A Peasant Rebellion in Stalin's Russia: The Pitelinskii Uprising, Riazan 1930

This article begins by describing, in as much available detail, the anatomy of one peasant rebellion in the Pitelinskii district of Riazan, Russia in February 1930. The article discusses the rebellion in the context of the history of peasant-state relations and local-level politics toward a more nuanced understanding of collectivization, the Soviet state and the Soviet peasantry. The re-writing and re-interpreting of Soviet History over time is explored. The article suggests that the ``foot-dragging'' and traditional, as in customary, behavior of the sel'sovet, the lowest level of the Soviet administrative structure, may have actually saved the regime from even more serious anti-state resistance on the part of the Russian peasantry during the course of the first collectivization drive in 1929--1930.