Out of a total of 3,302,515 peasant farms in the Central Black Earth Oblast, 73.6 percent of 17,168,000 hectares of land under cultivation have been collectivized as of 10 February 1930. The pace of collectivization in the oblast is illustrated by the following data:

As of 1 October [of each year], collectivization had covered the following:

It is clear from this table that some okrugs have basically completed wholesale collectivization. A portion of the okrugs are approaching completion of this task. The mass work and mass collective-farm movement that have developed in the oblast in connection with collectivization are proceeding at a pace that gives us every reason to expect the wholesale collectivization of the oblast to be basically completed during the spring sowing campaign of 1930.

Along with mass collectivization, a process of enlargement of collective farms is under way. For example, as of 1 October 1929 the average land area of a collective farm was 246 hectares; as of 10 January 1930, 951 hectares; as of 1 February 1930, 1,107 hectares. As of 10 February there were 6,530 collective farms in the oblast, with a total area of 12,704,320 hectares in use (9,633,980 hectares of plowed fields), and each collective farm has an average of 1,950 hectares. A number of giant collective farms are being organized on an area of 20,000–50,000 and even 100,000 hectares. […]

The types of collective farms are changing as well: as of 10 January communes accounted for 4 percent in the oblast; agricultural artels, 27 percent; TOZes [associations for joint land cultivation], 68.6 percent. Over the past month collectivization has proceeded mostly through the establishment of agricultural artels. Previously established TOZes are switching to the charter of an agricultural artel; one indicator of this is the breakdown of collective farms in Kozlov Okrug as of 1 February 1930: TOZes, 41 percent; artels, 56 percent; communes, 3 percent. As a result, the agricultural artel has become the predominant type of collective farm in the Central Black Earth Oblast.

The socialized material resources of collective farms are also growing. We don't have overall data for the oblast at present, but in individual raions the situation stands as follows. In the Talovaia Raion of wholesale collectivization:

It is impossible at present to submit detailed results of dekulakization. Data are available for individual okrugs. For example, Borisoglebsk Okrug reports: as of 10 February, 85 percent of the farms and sown area have been collectivized; 35,000 horses and 10,000 cows have been socialized, and beyond that—according to incomplete information—2,766 farms in 10 raions of the okrug, or an average of 2.3 percent, have been dekulakized. The following property has been confiscated and turned over to collective farms: 1,145 houses, 554 storehouses, 64 enterprises, 1,746 horses, 1,870 cows, 4,000 head of domestic livestock, and 3,830 centners of grain. The kulak farms proved to have only 169 pigs.

Ostrogozhsk Okrug reports that from 1 to 8 February 7,825 kulak farms have been identified for dekulakization. During these eight days 5,636 farms were dekulakized. All told, 98 percent of the okrug has been collectivized.

Dekulakization is proceeding with the active participation of poor peasants, and in a number of raions, middle peasants as well. Large groups of poor peasants are accompanying the commissions to kulak households and are taking away property. At night, by their own initiative, they stand guard on the roads at points of egress from the villages in order to detain fleeing kulaks, and at general meetings they adopt decisions that demand the immediate exile of especially inveterate kulaks from the oblast.

The most prosperous middle peasants are reacting to dekulakization with some wariness; they are afraid that, after the kulaks, the authorities might “do the same thing” with them. Such apprehensions are being voiced particularly in villages where kulak agitation is developing: “Soon the middle peasants will be robbed as well.” The kulaks say, “They are dekulakizing us, and then they will get to work on the middle peasants.”

The kulak, seeing his inevitable demise, is directing all of his efforts against collectivization and Soviet power. At every step of collective-farm construction the kulak tries to fight our measures and in some cases, because of poor public work, succeeds.

In the first phase of the struggle the kulak attempted to oppose the establishment of collective farms openly, but he failed, so he switched to another tactic—he began to incite his followers among the middle and poor peasants (especially women, religious hysterics [klikushi], and nuns) into anti-collective-farm disturbances. When these forms of struggle did not succeed either, the kulak switched to new methods—to blow up the collective farm from within. The kulaks are developing furious agitation in favor of destroying livestock and seeds and damaging agricultural implements. There have been incidents in which buildings subject to socialization have been set on fire. One must say that in this effort the kulak has managed to achieve certain results. Our party and soviet organizations in the countryside were late in seeing through this kulak maneuver, and it proved to be very costly to collective-farm construction in some raions.

Now that the kulak has been convinced that this form of struggle will not give him the desired result either, that the collective farms have taken shape, are getting on their feet, and have taken decisive measures to stop the predatory destruction of the fixed assets of agriculture, he is switching to efforts to organize overt counterrevolutionary disturbances.

Mass disturbances in the oblast may be illustrated by the following data from the OGPU on the Central Black Earth Oblast: between January 1929

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and mid-December, 94 mass disturbances took place in the oblast, with a total number of 33,221 participants. Of these 94 disturbances, 51 occurred in connection with the closing of churches; 28 in connection with grain procurements; 8 in connection with land reorganization; and only 4 in connection with collectivization. From December 1929 through 14 February 1930, 38 mass disturbances were recorded in the oblast, with 25,170 participants. The overwhelming majority of mass disturbances occurred in connection with collectivization and dekulakization; in Ostrogozhsk Okrug alone between 12 January and 14 February, there were 16 kulak mass disturbances, in which kulaks managed to involve a segment of the middle and even poor peasantry, especially women, by using various provocative methods, measures, and means. In certain places the crowds staging the disturbances numbered two or more thousand people. Some of the disturbances were of a semi-insurrectionist nature. The disturbances were prepared in advance, something akin to headquarters were set up to direct them, and the mob was armed with pitchforks, axes, stakes, and in certain cases with sawed-off and hunting shotguns. In one village a black banner was put up with the inscription, “Down with Collective Farms, Long Live World Revolution” (Nizhny Ikorets) or these slogans: “Soviet Power, but without Collective Farms,” “We Are for Soviet Power, but against the communists,” “Return All Fines Taken from the Kulaks and Confiscated Property!”

There have been incidents when people ransacked socialized barns, seized socialized livestock, pilfered a portion of the property taken from kulaks, and tried to plunder the seed fund (village of Podserednoe).

In the village of Kazatskoe, a mob besieged a school where representatives of the raion and the OGPU okrug department were located, smashed all the windows with rocks, and kept them under siege until 2 a.m.

Decisive measures were taken to crush the kulak disturbances. Six kulak disturbances in Ostrogozhsk Okrug had to be liquidated with armed force. Operations to remove the counterrevolutionary insurrectionist and kulak aktiv have now concluded. Despite the kulak disturbances, the collective farms established in these villages have not fallen apart, and work is now being done here, as well as in other localities, to socialize implements, work animals, seeds, etc.

The main factors that caused these mass disturbances boil down to the following three points:

Preparatory work is under way at present for exiling 8,000 kulak households out of the oblast; the actual exiles will take place from 20 February through 14 April. All of those exiled are being sent to the Northern Krai.

It should be pointed out that in the practical work of dekulakization there have been a number of flagrant distortions, which boil down to the following: the dekulakization of several middle peasants, school employees, Red Army soldiers' families, and Red partisans. Incidents have taken place in which, for example, supporters of kulaks “dekulakize” the farms of old communists and soviet officials (the farm belonging to the parents of the chairman of a raion executive committee in Rossosh Okrug). There have been attempts to pressure the families of Komsomol members, agronomists, etc.

Incidents have also taken place in which literally everything is taken from kulaks, up to and including children's underwear. In certain places there have been cases when property taken from kulaks has been divvied up “among friends” or it has been sold for a song. For example, in Yelets Okrug there have been cases when a nickel-plated samovar was sold for 1 ruble and a bed for 1 ruble 50 kopeks. Cases of pillaging have also taken place, when confiscated property has been stolen, damaged, or destroyed. Even a member of a workers' brigade from a Voronezh factory, a communist, took for himself a fur coat confiscated from a kulak and cooked a duck taken from the same place.

In Ostrogozhsk Okrug the farm of a Turkish citizen was dekulakized; all of his property is worth no more than 1,000 rubles. In a number of places, party members failed to restrain enraged poor peasants from abusing kulak families (they kicked them out into frigid weather and so forth). Oblast and local organizations are taking decisive measures against all of these distortions and excesses and are immediately rectifying the mistakes. On the whole, it should be noted that such isolated facts are inevitable in an effort as immense as the liquidation of the kulaks.

The general political attitudes of the masses of poor and middle peasants in the countryside are characterized by the following: poor peasants, for the most part, support the party's slogans; as a rule, they actively participate in the collective-farm movement and take a harsh view of the kulaks. In many villages kulaks agitating against collectivization were met by poor peasants carrying stakes. Poor peasants organize mass demonstrations by collective farmers and travel on horseback to neighboring villages to agitate for collectivization. Meetings of poor peasants adopt resolutions expressing complete confidence in the party and its measures. The most typical incident took place in zone 4 of the Tishanka village soviet, where a meeting of 20 poor peasants and 8 middle peasants assembled without representatives of party, Komsomol, or soviet organizations, and they put on the agenda the question “On merging the poor peasantry with the middle peasantry and on close coordination in building socialism.” The rapporteur was Comrade Borisov.

They resolved: “We, poor peasants, the aktiv, and middle peasants are merging into a single unit and are marching together with the party and the government along the path of socialism and the reorganization of agricultural life; we, poor peasants, the aktiv, and middle peasants vow to the party and the government that we will fulfill all of the directives of the party and the government at a rapid pace and will toss overboard all traitors who interfere with our reorganization of agriculture. We also promise the party of the VKP(b) that we will not lag behind the leadership of the party and the government and we send ardent greetings to the leader of the party, Comrade Stalin. Hurrah for the party of the VKP(b)! We are with you! Long live socialism! Meeting chairman A. Aniktov. Secretary Kisurin.”

The work of party and Komsomol organizations with the poor peasantry and the guidance provided for it are still completely unsatisfactory.

One can see a mass attraction to the party on the part of collective farmers and middle peasants. In the next two or three months we expect to handpick for admission to the party the most advanced and dedicated collective farmers and those who have actively excelled in the collective-farm movement and in the task of liquidating the kulaks.

The mood of the middle peasants in the countryside may be characterized as follows: the middle peasants have firmly decided for themselves that they cannot go on living this way, and they have been joining collective farms en masse. But as they join the collective farms, the middle peasants are wavering. They say, “We don't know what life will be like, we'll see, but since Soviet power is campaigning for collective farms, it seems that life will be better.”

The mood of workers at enterprises and in transport is basically healthy and completely fine. Despite significant difficulties with food supply, no discontent is being expressed of the kind that prevailed, in any case, a year and a half to two years ago. No complaints are being voiced. A lot of workers worked in grain procurements, which served as an excellent school for the workers. They saw what the countryside is like—and what the kulak is like.

They saw the kulak's hostile attitude in practice. The workers saw the difference between collective and individual farms and are now actively participating in the collectivization of agriculture. They have become genuine frontline organizers of this movement. […]