Bem N. Political Moods of the Ukrainian peasantry during the collectivization campaign in agriculture (1928 - 1933).

The dissertation investigates the political sentiments of different layers of the Ukrainian peasantry in 1928-1933. The author analyzed the influence of Stalin's "revolution from above" on the political atmosphere in the Ukrainian village and came to conclusion that such a policy caused a broad negative reaction on the part of the majority of Ukrainian peasants. The thesis reveals the attitude of different strata of the peasantry to the collectivization campaign. The correlation between the adherents of state policy and their opponents in the Ukrainian village is shown. Forceful collectivization placed the majority of Ukrainian peasants into opposition to the authorities. The peasants blamed Soviet authorities for the destruction of their households. For the Ukrainian villager the life under the Soviets turned out to be much worse than that under Tsarist regime. The author maintains that the famine terror against the Ukrainian peasantry was the "answer" of the totalitarian regime to stubborn unwillingness of Ukrainian peasants to support the Stalinist agrarian policy.