The work is dedicated to the dramatic situation on the Upper Don in 1930, at the height of collectivization. Based on indirect data from the court case, the author reveals a complex knot of contradictions in the Cossack region. To prevent a massive uprising of dissatisfied with the collectivization of the Cossacks, the organs of the OGPU created a fictitious counter-revolutionary organization led by a former white officer. Another goal of creating the organization was to compromise the "right opposition" led by N.I. Bukharin and A.I. Rykov.