Out of all the genocides that occurred during the 1900’s, only one possessed the most fatal outcome. Compared to the six million deaths in the Holocaust, this genocide had between two million to ten million people. The Ukrainian genocide proved to be the one of the worst tragedies in Ukrainian history.
The Soviet Union was responsible for this genocide; specifically Joseph Stalin, who was very opposed to Ukrainian nationalism. He came into power after the fall of the Russian Empire and after Vladimir Lenin gained power but died a year later. His main goal in the Ukraine was to destroy Ukrainian nationalism and get rid of the Kulaks. Kulaks were considered peasants who were better off economically and a threat to state control. In order to gain control of the Ukraine, Stalin implemented his five-year plan.
During Stalin’s five year plan, he wanted to increase agriculture massively to feed the people working in industry as well as sell to strengthen the economy. Stalin began the genocide by annihilating “Ukraine’s cultural intelligentsia—not so much its engineers, doctors, and technicians, but its linguists, historians, artists, folk singers, and others whose work and professional lives suggested a separate cultural or historical identity for Ukraine” (History in Dispute). They had also included Ukrainian communists in the first objective. Stalin’s second objective was to destroy the economic and political relevance of individual peasant farmers. Most Ukrainian residents had their owns farms even when the serfs were in existence; prosperous on their own with the New Economic Policy from the 1920’s. Stalin’s plan would end the independent ways of living and prosperous peasantry.
Under the implementation, many of the mo...
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.... 3 May 2014. http://find.galegroup.com/gic/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=c78bffd7bb4a35e4038a943301d3e0d6&prodId=GIC&userGroupName=vale41196&tabID=T001&docId=CX3434600345&type=retrieve&contentSet=EBKS&version=1.0 "US-UKRAINE-FAMINE-ASSESSMENT." Ukraine General Newswire 21 Nov. 2011. Global Issues In Context. Web. 3 May 2014. http://find.galegroup.com/gic/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=c78bffd7bb4a35e4038a943301d3e0d6&prodId=GIC&userGroupName=vale41196&tabID=T004&docId=A273116503&type=retrieve&contentSet=IAC-Documents&version=1.0 Krushelnycky, Askold. "Ukraine Famine." Ukraine Famine. Ukrainian Archives, n.d. Web. 3 May 2014. http://www.faminegenocide.com/resources/ukraine_famine.html Serbyn, Roman. "The Ukrainian Famine - Holodomor." The Ukrainian Famine - Holodomor. Holodomor Education, n.d. Web. 03 May 2014.
http://www.holodomoreducation.org/index.php/id/183
Stalin’s five-year plans and policies affected people in all different ways some farmers were in the midst of famine, others were treated negatively, and some had an optimistic view of Stalin’s plans. Stalin’s five-year plan largely helped out the growing economy, but at the same time it hurt the farmers. Although Stalin was extremely supportive to the publics faces, his reign, starting in the 1920’s, led to the most killings in European history. The Soviet Union ended up surviving another thirty years.
Holodomor is a Ukrainian word meaning “Genocide Famine” in English [holodomor.org]. The Holodomor ultimately began in 1928 when the then current leader of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin introduced a program which would lead to the collectivization of agriculture within the Soviet Union. In order to do this, farmers would have to give up privately owned farms, livestock and equipment. These farmers would have to join state owned collective farms as they would no longer have their own farms to run. These collective farms would need to produce large amounts of grain along with feeding their own workers. Ukrainian farmers refused to join these farms, as they considered it a returned to the serfdom of centuries past. In response, Stalin
Holodomor. During the occupation of Ukraine, Russia had a plan to destroy the Ukrainian nation
Stalin’s leadership of the Soviet Union can be best described as a period of terror and censorship. In other words, he was very strict, considering the fact that he created the totalitarian government. In order to create this type of government, Stalin used fear and propaganda. He took part in The Great Purge, which was a campaign of terror that was supposed to eliminate anyone who threatened Stalin’s power. He also relied on secret police, who would arrest and execute any traitors. The online blog, “The Reasons For the Failure of The Russian Revolution”, brings up information on how Stalin planned to rule as dictator of Russia. It has been noted, “This ‘reshaping’ had three main aspects: the elimination of all dissent; the liquidation of all forms of democracy and of working class organisation; the slashing of the living standards of the working class and the physical annihilation of millions of peasants” (Text 5). This quote explains how Stalin wanted to industrialize Russia, which includes the deaths of several peasants of Russia. The Russians did not just die from The Great Purge, but also from Stalin’s Five-Year Plan. The Five-Year Plan was an attempt to industrialize the Soviet Union. It was also a plan for increasing the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity. He had control over economic resources, including farms and
After Vladimir Lenin, a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist, died, Stalin outmaneuvered his rivals and won the control of the Communist Party. In the tardy 1920’s he became dictator of the Soviet Cumulation. Then he wanted to industrialize the country because at the time the economic was farming. Millions of farmers reluctant to be apart of Stalin’s orders and were killed as penalization. The civilization led a widespread famine across the Soviet Coalescence and killed millions of people. Stalin wanted to kill anyone who opposed him of his orders. He engendered an army of secret police, and inspirited citizens to spy on others which had many people killed or sent to a labor camp. Virtually everyone around Stalin was considered a threat to him, even the Communist Party, the military, and components of the Soviet Coalescence society, s...
There is no way people can argue that the Holodomor (Soviet Famine) did not happen in Ukraine in the years of 1932 to 1933 in which it took over millions of lives in that area. This is a man- made famine which was crafted by Stalin to be a “lesson that they would never forget” for defying his collectivization plan for Ukraine, the now part of USSR. The Holodomor literal means murder by starvation in which the people were systematical deprived of food by either of having impossible quotas that the government place or militarily blocking outside aid. Unlike the Holocaust, the Holodomor is not very well known or documented, thus many countries in the World question if this event is really a genocide that Stalin created or just a tragedy set on the Ukrainian people history. Today there is effort to gain global awareness of this genocide.
St John, John, Ronald Bruce. "Armenian Genocide." World Book Student. World Book, 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
Foster, Aaron. "Armenian Genocide 1915 Information and Recognition."Genocide 1915. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Another goal of his new policy was to erase all capitalistic elements previously imposed by Lenin within Russia. Russian peasants just won their land from the nobles after the revolution, and now Stalin was taking it all back. Peasants were not happy with this. Many began to protest by killing livestock and burning fields. Stalin soon began killing many of these protestors or sending them to gulags. Eventually all farms became governmental property and soon giant collectivized farms were established. By the end of the 1930’s wheat production had risen exponentially. In the end, many peasants were able to leave the countryside and work in factories. Russia was also able to export much of its grain in order to fund further industrialization. But again, the human cost of this policy was monumental. Many people starved because of the protesting and many also were murdered by the government in order to force others to
In this paper, I’ll be focusing on the Holocaust and the genocide in Ukraine, spearheaded by Stalin. The Holocaust is one of the most significant genocides in the history of mankind. (Berger 2007:1). It was significant because it was one of the most organized and systematic genocides ever. The Holocaust also wasn’t limited to only one group of people. It included a whole variety of different races, ethnicities, and cultures. The genocide in Ukraine was led by Stalin, and focused on starving out the Ukrainian people during a time where nationalistic pride was running high. The number of deaths accumulated in the Ukrainian genocide is said to amount from any...
"When one man dies it's a tragedy. When thousands die it's statistics"-these are the words of Joseph Stalin, a man who understood that "killing was a tool; properly used it could eliminate enemies, terrorize survivors into submission, and overwhelm outsiders beyond their ability to intervene" (Altman 41). The Soviet government claims that the famine of 1932-1933 was due to "conditions beyond human control," that it was an unfortunate but unintended consequence of the collectivization effort (Altman 47). The reality is that this disaster was not the result of inflation, crop failure, natural disasters, nor war. The shocking truth, which has been buried under sixty-five years of Soviet propaganda and Western corruption, is that the famine was engineered by Stalin and used as a weapon to annihilate between seven and ten million Ukrainians.
Stalin implemented a Five Year Plan in order to build up the industrial production of the Soviet Union. In order to keep the illusion of a successful Five Year Plan, production quotas were constantly made known well before they had been attained. He also announced another Five Year Plan before the last Five Year Plan was completed. According to Lyotard, Stalin and his Communism tried to give the proletariat a reality beyond that of the working class still bound to national traditions and differential claims, but unfortunately it would never be recognized for the legitimacy of any local power. Stalin to maintain power in his totalitarian regime, he purged his party of those who might oppose him and opportunists who might make the attempt to replace his regime. His use of terror was able to deceive people as long as it did because it seemed to be working toward the realization of the socialist republic. Terror became one of the key features of the government. Stalin, through his totalitarian power, got Russian workers many benefits like free education, free medical services and pension. The unemployment rate decreased and there was a great possibility for personal advancement. To advance in this society y...
Hovannisian, Richard. "The Reality and Relevance of the Armenian Genocide." UCLA: Armenian Studies. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/centers/armenian/source109.html (accessed April 11, 2014).
Today, wars, drugs, and violence plague the world and cause millions of deaths every year, but there is one killer that slips under the radar; that killer is famine. Famine is a killer with a very deadly and diverse set of skills, ranging from physical to mental. With enough power within its hands to cause a hailstorm of deaths in a short amount of time. With that comes the power to massacre whole populations with the flick of a finger. It may take a bit to fully succumb the populace, but once it does, don’t blink. For when your mind and emotions are lost, famine has won, and you are doomed.