experience - 39% More than 12 years of work experience - 48% To prepare the twenty-five-thousanders for work in the rural areas, the Soviets organized special courses. Some volunteers were sent to sovkhozy for two or three months as interns. Most of the twenty-five-thousanders were sent directly to kolkhozy in the principal cereal regions of the country, such as Ukraine, North Caucasus, Lower and Middle Volga, the Black Earth Region and others. The twenty-five-thousanders took part in establishing new kolkhozy and in strengthening the weak ones, conducting political, educational and cultural work among the inhabitants of the rural areas. They assisted kolkhozy in organizing stock, strengthening work-discipline and establishing "correct" product-distribution. Some of the twenty-five-thousanders were elected board members and chairmen of kolkhozy. However, the twenty-five-thousanders encountered fierce resistance from the so-called kulaks, who opposed the socialist re-organization of agriculture. Soviet literature treated the phenomenon of the twenty-five-thousanders extensively. Mikhail Sholokhov wrote one of the most famous books on this subject: Virgin Soil Upturned (, 1932 and 1960). References See also Virgin Lands Campaign Soviet phraseology Economic history of the Soviet Union 1930s in the Soviet Union Agriculture in the Soviet Union Internal migrations in the Soviet Union