Evening star., 1939-06-25
Russian Farm Program Suffers
Under 'Purges' and Drought
Administrative and Technical Personnel Is
Iiquidated' Wholesale From
Top to Bottom.
By Raymond P. Brandt.


Decentralization of agriculture by
Kremlin "purges" and havoc wrought by
drought in the Soviet Union during the
past few years are starkly described by
Lazar Violin. for 13 years the Depart
ment of Agriculture's expert on Russia,
in the current issue of Foreign Agri-
culture" departmental publication de-
voted to farm policy production and
trade throughout the world.
Volin's article, a scientific treatise de-
void of political bias, substantiates in
precise detail the more general observa-
tions of American newspapermen and
experienced travellers in the Soviet
Union. A native Of Russia Violin has
had access to Soviet scientific studies
and journals, the reports of American
agricultural experts stationed tempo
rarily in the Union, as we'll as the thou
sands of columns of self criticism"
which appear yearly in the party and
governmental press. He made special
trip to Russia for the department in
1885
1t goes almost without saying that his
findings regarding the economically dis
astrous effects of the "purges" on agri-
culture indicate the comparable effects
on other industries and even the gov
ernment
AS an impartial observer, Violin agrees
that Soviet agriculture, unlike its
counterpart in capitalistic countries,
knows no crises of overproduction or
price recessions caused by business de-
pressions." Nor is it bedeviled, he says,
by chronological unemployment, in spite
Of increasing mechanization. But, he
continues, agriculture under the present
socialist regime lis not free from crises
and their attendant misery and discon-
tent caused by combination of natural
and political factors
Agriculture Remains Backbone.
Pointing out that despite the rapid
march of industrialization agriculture
remains the backbone of Russian eco
nomic life, Violin reminds his readers
that any dislocation of this industry,
whether by liquidation of the kulaks,
drought or the elimination of the "ene-
mics of the people," is certain to have
dire consequences throughout the nation.
The recent purges, he writes, had two
distinct phases so far as agriculture was
concerned-first, as everywhere else, it
was directed against Soviet offlcialdom,
and second, against certain elements of
the collectivized peasantry.
THE purge" he says, resulted in the
wholesale liquidation, from top to bot
tom, of the administrative and technical
personnel plotting the ship of collectivized
agriculture. Nor is from top to bottom
merely figure of speech. 1t is true, the
commissariat of agriculture became ac-
customed to the loss of its high officials,
who were often accused of 'wrecking' ac-
tivities, even prior to the present iquida-
tion move. In the early '3Os, two as
sistant commissars, Wolf and Konar,
were shot without public trial, and
third, Markevich the originator of the
machine tractor station, was liquidated
in an unspecified manner But in 1897
the victim was the commissar of agricul-
ture himself, M. Chernov, who was dis
missed from his post, tried with Bukharin,
RYkov and other Soviet celebrities early
in 1888, and shot. His successor, R. I.
mated, as did Chernov, against the
wreckers in the commissariat, silently
disappeared from the public horizon
shortly after his appointment. Only after
lapse of several months was this fact
omcially confirmed by the routine an
nouncement of the appointment of an
other commissar
'The assistants Of the commissar and
other high functionaries of the commits
sariat were also for the most part re-
moved and subsequently referred to in
~ the press as "Trotzkvist- -Bukharinist
wreckers and enemies OF the people on
whose shoulders were placed most of the
blame for the inef1ciency, waste and mis-
takes in the management of Soviet agri-
culture The same condition prevailed
in the Commisariat of the State Grain
and Livestock Farms, where commissars
followed one another in rapid success
sion"
5000 New Directors.
The article states that the fate of
high officials epitomized the situation
throughout the ranks of the agricul-
tural administration, and cites the prin-
cipal Soviet agricultural journal as au-
thority for the statement that 5000 new
directors Of the important machine
tractor stations were appointed in 1888.
This meant, the article explains, some
thing like so per cent replacement in
less than year.
Volin's findings are a continuation of
the reports the present writer heard
in Moscow during the summer of 1897
before the recent purge At that time
a foreign agriculture economist, after
q tour Of Southern Russia, said that
on this particular visit the only per-
son he saw whom he had known from
previous trips in this region was chauf-
feur. In the Moscow headquarters he
said, the entire administrative staff had
been changed.
= Violin says the effects of the sweep
ing change In the ranks of Soviet Of
flcialdom can be visualized by compar-
ing 1t with . hypothetical case Of