1929-1930 - THE ARMY WAVERS RED-ARMY OPPOSITION TO FORCED COLLECTIVIZATION

Some years ago, in his biography of Nikolai Bukharin, Stephen Cohen postulated that there was a reservoir of latent support in the Party's rural and urban cadres for Bukharin's moderate alternative to Stalin's rapid industrialization and the forced collectivization of agriculture of the first five-year plan. Cohen did not suspect that potential support for Bukharin and his policies of gradual industrialization and retention of private farming also existed in the Red Army's company and battalion party cells, as well as among some regimental leadership of the political administration of the Red Army (PUR). At first glance, Cohen's seems to have been a natural omission; after all, the army, with its hierarchy of commissars and political officers (politruki) ostensibly dedicated to the general line of the Party, appeared obedient and loyal to the dictates of the party Central Committee. PUR showed apparently little interest in the struggle between Stalin and Bukharin over future industrial policy.

RED-ARMY OPPOSITION TO FORCED COLLECTIVIZATION, 1929-1930 - THE ARMY WAVERS Academic Article