Source A Alexander Shiyapnikov, a socialist worker of the time, gives us a description of how the meetings were organised: 'Propaganda was done in the plants and shops on an individual basis. There were also discussion circles... Legal meetings took place on matters concerning [official issues], but this activity was skilfully integrated into the general struggle for the liberation of the working class. Illegal meetings were... arranged on the spur of the moment but in an organised way during lunch, in evening break, in front of the exit, in the yard or, in establishments with several floors, on the stairs. The most alert workers would form a "plug" in the doorway, and the whole mass piled up in the exit. An agitator would get up right there on the spot. Management would contact the police on the telephone, but the speeches would have already been made and the necessary decision taken by the time they arrived ....' Alexander Shiyapnikov, On the Eve of 1917. Reminiscences from the Revolutionary Underground. |
Women in the February Revolution 'Women workers, often ... inspired their male co-workers ... At the Lorenz telephone factory.... Marfa Vasileva almost single handedly called a successful strike. Already that morning, in celebration of Women's Day, women workers had presented red bows to the men ... Then Marfa Vasileva, a milling machine operator stopped work and declared an impromptu strike. The workers on the floor were ready to support her ... The foreman informed the management and sent her a loaf of bread. She took the bread but refused to go back to work. The administrator asked her again why she refused to work and she replied, "I cannot be the only one who is satiated when others are hungry". Women workers from another section of the factory gathered around Marfa in support and gradually all the other women ceased working. Soon the men downed their tools as well and the entire crowd rushed onto the street.' From: Choi Chatterji, Celebrating Women (2002). Box1 |
Source C Dreams and Realities of a Soviet Childhood in 1933 Dear grandfather Kalinin .... My family is large, there are four children. We don't have a father - he died, fighting for the worker's cause, and my mother... is ailing... I want to study very much, but I cannot go to school. I had some old boots, but they are completely torn and no one can mend them. My mother is sick, we have no money and no bread, but I want to study very much... there stands before us the task of studying, studying and studying. That is what Vladimir Ilich Lenin said. But I have to stop going to school. We have no relatives and there is no one to help us, so I have to go to work in a factory, to prevent the family from starving. Dear grandfather, I am 13,1 study well and have no bad reports. I am in Class 5 ... Letter of 1933 from a 13-year-old worker to Kalinin, Soviet President From: V. Sokolov (ed), Obshchestvo I Vlast, v 1930-ye gody (Moscow, 1997). |
Source D Official view of the opposition to collectivisation and the government response 'From the second half of February of this year, in various regions of the Ukraine... mass insurrections of the peasantry have taken place, caused by distortions of the Party's line by a section of the lower ranks of the Party and the Soviet apparatus in the course of the introduction of collectivisation and preparatory work for the spring harvest, Within a short time, large scale activities from the above-mentioned regions carried over into neighbouring areas.... and the most aggressive insurrections have taken place near the border. The greater part of the peasant insurrections have been linked with outright demands for the return of collectivised stocks of grain, livestock and tools ... Between 1st February and 15th March, 25,000 have been arrested ... 656 have been executed, 3,673 have been imprisoned in labour camps and 5,580 exiled ...' Report of KM Karlson, President of the State Police Administration of the Ukraine to the Central Committee of the Communist Party, on 19 March 1930. From: V. Sokolov (ed), Obshchestvo I Vlast, v 1930-ye gody |
Source E This is a letter written by a peasant who did not want to join the collective farm. To the newspaper Krestianskaia Gazeta (Peasant Newspaper)... 'I am a natural working peasant born in 1879 ... there are 6 members in my family, my wife was born in 1881, my son is 16, two daughters 19, all three go to school, my sister is 71. From 1932, heavy taxes have been levied on me that I have found impossible. From 1935, local authorities have increased the taxes on me ... and I was unable to handle them and all my property was registered: my horse, cow, caif, sheep with lambs, all my implements, furniture and my reserve of wood for repair of buildings and they sold the lot for the taxes. In 1936, they sold two of my buildings ... the kolkhoz bought them. In 1937, of two huts had, one was sold and one was confiscated ....' Afanasii Dedorovich Frebenev, an independent cultivator. From : V. Sokolov (ed), Obshchestvo I Vlast, v 1930-ye gody |
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