PUBLIC REPRESSIONS AT THE INITIAL STAGE OF AGRICULTURAL COLLECTIVIZATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
Abstract
The article examines the problem of the repressive policy of the Soviet authorities against dehkan farms in the initial period of the unified collectivization of agriculture in the Central Asian republics. The relevance of this topic is justified by the fact that the study of this problem at the level of new thinking and the approaches of modern historiography is of great importance for the development of science. In particular, an important contribution to the development of this sector can be made by studying such issues as the evolution of the policy of "socialist reconstruction" of the economy carried out by the Soviet state, the nature and significance of the policy of dispossession, the role of the Soviet punitive organs in disposing of dehkan farms. The article analyzes the directive acts and circulars of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) and the punitive organs of the Soviet government for the repression of dehkan farms. On the basis of the information report by the OGPU organs for 1930, the information on the liquidated counterrevolutionary organizations and groups, the number of punished and repressed "counterrevolutionary elements" and their social composition in the regions and districts of Central Asia have been summarized. Specific facts on violence and violations of the local organs of the Soviet authorities in carrying out the campaign "Elimination of the kulaks as a class" are given.
Keywords: repression, collectivization, dekulakization, OGPU, kulak farms, kulak exile, "anti-Soviet elements"
It is well known that the Soviet government's aggressive collectivization of agriculture and the "termination of rich people as class" began to be intensified since its inception. The collectivization movement began with a rapid "revolutionary" movement of the Bolshevik government, with the use of violence and repression against the masses.
The information materials of the OGPU (United Nations Political Administration) bodies from 1930 to 1934 clearly reflected the political view of their era. In them, Repressive policies of Stalin's leadership on the country's major peasants were clearly manifested.
The secretive OGPU reports of 1930 also focused on mass repression of dehkan farms – the "dispossession of the kulaks". Hence, the Directive No. 771 of the OGPU, dated January 11, 1930, was a prelude to the massive crackdown on the kulaks. According to this, the repressive measure was intended not only to the rich people, but also to the broader application of sanctions against "organizations, groups, individual criminals" and those called "kulaks, bandits" that clearly defined the directive. This directive was sent to all OGPU representative offices and sent to the center by January 14, immediately detecting agent information on the number of groups, gangs, organizations and individuals belonging to "kulak-bandit" groups [7, р. 71].
Scientific literature states that in some regions, practical work has begun to end earliest dehkan farms since January 11, 1930. However, dispossession of the kulaks in the country officially began after the Directive of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of 30 January 1930, "On measures to eliminate kulak farms in areas of complete collectivization". In this decision rich people were divided into categories and the rate of repression on categories was determined. It was established that the first group consisted of "anti-rebellion activists" – terrorist actors and anti-Soviet activists – had to be imprisoned and sent to concentration camps as political offenders or subjected to high fines. Their families were deported to special settlements in remote areas of the country. These territories were also forced to descend into the second category, such as "big rich people, semi-traffickers and active resistance against collectivization", with their families.
The remainder of the rich people (Type 3) is resettled in the country or region in which it is living, to the outskirts of the collective farm. It was pointed out that the total number of adults should be 3–5 % of all dehkan farms. However, the number of "limited contingents" in categories 1 and 2 was shown: from the main agricultural districts of the country, the first category was 60,000, the second category – 150,000 farms [8, р. 325-328].
The decree stated that "in the collective zones of collective action it was necessary to immediately deprive, and in the rest of the regions – to increase the scale of collectivization." Urgent measures include "confiscation of the farms, cattle, houses, farms and grain stores".
The first step in dispossession was fully reflected in the information of the Secretariat-Operational Department of the OGPU. This department created 68 special reports on dispossession categories from 31 January to 24 April [2, р. 312]. The dynamics of earnings in Type 1 are distributed across the districts throughout the USSR. It is important to note that there were statistically significant numbers of prisoners and the number of shocked social and political groups.
According to the special report No.2 of the Secretariat of the OGPU, from January 31 to February 16, 162 people were detained in Central Asia. In particular, 2 anti-rebellion organizations, 13 groups (278 members of the group) were seized and 5 weapons were confiscated. The social structure of the detainees is as follows: rich people – 65 people, common people – 33 persons, poor – 31 people, church staff – 3 people, merchants – 1 person, “formers” – 1 person, officials – 20 people, "others" – 2 people. According to the whole Union, up to February 16, 1930, 6,4589 people were arrested, 51 anti-trust organizations and 1183 groups were dissolved [10, р. 93].
While paying attention to the special reports, it is clear that the OGPU Communist Party of Central Committee Political Initiative carried out its instructions dated January 30 right from January 31. The special report No. 16, dated February 15, states that 64 589 people were imprisoned in the country, of which 52 166 were classified as 1-category. It is clear from the information that prisoners are poorer peasants, former traders, former “white men”, religious workers, village intellectuals and employees, as well as unidentified persons, "unidentified" and "others" [7, р. 9].
According to the order of the OGPU No. 44/21 of February 2, 1930, "On measures of classifying rich people", an autonomous representation of OGPU was composed of "triplet" consisting of the representatives of the Communist Party of Central committees and prosecutors on the case study of Type 1 prisoners.
The structure of the political triplets is confirmed by the OGPU Board. Operational tips were also created under the direct mandate of the OGPU autonomous representation authority to direct the work related to the exit of rich people and family members of category 2. Operational flights were also created in the regions, districts and OGPU district divisions under the guidance of heads of divisions [4, р. 67].
The OGPU Directive on January 11, 1930, continued without detention. By March 9, 1930, more 46 anti-terrorist groups were liquidated in Central Asia, with 298 detainees. Also, a single group was abducted and eight were arrested, and 525 persons were imprisoned individually. 650 rich people, who escaped, were also arrested. A total of 831 people was arrested during the operation (between 16 February and 9 March). As of March 9, 1930, the number of Central Asians and 993 individuals were detained. Particularly, two anti-trust organizations were abolished and 17 of them were arrested and 59 were abducted, of which 337 were detained, 8 were detained and one was abducted, 8 of them were 631 and 650 were escaped [5, р. 287-288].
According to the March 20, 1930 autonomous representation of OGPU in Central Asia, as a result of operative work from February 19 to February 17, 1930, the termination of the "anti-rebellion" active in the region was performed as follows:
The total number of "anti-rebellion activists" arrested in the Andizhan Region was 607 people. Of these, 257 were rich, 31 mullahs, 22 merchants, 54 medium status peasants, 33 poor people, and social status of the rest was not identified. Poor and medium-status farmers were arrested as part of mass protests. Out of those arrested, eight were members of the Soviet-era party, who were detained for allegedly leaving the party. All detainees were gathered in Andizhan prison [1, р. 59].
Organizers and activists of 164 mass protests in the Ferghana region were arrested. There is no information about their social content.
In the Bukhara region, 156 people were arrested. 67 of them were rich, 5 were mullahs, 63 were middle-aged, 17 were poor, 4 had no social affiliation. Poor peasant farmers in this region were also subjected to repression for their involvement in the rallies.
In the Samarkand region, 127 people were detained, of which 81 were rich, 10 were mullahs, 23 were middle-aged and 13 were poor farmers.
123 people were arrested in the Kashkadarya region. 50 of them were rich, 8 were mullahs, 16 merchants, 18 peasants, 7 poor dehkans, 7 party and Soviet workers.
18 people were arrested in the Khorezm region on March 12-13. 8 of them were rich, 3 mullahs, 1 merchant, 4 small peasants, and 2 poor dehkans.
In total, 1195 people were arrested in Uzbekistan. 51 anti-nationalist groups were dissolved in the country, and 385 members of the general list were imprisoned.
126 people were detained in Tajikistan. 70 of them were rich, 12 mullahs, 3 merchants, 13 farmers, 20 poor peasants, 1 Soviet employee. 15 antithesis groups were abolished and 108 were arrested.
420 people were arrested in Kyrgyzstan.
In Turkmenistan, 281 people were arrested. Among them 180 were rich, 6 mullahs, 1 merchant, 77 medium status peasant, 14 poor dehkans, 4 were those whose social status was not identified.
Throughout all Central Asian republics (except Tashkent, Zarafshan, Surkhandarya regions), 2022 people were arrested [9, р. 216-217].
During the operation of dispossession of the kulaks from April 24, 1930, the number of dissolved anti-campaign organizations, groups, gangs and detainees in Central Asia was as follows:
Type 1 prisoners – 2350 people; the liquidated counter-terrorism organizations – 2, members of the detained organization – 17 people; dismissed anti-trilobites – 89, members of the detained group – 917 persons; imprisoned persons – 1,416 people; the total number of abducted gangs – 22, the detainees – 1539 [7, р. 140].
On the whole, in the USSR, on April 24, 1930, 123,716 people were imprisoned on Type 1. That is, arrests of this category were carried out more than twice the amount specified by the decision of the Communist Party Political Bureau dated 30 January 1930.
In the earliest stage of the operation, not only heads of the household were arrested, but also their proper working children were arrested too. The rest of the family was deported to the special settlements along with the second-class rich people.
Detailed information on the results of the first stage of dispossession activities is contained in reports of the OGPU Operational Groups. Its report on May 20, 1930, said that 123,716 people were repatriated with type 1 without family members. The number of families taken as a result of the second category was 99,013, with total of 491,893 persons. According to another information source of the beginning of 1931, in the first half of 1930, 113,027 families were exiled with Type 2 [3, р. 37]. However, mass emanation of the rich people’s families of the Central Asian republics had not yet started.
Finally, when it comes to the number of migratory rich people’s families with Type 3 category, some of the information is contained in its reports, although it is not the case with the OGPU. According to unclear data, by May 1930, 26333 families (138 182 persons) were resettled in accordance with Type 3 [6, р. 378].
The information presented here is very important from the point of view of the destiny of the repressed farmers. They reveal the socio-political situation created by the Stalin-led Communist Party. Only those who have been repatriated by the first category have only information about the amount of the ones, who were sent to the GULAG camps. Unfortunately, there is no accurate data on the number of convicts under Type 1. Because during this period the shooting was carried out through the "triplets" and trials in the OGPU line.
As it is seen from the information presented, the majority of the repressed were the 2nd category rich people with their family members. Family members of Type 1 type were added to them. Issues such as where to send, where and under what circumstances these families should be settled, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union adopted the decision of the USSR Central Committee for the Consolidation of Socialist Repatriation and Tuberculosis in February 1, 1930 "The decision was taken without any response" [8, р. 335].
The "Termination of rich people as a class" operation was interpreted as the "elimination of extremist bandits" in the activities of the OGPU. The richest, selfish suburban areas of the village were originally declared as "anti-rebellion, anti-Soviet" and settled in the first place to be terminated. The first object of the OGPU repressive activity was not rich people, but "anti-rebellion, anti-Soviets". However, these terms had nothing to do with the village at this time.
This tragic process, which was set up by the Soviet government in the villages, put all the villagers into a vein. Many dehkan farmers fled their homes and villages and abandoned their homes. As a result of the collectivization, violence in the process of " dispossession of the kulaks", the outflow of the rural population also worsened. In particular, in the period from January to February 1930, 185 families left Turkmenistan, 64 families left Tajikistan, and 6 migrants left Kyrgyzstan. The bulk of the departure abroad was the share of massively collectivized areas. Most immigrants left for East Turkestan [7, р. 165].
In addition, in almost all the parts of Central Asia, it was possible to find dehkan families and individual "rich refugees" who had been escaping from their village, looking for shelter from other cities and villages. However, these were also subjected to torture by the Soviet authorities. OGPU Deputy Chairman G. Yagoda on February 22, 1930 in Tashkent – sent a telegram to the OGPU on behalf of the Central Asian autonomy V.A. Karutsky on charges of seizure of single echelon in Central Asia, grouping 2-3 wagons to exile to Siberia, the refugees were detained for their exile in Kazakhstan and they were ordered to be deported to the area immediately after their exile was announced [9, р. 187].
So far, the Soviet government literally declared war on the rural population from the early days of the massive collectivization of agriculture. While this process was called an "operation against rich people" in the UNPA secret documents, repression was directed against all social groups in the village. Many peasants belonging to medium status and the poor status were basically charged with false accusations such as "anti-rebellion", "anti-Soviet" and "basmach". At the same time, the repressive measures were applied not only to the heads of the household, but also to all their family members - infants in the cradles.
Reference lists