Establishment of the Bolshevik Totalitarian Regime in Podillia at the End of the 1920s – at the Beginning of the 1930s: Causes, Technologies And Consequences (on the Example of the Melnykivtsi Village in the Vinnytsia Region)

Abstract

The purpose of the article, based on the analysis of sources, taking into account the microhistorical approach, to trace the process of final establishment of the Bolshevik totalitarian regime in the Podillia at the and of 1920s – at the beginning of the 1930s through analysis of causes, technologies and consequences. The methodology of the research is based on a combination of general scientific, special-historical and interdisciplinary methods of microhistorical research, taking into account the principles of historicism, systematics, scientificity and verification. The scientific novelty lies in the author's attempt, based on the analysis of a wide representative source base, from the standpoint of a specific microhistorical study, to analyze the process of planting the Bolshevik totalitarian regime in Podillia in the second military-communist assault. Conclusions. An analysis of various sources reflecting the process of planting the Bolshevik totalitarian regime in the village of Melnykivtsi in the Vinnytsia region suggests that the intensification of local authorities to socialize peasant farms in Podillya began in the spring of 1928. If at the beginning of the unification of peasants voluntarily, then with the party taking a course for continuous collectivization, in November 1929, forceful methods of involvement in collectives prevailed. Suppression of the resistance of wealthy peasants was proposed through the expropriation of their property and deportation outside their permanent residence. The response of the Podillia peasantry to the atrocities of the authorities was the intensification of open resistance, as a result of which in the spring of 1930th the Soviet authorities were even overthrown for a short time in some settlements of Podillya. The appearance of J. Stalin's article "Dizziness from Success" was perceived by some peasants as an outspoken criticism by the leader of the violent methods of the local authorities, so as a result of the so-called "bagpipes", by May 1930 almost 1/3 of all members of collective farms left the collectives. . During the second stage of continuous collectivization, which began in September 1930th, the main "argument" that was to persuade the peasants to join the collectives was tax pressure. Influence on the peasantry was carried out through the system of grain procurement. By setting unbearable norms for the delivery of bread for individual farms, the authorities thus forced them to join the collective farms. Forced collectivization, accompanied by the expropriation of wealthy peasants, unbearable grain procurement plans and the forced seizure of food supplies led to mass starvation of part of the Podolsk peasantry in the spring of 1932. As a result of the artificially planned Holodomor of 1932-1933th decreased by more than 1 million people. According to the authorities' plan, the genocide was to finally subdue the Ukrainian peasantry by starvation. By destroying the peasant owners, the Bolshevik government also deliberately and purposefully destroyed the social base of Ukrainian nationalism.