fr t M ItA/ - J j — European University Institute Department of History and Civilisation ■ K ulak C hildren a n d the S oviet S tate in the 1930s By Michael Kaznelson .u iS :; \-l a.'- Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor in History and Civilisation from the European University Institute •; Fi-^' Florence, September, 2006 ím2 European University Institute III 3 0001 0047 7545 0 EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Department of History and Civilisation iiijTnjjTE 2 1 AUG 2G06 l i b r a r ^ Kulak Children and the Soviet State in the 1930s Michael Kaznelson Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of the European University Institute Examining jury: Professor Andrea Graziosi, Università di Napoli Federico II Professor E.A. Rees, the EUl (Supervisor) Professor Lynne Viola, the University of Toronto Professor Jay Winter, the EUI L ifi 9 4 7 . 0 8 4 4 -fi<KAZ \ 'S' ' S- To my wife and children with the warmest love Acknowledgements The present work came about as a result of a personal crisis, which my wife and I underwent in May 1999. Our firstborn daughter, Dorothea, aged only 10 months, died, fix>m a congenital disease. This experience influenced our perception of the “afterlife” tremendously. During that difficult period, I was writing my MA thesis at the Centre of Russian and East European studies at the University of Southern Denmark. My then supervisor, Professor Bent Jensen (who was in the midst of writing his award-winning book on the GULAG and oblivion) identified some potential in my work, and suggested that I undertook related research. I realised that this would be an obvious opportunity to combine our own personal tragedy with my professional skills. Although this thesis is not about our daughter, her sad fate inspired me when defining the scope. The thesis is my way to make clear to her and to our surroundings that, “you are not forgotten and never will be”. The research was undertaken within the framework of the four-year doctoral programme at the European University Institute (EUI) m Florence. Professor E.A. Rees of the EUI demonstrated an immense interest in the project right from the outset, and willingly he took it upon himself to be my supervisor. His competent guidance, through the span of Soviet history, has been important in shaping of the scope of the work. His admirable role as a devil’s advocate has, hopefully, sharpened the arguments, or at least forced me to consider and reconsider important aspects o f my personal view on the history of the Soviet Union. Professor Lynne Viola of the University of Toronto offered extremely valuable information on the situation of deported kulak children, which was a crucial point of departure. Her own work on deported children in Northern Russia and her interest in my work has been much appreciated. Professor Andrea Graziosi of University of Naples Federico II also reacted very positively to my initial contact, and his suggestions for further reading were very important. It was he who drew my attention to the autobiography of Nicholas Vionov (a pseudonym), which became central in the discussion of personal memories of former kulak children. Although Professor Jay Winter of the EUI is not a specialist in Soviet history, his work on remembrance and the First World War is tremendously important for the discussions undertaken in this thesis. Therefore, I could not have asked for a better jury to examine this thesis. A number of Russian and Ukrainian scholars have helped me at various stages. Professor S.A. Krasilnikov made it possible for me to go to Novosibirsk, and he helped me to organise the interviews with former kulak children. For this I am indebted, as it raised my discussion to a attiiJii iMtìifti if iiiiii iKiiilfÌriilìIiitÌiiiulMiaikiÌM^ìkMM^ m much higher level than would have been otherwise possible. I would like to express my gratitude to the late V.P. Danilov and also to N.A. Ivnitskii, lurii Shapoval, Oleg Khlevniuk and Valerli Vasiliev, whose help was most appreciated. I received important assistance from the staff of the State Archives in Novosibirsk (GANG) and Tomsk (GATO) and the Party Archive of Kiev (TsDAGO). Particularly, I would like to offer thanks to Elena P. Fominykh of GATO and Anna Riabova (a Russian Ph.D. student working in GANG), who assisted me in tracing crucial material in both state archives. Many librarians offered valuable help during the whole process, and I would like to thank the staff of the library at the EUI especially. Although the collection on Soviet history is not terribly wide in this library, the staff always offered assistance in locating the literature elsewhere. Inge Marie Larsen of the Slavic department of the State Library at Aarhus University was outstanding - no request was too difficult. Irina Lukka of the Slavonic Library of Helsinki University Library and Nigel Hardware of the European Resource Centre at Birmingham University also supported me with vital information and material on various occasions. Vasilii Khatevich, of the local department of the Memorial Foundation in Tomsk guided me through the humble but highly informative memorial museum in the former NKVD detention centre in Tomsk. During this visit he provided me with a copy of the NKVD Order No. 00447 of 30 July 1937 concerning the round-up of former kulaks. I would like to offer thanks to the “Tomskoi Memorialnyi Muzei Istori! Politicheskii repressi! sledstvenii tiurma NKVD” for providing me with the photographic material which is included in the thesis. This thesis could not have taken the form it has without the ten interviews with former kulak children. The narratives of Teodor Karlovich Shults, Tatiana Ivanovna Kiprianova, Maria Vikentevna Kaidalova, Georgii Mikhailovich Nosikov, Anatolii Dmitrevich Edukov, Valentin Vasileevich Levykin, Julia Vasileevna Ausheva, Aleftina Vasileevna Krasilnikova, Uliana Petrovna Koropkina and Agrafena Alekseevna Pevneva, add an essential human element to the work. I caimot express enough gratitude for their allowing me to interview them. Melanie IU6 read and commented on the first draft of the thesis, and her understanding of Soviet history combined with an admirable skill in editing was a great source of inspiration. Although I did not adopt all of her suggestions, I hope that she is satisfied with what I have accomplished. Dori Laub read my chapter on memory and kulak children, and his comments and personal experiences with Holocaust survivors were a real inspiration. Likevrise, I am thankful for the help offered to me by Dorena Caroli, who read and commented on chapter 5. Erik Kulavig I thank for drawing my attention to the existence of the EUI and for his willingness to discuss my research. I would also like to thank R.W. Davies, Sheila Fitzpatrick, D’Ann Penner, James Harris, Boris Weil, Niels Erik Rosenfeldt, and Catriona Kelly, who have all been immensely helpful during various stages of my work. My colleagues at the EUI should be remembered for their fruitful discussions and support during my work: Gunvor Simonsen, Poul Noer, Claus Comeliussen, Stine Andersen, David Lebovitch Dahl, Jakob Skovgaard, Caroline Gautier, Jens Pyper, Paulina Bochenska, Chiara De Santi and Irina Kotkina have all been excellent company. A special thank goes to Evgenii Kuznetsov and his family, who kindly offered me accommodation during my stay in Tomsk. My dear friend, Stacy Chambless, performed a Herculean task in proof-reading the language of this thesis. I would like to say to him and his lovely family: “let the ball drop from the ceiling, as we will return to Denmark now”. In terms of language revision I have also depended on the invaluable help offered by Natasha Carver. Also the support of the Language Service at the EUI and particularly that of Miriam Ann Nyhan should be recorded. Any mistakes are entirely my own responsibility, but these people raised my English to a level which would have been impossible for me to attain alone. A very special category of people is that of fnends. Instead of listing names, I will say; none mentioned and none forgotten. The same can be said about my family, although I would like to mention the support we have always received from my parents and in-laws. It is difficult, especially when you have small children, to live apart for so many years. Brit Aaskov Kaznelson is a very special person and I would like to express my enormous gratitude for the constant and sacrificing support I receive on a daily basis. I would probably never have become what I am, without her devoting help. Aside from being a lovely wife, who has given birth to our four precious children, she is and has always been my most competent commentator. Her critical reading and sharp understanding of the nature of Russia and the Soviet Union has been a great inspiration. Finally, I will mention our lovely children, Viktoria, David and Elisabeth, who constantly remind me that this world contains more important things than my research. Sant’Agata in Mugello July 2006 Michael Kaznelson Table of Contents: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 GLOSSARY 7 1. INTRODUCTION 9 1.1 modernisation , m o d e r n it y and S o v ie t “backwardness * 12 1.1.1 D iseased POWER 16 1.1.2 D ifferen t comprehension o f So v ie t history 19 I J So u r c e s 21 1.2.1 P ro ced u re 24 2. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SOVIET KULAK________ 26 2.1 T h e d e f in it io n o f So v ie t P e a s a n t r y 26 2.1.1 T h e political d efin itio n of R u ss ia n ca pita lism 26 2.1.2 Po st -revolutionary a ca d em ic d e b a t e 30 2.1.3 T h e situation of So v iet agriculture 34 2.1.4 T h e pro blem s of So v iet cla ss str u ctu re 35 2.1.5 T h e flex ible cla ss str u ctu re o f t h e Soviet countryside 36 2.2 T h e a n ti -k u l a k c a m p a ig n s 41 2.2.1 T h e liquidation of th e k u la k a s a c l a ss , 1929-33 41 2.2.2 K ulak ch ild r en an d dekulakisation 43 2 3 T h e r o l e o f t h e e n e m y 46 2.3.1 T he en din g o f the d eba te 50 3.