STALIN'S WAR ON THE MUZHIK
Witt, Alexandre
Plight of Russia's Peasants Stalk's War on the Muzhik By Alexander Witt The anther «<f Hds article, forsaerly H me Soviet eVeiecnalic corp.. Is writing' under • pseudoayan. F6$ decades me...
...Now only a barking dog can keep the postman from making his appointed rounds...
...Here, too, behind, the innocent sounding terms Tractor Station and deputies for political matters, were hidden terroristic intentions...
...Only thanks to the resourcefulness of the Russian peasants could they manage to avoid famine, and even collect some surplus for sale on the kolkhoz market Such was the situation when Russia entered World War II...
...The deputies for political matters are agents of the MVD...
...But tbe sjrcesT Ifbi "» both the military and Sis social-economic aspects, has been conducted against the Russian peasants...
...In addition, for other reasons rooted in the system of Soviet economy, prices for the products of state industry, primarily for staple goods like clothes, footwear and utensils, are very high...
...It would have been difficult indeed to send the peasants to die on the battlefields, while their families were dying from hunger in the kolkhozes...
...This was a tar cry from prosperity, but the unpretentious muzhik, tightening his belt, managed to sell more of his product than before at free market prices...
...As the numerically preponderant group of the population, traditionally flexible and adaptable to the existing situation, the muzhiks have represented a grave menace to the regime throughout the thirty years of its existence This is why the struggle with theiti has been so fierce and unrelenting, i pen points The Lincoln (Nebraska) postmaster, who advised his mail-carriers to forego deliveries if menaced by a dog, shattered a beautiful myth...
...He earned fame 15 years ago when he replaced the oppositionist Tomski as Secretary of the Central Council of Labor Unions, and made them increasingly subservient to the state...
...The appointment of Andreev-as its head was in itself ominous...
...The decree deals a .hard blow to the muzhik...
...the campaign against the muzhik is being conducted on a large scale...
...These chiefs are the plague of the peasants, but since the war Stalin has lost confidence in them...
...During the war the state itself was engaged in speculation through its commercial stores—a legalized black market...
...This of course affects the entire population...
...By the currency reform these rubles have lost nine-tenths of their value...
...The difference is not very big, but to the peasant robbed by the devaluation, every increase is a blow...
...He was now deprived not only of land, but also of his horse, and cow...
...After the war, Stalin was faced with the actual danger that the muzhik, who had seemed irretrievably pauperised might achieve some well-being, raise, his head, and then gradually manifest opposition to the whole system of agrarian "Socialism...
...In 1941 Stalin was compelled to give a breathing spell to the muzhik, though not to the extent of abolishing collectivization...
...The muzhik has never been left in peace "War Communism," whkh immediately followed the Soviet revolution, was an outright despoliation of the peasants, The Soviet Government continued this policy under the NEP, and launched a war of annihilatipn against the muzhik in the period of "wholesale collectivization," which turned him into a serf...
...This man was chosen to weed out the results of "liberalism" toward the peasants...
...In the autumn of 1946, a new campaign was launched against the rural population...
...Having thus penetrated, in his antipeasant campaign to the positions where the peasants had entrenched themselves during the war...
...There were the familiar accusations of "graft" and "lack of watchfulness" This was to be stopped without delay...
...The loophole was rather mall: in reality the peasant remained I serf, and the fruit of his labor was still reaped by the state...
...The new decree hits the peasants by two other provisions...
...The Government permitted the peasants to increase their "private allotments" and livestock, and showed some leniency »s regards "speculation" with farm products...
...In the customary abusive and demagogic style it charged, kolkhoz members and village authorities, including party bosses, with having jointly squandered kolkhoz property, and pilfered livestock and agricultural implements...
...From the moment when the grain is ripe until threshing time every seed and ear is under the strict supervision of the Station chief...
...But while the employees of state enterprises enjoy certain privileges through cooperative and plant stores, the peasants lack these advantages...
...The decree concerning the formation of the Council on Kolkhoz Affairs stated in threatening terms that during the war the farmers had grabbed land and neglected kolkhoz work...
...For many years a member of the Politburo and Stalin's toady, An-* dreev is an inept and uneducated man...
...Therefore, during the war the grip on the muzhik was somewhat loosened...
...Like all other peasants, the Russian muzhik has little confidence in banks, and keeps his rubles in a box at home...
...To a much less degree, the peasants sometimes sold their products on the free market But since industrial products were unavailable, the muzhik had no choice but to accumulate cash...
...It has established two sets of prices for commodities, with prices in the villages higher than in the towns...
...Morris B. Chapman...
...High prices for commodities which are in force after the new decree are another misfortune inflicted on the muzhik by the devaluated ruble Such are the conspicuous methods of Stalin's attack against the peasants, as reflected in legal acts...
...To accomplish this backslide two terroristic measures were taken...
...More effective was the second measure concerning the appointment of deputies for political matters to the chiefs of Machine and Tractor Stations...
...F6$ decades me Soviet Government bee carried on * straggle attains* intellectuals...
...It was carried out according to the established rules of Bolshevik strategy...
...One thing is beyond doubt...
...Under the innocent lube of a Council on Kolkhoz Affaire at the Council of Ministers, a powerful instrument was created for control and suppression...
...It denounces speculation," though in the USSR there are no speculators in the western meaning of the word...
...But there are other methods, not so visible, which hit the muzhik in his everyday life, and which cannot be described in a short article...
...The notorious "private allotment" of a quarter of a hectare, which the farmer was permitted to own as a vegetable garden, was too small to compensate for the starvation norm to which his share in the kolkhoz product actually amounted...
...Thus it came to pass, that, despite the ravages of war, many peasants found themselves in possession of cash...
...The first measure pi escribed the purge of kolkhoz chairmen, who Had proved "careless" or in too close touch with the muzhiks...
...private capital and free trade were eliminated long before the war...
...Stalin has now attacked them from the rear by the decree on currency reform of Dec 14...
...The Stations actually exercise full control over the kolkhozes...
Vol. 32 • January 1949 • No. 3
