Kummelman reports from the district of Matusovo (Government of Kiev) as follows: The peasants distrusted the Soviet power, they did not take them seriously and regarded them as a foreign power, almost as much as the rule of the Germans. This distrust of the new government was artificially kept awake by the local intelligentzia. From the first day they took an attitude of opposition to the new government. The local Ukrainian intelligentzia, like the postmaster, the seminary students and the teachers, openly agitated against the Soviet power. They 'played the national question as the main trump. "The government of Petlura," the postmaster Kulik impresses upon the peasants, "is our real native Ukrainian government, but the government of the Bolsheviki is a Jew government." "I was in Cherkassy," the teacher Palega assures the peasants, "in the Commissariat for the Enlightenment of the People, and what have I seen there? Nothing but Jews, the whole Commissariat filled with Jews."
The social position of the Batko is various. There are various grades, from the Batko who controls a village, a district and sometimes several districts up to the Batko who rules over entire Governments (provinces) and plays a great political role, like Grigoriev and Makhno. The last named are leaders of the Ukrainian peasants, able men with clear political purpose. Batki like Zeleny, Struk, Angel, Yatzenko, Tiutiunik, Klimenko, Popov are peasants who have no independent policy, but are instruments of the leaders who know how to comprehend and formulate the dissatisfaction of the middle peasants. Every Batko has his sphere of activity. Struk worked north of Kiev, in the district of Chernobyl. Sokolovsky carried on his activity west of Kiev, in the district of Radomysl and in the neighboring part of the circuit of Zhitomir. South of Kiev, in the district of Tripolie on the Dnieper, Zeleny had his field of activity. In the precincts of Tarascha were Yatzenko, Golub and
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others. In the district of Brussilov we find the group of Mordylev; in Lipovetz the association of Sokolovsky; in the district of Uman the bands of Klimenko, Tiutiunik and Popov; in the district of Gaisin, Volynetz, and in the region of Bakhmach, Angel. Almost all these "small" Batki are former followers of Petlura (whom the Directory gave object lessons in political fighting, which they have put to good use) and work always within the limits of their homes.
Struk is a twenty-three year old peasant from the village of Grini near Gornostaipol; Sokolovsky comes from the village Gorbulevo, nineteen versts from Radomysl, and is the son of a deacon of the village. Zeleny lives in Tripolie, is a son of a local cabinet maker and attained the rank of corporal in the war. Mordylev comes from the village Zabylachy, not far from Brussilov. Sokolovsky was formerly a lower official of the agrarian administration of Lipovetz. Volynetz was born in the village Karlovka near Gaisin. He is a peasant of 23, former clerk of the Forestry administration. Yatzenko was born in the village Kershan, three versts from Tarascha. He is about 24 years old, attended a school of two classes in Tarascha, became a follower of Petlura in March and initiated his activity with Jew baiting. "The Jews are all communists, they defile our churches and change them into stables."