Artem V. Luzin

Based on issues of Pravda Vostoka for 1935–1936, the article identifies the main forms of passive resistance among the peasantry: mass absenteeism, violations of the water-use regime, above all the theft of collective-farm water, and opposition to technical innovations, especially mechanization. The newspaper materials reveal no clear boundary between conscious, albeit passive, resistance, on the one hand, and ordinary indiscipline that did not imply purposeful action against Soviet power, on the other. The author explains this by the fundamental features of the social order of the USSR. Rejecting traditional coercive forms of domination as the main source of legitimacy, Soviet power sought to base its legitimacy on setting and solving ever larger constructive tasks. Therefore, not only acts containing malicious intent, but also insufficient enthusiasm in carrying out economic transformations, above all mechanization, could be treated as serious misconduct. Seeking first to solve a problem, the Soviet press and other authorities changed their approach and moved to significant sanctions — reprimands, dismissals and the like — if phenomena considered shortcomings became stable. The article also substantiates the source-critical relevance of Pravda Vostoka, which remains insufficiently studied in recent historiography. The Soviet periodical press of the 1930s was not merely a transmitter of the state point of view: it also acted as a public controller, exposing the most unattractive sides of Soviet reality in their diversity because it regarded these problems as temporary and solvable.