Вынішчэньне сялянства

Elimination of Peasants by Tatsyana Protska The bitter historical truth about a tragedy of Belarusian peasants in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic remains a controversial subject. Communism apologists argue that the formation of collective farms and industrialization turned backward Belarus into an industrial nation, noting that Stalin "took over Russia with a wooden plough and left it with an atomic bomb." What they fail to mention is the price at which the progress was achieved. Thousands of Belarusian households were robbed of their possessions and expelled to Siberia. More or less successful farmers faced persecution -- this was the price of industrialization in Belarus. Collectivization and industrialization was an axe that chopped down peasantry who have never managed to get back to their feet. The author looks for explanations of the current problems in the past. She links the tragic fate of peasants to the fact that human rights have never taken precedence over the state in Belarus. The author seeks to understand problems of the past in order to tackle problems of the present.