Document 12

Letter to Pravda on collectivization in Kaluga Okrug, 1930

RGAE, f. 7486, op. 1, d. 100, l. 55. Typed copy.

We used to only hear about them [collective farms], but now we know them all too well. We've now had a good look at how they operate. One collective is in our village, another is in the next village of Borankov. It's a commune, well, and what's going on there really makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. They operate by arguing and cursing that often lead to fights. And why? Simply because some of them want to labor, to work, and others say straight out "it's completely worthless," and that's the truth. I know that you'll say that it's the kulaks there who are spoiling the whole business. No, it's lazy people who don't want to work who spoil things. At the present we don't know what other collectives, or communes, are like. But our commune is no good at all. So it's obvious that there can be no improvement of life. And don't even bother to think about the possibility of increasing the harvest, to increase the harvest this way is out of the question. It's really obvious to everyone that I've been ruined today, and tomorrow the same thing will happen to my neighbor, and then who's going to improve the farming? It's crystal clear, no one. A state grain procurer came to us, and he began to force grain out of us. We told him then and there "Listen, my dear man, you can take from us today, but tomorrow there'll be nothing to winnow because we won't want to get it ready."