TWENTY-FIVE THOUSANDERS

At the November 1929 plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, it was decided to mobilize 25,000 industrial workers to help with collectivization and provide the countryside with thousands of loyal cadres.

Over 70,000 workers volunteered to serve as Twenty-Five Thousanders (Dvadsatipiatitysiachniki ). The All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS) directed and organized the mobilization campaign, set selection criteria, and established regional quotas. Of the 27,519 workers selected, nearly 70 percent were members or candidate-members of the party, and over half were under thirty years old.

Following short preparatory courses, the Twenty-Five Thousanders arrived in the countryside during the first phase of forced collectivization in early 1930. Most were assigned to work as chairmen of large collective farms. Others were to work in state farms, machine tractor stations (MTS), village soviets, or various local Party organizations. However, owing to the hostility of local officials, a great many Twenty-Five Thousanders were put to other tasks or ignored, and often not given adequate food or housing. Some were assaulted or murdered by angry peasants. Despite the obstacles, many farms headed by Twenty-Five Thousanders earned awards from party and collective-farm organs for being model collective farms.

The Twenty-Five Thousanders were expected to remain in the countryside until the end of the First Five-Year Plan in 1932. However, only 40 percent finished out their terms. Nonetheless, the Twenty-Five Thousanders were hailed as heroes of socialist construction. Many were promoted into rural party and government work, and several earned the distinguished honor of Heroes of Socialist Labor.

See also: collective farm; collectivization; collectivization of agriculture

bibliography

Viola, Lynn. (1987). The Best Sons of the Fatherland: Workers in the Vanguard of Soviet Collectivization. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kate Transchel