Committees of Poor Peasants

In Soviet-ruled Russia the Bolshevik authorities established Committees of Poor [Peasants] (Russian: Комитеты Бедноты, komitety bednoty or Russian: комбеды, kombedy, commonly rendered in English as kombeds) during the second half of 1918 as local institutions bringing together impoverished peasants to advance government policy. The committees had as their primary task grain requisitioning on behalf of the Soviet state; they also distributed manufactured goods in rural areas. After 1918 many of the Committees of Poor Peasants were disbanded, though they remained strong in some areas including Ukraine where they were known as Committees of Unwealthy Peasants (komnezam or komnezamozhi).