Bolshevist Crimes in Katerynoslav Region in the Early 1920s

• Main Author: Serhii Hubskyi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: RIUS 2018-06-01
• Series: Українознавство
• Subjects: україна; катеринославщина; боротьба; повстанський рух; більшовики; голод; українське селянство
• Online Access: http://journal.ndiu.org.ua/article/view/142039

The article covers the criminal activity of the Bolshevik Party in Katerynoslav (modern Dnipro region) during the establishment of the Soviet-communist form of statehood in the early 1920s. The activity regards peasantry, workers, intellectual elite, political opponents, clergy. It is noted that Katerynoslav province belonged to the largest administrative-territorial units of the newly formed Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR). It covered the overwhelming majority of the south-eastern part of Ukraine. Such territorial scale of the region led to the fact that it turned into a peculiar field of sociopolitical, economic, and military course of the Bolsheviks with all the dramatic consequences thereupon. At the end of 1920, the frontline civil war gradually evolved into a struggle for the Bolshevist regime against the peasant masses. Bolsheviks called this war a struggle against “political banditism”. Attention is drawn to the most important factors that predetermined the spread and growth of the peasant rebel movement, one of which was the Bolshevist economic policy pursued in villages. The emphasis is put on the scale of the peasant movement in Ukraine and the help of the UPR government to the atamans (riot leaders) who shared the idea of Ukraine’s independence. Considerable attention is paid to the repressive measures taken by the Bolshevik authorities to eliminate the rebel movement: the creation of special extraordinary bodies – military meetings; the transfer of Katerynoslav region to the front line; the introduction of the hostage institution, defendants, and mutual responsibility. The Bolsheviks used punitive measures against workers who demanded an increase in meagre food provision and the improvement of difficult working conditions. It is also noted that the consequences of the 1921–1922 famine for Katerynoslav can be compared to the results of the First World War and civil wars. The Bolshevik authorities did not help the hungry; instead, they stimulated the famine in the southern Ukrainian regions with the active anti-communist movement. According to the research, during that famine Katerynoslav province lost about 1 million inhabitants.