Poor Peasants Committee

Poor Peasants Committees (, komitet bednoty, commonly abbreviated as kombed) were organs based on class approach of the communist ideology, being organs of self-government of the poor peasants. They were introduced by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets of June 11, 1918. They acted in the European parts of Russia and Belarus (since the second half of 1918) and in Ukraine (since 1919). According to the doctrine of Bolsheviks, peasantry is stratified into three major classes: poor peasants (bednyaks), medium welfare peasants (serednyaks), and rich ones ( kulaks). Kombeds were considered to be a political and organizational force to struggle against kulaks. They were the de facto base of the Soviet power in rural areas and performed various functions, such as distribution of the lands of landlords, agricultural machinery, and industrial goods, helped to carry out the prodrazvyorstka (food requisition) and recruitment to Red Army, combatted with meshochniks, food hoarding and profiteering. By the first half of 1919 kombeds were incorporated into the local soviets.