Ukrainian Genocide Research Paper

Stalin’s policy priorities were not building a ‘worker’s paradise’ or a classless society, but protecting Russia from war and invasion. In 1928, Stalin launched the first of two ambitious five-year plans to modernize and industrialize the Soviet economy. These programs brought rapid progress – but also significant death and suffering. Stalin’s decision to nationalize agricultural production dispossessed millions of peasants, forcing them from their land to labor on gigantic state-run collective farms. Grain was sold abroad to finance Soviet industrial projects, leading to food shortages and disastrous famines in the mid-1930s. Soviet Russia was dragged into the 20th century, transforming from a backward agrarian empire into a modern industrial superpower – but this came at extraordinary human cost.

By June 1933, 28,000 men, women and children were starving to death each and every day. As the Ukrainians were dying, the Soviet Union was exporting their grain to other countries. This famine was initiated to dehumanize the Ukrainians and counterattack any movement for independence. Anyone caught stealing grain was killed immediately, this lead to people eating dogs, birds, mice and withal resulted into cannibalism . Seven to ten million Ukrainians had perished in the course of one year. Despite having a substantial amount of knowledge of the crisis in Ukraine, the west turned a blind eye

The peasantry made up a huge proportion of the population and the stability of the Russia depended on their compliance. There had been growing peasant resentments over noble ownership and this resulted in the peasants trying to overthrow the landowners. The commune were poorly organised and

Between the years of 1932 and 1933, an estimated 4 to 5 million Ukrainians perished in a famine unprecedented during peacetime. Called the Holodomor, Ukrainian for ‘death by hunger’, the famine fits into a number of other famines that occurred simultaneously in the Soviet Union including but not limited to Kazakhstan, the north caucuses, and the Urals. The famines were a consequence of Stalin’s first 5 year plan, which called for mass collectivization and nationalization of industry with the intention of ushering forth rapid industrialization. Industrialization was prioritized in order to bring the Soviet Union in line with Marx’s dialectal history, according to which worldwide Communist Revolution can only be spearheaded by

It started in 1920 when Ukraine tried to break away from the Soviet Union, but it was unsuccessful because Stalin wouldn’t let them. Stalin then at the end of the 1920s, wanted to shut down Ukraine’s autonomy. He does so by having individuals arrested, sent to prison, and even executed (Sebag, 2008). Ukraine used to be the bread basket of Russia. That was until Stalin and his crew took over and held over ¾ of Ukraine hostage. While he was having people imprisoned and executed, he also ordered the collectivization of agriculture. Most of Ukraine were peasants and farmers. The majority of these people owned a good amount of land, and some even owned livestock. There were people who were against collectivization. These people were called Kulaks, which are rich peasants. Thousands of people were thrown out of their homes and even deported. (Bohdan, 2013)

In the beginning of 1932, the Soviet government had sharply increased the Ukraine's production quotas in the collectivized farms. This ensured that the people would not be able to meet them. This resulted in an even larger widespread of starvation. In the summer of 1932, Stalin ordered a decree that called for the arrest or execution of any person that was caught taking any amount of grain or food item from their place of work. This led to military blockades stationed around many Ukrainian villages, preventing food from coming in and the starving people from going out in search of food. Soviet guards were brought into the villages to confiscate any hidden grain. Eventually all food from any farmer’s home was taken. When news of the Famine reached the outside world, food supplies were sent from the United States and Britain, however through Stalin, the shipments were denied and new policies from the Soviet Union that denied their part in the famine refused all outside aid were instilled. Stalin refused entry even to journalists, as he feared the media would reveal the Soviet Unions’ crimes against the Ukraine.

Holodomor occurred during 1932-1933, but corrupt events and poor leadership led up to the famine and starvation. Vladimir Lenin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924, declared Ukraine as an independent nation. Sadly, the new country’s government was very unstable and could not withstand. So, the country became a part of the Soviet Union once again. As a result of getting a taste of independence, a new pride and patriotism rose among the Ukrainians along with a political elite group. Joseph Stalin, who rose to power in 1924, saw that this wave of nationalism in Ukraine as a threat. So Stalin set up a new form of economic production called collectivism. Collectivism is where individual farmers were

These effects however were more severe under Lenin and Stalin as they sought to increase grain production by coercion. While Lenin under War communism used grain requisitioning to forcefully collect peasant surpluses from them Stalin used collectivisation to force peasants to collaborate to produce as much food as possible. Similarly in both cases the peasants refused to conform; knowing that any surplus would be confiscated the peasant produced the barest minimum to feed themselves and their family and even less food was available for Russia. One of the greatest impacts were the famines that occurred in 1921 under Lenin where the grain harvest produced less than half the amount gathered in 1931 and Russia had international help from countries such as the USA. However these impacts were the greatest under Stalin. The amount of bread produced fell from 250.4 (kilograms per head) in 1928 to 214.6 in 1932. The impacts of collectivisation were at its worst in 1932-32 when occurred what many people describe as a self-made national famine. Stalin’s ‘’official silence’’ of the situation meant it wasn’t addressed and thus collectivisation killed between 10-15 million peasants and failed to increase agricultural output. Though a similar devastating famine occurred under

In his speech, Stalin also mentions that kulaks, which were wealthy peasants, must be eliminated as a class. (Document 3) In this speech Stalin explained that agriculture must change in order to feed the growing population of industrial workers. The collective farms would receive the needed modern technology and scientific equipment, and it would all result in increased food production. Stalin made clear that the kulaks must be driven out in order for the plan to be successful. Once again, Stalin is using the power of speech to gain support for his collectivization plan. An excerpt from A History Civilization describes the horrific effects of Stalin’s collectivization. Stalin began deporting the capitalistic farmers (kulaks) to forced labor camps or Siberia, and peasants were being machine-gunned into submission. Peasants slaughtered huge amounts of horses, cattle, sheep and goats, burned crops and broke plows in desperate revolts. The amount of Russian livestock lost due to collectivization was immense. (Document 4)

Hated has always been part of human nature, it is an inevitable emotion that can consumes the souls of men. The genocide in Ukraine during the early 1900s caused incredible suffering. Referred to as Holodomor which translates to killing by hunger, the Ukrainian starvation was a man made famine in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Ukraine and the traditional Cossack territories starved to death due to Stalin’s government seizing of crops resulting in the countries denial of the genocide and even cannibalism.

Stalin’s plan was successful at the cost of the Ukraine republic. In 1932, the Soviet government increased the production rate by 40 percent, which was impossible for the workers to accomplish. Starvation worsened. Anyone caught taking food from the fields was executed. Stalin set up military blockades around the villages so food could not be transported between them; then also stopped any Ukrainians from leaving in search of food. By the spring of 1933, an estimated 25,000 victims perished daily in the Ukraine. Entire villages were wiped out (Dolot).

Genocide is the systematic annihilation of a group (“Bosnia”). Many have lost their entire families, including children, belongings, and opportunities. The Bosnian genocide is a tragic event that led to the death of 8,000 men and boys. Bosnia's current population is 3.8 million with a 48 percent of Bosnian muslims, 14 percent of Croats, and a 37 percent of Serbs. Those responsible for the genocide focused on what they deemed as “ethnic cleansing”. It is important to share this horrific event with the world, so it does not happen again, as it has occured in so many other nations.

After World War II, the genocide of Jews by the Germans across German-occupied territory was on everyone’s minds. Although it was a horrible event in recent history, the Holocaust was not the only genocide of that period. Joseph Stalin ordered 400,000 Chechens and Ingush to be deported to Siberia and central Asia to be put into labor camps on February 23, 1944 (“Greetings from Grozny”). The genocide of the Chechen population has been a terrible event and other genocides around the world should be stopped by efforts of individuals and the United States government.

On the collective farms the peasants that worked there were forced to give up their crops and livestock to the government. Resistance in the government orders was detected. “Moscow insisted that the resistance was led by kulaks, particularly in Ukraine, where nationalist sentiment was wrong.” (Gallately 25) In a speech on December 27, Stalin stated the policy of “eliminating the kulaks as a class.”

Adding to the deplorable oppression borne by the proletariat during the Five Year Plans, Stalin introduced a collectivisation campaign which not only sparked a persecution of kulaks, but also induced a widespread famine. The Stalin government’s compulsory agricultural policy was largely a failure with regard to its goals. Beginning in 1929, all farms were to be collectivised, with the aim of improving agricultural output and hence, industrialisation. The USSR’s initial system of farming was inefficient, but the introduction of fertilisation and tractors modernised agricultural techniques, increasing the nation’s capacity for production, supporting Historian Jamieson’s statement. However, the policy was catastrophic due to the mass movement of peasant resistance that saw farmers defiantly burning crops and slaughtering livestock, regarding the campaign as a violation of their freedom. By 1933, agricultural production fell dramatically; grain by 17 million tonnes and cows and pigs by a total of 23 million, to below what it was in 1913 (Downey, 1989, p. 19). This