128. Khrushchev, Nikita. Typed letter signed as Chairman of the Ukrainian SSR Council of Ministers [Prime Minister], in Russian, 3 pages (8 x 11.75 in.; 203 x 298 mm.), separate sheets, [Kiev], 8 October 1947, to Chairman of the Stalino [named for Stalin in 1924, renamed Donetsk in 1961] Executive Committee, Myokola F. Alyshev, and the Stalino First Secretary of the Comunist Party, Oleksandr I. Struyev. Cosigned (“L. Kaganovich”) by Lazar Kaganovich as Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukrainian SSR. Two file holes at left edge with four partial punch holes.

Nikita Khrushchev and close Stalin aide, Lazar Kaganovich, advise political and Communist Party leaders concerning deficiencies in collective farm operations.

“…steps shall be immediately taken to eliminate the deficiencies, and the guilty parties shall be punished.”

Khrushchev writes in full: The UkrSSR Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party note that you have not taken the necessary steps to execute the resolution dated September 12th, and that the situation with regard to livestock breeding in the region remains, as before, extremely unsatisfactory. During the past ten-day period of the month of September, no improvement was made in the work associated with the accumulation of feed. Only 46 percent of the ten-day target was fulfilled.

“In a number of districts, the situation with regard to the procurement of feed is clearly bad, with the plan being fulfilled by 20 percent in the Mariupol district, 22 percent in the Volodar district, and 25 percent in the Seaside district. Recently, feed silaging work has been very poorly performed in the region. The five-day target was fulfilled by 31 percent. Given the 64 percent overall fulfillment of the feed silaging plan, districts such as Pervomayskiy, Olginskoye, and Seaside have fulfilled less that 35 percent of the plan.

“At a number of collective farms, combine-harvested straw has not yet been stacked, procured feed has been carelessly stored in haystacks, has not been covered, and is getting wet, and the feed is subject to spoilage. District agriculture departments are not even keeping track and mapping the locations of the feed procured. The targets for removing calves in line with agricultural procurement contracts have not been met for three five-day periods in a row. The plan for the region has been fulfilled by 35 percent, while in the Katyk, Pervomayskiy, Slavyansk, Selidovo, Goryalo, and other districts, the plan has only been fulfilled by 20 percent.

“The regional committee of the CP/b/u and the regional executive committee are accepting the losses associated with the nonfulfillment of the plans for the accumulation of feed and the replenishment of livestock breeding farms, and is extending a liberal attitude toward district leaders who are thwarting the achievement of the five-day and ten-day targets set. The UkrSSR Council of Ministers and the CC of the CP/b/u hereby stipulate:

“That workers from the ranks of regional Soviet and party activists shall be sent on official business to all the districts, and within the districts – to all the collective farms, having been entrusted with responsibility for organizing and meeting the livestock breeding targets set by the UkrSSR Council of Ministers and the CC of the CP/b/u on September 12, 1947, and that their reports on the work performed shall be heard at the offices of the regional committee, the district committees, and the executive committees of the regional council and the district councils. That special attention shall be paid to the timely harvesting of corn stalks and other crop farming wastes for cattle feed. All instances wherein stalks for feed are left unharvested during the harvesting of corn, and likewise wherein hay and chaff are carelessly harvested and stored, shall be regarded as feed spoilage, steps shall be immediately taken to eliminate the deficiencies, and the guilty parties shall be punished.

“Due to the brief amount of time that remains for the accumulation of feed, the size of the collective farm crews that perform this work shall be increased, and the full and timely fulfillment of the plans set shall be tracked. During coming days, the status of public livestock breeding shall be discussed at general meetings of collective farmers, and the assets of collective farms, as well as all collective farmers and livestock breeding crews, shall be solicited for the purpose of the unconditional fulfillment of the state plan for livestock breeding and the completions of preparations for the wintering of cattle.

Lazar Kaganovich (1893-1991), a Jew who survived at Stalin’s side longer than anyone else, joined the Communist Party before the Revolution of 1917 and died just five months before the end of the Soviet Union. He was a pioneer organizer for the Bolsheviks in 1911. Stalin put him in charge of supervising the activities of local party organizations and, in 1924, of party patronage. By 1930, he was a full member of the Politburo. Within the Politburo, Kaganovich and Molotov formed the core of Stalin’s “post-Purge” Politburo. From this time until Stalin’s death, Kaganovich was largely responsible for the heavy industry in the Soviet Union. He became a Deputy Premier in 1938 and a member of Stalin’s State Defense Committee in World War II. Kaganovich was First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukrainian SSR for less than 10 months, from 3 March 1947 to 26 December 1947. In the 1930s and 1940s, Kaganovich was regarded by many as the #2 man in the Soviet Union because of his ties to Stalin. $2,000 - $3,000