On a suicide attempt by kolkhoz farmer Aleksandra Polikarpovna Kharitonova of the Comrade Kaganovich Kolkhoz under the Verkhniakhovsky [Verkhnekovsky] Village Soviet as a result of abuse by the brigade leader of brigade no. 2 Iliushchikhin and hardships regarding food.

On 10 June of this year our source “Ivashchenkov” reported to me that the brigade leader of brigade no. 2 on the Comrade Kaganovich Kolkhoz, Iliushchikhin, systematically abused kolkhoz farmer Aleksandra Polikarpovna Kharitonova to the point where Kharitonova, upon finishing work on 2 June, came home and attempted to hang herself and only thanks to her husband who entered the apartment in time did he succeed in preventing his wife's suicide.

Upon receiving this information I immediately traveled to the Comrade Kaganovich Kolkhoz. During an interview with kolkhoz farmer Kharitonova, her husband Kharitonov and kolkhoz chairman Yazykov I determined the following:

While kolkhoz farmer Kharitonova was working on brigade no. 2 of the aforementioned kolkhoz she was subjected to completely unjustified abuse on the part of brigade leader Iliushchikhin, who in the presence of the brigade's kolkhoz farmers repeatedly rebuked her and her husband Kharitonov for “loafing and malingering,” even though Kharitonov was working on the kolkhoz all the time and there was never a case when Kharitonov would refuse to perform an assignment.

Iliushchikhin did not stop there. He was well aware that the food situation on the kolkhoz was strained, and when, on 1 June, Kharitonova did not finish eating her ration of noodles while with the brigade, but took it home in a coffeepot so that she could eat it with her husband, Iliushchikhin spoke on 2 June at a joint kolkhoz meeting of brigades nos. 1 and 2 after a discussion of the draft law on the prohibition of abortions, on assistance to women giving birth and the expansion of the network of maternity clinics and nursery schools, and declared: “And we're supposed to help thieving women like Kharitonova, who steals noodles from the brigade and feeds it to her malingering loafer.”

The Komsomol organizer of the kolkhoz, Yazykova, who was present at the kolkhoz meeting, failed to give an appropriate rebuff to the kulak-type assault and abuse by Iliushchikhin against Kharitonova.

Kharitonova, who was insulted without any basis, was compelled to leave the meeting with tears in her eyes. When she came home, Kharitonova decided to do away with herself, so she tied a rope to the ceiling in her hallway, placed a chair under it and was already intent on hanging herself. It was only thanks to her husband Kharitonov who returned from work that he succeeded in preventing his wife's suicide.

In a talk with me about the reasons that prompted Kharitonova to decide on such a thoughtless act, the latter stated to me:

“My husband and I have been dependable workers on the kolkhoz. Even though my husband was ill, he still earned 250 labordays. This year he has already earned a hundred, and I have fifty labordays. No housewife on our kolkhoz has more than fifty labordays, because we barely worked during the winter and spring, and they only began to call us to work this past April. My husband doesn't have many labordays because he himself isn't very well developed: he works wherever they send him to, and in addition we are all worn out from an extremely hard situation with our finances and food. We have not had a single gram of flour, potatoes, or butter at home for a month already. Life is very difficult, and now the undeserved abuse from brigade leader Iliushchikhin on top of it. The extremely hard situation with food and the fact that we aren't getting any help are what forced me to do away with myself.”

It was also determined that Kharitonova and her husband were abused not only by brigade leader Iliushchikhin, but also by the leadership of the kolkhoz board in the person of kolkhoz chairman Yazykov. The raion's functionaries, particularly the head of the raion farming department Prusakov, not only knew about this, but he himself, in effect, supported this abuse, and the following facts may serve as proof of that:

“To keep the kolkhoz farmers going, the kolkhoz board issued them makukha [refined sunflower seeds] for food in April or the beginning of May. After I found out about this, I (A. P. Kharitonova) told my husband to apply to the kolkhoz board for makukha. In Prusakov's presence, kolkhoz chairman Yazykov and business manager Mrykhin began to take an interest at the bookkeeping department in how many labordays my husband and I had. Bookkeeper Kalmykov reported incorrect information, that supposedly we had no labordays, whereas my husband at the time had about 100 labordays, and I had about 50. In discussing this question of whether to give us makukha or not, the aforesaid individuals started calling my husband a loafer and the like at a kolkhoz farmers' meeting.

“I told brigade leader Iliushchikhin, who was present at the meeting, to get up and say that they were wrong to call us loafers. To this Iliushchikhin replied: ‘I didn't hear them call you loafers.’ And they never did give us makukha.” (From the testimony of A. P. Kharitonova.)

The actual food situation on the kolkhoz is so grim that a number of kolkhoz farmers on the kolkhoz are starving. In 1935 this kolkhoz issued one kg fifty g [of grain] per laborday. The kolkhoz board, instead of taking measures through the appropriate organizations and improving the situation by obtaining a food loan, deemed it necessary to “sustain” the needy segment by handing out to needy kolkhoz farmers makukha that had previously been delivered for hogs. All told, thirty-one tons of makukha was distributed to kolkhoz farmers.

This abusive treatment of kolkhoz farmers has led to the point where certain shock workers have been without grain for more than a month and are literally starving. Another group is selling its calves, hogs, and the like and buying bread at the village cooperative store.

It should be noted that this kind of food situation applies not only to the Comrade Kaganovich Kolkhoz but also to a number of other kolkhozes in our raion.

According to our data, the raion has fourteen kolkhozes that need food assistance. Of those, the following kolkhozes are especially in need:

In addition, it was determined that, two days before it received information on the abuse of the Kharitonovs, the newspaper Stalinsky Put' [Stalin's path] had an official statement from Kharitonova's husband Kharitonov, who reported on the abuse of his wife and her suicide attempt resulting from Iliushchikhin's abuse and asked that measures be taken. The deputy editor, Comrade Zemliachenko, conveyed this to the secretary of the VKP(b) raion committee, Comrade Yerofeev, but no measures were taken until we uncovered this matter, investigated it and raised it with the VKP(b) raion committee and the RIK.

Our Actions

Thanks to measures taken, Kharitonova has been provided with financial and medical assistance through raion organizations and normal working conditions have been set up for her on the kolkhoz.

Legal proceedings are being initiated against brigade leader Iliushchikhin through the raion procurator.

The matter of the chairman of Kaganovich Kolkhoz, Yazykov, and the head of the raion farming department, Prusakov, has been raised with the VKP(b) raion committee.