The Hanging Order is a telegram from Bolshevik leader

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

ordering the suppression and execution of captured participants in the

kulak Kulak (; russian: кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈlak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned ove ...

revolt in the

Penza Governorate Penza Governorate (russian: Пензенская губерния) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and Russian SFSR, located in the Volga Region. It existed from 1796 to 1797 and again from 1801 to 1928; it ...

. It was first called the "Hanging Order" by the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

.Library of Congress Translation
/ref> The telegram was addressed to Penza Communists Vasily Kurayev (Penza

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

chairman),

Yevgenia Bosch Yevgenia Bogdanovna; russian: Го́тлибовна) Bosch; russian: Евге́ния Богда́новна Бош; german: Jewgenija Bogdanowna Bosch (née Meisch ; – 5 January 1925) was a Ukrainian Bolshevik revolutionary, politician, ...

(the chairwoman of Penza Governorate Party Committee) and Alexander Minkin (the chairman of Penza

ispolkom The Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, commonly known as the Ispolkom (russian: исполком, исполнительный комитет, literally " executive committee") was a self-appointed executive committee of the Petrograd So ...

) and dated 11 August 1918. __TOC__

Historical background

During the summer of 1918, many of Russia's central cities, including

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

and Petrograd, were cut off from the grain-producing regions of Ukraine, northern Caucasus, and Siberia by the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people were on the brink of starvation. The

was critical in providing food to the cities and the government used effective measures, such as

prodrazvyorstka ''Prodrazvyorstka'', also transliterated ''Prodrazverstka'' ( rus, продразвёрстка, p=prədrɐˈzvʲɵrstkə, short for , ) was a policy and campaign of confiscation of grain and other agricultural products from peasants at nominal ...

(forcible requisitioning), to collect grain from the kulaks. The Central Committee sent Yevgenia Bosch to supervise grain collection. A peasant revolt erupted in the Kuchkino Volost of Penzensky Uyezd on 5 August 1918, in opposition to requisitioning, and soon spread to neighbouring regions. While Penza Soviet chairman Kurayev opposed the use of military force and argued that propaganda efforts would be sufficient, Bosch insisted on using the military and mass executions. By 8 August 1918, Soviet forces had crushed the revolt, but the situation in the governorate remained tense, and a revolt led by members of Socialist Revolutionary Party erupted in the town of Chembar on 18 August. Lenin sent several telegrams to Penza demanding harsher measures in fighting these kulak, kulak-supporting peasants and Left SR insurrectionists.

11 August 1918 cable

One telegram (dated 11 August 1918) instructed the Communists operating in the

Penza Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-la ...

area to publicly hang at least one hundred

s, to publicize their names, to confiscate their grain, and to designate a number of

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refr ...

s. Whether anyone was actually hanged according to this order remains unknown. Lenin's so-called "Hanging Order" was discussed during a controversy about the

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...

Historical background

11 August 1918 cable

19 August 1918 cable

See also

Footnotes

References