In the pre-revolutionary period, Russia experienced significant difficulties with food. In 1915, in August, the government set a fixed price for bread for purchases. Already in 1916, in December, the developed crisis in the formation of government stocks forced the start of a bread roll. Peasant farms were not able to overpower it. In the Tambov province they demanded a reduction in the size of supplies.
The seizure of grain from the peasants by violent means led to an uprising in Kozlovsky district in 1917, in September. The discontent of the peasants quickly spread. Over a short period, more than a hundred estates of landowners were burned. Government organizations unsuccessfully tried to stop the "black redistribution".
The peasantry suffered greatly during the years of the devastating war. Civil war, intervention, crop failures caused huge damage to agriculture. The volume of production in the country decreased by seven times. Among the population, hunger intensified. Under these conditions, the state introduced a monopoly on the sale of bread, and subsequently the surplus-appraisal.
The peasants resisted government measures. A massive form of dissatisfaction has been a sharp decrease in "stocks." Fields were sown exactly as much as was necessary for personal consumption. The country has sharply reduced food resources. In 1920, the situation became catastrophic when many areas were hit by drought. In some areas of the Tambov province, people found themselves in a hopeless situation, on the verge of survival. At the same time, the state did not reduce the level of food surplus.
The peasants were dissatisfied not only with the exorbitantly high demands of the government, but also with the way they disposed of the food taken from them. There was not enough storage space, carriages to send bread. The grain rotted, it was distilled for moonshine, exchanged. Ultimately, discontent spilled over into the rebel movement. The Antonov uprising began.
The leader of the movement was a Social Revolutionary. In addition, Antonov served as assistant to the chief of police in Tambov, and later to the chief of police in Kirsanovsky district.
The uprising of Antonov at first was episodic and partisan. However, the movement gradually spread to other volosts.
The Antonov uprising began in the middle of 1920. Then the villages of Kamenka and Khitrovo refused to give bread, after which they disarmed the food detachment.
The Antonov uprising spread with incredible speed. By 1921, the movement, having reached its greatest scope, spread to neighboring counties in the Saratov and Voronezh provinces. In January of the same year, Lunacharsky and Bukharin arrived in the Tambov province. Analyzing the situation, they came to the conclusion that the Antonov uprising is an undoubted threat to the existence of the Soviet system. Under the circumstances, the Politburo decides to approve the appeal to the Tambov peasants. On February 9, it was announced that the food surplus in the province was canceled.
At the end of April, a decision was made to eliminate Antonov’s gangs. It should be noted that by February of the 21st year, about 40 thousand fighters were in the rebel movement. Subsequently, the number of people began to decline. This is mainly due to the abolition of the food surplus, as well as the beginning of decisive actions of the Red Army. By the summer of 1921 the main forces of Antonov were defeated. In late July, he gave the last order. According to the latest order, combat units were asked to split up and hide in the forests or disperse.
In Russia, all revolutions and uprisings were peasant. When people were driven to despair, made life unbearable, there was a social explosion. Peasant uprisings have always been accompanied by bloodshed.