PURGE:

PREPARATIO In his struggle against the Left Opposition, Stalin had made use of Bukharin, Rykov and the right wing of the Communist Party whose policy, in the framework of the New Economic Policy (NEP), was to conciliate the peasants. and the better off middle peasants in a strong bargaining position so that when manufactured goods were not available, they simply withheld grain from the market and waited for prices to rise. By the end of 1927 a serious shortage of grain had developed in the towns.

The agrarian crisis held back the development of industry and meant food shortages for the working class. It strengthened the position of the kulaks and NEPmen, who favoured a restoration of capitalism, and weakened the international position of the This position had Above: Against the opposition, Bukharin seen by Trotsky and the Left Opposition which had always emphasized the need to build up industry and to combat the growth of kulak domination of the agrarian sector. 'The Platform of the Left Opposition', drawn up in 1927, made out a powerful case for the stepping up of the tempo of industrialization and forging an alliance with the small and middle akov peasants and rural against the kulaks.

While criticizing the mistakes and economic miscalculations of Stalin and his rightwing allies, Medvedev does not deal seriously with this alternative. But, as he does point out, only a few days after the 15th Congress which had expelled the Opposition, Stalin called for a drive to confiscate seated leit to right, L. Serebriakov, K. Radek, Isky, Y. Drobnis, A. Beloborodoy, Sosnovsky.

the kulaks' grain surpluses and set in train a campaign which was to put an end to private farming—but only at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and a dislocation of agriculture which was to last for decades.

The attempt to solve the grain crisis by a sudden move against the kulaks proved to be a failure. The peasants hid

Monday July 31, PAGE