Churchill then mentioned that Stalin had dealt with not just “a few score thousands of aristocrats or big landowners, but with millions of small men.” At which point Stalin corrected him: “Ten millions.” When Churchill asked what had happened to this kulak class, Stalin confided, “Many of them agreed to come in with us. Some of them were given land of their own to cultivate in the province of Tomsk . . . or further north, but the great bulk were very unpopular and were wiped out by their laborers.” There was then a “considerable pause” while the British prime minister understood the
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