Peasants under Stalinism: Mentality and Way of Life
Letters written by peasants (kolkhozniki) to Krest'ianskaia Gazeta
provide a unique insight into the mentality of this group under Stalinism. At the time,
peasants comprised the majority of the Soviet population, and these letters reveal their
attitudes toward nationality, the financial system, social and economic policy in the
countryside, the Soviet government's penal policy, the use of the Red Army in agriculture,
Soviet holidays, and family and leisure. Many letters are accompanied by poems, stories,
and drawings. The peasants' naïve appreciation and worship of the Soviet party elite is at
variance with their attempts to defend their own rights.
Opis' 10 and 11
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