JOURNEYS Mennonite Stories of Faith and Survival in Stalins Russia, John B. Toews, 1998

UNDERSTANDING THE MEMOIRS 9 a specific task (carpenter, cook, baker, tractor operator) in what was akin to an agricultural factory. Such specialization lessened the individual sense of accountability. One was only responsible for the assigned task. Since party officials invariably held the chief positions in the collective, productivity was drastically impacted by the lack of agricultural management skills. This in turn gener¬ ated shortfalls. Fearful of arrest if they did not meet government quotas, officials forced peasants to dip further into their own re¬ serves and even give up grain wages paid for summer labor. The complexity and stress of collective life was further inten¬ sified by the advent of the so-called Machine Tractor Station (MTS). Ostensibly established to supply the surrounding collec¬ tives with reliable machinery, the MTS also served a more sinister function. Controlled by local government officials, it frequently became an instrument of coercion by arbitrarily allocating ma¬ chinery. It reduced collective productivity with its demand for grain and money fees as well as its inability to provide planting and harvesting equipment at the critical times. Peasant wages and produce often made up the resulting shortfall. THE “GREAT TERROR” Collectivization was only one phase of Stalins plan to trans¬ form Russia. Industrialization had an equal if not higher priority. Similarly the creation of a new “Soviet people” demanded a radi¬ cal ongoing social and cultural transformation. Periodic purges whether accidental or planned became an integral part of the proc¬ ess. The party’s Central Committee ordered the first of such purges in April 1933, which was implemented during the second half of that year. A second purge, directed especially against party mem¬ bers, took place throughout 1935 following the Leningrad assas¬ sination of one of Stalin’s associates, Kirov. Another wave of ar¬ rests beginning in 1936 initiated the most violent purge yet. In 1937 seventeen party members were charged with conspiring with Germany and Japan. This so-called “Great terror” penetrated the highest levels of the Bolshevik party, decimated the Red Army and saw mass arrests, exiles and executions among the general population. For the Mennonites engaged in agriculture, the purge struck with almost the same force as the kulak arrests of 1929-30. Mennonite reports from the period recreate a scene frequently 10 JOURNEYS associated with the terror: night visits by the secret police; the arrest of a loved one or next door neighbor; people vanishing into oblivion; many families with no fathers; the personal sufferings of the prisoners; the harassment and pressures endured by those who remained behind. Both Bergs and Warkentin’s accounts reflect the shock of arrest on false charges, the initial belief that this “mis¬ take” will soon be rectified and the tenacity of a system which insists on due process