Russian history knew many historical events connected with various class phenomena. One of these was the kulaks — the village bourgeoisie. Class division in the Soviet Union was a hot issue. Attitudes towards the fists changed in accordance with the course of history and the course of the ruling power. But in the end, everything came to such a process as dispossession and the elimination of the kulaks as a class. Let's take a look at the pages of history.
What is the kulakism? And who is that fist?
Successful merchants were considered fists before the 1917 revolution. A different semantic coloring is given to this term after the 1917 revolution. At a certain moment, when the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks changed the direction of their political course, the significance of the kulaks also changed. Sometimes it approached the middle class, taking the position of the farmer class - a transitional phenomenon of post-capitalism, or the agricultural elite, playing the role of exploiters who used the labor of wage workers.
Legislation regarding the kulaks also did not give an unambiguous assessment. The terms adopted at the Plenums of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks differed from the terms used by individual historical leaders of the RSFSR. The Soviet government changed its policy several times - initially a dekulakization course was chosen, then the thaw that came in took the “fist course” and the most stringent course to eliminate the kulaks. Next, we consider the premises, causes, and other features of these historical events. The final attitude of the Soviet regime in the end: the kulaks are a class enemy and adversary.
Terminology before the 1917 revolution
In the very first sense, the word "fist" had only a negative meaning. Later it was used in Soviet propaganda against representatives of this class. The idea that the only honest source of income was physical and hard work was reinforced in the minds of peasant people. And those people who made a profit in another way were considered dishonest (this included usurers, buyers and traders). In part, we can say that the interpretation is as follows: kulaks are not economic status, but more psychological traits or a professional occupation.
Russian Marxism and the concept of kulaks
The theory and practice of Russian Marxism divided all peasants into three broad main categories:
- Fists . This included prosperous peasants using hired labor, the bourgeoisie of the countryside. On the one hand, there was a negative attitude towards such peasants, and on the other, it was fair to say that there was no official concept of “kulaks”. Even during the liquidation of its representatives, no clear signs were formulated by which a citizen was or was not assigned to this class.
- The rural poor . This group included primarily hired workers of the kulaks, they are laborers.
- Middle peasants . Drawing an analogy with our time, we can say that this is a kind of modern middle class in the peasantry. According to their economic situation, they were between the first two groups indicated.
However, even with the existence of such a classification, there still remained many contradictions in the definition of the terms “middle peasant” and “fist”. These concepts are often found in the works of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, which for many years determined the ideology of power. But he himself did not completely distinguish between these terms, indicating only one distinguishing feature - the use of hired labor.
Disposing of or disposing of
Although not everyone agrees with the statement that dispossession is political repression, it is. It was applied administratively, measures to eliminate the kulaks as a class were carried out by local executive bodies, guided by the political and social signs specified in the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, issued on January 30, 1930.
The beginning of dispossession: 1917-1923
The first measures to combat the kulaks began in 1917, after the revolution. June 1918 was marked by the creation of committees of the poor. They played an important role in determining the Soviet policy of the kulaks. The committees performed redistributive functions in the field. It was they who decided what to do with what was seized from the kulaks. Those, in turn, every day became more and more convinced that just like that, the Soviet government would not leave them alone.
In the same year, November 8, at a meeting of delegates to the committees of the poor, V. I. Lenin made a statement that it was necessary to develop a decisive course towards the elimination of the kulaks as a class. He must be defeated. Otherwise, thanks to him, capitalism will appear. In other words, the kulaks are evil.
Preparation for administrative dispossession
On February 15, 1928, the newspaper Pravda published the first publication of materials defaming the fists. It was reported about the difficult and depressing rural situation, about the dangerous growth in the number of wealthy peasants. It was also said that the kulaks pose a threat not only in the countryside, but also in the Communist Party itself, controlling a certain number of cells.
The reports that the kulaks did not allow representatives of the poor and farm laborers to enter local party offices were regularly dazzled on the pages of the newspaper. Wealthy peasants forcibly seized bread and a variety of stocks available. And this led to the fact that they reduced crops and reduced personal farming. This, in turn, affected the employment of the poor. They were losing jobs. This was all positioned as temporary measures due to the state of emergency in the countryside.
But in the end, a transition was made to a policy of eliminating the kulaks. Due to the fact that poorer peasants began to suffer from dispossession, attempts were made to maintain certain sections of the population. But they did not lead to anything good. In villages and villages, hunger and an increase in poverty are gradually beginning. People began to doubt: was it a good decision to eliminate the kulaks as a class?
Mass repression
1928-1932 became a time of collectivization and dispossession. How did this happen? To carry out dispossession, fists were divided into 3 main groups:
- "The terrorists." This included the kulaks, who constituted the counter-revolutionary asset and organized uprisings and terrorist acts, the most active participants.
- These included less active participants in counter-revolutionary processes.
- All other representatives of the kulaks.
The arrest of representatives of the first category was the most serious. Such cases were referred to the prosecutor's office, regional and regional party committees. Fists belonging to the second group were evicted to distant places of the USSR or remote areas. The third category was settled in specially designated areas outside the collective farms.
The first group of fists received the most stringent measures. They were sent to concentration camps because they represented a threat to the security of society and the Soviet government. In addition, they could organize terrorist acts and uprisings. In general terms, dispossession measures included the immediate elimination of kulaks in the form of exile and mass relocations, confiscation of property.
The second category was characterized by massive runaways from resettlement areas, as often there was a harsh climate in which it was not easy to live. Komsomol members who carried out dispossession were often cruel and could easily arrange for unauthorized executions of fists.
Number of victims
The decision to eliminate the kulaks as a class led to great social upheaval. According to available data, almost 4 million people were subjected to repression over the entire period. Of this amount, 60% (2.5 million people) were sent to kulak exile. Almost 600 thousand people died of this number, and the highest mortality rate was in 1930-1933. These indicators exceeded the birth rate by almost 40 times.
According to one investigation by journalist A. Krechetnikov, in 1934 there was a secret certificate from the OGPU department, according to which 90 thousand kulaks died along the route of the reference point and another 300 thousand died from malnutrition and diseases that prevailed at the places of exile.
Policy softens
In 1932, the process of mass dispossession was officially suspended. But almost completely stopping the running machine was more difficult due to the resistance from below.
In July 1931, a decree was issued on the transition from mass dispossession to the individual, as well as instructions on what constitutes an excess in the process and how to deal with uncontrollability of dispossession. At the same time, the idea was propagated that softening the policy towards representatives of this class does not mean weakening the class struggle in the countryside. On the contrary, it will only gain strength. In the post-war period, liberation from the “kulak exile” began. People began to be returned home en masse. In 1954, by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the last fists-immigrants received freedom and rights.
Bread - not from fists
Separately, it is worth considering such a moment associated with the limitation of the kulaks as a class - the production of bread. In 1927, 9.78 million tons were produced with the help of this population, while collective farms produced only 1.3 million tons, of which only half (0.57 million tons) entered the market. In 1929, thanks to processes such as collectivization and dispossession, collective farms produced 6.52 million tons.
The government encouraged the transition of poor peasants to collective farms and thus planned to quickly destroy the kulaks, which had previously been the sole producer of bread. But it was forbidden to accept into collective farms persons recognized as representatives of this class. The ban on the rental of land, on the hiring of private labor as a result led to a sharp decline in agriculture, which was more or less suspended only in 1937.
Rehabilitation and Afterword
Victims of reprisals are rehabilitated in the Russian Federation in accordance with the Federal Law “On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repressions” of 10/18/1991. Under the same law, rehabilitation is carried out for persons who have undergone the process of dispossession and members of their families. The jurisprudence of the Russian Federation considers such persecution as an action within the framework of political repression. The peculiarity of Russian legislation is that it is necessary to establish the fact of the application of dispossession. During rehabilitation, the family returned all property or its value expression, of course, if this property was not nationalized during the Great Patriotic War, and also if there are no other obstacles.