soviet leaflets were registered (13 of them in Ukraine).

The distribution of Petliura‐chauvinistic leaflets, which we noted in our last survey, continues to grow in the southern districts of Ukraine, capturing new districts (Pervomaisky, Kherson, Nikolaevsky, Nezhinsky, Berdichevsky).

An interesting leaflet found in the village. Novo‐Lutkovka, Dobrovelichkovsky district, Pervomaisky district. The leaflet was printed using manual Gutenberg printing (a method of producing antiSoviet leaflets that had not been used before).

Some leaflets found in these districts and signed by the ʺUkrainian

Revolutionary Committeeʺ were printed by typographic method.

In terms of their content, the leaflets have a sharply expressed counterrevolutionary character and contain a call for an organized uprising against ʺMoscowʹs dominance and for a struggle for a free Ukraine.ʺ

“Get out of the coffins from Ukraine, katsapiv communists, long live independent Ukraine. Comrades be ready to get ready for the zahist of Ukraine” 249 (Pervomaisky District).

“For painting a share, for a human life, for a free independent Ukraine, high live independent Ukraine is strong, high live Ukrainian revolutionary split” 250 (Shepetivka district, see Appendix [No. 1]). EASTERN NATIONAL REPUBLICS AND AUTONOMOUS

AREAS

UZBEKISTAN

Grain procurement. There is strong competition between procurement organizations. In some places, the competition takes very ugly forms.

In Yangi‐Kurgan region, representatives of the Narvansky agricultural partnership expelled representatives of Aziakhleb from the bazaar in front of the farmers.

There was almost no awareness campaign among the dekhkans.

Until very recently, there are no directives on an explanatory campaign for 4 grain points in the Tashkent district, and not a single meeting of farmers has been held.

A number of facts of administrative pressure were registered, expressed in the detention and forcible confiscation of grain.

In the Bukhara district, a representative of the Alat agricultural partnership, under threat of arrest, forced the residents of the village of Bagrin‐Vark to conclude an agreement on the delivery of grain to the partnership.

Along with this, various types of crimes take place in the activities of procurement organizations: weighting farmers at dumping points, patronizing bays and merchants, etc. The attitude of the farmersʹ masses to grain procurements is determined by dissatisfaction with the limit prices and the indicated arbitrariness in the activities of the procurement apparatus.

Buyers and merchants, vigorously campaigning against the delivery of grain to state producers, buy up wheat, distributing, on the other hand, grain on enslaving terms. The latter is especially widely developed in the Samarkand District, where over 40 buyers have been identified in three districts.

Tax campaign. The campaign to register taxable objects is taking place without sufficient activity of the grassroots co‐apparatus. In many cases, employees of village councils and registration commissions not only do not take any part in the identification of hidden objects of taxation, but they themselves contribute to the disruption of the campaign. Baysko‐prosperous elements everywhere hide a significant part of the objects of taxation.

Mass hiding of taxable objects takes place in the Kashka‐Darinsky and Khodjent districts. There are districts where no less than 50% of crops are hidden from the account.

Numerous shortcomings in the activities of the grassroots soviet and registration commissions create a hostile attitude on the part of the poor. Baysty, using these sentiments, launched an energetic anti‐tax campaign.

Land relations. Bayte activity. The further development of the activity of the Baistva continues to be observed, aimed mainly at the seizure of plots alienated by the land reform. In July, 14 cases of beating of newly endowed dehkans with bayis and a number of attempts to kill them were registered. In most cases, the bai‐invaders remain unpunished, and in some places they even enjoy the support of representatives of the lower Soviet and land apparatus.

In the Bukhara district, there were 3 cases of attempts by bays to kill the newly endowed poor. In the same district, 11 cases of beating of poor people were registered. Similar phenomena were noted in Andijan and Fergana districts (on a smaller scale).

In a number of cases, the frightened poor, not seeing support from the Soviet apparatus, voluntarily give part of the harvest to the bai or sell them the land plots received under the land reform.

In the Bukhara district, 19 cases of seizure of poor lands, water and crops by the bayis were registered in July. In the Zeravshan district, there were 2 such cases, in Andijan ‐ 2 and in Fergana ‐ 1.

Along with the open seizure of poor peasantsʹ lands, the bais in many cases intensively exploit the laborers, forcing them to work for free and dismissing them without paying them for the hours worked.

In the Bukhara district, more than 10 cases were revealed when bais drove out farm laborers without paying them for their work for 5‐6 years.

Cases of enslaving deals between the beys and the poor in need of seeds, agricultural implements and draft animals have also become more frequent. In the Bukhara district alone, over 25 cases of usurious transactions in money or in kind were registered in July.

Old city. Merchants. There continue to be cases of traders switching to patent‐free trading to avoid taxes.

A number of cases of non‐patent trade were registered in the Samarkand, Andijan and Khojent districts, in some places with the connivance of the financier.

There are broad connections between the private trader and the state trade and cooperation apparatus. In many boards of consumer societies, a significant percentage are former traders, now associated with private individuals. The same among the technical employees of state and cooperative stores.

In the Tashkent Old‐City Consumer Society, out of 30 store managers, 20 are former merchants associated with private traders; out of 52 store employees, 26 are former traders. In the consumer society of Khujand and four districts, out of 96 employees there are 25 former merchants, etc.

As a result of excessive clogging of cooperation with traders, there is a systematic supply of private traders with large consignments of goods from the cooperation.

Khojent cooperative workers regularly supply private traders with goods, often in bulk. Head By the shop of the workersʹ cooperative in Andijan, he released 2,500 meters of the manufactory to the merchants. The supply of goods to a private trader is a ubiquitous phenomenon.

Banditry. The gang of 24, which operated for a long time in the Zeravshan district, fell apart due to the withdrawal of the leader Rusa Mergen. The Mamatkul gang that has appeared in the Samarkand district is not active. The surrendered kurbashs of the Andijan district are especially active. They organize gangs and make hidden robberies. In the Surkhan‐Darya district, the Utan‐Kara gang, which had transferred from Afghanistan, operated for some time. After a series of robberies, the gang, pursued by our units, disappeared into the mountains.

TURKMENISTAN

Grain procurement. Low procurement prices for grain, disorganization of procurement organizations, competition and lack of coordination in the activities of individual procurers contribute to the slow development of the grain procurement campaign. Individual representatives of the Soviet apparatus often oppose grain procurements, campaigning against them. There is a lack of scarce goods and a lack of funds to regulate prices. A significant part of the dekhkanship refrains from supplying bread, which is explained by the inflow of funds from the sale of raw materials (wool, leather, astrakhan fur, intestines).

The contract, which started late, is going sluggishly. The grassroots network of the Turkmenkredselsoyuz contracted only about 30% of the task, Turkmenbirleshik 251 ‐ up to 25%.

Not a single pound has been contracted in the Takhta‐Bazar region. In Tejen district, in a number of agricultural associations, there is an arbitrary decrease in advances. The Tejen EPO spent more than half of the advances to cover promissory notes.

Bread speculators, and especially bai, led an energetic procurement campaign, taking advantage of the shortcomings of state procurements. In this case, private procurement, as a rule, is made on the basis of an exchange of goods.

In Tejen and Yolotan, usurers and traders exchange small quantities of wheat (15‐20 poods) from farmers for cattle and other goods. In the villages of Tejen district, small traders exchange essential products exclusively for wheat.

Tax campaign. In July, 78 cases of hiding by bajs and wealthy objects of taxation were registered. In a number of cases, hiding is assisted by grassroots workers who do not show sufficient activity in identifying objects hidden from the register, and in some places even assist in hiding in exchange for bribes. The identification campaign is weak and extremely disorganized.

Bayte activity. The activity of the Baystva and other anti‐Soviet elements in the aul increased significantly. A number of killings of activists have been registered.

In the Tashauz Okrug, 3 Soviet workers were killed and 1 wounded.

Spreading rumors about the war, the bais and former basmachi intimidate the farmers with the prospect of the fall of the Soviet regime and reprisals against the newly endowed farmers. As a result of this agitation, 95 cases were registered in July when the bai received back the land transferred by the land reform to the poor.

Craving for emigration to Afghanistan. Large cattle‐breeders of the Iolotan, Kerkinsky and Takhta‐Bazarsky districts are showing a strong desire to emigrate to Afghanistan. The motives are: an increase in taxes on livestock, low prices for karakul with allegedly high prices for bread, and the disadvantage of Baystva as a result of the land and water reform. There have already been isolated cases of emigration of pastoralists to Afghanistan. Widely developed anti‐Soviet agitation contributes to the further strengthening of migrant sentiments.

KYRGIZSTAN

Tax campaign. There is a widespread mass concealment of objects of taxation by bayami‐manaps. The largest hiding place is reached in the Jalal‐Abad canton. Bajstvo, hiding livestock and crops from registration, threatens the poor with reprisals for identifying them. Most of the commissions for accounting of objects of taxation are constructed from bays or their supporters.

In the Sadyk area, the accounting commission consists entirely of bays and manaps.

Workers of the lower Soviet apparatus in most cases do not take any measures to identify taxable objects hidden from the register, and in some places they authorize concealment, receiving bribes for this (6 cases).

NATIONAL REGIONS OF THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

Political status. The elimination of grain difficulties in most regions and the cessation of grain procurements contributed to a certain weakening of the influence of the kulaks on the main strata of the urban peasantry. The infringement of the kulak‐wealthy elements by the ongoing tax campaign led, on the other hand, to a significant increase in the activity of the kulaks and the Muslim clergy, aimed mainly at resisting the campaign to register taxable objects. The broad anti‐tax and anti‐Soviet agitation of the kulak‐mullah bloc continues to exert some influence on the poor and especially the middle peasants. Along with this, the organized resistance of the poor and middle peasants to the kulaks in their struggle for the co‐apparat, land and cooperation is intensifying. The past poor conferences revealed the increased activity of the poor. On the basis of the increased activity of the poor and the intensified struggle against the kulaks,

Around Baksan events. The Kulak‐Mullah bloc in its daily anti‐Soviet agitation makes extensive use of the events in Baksan, spreading rumors about a ʺSoviet campaignʺ on religion and about the alleged impending new grain procurement pressures. In isolated cases, antiSoviet elements, speaking at rural gatherings, put forward demands similar to the slogans of the Baksan protest. The masses of the poor condemn the Baksan performance.

Activity of the Muslim Spirituality. There is some revival of the Muslim spirituality in Chechnya. Vigorously agitating against the measures of the Soviet government, the clergy spread rumors about the impending war and the fall of Soviet power. At the same time, in many auls, public mullahs are collecting money for the repair of mosques and madrassas.

Food difficulties. In early July, grain supply interruptions were noted in Kabarda, Chechnya, Adygea, Karachai and Dagestan. Since midJuly, interruptions have been eliminated in almost all regions, except

Chechnya, where a rather acute shortage of bread continues to be felt, especially in the Urus‐Martan and Golonchozh districts. On this basis, group actions of those in need of bread were noted with intensified antiSoviet agitation of the kulaks.

In with. On July 14, a crowd of 200 people gathered in Urus‐Martan at the premises of the regional executive committee, demanding the distribution of bread. The kulaks called for the seizure of grain by force. Discontent on the basis of grain difficulties was noted in the villages of Goity, Chekhi, Valeria, Kulary, Shalazhi, and others. Walkers were sent to the okrtsentr demanding bread.

Tax campaign. The UAT campaign is proceeding very weakly, without proper preparation of local organizations, as a result of which, in some places, instead of explaining tax policy, confusion is introduced, causing discontent among the poor and middle peasants (Dagestan, Chechnya). The accounting commissions are in many cases littered with kulak elements. In some areas, the concealment of objects of taxation is of a massive nature (Chechnya, Kabarda), and in some cases, employees of the grassroots Soviet apparatus contribute to this.

Re‐election of cooperation. The campaign for re‐election of the boards of consumer societies and agricultural partnerships took place without sufficient preparation from the regional cooperative organizations. The kulaks made intensive preparations for the seizure of the cooperative apparatus, recruiting whole groups of shareholders. The re‐election meetings were marked by an acute struggle between the kulaks and the poor. In some auls, re‐election meetings were thwarted twice by fists.

A case was registered when a kulak group demanded meetings ʺby social groupsʺ to discuss lists of candidates for the new government (Chechnya). In another case, the kulaks, having been defeated in the reelection, started a fight, beating up the poor.

Grassroots party and Komsomol organizations in a number of districts turned out to be insufficiently prepared for the campaign, and in some places groups were created among them. The significant activity of the poor was facilitated by the coincidence of the moment of re‐election of cooperation with the campaign for holding the poor peopleʹs meetings. The composition of the new boards is mostly poor. The number of party members in the new boards of consumer societies and agricultural partnerships has increased.

Land issue. Land surveying work in almost all national areas is taking place without sufficient technical guidance. The kulaks, actively resisting land management, sometimes resort to terrorizing land workers (Chechnya, Dagestan). A number of cases of aggravated land disputes, sometimes reaching armed clashes, were noted.

A clash provoked by the kulaks took place between the Shara and Sundukha communities, as a result of which there are injuries on both sides.

Friction between the Filya and Bakhaug communities in Dagestan threatened to turn into an armed clash. The kulaks are intensely provoking conflict.

GEORGIA

The bakery crisis. Interruptions in the supply of grain to a number of counties continued to be noted in July. The most unfavorable are the Senaki district. and a number of regions of Abkhazia, where the peasants have absolutely no bread.

In Sukhum district Abkhazia, a group of peasants of 5‐6 people sent the following telegram to the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars of Georgia: “There is no bread. We donʹt know what to do. We eat the leaves. ʺ

In the city of Senaki, in front of the PEC building and the EPO board, starving poor people from all villages gather every day to demand grain.

The dissatisfaction is intensified by the fact that the EPO in some places refuses to sell corn to the peasants, motivating this by the fact that the reserves available in an insignificant amount will only be enough to meet the needs of the townspeople.

In Chiatura and Chiatura region, peasants in queues in a number of cases threatened to destroy corn warehouses.

Prosperous kulak elements and traders use food difficulties for speculative purposes, selling their surplus bakery products for 7‐8 rubles. for a pood.

Grain procurement. There were cases when representatives of credit partnerships resorted to coercive measures, forcing peasants to surrender wheat at a certain price. In this regard, the flow of grain to the bazaars stops, the bread of the new harvest disappears from the market and its price in secret sale reaches 4 rubles. 65 kopecks per pood

(Borchalinsky u.).

Private dehkans buy grain from peasants, sending it in large quantities to other regions, where they sell it at higher prices.

In the Shaumyanovskiy district of Borchalinskiy u. a ʺsyndicateʺ of large traders was created. The latter distributed about 1000 rubles to the peasant commissioners in Sadakhlo and Lambalo. for the purchase of grain.

ARMENIA

Lack of bread. In Zangezur u. there continues to be an acute shortage of bread, especially felt by the poor. On the basis of the grain crisis, there were registered cases of the poor people exchanging their working cattle for wheat from the kulaks. The latter, using the moment, artificially inflate the prices of bread, bringing them to 6‐7 rubles. for a pood.

Forage crisis. Along with a shortage of grain in a number of regions, the feed crisis continues to be noted. Especially the Yezidi herders are in dire need of forage. Due to the fodder crisis, the loss of livestock increased.

In the 4th section of the Leninakansky district. in almost every village from 20 to 49 heads of cattle and small cattle died.

The well‐to‐do kulak elements hide their surplus fodder or sell it exclusively to their friends.

The administrative collection of surplus fodder from the possessors in a number of districts for distribution among the poor peasants provoked strong opposition from the kulak‐wealthy elements.

In with. Khashtarak of Dilijan district the well‐to‐do beat the chairman of the village troika because the latter demanded that they return the surplus fodder. In the same village, the well‐to‐do people threatened to kill anyone ʺwho dares to come to them in order to take extra hay.ʺ

Due to the fodder crisis and the loss of livestock, the mood of some of the poor is depressed. Particular criticism and dissatisfaction are caused by credit partnerships, which in a number of cases release the hay obtained to the fists and the wealthy in exchange for wool, denying it to the poor.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations. Former Dashnaks, together with the kulak‐wealthy elements, do not stop anti‐Soviet agitation. Along with this and the spread of provocative rumors, former Dashnaks in a number of regions continue to convene illegal meetings (Erivan, Echmiadzin, Leninakan, Meghri districts).

The kulak‐prosperous elements of the Turkic village, under the influence of the former Musavatists, do not stop agitating the Turkic population for resettlement from Armenia to Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Banditry. In July, a number of foreign Kurdish gangs raided our territory with the aim of stealing livestock.

On July 6, at the Ranchiar section of the Erivan frontier detachment of the Kurdband of up to 25 people, it tried to drive 400 head of cattle to Turkey. As a result of the shootout, the bandits managed to transport only 35 heads of cattle to Turkey, the rest of the cattle were detained by our border guards.

AZERBAIJAN

Grain procurement. The resumption of grain procurements caused widespread anti‐Soviet activity on the part of the kulaks, the wealthy and merchants. Private traders are strenuously producing procurements, which they easily succeed in, since they timely attended to advance payments to peasants on account of the new harvest. Cases of export of bread by traders to other regions of the TSFSR have been registered. The agitation of the kulaks and private traders against grain procurements is in some places successful. In a number of districts, there was absolutely no explanatory campaign on grain procurement. Cooperative organizations in a number of cases did not start procurement, despite receiving advances. Along with the intensified activity of anti‐Soviet elements, grain procurement was inhibited due to the lack of advances, as a result of which the peasants were forced to hand over grain to kulaks and speculators, receiving from them 4‐5 rubles for a pood of wheat.252 and independent blanks for speculative purposes.

Banditry. During the reporting period, several raids by Persian gangs into the territory of Jabrayil province were registered, accompanied by robbery of the population and theft of horses and cattle.

On July 9, at the section of the M. Beganlu outpost, an unknown Persian gang of 4 people stole several heads of cattle. As a result of the shooting, opened by border guards to detain the bandits, the latter, having lost one horse and one bull killed, fled to the territory of Persia. On July 23, at the section of B. Beganlu outpost, a Persian gang of 5 people attacked the house of a resident of the village. Kerimbeklu, as a result of which one of the bandits was killed, and the rest fled.

CRIMEA

The state of the grain market. There is a massive influx of peasants and speculators who come from Ukraine and buy grain at prices significantly higher than the state. There have been cases when peasants who had previously concluded deals on the sale of standing grain to state producers are selling it to speculators at inflated prices. Large quantities of bread are exported to Ukraine at significantly higher prices. The massive export of grain created alarm in Crimea, where there is still a shortage of grain in the cities. The Council of Peopleʹs Commissars of Crimea made a decision to reintroduce the listcard system in case the grain crisis does not ease.

Tax campaign. Explanatory work and popularization of the Unified Agricultural Tax among the peasants is unsatisfactory. In a number of districts, peasants are so unaware of the new tax that the poor are completely unaware of their exemption from the tax, assuming that ʺthe Soviet government will treat everyone equally when imposing agricultural taxʺ (Karasubazar district). In some places, the village councils have started accounting for taxable objects without any explanatory work and preparation. The agitation of the kulaks for the partial liquidation of farms is in some cases successful. There have been isolated cases of the sale of surplus cattle by the middle peasants under the influence of kulak agitation.

TATARIA

Food difficulties. There continues to be an acute shortage of bread, which is especially strongly felt in areas where last year there was hail or death of crops from a worm. There are cases of illness due to hunger and going to other villages to collect alms.

In the villages of Karamalinskaya vol. The Chelny canton, the number of famine‐stricken families reaches 330, the vast majority are poor.

In Aktash canton in percentage terms, the number of hungry people is expressed: in s. N. Bikasaz ‐ 9%, in the village. Kaski ‐ 50%, s. Trash ‐ 60%. In all these cases, the substitute ʺquinoaʺ is used as food for 35% of cereals.

In Al [Yekandrovo] ‐Karmalinskaya vol. 14 cases of diseases were registered in the Mednitsa district. In the Karamalinskaya parish. there were attempts to destroy a public barn with seeds.

Bread thrown out on the market from the cooperative fund often ends up in the hands of the wealthy.

In Aktashevskaya parish. was thrown onto the market from the cooperative fund 100 poods bread, and all the bread was taken away within a few minutes by the wealthy.

CHUVASHIA

Tax campaign. The increase in taxation caused discontent among the well‐to‐do kulak part of the village and partly among the middle peasants. The poor expresses dissatisfaction with the accounting and taxation of non‐agricultural earnings, since the lap weaving, which mainly employs the poor and which gives an insignificant income, was also included in the accounting. The kulaks and the well‐to‐do are vigorously campaigning against the UCHN. Due to the lack of an explanatory campaign on the part of the village councils, part of the poor, under the influence of the kulaks, is expressing dissatisfaction with the ESHN. At general meetings during the election of representatives to the commission for registering taxable objects, the kulaks strive to send their representatives (Yadrinsky District). The commissions hide the non‐agricultural income of the kulaks or significantly understate it.

Food difficulties. An acute shortage of bread continues to be noted in a number of regions. In some places, the number of people eating surrogates reaches 60%.

CLERGY

Reactionary churchmen. Reactionary churchmen continue to carry on anti‐Soviet agitation, linking it with campaigns in the countryside.

Touching upon the issues of the sowing campaign and grain procurements, the priests are agitating for a reduction in crops, indicating that the state will still impose a large tax and take away the surplus grain to the treasury (Aktobe province, Scheglovsky and Chita districts). In the Omsk district, churchmen hid 53 pounds of wheat in the church.

In a number of cases, in order to provide real opposition to the measures taken by Soviet power in the countryside, churchmen organize anti‐Soviet groups. These groups try to influence the social and political life of the village, mainly through women, campaigning against grain procurements, sowing campaigns, contracting, etc.

In other cases, the churchmen incite believing peasants to mass protests against representatives of the Soviet regime (Vladimir province, Penza and Cherepovets districts).

It should also be noted that there are more frequent cases of the completion of old churches and prayer rooms, as well as the construction of new ones (Dagrespublika, Shakhty district).

In the North‐Dvinskaya province. the believers bought a house for the priest and are planning to build a church. It was decided to collect funds for the construction according to a subscription list. In Tulunovsky district, 4 cases of attempts to build new churches were recorded. Moreover, in the city of Nizhneudinsk, workers of the local railway depot took an active part in collecting money, which they collected up to 600 rubles. Attempts to restore empty prayer buildings were noted in the Buryat‐Mongol Republic.

Along with this, the closure of existing churches is also recorded. The priests, in order to strengthen their religious sentiments, resort to all sorts of tricks (inviting the choir from other cities, intimidation with ʺGodʹs wrathʺ, etc., Semipalatinsk province).

The arrival of the singing chapel from Moscow at the invitation of the Yaroslavl churchmen attracted up to 2,000 people to the church, including even the atheists who came to listen to the singers. In Crimea, during one of the holidays, an auction was held near the church with the sale of chickens, calves, donated clothing. The proceeds in the amount of 250 rubles. went to meet church needs.

In Crimea, there is an increase in religiosity due to fear of a bad harvest. An increase in religiosity on the basis of unsatisfactory harvest species is also noted in Ukraine (Zinovievsky district). Taking advantage of this, the priests began to arrange religious processions to fields and public wells.

During the reporting period, there has been a noticeable increase throughout the USSR of complaints from priests about the severity of taxation. In some cases, this makes them break with dignity and intensifies anti‐Soviet agitation.

The reactionary clergy continues to campaign against the Komsomol, pioneers and other social and political organizations ʺas corrupting the younger generationʺ (Semipalatinsk province). The most active priests hold clandestine conferences with church activists, working out measures to combat the Komsomol (Syr‐Darya province).

In addition to the above facts, it is necessary to dwell on completely new forms of activity of the churchmen.

In the Kharkov district, a kind of church ʺbondʺ begins to flourish widely. Kharkiv autocephalists 253 in order to popularize the ideas of the Ukrainian autocephalous church travel with their choir and a whole staff of priests to rural churches. In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. in order to fight against godlessness, the priest invites believers to study godless literature more carefully. In these same sermons, he talks a lot about “church self‐criticism” and the compatibility of religion and science (he refers to Henri Barbusse and others).

Sectarianism. The activity of sectarianism is characterized, on the one hand, by incessant anti‐Soviet agitation, on the other, by an internal struggle between individual sects, such as: evangelicals with Baptists, Baptists with Molokans, etc.

Anti‐Soviet agitation by sectarians is especially developed in the Far Eastern Territory, Siberia, Central Asia and the North Caucasus. This agitation is intertwined with various kinds of provocative rumors about the imminent fall of the Soviet regime, the proximity of the war, the arrival of the Antichrist 254 and the end of the world. In the Baptist communities that are part of the Amur District Association, several cases of agitation were recorded, which boiled down to the following: “The Antichrist is leading a real government, which is now leading to complete destruction, the government has filled all the prisons with our brothers, the people groan from excessive taxes, self‐taxation, insurance, etc. ., but soon the reckoning will come with this antichrist, we must destroy him by the roots. ʺ

Similar campaigning is being conducted by evangelicals, Adventists, Molokans and Dukhobors.

Anti‐Soviet activity of sectarians is also observed in the inner provinces of the RSFSR. In the Samara Baptist community, a certain group of individuals, led by members of the Volga‐Kama Baptist Union, who were hostile to Soviet power, emerged. This group, speaking at prayer meetings, declared: “The Soviet government is leading the people to death, the youth in the Komsomol is corrupted and dies irrevocably. Soviet power is violence against religion as a whole and against its individual representatives, etc. ʺ

In addition to such systematic anti‐Soviet agitation in sermons in the prayer house, the leaders of this group tried to corrupt the Red Army units. On their initiative, invitations to attend Baptist prayer meetings were printed and distributed in large numbers among the Red Army men in the barracks. Handing over tickets to the Red Army soldiers, the Baptists urged not to visit Soviet clubs and not listen to agitators, since the Soviet government is spreading atheism all around, Soviet clubs cannot do anything good, except harm. As a result, some Red Army men began to attend Baptist prayer meetings, some out of simple curiosity, and others amenable to their influence.

The quantitative growth of sectarianism is observed mainly among evangelicals, and this growth in most cases occurs at the expense of Baptists on the basis of their internal struggle. The struggle between evangelicals and Baptists is beginning to intensify, extending far beyond the local scale. In this regard, the behavior of the leaders of Ukrainian Baptists is characteristic, who are confident that their delegates at the ongoing World Baptist Congress in Toronto (Canada) will be able to ʺopen the eyes of the whole worldʺ to the non‐Christian line of leading the leadership of evangelicals towards Baptists and achieve the expulsion of Prokhanov from Vice President of the World Baptist Union.

In general, it should be noted that the struggle between evangelists and Baptists is flaring up, which is especially pronounced in the Far East, where up to 500 people have passed from Baptists to evangelists in the Amur District alone. Along with this, in some districts of Siberia (Tomsk District), there is an almost universal withdrawal of members from a number of communities, and among the community members there is a decline in religiosity and a reluctance to work. Characteristic is the statement of one of those who came out (the Gangiz community): ʺEnough, I was like a meeting, I gave not a dozen rubles for theʺ mission ʺ, but there was nothing to it, except for troubles from neighbors (peasants).

The economic situation of some sects is deteriorating markedly. So, in the box office of the All‐Ukrainian Union of the Baptist Association there is no money, their debt is expressed in the amount of 16,000 rubles. Not hoping for the receipt of funds from communities and groups of believers, the WSSOB proposed to all local associations to remove from their salaries all evangelists, advising the latter to get financially settled as they can.

Deputy OGPU Chairman Trilisser

Pom. Head of SOU Artuzov

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU Alekseev

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

APPENDIX No. 1 to the July 1928 review.

SHEETS

Pervomaisky District. July 20 this year at night in the village. In NovoLutkevka, Dobrovelichkovsky district, anti‐Soviet leaflets of the following content were scattered: 255:

“Shanovni comrades. There are 10 rokiv isnue sovitska vlada in us, and mi bachimo, for us, hard workers, nemae niyakoi koristi, and rob us and our Ukraine. Comrades of the Red Army, robitniks and villagers, look at us, 100 hungry people and nadal us waiting for all of them to die. Comrades, gett grabizhniki in Ukraine, katsapiv, communist, long live the self‐styled Ukraine. Comrades be prepared to take over Ukraine. July 20, 1928 ʺ. The signatures are illegible.

The proclamations are hand‐printed with typographic letters on lined quarters of paper.

Nikolaev district. July 15 in the village. On N. Vladimirovka of the same district, leaflets with the following content were scattered 256:

“Call for Ukraine.

The people of Ukraine get in honestly on stand‐up lavi and defend your Vkrainu Ridna and 11 natural gifts, on which your life will be grounded. The villagers of Ukraine, eleven ricks, like, in your eyes, they rob everything, and when you are smuggling, beating you, planting up to Dopru, confiscating your goods, piddling lawlessness to hell, not in order that that peasant deserves a hateful law, but in order for those good things, sho in yego e, you need to know and to sprinkle hundreds of such bidolahiv uncles.

Especially showing the tsei rik, they robbed all both the rich and the bidder. They didn’t take anything else, the bidnyak, in which there was nothing to take. So, they didn’t take the wrong thing in the new, they didn’t take the kind of bidni, they put a militia on the new one, but they didn’t take anything in the new one. Zrozumiete, sho take not in a bidny, and not in a fist, but from a zalny from Ukraine, and the people were smashed into a class in order to make it easier to rob. If vikachuyut khlib from Ukraine and if they took it and brought it to Russia, then becoming hungry and bidnyak y robitnik, farm laborer, scientist, student, teacher, Komsomol member, serviceman, oprich party member and tsei cholovik, chi navmisno, chi through unaddressed sold into the hands of the confederate rosiyan, who is that cholovik (party) becoming with the attire of the virobniztva of Russia, who is a corrupt skin, a speculator,

To the people of Ukraine, hunt for the Spivchut to defend your native

Vkrain (bo zgynemo yak fly).

Rewrite what spivchuvae and throw it away. ʺ

“To the people of Ukraine. Hour nastyae, yaky vimagaє, schob vi distavali through weary hardships usyaku zbroyu, like firearms, also cold.

And zi zbroey in my hands, sheb with armed hands, started to speak on those, I can take my life into my own hands, how can I get rid of Todi, if the order is given, what a gang of retinue sharpshooters is worth for all the devil, sho call myself VKP , sho cheating, not at the bazaar and not at the fair to play around with some dark villager.

And a number of Ukrainians, scho nakhabny rank, anything on a strong basis, angered in a single union and rattled off sho usieyu tieyu populity, sho populated.

And soozh namagayutsya all sorts of shulerskimy foul, dishonest visits, that vchinka, to spoil the whole suite.

On sho stinking, to tell you about your admittance (in cloudy water to catch a ribka) and the fatherʹs gang (bandit) messed up the crowds of Ukraine, smashing 11 on the class, developing in them the gostru class wondered how to smell the stink, could not even smell Whenever you could, obeydnagis and everyone listened to vipadok one way, like Ridny brothers, to rise up for the permission of Nenya Ukraine.

And the crowds, sho populate and th sho are in the snares of nikinut cunning devour Russia.

To the people of Ukraine, so we will throw off the important tyagar and zi zbroyu in the hands of an insurrection for our Ridna shabby Ukraine.

On July 18, similar leaflets were scattered in the village. Yavkino Bashtansky district and in the village. Maleevka, Vladimirsky district, as well as in the posad Bezernegovatom of the Kherson district.

Shevchenko district. On the night from 7 to 8 July in the village. Kapaevsk, Zolotonosha district in the center, four appeals of the following content were pasted 257:

ʺZaklik.

Until all the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian Revolutionary Splilka is nationally democratic to commit herself to all the hulks of

Ukraine. Take a look at the life of the svoz ‐ wikidiete in captivity, you cannot say the words of the wildest one below, you cannot sell the one with your own hands. Without blame, without judgment, they throw you in Dopri and torment you there with need and hunger, but you will not find a lie if you rule it out. All you do is add some pracea, you are forcibly taken away from you for bizzin and delivered from Moscow, yak to profit from our good. Go hungry for Ukraine, not through the harvest, but through the robbery of the people by our district ‐ I control the ryadyanskaya, which we did not choose and do not know. You are not allowed to develop your domination, to stifle not with human taxes, but pay for those taxes, you see the impersonality of the servicemen and commissars, but they are a lot of non‐tribal people, and in May there is no justice for the Corysian people, schools, likarni, paths ‐ run up and down the people with their cat to tame them. Such a road is rehabilitated, but the villagers are inaccessible. Vlada Radyanska gave us land, and even the stilts paid for it, but the land is not worth it, so long flesh.

The Communist Party took control of the power and hazyainue in us, for a help order, as you like. And you lead the people to your housework to the point of death: your statehoods rage, promislovism is scarce, the people are wretched from the rot of thousands of people without death in the cities to swell with hunger, people do not conceal any rights, but about the robbery of freedom, to equalize that brotherhood of nim and a little bit.

Take a look at yourself, let yourself, your edge on the potal. Unite at the revolutionary split and stand up in your hands for the abuse of your rights, for the will for life.

Vigonte and beggar wargives. It’s impossible to get through all the same thought, so it’s impossible to live. And stand up yak alone: and if the insurgent was a people of 30 million, it wasn’t such a force, the shchob kept yogo.

Fight ‐ fight.

All, to fight against the communist party, against the fraudulent Radyansky district, against the robber ‐ Moscow.

For painting a share, for a human life, for a vile independent Ukraine.

Do not be discouraged, but hop for a win. Uvzhe e in Ukraine the boyovy avant‐garde ‐ ʺUkrainian Revolutionary Splitʺ, yak to expand and grow with the skin hour and lead the people around the fight.

Hai live independent vilna Ukraine.

Hai is alive Ukrainian revolution split.

High is alive peremoga.

Vidana URSND July 7, 1928 ʺ.

On July 8, early in the morning, two appeals were thwarted by a member of the LKSMU and delivered to the chairman of the village council, the other two were thwarted by members of the village council and also handed over to the chairman of the village council.

Yaroslavl province. Authorized village. Gavrilovo, Klimatinsky district, Lenin parish. Uglichsky u. an appeal was received to organize the peasantry to fight the workers for power. This appeal was read by the representatives of the village at the village meeting.

An appeal was sent by mail, and on the envelope there are two stamps: 1) Moscow, 57th Gor [odskoe] p [ochtovo] / t [telegraphic] department], July 11, 1928 and 2) 57th Gor [odskoe] n [post office] / t [telegraphic] branch] pay extra 18 kopecks.

The content of the appeal.

“Comrades, peasants and peasant women.

We appeal to you through these letters, we want to open your eyes to all the affairs taking place in our Republic. You must understand us and help us in our work. You need to organize for the fight ahead.

The year 1917 gave us power, established the workers and peasants at the helm of the government, but the peasant did not go beyond his village with his power, the final border of the peasantʹs power is the volost, but is this power, is it an executive body of higher authorities? The peasant made a revolution with his own hands, endured all the hardships on the front of the Civil War, fought like a lion under the whistle of bullets. His economy gave everything for the war, was ruined, defending his rights, but these rights remained a dream of the distant future.

The state in our country is considered a worker, the worker uses this and makes use of all the property of the state, for him rest homes, science, art. Is this for the peasant? From the peasant they take everything they can, they exploit the peasant labor: through grain procurements, the distribution of peasant loans in a compulsory manner, through taxes they rob the peasant economy; and what do they give him in return? There are no goods in the village, the peasant has nowhere to buy the necessary thing, and if there is one, then at a high price, unbearable for the peasant. The peasant sells grain in the fall at the official price, which is much lower than the price of manufactured goods. The peasant buys the same bread in the spring from the same state three times more expensive. Hunger is again approaching the peasant economy; again, the peasant will eat the chaff; who will help him then? The peasant has no grain reserves now, and the first crop failure will make the peasant hungry. Where is the power? Where is the party?

The peasant must act himself. There is great strength in his working hand. Let us all stand as one to defend our interests.

Organize peasants from other villages.

Your friends are for you. Union ʺFarmerʺ. Union Chairman Ershov ʺ.

Smolensk lips. Near the village. Cheremisino Prigorodno‐Elninsky par. In the forest, a proclamation was discovered, printed in small book print on a half‐sheet.

Appeal.

“Citizens, peasants, patience has run out to wait for good things from the Soviet regime. The moment is coming for the Russian peasant to close ranks more amicably and, with a single stroke, knock down the deceitful and predatory power of the Bolsheviks‐Communists, which he hates. We say deceitful because it deceived and continues to deceive the peasant. Remember, did the words and promises of the Soviet government come true [for] 10 years about improving the peasant economy? No. All the words were false and remained words. They promised a lot while they needed it, you see, to seize power. But to fulfill the promise, to give benefits to the peasantry and improve its economy, remained in the air at the former rallies out of fear, lest the kulaks, who, through their labors, are dearer than their fantasies, would spread. According to the proverb, the Russian peasant waited 7 years for the promised, and then he waited ten years to go out, he waits and sees no end. Enough. We were tired of it. Look what is being done in Holy Russia, in many places there is not enough bread, what does this mean? This means that we, the peasants, are doomed to perish by the Soviet regime. It, this power, will make beggars out of us, to whom there will be no one to give. She divided the village into three parts: the kulak, the middle peasant and the poor peasant. It will strangle the kulak, it will strangle the middle peasant, and the poor peasant, who is also threatened with the same fate only because individual farms are unprofitable for the Soviet government. She benefits from a commune, where the peasants have no right to dispose of their goods, and everything will belong to the state, and you just work, do not let the peasant economy die, mercilessly poison the pests‐communists of your economy. We say robbery because that it still continues to rob the peasant by taxes, self‐taxation, and forcibly distributing bonds. Peasants remember that your grain and Russian gold go abroad, to China, England, Germany, etc., to organize riots, to support the agents who live there on our money, while the peasant is being pulled from the Russian peasant the last juices. And the worker goes to the stock exchange and tears his last soles in anticipation of work, when this money can be used to build factories and factories and give the worker work, and the peasant to reduce the tax, but they do not reduce the tax, but on the contrary ‐ for 1928‐1929 by 80 RUB million added, and after three years by another 80 million, and thus the peasant will have to die, and the fantasy of the communists in one country to build socialism, and not only in the whole world, will remain a fantasy. Down with the deceivers Down with the wasteers of Russian bread, gold and timber. Down with dreamers. The peasants, all as one to defend their grain, do not let their sons cook for cannon fodder. Drive financial inspectors out of your villages and villages, do not sell grain to the state for a pittance. Prepare your fighting detachments under the banner of the Union of Self‐Defense of the Peasantry, with which we will go to the real people called and elected power.

Long live the Constituent Assembly 258. Long live the Union of Self‐

Defense of the Peasantry, the strength of the Russian peasantry.

From the Union of Self‐Defense of the Peasantry. ʺ

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

APPENDIX No. 2 to the July 1928 review.

MASS PERFORMANCE

Peasantsʹ speeches in the village. Aginsky, Kansk District

In with. Aginsky of the same district of the Kansk district on July 1 of this year. at 2 oʹclock in the afternoon militiamen at the market arrested two drunken peasants for brawliness. The crowd, among which there were many drunks, tried to free the detainees, which failed. Then the peasants, at the instigation of the wealthy and the kulaks, went to the militia building. Approaching the police, some people shouted: ʺWe pay our money for wine, and you fine us, return the fines, bastards, they took all our bread, left us hungry.ʺ Opening the gates, the crowd (over 150 people) rushed into the courtyard, where, having freed the arrested, they continued to make noise. The activists shouted: “We have been robbed, left to sit by hunger, endure enough, we need to organize and act — beat the communists. We are ready to start a rebellion now; who wants to fight, come with us. Beat the communists, down with Soviet power. Enough to mock us. ʺ Local party officials persuaded the crowd to disperse, but most of the participants in the speech went back to the market square, where they gathered in groups to discuss the incident. Two peasants, one of whom is a poor man with. Aginsky, a former Kolchak militant, drove from one group to another, inciting peasants to beat the chairman of the RIK, as a result, one of the groups, about 50 people, delegated a poor man to the RIK (he was sued twice for hooliganism), who, having climbed onto the RIKʹs porch, shouted : “Give us the chairman of the RIK, we will deal with him. I am not afraid of death and stand for the right of the people. ʺ The delegate, who was also drunk, was detained. Then the crowd rushed to RIK and began to break the windows. The secretary of the VKP (b) cell called the police for help.

After lengthy negotiations, during which there were shouts from the crowd “we expected freedom, and now it’s worse than the Nikolayev land, down with grain procurement, you give bread”, the peasants began to disperse, and some individuals threatened: “Wait, we will not come to the next market empty‐handed, and armed, we are already prepared for the uprising ʺ(the population of the Aginsky region under Kolchak created several fighting squads that opposed the Soviet regime).

A special commission, which worked after the speech, found that in addition to agitation and incitement of the kulak‐wealthy and antiSoviet element, excited by the sale of the property of the kulak Silchenko (the auction took place on June 17 and 24, i.e., in the previous market days), the reason for the peasantsʹ speech was also dissatisfaction of the population of the Aginsky region by the work of the grassroots soviet, which during the campaign made a number of mistakes, excesses, etc. During the grain procurement campaign, on the order of the RIK, barns were inspected in almost all settlements of the district, and representatives of the Bolshe‐Ilyinsky village council, bypassing the barns, outweighed the presence of bread in them. Due to the weak leadership of the RIK in the work of the village councils, the latter ignored the decisions of the RIK and acted at their own discretion. Examples: B. ‐The Arbay village council, together with the wealthy, after measuring the arable land, hid the surplus subject to taxation. The Gladkovsky village council refuses to pay a fine imposed by the RIK for sheltering taxable objects, challenging the resolution of the RIK. In the Unersky village council, peasants were fined for the minimally hidden part of the sowing, which could have happened without the malicious purpose of sheltering objects. In such cases, RECs limited themselves to drawing up acts, without conducting an awareness‐raising campaign. When clarifying the social composition of the peasants who were fined, it was found that, due to the RIKʹs incorrect approach to determining the social stratum, out of 95 people who were fined, there were 9 kulaks, 37 middle peasants and 45 poor peasants (RIK classified middle peasants as wealthy, and poor peasants as middle peasants). In a number of cases, the penalty for covering crops was charged not on the basis of payments,

In the work of the police and the peopleʹs court, the commission revealed a number of shortcomings, excesses, facts of a biased‐formal attitude towards the population, especially when imposing administrative penalties. The Peopleʹs Court passed several incorrect sentences under Article 107 of the Criminal] to [Odessa].

The attitude towards the speech on July 1 of this year is characteristic. the city of former partisans of the Aginsky region, who spoke out for the need to crack down on the buzoters and instigators of the riot. On the next market day (July 8 of this year) in the village. Aginskoye, 12 armed partisans came to the market square in order to prevent a repetition of the performance. The partisans said in private conversations: “Whoever wants blood will have to deal with us. Our saddles did not rot and our weapons did not rust. ʺ

Among the former partisans of the Aginsky region, there is talk about the need to convene a regional congress in order to identify the decomposed partisans and dissociate themselves from them. In addition, there is dissatisfaction with the isolation in the work of party members, who do not pay sufficient attention to the involvement of former partisans in public work.

About the performance of the peasants in the village. Ponomarevka Buguruslansky District

Before the opening of the fair in the village. Ponomarevka due to the influx of a criminal element, cases of robberies and petty thefts have become more frequent. (Up to 40 people of criminals, “players”, gathered around them crowds of peasants, arrived at the fair.) Local administrative institutions did not take preventive measures to maintain order in a timely manner. The protection was entrusted to two police officers and about 10 agricultural workers, whose work boiled down to the fact that all suspected of theft were detained, and at the end of the trade at the fair they were released, as a result of which cases of thefts at inns became more frequent. Around July 11 thieves cut out the pockets of money from five peasants who had come to buy horses at night. No measures were taken to search for the criminals, which restored the peasants who arrived at the fair against the police.

In connection with the increased trade in alcoholic beverages in shanks (which was also not dealt with), there were numerous cases of scandals before the opening of the fair. On July 12, on the opening day of the fair, several peasants, having caught a pickpocket, tried to commit lynching on him, which was prevented by an agricultural contractor who arrived at the scene, who brought the thief to the detention facility at the VIC, where the pickpocket was repulsed by a crowd following the perpetrator (up to 200 man). The thief, beaten to the point of unconsciousness, was again taken by the police, and the rudeness of the policemen, who threatened with weapons and detained individuals, embittered the crowd, from which shouts rained down: “The police protect and cover the thieves”, “beat the police”. The activists, having separated from the crowd, which had grown to 3,000 people, in which there were many drunks, began throwing stones at the windows of the VIC and breaking the gates. At this time, a meeting of the organizing committee of the wolf of the party was taking place in the VIK building, 9 people were present at it. Those gathered did not pay attention to the noise in the street, considering it a common phenomenon of bringing a thief to the police, accompanied by a crowd. Seeing that stones were flying into the rooms of the VIK, one of the party members, hoping to persuade the crowd, went out into the courtyard, but was forced to return, as stones were thrown at him. The Peopleʹs Judge, who was present at the meeting, ordered the agricultural executors to shoot upwards, which further intensified the fury of the brutalized crowd that threatened reprisals against the communists. Then the party members imperceptibly left the VIK, hiding in the apartment of the secretary of the wolf, located opposite the VIK. At this time, an agricultural procurement officer approached the building of the VIK, who began to persuade the crowd to stop the pogrom. Two of the peasants attacked the newcomer, inflicting several blows to the face. The commissioner was forced to flee, but in the courtyard of the party secretaryʹs apartment an unknown peasant hit him on the head with a bottle, after which the commissioner was brutally killed by the crowd. The party members who were hiding in the apartment of the secretary of the party committee were confused and did not help the beaten.

During the indiscriminate shooting of the village executors, a policeman was wounded, who was attacked by the crowd, trying to beat him too, but the specified man managed to escape. Then the crowd rushed into the courtyard of the VIK, shouting: ʺKill all the representatives of the authorities, they took our bread, rob the peasantsʺ, etc. In the courtyard, a former party member who took part in the defense of the VIK building from the crowd, accidentally fired a shot from the peasant Polenin, after which the crowd, incited by the murdered manʹs brother, rushed into the detention facility, freed all those arrested and, dragging the thief out to the square, killed him. After the thief was killed, the crowd dispersed. The initiators of the protest ‐ kulaks, traders and criminals ‐ were arrested.

On the performance of the peasants in the city of Troitsk, Orenburg district

July 12 this year in Troitsk, in view of the influx of peasants from the surrounding villages to the bazaar to exchange agricultural products for flour, the traders raised the price of bread from 3 rubles. up to 5‐7 rubles for a pood. One of the flour sellers, arrested for speculation by a RAO inspector, asked the crowd to help him, shouting: ʺHelp me out, I sell bread, but he takes it away.ʺ The crowd rushed at the inspector, shouting “hit him,” but he managed to escape to the EPO store. Then the peasants (in the overwhelming majority of women), under the leadership of a declassified element, armed with iron bars, tore down the doors and, bursting into the premises, began to look for an inspector. The policemen who had arrived by this time fired several shots upward, the crowd, not paying attention to the shooting, attacked the police, shouting ʺbeat the police, hurray.ʺ The policemen, under the pressure of the crowd throwing stones at them, took several peasant carts and fled from the bazaar. The crowd, incited by the declassified element, went to the RIK building, in which none of the workers was found. Then the peasants went back to the market square, throwing stones at the employees of the institutions they met on the way to the square. At the bazaar, the crowd, having beaten up four employees and one worker, smashed the flour warehouse of the consumer society. From the warehouse, in addition to 80 poods flour, leather and ironmongery worth 333 rubles was partially pilfered. Up to 1000 people took part in the performance. having beaten up four employees and one worker, she destroyed the flour warehouse of the consumer

society. From the warehouse, in addition to 80 poods flour, leather and ironmongery worth 333 rubles was partially pilfered. The performance was attended by up to 1000 people.

Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

APPENDIX 3 to the July 1928 review

AGRICULTURAL TAX

Submission of anti‐tax resolutions

Moscow province. July 29. In the village. Repair of the Klenow parish. (Podolsky u.) Under the influence of agitation of a prosperous handicraftsman, the general meeting passed a resolution: ʺTo ask the government to change the terms of payment in the direction of leaving them as last year and reduce the tax next year.ʺ

In the village. Ivanovskoe Lopasninskaya parish (Serpukhovsky u.) At a general meeting on a new agricultural tax, the middle peasant proposed to exclude from the resolution the words ʺthe measures of the Soviet government in the field of tax are considered correctʺ and replace them with the words: ʺTax is considered a heavy oppression of the peasantry.ʺ The meeting accepted this proposal.

Bryansk lips. In with. Sinkovo Klintsovskaya par. and the county, as a result of the intensified anti‐tax agitation of the strong middle peasants, the general meeting adopted a resolution condemning the new agricultural tax, separate clauses of which read: ʺAn increase in the agricultural tax is considered heavy, since it affects the poorest peasantry and society considers it unbearable for the peasantry.ʺ ʺTaxation of livestock leads to a deterioration of the economy and the cessation of the growth of livestock raising, and therefore it is necessary in the future not to tax livestock.ʺ

Zinovievsky district. (Ukraine). The plenum of the AleksandroRoschakhovsky village council of the Bobrinets district issued a resolution to refuse to pay the tax due to poor harvest prospects.

Perversions in penalty policy

Kuban District (SKK). August 1. In stts. Lokinskaya, Novo‐Pokrovsky District, a middle peasant farm (income of 541 rubles) was fined ten times for sheltering taxable objects, and a well‐to‐do farm (income of 2,385 rubles) was fined five times.

Stavropol District. By s. Kievka, Livensky district, 8 poor households with an income of not more than 300 rubles were fined for sheltering objects of taxation in a tenfold amount; in with. Miter about fa but a century of the same region middle peasant farms with an income of 300‐

500 rubles. were subject to a fine of 50 to 100 rubles.

Rubtsovsky District (Siberia). Kuryinskiy RIK fined the middle peasant 800 rubles for covering the crops. ‐ for an amount that is difficult to cover even with the sale of his entire household.

Collective refusals to accept pay sheets

Tula lips. In the Pakhomovskiy district, where there was a certain overtaxation of middle peasant farms, in a number of villages there were cases of collective refusal to accept salary sheets. In with. Molchanovo Dmitrovsky village council, consisting of 29 farms, the population refused to accept payroll.

A similar thing took place in the villages of Akulovo, Mirotino and Shaleevo, where, after the salary sheets were handed over, the population filed a collective complaint about the incorrect calculation of the agricultural tax. Two days later, the village council confiscated the salary sheets from the peasants.

In the Tulo‐Basovsky district, the population of two villages refused to receive the payroll. In the village. Yasnoye Seleznevo peasants refused to accept salary slips, citing a large tax. In the village. The population also refused to accept the payroll. Despite the presence at the general meeting of representatives of the RIK, the district committee of the CPSU (b) and the RKI, many peasants stubbornly refused to take the sheets.

Zinovievsky District (Ukraine). In the Kompanʹevskiy district, due to insufficient preparatory work for the tax campaign, there were two cases of mass refusal from the salary sheets of the new Unified Agricultural Taxation. In the village. The Cherry Orchard of the Lozovatskiy village council at a gathering convened to distribute salary sheets, the peasants refused to accept them. The slip sheets were handed over to the cooperative clerk for distribution, who himself, speaking at the gathering, urged the peasants not to take the sheets. After the speech, none of the peasants took the sheets.

The representative of the RIK who left for the place called a second meeting, but at this meeting, under the influence of the agitation of the three middle peasants, the peasants refused to take the salary sheets.

A similar thing took place in the village. Pavlovka, where the entire population also refused to accept salary sheets. To clarify the reasons for the refusal, the departing representative of the RIK called a secondary meeting, at which the majority of the speakers referred to the fact that no one had offered them salary sheets. After an explanation from the authorized RIK, about 40% of householders, mainly the poor and low‐powered middle peasants, took salary sheets, while the rest refused to accept them again. A similar thing happened in the village. Pyatnitskoe of the Kharkov district and in the village. Zarudnaya Artyomovskiy district.

Kulak terror

Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province. 21 July. In the village. Ragushchi

Batmanovskaya parish the well‐to‐do beat a poor man, a former Red Army soldier, because he, being a member of the Selcuchet Commission, did not allow the wealthy to hide the amount of side earnings subject to taxation.

Bryansk lips. (West). July 25. On the basis of dissatisfaction with the new agricultural tax, the secretary of the Nesvoevsky village council of the Ushcherinskaya Volost was killed by a shot through the window from a sawn‐off shotgun. Klintsovsky U., who took an active part in the tax campaign.

Dnepropetrovsk district (Ukraine). In with. Putyatino, after distributing the pledges, the chairman of the village council was killed by a shot through the window.

Tara District (Siberia). Fists with. Ust‐Shary, Yekaterininsky district, threaten to beat the middle peasant for revealing objects of taxation covered by her fists.

Amur District (DVK). In with. Sergeevo‐Fedorovka, Zavitinsky District, a well‐to‐do man beaten up a poor activist.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

List, addressees to whom an overview of the political and economic state of the USSR for July 1928 is sent: (Removed from SM) ö Seventy‐nine copies (79 copies) of the review for the month of July for distribution to the organs of the OGPU.