The richer peasants were labeled "kulaks" and considered class enemies. Wealthier peasants were labeled "kulaks", enemies of the state. Profiteering returned in the form of "NEP men" and rich peasants (kulaks) gained power. The deportations targeted Lithuanian partisans and their supported, but also included kulaks () and bourgeoisie. Collectivisation resulted in a large scale purge of peasants and so-called Kulaks. Stalin barred kulaks from joining these collectives. Petrushka was a popular figure, often used to defend rich peasants and attack kulaks. Mennonites were branded as "kulaks" by the Soviets. In each region, the troikas would decide the fate of the peasants branded as "kulaks". The methods Stalin used to eliminate the kulaks were dispossession, deportation and execution. The All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) targeted kulaks, who owned a little land. By vilifying kulaks, Stalin aimed to diminish public sympathy for them. Stalin emphasized in 1929 a campaign demonizing kulaks as a plague on society. Land held by the "kulaks" was seized and given to agricultural cooperatives (kolkhozes and sovkhozes). Joseph Stalin announced the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class" on 27 December 1929.