Marx-Engels |  Lenin  | Stalin |  Home Page

 

Review of the political state of the USSR in May 1929

Top secret

June 25, 1929

At the same time, an overview of the political state of the USSR for the month of May 1929 is being transmitted. The review was compiled on the basis of data from the Information Department.

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 6 applications and one table.

Deputy Chairman of the OGPU

Berry

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU

Alekseev

Workers

Food difficulties

In the month of May in a number of districts there were difficulties in supplying milk, meat and vegetables (especially potatoes). The rest of the products (cereals, sugar, butter) were supplied to the workers and other working population of the cities more or less systematically (according to the norms). Difficulties in the meat and vegetable market (Saratov, Khabarovsk, Nizhny, Moscow, Rostov‐on‐Don, Shakhtinsky district, Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya province, Penza, etc.), as well as a slight decrease in bread norms for certain groups of consumers (in Tula, Astrakhan, Penza, Kozlov) created the basis for a certain deterioration in the mood of certain groups of workers.

The greatest hesitation is shown by workers who are closely associated with peasant farming. Among this group, there is an increase in peasant sentiments and the growth of open kulak agitation on the part of certain anti‐Soviet elements.

Due to industrial difficulties, there were only 18 strikes in May 2200 participants. All strikes are exclusively among seasonal workers. Along with the demand for an increase in the supply of bread, seasonal workers also made demands for higher wages, motivating the growth of food prices (for more details on strikes, see the section ʺSeasonal workersʺ).

In a number of cases, these groups of workers noted statements that the Partyʹs policy in the countryside is wrong, that ʺthe worker lives at the expense of the peasantsʺ, that as a result of such a policy ʺthe peasants will have nothing to fight for and no one to defend.ʺ

“The bread was taken from the peasants; the peasant is starving and the worker lives at his expense. The working class strangled the peasantry ʺ(mine number 2 in the Krivoy Rog district. From the speech of a worker who has a farm in the countryside).

“Now the peasants have been squeezed so that they can neither work nor live. The peasantsʹ bread is taken away. It is necessary to give the peasants freedom, and not to squeeze, then bread will be for everyone” (Saratov brick factory).

“They took away the grain from the peasants, they will not sow. Until the policy of the party changes, we will not have enough bread” (CCM).

Treating the partyʹs policy in the countryside as ʺundermining the basis of the development of the peasant economyʺ, proving that the basis of the difficulties is the partyʹs course towards industrialization, opposing collectivization (ʺcollective farms are the return of serfdom to the peasantsʺ, ʺwhen they began to join collective farms, there were no productsʺ) , kulak and socially alien elements in enterprises are trying to win over to their side young workers in age and work experience associated with the countryside.

“The Soviet power attacked the middle peasant, he, poor fellow, is lucky. You say that the poor peasants need help, and that ruined us. The Soviet government raises some idlers, benefits and seeds for the poor, but he lies on the stove and spits ʺ(Lyapin power plant, peat extraction ‐ Yaroslavl province).

“The peasant does not need diesel engines and heavy industry. In general, light industry is more useful to us, with the help of which we can overcome the commodity crisis. The tax policy of the Soviet government is unfair to the peasantry. She grabs the middleman by the throat and strangles, but to laziness she encourages the poor. We have no bread now, because the government exerts great pressure on the middle peasant stratum of the countryside, cattle breeding is crushed by the tax” (a printing house worker in Moscow has a well‐to‐do farm in the countryside).

“We are not building collective farms, but letting the middle peasants breathe and then there will be enough grain. If this is not done, the peasants will not tolerate it. They will organize their union and will fight for a piece of bread. The workers will also help the peasants”

(Yaroslavl Gubernia, peat extraction at the Lyapin Power Plant)

Strikes and conflicts

The number of strikes at enterprises in the main industries has decreased. At the enterprises of the main industries (metalworkers, textile workers, miners, chemists) there were only 4 strikes with 576 participants. Most of these strikes are related to rationalization measures. (In April, there were 18 strikes in these industries with 757 participants).

Delayed wages at glass industry enterprises

At a number of glass factories (Vladimirskaya, Bryanskaya provinces), workers were seriously dissatisfied with the delayed wages due to the untimely dispatch of money by TSEGOSTrest. In some factories on this basis, the delay in wages has become systematic. Dissatisfaction is growing in connection with the interruptions in the supply of workers with products. In some cases, anti‐Soviet individuals incite workersʹ groups to strike. The indebtedness to workers and peasants in some factories is 20,000‐40,000 rubles. and more.

Along the Vladimir lips. untimely wages were issued to workers of 10 glass factories (Bukharinsky, Vorovsky, Zolotkovsky, Urshelsky, ʺKrasnoe Echoʺ, etc.).

Conflicts took place at the Bukharinsky, Velikodvorsky and the plant them. Vorovsky.

At the Bukharin plant, a group of workers in the diamond shop (25 people, headed by a former Socialist‐Revolutionary excluded from the CPSU (b)), demanded an explanation of the reasons for the delay in wages and began to insist before the chairman of the factory committee to summon the secretary of the committee, a member of the board of the trust and the director of the factory. The group threatened to stop working.

At the glass factory. The thievesʹ workers of the Gutten workshop ¹⁹⁵, who went on another vacation on May 7, received their wages only on May 16, and the workers of the other workshops did not receive until May 23, while according to the collective agreement, wages must be paid no later than May 10. The workers who did not receive their leave pay applied to the conflict commission ¹⁹⁶ so that they would be credited with leave not from May 7, but from May 16. The arbitration court satisfied the workersʹ demands, but the Labor Department canceled this decision, causing strong discontent among the workers. At the Zolotkovsky plant, interruptions in the payment of wages have been noted for about two months. Due to the debt to the peasants up to 20,000 rubles. peasants refuse to bring firewood to the plant.

At the Velikodvorsk plant, a group of workers at a meeting convened on the issue of delayed wages openly called for a strike.

A similar situation is observed at glass factories in the Bryansk District (Dudorovsky and Bytoshevsky).

Dissatisfaction of Donbass workers in connection with the revision of norms and prices

At a number of mines of some mining administrations (Shcheglovskoe, Ekaterininskoe, Budennovskoe, etc.), in connection with the revision of the norms and prices, workersʹ discontent is noted. The main reason for dissatisfaction is the lack of training, poor clarification of this measure among workers and major mistakes made in the rationing.

At mine No. 4/5 of the Budyonnovsky Mining Administration (Stalin District), 160 workers (underground) went on strike due to the lack of clarification on the ongoing revision of the norms and prices and errors made by the tariff and regulation bodies, as a result of which 240 surface workers had to stop working. The workers went on strike during the day, and the loss of production in connection with the strike was about 30,000 poods. coal.

It is characteristic that the administration of the mine, preparing in April for the revision of the norms and prices, limited itself only to a report on this issue to the bureau of the party cell. At the meeting of the mine committee and the general meeting of workers, this issue was not considered. When they arrived representative of the OS PS pointed out the mistakes made to the administration and the mine committee, in particular, that the administration, instead of explaining broadly to the workers, limited itself only to posting a list of lower prices, an extraordinary meeting of the mine committee was called, and then a general meeting of workers, but nevertheless, without preparation of a pro‐active.

At the same time, it should be noted that at 16 roadways of 1st West Bremsberg ^{197 the} rates had to be increased by 15%, but the opposite was done ‐ the rates were reduced.

At the convened general meeting (attended by 500 people), all the workers who spoke indicated that the administration wanted to reduce the cost at the expense of the workers. The meeting lasted about 6 hours and ended with a decision to start work, provided that the old prices were kept until the issue was worked out by a special commission. In addition, the proposal of the representative of the district committee of the SG was accepted to dissolve this composition of the council of the mine committee.

Strike sentiment is noted among groups of workers and other mining administrations.

Seasonal workers

In May, a number of serious conflicts were noted in areas where construction was extensively developed (Ivanovo and Nizhny Novgorod industrial regions, Moscow Region, etc.). During the reporting month, 58 strikes were registered with more than 6,000 participants, and the overwhelming majority of strikes were recorded in the second half of May (33 strikes); a number of strikes took place on the outskirts of the Union (Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, the Urals, KomiZyryanskaya oblast, etc.), at logging sites, timber rafting, quarries, and construction of highways.

The strikes had their reasons mainly: 1) dissatisfaction with the established wages, and in many cases the dissatisfaction is caused by the distortion of the basic provisions on wages and labor protection on the part of trade organizations and the administration; 2) insufficient food ration and interruptions in the supply of products.

There were 18 strikes, where, along with the demand for an increase in wages, workers simultaneously put forward demands for an increase in the norm of bread (from 700‐800 to 1000 per day and a normal supply of food), there were 18 strikes, with the number of participants accounting for about 50% of the participants in all strikes among seasonal workers.

A number of strikes involved large groups of workers (200 to 600 workers).

Facts are noted when the demands of the workers were of a mercenary character.

At Magnitostroi (Ural), striking groups of workers, with earnings of 7 rubles. per day demanded a wage increase of 100%. At the Shcherbinovskiy brick factory of the Upromtorg of the Moscow Region, a group of workers on strike of 120 people demanded an increase in earnings from 3 rubles. 16 kopecks. up to 8 rubles. in a day.

Individual strikes were initiated by anti‐Soviet people who found themselves in seasonal jobs (former traders expelled from the CPSU (b), etc.).

Below are the facts of the largest strikes among seasonal workers:

On May 30, 600 people went on strike at the brick factory No. 1 of Ivsilikata. The initiator of the strike was a group of workers and wealthy peasants, in addition, a former Komsomol member, a former member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the former head of the Belov plant. A few days before the strike, at the general meeting, following the reports of the director and the factory committee on the progress of the work, a number of workers demanded an increase in prices (compared with last yearʹs prices were reduced by 15‐30 kopecks) and an increase in the bread rate. The speech of the chairman of the board of Ivsilikat was disrupted. The discontent of the workers after the meeting was fueled by the above‐mentioned group until May 30. During the period from May 30 to June 6, 144 clay makers left work ¹⁹⁸(last year, the clay makerʹs earnings were 2 rubles 50 kopecks per day, in the current season their average earnings were 1 rubles 90 kopecks per day). The plant, in connection with the mass exodus of clay makers, was forced to stop the pug mill and switch to a manual mill. The plant sent agents to Vologda to recruit workers.

Two strikes involving 500 workers took place in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

At the military plant No. 80 (Dzerzhinsk), on May 25, 300 diggers went on strike, dissatisfied with low prices. The meeting convened the next day, May 30, chose two workers and one representative from the workersʹ committee to travel to Moscow to see Comrade Kalinin. This proposal passed thanks to the weak leadership of the workersʹ committee. However, the trip of the delegation did not take place. 70 workers left their jobs, the rest agreed with the old wages.

Other strikes involving significant groups of workers are also noteworthy.

400 workers ‐ at the forest development of the Moskvotope (Temnikovsky district of the Mordovian district of the Middle Volga region). The reason is dissatisfaction with the amount of bread given out.

450 workers ‐ at the 5th section of the Northern construction of Turksib demanded an increase in prices; did not work from May 21 to May 28, as the administration refused the workersʹ demand, considering it unfounded.

At the head section of the Alkhanchurtovsky Canal (SKK), 200 people went on strike, dissatisfied with the interruptions in the supply of food. And out of dissatisfaction with prices and non‐distribution of overalls, 200 workers went on strike at the construction of the FrunzeRybachye highway (Tokmak, Kyrgyzstan).

Moving on to highlighting the situation at seasonal work in certain areas of the Union (Ivanovskaya ¹⁹⁹ , Nizhny Novgorod industrial regions ²⁰⁰, Yaroslavl Gubernia, Samara, Belarus, Siberia, etc.), one should first of all note a number of the following points that negatively affect the mood of workers: 1) poor technical preparation for the start of work (peat extraction at the Lyapin power plant ‐ Yaroslavl Okrug, logging of Gubleszaga ‐ Ivanovskaya region.); 2) lack of premises for housing; facts were noted when seasonal workers arriving at their place of work had to live in sheds (Ivanovo industrial region, Nizhny Novgorod region, Siberia, etc.); 3) the lack of proper nutrition for workers was also noted in a number of districts. In the Kanavinsky district (Nizhny Novgorod region) on this basis, many unemployed seasonal workers are engaged in begging in the nearby villages. In some seasonal jobs, canteens are not equipped, there are no food stalls, as a result of which the workers have to queue for a long time for food or buy them from private traders (areas of the Ivanovo industrial region, gold mines of Siberia); 4) poor organization of labor protection.

At a number of seasonal jobs, the composition of the administrative and technical personnel is littered with anti‐Soviet persons and former people (especially at timber rafting and brick factories in LBO, where administrators are often kulaks‐ʺdisenfranchisedʺ, former shipowners, etc.).

The discontent of the workers in many cases is caused by the gross arbitrariness of the administration.

Re‐election of FZK

The FZKʹs reporting and re‐election campaign in the largest industrial regions of the USSR (Moscow industrial region, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk industrial region, Leningrad and Kharkov) is taking place with low attendance and insufficient activity of workers at the reporting and reelection meetings.

Average attendance 45‐50% in some cases drops to 20‐15%. The number of speakers in the debate is insignificant, especially among the nonparty workers.

In some cases, meetings were disrupted several times in a row. At the Sosnevskaya weaving factory (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk), 10 meetings in a row were disrupted.

Sobolevo‐Shchelkovskaya f‐ke (Moscow district) ‐ 5,000 workers; out of 10 planned meetings, only 5 took place (in total, over 25 reporting and re‐election meetings were disrupted in Moscow and the districts).

In the Yakovlevskaya factory (Sverdlovsk district, Ivanovo‐Voznesensk industrial region) 5 meetings were not held.

At the f‐ke them. Zinoviev, 7 meetings did not take place at the Cotton Factory (Ivanovo‐Voznesensk).

At the Baltic plant ʺKrasny Vyborzhetsʺ (Leningrad), pre‐election meetings were disrupted three times in a row (a total of 20 meetings were disrupted in Leningrad).

The reasons for the low attendance and low activity of workers at the reporting and re‐election meetings were: 1) lack of proper preparation on the part of party and trade union cells (often untimely instructing of grassroots trade union cells by government departments), 2) weakness of mass work at enterprises, and 3) a number of organizational omissions (overloading agendas day by extraneous questions, untimely notification, selection of weak speakers, etc.).

In addition, some groups of workers showed unhealthy moods. The following statements are characteristic:

ʺThere is no need for us to go to the re‐election, [and] everything has already been decided in advance and the candidates are outlined.ʺ ʺThe reason for the weak work of the FZK is that the leaders of the factory committees are party members who are overloaded with work and cannot pay due attention to the factory committee work, as non‐party workers could do.ʺ ʺUntil the factory committee has corrected work, until the workers themselves choose it, and not a faction,ʺ etc.

The work of the FZK and CPB in most cases was found to be satisfactory. Only at individual meetings (at three meetings in Leningrad, at eight meetings of the Moscow industrial region) the work of the grassroots trade union organizations was called weak.

In addition, in a number of cases, resolutions on the reports of the FZK and the Central House of Labor noted: 1) inattentive attitude of the FZK to production meetings, 2) inattention to the needs of workers, 3) weak work of the commission for labor protection and improvement of the workersʹ life, 4) insufficient attention to socialist competition etc.

The candidates nominated by the party collectives, in most cases, passed (although in some cases not all of those present took part in the voting). Only in a few cases was the candidacy of party collectives rejected, almost always for business reasons.

There were only two cases of failure of nominees for non‐business reasons. So, at a joint meeting of the forging, mechanical and stamping shops of KEMZ (Kaluga district of the Moscow industrial region), the candidacy of a communist was failed and an anti‐Soviet worker who spoke at the meeting with anti‐Soviet agitation was nominated for the FZK. At a meeting of the Pesochinskaya department (ibid.), The speech of the party secretary was greeted with shouts: ʺDown with us, we will choose ourselves.ʺ As a result, the nominations outlined by the cell were completely failed. When discussing a number of organizational issues, a group of workers shouted from their seats: “We will not accept a single proposal from the Party. It deceives us, imposes its own communists, who are dragging along in the tail of the plant management. The party to us last year recommended its party members, who now have to drive out with a whistle. We donʹt need communists; the party is not ours. ʺ

(The CC commission to examine the state of the party organization stated the unauthority of the cell and the disintegration of individual communists. The party organization has been rehabilitated. Reelections of the FZK took place again).

The speeches of the anti‐Soviet element (three speeches in the IvanovoVoznesensk industrial region, five speeches in Leningrad, 14 speeches in the Moscow industrial region), directed against attending re‐election meetings and communist candidacies, in most cases were not successful. Only a few meetings, due to a lack of proper preparation, were held in an unhealthy environment. As, for example: at a meeting of the Busgerstroy building (Baumansky district of Moscow province ‐ 20 workers) one of the carpenters made a proposal: “I am opposed to the presence of communists here at our meeting. They came here to strengthen the party leadership. I think we can do without them. ʺ At the meeting, the communists were not allowed to speak with shouts: “Down with the communists. You have no word ʺand so on.

At the joint meeting of the Shoe Factory named after Worker Finkelstein (Trotskyist) criticized the work of the FZK from the Profintern (Kharkov). Most of the workers reacted sympathetically to his speech and expressed fears that he could be arrested. When some of the workers of the trade union committee tried to oppose Finkelstein, the workers did not allow them to speak with shouts: ʺEnough, we know you.ʺ

At the general factory meeting of the plant. Engels (Leningrad), the statement of one worker that ʺunder Soviet rule the workers are more oppressed than under the tsarist regime,ʺ a significant group of workers applauded.

Social Competition Campaign Progress

While meeting sympathy and support among the bulk of the workers, the campaign for socialist competition runs up against inertia and organizational laxity on the part of individual factory organizations, on a number of excesses and distortions on the part of the administration. Associated with this is the passive and even hostile attitude of certain groups of workers to the campaign.

As a result of the top, hasty campaign and the weakness of explanatory work, meetings of workers at a number of enterprises were disrupted and crumpled. The workers developed a misunderstanding of this issue and, in some cases, a negative attitude towards it.

At the Tula Arms Factory (machine gun workshop), for example, a conversation about the importance of socialist competition was held at lunchtime, 10 minutes before the start of work. The conversation, of course, was carried out in a hurry, with the complete passivity of the workers.

In other cases, all preparatory work was limited to a meeting, and only party activists were involved in the campaign.

At the Barrikady plant (Stalingrad), only party members from the boiler shop were allocated to sign the competition agreement, despite the fact that the rest of the shops were also to take part in the competition.

The indicated shortcomings and blunders in the work of individual plant organizations, the inability to involve the working masses in competition in the presence of general points that negatively affect the mood of the workers (food difficulties, revision of norms and prices), caused negative attacks and unhealthy moods among backward groups of workers and an increase in demagogic protests from the side of antiSoviet elements.

“We ought to feed the workers earlier, and then compete; half‐starved people will do nothing anyway” (“Red October”).

“Not very long ago, they shouted about criticism and self‐criticism, gave up ‐ took up absenteeism and increased productivity, and now they are putting on the yoke of competition and want the workers to put chains on each other” (Samara).

ʺThe competition is a false approach of the party to further reduce wages ‐ let Messrs. Communists take care of this businessʺ (Nakhichevan, factory of Donshweiprom).

The creation of unhealthy sentiments among the workers was facilitated by the khvostist and anti‐party behavior of certain members of the CPSU (b), who expressed themselves, for example, in this way:

“You workers are right, life is getting stifling, the pressure is increasing. Although I am a member of the party, I do not agree with such cruelty in putting pressure on the worker” (textile workshop of the Tula arms factory).

“The speaker lied to us all. She talked about raising productivity and labor discipline, and it turns out that the worker has a yoke on his neck and all that remains is to fasten it and wait for orders from above. And our rulers, like bloody leeches, are happy to try to suck the blood of the worker at any time” (conversation among a group of workers at the power plant of an arms factory, member of the CPSU (b), after a party meeting).

Passivity and discontent among certain groups of workers were also conditioned by indifference and sometimes even direct distortions made by administrative and technical personnel during socialist competition.

So, at the 5th Kozhzavod (Rostov‐on‐Don), where a number of workers voluntarily lowered their prices, the plantʹs administration started ʺbargainingʺ with them for an even greater reduction in prices.

At the Profintern plant (Bryansk), a blacksmith of the open‐hearth shop made a proposal that made it possible to reduce two people (instead of four workers, one of the jobs was serviced by two).

After examining the proposal, the administration actually cut two people, including the one who submitted the application, leaving one of the kulak peasants at work.

At a number of enterprises, the involvement of the working masses in the practical deployment of socialist competition is hampered by the negligence or passivity of the administrative and technical personnel, who do not take sufficient measures to eliminate technical shortcomings in production, the inactivity of production commissions, etc.

Anti‐Soviet activity of the unworked population of cities. Religious speaking

The active participants in the protests were mainly merchants, homeowners, ʺdisenfranchisedʺ, etc. In a number of cases, protests against the closure of churches took a sharply anti‐Soviet and antiSemitic tinge. The slogans are characteristic: ʺto exterminate all communists and Komsomol members, and especially Jewsʺ, ʺbeat the communists, workers, Komsomol members, beat everyone with portfolios.ʺ It should be especially noted that the size and severity of the mass demonstrations was determined in a number of cases by the inept and formal approach of local organizations to the closure of churches.

On May 20, the Kimry City Council (Tverskaya Gubernia), without the consent of the Ukom and the PEC, allocated a commission to close one of the churches on the basis of a message from the Tver GIK that the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee rejected the petition of believers to leave the church in their use. Before the commission arrived, a crowd had gathered outside the churches. The commission was greeted with an alarm bell. Residents from nearby villages came running to the alarm. A crowd of up to 2,000 people actively resisted the commission. Individual citizens beat the policemen and workers and Komsomol members passing by the church, shouting: ʺBeat the communists, workers, Komsomol members, beat everyone with portfolios.ʺ ʺGive bread, you destroy everything, do not build.ʺ

On the night of May 21, believers set up a watch near the church. The alarm bell sounded several times at night. Up to 2‐3 hours. At night, a small crowd stood near the church, continuing to beat passers‐by. The initiators and active participants in the speech consist exclusively of former traders and persons deprived of their electoral rights. Active participants in the speech were arrested.

A major conflict was during the closure of the cemetery church in the mountains. Efremov, Tula province. (see Appendix [No. 1]).

Anti‐Soviet activity among youth

It is necessary to note the intensification of anti‐Soviet activity among pupils of the 2nd grade [of the school] in recent months (mainly the distribution of leaflets). The leaflets are monarchist and pogromous. On May Day and before Easter, leaflets and anonymous inscriptions in some schools campaigned for the celebration of Easter. Food difficulties were also reflected in the leaflets. ʺGive us a king with bread, down with the Soviets.ʺ “To exterminate all communists and Komsomol members, and especially Jews” (Roslavl, Smolensk province, Syzran, Kostroma, Tula, Artyomovsk district).

 

Village

Grain procurement

Grain harvesting in May was extremely weak, holding the same level and giving only small deviations in five‐day periods up to the sixth five‐day period in May. In some areas in the 4th and 5th five‐day days of May, procurements fell to several hundred tons of bread (Central Black Earth Region ‐ on the 4th five‐day period ‐ 632, NWO ‐ on the 4th [five‐day period] ‐ 325, Ural ‐ in the 4th [ five days] ‐ 546, on the 5th [five days] ‐ 336).

The sixth five‐day period in May, from the moment of the widespread use of measures of public influence of the poor and middle peasant masses on the malicious holders of grain (kulaks and well‐to‐do peasantry), in almost all regions and in the Union as a whole, is characterized by the onset of a turning point in grain procurement.

In the Central Black Earth Region, 6962 tons were harvested in one sixth five‐day period against 3100 tons in the previous 25 days. Comparative data for other regions for the same period are given by: SVO ‐ 3643 and 3642; Ukrainian SSR ‐ 31686 and 29018. The exceptions are the Urals and Siberia. Throughout the Urals, grain procurements continued to follow a downward curve. In Siberia, grain procurement, having decreased from 9536 tons in the second to 4770 in the fifth, over the last 5 days of May gave only 7974 tons of grain.

The sixth five‐day period in May, which gave a significant increase in grain procurement, nevertheless, did not correct, with the exception of Ukraine, the weak results of the first 25 days.

The grain procurement plan was fulfilled by only 42.8% (against 55.2% of the April plan).

Such a weak rate of procurement in the listed regions is by no means explained by the exhaustion of the peasantʹs grain surplus. An unofficial sample survey carried out in a number of districts revealed the presence of large surpluses of bread among the well‐to‐do and kulaks, who currently have a surplus of bread from 250 to 2000 poods. for one kulak farm (NVK, TsCHO, SVO, SKK). Some of the middle peasants also have fewer large surpluses. The kulaks and the well‐to‐do, persisting in the surrender of grain surpluses to the state and selling it in a relatively small amount on the private market, despite the use of a boycott, continued to hide bread, burying it in pits, distributing loans and storage to fellow villagers to the poor and middle peasants.

The drop in grain procurements in May is largely due to objective reasons: muddy roads and the beginning of intensive field work (spring sowing), as well as the wait‐and‐see attitude of the peasants, who refrained from exporting all surpluses until the final determination of the types of winter crops and the state of spring sowing.

At the same time, the slow rate of grain procurement was due to a certain drop in the activity of the procurement apparatus and the lower Soviet and party organizations and numerous excesses in their work.

Negative moments in the work of the procurement apparatus, grassroots Soviet and party organizations

Insufficient assimilation and preparedness of the Soviet and party organizations and procurement apparatus to carry out grain procurements by new methods of social influence on the kulaks and the wealthy who hold their bread and, in this regard, insufficient energetic and correct application in practice of the Party and government directives, lack or inadequacy of work to organize the poor and the middle peasants around the issue of strengthening grain procurements were one of the main reasons for the weak rate of grain procurements in May, and especially in terms of the export of grain by large holders of it.

The directives on the need to increase the rate of grain procurement caused some confusion or passivity among some of the workers of the grassroots government and party members, which found expression in ʺpeasant sentimentsʺ, refusal to work, ʺtailismʺ, the desire to lubricate the class line, equalize the kulak with the middle peasant.

In with. At the village party meeting, the secretary of the local party cell said to Chertanovka of the Syzran District (SVO): “There is no more bread. Something must be done; this situation is no longer intolerable.

ʺ

In with. Elan‐Koleno Borisoglebsk district (TsCHO), a local member of the CPSU (b) said: “We are tired of these grain procurements, and the okrug does not calm down. I have already lost all patience and resourcefulness when pumping out bread. ʺ

In a number of places, these sentiments resulted in direct opposition to grain procurements, connivance and assistance of the workers of the Soviet apparatus to the kulaks and the well‐to‐do in hiding grain, etc.

All L. N. Sloboda of the Tambov District, a member of the village council at a meeting of the village council regarding grain procurements, said: ʺIt is necessary to boycott not us, grain donors, but the Central Executive Committee and the workers, for they receive a lot of salaries.ʺ

Belgorodsky district, Veselo‐Lopansky district. The receiver of the Resurrection Cooperative said to the peasants who brought the bread: ʺWhy are you fools carrying grain, you would hide it, because the authorities are engaged in robbery.ʺ

In with. Zlobino of the Samara District, the village council, on the initiative of the chairman (candidate of the All‐Union Communist Party), stopped the boycott against a group of kulaks and the wealthy, some of whom have up to 200 poods. surplus bread.

Similar cases have occurred in a number of other areas.

Along with this, a lack of understanding of the new methods of practical implementation of directives on grain procurements led to excesses (administrative pressure, which in some cases resulted in mockery of the peasants) and distortions of the class line, which hurt the middle peasant and, in some cases, the poor, which, in turn, caused in these areas their negative attitude both to the methods of economic and social influence on the malicious holders of grain, and, ultimately, to the grain procurements themselves.

On the hut. In the Zhutovo Stalingrad District (NVK), the authorized RIK at the meeting said: ʺI will not let you plow until you complete the grain procurement.ʺ To the objection of the peasants that he is disrupting the sowing campaign, he said: ʺI do not care about the sowing campaign, I carry out grain procurement.ʺ

In with. Chernoboy of the Shevchenko District (Ukraine), a grain procurement commissioner, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party, summoned non‐donors of bread to the village council and beat them until they gave their consent to export the bread. All were beaten (in two steps) up to 20 people, among them several middle peasants, one of whom is still in the hospital. (The authorized person was held accountable).

The most common types of curvature of the class line must be attributed, first of all, to the incorrect distribution of tasks according to the control figures of grain procurements in individual settlements, without taking into account kulak farms and the probable presence of grain surpluses, and in the distribution of tasks among farms ‐ cases of an equalizing approach or giving incommensurate with capacity farms with assignments for the export of grain. As a result, in a number of cases ‐ over‐taxation of the middle peasants, who are forced to pay higher than the kulak ones, given much smaller farms. One of the reasons for this was the penetration in some cases into the composition of the commissions for assisting the grain procurement of the kulaks.

Cameblyudovsky village council of the Artyomovsky district. The grain procurement commissioners carried out all their work based on the fulfillment of the target figures for grain procurement by the middle peasants and the poor, without affecting the kulak element.

Stts. Novo‐Little Russian Kuban District. The village council has spread out the task for the export of grain to 300 farms at 15‐25 poods. for each, despite the fact that these farms included kulak farms with large surpluses of grain.

Stts. Novo‐Minskaya Donskoy District. The well‐to‐do got the task to take out 80 poods. bread, and the middle peasant ‐ 100 poods.

He sat down. Teresa of the Volsky district. The local poor man Vlasov was asked to hand over 4 poods. bread despite the fact that he does not have a land plot and did not sow at all this year. The poor man bought this amount of bread and, handing it over, said: ʺThis is how the Soviet government got to the poor.ʺ

Stts. Novo‐Minskaya Donskoy District. The poor man, who has 7 acres of sowing and two horses, was ordered to take out 100 poods, and the wealthy, who has 16 acres of sowing and 4 horses, is taxed for 5 poods.

In with. Kezmino of the Ulyanovsk District, three local kulaks entered the assistance commission. The secretary of the VKP (b) cell, present at the elections, did not object to such a composition of the commission.

On the hut. Semokhin of the Stalingrad District, the Assistance Commission was established on the initiative of the wealthy. The detection method is walking around the yards. The grain procurement officer only authorized the commissionʹs actions, without doing anything on his part. The Commission did not identify any surplus.

On the hut. On the initiative of the well‐to‐do and with the sanction of the grain procurement officer in Kumovsky, the so‐called ʺself‐checkʺ was created, which consisted in the fact that all citizens pledged to ʺcheckʺ the neighborʹs bread availability. As a result of this check, no surplus was found.

The attitude of the poor and middle peasants to the new methods of grain procurement

Almost everywhere grain procurements take place in an atmosphere of extremely aggravated class struggle and sharp opposition from the kulaks and the wealthy, with the increased activity of the bulk of the poor and middle peasants everywhere.

The poor and a significant part of the middle peasantry in areas where the directives of the government and the party are correctly applied, approving new methods of grain procurement, takes an active part in identifying surplus grain from the kulaks and the wealthy, encouraging the latter to export grain to procurement points.

It should be noted, however, that in some areas, as a result of the agitation of the kulaks and the wealthy, spreading rumors that “the kulaks and the well‐to‐do are just the beginning, and then they will take over the middle peasants and the poor,” and especially in areas where the poor are experiencing difficulties (“ they will take bread from the kulaks, and we will be left without bread ”), individual actions of the middle peasants and poor peasants against further grain procurement, cases of refusal to participate in the work to promote grain procurements, cases of deviations [from] the target figures were recorded.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations on the basis of grain procurements

On the basis of increased pressure on grain procurements, the antiSoviet activity of the kulak increased enormously. The kulaks respond to pressure with decisive resistance. The kulak terror intensified against the Soviet workers and rural activists, poor and middle peasants, participating in the work to strengthen grain procurements (beatings, arson, murders, etc. became more frequent).

In with. Rochki of the Sumy District (Ukrainian SSR) on the night of May 31 to June 1, a representative of the district committee for grain procurement, a member of the CPSU, was killed. When the detained killers were escorted to the district point, an unknown armed group attempted to recapture the detainees.

In stts. In the Dondukovskaya Maikop district (SKK), during the arrival of the commission for the production of an inventory of property, up to 50 women with children and relatives of the kulaks fled to the kulak, who did not hand over the surplus bread. The fist, urging the audience to resist, grabbed the iron pitchfork, intending to stab the chairman of the commission.

The number of terrorist attacks and their nature on the basis of the struggle against grain procurements, according to incomplete data, in May in four main regions is represented by the following table:

	Ukraine	CCM	CChO	NVK	In 4 districts
Arson	fourteen	2	6	1	23
Assassination attempts	fourteen	6	five	3	28
Beatings	6	eleven	five	3	25
Wounds	6	2	1	1	ten
Murders	4	1	1	‐	6
Total	44	22	eighteen	8	92

By terrorizing the workers of the Soviet apparatus and the active poor, the kulaks provoke the population to provide massive resistance to grain procurements. In the month of May, 16 mass demonstrations motivated by resistance to grain procurements (with the number of participants reaching 200‐300 people) were registered in the Union, 10 of them in Ukraine, 2 of the SKK, etc.

Dnepropetrovsk district, with. Yuryevka. On May 30, during the inventory of property, a crowd of middle peasants, led by the kulaks, armed with clubs, gathered near the local kulak. In response to their threats of reprisal, the authorized RIK, who made the inventory, was forced to give a warning shot. The kulaks are spreading rumors that the villagers are arming themselves, ʺpreparing cartridges and will not be silent.ʺ

In with. Petrovsky, Armavir District (SKK) On May 30, there was a mass demonstration of women (up to 300 people) demanding to stop procurement. The crowd recaptured and returned the property taken from them to the three kulaks. In a collision, the crowd tried to disarm the Komsomol member accompanying the property (see Appendix

[No. 2]).

Food difficulties in the village

Central provinces

The food situation in rural areas of a number of provinces of the Center (Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Tverskaya, Ivanovo‐Voznesenskaya, Ryazanskaya, Tulskaya, Vladimirskaya, etc.) continues to remain tense. The food situation has worsened in some areas of Ryazan province. The rate for giving out bread to the poor has been reduced from £ 10 to £ 7 per eater per month.

Food situation in Kaluga province. continues to escalate. A significant part of the middle peasantsʹ grain reserves are depleted or on the eve of complete depletion. The sale of livestock in exchange for bread has increased. In some villages of Spas‐Demensky u. the poor and part of the middle peasants sold almost all the cattle. In a number of villages, up to 30‐35% of the population feeds exclusively on the sale of livestock in exchange for bread.

In the Vladimir province. the supply of bread to the rural population deteriorated. The regional union during May received almost no bread at all to supply the poor peasants in need. The market price for bread rose to 12‐14 rubles. [for] pood.

An increase in the delivery of grain in the month of May to IvanovoVoznesensk, Yaroslavl and Tver provinces did little to improve the situation in the countryside since the increase in deliveries occurred almost exclusively due to an improvement in the supply of cities and industrial centers.

In the Yaroslavl province. the most unfavorable situation is in the flaxgrowing and vegetable‐growing regions. The overwhelming majority of the population of almost all regions eats surrogate bread.

In the Tula province. ‐ on the eve of depletion of stocks and surrogates of bread.

In connection with the good condition of winter crops in May, the mood of the population improved somewhat.

Nevertheless, the jealousy of the middle peasants towards the poor continues to manifest itself on the basis of the predominant supply of grain to the poor from the cooperatives.

In the central provinces, in connection with the withdrawal from the supply of a part of the middle peasants, such sentiments tend to grow further.

In the Ivanovo‐Voznesensk province. the middle peasants, removed from the supply, organized a mass demonstration (see Appendix [No.

2]).

In Ivanovo‐Voznesensk, Ryazan and, to a lesser extent, in almost all central provinces, among the middle peasants, and especially among the wealthy peasants, there is a tendency to quit the cooperatives: “We all need to gather a meeting and abandon the cooperative, since there is still no bread. Let the poor remain alone and contribute their share. They receive flour, and they pull money from us” (Ryazan province).

Leningrad and Northern regions (LVO)

With the exception of the border areas of Velikoluksky and Pskov districts, where the situation with grain supply to the countryside in May improved slightly compared to April, in other districts the situation remains tense, and in some districts it has worsened.

The intensification of the delivery of grain in May does not even cover the increase in the need for bread, due to the increase in the middle peasants who need it, who have used up their insignificant reserves of grain.

In connection with interruptions in grain supply, the situation in the Arkhangelsk province, AKSSR and in the Lodeino‐Polsky district, which had not previously experienced any special acuteness of production difficulties, significantly aggravated.

In Luga, Pskov, Leningrad, Velikoluksky, Novgorod districts and Vologda province. numerous cases of eating up of crops by the poor have been recorded. In some districts, there are entire villages where more than half of the seeds have been eaten even before sowing (village Kostelevo, Kharitonikha, Valdai district, village Zhukovo, Konchansky district, and others ‐ Borovichi district).

Diseases have become more frequent in a number of districts due to exhaustion from malnutrition and the use of bread surrogates.

During the reporting period, 81 cases of diseases and swelling were registered in 5 districts, of which 6 were fatal. The largest number of diseases falls on the Pskov district ‐ 46 cases.

Sale, slaughter and death of livestock (due to lack of fodder), which took on a massive character in the Leningrad and Luga districts, began to decrease in May.

In the Pskov and Velikie Luki districts, starvation increased begging. Some poor people leave their households and the whole family go to Leningrad and other cities to begging (Rykovsky, Idritsky, Nevelsky   districts                of Velikoluksky      district). The       unauthorized resettlement of starving peasants to more grain‐growing regions (Siberia, the Volga region) is not decreasing. The settlers completely liquidate their farms, selling off property and agricultural implements for a pittance.

The well‐to‐do and kulaks, taking advantage of the plight of the poor and low‐powered peasants, enslave the poor.

Pskov District. In the village. Vaksino of the Border Village Council, a poor man for 15 pounds of bread worked for a week at the kulak.

In the village. Vorevo, Slavsky district, a poor man handed over to the prosperous a tithe of land that had already been sown for bread.

BVO

The food situation in a number of districts of the BSSR deteriorated again in May. The food situation is especially acute in the Orsha, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Mozyr and Mogilev districts.

In the Polotsk District, an acute need for bread is felt in all districts. In the Vitebsk district, in three districts and 12 village councils, there is a complete lack of bread not only among the poor, but also among the middle peasants.

The number of people who eat bread substitutes is constantly growing. Cases of illness and death from wasting have been reported.

In the village. Polynovshchina of the Kartashevsky village council of the Polotsk district a woman died due to hunger.

The poor and part of the middle peasants, who completely used up their grain reserves, even before the start of the sowing campaign, began to eat spring seeds (Vitebsk, Orsha, Polotsk districts), refusing to sow a part of the crop area. Due to hunger, the cases of the poor selling off their last livestock in exchange for bread have become more frequent. In the Vitebsk district, among the poor and low‐powered middle peasants, there is a great desire to move to more productive areas.

The mood of the poor and low‐power middle peasants is depressed.

Isolated cases of anti‐Soviet actions of the poor with threats of destruction of cooperatives, warehouses, etc.

Polotsk District.  In the village. Lozovka the laborer, having not received bread from the cooperative, urged to smash the cooperative and beat the cooperatives.

 

kulaks and the anti‐Soviet part of the well‐to‐do peasantry, trying

to use the discontent of the poor, incite the latter to active anti‐Soviet protests: letʹs take”” (Minsk district).

Smolensk lips.

The situation with the grain supply of the rural population of the province is tense. The delivery of bakery products is insufficient and irregular. The situation was complicated by the reduction in the delivery of grain to the province on the basis of the flax procurement fund, the depletion of the poor fund and the almost complete cessation of the expenditure of the garnets tax, the remnants of which were reserved in case of extreme need.

The number of those in need is constantly increasing. If in April 25 wagons of bread were released to supply the rural poor, of which 2 kg of flour per month was satisfied at the rate of 2 kg of flour per month for the eater of 15‐20% of those in need, then in May, due to the increase in the number of people in need of bread, 75 wagons were needed to meet those in need in the same proportion. Meanwhile, the import has not increased.

The mood of the poor, in great need of bread, is depressed. Group visits by the hungry to village councils and cooperatives demanding bread have become more frequent.

In Lovskoye PO Kopyrevshchanskaya vol. Yartsevsky u. daily peasants come in large groups, demanding bread, otherwise threatening to start a riot.

Ukraine

The food situation in a large area of a number of districts in southern Ukraine is very difficult.

There are numerous cases of hunger, eating substitutes for bread, swelling and diseases due to exhaustion, in a number of cases resulting in death (see Appendix [No. 2]).

The unauthorized migration to Siberia of starving people from Odessa,

Krivoy Rog, Nikolaev districts and the AMSSR has intensified.

In the Kherson district and the AMSSR, cases of enslavement by the kulaks of the starving poor have become more frequent.

AMSSR.  All L. Kharitonovka, Balta region, the starving poor sold their lands to the kulaks on fictitious deals. Poor Makevich rented out a tithe of land for a pood of bread.

The progressively increasing government aid to the starving population is significantly alleviating the severity of the situation. The food situation of the poor at the present time in comparison with the winter months, in general, with the exception of certain districts, is more favorable in the Ukrainian SSR.

However, the aggravation of industrial difficulties in certain districts (Krivoy Rog, Nikolaevsky) caused alarm among the poor and middle peasants. Under the influence of agitation by the kulaks and the wellto‐do, in a number of cases, the poor demanded an end to grain procurements, fearing to be left without bread (“They will take it away from the kulaks and the state will not give it”).

Along with this, sharp anti‐kulak sentiments were noted.

Anger against the kulaks, who were holding back grain and refusing to sell it to the poor, in some cases resulted in anti‐kulak terror on the part of the poor (arson of property, etc.).

In one of the villages of the Kremenchug district, the poor, dissatisfied with the kulaks, which inflate the price of bread, set fire to the kulak and when asked the poor people why they did not help to extinguish, they said: “Itʹs a pity you extinguish that not everything will burn out. How can it not burn if the starving one does not give a piece of bread? Tears the last skin off him. Let them teach them a lesson, so they wonʹt tear the skin of the hungry. ʺ

Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in the activity of clergymen who use the depressed mood of the hungry for the purpose of religious propaganda: “We endure because we have forgotten God, and he punishes us. We must pray and turn to God for help” (Kherson District).

North Caucasus

eastern regions of the Stavropol, Shakhtinsko‐Donetsk, Salsk and Donskoy districts are experiencing a more or less acute form of industrial difficulties. The food situation in these areas in May, compared to April, significantly deteriorated, which is explained by a sharp drop in decentralized grain procurements and a decrease in the receipt of the grinding harvest, since with the onset of field work, the peasantry almost stopped grinding grain, having made stocks of flour for the summer. Meanwhile, until now, these were the only sources for supplying the starving regions with bread.

In connection with the reduction in the receipt of the milling harvest and grain from decentralized grain procurements in May, only agricultural enterprises of regional and all‐Union significance (kenaf ²⁰¹ plantations, tobacco growing, etc.) were supplied in a planned manner.

On the basis of aggravation of food difficulties, there have been registered cases of sale and exchange of draft animals for bread, lease of land to kulaks on enslaving terms and the use of crops for food (Stavropol District).

In the Black Sea region, up to 30 cases of diseases and one case of death of an infant due to maternal exhaustion from hunger have been registered.

DVK

The food situation in the Chita, Khabarovsk and Amur districts is very tense. The eastern regions of the Chita region are in a particularly difficult situation.

The number of hungry people is constantly increasing. Cases of hunger, eating substitutes for bread and diseases on this basis have become more frequent.

Every day, peasants come to VIK in groups, demanding bread.

Permission to purchase bread abroad in exchange for agricultural products did little to improve the situation, since, on the one hand, Chinese merchants, taking advantage of the extremely difficult situation of the Russian population, incredibly lowered the prices of products offered in exchange for bread, and on the other hand, the poor do not have surplus agricultural products for export (Byrkinsky district of the Chita district).

In the Amur Okrug, aggravation of food difficulties is observed not only in areas adjacent to the Amur, but also in areas that until recently did not feel a particular acuteness in the food situation (Ivanovsk, Tambovsk, Mikhailovsky region).

In the Yekaterino‐Nikolsky district, local authorities have allowed the purchase of bread in China. In exchange for bread, 41 horses were sold, during April 15‐25, the peasants purchased about 1978 poods. different bakery products. Yet the populationʹs need for bread was not met.

In some settlements of the Khingano‐Arkharinsky, Ignatievo, Amuro‐

Zeya districts and others, many poor families are literally starving.

The mood of the poor is very tense: ʺOur government does not care about us, there is no bread, there is nowhere to get it, famine sets inʺ (Chita District). “It is necessary, citizens, to take up arms again and start a war, let the government know how to govern the people” (Khabarovsk Okrug).

In the Amur district in the village. The koltsovka poor, having absolutely no bread, having arranged a general meeting, asked the RIK to supply them with bread. Having received a refusal, the poor at a secondary meeting decided: ʺAll the grain in the public barn in the amount of 92 poods shall be divided among themselvesʺ (the eater got 19 pounds each). In the Chita district, on the basis of industrial difficulties, a group of starving poor peasants in the amount of 30 people organized robbery of the koopskpad, taking five bags of flour.

Mass performances

In the month of May, according to incomplete data, 83 mass demonstrations were recorded against 121 demonstrations in April.

A slight decrease in the number of mass demonstrations in May is almost exclusively due to Siberia, where only four mass demonstrations were recorded in May against 79 in April. Whereas in most other regions (Central Industrial Region, Central Chernobyl Region, BSSR, Western Region ²⁰²), on the contrary, there is an increase in the number of mass demonstrations.

following table gives an idea of the nature of performances in individual regions:

	Total performances		On religious  grounds		On the basis of land management		In connection with grain procurements		In   connection   with        the food crisis
	April	May	April	May	April	May	April	May	April	May
Centre	1	thirteen	1	ten	‐	2	‐	‐	‐	1
CChO	4	6	4	4	‐	1	‐	1	‐	‐
LVO	2	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	2	‐
BVO	2	6	1	4	1	1	‐	‐	‐	1
Western region	2	five	1	4	‐	1	‐	‐	1	‐
Ukraine	nine	24	4	five	‐	7	1	ten	4	2
CCM	6	3	1	1	‐	‐	‐	2	five	‐
NVK	7	6	3	five	‐	‐	3	1	1	‐
CBO	8	fifteen	8	thirteen	‐	2	‐	‐	‐	‐
Ural	‐	1	‐	‐	‐	1	__	‐	‐	‐
Siberia	79	4	1	2	‐	‐	78	2	‐	‐
DVK	1	‐	1	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐	‐
TOTAL	121	83	25	48	1	fifteen	82	sixteen	thirteen	4

The Center, Ukraine and SVO are still particularly unfavorable in terms of mass demonstrations.

The increase in the number of religious performances is mainly due to the Easter holidays. A significant part of religious performances is recorded precisely on Easter holidays. As in April, a significant part of religious demonstrations had errors and excesses in the area of antireligious propaganda of local Soviet and public organizations, which, without an appropriate explanatory campaign and taking into account the mood of the peasantry, carried out such events as closing churches, banning bell ringing, and the priestʹs walking around the village. with a prayer service, etc.

In Ryazan lips. in with. The little girl, a crowd of peasants in the amount of 150 people, agitated by the priest, dispersed the VIC commission, which had arrived to disassemble the foundation of the unfinished church. In with. Gorlochevka in the same province, a crowd of women (50 people) disrupted work on the dismantling of the bell tower, closed by a resolution of the GIK.

Kozlovsky district. In with. A crowd of peasants (100 people) came to the site of the former church, which was being converted into a school, being overrated by the priest and a group of kulaks, demanding that the work be stopped and threatening to be destroyed. After persuasion, the crowd dispersed.

Penza district. In with. Pokrovskie‐Mittens, a crowd of 1,500 gathered by the churchmen surrounded the commission that had come for a technical inspection of the church, beat up the technician, the chairman and a member of the village council. The fleeing technician and his guards — two Komsomol members — were stoned again by a group of 50 peasants.

As a result of the increase in anti‐Soviet activity of churchmen in recent years, mass protests in defense of clergy deserve attention. However, the slogan of protecting the clergy is often only a pretext to provoke the peasants to openly anti‐Soviet protests against campaigns in the countryside, in particular, against pressure on the kulaks in the area of grain procurement. The following fact is characteristic.

In the Balashov district (NVK) in the village. Sofyino, Serdobsky District, a mass protest of peasants, which arose in connection with the collection of rent arrears from the priest and took place under the slogan of protecting the priest ʺfrom the persecution of the Soviet regimeʺ, began on April 30, and was eliminated only on May 15. In order to protect the priest, a night watch of ʺpeasant patrolsʺ was established near his apartment. Under the leadership of the kulaks‐churchmen, a meeting was held at which the village council was re‐elected, the boycott of the kulaks and the well‐to‐do was lifted, it was proposed to leave the village within two days. school (a prominent public worker ‐ anti‐religious), delegates were elected for a trip to Moscow and it was decided not to give out the initiators of the speech to the authorities. On May 14, the kulaks introduced a ʺstate of siegeʺ in the village, setting up pickets, whose duty was to check all persons, passing and passing through the village. (12 people of leaders and initiators of the speech were arrested in the case).

increase in the number of mass demonstrations on the basis of land management is explained by the deployment of spring land management work and the allocation of land to collective farms organized for spring sowing campaigns. Arising as a consequence of the active opposition of the kulaks to land management in general and collective farm construction in particular, mass protests in connection with land management have the most protracted and active character. In a number of cases, speeches in connection with land management ended with dispersal of land surveyors and beating them (see Appendix [No. 4]).

Anti‐Soviet manifestations of the kulaks and churchmen during the celebration of May 1 and anti‐Easter campaign

In connection with the celebration of May 1 and the anti‐religious campaign on the days of Easter ²⁰³ in the BSSR, Ukraine, Western region. and individual provinces of the Center (Ryazan Gubernia. and others) registered a number of active protests of churchmen against the public organizations of the village. Of the 48 mass and group antiSoviet demonstrations on religious grounds, registered in May, 38 fell on the first days of May.

Some of these speeches were due to the inept, tactless actions of local public organizations during the anti‐Easter campaign, which were not slow to take advantage of the clergy, who mobilized broad masses of believers around the slogan ʺprotection of religion from the encroachments of atheistsʺ.

For example, in the Gomel district of the BSSR, in the Vetka district, the Rechkovskaya cell of the CPSU (b), after the celebration of the first furrow on May 5, decided to go to the priest and convince him that his activities are causing harm and forcing him to renounce his dignity. The priest and the deacon, having learned about this decision, carried out appropriate training among the believers in advance, and when the representatives allocated by the cell arrived at the priestʹs house, a crowd of 200 people (mostly women) called by the alarm bells, shouting: ʺLetʹs tear the communists who came to take the priest to pieces.ʺ drove the representatives of the cell out of the house. With a noise, the crowd dispersed.

 

The prohibition of the Easter ringing, the walking of the priest with cross in the village, etc., without sufficient preparation for this by the population and discussion of this issue at broad peasant meetings, the organization of carnival processions past churches during services, the organization of anti‐religious exhibitions near churches ‐ was widely used by churchmen in in order to arouse the discontent of believers and provoke them to excesses.

In with. Pukhovchi of the Minsk district of the BSSR, believers led by members of the church council threw stones at an anti‐religious demonstration that passed by the church.

In with. N. Prague of the Zinovievsky District on May 5, during an antireligious demonstration that passed by the church, believers provoked by churchmen who spread rumors that the atheists were going to pour water on believers in order to prevent the lighting of Easter, tried to inflict lynching on the demonstrators.

On the other hand, there have been registered facts of clear provocation of churchmen (without any reason on the part of public organizations) spreading all sorts of provocative rumors calling on believers to defeat the atheists, beat them up, and disrupt the ʺgodless celebration of May

1ʺ.

These offensive anti‐Soviet actions of the clergy, who sought to terrorize the ʺatheistsʺ in every possible way, pursuing their goals through the fanatical population, in most cases through women, in some villages had an obviously anti‐Soviet pogrom character.

In the village. On the night of May 14‐15, the glaciers of the Minsk region set fire to the buildings of the poor people who worked on the first day of Easter and took part in the festival of the first furrow.

In with. Borki Sasovsky u. Ryazan lips. On May 5, during an antireligious evening, kulaks set fire to the building of the village council in order to disrupt it and after that spread rumors that the arson was allegedly committed by the communists.

In the Rogachevsky district of the Bobruisk district, the secretary of the Zabolotsk cell of the CPSU (b) received an anonymous letter, in which the author of the anonymous letter, threatening the secretary with reprisals, writes: “You always try to oppose the hut‐reading room to the church on religious holidays. This is tantamount to a peasant revolt. You will find out who wrote. The quieter you go, the further youʹll getʺ.

In with. Peschanskoe, Zolotonosha district, Shevchenko district (Ukraine) On May 5, a temple holiday was held, which was attended by up to 3500 people. The chairman of the village council, wishing to hold a meeting on grain procurements, summoned the church elder and invited him to finish the service as soon as possible; the headman told the priest that the village council prohibits the service. Pop immediately announced to the audience that the Council wanted to close the church and would not allow the service to be held. Under the influence of this statement, a crowd of up to 2,500 peasants went to the village council, shouting: ʺBreak the selrada,ʺ ʺbeat the chairman of the selrada,ʺ ʺlet us tear him to pieces,ʺ etc. When the crowd went to the village council, the priest and the chairman of the church council locked up the church, claiming that the village council did it. However, they failed to provoke the crowd.

In with. Sanskoe Spassky u. (Ryazan province) a group of believing peasants (in the number of 70 people) disrupted on May 1 a film demonstration held by local public organizations, beating up the projectionist and the secretary of the party cell.

A characteristic fact took place in the village. Ostro‐Plastinovo Sasovskiy district Ryazan province, where the priest urged believers to deal with the ʺatheistsʺ who refuse to perform religious rituals.

On May 7, a local priest, together with a deacon and a church watchman, walked around the peasant houses with a prayer service. When one peasant refused to accept a priest, the latter began to convince him of the need to perform a prayer service. Convinced that his moralizing remained without results, the priest turned to drunken peasants walking down the street, urging them to beat the ʺatheistʺ. After the adoption of the priest, two more peasants refused, including one candidate of the CPSU (b), a priest, despite the latterʹs protests, entered his house and served a prayer service. The party candidate complained to the cell, and the latter informed the village council. The village council called the priest for an explanation. The latter did not appear, and at the church during vespers he asked believers to protect him, since ʺthe communists want to arrest him.ʺ Under the influence of the priestʹs agitation, 300 peasants, led by the priest, went to the village council and demanded ʺto leave the priest alone.ʺ Shouts of ʺbeat the communistsʺ were heard from the crowd. Bursting into the building of the village council, the crowd intended to deal with the workers of the village council. The latter managed to escape in time. The kulaks in the crowd called on the peasants to ʺtear to pieces the party candidate who refused to let the priest come to him.ʺ However, the crowd did not listen to them and began to disperse. On the way, the participants in the performance beat the Komsomol member and tried to beat the local poor man.

In a number of regions of Siberia and the LVO during the celebration of May 1, leaflets of religious content were distributed. In some of them, the authors of anonymous letters threatened to crack down on everyone who would go to clubs on Easter, those who would select churches.

So, in the village. Kargat of the Novosibirsk District on May 4, a leaflet was found with the following content: “Holy Easter. If anyone is in the club on Easter, it will be bad, they will throw bombs and set fire to the clubs and shoot. Be careful and donʹt walk. An intensified struggle against communism and the Komsomol is under way. There is fascism in Russia, that is, there are French branches of Mussolini. ʺ

In the premises of the Lebedevsky village council of the Kuznetsk district (Siberia) an anonymous letter was found: “In the village. The communists ripped off the swans, they tear off the peasants in three or five skins. The peasants tolerate everything, but they will soon lose patience and arrange a revolution in the Swans, and kill all the communists. And as soon as the church is taken away, then we will burn them or throw a bomb, as the church is taken away, we will immediately begin to fight, ʺand so on.

 Eastern National Republics and Autonomous Oblasts

Adjarastan

Increased activity of anti‐Soviet elements

During the month of May, the growth of anti‐Soviet sentiments among the population and the intensification of the activity of anti‐Soviet elements throughout the territory of Ajari began again. The Khulo events are the subject of a wide discussion of the day of the population of Khulo itself and other counties. Concessions and various benefits to the Khulins are regarded as ʺthe weakness of the communistsʺ, which should be used to make more decisive demands. Khulintsy, the initiators and participants of the speech, are spoken of as ʺsaviors of the Muslim faith and honor.ʺ Increased supply of the population of the Khulinsky district. food causes criticism among the population of other districts and speeches with an indication of the need to ʺrebel ourselvesʺ so that the government also intensively supplies (Kobuleti district).

The greatest anger among the Adjarians is manifested in relation to the Komsomol members due to the fact that a number of workers who conducted an explanatory campaign about the Khuli events (including some members of the Adjarian government) attributed a significant share of the ʺblameʺ for these events to the tactless behavior of the Komsomol members in anti‐religious work ... On this basis, there are frequent cases of threats to the Komsomol members.

In the name of the secretary of the Komsomol cell, he sat down. Kobuleti received an anonymous letter with the following content.

“We attended the congress in Kobuleti, where comrade Gogoberidze Mamed, who said that in Khulinsky district. the Komsomol members are to blame for everything since they made mistakes. That is why the people spoke out. The supreme authority did not show coercion to our Muslim faith. We consider you ‐ the Komsomol members to blame for everything. Now let us show ourselves. Waitʺ.

In some of those Khulinsky y. judgments were registered about the need to create a special commission for the establishment of a plebiscite and ʺdeciding the fateʺ of Ajaristan ²⁰⁴. These sentiments come mainly from the Ricketian ones. The representatives of the clergy are especially insisting on the plebiscite, hoping that this will lead to the annexation of Ajaristan to Turkey. The plebiscite demands are accompanied by indications that in this case foreign states will help the Adjarians, and ʺa mixed commission of representatives of England, Turkey and Soviet government will decide the issue by popular vote.ʺ

Cases of convocation of secret meetings by anti‐Soviet elements (Chvansky district) have been noted. A characteristic fact is when the peasants began to rebuild the house of one of the fugitive leaders of the Khuli protest. There were registered cases of refusal of youth of draft age from registration in the military registration office (18 cases). Many peasants openly walk with weapons (Baratauli, Nachvareli villages). Anti‐Soviet elements, under the pretext of the need to prepare for a new protest, keep the herders from leaving for nomadic life. Part of the peasantry strives to realize money savings by purchasing goods or exchanging Soviet signs for Turkish lira. In Skhalta, those recorded cases of refusal of individual peasants to accept Soviet paper money. The merchants value the gold piece at 4 lira.

On May 17, about 500 peasants from nearby villages gathered in Kobuleti with a demand to reconsider the issue of appointing Lordkipanidze as chairman of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars. The peasants who spoke demanded that the Kobuleti district In Adjarian he took ʺsecond placeʺ after Khulo, threatening: ʺIf our representative of the Council of Peopleʹs Commissars is not there, we will do worse than the Khulins did.ʺ The speeches also noted ʺthe mashing of the Adjarians in the Soviet apparatus.ʺ

Some of the border population shows a slight increase in tendencies towards resettlement to Turkey. During the period from 7 to 22 May, three cases of crossing to Turkey and three attempts to transfer were registered. Attempts to illegally cross into our territory of the fugitive rebels were also noted. According to available information, the situation of the rebels who fled to Turkey has noticeably deteriorated, in connection with which there are attempts to move back to Ajaristan.

The growth of anti‐Soviet sentiments among the masses of the Ajarian population is largely due to the unsettledness of the party and Soviet apparatus in Ajaristan and the incessant activity of anti‐Soviet elements. The bodies of the OGPU have taken measures to strengthen the protection of the borders and military units in the most disadvantaged regions of Adjara.

National regions of the North Caucasus and Dagestan

Everywhere in the mountain village there is a wide spread of rumors about war, riots in the Union, hunger and the imminent death of the Soviet regime. Information about the revival of the Basmach gangs in Central Asia was picked up by the kulak‐anti‐Soviet elements of the aul as confirmation of rumors about the ʺoutbreak of war.ʺ

The most persistent rumors are that ʺAfghanistan, Turkey and England have entered into an alliance against the USSRʺ, ʺthere was an uprising in Batumʺ, ʺthe war in Central Asia is in full swingʺ, etc. Rumors about the upcoming occupation are especially widespread in Chechnya. The Caucasus by the Turks and the ʺrestoration of Islam.ʺ A whole series of other rumors (“workers in charge and communists are hastily selling their property in preparation for evacuation,” about internal party differences, etc.) are accompanied by calls from anti‐Soviet elements “to be ready for anything,” “to stock up on weapons and supplies,” “to deal with aul asset, as “ours” will come”, etc. Military verification training camps ²⁰⁵,             experimental      mobilizations ²⁰⁶ at            some      points, grain procurements and other campaigns were used by the kulaks and the Muslim clergy to further spread rumors about the war.

Banditry

By the first days of May, the most unfavorable political situation was noted in Ingushetia in connection with the developed criminal and domestic banditry, which had a certain connection with the general revival of the activity of anti‐Soviet elements in the aul. As a result of a number of measures both in Ingushetia and in the Nozhai‐Yurtovsky district of Chechnya, by the end of May there was a slight decline in criminal and domestic banditry, which was reflected in a decrease in the number of armed robberies in May compared to April (15 versus

24).

Activity of Muslim Spirituality

Particularly noteworthy is the movement among Muslims in favor of the creation of a ʺunion of Muslim believersʺ (late April and early May). The inspirers of the movement are prominent representatives of the religiously progressive movement, who in the recent past preached the unification of the Sunni‐Shiite, Orthodox and Jewish clergy in

 

Dagestan on the platform of combating the growth of unbelief. The emergence of communities began with the Buinaksk and Makhachkala regions of Dagestan, where, according to preliminary data, up to 2000 members are registered. The communities, without waiting for the approval of the lists and statutes, are expanding their activities, which mainly boil down to convening annual meetings of believers to study the provisions of Islam, to religious propaganda, recruiting members, collecting monthly membership fees, and collecting donations (up to 50,000 rubles were collected in Buinaksk alone. for the construction of a mosque). The growth of religiosity, originating in Dagestan, is being transferred to the national regions of the JCC: in the Baksan district of Kabarda, the emergence of religious communities of the Dagestan type is noted, and the initiators of the organization of the communities are associated with the Buinaksk center. For a number of auls, groups of 20‐60 people of the religious activists of the auls were organized.

In general, the activities of the Muslim clergy in Dagestan and the national regions of the JCC are aimed at increasing the spread of provocative rumors about the war and the inevitable death of the Soviet regime. In Chechnya, several cases have been registered when mullahs demonstratively took their valuables from auls to remote farms, explaining [this] to the population with precautionary measures in view of the forthcoming war. It should be noted the impact of this maneuver on the general population.

Along with all this, during the first half of May, an active activity of religious propagandists ‐ walkers from Dagestan was observed on the territory of Chechnya.

In groups of two or three people, the walkers spread provocative rumors and leaflets of religiously anti‐Soviet content. The 12 walkers arrested in this case turned out to be from a region under the influence of Sheikh Akushinsky. The arrested were found 5 different leaflets (see the content in Appendix [No. 6]) and letters of the Dagestani mullahs to all ʺfaithfulʺ.

It should be noted the general revival of the activity of the Muslim clergy in Chechnya, as a result of which, during the month of May, a number of organized mass prayers were celebrated at the grave of the mother of the founder of the Kunta‐Khadzhi sect. The prayers were attended by 200 to 600 people. Special attention should be paid to the religious procession of seven auls (about 1500 people) in the Vedeno district to pray for rain on the Kerch‐Kort mountain. In other districts of Chechnya, there is an increase in the number of madrasahs, an influx of students aged 5 to 20, an increase in religious propaganda in mosques, etc.

Religious propaganda with the help of itinerant walkers finds its application in other areas. So, at the end of May in Balkaria, the appearance of a wandering sheikh was noted, who campaigned for the strengthening of religiosity and foreshadowed famine, war, etc.

Kulak‐anti‐Soviet groups in Dagestan

In the village of Kadyr in the Buinaksk district, an anti‐Soviet kulak group has been discovered that has terrorized the aul asset for a long time. The kulak‐religious asset, numbering 17 people, has grouped around the chairman of the aulso‐vet, who is the largest kulak of the aul. Hiding behind the authority of the latter (the chairman of the village council, a former red partisan, a Red Army soldier), the group gradually took over the entire Soviet and cooperative apparatus, opposing the organization of the VKP and Komsomol cells, disrupting the organization of the collective farm, reading huts, several times disrupting the question of building a Soviet school. Anyone ʺguiltyʺ in the aul was arrested, often beaten and illegally imprisoned. The chairman of the village council used shackles for especially ʺdangerousʺ ones. A group of party workers transferred from the canton met with strong resistance, meetings were prohibited by the chairman of the village council or disrupted by the group. Numerous threats were registered at the address of the party workers who arrived. It is characteristic that Sheikh Akushinsky in his letter to the aul Kadyr thanked him as “one of the few true defenders of religion and adat²⁰⁷ ʺ. This letter was read out at a public gathering by a public cadi. The gathering of the poor and part of the middle peasants (400 people) convened by the commission of the Kantispolkom unanimously passed a resolution on the immediate re‐election of the village council and the board of cooperatives and on the arrest of the leader of the group. Seized 10 groupers headed by the chairman of the village council. The members of the group found weapons. So, only one EPO chairman had 12 rifles. In total, over 100 units of various types of firearms were seized.

The intensified activity of the kulak‐anti‐Soviet groups is observed in the Andian region, inhabited by the most backward tribes.

Anti‐Soviet manifestations

The broadest scope of activity of anti‐Soviet elements is noted in the Nozhai‐Yurt district of Chechnya, which is experiencing acute grain difficulties. The activity of the kulaks increased in connection with the ongoing land management work and the seizure of surplus land from the kulaks (see ʺCampaign to seize land surplusʺ) *. Exploration work at Grozneft is regarded by the kulak‐anti‐Soviet element as ʺan attempt at new land oppression.ʺ As a result, a number of incidents of raids and attacks on Grozneft specialists and land workers were recorded throughout the region (see Appendix) **.

Along with attempts to terrorize Soviet land workers, rumors of famine and war spread widely throughout the region. In the speeches of antiSoviet elements, open propaganda of “speaking against the Russians” is increasingly being recorded. By the actions carried out in the district, 850 rifles, 5 revolvers, one broken machine gun were confiscated only in 12 companies. 16 people were arrested. 15 hiding bandits volunteered. The seizure of weapons continues.

Campaign for the conclusion of labor contracts among farm laborers in the Adygea‐Circassian region. met with increased resistance from the kulaks, especially the Circassian.

In the village of Dzhidzhikhabl, the kulaks, in connection with the campaign, led an agitation for the dismissal of all Russian farm laborers and their eviction from the aul. Having failed to obtain the appropriate resolution of the village gathering, the kulaks began mass dismissals of farm laborers and expelling them from their apartments. In the Afapsip aul, kulaks, taking advantage of the application of 27 farm laborersʹ families with a petition for the allotment of land to them, convened on May 14 a descent of the aul without the knowledge of the village council, where they obtained a resolution to evict the farm laborers from the aul within a month and refuse them apartments. Those who disobey these decisions were fined 50 rubles. for public needs. Despite the fact that the said gathering was declared illegal by the village council, the situation of farm laborers in the village remains difficult. Regional and regional organizations did not take any measures to combat the kulaks.

The seizure of land surpluses from the kulaks in Chechnya meets with increased opposition from the kulaks. The seizure of the vakuf lands provokes especially sharp resistance from the Muslim clergy, as a result of which part of the poor show some anxious moods, and in some cases the poor refuse to receive the lands confiscated from the kulaks. On the whole, the poor are very positive about the campaign. In parallel, a number of cases of unauthorized seizure of lands taken from them by kulaks and numerous threats to the district authorities, especially after the arrest of a number of the most malicious invaders, were noted in all districts. In the aul of Sharoi, 11 cases of fistsʹ grabbing seeds were registered, and in three cases the poor were beaten with fists. As a result of the agitation of the Muslim clergy, there are cases when the poor, who received the vacuf lands, intend to hand over the harvest to the mosque (p.

Notes:

* There is no such section in the review.

** In the annexes to the review, the events described here are not reflected.

Land disputes in Chechnya and Dagestan

During the campaign, new outbreaks of land disputes were noted in the border strip between Dagestan and Chechnya.

Serious friction is going on between the village of Engel‐Yurt in Chechnya and the village. Aksai of the Khasavyurt district. No less fierce struggle is going on between the village of Galpitch (Chechnya) and Minai‐Pugai, as well as with. Baiterek and Magdar.

The unauthorized seizure of the Chechen lands of the Khasav‐Yurt district threatens a repetition of last yearʹs serious conflicts on this basis. A clash over the use of pastures took place on the border of the

Samur district of Dagestan and Azerbaijan.

Food difficulties

The growth of food difficulties in the national regions of the NCC and in Dagestan is mainly due to the depletion of grain reserves of the poor in non‐fertile regions. In individual regions, the situation in connection with the shortage of grain is drawn in the following form.

In Dagestan, the mountainous regions are the most unfavorable in terms of grain supply. The cantonal executive committees receive numerous individual and collective applications from the mountain poor asking for grain supplies. Among the nomads of the Achikulak region, there is a particularly unfavorable situation with bread, and by mid‐May crowds of needy people gathered daily at the regional center, 100‐150 people each, insistently demanding the distribution of bread.

In a number of mountainous regions of Chechnya, a relatively uninterrupted supply of grain to the needy groups of the population has been established. At the same time, significant groups of the poor, whose grain reserves have been exhausted, stand out on the plane.

Among the Russian Cossacks of Ossetia, due to the lack of wheat harvest last year, there is a significant number of people in need of bread.

In the Kabardino‐Balkarian region. A sharp reduction in grain procurements for domestic consumption of the region (for the 1st and 2nd five days, 696 poods were procured, for the 3rd ‐ 60 poods) contributed to a further aggravation of the grain crisis among the rural population. There are numerous cases of distortion of the class principle in the distribution of grain locally. The kulak elements, receiving bread through contacts with cooperative and Soviet workers, speculate on them. Maize distributed among the population is often unfit for consumption.

In with. Altud of the Primalka District from 250 poods. food corn 90 poods. turned              out         to            be unusable. The    Karachay             Production Association received 450 poods. unusable corn.

Hinterland

Mass demonstrations on religious grounds

Tatar regions of the Middle Volga region in a number of Tatar villages in the Kuznetsk District, during the week (from May 17 to May 25), religious demonstrations took place, timed to coincide with the Muslim holiday Eid al‐Adha ²⁰⁸. The first demonstration arose in the village. B. Truevo, and even before the demonstration, the local mullah for two days preached in the mosque to hold the Eid al‐Adha in an organized way. On May 20, horsemen (about 60 people) appeared in the streets, whose faces and horses were disguised. Some of the riders were armed with shotguns ²⁰⁹... In total, the demonstrators, on foot and on horseback, were initially over 200 people. Ahead of the demonstration were the carts of the kulak machine partnership. The demonstrators wore banners with slogans: ʺLong live the united faith of Mohammedʺ, ʺFaithful, unite under the banner of Mohammed.ʺ Demonstrators stopped at mosques, houses of mullahs and some kulaks, staging flying rallies and calling for support of the Muslim faith, mullahs and ʺdisenfranchisedʺ. These calls were covered with exclamations of ʺhurrayʺ and shots from guns. Procession from the village. B. Truyevo went to the village. Tatar Kanadei, where demonstrators from the villages of Cherkley and Kurmaevka also arrived. By this time, some horsemen (disguised) had accumulated about 300 people. There were about 12 armed men. The demonstrators shouted through the streets with. Kanadei: ʺBring the communists here, end them.ʺ At the same time, upward volleys were fired from rifles. It has been established that the demonstration was the result of a large organizational work of the kulaks, Muslim clergy and merchants. Among the organizers and leaders of the demonstration are visitors from the eastern outskirts of the Union. The case involved 22 people in the majority of ʺdisenfranchisedʺ kulaks and influential representatives of the Muslim faith.

Mass demonstrations on religious grounds took place in the village. Ashitovo Buguruslan district, in the village. Reshetino of the Penza district (see Appendix [No. 6]).

Bashkiria.  Mass demonstrations on the basis of the closure of mosques were noted in the villages of Yanurusovo and Yangiskaly, Burunovskaya parish. Sterlitamak canton. In both cases, the Muslim clergy and the kulaks, being the initiators of the speeches, conducted organized work (see Appendix [No. 6]).

Among the Russian population of Bashkiria, 3 mass demonstrations were registered in May. A characteristic feature of all performances is the predominance of women among the participants (see Appendix

[No. 6]).

Tartary.  Mass demonstrations on religious grounds among the Russian population were noted in the village. Kutim Chistopol canton (100 people participated, almost exclusively women) and Kazan (about 200 people).

Crimea.  In the village. Kutlak of the Sudak region marked the performance of women on the days of a religious Muslim holiday, demanding the release of the arrested mullah.

Mass actions on the basis of land management

Tatar regions of the Middle Volga region Special attention should be paid to the performance on the basis of land management in the village. Yengonaevo, Cherdaklinsky District, Ulyanovsk District.

In connection with the decision of the local party organization to evict wealthy and mullahs to remote areas, a crowd of peasants in the amount of up to 500 men and women gathered at a fire alarm specially given by the initiators. Shouts with threats were heard from the crowd against the initiators of the eviction of the mullahs and the wealthy and in defense of the latter. The chairman of the village council and the secretary of the cell received several blows. After some time, in the same village, a crowd of 2,000 * people, approaching the reading room where the chairman of the village council, the secretary of the cell and the arrived representatives of the district, demanded immunity for the local mullah, the merchant and a number of other instigators of the first speech.

On May 7, there was another demonstration led by a local mullah. Three local Komsomol members were beaten by the speakers; party members and local activists were forced to hide.

Speech on the basis of land management in the village. Feyzulovo of the Ulyanovsk district resulted in a two‐fold disruption of the plenum of the village council, in the dispersal of the commission for land management work. The plenum of the village council, convened for the third time, finally abandoned land management (see Appendix [No. 4]).

Mass demonstrations on the basis of land management also took place in the village. Penzyatka of Mordovia and N. Temersyan of Ulyanovsk districts (for details see Appendix [No. 4]).

Tartary.  In a number of villages in the Kaibitsky region, the campaign for the transition to the multi‐field is meeting with sharp resistance from the kulaks. In the village. Muralyakh, on this basis, a mass demonstration took place under the leadership of the kulaks and Muslim spirituality. Performances on this basis were also registered in a number of other villages (Mordovskaya Karmalka, Bugulma canton, Ebalaki village and others (see Appendix [No. 6]).

Note:

* So, in the document. Probably 200.

The activity of the kulaks in connection with the redistribution of land

Votskaya obl.  The preparatory work for the redistribution of land and the course of the redistribution campaign itself were accompanied by significant opposition from the kulak‐anti‐Soviet elements. Along with intensified agitation against redistribution, the kulaks act at agricultural enterprises, openly threatening the poor and land workers. In a number of cases, as a result of kulak agitation and threats, certain groups of the poor and middle peasants, after the already adopted decision on the redistribution of land, came to the village councils and VICs with protocols to annul the previous decisions.

At the beginning of the campaign under the influence of the kulak agitation entire population Kuregovskogo, Zotovskogo,

Novoselkovskoye and Petrovsky areas of land redistribution refused, insisting on the allocation to the farm and cut ²¹⁰.

A case was registered when a crowd of 100 women under the leadership of a member of the village council dispersed workers for the redistribution of land, as a result of which the peasants, abandoning the multi‐field, made a redistribution on the three‐field ²¹¹. Not limited to the above methods of struggle, the kulaks widely terrorized the poor, agricultural assets and land workers. Throughout the campaign, 35 cases of beating of members of commissions and commissioners for redistribution, and the poor were registered.

In the Yukamenskaya vol. 7 poor people were beaten with fists, in Yagoshurskaya parish. ‐ 11 poor. In the village. Votskiy Kotyoshur Sosnovskaya parish. a poor activist is killed. middle Asia

Sentiment over Afghan events

Uzbekistan.  The further revival of the activity of the Muslim clergy, the Baystva, former Basmachis and other anti‐Soviet elements was most clearly revealed at the time of the invasion of Fusail Maksuma. As before, provocative rumors about a war, an offensive on the USSR, etc., are still widespread, in which the prevailing version is “the emir of Bukhara is leaving Afghanistan”, “the emir and Britain have declared war on the USSR”, etc. (Andijan, Kashka ‐Daria). Cases have been noted when anti‐Soviet elements, in particular former Basmachi, are not limited to agitation and spreading rumors, are preparing for an uprising and war.

In the Surkhan‐Darya district, bai, Muslims, former Basmachi and emir officials hold frequent meetings to discuss events in Afghanistan and ways to fight Soviet power.

In with. Tyura‐Kurgan of the Andijan Okrug, a meeting of prominent Kurbash Basmachs took place near the former Basmach, where the issue of Basmachism in Tajikistan and Fergana was discussed. In the village of Kizyl‐Arvat of the Andijan district, the former Basmachi kurbashs, who were recently engaged in dekhkans, bought horses and established ties with their former horsemen.

Tajikistan.  Despite the defeat of Fusail Maksum and the seizure of the anti‐Soviet element for Basmachi and Anglophile agitation (up to 150 people were arrested), the activity of anti‐Soviet elements not only did not subside, but even increased somewhat. The bai, the clergy, and former emir officials are making preparations for anti‐Soviet protests.

In the village of Chukrek (Dushambinsky vilayet), a meeting of bays, ishans ²¹² and former officials was held, at which a letter from Ibrahimbek received from Afghanistan was read, where, along with the message that ʺthe fighter for Islam, Emir Habibullah is supported by

England and Turkey,ʺ all influential persons ʺprepare to act against the Soviet regime.ʺ Those gathered at the meeting discussed the preparation for the arrival of the Basmachi and the terror [against] the activists. The bai of the villages of Shiratala, Sang and Guda received the same letters, where meetings were also convened.

In the village of Kulchi, Karatag district, bays are campaigning among farmers for the support of Ibrahim‐bek. In the village of Ablik YangiBazar district, the bai collected 10 sheep each for the former bandit to buy a horse in case of a performance.

In some cases, anti‐Soviet elements have resorted to widespread public agitation to oppose the Soviet regime.

In the village of Yangi‐Bazar, an unknown bai at the bazaar read a letter from Ibrahim‐bek with a message about his imminent arrival and called on the population to help the Basmachs. Some bai send their people to Afghanistan to find out the forces of Ibrahim‐bek and the date of his arrival.

Kyrgyzstan.  In connection with the Basmach movement in Tajikistan, there has been a revival among the former Basmachs of Kyrgyzstan, in particular, the Osh district. In a number of villages, former Basmach leaders and prominent accomplices convened meetings at which decisions were made on the need to acquire weapons and organize Basmach gangs to oppose Soviet power.

In the Kyzil‐Kiysk region, the local manap called a meeting of the bays, where he said that he had received a letter from Ibrahim‐bek, in which he wrote that his troops had invaded Tajikistan and that he would soon arrive in Osh Kurshirmat. Those present spoke in favor of supporting the Basmachi. In the same area, at a meeting of the former kurbashs, it was decided to start preparations for the uprising and a special person was assigned to acquire weapons.

The activity of baiism and Muslims

Turkmenistan.  The activity of the Baystva has increased significantly and is mainly going along the line of defeatist agitation of terror and the spread of provocative rumors in connection with the earthquake. In Ashgabat and Geok‐Tepe districts (the ones most affected by the earthquake), as a result of intensified agitation of the bayism, mass demonstrations of dekhkans were noted (see Appendix).

Kyrgyzstan.  In connection with the eviction of 43 manap bays and the confiscation of their property in the northern regions of Kyrgyzstan, rumors were widely spread about the alleged confiscation of property from all bays and middle peasants. As a result of this agitation, many bais liquidate their farms.

In May, 22 farms were liquidated in the Naryn canton, in the Chuysky ‐ 11, in the Karakol ‐ 2, in the Talas ‐ 2 and in Uzgen ‐ 2.

In some cases, bai, seeking to find the support of the masses, make various donations for public needs.

Bai Kochkor parish donated 200 sheep for the construction of the aul school. Bai Tonskoy Vol. contributed 8,000 rubles. for the construction of an irrigation canal. The largest bai of the Ton, Sharkratminskaya, Dzhuvanaryk volosts summoned about 300 poor peasants and farm laborers for a treat, telling them: ʺThan to give our property to the Soviet government, weʹd better give it to you, and in case of eviction, you will support us.ʺ The dehkans took an oath to support the beys.

Emigration

Turkmenistan.  Emigration of Turkmen to Afghanistan continues to grow.

In the month of May, 13 households emigrated from the Kerkinsky district to Afghanistan and 23 more are preparing to emigrate. 12 farms are going to move in Chardzhuy district. The emigration sentiments in the Kara‐Kalinsky region deserve special attention, from where 20 farms migrated to Persia in May, 44 more farms are preparing for the migration.

Only the wealthy emigrate. The reason for the emigration from the Kara‐Kalinsky region was the rumors spread by local workers about the impending confiscation of land and livestock from the bais and the wealthy for allotment to the poor.

Kyrgyzstan. As a result of widespread rumors about the impending confiscation of the property of the bai‐manap, emigration sentiments are noted among the latter: in the Naryn (62 cases), Karakol (2) and Osh

(2) cantons.

Interethnic relations

Uzbekistan. The exacerbation of relations between individual nationalities is noted. In connection with the decision to transfer the Khorezm district to Turkmenistan, the Uzbek population of the Naussky district raises the issue of joining the district to the Tashkent district, and local Uzbek workers organized the drafting of sentences from the population, sending walkers to Samarkand. In Bukhara, there is an increase in the Uzbek propaganda of Uzbek nationalists in connection with the attempts of Tajiks to raise the issue of the annexation of Bukhara to Tajikistan. The circular of the Peopleʹs Commissariat for Education on the introduction of teaching in the Tajik language was met with dissatisfaction by the Uzbek teachers. In the Papal region of the Fergana district, clashes between Uzbeks and Kirghiz have become more frequent due to constant land disputes. The same is noted in the Khujand region. Between the Tajiks of the Isfara region and the Kyrgyz on the basis of water use, a fight took place with the participation of up to 100 Kyrgyz people. Among the Uzbek nationalist intelligentsia, the forthcoming purge of the Soviet apparatus was met with almost universal hostility. In the speeches of the largest ideologues, the following points are noted: “the cleansing will be the cleansing of the Uzbeks; in the absence of workers and peasants of the indigenous nationality, the Russians are implanted”

(Andijan); “Traitors, having sold out for their careers, throw Uzbek children out of educational institutions” (Samarkand), etc. On this basis, sentiments in favor of the Basmachi are recorded: “Our Uzbek, if he is dissatisfied with the authorities, arms and organizes the Basmachi, this hot blood of the Uzbek and must be appreciated; Basmachi will achieve the liberation of Muslims” (Andijan).

Locust

In early May, the flight of the Schistocerci locust began on the territory of Turkmenistan ²¹³ from Afghanistan and Persia. The first large batch (4 square kilometers) appeared on May 6 in the Kushkinsky district. Subsequently, the locusts poured into the Kushkinsky region in huge parties and, flooding it, moved north to the Merv oasis. At the same time, the appearance of locusts was noted in the Serakh region and then in the Takhtabazar region. By May 20, the locust reaches and floods the Merv District, from where it heads to the northeast, to the valley of the river. Amu‐Darya (Chardzhuy district). The first consignments of locusts appear in Zhenau and Kara‐Bekaul, and on May 23, after capturing the Chardzhui district, the locust begins to move down the Amu Darya to Khorezm and Tashauz, simultaneously flying over the river and heading for Uzbekistan. In Turkmenistan, about 300,000 hectares are infected with schistocerci, almost the entire cultural zone. In addition, huge areas in the steppes surrounding cultural oases have been contaminated. The size of the infection cannot be determined here. In Uzbekistan, the flocks that flew over the Amu Darya occupied a huge area in the Bukhara district. Vanguard groups of locusts are beginning to appear in Khorezm and Tashauz. Locust control is extremely difficult due to the fact that flying²¹⁴ locust control is completely impossible. The only measure is to observe the summer swarms and to register the places where the locust pods ²¹⁵. The fight against foot locusts and locusts that are about to hatch ²¹⁶ is complicated by an acute shortage of funds, specialists, and especially poisons. Turkmenistan alone is already demanding 3 million rubles for locust control. Meanwhile, information is coming from Persia and Afghanistan about an unprecedented emergence of locusts that destroy crops, which, having devoured all the vegetation in the regions bordering with us, will rush into our territory.

In the Syr‐Darya district of Kazakhstan, 35,000 hectares are infected with locusts, of which 10,000 are crops. In Takhtakupyr, Karauzyak, Kungrad and partly Chimbay districts of Kara‐Kalpakia, a large number of locusts appeared.

Siberian regions

Buryat‐Mongolia.  In connection with the withdrawal of the most malicious agitators for the emigration of Buryats to the territory of China and Outer Mongolia, some weakening of emigration sentiments has been outlined. However, the conservative part of the Llama continues to campaign. In some cases, lamas held meetings, organized collection of donations in favor of the arrested, traveled along the railway line in order to establish communication between individual datsans, etc. For individual aimags, the situation is drawn in the following form.

Aginsky aimak. The kulaks continue to campaign for emigration. There were registered cases of sale of property in order to emigrate.

Mukhorshibir aimag. Despite the removal of the leaders of the emigration movement, the kulaks continue to campaign. A number of households preparing for resettlement have been registered.

Kyakhta aimak. Emigration sentiments were noted in the Ala‐Kirensky and Kudarinsky somons. In the latter, 40 households are preparing for emigration.

Ekhirit‐Bulagat aimak. In Barguzinsky, Selenginsky and Khorinsky aimags, there are about 100 registered farms preparing for emigration.

The poor and middle peasants of the Buryat population everywhere have a negative attitude towards resettlement from BuryatMongolia. Nomads are returning to their former places everywhere. As before, there is an aspiration of the Buryats to migrate from the western aimags to the eastern ones, especially to Aginsky.

Food difficulties

Khakass district.  In some regions, groups of poor peasants and laborers of 15–20 people constantly come to the regional executive committees demanding the delivery of bread. There have been cases of independent convening of the poor peasantsʹ meetings, passing resolutions demanding bread. Several cases were recorded when the poor, appearing at the next village gatherings, insisted on including the issue of supplying bread to the poor and farm laborers in the agenda. In some places, as a result of this, other issues were removed from the agenda or the meetings as a whole were disrupted. The malicious holders of grain surpluses are agitating for the same among the rest of the peasantry. The cooperatives are unable to fully satisfy the populationʹs demand for bread. Several cases of swelling due to hunger strike have been reported.

Deputy Chairman of the OGPU

Berry

Head of the Information Department of the OGPU

Alekseev

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU

Kucherov *

Note

* The document is signed by V. Kucherov.

Appendix No. 1. Speeches of the unorganized urban population in connection with the closure of the church

G.  Efremov (Tula Gubernia) The issue of closing the church was raised solely by the former chairman of the Efremov Regional Electoral Commission and was not discussed in any bodies. No explanatory work was carried out among the population. In addition, in the petition of the chairman of the RIK to close the church, incorrect information was given that the church allegedly does not have a parish. In reality, the church has up to 55 parishioners and a church council.

The believers were not given a two‐week period to appeal the decision to the All‐Russian Central Executive Committee. The police proceeded to close the church without notifying the church council.

On May 26, by the time the church utensils were seized, a crowd of 7080 people had gathered. There were shouts: ʺWe wonʹt let you enter the church anyway, beat us, do what you want, but we wonʹt let you break the church.ʺ The crowd rushed into the church, where, crying and shouting, began kissing the icons and praying, not giving the opportunity to seize. The crowd was pushed aside by the police, but the closure was postponed due to the absence of representatives from the church council. The seal on the church door was torn off.

On May 27, about 250 believers gathered near the church. The crowd shouted and scolded the Soviet authorities. A militiaman was hurt in the head by a stone thrown by someone. It should be noted that the seizure of church utensils took place in an environment that offended the religious feeling of believers. The icons were thrown onto the cart, the Red Army men sat on them, etc. In connection with the unrest of the population during the closure of the church, 22 armed policemen, 70 Red Army men and 10 cavalrymen were summoned.

The units summoned to the cemetery in a deployed formation, armed with rifles, advanced on the crowd (about 500 people) and pushed it back into the meadow behind the cemetery. The retreating crowd, chanting ʺChrist is Risen,ʺ headed for the city.

The religious procession, organized on May 29, was held with a large number of believers, turning into a demonstration.

On May 30, after All‐night Vigil ^{217, a} crowd of believers, 2,000 people, went to the RIK building, demanding an explanation of the reasons for the closure of the cemetery church. The crowd asked questions ‐ will the cathedral church be closed. There were shouts: ʺWhy do we have little breadʺ, ʺwhy there are no goods.ʺ Through explanations, the crowd was persuaded to disperse.

Mountains. Astrakhan. The Astrakhan regional executive committee issued a resolution to close the chapel in the 1st district and transfer the inventory in it to the state fund. Some of the icons that are of no value should be transferred to the Gostinno‐Nikolaevskaya (Renovationist) Church ²¹⁸.

When the treasurer of the church and the inspector of the financial department came to the chapel on the morning of May 8 to remove the icons, a crowd of women gathered near the chapel. Upon learning that the icons were being transported to the Renovationist church, they began to protest sharply. The crowd grew rapidly. After a while, up to 500 people gathered near the chapel (mainly merchants and inhabitants) and prevented the removal of icons.

The anti‐Soviet element among the audience waged agitation against the Soviet regime, using food difficulties for this, and called on the audience to ʺspeak out.ʺ

The crowd dispersed only in the evening. Some people said: ʺIf the communists take away the icons at night, then all the same Leninʹs corner ²¹⁹ will not be in the chapel ‐ we will destroy it.ʺ

Mountains. Klimovichi (Mogilev District). On May 6, a rally took place on the square on the issue of closing the synagogue and church and transferring it to a school (up to 2000 people attended). Old believers aged 50 to 80, about 100 people, shouted during the rally: ʺWe will die for the church, but we will not give it.ʺ Women threw stones, sand, etc. at the protesters. The wife of a former treasury official snatched a poster from the hands of the pioneers, threw it on the ground and began to stomp. The youth and the rest of the protesters kept themselves calm. The Jewish population (believers) stated that they did not object to the seizure of the synagogue if the church was taken, otherwise they would oppose the closure.

Mountains. Starobelsk.  On May 15, a speech took place on the basis of the closure of the cathedral. About 11 a.m. a crowd of women, up to 400 people, approached the building of the district administrative department, demanding to return the keys to the cathedral and open it.

To the women of the mountains. Starobelsk was joined by peasant women from nearby villages who were in the bazaar.

From the crowd that approached the administration department, shouts were heard: ʺThe Soviet government is taking away bread, it does not give goods, the church is taking it, we are against the closure of the cathedral, this is a wrong action.ʺ

This speech was preceded by the preliminary work of the churchmen, who agitated among the believers for an organized protest against the closure of the cathedral. The church headman of the cathedral and a member of the fifties, a photographer, were especially active.

Mountains. Kazan.  On May 24, a crowd of 150 believers, mostly women, gathered outside the church to protest the closure. The crowd was joined by about 60 workers of the Spartak factory, who were also indignant at the closure of the church. Shouts were heard from the crowd: “Down with the communists, they are not giving work and they want to break the workersʹ church. Together we will not allow such a shame, let them shoot us, let us not let the church be dismantled, let them destroy mosques and synagogues. We will start a riot; we will kill all the communists and Tatars”. A worker who tried to speak out for the closure of the church was intended to be beaten. The crowd, which had gathered at 3 pm, dispersed late in the evening.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU

Kucherov

 Appendix No.  2.  Grain procurement

Kulak sentiments of village party members and workers of the grassroots Soviet apparatus.

Evasion of grain procurement work

Lugansk District (Ukraine).  Member of the Bureau of the Komsomol cell s. Davido‐Nikolskoye, when he was allocated to the commission to identify the holders of surplus, submitted an application to leave the organization and to refuse to participate in the commission.

Kupyansky District.  Dvurechansky district. The chairman of the

Svyachenevsk village council categorically refused to carry out measures for grain procurement.

Maikop district. (CCM).  Labinsk district, hut. Red Kut. At a meeting of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) cell, the chairman of the Novy Put kolkhoz said: “In grain procurement our line is not Soviet, but capitalist: we want to kill the kulak, but the communists in the city and countryside are overgrowing, going ahead of the kulak.”

Kuban District.  Stts. Slavic. The cashier of the SHT, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), surrendered his party card and refusing to hold a meeting on grain procurements, tore it off.

Armavir district.  In the Kurgan region, at a meeting of the village council of the union of 4 farms, a member of the All‐Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks spoke, saying: ʺThe party and the Soviet government are pursuing the policy not of the party and the Soviet government, but the policy of German imperialism.ʺ

Fist indulgence

Tambov District (TsCHO).  In with. The regimental‐Sloboda authorized for grain procurement allowed the local kulak not to export the 35 poods imposed on him. bread, and at the meeting of the members of the village council he zealously defended this kulak, defended him from the boycott and freed him from the export of surplus. In reality, however, the kulak has a grain surplus.

Kozlovsky           district.  Ladiesʹ                district,                 with. Khristoforovka. The daughter of a wealthy peasant received a fictitious certificate from the village council stating that she lives separately from her father, although in fact they live together. The certificate was taken with the aim of using manufactured goods from the software both for myself and for my father, who was boycotted. With the assistance of the chairman of the board of the PO, she received a manufactory from the PO.

Khopersky District (NVK).  The grain procurement officer, a member of the CPSU (b), staying at an apartment with a local prosperous peasant who had been boycotted, gave him permission to grind 25 poods at the mill. wheat.

Cases of distortion of the class line during the spreading of control figures for grain procurements and boycotts *

Poltava canton (ASSRNP).  S. Krasny Yar. Out of 6 boycotted farms, 5 turned out to be poor farms with absolutely no grain surpluses.

Sumy district (Ukraine).  S. Vodolash. The commissioner for grain procurement, a member of the RIK, he is also the chairman of the KNS, made a proposal to tax 75% of the entire population. The ruling caused extreme discontent among the poor.

Kulak terror

Belotserkovsky District                (Ukraine).  Tarashchansky            district, with. Rugs. A local kulak, along with his son with daggers in hand, attacked the grain procurement commission (both were arrested).

Shevchenko district.  Rotmistrovsky district, with. Sam‐Gorodok. The grain procurement officer came to the local kulak to negotiate the surrender of the surplus. The fist attacked the commissioner with an ax and wounded him in the left hand, after which he tried to hack to death the commissioner (the first was arrested).

Poltava district.  Grunsky district, with. Pirki. Fists set fire to the farms of three local poor people who took part in grain procurements.

Sumy district.  The RIKʹs representative for grain procurements was returning accompanied by two policemen from the village. Rivers, where he made an inventory of the property of the kulaks. On the way they were met by two unknown persons who killed the commissioner with a revolver.

Mass performances

Armavir District (SKK).  In with. Konokovo, Armavir district, a crowd that was at the bazaar during the drive of a cow confiscated from a kulak, a malicious non‐donor of grain surpluses, attracted by the cries and cries of the kulakʹs family, went to the village council, took away the confiscated property and returned it to the kulak, beating at the same time the chairman of the council, the inheritor and policeman. The crowd called by the alarm bell numbered 1,000 people.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

Appendix No. 3. Difficulties

Mass performance

Kineshemsky district.  May 18 in the office of the Buzinsky EPO Shelomovskaya Vol. at a meeting of the commission on the distribution of rations, it was decided to exclude 618 people from the list of those in need, since the amount of bread released for the month of May was reduced from 18,000 kg to 14,000 kg.

On May 20, up to 1000 peasants from different villages gathered near the EPO office, who demanded an explanation of the reason for removing them from the supply.

Several middle peasants in the crowd agitated that ʺthe chairman of the EPO, Aleksandrov, and a member of the revcommission, Kazarinov, should be thrown into the Volga.ʺ One of them, Soloviev, went to the EPO office and said: “If you don’t give us bread, we will take our measures. Because of hunger, a person is capable of anything. We give you a three‐day period to resolve the issue, otherwise we will throw you into the Volga so that others, looking at it, will be afraid and will not do so,” and then, turning [to] the crowd, he said: “Why are we looking at them. They will starve us to death. We must take them by the throat and throw them into the Volga. ʺ

EPO chairman Aleksandrov and member of the revkom commission Kazarinov, seeing the excitement of the crowd, left the board. From the side of the crowd there were attempts to detain Kazarinov. After they left, the crowd dispersed.

Cases of illness, swelling and death

Pervomaisky District (Ukraine).  In with. Poor Ostrovitsky died due to hunger in Kapustyanka of Savran district. In this village, a significant part of the poor eat bread substitutes.

In with. Mogilny Kashchevatsky district about 60% of the poor are starving. In the village, 2 deaths were registered in connection with the consumption of bread surrogates.

In with. Stelman, a farm laborer, died of starvation in Hralovka, Domanevsky district.

Zinovievsky district.  In with. The family of poor Konovalova was swollen due to hunger in New Prague in the same district. Before filling the barns with public grain, the peasants helped Konovalova, but recently they refused help, declaring: ʺSince they are taking the last from us, let the state help the wicked.ʺ

In with. A family of three died of hunger in Petrovka, Khmelevsky district.

In with. Antopolsky, Bratsk district, a 23‐year‐old laborer hanged herself because of hunger.

Kremenchug district.  In the village. Gubarevka, Alexandria district, families of poor people Zazadilo and Tarana were swollen from hunger.

In with. In Morozovka, Gradinsky District, 6 families were swollen from hunger. They repeatedly appealed to the village council for help, stating that they had only one way out ‐ to hang themselves. Help is still not provided to them.

In with. In Podorozhnoe, Novo‐Georgievsky District, there have been many cases of swelling of children from hunger.

In with. A number of deaths due to hunger have been registered in the Kazalschina of the Brigadirovsky district.

Shevchenko district.  In with. Chigrin of the same district, several families were swollen from hunger.

The hungry people gather at the village council and the cooperatives every day, demanding the distribution of bread.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

 Appendix No. 4. Mass demonstrations

Bryansk lips.  In with. Rotten Klintsovskaya Vol. of the same county on May 20, the chairman of the village council announced to the church headman about the transfer of the empty church house (according to the court order) for the cultural needs of the village. On the same day, the property was recorded in the house, after which the house was boarded up.

The church elder (middle peasant, former coachman of the police bailiff ²²⁰) led agitation among the peasants, calling on them to protest against the transfer of the priestʹs house. A few days before the announcement of the decree on the transfer of the house, he traveled to the mountains. Bryansk to the bishop ²²¹ apply for an appointment as a priest in s. Rotten the former sexton, declaring that until the priest is appointed, he will be able to defend the church house. As a result of his campaigning in the afternoon of May 20, a crowd of 60 women burst into one of the courtyards where the commission for registering agricultural taxation objects worked, threatening the members of the commission: house, give me the keys”; ʺYou donʹt close the Jewish faces, synagogues, but drown our faith.ʺ The crowd, seeing the ineffectiveness of the threats, went to the priestʹs house, where they broke the castle and began cleaning the apartment (washing the floors, cleaning the walls, etc.), preparing it for the arrival of the new priest.

On the performance of women in the village. The peasants of the neighboring villages of Rudnyak and Terekhovka recognized Gnilushah, from where a crowd of women of up to 200 people came to help. The crowd was led by two men (religious fanatics). The crowd did not let the Klintsovsky PEC member, the assistant prosecutor and the head of the RAO who came to the village to speak, interrupting with shouts: “Bloodsuckers, thick muzzles, down with it, why did you come, you didn’t bring us bread, but you are giving chaff, you didn’t give flour for Easter,” etc. P.

The PEC member and others were forced to leave. The crowd accompanied them with whistles, whoops and shouts of ʺhurrayʺ. An hour later the crowd dispersed.

Mogilev district.  From May 1, the Kormyansky Regional Commission proposed to the Khlevlyansky Village Council to temporarily ban the performance of religious rituals in the region, due to the outbreak of the flu epidemic there.

Chairman of the church council der. Khlevnoy (aka the priest of the Khlevlyanskaya church) categorically refused to comply with the RIKʹs resolution. On May 1, ringing the alarm bell gathered a crowd of peasants, calling to demand from the local CP (b) B cell to open a church in connection with the celebration of Easter. A crowd of up to 300 people, shouting ʺBeat the Communists and Leninists, give Trotsky here,ʺ approached the village council building, demanding the opening of the church. Despite explanations for the need to temporarily close the church, the crowd did not disperse until their demand was satisfied. During the speech, the peasants tried to beat the chairman of the village council. The peasants beat the accountant of the local consumer society for trying to defend the chairman of the village council.

Mogilev‐Podolsk district. May 10 in the village. Volodievtsy arrived in a party of land surveyors to carry out work on land management. In the morning, groups of women began to gather in the village, among who were campaigning to prevent land surveyors from entering the fields by kulaks and an anti‐Soviet element. At noon, when the land surveyors were getting to work, one of the women sounded the alarm. The gathered crowd of peasants went into the field, where they overturned two carts with tools, threw stakes, and then began to beat the surveyors. After the beating, the surveyors were taken to the village, where the peasants intended to lynch them.

Thanks to the managerial and resourcefulness of the chairman of the village council, the land surveyors were ʺarrestedʺ by him and put in the ʺcoldʺ one, and the crowd dispersed after the admonition from the chairman of the village council.

The leaders of the district who arrived in the village, and then the representative of the district center, convened a plenum of the village council. At the plenum, some members of the village council spoke out categorically against land management, declaring that otherwise an uprising was possible. However, the plenum of the village council decided to continue land management under the responsibility of all members of the village council, instructing them to carry out appropriate work on their plots.

On May 11, when the surveyors went back to the field, a crowd of 700 people armed with shovels and stakes arrived at the place of work and beat the surveyors, driving them out of the field.

On May 12, land surveyors again went into the field to carry out work. A crowd of peasants, called by the alarm bell, in the amount of 800 people for the third time did not allow land managers to work.

On the same day, in the evening, a meeting of the poor and the agricultural sector was held, at which the question of land management was discussed; the peasants who spoke out noted that ʺland management is not necessaryʺ and that ʺthe peasants are not against Soviet power, but only against land management.ʺ To the question posed by the prosecutor: ʺIs it necessary to punish those responsible for the beating of land surveyorsʺ, the audience answered in the affirmative. As a result, the question of land management remained open.

On May 13, a general meeting of peasants was called again, who, however, refused to discuss the issue of land management.

Due to the aggravation of the situation, land surveying work was postponed for several days. Explanatory work is being carried out among the agricultural sector and the poor.

The arrest of the initiators of the speech and the participants in the beating (only 8 people, among them a priest, a former gendarme, a former landowner and kulaks) did not cause any excesses.

Shevchenko district.  In with. Krynki Shpolyansky district On May 8, 9 and 10, excesses took place due to the transition to joint cultivation of land (POP). The decree on the transition to POPs was adopted in March, and the majority of the middle peasantry did not agree with this. Instead of clarifying this issue at the meeting, the chairman of the district KNS shouted: ʺWhoever does not want, we will twist into a ramʹs horn, send themʺ, etc. As a result, out of 505 farms, only 162 agreed to switch to POPs. Of the 24 authorized four selected for signing the charter (middle peasants) refused to sign the charter.

On May 8, when a surveyor went to the field to carry out work, a crowd of 100 people gathered tried to disrupt the surveyorʹs work.

On the morning of May 9, a crowd of men (40 people), approaching the village council, threatened to beat the land surveyor and all the workers carrying out land management.

On the evening of the same day, the peasants held a meeting to elect delegates from those who did not want land management. The secretary of the cell, who arrived at the meeting and declared that the meeting was illegal, was severely beaten.

On May 10, the crowd, surrounding the village council, demanded the issuance of documents to delegates traveling to Kharkov.

Slavgorodsky district.  May 12 in the village. Good N.‐Alekseevsky area to resolve land issues, a general meeting of peasants was convened (for the second time, since the first meeting was disrupted by kulaks). Among those present there were 15 people of kulaks‐Baptists who did not allow the meeting to be conducted by shouting: “We will not allow the commune “Krasnaya Niva” to give our land. If they give up our land, we will kill everyone, we ourselves will not give it up alive, call a detachment of soldiers, anyway we will not give up our land; only then will you take the land when we shed our blood and the blood of our enemies. ʺ As a result of the activity of the kulaks, the meeting was disrupted.

On May 14, the land surveyor appointed a third meeting, to which none of the poor and middle peasants came, fearing revenge from the kulaks. On the night of May 14‐15, a group of kulaks, opponents of land management, organized an illegal meeting, agreeing to take decisive measures to disrupt land management in the village, using women for this purpose, who should not allow work to be carried out.

On May 16, the land surveyor, who went to the field to draw the border, was greeted by a crowd of women (up to 100 people), who began to break the milestones, scatter stakes, shovels and other accessories from the cart. The chairman of the village council, who was trying to calm the crowd, was beaten with stakes by the women, and a policeman and one of the members of the commune who came to restore order were also beaten.

The women, armed with stakes and shovels, organized day and night protection of the border. Attempts to start work ended with the guards again destroying the milestones and throwing stakes. Each member of the commune who came to the place of work was inevitably accompanied by a woman ʺguardʺ. A detachment of organized protection of women stood in the field until May 20, i.e., until the arrival of workers from the district to the village to eliminate the protest. On May 21, the land surveyor began work.

The initiators of the speech partially try to hide from prosecution by leaving the village in the field.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

Appendix No. 5. Anti‐Soviet activity of clergy and anti‐Soviet elements

Tula lips.  In with. A week before Easter, a local priest in Pukovoye of the Pakhomovskiy district was actively campaigning against participation in anti‐religious evenings, as a result, no one from the population cameto the evening organized on Easter in the red corner of ²²² village councils. In addition, the church council sent out notices to all villages that the church was supposed to be closed, and called on the population ʺto come to the Easter service in order to prevent the closure of the church.ʺ As a result, the church was overcrowded with peasants on Easter.

In the villages of Zhukovo and Novo‐Nikolskoye, Epifanovsky district, while passing by the churches of the Komsomol carnivals, believers, mostly wealthy, threw stones at them shouting: ʺHooligans, bandits, let you all be destroyed by a thunderstorm, thanks to you there is no good life.ʺ

In with. Znamenskoye during Easter Matins, where a radio broadcast was organized, believers threw stones, as a result the radio broadcast had to be stopped.

LVO.  The kulaks, the well‐to‐do and anti‐Soviet element of the countryside, not daring to openly protest on May 1, campaigned against participation in demonstrations and meetings, in some cases trying to disrupt the solemn atmosphere of the proletarian holiday with hooligan antics.

Novgorod district.  A peasant from the Latvian colony Lyuben fired a gun at a red flag hoisted on a steam locomotive on May 1.

Velikiye Luki District.  During the anti‐religious evening in the hutreading room with. Sivtsovo shutters were knocked out.

Leningrad district.  On the night of May 5, an anti‐religious demonstration in the village. Strelna was fired several shots from a shotgun. None of the demonstrators were injured due to the distance.

Borovichi district.  On May 3, an anti‐religious evening organized by local Komsomol members was disrupted at the Yartsevskaya school of the Velsky district. During the lecture, glass was shattered by thrown stones at the school.

Minsk District (BVO).  On May 4, the students of the Pukhovicheskaya Seven‐Year Plan organized a carnival. As the carnival passed along the street, past the church, a group of church councilors threw stones, sticks and poured sand towards the carnival participants. The same persons called on believers to beat the participants in the anti‐religious demonstration. When one of the stone‐throwers hit an anti‐religious poster and knocked him down, a member of the church council who was present at the meeting said: ʺHe gave it so that the cap of a Soviet priest fell off.ʺ Believers in the Pukhovichi borough scolded the demonstrators and shouted: ʺAll of them must be shot.ʺ

Gomel District.  On May 4, the secretary of the Vetka district committee of the LKSMB together with the Komsomol and party members of the village. Demyanki of the Vetka District, among 10 people, came to the neighboring village of Vilevo to hold an anti‐religious evening at the school. In Vilev they were met by a crowd of about 60 peasants standing near the church. Part of the peasants (25 people) followed the people who came to school. At school, a peasant with. Vilevo, addressing the Komsomol members, said: ʺWho allowed you to come here and corrupt the school, if you arrange an evening at school today, we will break all the windows.ʺ Following these words, the peasants standing in the street began to throw stones at the school windows and the Komsomol members who came from Demyanka were forced to hide in the

teachersʹ room. After sitting there until late at night, they went home.

Berdichevsky district (Ukraine).  April 21, on the eve of Palm Sunday ²²³, pop c. Derevichki, preaching in the church, said: ʺIf among the peasants there are people saturated with the communist spirit, then let them leave the church and go to the Selbud [monk] ²²⁴ to the Jewish hirelings.ʺ

On May 2, when a service was taking place in the church and a meeting of the party cell in the Selbud [Inca], the priestʹs supporters began throwing stones at the believers in order to provoke an excess. In response, the believers threw stones at the Selbud [monk].

Mass demonstrations on religious grounds

Zinovievsky district (Ukraine).  On the night of May 3 and 5 in the village. New Prague in the same area held anti‐religious demonstrations near churches. The demonstrations were accompanied by a number of excesses.

So, on May 5, during an anti‐religious demonstration near the Fedorovskaya church, stones were thrown at the demonstrators from the church fence (2 people were wounded). The same took place during a demonstration near the Nicholas and Assumption churches.

During a demonstration near the St. Nicholas Church, under the influence of provocative rumors that firefighters would flood the faithful with water in order to prevent them from blessing Easter, a crowd of believers tried to lynch the demonstrators. The demobilized Red Army soldier Sazonenko present in the crowd, addressing the demonstrators, said: “What are you doing, you are saying that religion is free, and now you have come to interfere. You canʹt do that. So, you wonʹt lead the masses. ʺ

The next day, by order of the [one] prisoner, Sazonenko was arrested by the police. While in the detention facility, Sazonenko hanged himself, leaving a note in which he indicated that “he is being hanged because he considers himself innocent, for he is an atheist” (Sazonenkoʹs funeral took place without incidents).

The commission that left for the scene established the wrong action of the people [one] of the trail [of the person] and the police. At the suggestion of the commission, the district committee carried out appropriate explanatory work among the peasantries.

Samara District (SVO).  In with. Kalashnikovka B. Glushitskiy district at the end of April the plenum of the village council passed a resolution to ban a priest from walking around the village with a cross on Easter days. The decision was motivated by the fact that venereal diseases had spread among the population. However, this issue was not coordinated with the higher Soviet and party organizations. There was also no awareness‐raising campaign. The village council limited itself only to the fact that he sent the extract from the protocol to the priest, who, having received the extract, told the chairman of the village council: ʺThere is no stamp on your extract, so I consider this document invalid.ʺ

On May 7, the priest decided to make a detour around the village with a cross. But when he walked around several houses, the chairman of the village council forbade him to proceed further. Stopping bypassing, the priest sent his daughters in order to inform the population about this. The peasants began a pilgrimage to the priest, to whom he declared: ʺI stopped going round with a cross because the village council was arrested for it.ʺ

A crowd of peasants gathered near the house of the priest in the amount of up to 120 people began to ask him to resume the round. To this, the priest was asked to open a meeting of believers and make an appropriate resolution. The meeting was held. Under the dictation of the priest, his daughter wrote a decree demanding the resumption of the round with the cross. After that, the crowd, led by the priest and two kulaks, ʺdisenfranchisedʺ, went to the village council, demanding the removal of the priestʹs arrest and the cancellation of the order of the village council prohibiting walking with a cross in the village. Having not received a satisfactory answer, the crowd attacked the chairman of the village council and began to beat him, demanding the seal of the village council from him. However, he managed to escape.

The police arrested a priest and two kulaks ‐ ʺdisenfranchisedʺ.

Orenburg district.  In with. Sharlyk of the Sharlyk region on the night of May 5, during the procession of the cross, the believers, according to religious custom, fired several shots from shotguns. In this regard, the head of the RAO arrested the chairman of the church council, a priest and two peasants. A crowd of 30 women spoke up in defense of the arrested and they were released.

The next day, 6 May in the morning, the released were summoned to the RAO for interrogation. Upon learning of this, a crowd of peasants gathered in the amount of 300 people demanded their release, and at the same time put forward the demand for ʺthe supply of bread.ʺ

The district committee of the CPSU (b) created an armed detachment from the members of the CPSU (b) to maintain public order.

The terror of the churchmen

Minsk District (BVO).  On the night of 15‐16 May in the village. A fire broke out on glaciers, which destroyed the property of 6 poor households, which on the day of the first furrow organized plowing of the field. It was established that the fire was caused by arson on the basis of revenge of the kulaks on the poor for the fact that she worked on the first day of Easter.

In the same district, on May 5, in the Baydat village council, a poor man was beaten for saying: ʺDown with the religious dope, long live Soviet holidays.ʺ

Berdichevsky district (Ukraine).  On the night of May 7 in the village. Derevichki, Lyubarsky district, a fire destroyed the village council building, which housed a credit partnership, a party cell, a

Komsomol cell, a village council and a selbud [monk].

At the time of the fire in Selbud, a performance was taking place, which was attended by up to 400 people, and before the performance, conversations were held on an anti‐religious topic. The fire was caused by arson as the outer doors were locked and tied.

Leaflets

Novgorod District (LVO).  In the town of Soltsy, on the eve of May 1, a leaflet of hooligan content was found near the cooperative.

Tula lips. In the Pakhomovsky district, priests in the villages of Dudinets and Podhozheny issued leaflets at Easter with an appeal to attend church on Easter days, threatening the ʺatheistsʺ with Godʹs wrath.

Khopersky District (NVKray).  In the hut. Archadinsky, Mikhailovsky District, on April 18‐20, a leaflet was found written by hand in pencil on an eight‐piece sheet of smoking paper in block letters, with the following content: “Day of May 1 is the day of the celebration of SovietJewish robbers. The robbed and all those subject to robbery, do not participate in the celebrations of your robbers, do not go to their gatherings, and thus make your first protest. Let one Soviet‐Jewish trash, Jewish henchmen celebrate its predatory holiday. ʺUnion of Liberationʺ. On April 19, four more leaflets of similar content and one leaflet with the following content were found there:

“Cossacks! You see, the Soviet‐Jewish robbery has reached the highest degree. While giving up everything for now, save your strength for the upcoming in the near future, the total destruction of Jewish‐Soviet henchmen. Remembering that the Jews look at us like dogs, know that there will be no end to the robbery until we all, as one person, take up arms. That you have hung your noses, that you bow your heads in front of the bastards. Everything in your village Zelenskiy, Kulagin and other extraneous bastard, acting on the orders of the Jews, must be destroyed. Be ready, Cossack, to overthrow the Soviet‐Jewish robbers. Hear, soon the call will be ‐ our hour has come. ʺUnion of Liberationʺ.

Rubtsovsky District (Siberia).  May 4 in the village. Titovka in the premises of Nardom was found two leaflets, written in block letters, with the following content (spelling of the original) *.

Long live the power of the people. Circle of Defense ʺ.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov

Note:

* The following reading of the text is suggested: “Dear comrades, Easter is coming. In these days we must unite even more and by common efforts to overthrow the violence of the communists, who oppress us everywhere. Dear comrades, in this letter we want to tell you that everywhere and everywhere strong oppression of the working people. We have information that our workers are starving. Where does the bread go, which the communists took from us? The workers are beginning to worry about a war. The workers are against the communists, we need to support them. We urge you, dear comrades, do not hand over bread, it will be useful to us in our difficult moment. Although we are being boycotted, you poor people, do not fall for the deception of the Communists, you will stay with us. Stock up on weapons, sharp force ‐ pikes, pitchforks, axes ‐ our weapons. There are already results ‐ some communists are thrown out of the party. Thanks to our comrades, gendarme Tatarintsev was thrown out of the party ‐ thanks to Ostakhov, who spoke openly. There would be more such brave comrades. Comrade Ostakhov, be calm, donʹt be afraid that the communists will fire you from your job ‐ their power has little time left. Comrade Morozov, Nikilyakin, Kazantsov and others, about whom we wrote in those letters, can live in peace. Our defense circle takes your darkness into account. Ostakhov was mistakenly recorded not his areas, where he was in order to write a plan for how to work. can live in peace. Our defense circle takes your darkness into account. Ostakhov was mistakenly recorded not his areas where he was in order to write a plan for how to work.

Communist spies are watching us, and there are more of us, our strength is growing every day, they are before us like a drop in the ocean. A moment will come when all the communists will fly like goose down. We demand from the communists that our letters should not be kept in their pockets, but read to the people. Strength ‐ among the people and the people will tell the fate of us or you. We are writing a third letter, and if this letter is later detained and not read to the people, we will take action right up to the murder one at a time. Down with the violence of the communists! Long live the peopleʹs power! We announce that we will temporarily stop writing letters. Circle of Defense ʺ.

 

Appendix No. 6. Eastern national republics and autonomous regions

Mass performances

BASHKIRIA

In the village. Yangiskaly Burunovskaya par. Sterlitamak canton on the basis of the closure of the mosque (one of three) marked mass demonstrations of peasants (believers). The latter besieged the village council in impressive crowds for three days, demanding the immediate opening of the mosque. On the last day, the crowd proceeded to the mosque, tore off the seal and lock and removed the red flag from the tower of the mosque and trampled into the mud. A guard of women was posted at night, the latter even settled in the mosque. The village council and the local party cell, seeing the heightened mood of the peasants, turned to Kuchaev, a member of the cantkom bureau of the VKP, who lives in Burunovskaya Volost. The latter, arriving at the place, called a meeting of the poor to resolve the issue, but the crowd of believers who came to the meeting disrupted the meeting. Those who came said: ʺWe do not need secrets, let them gather a general civic meeting and explain to everyone.ʺ The meeting was called.

When the question arose in the plane of allowing the transfer of the mosque to the school, those present said: ʺWe pay a tax for the school, the mosque should not be closed.ʺ The closure of the mosque by the AllRussian Central Executive Committee is not authorized, the closure was carried out on the initiative of local organizations without appropriate training of the population /

In with. Yanurusovo On May 18, on the eve of the religious holiday of Eid al‐Adha, a crowd of peasants of up to 200 people, incited by the Muslim spirit of the said village and vil. Utyakovo (adjacent) and other anti‐Soviet elements, came to the club (the premises of the former mosque, closed on the basis of a decree of local authorities with the approval of the Bashkir Central Executive Committee). The crowd that came broke all the club equipment, threw all the things on the street, turning the room back into a mosque. During the atrocities, the crowd

shouted indignantly: ʺBeat the Communists and Komsomol members.ʺ The latter, fearing the massacre of the crowd, hid in all directions. In addition, on May 21, a fire broke out in Yanurusovo for unknown reasons, which destroyed up to 70 households. The antiSoviet element, taking advantage of this opportunity, led an intensified agitation among the population, accusing the communists and Komsomol members of deliberate arson, produced due to the selection of the mosque by the believers. Such agitation had a corresponding influence on the masses; as a result, the communists, Komsomol members and the local authorities in the person of the village council were finally terrorized. In fact, power passed into the hands of the kulak‐prosperous elite of the village.

The head of the volmilitia, who left for the scene, instead of bringing to justice the real perpetrators of the incident, falling under the influence of an anti‐Soviet element, led the investigation with a bias of accusing the communists and Komsomol members of arson.

On May 24, the peasants, led by an anti‐Soviet element, in order to finally provoke the village council, called a meeting and raised the question of his re‐election, accusing the members of the village council that they did not protect the interests of the peasants. However, this issue remained unresolved due to the fact that some of those present at the meeting did not agree with the re‐election.

May 12 in the village. Kavetka Zubo‐Berezovsky village council Chishminskaya vol. In the Ufa canton, where the village council began distributing seeds among the poor from the local voluntary seed fund, a group of 50 women approached the public barn under the leadership of the middle peasant with a categorical demand to stop issuing seeds to the poor and distribute seeds to those farms that brought them into the local seed fund. The seed distributors and the poor continued their work, ignoring the demands of the women. Then a crowd of women threatened to be attacked and beaten, forced to close the seed barn and dispersed the distributors and the poor who came to get the seeds.

The next day from the village. Four women were delegated to the WIC with similar demands and statements that they would not allow the distribution of seeds to the poor.

Local kulaks were the instigators of the women. Representatives of the cantonal authorities were sent to the scene to investigate the case.

In connection with the robbery on the night of May 9 of the cathedral in the mountains. Sterlitamak and the arrest of the threat of three priests, the church head, the psalmist and three nuns suspected of stealing church property, on May 9 in the morning a crowd of believers, mostly women, began to flock to the cathedral, demanding to open the cathedral for prayer (the cathedral was closed, as it worked there the commission created by the city council to check the remaining church property). Having achieved no results, the crowd moved to the city council, demanding the release of the arrested priests and the church head. After the arrest of the most active women (tradesmen), the crowd dispersed.

On May 10, early in the morning, a crowd of believers gathered at the cathedral again with the same demands ‐ to open the cathedral. Having stood in this way until 2 pm, the crowd forced their way into the cathedral and began to beat the members of the commission who were there, and one of the women, removing the red headscarf from a member of the commission, a member of the city council, hit her.

The crowd was removed from the cathedral by police arriving at the scene. At the end of the commissionʹs work, the cathedral was opened, where a divine service was held at 5 pm. An investigation is underway on the spot.

In with. Ussen‐Ivanovka Belebey parish and the canton of about 300 women, from the villages of Mikhailovskaya, Usen‐Ivanovka and Chermasin, who left the church, went to the premises of the club and began to demand a volost hut and the secretary of the village council. The latter initially tried to hide, but owing to the persistent demands of the crowd, they were forced to come to her. The crowd demanded an explanation ‐ what should be done to prevent the eviction of the priest from the apartment (the church house where the priest lived was transferred to the use of the village council by the decree of the VIK). The attempt of the volost hut and the secretary of the village council to give an explanation failed, due to hostile remarks from the audience. A meeting was followed by the crowd, presided over by a secretary elected from among the women. The meeting decided to “firmly insist that, given our religiosity, reconsider the question of taking away the priestʹs house. ʺ The meeting elected three delegates to enforce this resolution. The inspirers of the performance were the church head, former white, pop s. Ussen‐Ivanovka and the deacon, as well as a group of kulaks. An investigation is underway.

Sredne‐Volga Region

Ulyanovsk District. In with. N‐Temersyan (Tatars) of the Bogdashkinsky district at an expanded meeting of the board of the consumer society, together with an activist on the issue of sowing campaigns and grain procurements, the chairman of the revolutionary commission opposed the proposal to send 15 people from the cooperative asset to the district. After the meeting, the podkulachnik Naumetdinov came to the apartment where the representative of the regional executive committee and the employees of the RIK stayed and said: “Why did you come and on what basis did you choose the representatives. Go report, there are 200‐300 people waiting for you. ʺ After a while, the chairman of the Revolutionary Commission came here. To the question of the representative of the RIK ‐ what kind of meeting that requires us, he replied: ʺWe convened a meeting on the issue of the division of land.ʺ The crowd, called, supposedly, to resolve land issues, did not disperse until morning. Shouts came from the crowd: ʺPull them out of the apartment and beat them.ʺ The next day, when the representatives of the RIK went to the village council, to the plenum, a group of 15 people, headed by Naumetdinov, stopped them and began to demand an explanation about the meeting. In response to one tactless word of the authorized regional executive committee, Osipov, Naumetdinov grabbed his sleeve and shouted: ʺGet ready.ʺ After some time, a crowd (about 200 people) gathered to shout, demanding that a protocol drawn up against Osipov. Shouts were heard from the crowd: ʺAll of them must be killed.ʺ Then the crowd went to the village council, where a protocol against Osipov was drawn up. The plenum of the village council was disrupted. Arrested in the case: the chairman of the Revolutionary Commission, Naumetdinov (podkulachnik) and one ʺdisenfranchisedʺ, a former organizer of counter‐revolutionary gangs in 1919.

Buguruslan district. The newly elected village council der. Ashitovo (Tatarskoe) Abdulinsky district, taking into account the proposal of the peasants at the pre‐election meetings to find funds for the construction of a new school, decided to transfer one mosque (out of two) for a school. This issue was previously discussed at a general meeting of peasants. Having secured the appropriate resolution of the RIK, the village activists began to accept the premises of the mosque from the religious community. There was no resistance from the latter. At the moment when the red flag was hung on the minaret, a crowd of 100 women gathered at the mosque, demanding the release of the mosque. Some women began to tear down the hung portraits of the leaders. One woman grabbed one activist by the throat, slapped him on the cheek and beat him in the side. Another (ʺdeprivedʺ) began to beat the pioneer, and the candidate of the CPSU (b) who tried to defend the pioneer was hit in the chest. Mullah defiantly submitted an application for dedication, arguing that after the closure of the mosque, he did not want to serve.

Penza district.  In with. Reshetino (Tatars) of the Pachelmsky region at the end of May, in connection with the convening of a meeting to reelect the board of the cooperatives, local merchants and the mullah spread rumors about the closure of the mosque, as a result of which a crowd of about 400 people, partially armed with pellets, pitchforks, arrived at the meeting place with shouts: “We will not allow the closure of the mosque,” “beat the communists,” etc. There were attempts to beat up some party members and activists. Five people were arrested, including a mullah. An investigation is underway.

Leaflets distributed by religious propagandists in Chechnya

So, Iʹll start with the great name of Allah. I respected Abdul‐Azis (Don Sheptu‐kayev), but I have not yet composed an Arabic song. Now I will compose at the request of his murids:

His face was radiant. He was an honest man and respected the people, although there were some swaggers about him ²²⁵, but he did not take this into account and did not want to argue about it.

He respected all the sheikhs very much. He never tried to show himself as a great sheikh, but behaved like such a person, he prayed all the time in the mosque, and not at home, and every day he kept uraza ²²⁶.

His behavior and conversation were similar to those of his leader, Elih Mullah. I appeal to everyone who knows me that I am currently left alone ‐ all my friends and sheikhs have died, those who pity me, I ask them to cry.

I was left to live with wild wolves who are pagans and infidels.

I ask God to help the prophet and all the sheikhs.

Compiled by Sagid Mulla Gaisumov ‐ sat down. Shawls.

Shala Mantsaev rewrote ‐ sat down. Tausen of the Vedensky district.

Turning to God

(translated from Chechen into Arabic text)

Every day the religion of Muslims falls and the right of religion also falls, and in connection with this, the people are destroyed. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ (we ask you, God, to help us).

Also, the clergy, the Koran and holy books have now been destroyed and the sheikhs have diminished, on the basis of this, Islam was left without a spiritual leader. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

The atheist communists want to be at the head and the right of religion want to completely destroy and become the leaders of the whole world. We ask you. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

You, god, do not count anyone in the world. You gave them the right to say whatever they want, thatʹs why they say that there is no God. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

A lot of slander has been created, there are no faithful people, there are more fearful people left. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

Local clergy have lost their authority and also lost their authority in religion and are not considered respectable old people. ʺYarabona,

Yarabonaʺ.

The popular holy Koran has lost its authority, as well as the tariqah (sects), there is no leader of the tariqah and sharia, and therefore the atheist communists were able to become the head. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

Those who know and understand [in] this [m] mullahs and sheikhs can imagine that this is the last stage of the destruction of the whole world. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

There are very few people who reckon with their mother and father, as well as those who are loyal to their neighbors, helping sheiks and mullahs. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

There are absolutely no people left to help the poor and sheikhs who reckon with the mullahs. ʺYarabona, Yarabonaʺ.

Supyan Arsamikov. (Mugalim madrasah, village of St. Yurt, Nadterechny district).

Translation from Arabic

We ask you, Allah, that in the near future you destroy the Soviet power, a powerful weapon of oppression of the dark people, and we congratulate the Nikolayev time ²²⁷, which was useful and beneficial for the working people.

We ask that the Soviet government be left without leaders who are oppressors of the people, who take bread from the peasants and persecute the rich, taxing them. The present moment is dangerous and harmful for the clergy ‐ we ask you to destroy the Soviet regime.

Translation from Arabic

I begin to write with the great name of God, in the world you look at the Orthodox and Muslims alike, but in the next world we know that you will only let Muslims into paradise. On the day we lie dying, we ask that you make us not forget you. Kunta‐Haji, at this moment you help us, as well as Sheikhs Apti and Usman‐Haji, help us. We ask you, Allah, and the Prophet Mohammed to give us a sultan from Turkey who would rule and stand at the head of all Muslims. We also ask Sheikh Elih Mullah to intercede with Allah for us.

I am sending you our salam‐marzhala, our great prophet Mohammed. Translation from Arabic

Sheikhs all died and I remained very boring after the death of all sheikhs, Sheikh Deni Arsanov also died. Sheikh Denis was my right hand, but after his death my right hand dried up and my left hand became crippled. He helped us in everything. He was an honest man, he himself was not afraid of anyone, but on the contrary, everyone was afraid of him. During wars, he never showed his back, but on the contrary, he was brave. As among the mountains there are the most prominent, so he was one of the most prominent tall people. In the meetings, he was a front‐line man. He was never afraid of officials (authorities) and said whatever he wanted. He was a pillar of the sharia nakishbandiet *, after his death the roof of the tariqa collapsed. God grant that he would go to heaven and receive the first and best benefit.

We ask you, God, to help the Prophet Mohammed and all Muslims. Shapa Antsaev wrote, sat down. Tausen of the Vedensky district.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov, Note: * AnNaqshbandiyya ‐ ideology in Islam.

Table of the movement of strikes at enterprises of the state industry of the USSR for the period April‐May 1929

Causes of strikes

About trasl industry laziness

Under the will of existen ce curren t salary

Under   liberty decline salaries

Under the pleasur e of the transiti  on to the seal work

Nedov degradati  on                of working  condition  s

Under liberty                 in the size of food rations and supply interruptio ns

Othe r caus es

Total hit tovoc

Total part nickna mes

Total lost man days

IV

V

IV

V

IV

V

IV

V

IV

V

IV

V

IV

V

IV

V

IV

V

Metalwork ers

1

1

4

‐

‐

1

2

‐

‐

‐

2

‐

nine

2

252

234

31

58

Textile workers

1

1

2

‐

‐

1

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

3

2

219

130

53

ten

Miners

1

1

2

1

‐

‐

‐

‐

2

‐

1

‐

6

2

190

196

290

162

Chemists

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

1

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

1

‐

17

‐

34

Seasons

4

4 4

2

2

‐

‐

1

4

3

eighte en

1

‐

elev en

6 8

607

516 7

616

875 7

Other

2

‐

1

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

‐

3

‐

286

‐

192

‐

Total:

nin e

4 7

elev en

3

‐

3

3

4

fiv e

eighte en

4

‐

32

7 5

150 4 *

674 4 **

118 2

902 1

Notes:

* In the document the total is incorrect, it follows ‐ 1554.

** In the document, the total is incorrect, it follows ‐ 5744.

Correct: Secretary of INFO OGPU Kucherov