Under the vassals were the peasants or serfs. It exercised feudal lordship over thousands of peasants and vassals. Another 4,500 landless peasants were allocated three. This was also true for poorer people like peasants or laborers. During the unrest peasants and workers attacked manor houses. Occasionally the landowners battled each other using armies of Ukrainian peasants. This policy won support for the Communists among the rural peasants. Painters would depict happy, muscular peasants and workers in factories and collective farms. The majority of medieval European peasants were villeins. First one must make the distinction in Ugandan slavery of peasants and slaves. Thousands of local peasants joined the rebels. Profiteering returned in the form of "NEP men" and rich peasants (kulaks) gained power. The early Ba'ath gave little attention to the problems facing the peasants and workers. Death squads were instrumental in killing thousands of peasants and activists. This tended to provide more autonomy for the peasants.