ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the anatomy of the bab'i bunty and the protest of peasant women during collectivization. It examines the basis of peasant women's protest, the forms that such protest assumed, and the influence of official perceptions of and government reactions to the women's actions. Speakers at the Sixteenth Party Congress noted the key role played by women in the protest against collectivization and the collective farm. There were rumors that touched upon questions of the family and everyday life and that were especially troubling to peasant women. It is evident those official perceptions of the basis of peasant women's protest were at least in part misconceived and that the content of women's protest was rational and based on legitimate concerns. Peasant women were able to get away with a great deal more than their male counterparts in resisting collectivization and the other policies of the times.
