The Kulak Option

Last month, in a comment on Seed Selection for 2026, Michael offered some thoughts on the Kulak Option, as he terms it, which he then expanded on in an email to me.  I’m acquainted with the basics of the Ukrainian Holodomor, in which the Ukrainian people as a whole and the kulaks (wealthy peasant farmers) in particular were targeted for persecution and elimination.  Based on historical accounts and personal experience in areas affected by conflict, he shared the following observations and recommendations.  After consideration, I decided to edit them for clarity.  If I got anything wrong, Michael, please correct me.

The Kulak Option

First, remember what is important—the Rule of 3’s.  We all need security, air, water, shelter, food, and freedom.  We need trusted friends and family (sadly, not all can be trusted when the chips are down) and faith in your God (a reason to live, or we all die).

Holodomor Kulak planning:

Consider the following scenarios drawn from historical events.

1.       The reasonably polite sheriffs and company come to collect resources for the community good.  Unless you want trouble, danger, and probably prison issues, it is best to comply.  Even if the “I’d NEVER” folks resist or chase the first group away, the dispatchers will know where they are and the second option, or worse, the third option will be implemented.  So you act respectful, concerned, wail a bit about starving, and ask for receipts for “credit” at the community storerooms, etc.  The good news is, little damage to your home to be expected.  The bad news is most of your observable foods are relocated by the sheriffs.

 

Your Kulak defense in this situation is to have ready supplies of food for daily use in plain sight.  You also have some slightly concealed reserves for the sheriffs to discover.  If they don’t find them, bonus.  In addition, you have already built a fake wall in the garage using 2x8” studs and ½” plywood to create a deep pantry that will conceal a lot of food.  I’ve noticed over the decades I’ve worked with soldiers and police that if it looks “normal” it is ignored.  That fresh plywood wall in a concrete wall (drywall) situation looks out of place unless you dirty it up a bit using garage floor dirt applied with a wet broom.  Add some shelves and bicycle hooks and hang bicycles, and so on.  Make it look like it’s been there forever.  Or make a closet half as deep, or something similar.  It must look normal, or someone might test that fake wall.  You will need tools to access that food later. 

2.      The second scenario involves a military-style confiscation.  They are far less concerned with politeness.  They are likely to take all your available foods and may rough you up if you give them lip.  They will tell you to come down to the compound to get your daily rations.  There may be some house damage.  The prime goal here is to retain your lives and as much freedom as you can using the same acting as above.  The saying that “a raised nail will be hammered” is a basic truth.  The soldiers will want to get done and gone, quite worried about trouble and getting shot up.  Do not provoke them.

The deep pantry wall is likely to survive this event.  But if you provoke the soldiers, they might trash the house and find that fake wall or “accidentally” set your place on fire.  The ability to repair minor damages from such “visitors” is important as my house with a few broken windows isn’t habitable tonight even if the grid and all heating systems were operating. 

So be sure to have a Chaos Kit.  This includes a large roll of heavy-duty plastic sheeting, roofing nails, tools, contractor grade trash bags, duct tape and/or blue painter’s tape, headlight, flashlight, battery lantern, footwear, and gloves.  You must be able to remove broken glass from the carpets and furniture to avoid finding them in your feet and body.  The emergency room is not a place to go in a situation like this for glass cuts that could have been easily avoided with the right preparation. 

A story of this in action last winter:  A bad storm knocked out the power as we awakened to a crash in the living room.  Putting on clothes, shoes, and grabbing a light and a personal safety tool, I checked it out.  A large tree limb had smashed the picture window.  I grabbed the Chaos Kit (far better to have this than searching the whole house in the dark looking for my hammer and nails), and after clearing the bulk of the glass for safety purposes, I covered the window to keep out the blowing snow.  Then I placed the trash in the contractor bags (really tough bags).  I used my solar generator battery pack to power the vacuum cleaner and blue painter’s tape to get anything that glittered.  Without that power option and with wall-to-wall carpeting, you will have to remove the carpeting.  Hidden broken glass is a threat.  So, I suggest you have power options and as this is Kulak planning, don’t have it out asking to be taken home by looters, oops, the authorities.  A Bissel manual carpet sweeper will not pick up all of the broken glass.

3.       This scenario involves the mob or thugs, official or otherwise, that aim to take everything, burn you out, and/or remove your life and freedom.  This is the scenario so many “I’ll NEVER” folks dream about.  The brave husband defending his family and all that.  In reality, it’s a nightmare.   There is nothing new under the sun.  The Bible speaks plenty about bad times and troubles.  As Proverbs 27:12 states, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. 

This is a hide yourself scenario.  Knowing your area and having family training as to duress or code words and hidden rally points if you have to flee the house is critical.  Duress words are a way to communicate to the family without telling the thugs that things are bad and to meet at the rally point.  Like if your husband’s name is John but you say Jonny and something normal sounding, he knows something is wrong.

You’re likely to need a distraction to get your folks out fast.  A few wired and weatherproofed fireworks might be useful.  A smoke grenade making it look like your house is ablaze might help, but might actually burn it down unless you put it into a large stock pot. 

You’re likely to be poorly dressed and less supplied than you want.  At the hidden rally point is a great place to have hidden under a findable object (garden bench?), a buried 40-gallon screw top plastic barrel with shoes, clothing, blankets, first aid kit, self-defense tools, food, water, plastic sheeting for building an emergency shelter, and so on.  If this barrel is buried, you’ll need a shovel nearby as well as knowing both the water table (can’t bury it in a swamp) as well as how deep the frost line goes.  Topping the barrel with R7 blue foam insulation boards protects your stuff from freezing as soil has an R factor of maybe 1R7+7+ as needed foam boards both make it easier to get to the barrel, they are useful as a sleeping floorboard of your emergency shelter. 

That concludes Michael’s article.  It’s food for thought for all of us, and perhaps implementation for some.  No one wants to contemplate having their food confiscated or becoming refugees forced from their homes.  However, we should all consider human nature and the fact that history repeats or rhymes, and to fail to recognize that has serious repercussions.  Thank you, Michael.