Note to A.N. Poskrebyshev (no later than March 12, 1943)

Source: Tom 18

It is necessary to respond to Sholokhov. His letter describes outrageous facts of lawlessness in the food procurement campaign in Veshenskaya District. Apparently, the district leadership has gone too far, and the situation needs to be investigated. Send comrades to look into it on the spot, punish those who are guilty, and help the kolkhozniks who have been wronged.

Note

Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov (1905-1984), the author of "Quiet Flows the Don" and "Virgin Soil Upturned," wrote repeatedly to Stalin about abuses against the peasantry in his native Veshenskaya District. This note reflects the continuation of a long correspondence between the two. In the 1930s, Sholokhov had written similar letters about the excesses of collectivization, which Stalin had taken seriously, sending investigative commissions to the Don region.