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Rectify and consolidate
Hindus, a U.S. citizen of Russian origin, was in his native village when Stalin's article arrived. Here is his testimony:
`In the market places peasants gathered in groups and read it aloud and discussed it long and violently, and some of them were so overjoyed that they bought all the vodka they could pay for and got drunk.'
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Ibid. , p. 271.
`Stalin became a temporary folk hero with the appearance of his ``Dizzyness with success''.'
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At the time that Stalin wrote his article, 59 per cent of the peasants had joined kolkhozy. He obviously hoped that most would remain. `Hence the task of our party: to consolidate the successes achieved and to utilize them systematically for the purpose of advancing further'.
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Stalin, Dizzy with Success, p. 169.
A decree dated April 3 included several special measures destined to consolidate the existing kolkhozy. The collective farmers could keep a certain number of animals and work a plot of land for themselves. Credit of 500 million rubles was set aside for the kolkhozy for that year alone. Some debts and payments of kolkhozy and kolkhozians were dropped. Tax reductions were announced for the next two years.
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In the end of March, Molotov warned against retreat. He insisted that, as far as possible, the level of collectivization be retained while the errors were rectified: `Our approach ... is to manoeuvre, and by securing a certain level of organization not entirely voluntarily, consolidate the kolkhozy'. Molotov underlined that the `Bolshevik voluntary principle' differed from the `SR-kulak voluntary principle', which presupposed equality of conditions for the kolkhoz and for individual peasants.
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Ibid. , p. 276.
But it was necessary to firmly correct leftist and bureaucratic errors. On April 4, Bauman, the Moscow Committee Secretary, one of the bastions of `leftism', resigned from the Politburo. His replacement, Kaganovich, then replaced 153 district and okrug leaders.
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Ibid. , p. 280.
Next: Right opportunism rears Up: `Dizzy with success' Previous: Stalin corrects
Fri Aug 25 09:03:42 PDT 1995