FORMS AND METHODS OF RESISTANCE OF PEASANTS OF SHEVCHENKO DISTRICT TO CONFISCATION MEASURES OF THE SOVIET AUTHORITY IN THE 1920S – 1930S

Abstract

The communist totalitarian system chose enemies on the basis of class. In their policy, the authorities paid special attention to the peasantry, who in the first half of the twentieth century constituted the absolute majority of the population inhabiting Ukrainian lands. In the 1920s – 1930s, the Soviet punitive forces carried out acts of mass terror against the peasants causing millions of victims. Continuous collectivization was a real civil war that the Soviet state imposed on society. The purpose of the study is to identify the peculiarities of forms and methods of popular resistance to the policy of continuous collectivization and the mechanism of famine in Shevchenko district in the 1920s – 1930s, expanding aspects of the study by finding new facts in the region. The methodological basis of the work is built using both purely historical and general scientific methods. The methodological basis consists of generally accepted principles of objectivity, professional responsibility, logicalsystematic and comparative analysis. In the study, the problem-chronological approach is applied as well as synthesis, systematization, generalization, and processing of sources. The scientific novelty of this piece of work lies in the comprehensive approach to the problem, which has not yet been the subject of a special study. New facts based on eyewitness recollections and materials of criminal cases are introduced into the work. Research results. The article, based on the analysis of sources and literature, describes the forms and methods of resistance of the peasantry of Shevchenko district to the confiscation measures of the Soviet government in the 20s – 30s XX century.