Transformations in the social status and moral-ethical behavior of peasants during the collectivization of agriculture and the Holodomor of 1932–1933 (based on the memoirs of S. M. Korinenko, born in 1904, resident of Medvezha village, Nemyriv district, V

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to investigate the specifics of collectivization and the Holodomor of 1932–1933
through the memoirs of a single peasant family, to analyze the motivating factors behind new manifestations in the moral and
ethical behavior of peasants under the conditions of forced changes to traditional farming practices and dekulakization, and to
assess the impact of economic, social, and moral factors on their behavior and community ties.
The scientific novelty of the article lies in its examination, through the memoirs of one family, of the impact of collectivization
and the Holodomor on the social status, moral and ethical behavior, relationships, psychological transformations, and
survival strategies of peasants amidst the Soviet policies of the 1930s.
Conclusions. The study analyzes social changes in the Ukrainian village at the intersection of two eras: the period before collectivization
and the first two years of the collectivized village’s existence. Using the example of one peasant family, their life path and the peculiarities of their moral and ethical behavior toward fellow villagers, particularly during the Holodomor of 1932–1933, are traced. The article is based on the memoirs of this peasant family, as well as on contemporary scholarly works by Ukrainian historians researching the issues of agricultural collectivization and the Holodomor in Ukraine. It highlights the process of forming a new social group-activists of the collective farm movement, the founders of the kolkhoz in the village of Medvezha and the ways they established themselves within the rural community. Violence and coercion against individual farmers became the primary means of implementing the state policy of agricultural collectivization. The activists’ behavior was rooted in their rejection of the peasants’ right to individual farming, aligning with the general policy of the Soviet authorities. Peasants experienced significant psychological discomfort due to the destruction of their traditional way of life and sought to preserve customary traditions. The transformations in their social status and moral-ethical behavior should be viewed as efforts toward self-preservation and adaptation to new living conditions.