Plot synopsis

On November 7, 1929, Stalin's article "The Year of the Great Turning Point. On the 12th Anniversary of October" was published in the newspaper "Pravda". In the section on agriculture, we read: "The last hope of capitalists in all countries - the "sacred principle of private property" - is turning to dust. That is, all games with the revolutionary slogan "Land to the peasants" are over once and for all."
The peasantry was subjected to mass dispossession in the winter, on the eve of collectivization. A set of rules was developed, according to which the Bolsheviks strictly defined who was a kulak, and therefore an enemy of the people, and who was not. The dispossessed were loaded onto sleds and taken to Siberia with their entire families. For those who remained, there was no alternative - only joining collective farms.
On January 15, 1930, a commission of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was created to develop measures regarding the kulaks. The commission was headed by the Secretary of the Central Committee, the future Chairman of the Government, and later the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov. The commission is directly involved in the eviction of kulak peasants, that is, the destruction of them and their families.
The authorities admit the possibility of mass peasant demonstrations against the eviction. The GPU reports record village sentiments: "They took a kulak from somewhere and are squeezing him, but in fact he is just a man." In some villages, the kulaks categorically refuse to leave, saying: shoot, but we will not go.
Dispossession affected millions of citizens. And how did each specific family survive this terrible time? The authors of the film have at their disposal unique documents and memories of the fate of the family of the Kurgan peasant Malkov. This episode tells about him, as a typical representative of those who were called "kulaks."

Commentaries

Сценарии телесериала «Исторические хроники с Николаем Сванидзе», с 1913го по 1933 год. [Scénarios de la série télévisée « Chroniques historiques avec Nikolaï Svanidzé », de 1913 à 1933], Marina ZHUKOVA, Амфора, 2014

- Screenplay

Selected in the following festivals or events :

- Historical Chronicles with Nikolay Svanidze, (kinoglaz.fr), 2026

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