ABSTRACT
The immediate target of the policy of oppression, which is carried out with systematic and deliberate harshness, is the large peasant, the Kulak. Under the Bolshevist regime the Kulak must therefore be suppressed, supplanted, and ejected. Not because his productive capabilities are denied, but for the sake of principle. The Kulak is, moreover, the germ of political resistance to the régime, and his political influence in the village is still very great. The Kulak, however, is liable to a special tax, which may assess his income as much as 74 per cent. higher than these estimated bases of income, and which falls with crushing weight in the steeper parts of the graduation. In addition, further taxes are imposed upon special incomes from trading operations and other non-agricultural sources of supplementary income. However much the Bolshevist Press may exaggerate for propagandist purposes, what goes on is actually a permanent little war.
