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Collectivization and the Holodomor

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Collectivization and the Holodomor CLASSROOM COUNTRY PROFILES Collectivization and the Holodomor The 1930s saw many horrors in the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin’s purges resulted in the execution of thousands, while millions more were sent to forced labor camps. The decade began with the forced collectivization of farms throughout the Soviet Union, a process that resulted in the deaths of millions by starvation. Ukraine, which suffered the most from collectivi- zation, lost an estimated 3-5 million people to a famine that was entirely avoidable and likely at least in part deliberate. By the end of the 1920s, Joseph Stalin had consolidated power as the unchallenged leader of the Soviet Union. In 1928 he introduced a pro- gram to collectivize farms and end private ownership of land. Farmers in Holodomor — The name of the man-made famine of Ukraine, known as the “bread basket” of the Soviet Union for its fertile 1932 and 1933that killed millions of Soviet citizens, soil, resisted giving up their land to the state and joining collective farms. most of them Ukrainians. Collectivization policies and the Soviet government’s seizure of grain have been The Soviet state under Stalin responded with a program called “de- blamed for the mass starvation. “Holod” means kulakization,” which evicted farmers and their families. The word “kulak” “hunger” in the Ukrainian language. means “fist” in Russian and was used to demonize private farmers who refused to open their “clenched fists” and participate in building socialism. Collectivization — The policy of transferring the own- More than a million Ukrainian farmers were exiled to the far reaches of ership of private farmland to the state. The Soviet state the Soviet Union or left without homes or work in the process. in the 1930s seized land and set up collective farms where workers would produce grain for the state to In 1932, the Soviet state increased Ukrainian grain harvest quotas, even distribute. The policy proved disastrous for grain pro- as collectivization policies led to much lower production levels. The im- possibly high quotas meant grain that would be normally be eaten by duction levels. farmers was confiscated and sent to other parts of the Soviet Union or sold abroad. As a result, millions, mostly rural Ukrainians, went hungry. Kulak — “ Fist” in Russian. It was the term used to demonize farm owners during collectivization. Ku- The state gave orders to the internal police, the NKVD, to arrest or exe- laks resisted collectivization. Millions were exiled to cute farmers who tried to steal grain from fields or storage facilities. The forced labor camps or killed as a result. so-called kulaks were also denied residency permits to gain access to housing in cities. Signs of agony became widespread as starving families moved to the streets of cities such as Kharkiv, desperate to find food. In 1930, an estimated 30,000 people were dying of starvation per day, many of them children. Some resorted to cannibalism. Because the USSR did not record deaths from the famine and attempted to cover it up, an exact number of victims is difficult to verify. However, scholars generally agree that millions lost their lives. Discussion of the Holodomor was banned until the final years of the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika. Updated: June 2017 Famine victims lie on the streets of Kharkiv The Holodomor remains a sensitive and contentious issue in the former Soviet Union. Ukraine considers the famine a genocide perpetrated by Joseph Stalin and the Soviet state. However, the Russian Federation has been sharply critical of attempts to recognize the famine as a genocide, noting that ethnic Russians also Traditional Ukrainian Easter Eggs died and disputing claims that it was deliberate. Several other nations, including Canada, Australia, Poland, and the Baltics recognize it as a genocide. The United States has not officially recognized the Holodomor as an act of genocide but has The map above shows areas of population de- called it a man-made famine and an attack on Ukrainian nationalism. cline in Ukraine and southern Russia during the famine. Western Ukraine was unaffected be- cause it was part of Poland until the outbreak of World War II. A similar famine took place in the territory that is now Kazakhstan from 1930- 1933. Forced collectivization and attempts to change the Kazakhs’ primarily no- madic lifestyle into a culture based on agriculture and industry resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million people. The event primarily effected ethnic Ka- What is a genocide? Does the Holodomor in zakhs and made them a minority in the territory, which became the Kazakh Soviet Ukraine qualify as a genocide? Ask students Socialist Republic in 1936. The famine is sometimes called the Goloshchekin gen- to discusses reasons for and against. ocide, named after Filipp Goloshchyokin, who was responsible for carrying out Why did it take so long for knowledge of the Soviet policies there. Holodomor to become public? Have students talk about how other events, such as the Hol- ocaust, were documented. What were the goals of collectivization? Why did the process create a decline in agricultural production in the early 1930s? Applebaum, Anne. Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine. Doubleday, 2017. Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books, 2012. The Holodomor Research and Education Consortium. Available: http://holodomor.ca/ “Harvest of Despair.” 1984 documentary film by Sviatoslav Novytsky. Monuments in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, commemorate victims of the Holodomor. More resources for USEFUL LINKS educators are available CIA World Factbook: Ukraine on the Henry M. Jackson School of International BBC Country Page: Ukraine Studies website. National Geographic: Ukraine Kyiv Post English News CLASSROOM COUNTRY PROFILES .
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