Document 138

Letter from Young Pioneer H. Roland to Kalinin, 23 November 1934

RGASPI, f. 78, op. 1, d. 526, ll. 6-8. Original manuscript.

Dear Grandfather M. I. Kalinin!

In the newspaper Pravda No. 310 of 11 November 1934 I read in your report at the ceremonial meeting about the achievements of our Soviet Union. About the output of metal, agricultural machine building, the chemical industry, etc. Allow me to report on our achievements at our little Rosa Luxemburg Kolkhoz, under the Koltunovka Village Soviet in Georgievsk Raion, Obilenskaia MTS, in the Northern Caucasus Krai. Our kolkhoz is small, there are only 150 members on the kolkhoz and sixty of them are able to work. And you know, almost none of the Germans like Soviet rule. I want to write you first about how our Young Pioneer detachment came about. My papa has been a teacher in Koltunovka for ten years already. He himself is not a party member, but he takes part in all the Soviet political activities. I have been a Pioneer for two years already. This year I succeeded on the eve of May Day in recruiting two of my comrades, who declared themselves Pioneers at a general meeting. The next day my papa and I recruited eleven more pupils at school, but you know how the Germans without their parents' permission, some pupils could not join the Pioneers, papa had to visit the parents at home and change their minds and get their consent. In this way we ended up with a detachment of fourteen Pioneers. Of course our boards of the kolkhozes Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht[,] Slizhevsky, Huber and Otto Heck did a lot to help us. Right away they bought Pioneer outfits, a bugle and a drum for all the Pioneers. I became the leader of these Pioneers. At the ceremonial meeting on May Day all the Pioneers declared themselves patrons of the colts and piglets, and the girls became patrons of the poultry farm. In addition we Pioneers worked and helped the kolkhozes. We guarded the harvest and helped with the mowing, weeding and horseback riding. Now after all the work of the political campaigns we spend our free time in the kolkhoz yard, where we clean the animals under our care and teach them to jump over obstacles, so that if they grow up they will be ready for the Red Army. Since we Pioneers started helping our kolkhozes, they have taken first place in Georgievsk Raion. But we are not lagging in our studies either. Through socialist competition and shock work, our schools have taken first place in the raion. Most of our pupils are shockworkers, and all our kolkhozes have also taken first place in the raion in all of the economic and political campaigns, and we Pioneers will not allow this top position to be given up. We wanted to have a writing exchange with our foreign comrade Pioneers, but we don't know how to write there, to what address. Grandfather Kalinin I am sorry to bother you, I don't know what interests you the most in our little detachment, I could write everything to you. If I finish my studies, then I will also come to Moscow, right now I am in the fifth grade of the N.S.Sh. [incomplete secondary school] in the settlement of Mikhailovsky, which opened just in the fall, so it is still poorly equipped and has absolutely no visual aids. The breakfasts are still not set up well. I have to walk three km each way every day. All my grades are good or excellent. Just as our advanced kolkhozes have received prizes several times for taking first place, so our Young Pioneer detachments under the Koltunovka Village Soviet and several individual Pioneers have received prizes for good work.

I was awarded a balalaika as a prize at the Georgievsk Raion rally of Young Pioneers, ten rubles from the Koltunovka Village Soviet and a certificate and five rubles from the Rosa Luxemburg Kolkhoz. That is all for now, next time, if I get an answer from you, I will write more often.

With Young Pioneer greetings. Be prepared! Young Pioneer leader Herrmann Roland.