Activists of the “Revolutionary Turn” Generation in the Late 1920s: А Socio-Political Portrait (A Case-Study of Tambov Okrug and Kozlov Okrug)

The paper presents a socio-political portrait of a peasant activist of the “revolutionary turn” generation in the late 1920s. It has been shown that the representatives of this generation played a key role in rural party cells and public organizations. The author studied personal data of party members, candidate members of the VKP(b), and participants in the groups of the poor. The compilation of databases helped to establish the origin, social status, and economic situation of peasant activists. An analysis of the activities of villagers from the age of 16 made it possible to reconstruct a typical life path of an activist. Among the sources for this work were questionnaires of participants in the conferences of the poor, peasants joining the party, and members of the rural Communist Party cells. When examining the socio-political views of peasants, the author used transcripts of okrug and raion conferences of the poor and documents of party organizations. Most of the sources are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The author comes to the conclusion that the majority of activists began their life journey as hired workers. Work in the city as well as participation in wars was a factor in the radicalization of villager’s views. It was established that the majority of party members and those wishing to join the party had inefficient households. As a result, peasants sought to obtain paid bureaucratic positions. It was concluded that having organized their farms after the Civil War, activists had lost interest in farming by the end of the 1920s due to a number of factors. At the same time, the poor expressed dissatisfaction with the bureaucracy of the Soviet system and insufficient assistance from the state. A significant part of the politically active peasants opposed the incitement to class struggle in the village and grain procurements.

Davies, R.W. The Socialist Offensive: The Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture, 1929–1930. Cambridge, МА: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Esikov, S.A. Krest'yanskoe khozyaistvo Tambovskoi gubernii v gody nepa (1921–1928 gg.) [Peasant farming in Tambov Governorate during the NEP years (1921–1928)]. Tambov: Izdatel'stvo Tambovskogo gosudarstvennogo tekhnicheskogo universiteta, 2004. (In Russian)
Fedotov, A.V. “Bednyaki v dokolkhoznoi derevne: kto oni? (opyt regional'nogo issledovaniya po materialam Tul'skoi gubernii)” [The poor in the pre-collective farm village: Who were they? (an attempt of regional study based on materials from Tula Governorate)]. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo oblastnogo universiteta, no. 2 (2011): 51–56. (In Russian)
Fenomenov, M.Ya. Sovremennaya derevnya. Opyt kraevedcheskogo obsledovaniya odnoi derevni (d. Gadyshi Valdaiskogo u. Novgorodskoi g.) [The contemporary village. An experiment in local history survey of one village (the village of Gadyshi, Valdai Uyezd of Novgorod Governorate)], 2 pts. Pt. 2, Staryi i novyi byt (sotsial'nye navyki) [Old and new everyday life (social skills)]. Leningrad; Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo, 1925. (In Russian)
Figes, О. А People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924. London: Pimlico, 1997.
Filatov, V.V. “Uchastie mestnykh sovetskikh organov Ural'skogo regiona v repressiyakh protiv krest'yan nakanune kollektivizatsii” [Participation of local Soviet bodies of the Ural region in the repression against peasants on the eve of collectivization]. Gumanitarno-pedagogicheskie issledovaniya, vol. 2, no. 3 (2018): 29–36. (In Russian)
Fitzpatrick, Sh. Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union 1921–1934. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Goncharova, I.V. “Bednota v ob"ektive sotsial'noi politiki vlasti v kontse 1920-kh gg. (na primere Orlovskoi gubernii)” [The poor in the lens of social policy of power in the end of the 1920th (on the example of the Orel province)]. Uchenye zapiski Orlovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye i sotsial'nye nauki, no. 3–2 (37) (2010): 20–24. (In Russian)
Il'inykh, V.A. “Sotsial'naya mobil'nost' rossiiskogo krest'yanstva v kontse 1910-kh – 1920-e gg.: kriterii, tendentsii, faktory” [Social mobility of Siberian peasantry in the 1920s: Stages and tendencies]. Ural'skii istoricheskii vestnik, no. 4 (61) (2018): 128–34. (In Russian)
Khryashcheva, A.I. Gruppy i klassy v krest'yanstve [Groups and classes in peasantry]. Moscow: TsSU Soyuza SSR, 1926. (In Russian)
Kondrashin, V.V. “Nakanune sploshnoi kollektivizatsii: 1928–1929 gg. v sovetskoi derevne” [On the eve of total collectivization: 1928–1929 in the Soviet village]. In Ekonomicheskaya istoriya: ezhegodnik. 2022 [Economic history. A yearbook. 2022], edited by Yu.A. Petrov,
280–309. Moscow: Institut rossiiskoi istorii RAN, 2023. (In Russian)
Kuznetsov, I.S. “Bogatye i bednye: vzglyady sibirskogo krest'yanstva 1920-kh gg. na sotsial'nye razlichiya” [The rich and the poor: Views of the Siberian peasantry of the 1920s on social differences]. Vestnik Novosibirskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya, filologiya, vol. 1, iss. 3 (2002): 55–62. Accessed January 8, 2024. https://zaimka.ru/kuznetsov-gap/ (In Russian)
Kuznetsov, I.S. Na puti k “velikomu perelomu.” Lyudi i nravy sibirskoi derevni 1920-kh gg. (Psikhoistoricheskie ocherki) [On the way to the “great turn.” People and customs of the Siberian village in the 1920s (Psycho-historical essays)]. Novosibirsk: Novosibirskii gosudarstvennyi universitet, 2001. (In Russian).
Levada, Yu.A. “Pokoleniya XX veka: vozmozhnosti issledovaniya” [Generations of the
20th century: Research opportunities]. In Ottsy i deti: Pokolencheskii analiz sovremennoi Rossii [Fathers and children: Generational analysis of contemporary Russia], comp. Yu.A. Levada, and T. Shanin, 39–60. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 2005. (In Russian)
Lewin, М. Russian Peasants and Soviet Power: A Study of Collectivization. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1975.
Okuda, Kh. “Ot sokhi k portfelyu: derevenskie kommunisty i komsomol'tsy v protsesse raskrest'yanivaniya (1920-e – nachalo 1930-kh gg.)” [From the plow to the briefcase: Village communists and Komsomol members in the process of depeasantization (1920s – early 1930s)]. In Istoriya stalinizma: itogi i problemy izucheniya: materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii (Moskva, 5–7 dekabrya 2008 g.) [History of Stalinism: Outcomes and problems of study: Proceedings of the International scientific conference (Moscow, December 5–7, 2008)], 495–528. Moscow: ROSSPEN, Fond “Prezidentskii tsentr B.N. El'tsina”, 2011. (In Russian)
Safonov, D.A. “Krest'yanskoe pokolenie ‘revolyutsionnogo pereloma’: nachalo stanovleniya” [Peasant generation of the ‘revolutionary turning point’: The beginning of its formation]. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki, vol. 28, no. 3 (2023): 673–88. https://doi.org/10.20310/1810-0201-2023-28-3-673-688 (In Russian)
Shanin, T. “Istoriya pokolenii i pokolencheskaya istoriya Rossii” [History of generations and generational history of Russia]. Chelovek. Soobshchestvo. Upravlenie, no. 3 (2005): 6–25. (In Russian)
Slezin, A.A., and K.A. Yakimov. “Obshchestvennye nastroeniya krest'yan pokoleniya ‘revolyutsionnogo pereloma’ na rubezhe 1920–1930-kh gg.” [Public sentiment among peasantry of ‘revolutionary turning point’ generation at the turn of 1920s–1930s]. Nauchnyi dialog, vol. 11, no. 8 (2022): 453–69. https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2022-11-8-453-469 (In Russian)
Worobec, Ch. Peasant Russia: Family and Community in the Post-Emancipation Period. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.