«.. .In the grain district of the West Siberia»: from the proletarian revolution to the peasant revolt

The article contains the historic material about economic conditions of West-Siberian peasant revolt in 1921,about the food policy of Bolsheviks in Petropavlovsk region. On the boundary of 1910-1920-s bread was the main living resource of thepopulation and the every government in Russia. The big problem was in the pursuit of the effective method of grain withdrawal. The marketmechanism of grain withdrawal died during the First World War. Peasants didn't want to give the own grain for money, while it lost liquidity.Both White Army as Bolsheviks were feeling the opposition action of Siberian peasants. The grain requisitions were the reason of that.The idea of the food distribution on the free way created A. Shlihter in the expedition for the corn to the Omsk region in beginning of1918. The forcing withdrawal of the grain in Siberia was caused by its unprofitability because of the undeveloped railroads set. The economicsolution of this problem consisted in the building of the railway Petropavlovsk-Kokchetav. That is in «the corn district of the WestSiberian», as it was named in the Decree of Sovnarcom. Only decrease of the costs of grain production and export might to create the marketmethod of grain providing with Centre. The chair of Sovnarcom V. I. Lenin checked the building of the railway Petropavlovsk-Kokchetav.But the slow building was stipulated by lack of material and labour resource, also period of 1,5 years when antibolsheviks governments ruledin Siberia. When goods for exchange finished, Bolsheviks also begun to take away grain. In this time they infringed the proclaimed by Leninprinciple of class difference. This mistake of local powers and the evident crimes of the workers of People Commissariat of Food causedmalignant moods of peasants. Extracts from the archive reports of local powers representatives in Petropavlovsk district contained in thisarticle. They showed exaggerations of food tasks of Centre, absence of coordination between Centre policy and local actions. They notifiedabout inevitable peasant revolts in December 1920. West-Siberian peasant revolt flashed in January 1921. It was the most in Soviet Russia.Civil war turned from struggle with exploiters into struggle between labour classes of town and village. The danger of cessation of Siberiangrain supplying to Centre caused Bolshevik's decision on New economic policy and abolition of forcible withdrawal of the grain.

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