The Soviet Peasantry in the Second World War

Abstract

The books and articles on the peasantry in the war published in the Soviet Union are by now very numerous indeed, and indeed it is now possible for a Soviet author, V. T. Aniskov, to publish a volume devoted to analyzing the historiography of the subject.¹ The disasters and other negative aspects of the war are now being played down, and Aniskov’s book is in fact part of this: the more critical works which will be used extensively here are regarded by him as too critical, though he does also say that some earlier publications had been insufficiently so. The very title of Aniskov’s book reflects the official line: in the face of immense obstacles, with much self-sacrifice and hardship, and with occasional policy errors, the Soviet peasantry did its patriotic duty, ‘though only 10–12 years previously, through collectivization, this class joined with (priobsbchilsya) the socialist order. Indeed, this is said to prove the durability and sound foundation of the kolkhoz system and peasant loyalty to it’ (Aniskov, pp. 3–4)

From Susan Linz ed., The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union (Totowa, N.J. Rowan & Allanheld, 1985).