The Last Cow by Galina – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

The Last Cow by Galina

“The Last Cow [a memory from my grandmother’s diary] In our village we were considered ‘serednyaki’ [middle class peasants]. We had ourselves a horse—Serko was his name—cows, 6 sheep, geese, chickens, and a plot of land for growing vegetables. We had everything we needed—life was kind to us. That was until 1929, ‘The Year of the Great Turn,’ when they decided to rebuild our lives in a new way. [Altai Region, USSR]” A young blonde girl is running up a grassy hill towards a house with a white fence. 2 cows graze in the distance.

“The process of forced collectivization had started. We had to hand over our grain, equipment and livestock to the collective farm. They let us keep just one cow, which became our family’s sole lifeline. The wealthier folks, the ‘kulaks,’ have lost everything. Their homes, savings, even their clothes have been taken. They were all sent away. Then the authorities came for our last cow.” Soldiers forcibly take farm animals and fill wheelbarrows with grain. A group of adults are escorted into a train car.

“We hid the cow in the granary and secured the door with two locks. The 4 of us kids were standing by the windows with sticks. The eldest brother, Grisha, 14 at the time, was guarding the door alongside Mom. They seized it by force.” Four kids stand in front of a granary holding big sticks in readied stances. Men in uniform come and restrain the oldest brother and mother while another kicks in the door of the granary.

“Nobody paid attention to our tears. My brother clung to the cow’s horns, hoping he could hold onto our beloved lifeline.” The mother holds onto the cow while one of the men tugs on it with a rope. Grisha runs and holds onto the cow’s horns with a look of anguish as a lasso is thrown overhead.

The lasso lands and grabs onto Grisha’s neck, pulling upward. His mother looks on in horror and shouts, “Let go, son! it’s out of our hands now.” Grisha holds onto the cow for the last time. He cries and joins his family in a group embrace as they cry together. “We couldn’t save our cow. Each family we knew had to fight a similar battle.”

The two authority figures ride off on horseback with the cow. One says, “Don’t worry, you’ll be getting your milk.” “We got rationed milk for two months after that. Then deliveries stopped.” A lone silver milk jug sits at the center of the borderless panel

Published On: June 5, 2024

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One thought on “The Last Cow by Galina”

Nancy Mastronardi
06/12/2024, 10:37 am
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Where can I read the rest of the story around “the last cow?”

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