SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEES OF POOR PEASANTS OF SOVIET UKRAINE (1920–1933)

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the social composition of the Committees of Poor Peasants (CPP) in Soviet Ukraine during 1920–1933. It is based on a source base that includes legislative acts, meeting minutes, instructions from higher authorities, memoirs of party ideologists, and works by both contemporary and Soviet historians. The study describes the peculiarities of the social formation and functioning of this structure, which became an instrument for implementing Soviet rural policies. It is shown that the CPP were created not only for administrative and repressive purposes but also as a potential social support for the communist regime among various segments of the population.The paper analyzes certain social categories of poor peasants who formed the core of the organization: landless and smallholding peasants, hired laborers, members of collective farms, and people with a low social status. Particular attention is given to the presence of a share of declassed elements inclined toward profiteering and other criminal activities at the expense of fellow villagers. The study examines the national composition of the CPP, which was predominantly Ukrainian but also included representatives of other nationalities. It also considers the ideological and property-based selection criteria that excluded the wealthy strata of the population and persons with a «counterrevolutionary» past.The research explores the role of the CPP as a mechanism of control and social engineering in rural areas, aimed at dividing communities along class lines, fostering hostility within the peasant society, weakening traditional forms of self-governance, and enforcing Bolshevik ideology. In particular, through the CPP, campaigns of dekulakization, collectivization, grain requisitioning, and mobilization of rural resources were carried out. The author emphasizes that membership in the CPP was often motivated not by ideological beliefs but by the desire to gain economic advantages and adapt profitably to the prevailing regime. The article demonstrates that the CPP became a kind of «social mask» for Soviet policy, formally representing the interests of the poor peasants while in practice carrying out the will of the party leadership. Their social composition resulted from the deliberate selection of the most dependent and vulnerable strata, ensuring manageability and readiness to implement repressive measures.It is stressed that the activities of the CPP led not only to economic but also to moral and psychological transformations of rural society, resulting in increased distrust, social division, and the erosion of traditional values. The study concludes that examining the social composition of the CPP allows for a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of Soviet domination at the local level and the processes of forming a new socio-cultural reality.