ATTITUDE OF UKRAINIANS TOWARD COLLECTIVIZATION AND THE SOVIET REGIME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000200800009-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: May 15, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R0106860009-1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY USSR
DATE DISTR. /5 May 1953
SUBJECT . Attitude of Ukrainians toward Collectivization NO. OF PAGES
and the Soviet hegime
2
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PLACE
NO. OF ENCLS.
ACQUIRED
(LISTED BELOW)
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DATE
SUPPLEMENT TO
ACQUIRED
DA S OF INF
REPORT NO,
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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2. Ukrainians were strictly against collectivization. The policy took away their
land, cattle, and other personal property and it took away certain freedoms.
Opportunities for making a decent living were completely curtailed for
Ukrainians who did not collectivize. High taxes, imposaible to pay, were levied
against farmers. In order to exist, therefore, farmers had to submit to .
collectivization- Many means of passive reaistanee were attempted, of course.
These consisted of improper-tillage of soil, late planting in the spring, poor
sowing of grain seedy and. improper cultivation and allowing many weeds to grow.
3. Freedom of religion did not exist following the Revolution even from the
beginning. Churches were destroyed or they were converted to storage buildinga
or club houses. Priests and other church personnel were slsin or sent to Siberia.
Those who attended the few remaining churches were under eonstant surveillance.
Moat people conducted services in their homes or in forests. Such persecution
held sway in spite of the fact that the Soviet constitution stated specifically
that there would be freedom of religion.
4. A program of Russianization began in an evolutionary manner throughout the
Ukraine. This was true especially in large cities. It went on in spite of
the fact that the Soviet constitution allowed for nationalistic cultural
freedoms to remain. Conversation in Ukrainian wae not forbidden officially,
but larger schools began conducting the-1r courses in the R1:36i811 language and
introduced Russian textbooks. Toward the end of my period in the USSR (up
to 1944), it was dangerous to converse in Ukrainian anywhere. It was during
this period that Ukrainian culture was called the product of the "Great Russian
Nation".
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL/SEC.URITY INFORMATION
DISTRIBUTION
State EV
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200800009-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200800009-1
CONFIDENTIAL/SECURITY INFORMATION
- 2 -
50X1
5. Concerning controls imposed on Ukrainian inhabitants and documents which they
had to possess, all Ukrainians had to carry a document called a national passport.
They carried this constantly. This so-called passport, however, did not give an
individual the privilege to travel. Travel was not %Daly forbidden outside the
country but between cities in the Ukraine. To travel between cities, one had to
,obtain special permission from the police. This involved answering standard
questions:- "Why are you going", "Where", "To Whom", and "How longewill you 5t52x1
6. Concerning the mention of NWD-MGB installations in Kiev,
It was located just off the seuare opposite
St Sofia Cathedral. _ it became
impossible to secure employment without obtaining about 20 special permits from the
HUD. They had branch offices located in every factory, in every institution o150X1
learning, and in every police station. 50X1
7. The greater portion of Ukrainians were, and always will he, against the regime. 50X1
Developed as it was out of a rrogram of terror, starvation, genocide,, and untruth,
it was supported by only an infinitesimal percentage of the population.
8. At the beginning of the regime, the propaganda of full freedom was accepted and
perhaps liked by the people after having been under the serfdom of the Czarist
regime for many years. This freedom, however, was soon proven to be only propaganda.
The dislikes were and are too numerous to mention. A few of the most important
include:
a. grave injustices to the intelligentsia
b. curtailment of freedom of religion and culture
c. complete destruction of faith and trust ag perple
d. abolishment of personal and private pro rty
e. shortages of free trade and organized hue-ger and terror campaigns
f. increased threat of exile to Siberia
9. Besides the opposition on the part of collectivized farmers toward the Soviets as
described before, other types of -opposition to the regime _existed. The_gieatest
form of opposition was conducted by the underground armY�, The WA carried on
sabotage, 7 ids, etc primarily in mountainous nd forested areas. In early days
after the :volution, opposition was so greet that Kiev fought off 15 attempts of
the lied Army to capture it. As time went on, hewevere the Soviet Army increased in
strength to such proportions that passive resistance and revolutionary methods
vanished. The increased strength of the Soviet Army was coupled by forbidding the
populace to have arms and to organize. There were instances of complete liquidation
of resisting villagers and leveling of their villages. Such were with complete
disregard for the. old, for women, and for children. Some opposition took the form
of inferior production in factories; spoilage of food and dairy products through
improper storage and care; and a deliberate slow-down of transportation.
- end -
CONFIDENTIAL/SECURITY INFORMAMON
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000200800009-1