Smash everything.

[**The following is in regards to early Bolshevik rule and the results of its fledgling policies in rural areas of Russia.**] >The picture of rural life in the first half of 1918 provided by the contemporary press is one of unrelieved horror. An account published in *Riazanskaia zhizn’* in early March may not be quite representative, because Riazan suffered extreme food shortages, but it gives some idea how rapidly the Russian village deteriorated under Bolshevik rule, plunging into primeval anarchy. >Having looted state liquor stores, the peasants of this province were in a state of perpetual drunkenness. They fought each other in wild orgies, assisted by old men and young girls. To keep them quiet, children were plied with vodka. >Afraid of losing their savings through confiscation or inflation, peasants gambled frantically, usually at blackjack; it was not uncommon for an ordinary *muzhik* to lose one thousand rubles in one evening. >>The old men… buy pictures of the Last Judgement. Deep in their hearts the peasants believe that the “end of the world” is near… And before hell comes, everything that exists on earth and that has been built so recently with such effort is being demolished. They so smash everything that the noise reverberates throughout the district. >In areas where the food situation was especially desperate, the peasants staged “hunger rebellions,” destroying everything in sight After one such uprising in a district of Novgorod province, the local Communist authorities imposed on the 12,000 inhabitants a “contribution” of 4.5 million rubles, as if they were rebellious natives of a conquered colony. ______________________________ **Source:** Pipes, Richard. "War on the Village." *The Russian Revolution*. New York: Knopf, 1990. 725. Print. **Original Source(s) Listed:** Reprinted in *NZh*, No. 39/254 (March 10, 1918), 4. *NZh*, No. 79/294 (April 28, 1918), 4.