The participation of Red Army soldiers in the providing of complete collectivization in Podillia

Abstract

The purpose of the article is, based on the analysis of archival sources, general and special literature, to shed light on the participation of Red Army soldiers in the providing of complete collectivization in Podillya. The research methodology is based on the principles of objectivity and historicism using both general scientific and special research methods: problem-chronological, historical-comparative, critical analysis method. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the disclosure of an insufficiently studied problem in Ukrainian historiography, designed to clarify the role and place of the Red Army in the establishment of the Bolshevik totalitarian regime in the Podilsk village. Conclusions. The Red Army, from the moment of its creation, was considered by the Bolsheviks as one of the institutions of the implementation of the communist regime. Being 2/3 peasant in terms of social composition, it was to become a school of political education and cultural enlightenment in the spirit of communist ideas for former peasant owners. The strengthening of such work is observed at the end of the 1920s, when the regime's attempt to resume the "military-communist assault" ran into desperate resistance from the peasantry and became a threat to the existence of the communist government. From that time, the Bolshevik leadership not only set specific tasks for the Red Army, but also tried to systematically control the political and moral attitudes of the Red Army. One of the important directions of the work of military units was to assist the authorities in the process of socialization of one-person peasant farms. In the conditions of complete collectivization, the army was entrusted with tasks not only of an educational and propaganda nature, but also of direct participation in the collectivization of the village. In particular, the military units stationed in Podilla were involved in: training personnel for collective farm construction; taking over the villages that were transitioning to complete collectivization; sending groups of Red Army soldiers to collective farms to perform specific tasks; admission to collectives by whole divisions; organization of special Red Army collective farms. By carrying out extensive educational and propaganda work, applying methods of ensuring military discipline and practicing selective repression among the commanding and rank-and-file staff, the Bolshevik authorities managed not only to overcome oppositional sentiments in the army, but also to turn it into an obedient tool of the communist dictatorship.