Noticing the Crimes of the Holodomor
Sometimes, people fall behind. I have fallen behind many times in my life, everyone does. Russia was like this once. It was a place where things weren’t as advanced as they could have been. Russia was behind to a point where it would be willing to take fairly extreme measures in catching up with the rest of the world. Although Russia was trying to take a step forward into a more advanced society, it took a step backward in its own humanity.
Stalin, one of Russia’s dictators, who followed after Vladimir Lenin, believed that Russia was far behind the world’s great innovative powers in technological advancements. He once said “we are 100 years behind the advanced countries. We must good[sic] this lag in ten years. Either we do it, or they crush us!” (Lee, 2000) He seemed to strongly believe that he and his country would become nothing if he did not take action for his country. This did seem like a noble cause, but what was the cost to this insane plan of advancing through 100 years technology in only 10?
Stalin found his answer through his own special “taxing.” He told his people that if they paid their share to the country, all would be well and they could continue with their normal lives. There was but one problem: his taxes were too high. At first, the taxes were bearable, but soon after the first taxing, higher taxes were put on the Ukrainians, which they could not pay. One man talked about his son’s experience:
“…in the fall of 1932 a production tax of 100 poods of grain was levied on him. He paid this in full. Then, just before Christmas, an additional 200 poods was levied. He did not have the 200, he did not even have 20, so he was threatened with jail for failing to pay. He sold a cow, a horse, and some clothes, bought the necessary 200 poods and paid the tax. Then in February, 1933, the local authorities notified him that he had to surrender another 300 poods. He refused to pay this third assessment, because he had nothing left and was himself starving.” (Kuropas, 2005)
After the Ukrainians had begun to starve, instead of removing the taxes, he sent armed forces to enforce them. The Ukrainians had to work, only to pay taxes and have nothing left for themselves. “A commission then came to his house to look for food. Of course they did not find anything except a little bag of inferior grain and a pot of beans, which they took.” (Kuropas, 2005) Stalin had begun to effectively starve up to 7.5 million innocent Ukrainians farmers.
Stalin’s troops did an effective job of leaving no food for the starving Ukrainians either. "Everything, literally everything was taken, they did not leave one kilogram of bread" (Kuropas, 2005) recalled one villager, who was devastated by Stalin. Some might ask why these troops would not even care for the health of the Ukrainians, as some were Ukrainians themselves, and the answer is they believe in Stalin’s cause of revolution and his five-year plans that promised a prosperous future.
Stalin’s five-year plans were a new set of economic laws that he put into place so that Russia could efficiently catch up with the rest of the world, and have a prosperous future. Almost everyone bought into this plan, even Americans, because it seemed like such a flawless plan, and this is why the Holodomor was so well covered up; everyone was too busy paying attention to the plans that they weren’t looking at the negatives. This made it easy to ignore the plight of the Ukrainians throughout the Holodomor. Here is an example of the cover-up from a 1953 NY Times article:
“The peasants brought the calamity upon themselves. Yet one can understand what prompted this suicidal action. The Bolsheviks had launched the ambitious Five Year Plan. It had to be financial. It was to cost something like forty-two billion rubles.That colossal sum had to come from within the country, for foreign nations refused loans and gave limited credits at usurious rates. The workers and the peasants had to pay.”
It is very apparent that originally Stalin planned to save his country, but ended up killing it in the process. He seemed to care about his country being on track with the rest of the world powers, and had a very good plan to do so, but his execution was not flawless. It almost seems that once the flaws began to show, he showed his flaws and rode them to the death of up to 7.5 million innocent men, women, and children. What he said was originally industrialization was, in the end, genocide.
Sources:
a. Kuropas, Myron B. The Ukrainian Genocide/Holodomor, 1932-1933 a Curriculum and Resource Guide for Educators. Print.
b. Lee, Nick. "First Five Year Plan and Stalin's Economic Policies." First Five Year Plan and Stalin's Economic Policies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
Stalin, one of Russia’s dictators, who followed after Vladimir Lenin, believed that Russia was far behind the world’s great innovative powers in technological advancements. He once said “we are 100 years behind the advanced countries. We must good[sic] this lag in ten years. Either we do it, or they crush us!” (Lee, 2000) He seemed to strongly believe that he and his country would become nothing if he did not take action for his country. This did seem like a noble cause, but what was the cost to this insane plan of advancing through 100 years technology in only 10?
Stalin found his answer through his own special “taxing.” He told his people that if they paid their share to the country, all would be well and they could continue with their normal lives. There was but one problem: his taxes were too high. At first, the taxes were bearable, but soon after the first taxing, higher taxes were put on the Ukrainians, which they could not pay. One man talked about his son’s experience:
“…in the fall of 1932 a production tax of 100 poods of grain was levied on him. He paid this in full. Then, just before Christmas, an additional 200 poods was levied. He did not have the 200, he did not even have 20, so he was threatened with jail for failing to pay. He sold a cow, a horse, and some clothes, bought the necessary 200 poods and paid the tax. Then in February, 1933, the local authorities notified him that he had to surrender another 300 poods. He refused to pay this third assessment, because he had nothing left and was himself starving.” (Kuropas, 2005)
After the Ukrainians had begun to starve, instead of removing the taxes, he sent armed forces to enforce them. The Ukrainians had to work, only to pay taxes and have nothing left for themselves. “A commission then came to his house to look for food. Of course they did not find anything except a little bag of inferior grain and a pot of beans, which they took.” (Kuropas, 2005) Stalin had begun to effectively starve up to 7.5 million innocent Ukrainians farmers.
Stalin’s troops did an effective job of leaving no food for the starving Ukrainians either. "Everything, literally everything was taken, they did not leave one kilogram of bread" (Kuropas, 2005) recalled one villager, who was devastated by Stalin. Some might ask why these troops would not even care for the health of the Ukrainians, as some were Ukrainians themselves, and the answer is they believe in Stalin’s cause of revolution and his five-year plans that promised a prosperous future.
Stalin’s five-year plans were a new set of economic laws that he put into place so that Russia could efficiently catch up with the rest of the world, and have a prosperous future. Almost everyone bought into this plan, even Americans, because it seemed like such a flawless plan, and this is why the Holodomor was so well covered up; everyone was too busy paying attention to the plans that they weren’t looking at the negatives. This made it easy to ignore the plight of the Ukrainians throughout the Holodomor. Here is an example of the cover-up from a 1953 NY Times article:
“The peasants brought the calamity upon themselves. Yet one can understand what prompted this suicidal action. The Bolsheviks had launched the ambitious Five Year Plan. It had to be financial. It was to cost something like forty-two billion rubles.That colossal sum had to come from within the country, for foreign nations refused loans and gave limited credits at usurious rates. The workers and the peasants had to pay.”
It is very apparent that originally Stalin planned to save his country, but ended up killing it in the process. He seemed to care about his country being on track with the rest of the world powers, and had a very good plan to do so, but his execution was not flawless. It almost seems that once the flaws began to show, he showed his flaws and rode them to the death of up to 7.5 million innocent men, women, and children. What he said was originally industrialization was, in the end, genocide.
Sources:
a. Kuropas, Myron B. The Ukrainian Genocide/Holodomor, 1932-1933 a Curriculum and Resource Guide for Educators. Print.
b. Lee, Nick. "First Five Year Plan and Stalin's Economic Policies." First Five Year Plan and Stalin's Economic Policies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.