Stalin’s Forced Famine 1932-1933

How did the world and country respond to the atrocities?

The sadistic mind of Stalin was beyond imagination. How could a leader get away with this atrocity? It was a sick way to build an economy. From an internationalist view, many perceived it as a “crime against humanity” and many were astonished. A quote from the website which distressed me was “desperate Ukrainians ate leaves off bushes and trees, killed dogs, cats, frogs, mice and birds then cooked them. Others, gone mad with hunger, resorted to cannibalism, with parents sometimes even eating their own children”. Many citizens also rebelled by burning their homes down rather than surrendering them.

What motivated the crimes?

Stalin took over the country after the death of Lenin in 1924. He was said to be one of the “most ruthless humans ever to hold power”. One of the wealthier farms, the Kulaks, triggered Stalin’s revolt against the people. The collectivized land which the Kulaks wanted back was disputed among Stalin. In return, he wanted to abolish the Kulaks to prevent insurgence. Because production remained low because of the peasants’ resistance to collectivization, Stalin was forced to send the police into the countryside to raid farms for food. Ultimately, the army was used to force the peasants to work and send food to the cities. Furthermore, as punishment for not collectivizing, the farmers were given little or no food. Mass starvation occurred during this period, with close to 30 million peasants starving to death.
Was the conflict brought to a resolution?Stalin’s solution was to the extent of ending the famine. The crimes committed were never justified; he achieved in eliminating the Kulaks class as well as continued to indoctrinate people with in the country through government officials.

Personal Response:

I am clearly interested in Politics, but never knew how oblivious I was to in my eyes, one of the greatest atrocities that have ever happened in this world. It is devastating and to ultimately see the nations response is horrific. How could a substantial amount of justice not be served? It is just beyond my imagination what has been done; to be treated as low as any civilian could be. All I can truly say is we are blessed to live in such an amazing country where we don’t worry about such conflicts ever happening.

Facts:
-25,000 people perished per day because of starvation.
-The 7 August 1932 law drafted by Joseph Stalin on the protection of the socialist property stipulated the death penalty for "theft of socialist property". Ukrainian villagers were executed by firing squads for theft of a sack of wheat and in some cases even for two sheaves of corn or a husk of grain.
-Local granaries in Ukraine held large stockpiles of ‘state reserves' for emergencies, such as war, but the raging famine did not qualify as an emergency.
-Not a single Western newspaper or press agency protested publicly against the unprecedented confining of its correspondents in Moscow or bothered to investigate the reason for this extraordinary measure.