| Popis: |
The article analyses the complaints written by peasants during the collectivisation drive in Lithuania (1948–1950). The study reveals the peculiarity of these complaints in the general sovietological and historical context: quite often, the authors of the complaints revealed their conflict with the rules of the Soviet system, although they rarely declared it openly. In the analysed complaints, peasants reveal themselves as people who have not yet been broken by the Soviet regime: they write about their problems and demand solutions. These complaints represent the overall opposition to the collectivisation and sovietisation in general. During collectivisation, the Soviet regime was unable to control the opinion of the peasantry or, by resorting to various ideological explanations, to convince them that collectivisation is a necessity on the way to a ‘bright tomorrow’. The lack of ideological clichés in peasants’ complaints is much more evident than in any other historical source from the Stalinist period. Although complaints have traditionally been viewed as’ an information channel for the regime and a tool to control the public opinion, this was not the case due to the scale and radical nature of the reform: peasants’ complaints were just an information channel for the regime. The regime was not able to use complaints as a tool to control the public opinion. Therefore, the only effective means to force peasants into kolkhozes was coercion and terror, which intimidated the locals. |
