“Nikolashka Was Better Able to Manage than Stalin”: Peasant Socio-Political Sentiments in Soviet Russia, 1934–1936

The article explores the socio-political sentiments of Russian peasants during the socialist reconstruction of the countryside in 1934–1936. It is based on previously unused reports produced by students of the All-Union Communist Agricultural University named after Y.M. Sverdlov, who documented their observations during summer field practice. These materials offer a rare empirical record of peasant attitudes at the end of the second five-year plan and provide new insight into rural perceptions of Soviet power. The study employs historical and sociological analysis to investigate how collective farmers and individual peasants interpreted state policies and leadership. It demonstrates that peasants often contrasted Stalin’s governance with that of the deposed tsar, encapsulated in the ironic remark: “Nikolashka was better able to manage than Stalin”. The reports reveal both compliance with and resistance to official ideology, illustrating how everyday experience shaped rural political consciousness. The article also assesses the mediating role of communist students in transmitting and interpreting state policy in the countryside, as well as their influence on peasant views of authority. The findings enhance understanding of the complex interplay between state initiatives and popular perceptions during Stalin’s rule, highlighting the contradictions and adaptations that defined peasant life in mid-1930s Russia.