58 HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
Temps. Berland, the Moscow correspondent of that paper,
describes the struggle being waged "between a Government of
fanatical ideologues and a peasant mass hostile to collectiviza-
tion." In particular he describes how, from spring onwards,
Moscow "mobilizes the most reliable Communist forces to
carry on a regular campaign in the villages against the counter-
revolutionary stronghold.5' In March the notorious "political
sections/' bodies of men carefully selected to take over the
management of collectivized agriculture, and all devoted
adherents of the Communist party, were despatched into the
country. The same method had been followed by Moscow in
the winter of 1928-9, when the famous "twenty-five thousand"
were despatched. These consisted of a body of fanatical
Communists who, while they ensured the success of collec-
tivization, provoked the hatred of the peasantry by their
terroristic methods and deepened the gulf between the villages
and the towns. The real offensive now began.
About this time Moscow realized that the whole system must
collapse unless sufficient grain supplies were ensured for the
needs of industry, the towns and export; and, by virtue of a
decree issued in February of the previous year, martial law
was now declared everywhere. It was administered by an
emissary from Moscow, the head of the tractor and motor.
station, and a third Soviet official, such as the head of the
nearest Soviet farm. The court had the right to condemn to
death any person committing a punishable act and to carry out
the sentence in a few hours. Like the G.P.U. in the towns, the
"Political Sections" are all-powerful in the provinces. To be
denounced as a saboteur, or enemy of the State, is a prospect
which terrifies everyone, for such an accusation is a matter
of life or death. In Berland's words the aim was "to force the
peasants* to work "honestly* for the State"—ie. the privileged
classes—in other words, to carry out the sowing plan and
afterwards the collection of grain, so that the regime might be
saved from collapse. This was the task which the Kremlin set