Stalin's Apologist by Oxford University Press Incorporated;

Author:Oxford University Press, Incorporated;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 1990-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

At the end of December 1932, Soviet authorities introduced a system of internal passports for its populace, ostensibly for the purpose of purging kulaks and other “anti-social elements from the cities.” There could be no doubt, however, that the action was motivated by other concerns. The first was an attempt to bring a halt to the restless movement of peasants from the countryside to the industrial centers, where living conditions were far better. There was also the haunting possibility that hunger was beginning to cause mass migration as the population in the stricken areas started out on a search for food.

Then, in early spring, a second law was put into effect, one that effectually created the “second serfdom” in Russia. Under this new law, it was no longer possible for a peasant to leave the collective farm where he was employed “without a contract from his future employers, ratified by the collective farm authorities.”19 A catchment to prevent further movement from country to city, the law also prevented from leaving those who were trapped on collectives where there was little or no food.

Duranty reported the event without even a hint at its underlying purpose, saying only that the system was designed “to purge the city of undesirable elements.” Reporting more than a million and a half passports had been issued since December, he praised the recently introduced system and the new law for preventing overcrowding in the cities.20

At about the same time, a curt announcement of the execution of thirty-five agricultural officials for “wrecking” appeared in the Moscow papers. Forty others had been given long prison sentences. Among those shot were a prominent member of the Tractor Department and a former Vice-Commissar of Agriculture.21 Duranty was to attribute much of the mismanagement of collectivization to this “quite efficient conspiracy,” persisting with a version of events that ignored all of the outward signs of a major catastrophe.

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