Party cleaning of rural organization of All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (VKP(b)) in Siberia (1933-1935)

At the time of the global restructuring of the village, the ruling party was in need of capable rural organizations that could take strict control of the social, political, and economic life of the collective farmers (kolkhoz). However rural party organizations were small and their network was narrow. Moreover, there was growing dissatisfaction with Stalin's methods of collectivization among some rural communists and even district heads because those methods had made the situation not better, but worse. Intentions to hide corns from the state, create "black vaults", downplay the information about productivity of land, distribute the grain according to workdays before the plan of state granaries was fulfilled and etc. appeared. The state of rural and district party organizations, facts of rising dissatisfaction with the permanent violence caused concern to the leaders of VKP(b). Political leaders of the country saw a way out of that situation in massive cleaning of the party. The cleaning of 1933-1935 had a great scope. Wide range of criterions allowed to question party membership of the heads of collective farms (kolkhoz), the Machine and Tractor Stations (MTS) and state farms (sovkhoz) that didn't hit the plan of state granaries and, therefore, deviated from the party line. Strengthening of the party organizations was made in a way that leaders of VKP(b) needed. The development of inner-party democracy, independence and creative political activity were out of the question. Using administrative methods, party institutions made rural communists obey the general line of VKP(b). Centralism and strict discipline became the prevailing features of the relationship inside the party. Any disagreement with "the general line" was considered to be hostile activity. Thus, the party itself gained totalitarian features.

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