Red Famine ~ Stalin’s War on Ukraine

At one time Ukraine was a province of Russia, but when the revolution occurred in 1917 many Ukrainians thought that they were on the verge of independence.  It was not to be.  They traded one tsar for a new one in the form of Lenin.  Ukraine has rich black soil, which is good for growing crops like wheat.

Lenin saw Ukraine as serving only one purpose, and that was to feed the revolution.  He demanded that tonnes of grain be provided to Russia.  His plan also included collectivisation.  Farmers were forced off their land, and if they didn’t accept collectivisation, their land and animals were simply taken from them.

When Stalin came to power, the demand for grain became even harsher.  During the period 1932 - 1933, people in Ukraine began to starve to death.  To those in power, their deaths were irrelevant.  Any talk of famine was vehemently denied.  People were transported out of Ukraine to other parts of the Soviet Union or simply executed for talking against the authorities. During this period it is estimated that 4.5 million Ukrainians died.  News of the famine was suppressed.  With so many deaths, there were very few people available to seed the next crop, of seeds were even available!  Russians were resettled onto the lands, but even that was ineffective.  This time became known as the “Holodomor”.

After the famine was over, and the country was beginning to recover, no one was allowed to talk of the time, however many people kept the memory of the time alive.  In the aftermath, the Soviet Union would deny that the famine ever happened.

When Germany invaded in 1941 the Ukrainians thought of them as liberators.  However, that was not to be.  Hitler wanted the rich land for his Aryan super race.  He regarded the Ukrainians as sub-human.  Many more would die during this time.

Following the war there were many Ukrainians who made sure that the memories of the famine were not lost.  Fortunately, they lived outside the Soviet Union and were able to tell their stories.  As the fiftieth anniversary of the famine neared, stories of the famine were published.  Ukrainians living in Canada were now part of the middle class and able to fund these works.  However, the Soviet Union did their best to counter these publications with publications of their own.

Then in 1986, Chernobyl happened.  The USSR no longer looked competent.  Gorbachev, the Soviet leader launched “glasnost” or transparency.  This would in turn unravel the deceit of the famine.  By 1993, Ukraine was independent of the Soviet Union.

As author Anne Applebaum notes in her conclusion, the Holodomor was genocide perpetrated by Stalin and his followers.  Applebaum’s research is extensive and up-to-date, including the Russian invasion of Crimea and the fact that Russia is once again in full denial that the famine ever occurred.

This book is well researched and well written.  Applebaum doesn’t pull any punches.  She points out that Ukraine still exists, but modern threats exist in the form of modern technology, which Russia puts to good use to attack a sovereign nation.

I had been aware of the Holodomor, but not to the extent that Applebaum has detailed it in this book.  For any fan of history, this is an essential book to read.