2 June 1962
The Novocherkassk massacre occurred. Dozens of people were killed and wounded as authorities suppressed a riot that erupted in the city in response to price increases.
"Eyewitnesses say that after the shots rang out, curious boys who had climbed the trees in the park fell like pears. The future general, twelve-year-old Sasha Lebed, was sitting among the branches. He lived on neighboring Sverdlov Street, which now bears his name, just a block from the city committee building. Naturally, he couldn't help but run over and take a look..." (Vadim Karlov, Trud)
On June 1, 1962, Soviet newspapers published a decree from the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) raising prices for meat and dairy products. The increase was prompted by desperation—at the beginning of the year, economic problems had created a severe shortage of bread, meat, milk, cereals, and other foodstuffs. For the first time, the USSR began purchasing grain abroad. Retail prices for meat and butter immediately soared by a third. Newspapers reported that this was a "request from the working people."
Meanwhile, no one indexed workers' wages. And at the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant, three months earlier, they had cut rates for heavy labor by 10% and increased production quotas by a third.
No one in the country was happy about the price hike. Leaflets calling for the overthrow of the anti-people government appeared in several cities—Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, and Donetsk. But only in Novocherkassk did people revolt en masse.
On June 1, about 1000 people came to the plant's management office with the question, "How are we going to live?" Director Kurochkin is credited with saying, "No money for meat pies? Eat liver pies." The unfortunate joke enraged the crowd. A strike engulfed the plant. People blocked the railroad, stopping train service. 4000 people took to the streets.
Khrushchev ordered the "anti-Soviet rebellion" suppressed by force. Tanks entered the city. On June 2, 24 people were killed and approximately 70 were wounded. Seven "ringleaders" were later sentenced to death. 103 people received sentences ranging from 2 to 15 years. Information about the events in Novocherkassk was classified until 1992.
