Cambridge University Press Stalin, Siberia and the Crisis of the New Economic Policy James Hughes Frontmatter More information

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1 This book makes an important contribution to the current re-evaluation of the origins of Stalinism. Although it is widely acknowledged by Western scholars that the Soviet grain crisis of and Stalin's Siberian tour of January 1928 were crucial factors in the decision to abandon the New Economic Policy (NEP) and return to a more ideologically rigid policy of collectivisation and rapid industrialisation, studies have hitherto concentrated on the role of leading personalities and 'high polities'. In this book, Dr presents an in-depth examination of the crisis of the NEP from the regional perspective of Siberia and analyses the events and pressures 'from below', at the grassroots level of Soviet society. Using publications of the Siberian party and statistical investigations of the countryside, Dr Hughes offers new insights into several largely uncharted features of the Soviet system in these years. These include party-peasant relations, the kulak question, Stalin's patronclient network in the provinces, the regional impact of the grain crisis and the use of emergency measures to overcome the crisis. The author concludes that Stalin's experience of conditions which were unique to Siberia accelerated his negative reappraisal of the NEP and initiated the descent into the cataclysm of his 'revolution from above' in late Stalin, Siberia and the crisis of the New Economic Policy will be widely read by specialists and students of Soviet history, with special reference to the economic and social history of the 1920s, regional policy under the NEP, and the background to collectivisation.

2 STALIN, SIBERIA AND THE CRISIS OF THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY Soviet and East European Studies: 81 Editorial Board Stephen White (General editor) Judy Batt Michael Kaser Anthony Kemp-Welsh Margot Light Alastair McAuley James Riordan Judith Shapiro Soviet and East European Studies, under the auspices of Cambridge University Press and the British Association for Soviet, Slavonic and East European Studies (BASSEES), promotes the publication of works presenting substantial and original research on the economics, politics, sociology and modern history of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

3 Soviet and East European Studies 81 JAMES HUGHES Stalin, Siberia and the crisis of the New Economic Policy 80 ILIANA ZLOCH-CHRISTY East-West financial relations Current problems and future prospects 79 MICHAEL D. KENNEDY Professionals, power and Solidarity in Poland A critical sociology of Soviet-type society 78 GARETH M. WINROW The foreign policy of the GDR in Africa 77 JOZEF M VAN BRABANT The planned economies and international economic organizations 76 WILLIAM MOSKOFF The bread of affliction: the food supply in the USSR during World War II 75 YAACOV RO'l The struggle for Soviet-Jewish emigration GRAEME GILL The origins of the Stalinist political system 73 SANTOSH K. MEHROTRA India and the Soviet Union: trade and technology transfer 72 ILYA PRIZEL Latin America through Soviet eyes The evolution of Soviet perceptions during the Brezhnev era ROBERT G. PATMAN The Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa The diplomacy of intervention and disengagement 70 IVAN T. BEREND The Hungarian economic reforms CHRIS WARD Russia's cotton workers and the New Economic Policy Shop-floor culture and state policy LASZLO CSABA Eastern Europe in the world economy To continue at back of book

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5 STALIN, SIBERIA AND THE CRISIS OF THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY JAMES HUGHES University of Keele The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIII m The University has printed and published continuously since 1584 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge New York Port Chester Melbourne Sydney

6 cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Information on this title: / Cambridge University Press 1991 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1991 First paperback edition 2003 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Hughes, James (James Raymond) Stalin, Siberia, and the crisis of the New Economic Policy /. p. cm. (Soviet and East European studies; 81) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN hardback 1. Siberia (R.S.F.S.R.) Economic conditions. 2. Soviet Union Economic policy Stalin, Joseph, I. Title. II. Series. HC337.R852S dc CIP isbn Hardback isbn Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables, and other factual information given in this work is correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.

7 for my parents John and May Hughes

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9 Contents List of tables Preface Note on transliteration and dates; weights and measures Map of Siberia in 1928 Introduction 1 The Siberian peasant Utopia 2 The party and the peasantry 3 Who was the Siberian kulak? 4 The crisis of NEP 5 The end of NEP 6 The emergency measures 7 The 'Irkutsk affair' Conclusion Appendix Glossary Notes Bibliography Index page x xi xiii xiv T-H IX

10 Tables 1 Social categorisation of Siberian peasantry, 1924 page 73 2 Social categorisation of Siberian peasantry, Social categorisation of Siberian peasantry, Social categorisation of Siberian peasantry, Social categorisation of Siberian peasantry, 1927, APPENDIX A.I Grain marketings and procurement in the USSR, 1925/8 213 A.2 Grain production and state procurement in Siberia, 1913 and 1925/9 214 A.3 Changes in the ratio of procurements in areas of West Siberia, 1926/8 214 A.4 Data on cases held under Article 107 in areas of south-west Siberia 215

11 Preface Recently, a notable feature of Western studies of Soviet history of the 1920s and 1930s has been the controversy aroused by the work of a younger generation of social historians. Their conceptual approach eschewed the conventional wisdom of concentrating on leading personalities and 'high polities' and offered fresh insights and a more profound understanding of the events of this period by examining the interaction and influence of political pressures and movements 'from below', at the grassroots of Soviet society, on the determination and implementation of Stalin's 'revolution from above'. I considered that this methodological framework could be usefully applied to the era immediately preceding Stalin's revolution of the 1930s: the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the 1920s. I have embarked upon a study of one region: Siberia. My goal is to stimulate further debate on the impact of NEP at the grassroots and to explain better why Stalin and the majority of the central party leadership decided to abandon it in early 1928 and return to a more ideologically rigid policy of collectivisation and rapid industrialisation. The sources I have relied upon are primarily Siberian party publications (stenographic records of plenums, annual reports, journals) and statistical investigations of the countryside of the period, previously unused in the West. Although this inevitably raises the problem of bias, I believe that the Bolshevik party until 1928 was still one in which differing viewpoints and perspectives could be expressed openly and this is reflected in the sources. I have chosen to rely on details provided by modern Siberian historians, as, having had the opportunity of frequently crosschecking many of their references, I can testify to their general reliability in this respect, though clearly their interpretations suffer from the ideological constraints under which they operate. The preparation of this book owes a debt of gratitude to numerous

12 xii Preface people and institutions. My special thanks go to Dr Dominic Lieven of the London School of Economics who, as my doctoral dissertation supervisor, was a constant source of invaluable critical assessment and advice on my work, and guided me to its successful completion. Professor R. W. Davies and Dr S. G. Wheatcroft of the University of Birmingham gave direction to my initial interest in the problems of NEP and Stalin's Siberian tour of January 1928 by suggesting that I undertake an in-depth regional study. Dr Robert Service of the London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, who together with Professor Davies examined my dissertation, offered generous and informed suggestions for revisions. Thanks are due also to Mr Frank Wright of Queen's University Belfast for his inspiring teaching skills that first sparked my interest in Soviet History. I am also indebted to Siberian colleagues of the Institute of History, Philology and Philosophy, at Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk; Professor N. la. Gushchin, V. A. Zhdanov and V. A. Il'inykh, who made my short working visit to Siberia in April 1986 so productive. The Department of Education of Northern Ireland provided a research award (1982-6) and the British Council a study scholarship to Moscow State University for the year , and I would like to extend my thanks to these institutions and to the editorial board of Soviet Studies for permitting me to draw extensively from my previously published article on the 'Irkutsk affair' for use in chapter 7. The book is a much revised version of my doctoral dissertation, and all opinions expressed here are my own, as is the responsibility for any errors. Finally a special thanks to my sister Collette Steele who typed numerous drafts of the manuscript, and to my wife Julia, without whose partnership and assistance this work would not have been accomplished.

13 Note on transliteration and dates; weights and measures Library of Congress practice on the transliteration of Russian has been followed, except for names of persons and places in the text which have a widely accepted English form. Soviet practice has been adhered to in the use of dates: refers to the calendar year; 1927/8 refers to the agricultural year 1 July-30 June, and the economic year 1 October-30 September. Equivalent weights and measures 1 desiatin = 1.09 hectares = 2.70 acres 1 hectare = 2.47 acres 1 pud = kilogrammes = lb 1 ton = puds

14 1 7p URALS OBLAST ^ OKRUGS West-Siberia. 1. Omsk 6. Biisk 2. Tarsk 3. Barabinsk 8. 7 Kamensk Barnaul 4. Slavgorod 9. Novosibirsk 5. Rubtsovsk AUTONOMOUS OBLAST 20. Oiratskaia OKRUGS East-Siberia Tomsk 15. Minusinsk Kuznetsk 16. Kansk Khakasskaia 17 Tulunovsk Achinsk 18. Irkutsk Krasnoiarsk 19. Kirensk AUTONOMOUS REPUBLICS Tannu-Tuvinsk Buriat- Mongolia i I 100! ; '":...! \ 2 - : v ' ' K " :._ / ". / j.,' 10 ;C\i '- ") 3 /N -^L T^-^Ngmsk..- Xnmcif. " ^ Tatarsk. / ' : ' / ': Tomsk -^ J^^T^V^ ' "' 9 : ^ \ V \ Slavgor KAZAKHSTAN ^ ASSR ^ ^ Krai capital Okrug centre - -Trans-Siberian railway and branch lines ^^< Novo- X. ''^-^sibirsk j^v^7- Yfs ft ; V 4 ' ': Barnaul^ -' \ \! "...^ Uisk u/ /Rubtsovsk ' ^_ Semipalatinsk \ Okrug boundaries Krai boundary. International boundary : I ' I 14 : " '/' :.-:-:-.. / 16?, ) J3\ > j\ ^^JCrasnpiarsk^^ /' ' 7 Kuznetsk: \ \ '"'"' \ / l ^ 11 '4 : Minusinsk "/ ' 20 :- ' -i\t^ ' ' -..., - 1 2^ /"" ' 21 I "'.' --$ 1, V_.. >. Tannu-Tuvinsk "" i M O N G O L I A 50 1QO j 19 «\ 18 ( \ 4- ;M s22 ' \'"'"-'-'-''-"ip o^" 9 0 Location of the Sibkrai in the USSR. Source: Atlas SSSR 1928 (Moscow, 1928) A % m f J / X P s \ \ > \ ^ /' X ^i%o \ \ A \ \\ ; /? 1 J ) C h i t a _ T ^ < - V. /' J'" y 500 km 36o miles I j / ( ' i \ v \ Cambridge University Press