ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF A CZECHOSLOVAK UNIFIED AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700230092-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 12, 2011
• Sequence Number: 92
• Publication Date: April 11, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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STAT
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STAT
OF A CZECROSLOVAK UNIFIED AGRICUL Ulull
TURAL COOPERATIVE
[Comment: This report, on the establishment and operation of
a
tive) i(Jednotne
Lovesice,, iseank exploitation Unified
of Radio Free Europe CItemra-
No 7557/54, dated 9 September 1954. The source of the information
is a 59-year-old farmer who defected to Austria on 27 May 1954.
The defector reports his own experiences and observations as .a
member of the JZD and a permanent resident of Lovesice.)
The Type I JZD in Lovesice was established in the spring of 1951, fol-
lowing preliminary meetings between local Communists and the agricultural
referent attached to the ONV (Okresni narodai vybor, Okres National Commit-
tee) in Prerov. A commission appointed by and led by Kroupa (fnu), ONV
a,p'icultural referent, included Engineer Palacek, the okres agronomist;
Granych (fnu); arts Cross (fnta. They were welcomed in Lovesice by Adolf Zich g
dBirman `f t e NW Nistni ne oird ,ribor, Local National Committee), and various
Communist functionaries led by Josef Karasek Sr. This was the founding ,
group of the JZD, together with 50 charter members who were not farmers
and did not own land. Adolf Zich Sr was a landowner but he did not turn
his ].and over to JZD management. Instead he permitted his son, Adolf Zich
Jr, who is not a Communist, to farm the land independently.
Kroupa promptly designated the largest landowner, Josef Brazda, as
kulak and confiscated his 20 hectares of land with its newly built and a
carefully kept buildings, 8 dairy cows, 4 heifers, 3 sows, 16 young pigs,
2 teams of horses, a threshing machine, a tractor, and all other equipment
and machinery. The JZD then confiscated the 10 hectares of land and the
buildings owned by Doctor (of laws) Kubik (fnu) and also appropriated 6
hectares of public land (obecni pole). This was the nucleus of the JZD,
since its 50 members were landless Co
and pensioners. mmunists, mostly railroad workers
For the first year, the JZD was operated under the direction of
Adolf Zich Sr and was supported by the ONV in various ways. The ONV
gave the JZD extraordinary amounts of animal feeds and fertilizers, com-
pared with the allotments made to small and medium independent farmers.
The JZD members, who farmed and operated the property of. others and
divided up the crop among themselves; were. having a fine time and were
happy with the JZD.
The work became tiresome in the fall and none of the JZD members
wanted to be tied down to regul.ar care of the stock, the usual excuse
being that each member had enough to do on his own job. The cows stopped
giving milk. The horses were unfit for heavy work; they were uncared-for
and were left uncurried, since each day a different member cleaned the
barn and used the teams, Unquestionably, the JZD needed people who would
take responsibility, were stable, and had the proper technical knowledge.
The second phase of the JZD came when an attempt was made to persuade
the
JJZD-reVmaainder of the
meetings iandglectures werelorganizeddand ttheeONV to loin the
referent from Prerov was there constantly. All efforts were useless asural
none of the farmers joined.
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In the spring of 1952, the Communists changed their tactics and raised
the delivery quotas of the independent farmers so high that they were im-
possible to meet. During the spring work and harvest time of 1952, the in-
dividual farmers were sabotaged constantly. The MTS worked only on JZD
fields, and despite considerable effort, the independents could not fulfill
their impossible quotas. The ONV then levied fines as high as 40,000 crowns
for nonfulfillment of the quotas. Milos Janda was fined 25,000 crowns;
Frantisek Janda, 35,000; Albin Zavadil, 40,000; Frantisek Bartocha, 40,000;
Josef Vaculik, 15,000; and Frantisek Vaculik, 10,000. These men refused
to pay the fines and the Communists retaliated by withholding money due
them for their sugar-beet crops. In addition, they were refused permits
to butcher their own stock at home, so that they were forced to buy meat
on the free market at exorbitant prices. Rationing was still in effect at
this time.
After the sugar-beet harvest was in, Communists Ludvik Kubik, Cyril
Mucha, and Karel Sk_lenar went from door to door propagandizing the JZD.
The farmers were told that if they joined the JZD, their delivery quotas
would be much lower, allotments of animal feeds and fertilizers would be
much greater, their fines would be remitted, and permission to butcher
would be granted immediately The farmers yielded and joined the JZD;
their fines were abo]iched and they were granted permits to butcher one
hog each [per year].
The J7.D was changed from Type I to Type II by Christmas [1952].
In the spring of 1953, when plans and allotments were being set up,
the JZD was changed to Type III, as that type offered more advantageous
quotas [for the members?]. Adolf Zich Sr objected to the change and
left the JZD, Josef Karasek became chairman.
The JZD officials at that time consisted of the following: Josef
Karasek, chairman; Ludvik Obadalek, treasurer; Marie Matherova, book-
keeper; I?IirnsLav Hradil, agronomist; and Josef Vaculik, manager and
zootechnician.. Members included Frantisek Janda, Albin Zavadil, and
Milos Janda, farmers; Vilem Valek and Frantisek Vaculik, small farmers;
Florian Frgal, Karel Charek, Marie Knotkova, Svojanovsky (fnu), Karel
Sklenar, Eduard Bartocha, Josef Zacha, Josef Kubik, Bohuslav Skacel,
Kvetoslav Frgal, Josef Vilimek, Josef Svoboda, Marie Salkova, Stanislav
Vejlim, Frantisek Zvonek, Frantiska Pavlikova, Martin Pytlicke Frantisek
Slovacek, Drabek (fnu), Rudolf Kubik, Jan Pospisil, Demis (fnuj, Cyril
Mucha, Tomecek (fnu) and-Anna Kourikova, all landless Communists. There
were approximately 60 members.
Ludvik Obadalek, the Lovesice JZD treasurer, is 57 years old, is
married, and has a round face and bald head. He is a fanatical Commu-
nist and an even greater profiteer. His attitude toward the [JZD?]
farmers is hostile and he sabotages them whenever and wherever he can.
One of his sons is a railroad employee and another son is a member of
the SNB (Shor narodni hespecnosti, National Security Corps).
Marie Matherova, bookkeeper for the Lovesice JZD, is 45 years old,
married, and about 155 centimeters tall; she is a fanatical Communist.
The entire village lives in dread of her. Prior to the establishment
of the JZD, she was a saleswoman in the local branch of "Pramen." She
is an avowed enemy of the farmers; she records the wrong work units for
them and tries to sabotage them as much as she can. She is having an
affair with Miroslav Hradil, the agrohomist. Daily quarrels.,. with her
husband, sometimes in public, as a result of this affair keep the entire
village amused.
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Miroslav Hradil, the JZD agronomist, is 24 years old, single, a dangerous
Communist, and an oppressor of the farmers. He is paid by the MTS in Prerov,
which is the patron of the Lovesice JLD. Hradil is an extremely arrogant,
conceited youth who understands nothing but carries on everything politically.
He is having an affair with the bookkeeper, Matherova, who is 20 years his
senior.
Josef Vaculik, zootechnician and manager of the JZD, is 34 years old,
single, a farmer, and has become a slave of the regime and subservient to
the Communists. The farmers ignore him and the Communists themselves call
him a "stinker" behind his back.
Frantiska Kourilova, the milkmaid, is 58 years old, a widow, and a
Communist figurehead in the village. She calls the farmers names and acts
as a stool pigeon by reporting them to the police.
The J7D in Lovesice contains a total of 104 hectares, obtained prin-
cipally through confiscation, although some land was brought in by various
members. The JLD has 41 milk cows, 18 heifers, 12 bulls, and 7 teams of
horses. It also owns 9 sows, 17 young pigs, 20 young hogs (under 40 kilo-
grams in weight), 8 hogs for fattening, and one boar.
The JLD built a new poultry house in the fall of 1953 at a cost of
35,000 crowns. It purchased 150 white Leghorns (hens), 42 of which were
later found dead from poisoning. The JZD bought 300 baby chicks in the
spring of 1954 from the Prerov poultry plant and also keeps eight geese
and eight goslinga in the poultry house.
The TLD holds meetings monthly. Usually present at the meetings are
Engineer Pulace'k (ohres agronomi.st); Hrava, 0NV agricultural referent;
and Frantiseb Kindl, JZD referent at the agricultural office of the ONV.
The non-Communist members of the J7.D usually ignore the meetings and send
one or perhaps two people to act as observers.
The JZD meetings are becoming more stormy and violent. The farmers
in Lovesice and throughout Prerov Okres are beginning to oppose the Com-
munists, end so many are leaving the JZDs that some JZDs have been dis-
banded completely. This opposition succeeds in places where the farmers
have agreed among themselves beforehand and leave in a body. In such
cases, the Communists are forced to return their land, livestock, and
machinery. But where an individual farmer leaves the JZD, he is left
to the mercy of the Communists and receives the worst and most distant
fields, the poorest stock, and the worst machinery. In addition, he
has to sign for various obligations, such as tax on the land, sickness
insurance, grain already seeded, manure and fertilizers, care and feed-
ing of the stock he receives, and personal debts, in such amounts that
he is completely ruined and unable to make a start.
In the May meeting of the Lovesice JZD, there was a sharp exchange
between Engineer Palacek, the agronomist, and JZD members who demanded
one cow each (for personal use), to which they are entitled according
to the laws establishing the JZDs. Palacek at first would not listen
but finally agreed that each one would receive a weanling heifer. The
JZD members objected, stating they would have to feed the animal 2 years
and then someone would confiscate it. A bitter quarrel ensued. Josef
Vaculik, former farmer and now manager and zootechnician for the JZD,
who sided with the Communists, was accused of stealing. It was finally
agreed that after the harvest, each JZD member would receive a cow; the
members threatened to quit the JZD in a body if this did not happen.
I
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Since last fall, the following JZDs in Prerov Okres have been disbanded:
Type II in Horni Mostenice, Type II in Ujezd, Type III in Rokytnice, Type III
in Troubky, and Type II in Vlkos.
The Type III JZD?in Bochor is in debt 4 million crowns and is in complete
discord; its members think it will disband this year after the harvest. The
Type III JZD in Kyselovice has been highly praised, but was in debt 7 million
crowns and has been taken over by the state farms. The Type II JZDs in Brest
and Hulin, Kromeriz Okres, have disbanded.
According to the JZD statutes, each member-farmer of the JZD is entitled
to one cow and a 50-ares homestead. For each work unit, all members of the
Lovesice JZD were entitled to the following in 1953: 3 kilograms of hard
grain (wheat or rye), 1 kilogram of feed grain (oats or barley), 3 kilograms
of potatoes, 5 kilograms of dry fodder, 5 kilograms of straw, 2 kilograms of
stock-feed beets or carrots, 0.10 kilogram of legumes, and .50 liter of milk
(for those without cows).
The members received only some of the above items. No dry fodder,
straw, or legumes, and only 1 kilogram of stock-feed beets or straw were
allotted to them. The homestead of 50 ares was also.a source of trouble
because every member who had previously been a farmer had an orchard around
his house; because of the shade, it was impossible to grow vegetables or
enough grass for the cow. Thus, the JZD member had to depend on the allot-
ment of one-half liter of milk for each work unit. At the very best,. he
was able to keep a goat. Those JZD members without property were happy,
since they were allotted a piece of clear ground for their gardens.
The Lovesice JZD members were divided politically into the following
three groups:
1. The so-called Communist elite, which includes the chairman, the
agronomist, the zootechnician and manager, the bookkeeper, and the treas-
urer. Without doing much work, they have an income of one work unit each
day, 7 days a week. They also receive credit for manual labor, the same
as working members, in addition to their regular pay.
Furthermore, they receive 500 crowns monthly frgm the ONV reserve
fund. While drinking, the zootechnician admitted they also receive regu-
lar bonuses.
2. Other Communist members and their friends. They do the easier
and better-paid work, and the kind of work of which it is impossible to
verify the amount done. They record whatever number of work units they
wish, and the "management" not only condones but openly supports such acts.
3. JZD farmers who do most of the work and are enslaved by the Com-
munists.
The following is the amount of work needed to earn one work unit by
members of the third group:
Deep plowing 50 ares with a team of horses (an impossible quota,
as the horses are poorly fed and not capable of plowing more than 30 area
under favorable conditions); or
cutting one hectare of hay with a horse-drawn mower; or
hauling and turning under 8 loads of barn manure; or
harrowing 6 hectares of land; or
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seeding,3:hectares of-land,. uoinga 19-row machine; or
weeding13 hectares of. beets; or
hauling 10 loads-of bundles of grain; or.
loading and unloading 4 loads of bay;'or
hauling 100 quintals of sacked grain to the JZD warehouse; or
hauling and spreading commercial fertilizer on 5 hectares; or
loading hay on driers (sticks) in the field all day; or.,
milking`8 cows for one day; or -
feeding and barn care of 20 young hogs for one day. (Feeding and
currying one team of horses will earn 1/4 work unit.)
For so-called supervisory work, the 'wage was set at 2 crowns (in new
currency) per hour. This work was-almost always asgigned to the select
group of Communists. It was impossible to verify-the amount of work done;,
consequently each person listed. 10 hours of work performed although only
2 hours were actually worked.
The wage per work unit was set at 16 crowns after the euprency reform.
One half. of this was paid each month; the balance waa.to?be?paid on 12 Feb-
ruary 1954. [Balance since the currency reform, or for January 19547]
This was later increased to 17.20 crowns, as the JZD had a large beet prop.
The.JZD members' average pay per month was from 300 to 400 crowns.
Before the currency reform, JZD members in Lovesice'wese paid twice.
a. year,. Since, no one had money after. the reform, they were paid every
month, although payment was irregular, occurring between the .5th and 15th
of the month. Each JZD.member keeps a record of the amount, of wor4 he
does. This "work #nvoice" (pracovni vykaz) is certified weekly by the
manager and given to the bookkeeper, who enters the kind of work and work
units in a so-called work book (Kniha prate). The nameeof.the members
are in alphabetical order and at time of payment,eath member, signs oppo
Bite his name. The day and hour of payment is announced over the local
loudspeaker system. Matherova, the bookkeeper, and Obadalek, the treas-
urer, are present,.
JZD members in a majority of the JZDs in Prerov Okres-never received
the second payment,, as the JZD5 are heavily in debt. The.JZD in Lovesice
has no capital advances (investice) to pay back because the farm it con-
fiscated was modern az}d fully equipped.; hence it is finatwialy better.
off than most cooperatives. The.Lovesice JZD took over management of the
(at one time, exemplary) Kyselovice JZD and the Bochor JZD. Later, the
Kyseltovice JZD had a 7-million-crown debtiand.had:.to.be ebeorbed by the
state farms. The Bochor JZD is in poor condition, but the fear of indi-
vidual debts holds the members together.
The,Bochor JZDbought.some.building,material, in 1952, wbiah.the;`.;,
Communists promptly appropriated for their own use or sold to their
friends. In September 1952, the setting aftee of a large field which
had been sown.to "mixtures" was finally. attributed to-the local Commu-
nists, who had wanted to ease their work. Originally, "Western agents'
were charged_.w1, h-sabotaging the. field.,.;Ia; connection with bad moassmiart
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and embezzlement in the Bochor JZD, Kroupa,.okres agricultural referent, and
Frantisek Kundl, deputy chairman of the JZD, were arrested and are now in
Jachymov. The chairman escaped punishment because he had been injured by a
tractor and died of internal hemorrhage.
Since the embezzlement in Bochor, no JZD is permitted to keep money.
Money from the proceeds of every sale must be deposited in the bank, and
the bank pays all claims.
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