Did Stalin create famine?

Did Stalin deliberately create famine? If not, how should we view Stalin's responsibility for the famine? Combined with the main viewpoints of all parties, this paper intends to make a shallow analysis.

First, the occurrence of famine In the middle and late 1920s, the Soviet Union started the socialist industrialization construction, and then launched the agricultural collectivization movement. In the process of socialist industrialization, 193 1 year, the agricultural production in the Soviet Union declined, and the rural labor productivity also dropped significantly. 1932 At the beginning of the year, famine began to appear in Urals and Western Siberia, and soon, famine also appeared in 44 districts of Ukraine. The famine stopped once in summer and happened again in autumn, which lasted until the end of 1933. Famine occurred in important grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union: Ukraine, Volga River basin, North Caucasus, black soil area, Urals, West Siberia, Kazakhstan (at that time, Russia joined Russia as an autonomous region). Famine covers about 50 million people, and the victims are mainly agricultural population. 1932- 1933 The number of people who died of famine has been unknown. On textbooks, radio, television and information websites in Ukraine, it is said that 7 million Ukrainians died in famine,100000, or even150000. [4] Ukrainian President viktor yushchenko even announced in his public speech that Ukraine lost 65,438+0/4 residents during the famine. [5] In recent years, with the publication of archives about famine, Russian and Ukrainian academic circles have made more and more objective estimates of the number of deaths in famine. At present, it is generally said that the death toll from famine is between 6 million and 8 million, of which the death toll from Ukraine accounts for about 1/3, and the specific figure is about 2 million to 3 million. [6] Because the famine problem in 1932- 1933 was originally put forward by Ukrainian expatriates living in exile in North America, the early research on this issue in western academic circles mainly focused on the famine situation in Ukraine, especially in rural Ukraine, which limited the macro-research vision of this issue to some extent. Over the years, according to the research on the scale, scope and the number of people who died of famine, the upper class in Ukraine and some scholars have spared no effort to emphasize the degree of disaster and the number of people who died in Ukraine to prove that famine is aimed at Ukrainians. In fact, in the famine of 1932- 1933, Ukraine was indeed the most seriously affected area, but that famine was not only a disaster for Ukrainians, but also suffered huge losses in Russia, Kazakhstan, the North Caucasus and other places, and the famine affected almost all the grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union. Therefore, in the Soviet Union at that time, famine only occurred in grain-producing areas and non-grain-producing areas, which were divided into urban workers and rural residents, but "there was no national border and no politics" [7]. Ukraine has always been the main grain producing area in Russia, with a large agricultural population and relatively large losses. However, "Ukraine is particularly hard hit, not because Ukrainians live there, but because it is the main grain-producing area of the Soviet Union." [8] Therefore, in order to confuse people, incite hatred against Stalin and the socialist Soviet Union, exaggerate the number and scale of deaths in Ukraine due to famine, and even say that famine only occurred in Ukraine to exterminate Ukrainians, this attitude is obviously ideological and Ukrainian nationalism, which also affects people's understanding of the historical truth of this issue.

Second, the cause of famine? The cause of famine is the main issue discussed by Russian, Ukrainian and western academic circles. In the early days, from different ideological standpoints, it seems that there are only two views on the analysis of the causes of famine: either natural disasters or man-made disasters, and because of different political standpoints, the two are incompatible: recognizing natural disasters is to defend Stalin; Affirming man-made disasters means criticizing Stalin and the Soviet socialist system, and affirming that the Soviet government used famine to exterminate Ukrainians. In fact, there are often many factors in the occurrence of historical events, and the criteria for judging historical figures or events can only be based on historical facts. When discussing the causes of the Great Famine in the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1933, we should think rationally from all angles according to historical facts, instead of "estimating" and "judging" underground conclusions from a political standpoint. To sum up, the main causes of famine are: natural disasters:1931-1932 grain failure. Historically, Russia before the October Revolution was always in the position of an agricultural country for the advanced capitalist countries in the west. Agricultural productivity is low, and "relying on the sky to eat" is basically a portrayal of Russian agriculture. According to the statistics of Russian scholars today, in the czar era, every ten years or so, there will be a dry year in rural Russia. [9] After the October Revolution, agricultural production in Soviet countries developed to a certain extent, especially during the period of new economic policy, farmers' enthusiasm for production was mobilized and grain output was greatly improved. The total grain output of the Soviet Union 1930 was more than three times higher than that of 192 1 year ago. However, as far as the socialist industrialization in the Soviet Union is concerned, the agricultural production in the Soviet Union was still relatively backward at that time, and the grain output dropped sharply in the past two years (see the figure below). Drought is one of the reasons for the decline in grain output. Due to the vast territory of the Soviet Union, the degree of drought varies from place to place. In 2003, Peter Simononko, leader of Ukraine's * * * Production Party, said in a speech at the National Assembly that 1932- 1933 was the primary cause of the famine in Ukraine. Attending some scholars confirmed with figures that in 1932- 1933, the crop failure caused by drought in Ukraine was much more serious than that in 193 1 year, and the grain harvest in 1932 was only1932. In other words, a very important reason for the famine in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 is natural disasters. [1 1] Therefore, no matter whether it is natural or human factors, there is indeed no harvest of particles in these two years. Illustrate the total output of major food crops in the Soviet Union [12] (million tons) Source: According to [English] B.R Mitchell's palgrave World History Statistics: European Volume 1750- 1993, translated by He Liping, Beijing: Economic Science Press, 2002, No.1. While the Soviet Union accelerated the construction of an industrial society, backward agriculture became an obstacle to industrialization. At the 15th Congress of the Soviet Union in 1927, after affirming the achievements of the industrialization plan, Stalin put forward the problem of backward agricultural production and pointed out the way out of this backward situation: "The way out lies in transforming scattered small farmers into joint large farms based on public agriculture and into a collective agricultural system based on high technology. ..... there is no other way out. " [13] Accordingly, the Soviet Union began to implement agricultural collectivization in the late 1920s. In the process of collectivization, the rich peasants were deprived of their property, "destroyed" and forcibly moved, which caused their dissatisfaction. Some middle peasants were unwilling to hand over their private property to collective farms. As a result, farmers, represented by rich peasants, began to slaughter livestock and store grain. Polish historian Isaac Deutcher once described the situation at that time: "In the first few months of collectivization, they (farmers) slaughtered more than 6.5438+0.5 million cows, about 40 million sheep and goats, 7 million pigs and 4 million horses. The national livestock has been reduced by more than half. " "Rich peasants were the first to slaughter livestock ... In order to prevent collectivized workers from driving their livestock into public barns, they slaughtered livestock and filled the barns with meat in order to starve the enemy." [14] In order to prevent rich peasants from "spoiling" grain, the Soviet government accelerated the pace of collectivization. 1In the spring of 930, collectivization was implemented as a whole, while the rich peasants were punished. Some rich peasants were shot and most of them were exiled by their families. The exiled rich peasants became "special immigrants". Some of them died in exile, while others died because they didn't adapt to the climate in exile. The death of "special immigrants" became a part of the victims of the famine in the Soviet Union 1932 to 1933. [15] and those farmers who were forced to join the collective farm did not completely obey. While giving up going it alone, in order to crack down on the newly established collective farms, they "squandered" their property, slaughtered a large number of livestock, and hoarded grain as a "delaying tactic" to launch a "silent contest" with the Soviet regime in these ways. As a result of the confrontation between farmers and the government, farmers are facing "... long-term terrible hunger: collective farms have no horses and no seeds." Members of collective farms in Russia, Ukraine and Europe went to Central Asia to buy horses, but returned empty-handed, so they had to put a few cows and bulls on the plowshares. During the period of 193 1- 1932, a large area of land was barren and hungry everywhere. " [16] Objectively speaking, agricultural collectivization, as an agricultural policy of the Soviet government, appeared in the process of implementation, and even treated farmers violently, which led to farmers' resistance. This is a serious mistake in the government's decision-making and implementation in the process of socialist industrialization in the Soviet Union, and the confrontation between the Soviet government and farmers is an important reason for the famine. The second "man-made disaster": the government takes all the surplus grain from farmers and uses it for exporting grain.

Since 193 1, the rural labor productivity and grain output in the Soviet Union have declined. At the same time, the government's grain harvest plan has not decreased, but has increased. According to statistics, compared with1932-1933-1930, the grain reserves in Moscow state increased by 45.3%, in the middle reaches of Volga River by 46. 1%, in the North Caucasus by 56.3%, and in the border areas of Nizhgorod by 56.5%. [17] 1932, Ukraine joined the Republic of * * *, and made a plan ahead of schedule to pay about 400 million putts of grain. Because of the poor harvest, the plan has been lowered again and again. By February 1933, all the grain was collected, and only 26 10/00000 putters were completed. [18] Even these grains were collected by rough means: the task force sent by the government found hidden grains (and other products) in farmers' homes, and farmers were fined for not handing them over voluntarily. The chairman of the collective farm, even the leader of the local government, may be suppressed because he can't finish the plan. All the grain in the hands of farmers has been taken away. Without food, many farmers starved to death. According to statistics, at that time in Kazakhstan, the number of rural residents decreased by 30.9% (though not only because of famine), the Volga River basin decreased by 23%, Ukraine decreased by 20.5%, and the North Caucasus region decreased by 20.4%. [19] Moreover, not only ordinary farmers, "many party member almost starved to death at that time." [20] For the Soviet government's grain purchase plan and the damage caused by the local government's rude behavior in the process of collecting grain to farmers, Victor Kondrasin, director of the teaching and research section of the history of the motherland of Penza National Normal University and a doctor of history, confirmed with figures that "1933 was shipped abroad with18 million tons of grain. If the food is for people, even if it is not saved, it will be enough for 6.9 million people. It happened that famine starved so many people. " [2 1] This statistic cannot be completely determined at present. However, it is conceivable that 193 1- 1932 did reduce the grain harvest in the Soviet Union, but this does not mean that millions of people will starve to death. The government's excessive grain purchase plan and the wrong practices of local governments in the process of grain requisition aggravated the famine. Other subjective and objective factors. In addition to the above main reasons, the increase of urban population and the Soviet government's policy towards the hungry people after the great famine also aggravated the famine to some extent. Socialist industrialization needs a lot of labor, many farmers flow into cities, and the urban population increases rapidly. The specific situation is: "1922, only 16% of the national (Soviet) population lives in cities. With the process of industrialization in the Soviet Union, cities expanded rapidly, and more than 60 million rural residents poured into cities. The number of rural residents entering cities is equal to the sum of the national population growth from 1926 to 1960. In less than a generation, a kind of' rural' urban life came. " [22] The rapidly expanding cities need a lot of food, while the agricultural production in the Soviet Union is very backward. The backward small-scale peasant economy of 25-26 million households cannot support the rapidly increasing urban population. Cities are almost always under the threat of hunger, and farmers' food production burden is getting heavier and heavier. After the famine in some agricultural areas, people went out to beg. [23] At that time, the Bolshevik Central Committee and the All-Soviet Agricultural People's Committee regarded this population movement as an activity against the Soviet regime encouraged by social revolutionaries and Polish meddlers, and ordered all localities to take administrative measures and repressive measures, including measures in transportation, to stop the large-scale outflow of farmers. In a central document recently published by the Russian Ministry of Security on June 5438+0933+ 10, it was mentioned that the North Caucasus, the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Production Party (Bolshevik), the Ukrainian Agricultural People's Committee, Moscow State, the black soil region in the middle and the western states should take measures in railway transportation to prevent farmers from flowing out privately. [24] The highway is also full of border guards and checkpoints. The main purpose of the Soviet regime was to block the news. In fact, when these measures were implemented, large-scale migration had already begun, so the news about famine had spread. For those who are preparing to flee from famine areas, except for some leading "counter-revolutionaries" who were punished, most of them were repatriated. However, some people still avoid the government and leave secretly, but this kind of migration sometimes ignores the climatic conditions and geographical environment, and some people die of hunger and cold on the way, which intensifies the degree of famine and death. Later, when counting the number of people who died of famine, the National Political Council and the Household Registration Office had different opinions on the number of people who moved because of famine. [25] However, on the whole, the government's measures to restrict the hungry people from going out in famine areas have made the famine more serious. In short, with the disclosure of archival materials, according to various documents, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion that the famine in the Soviet Union 1932 to 1933 was caused by many reasons: drought led to crop failure; Because of the policy of accelerating industrialization and the "rash advance" and "attacking everywhere" in the process of collectivization, rich peasants and even middle peasants are dissatisfied and destroyed; With the decrease of grain harvest, the state has neither reduced grain export plans nor reduced grain reserves, and collective farms have taken all the grain from farmers. These factors led to a "sudden famine". [26] As far as the main reason is concerned, the occurrence of famine is indeed because of "man-made disasters". Third, treat historical facts rationally and objectively: Did Stalin create famine? As the leader of the socialist Soviet Union at that time, Stalin was responsible for the famine. For example, mistakes in national planning, rashness in socialist industrialization, hasty collectivization movement, punishment for rich peasants, excessive grain reserve plans, and restrictions on hungry people going out after famine. But two questions need to be clarified here: why did Stalin and the Soviet government formulate industrialization and collectivization policies? Did Stalin plan and create famine in order to "exterminate" Ukrainians or other ethnic minorities? First of all, from the perspective of purpose and effect, some decisions made by Stalin and the Soviet government are determined by the international and domestic environment faced by the Soviet countries. Surrounded by capitalist countries, the Soviet Union stepped up socialist industrialization in the face of the world war, which decided that the country should invest its limited financial and material resources in industrial construction. Industrialization needs modern machinery and equipment, sufficient funds and technical personnel, which is difficult to achieve only by domestic forces. As Stalin said: "Russia is an economically backward country. If it does not exchange its own raw materials for western machinery and equipment, it will be difficult to organize transportation, develop industry and electrify urban and rural industries on its own. " [27] The most important task facing the Soviet government is to transform all sectors of the national economy with modern advanced technology and equipment, which requires the introduction of foreign equipment. It coincided with the economic crisis in the capitalist world. In order to pass on and get rid of the crisis, major capitalist countries have strengthened tariff protection, implemented tariff barriers and tried their best to restrict imports. In particular, these countries carry out transfer settlement in international trade, which makes the international settlement relationship deteriorate sharply and brings great difficulties to the Soviet Union's ability to pay abroad. In order to overcome the difficulties and ensure the import of a large number of machinery and equipment, the Soviet government had to do everything possible to organize the export of grain, oil, precious metals and wood. During the period of 1929- 1932, the Soviet Union exported 4.8 million tons of grain, which rose to 5.2 million tons per hour, earning 444.5 million rubles. [28] In order to ensure the grain output and export volume, the Soviet government accelerated collectivization and stepped up the purchase of grain. In some areas, in order to complete the task of purchasing grain, the authorities did not hesitate to use administrative and violent means to take away all the grain in the hands of farmers, leading to famine. In order to ensure industrialization, the collectivization movement has gone too far in the local area. It is these rude behaviors that have aroused farmers' dissatisfaction and resistance, and led to the confrontation between farmers and the government. Therefore, in the discourses of many western scholars and political critics, collectivization policy has become the direct cause of famine. In this regard, an American sociologist objectively summed up after World War II: "As long as you have a little historical vision, it is easy to see that if the Soviet Union did not implement industrialization in advance and if a large number of its farms did not realize mechanization, this country is likely to perish in World War II." [29] Alexander Zinoviev, a Stalinist critic, philosopher and historian, put it more bluntly in an interview in the mid-1980s: "Without it (collectivization), our country may collapse." [30] In fact, Stalin realized this at that time: "We are 50 to 100 years behind advanced countries. We should run the distance in ten years. Either we do this or we are defeated by the enemy. " [3 1] However, Stalin's initial expectation was to use the capitalist crisis to step up the export of grain in exchange for machinery and equipment to accelerate industrialization. This practice coincided with the agricultural drought in the Soviet Union, the reduction of grain production, and the rich peasants opposed the Soviet regime. In this case, the collectivization movement was accelerated in rural areas, and all the farmers' grain was taken away, resulting in famine in agricultural areas. But as far as the whole process is concerned, "this sudden famine was not designed by the leaders in advance, and the' rash advance' in the countryside was not caused by Stalin and others." [32] In other words, under the threat of imperialism and war, the Soviet regime must choose to accelerate industrialization, and agricultural collectivization is inevitable. When the country is not fully equipped, famine becomes the inevitable result of accelerating industrialization and collectivization. Secondly, so far, there is no evidence that Stalin created famine and committed genocide. There is no denying that Stalin did bear unshirkable responsibility for the famine caused by improper national policies, especially collectivization policies. But some scholars disagree with this statement. Karpov, the author of Marshal Stalin, thinks that at the beginning of collectivization plan, Stalin didn't want to treat farmers rudely, and he also criticized the local excesses in some articles. Then, who caused the deviation of collectivization movement? Karpov pointed out that it was Stalin's opposition Trotskyism, because "the opposition spread rumors and fabricated all kinds of appalling nonsense. It is said that everything on the collective farm is public, and even the wife needs a certificate or a card to enjoy it temporarily; Members of collective farms should sleep under a quilt; Even poultry and small animals are collectivized and so on. All this is offensive and makes people reluctant to join collective farms, which is exactly what the opposition elements want to achieve. " It is precisely because Trotskyites took ultra-revolutionary actions in their actions that they caused distrust and led to the chaos of collectivization movement. Karpov also concluded: "Today, people are used to saying that Stalin did all the excessive acts and high-handed means during the collectivization period, but the documents and facts have not proved this." . [33] In recent years, with the publication of various archival materials, more and more Russian scholars have put aside their personal feelings and evaluated Stalin's responsibility in the famine according to historical facts. Some scholars used examples to illustrate that Stalin and the Soviet government not only did not specifically organize the killing of Ukrainians, but also took some measures to reduce famine losses after the famine. [34] Some researchers acknowledged that Stalin was responsible for the famine, but denied that Stalin intended to kill farmers, and stressed that he "didn't like Stalin at all and didn't want to defend him at all". [35] "Stalin planned and created famine"-in some scholars and politicians in the west or Ukraine, this has almost become a conclusion. However, until now, no one can give a conclusive basis for this assertion. Therefore, some Ukrainian scholars put forward: "The terrible evil of the Kremlin needs instructions to be executed, and these instructions are kept in the archives. But Stalin can't leave evidence for anyone to prove why he took the famine terror. " [36] Obviously, this is just a judgment. The credibility of this judgment can be evaluated by a scholar's words: "So far, no document has been found to confirm the premeditation and plan of taking Ukrainians as a race and destroying Ukrainians with famine. Therefore, the process of making this inference (referring to the genocide of Ukrainians) includes speculation, hypothesis and suggestion. " [37] Therefore, at present, there is no sufficient factual and legal basis for Stalin to be accused of "genocide". To sum up, at least three conclusions can be drawn: First, a large-scale famine did occur in the Soviet Union during 1932- 1933, and "man-made disaster" was the main reason for the famine. No matter from the specific implementation of national policies or local governments, the famine was a profound historical lesson left by the Soviet Union during the period of socialist construction. Second, when analyzing the causes of famine, we should combine the historical environment at that time to analyze the mistakes and even mistakes of the party and the state in formulating and implementing the policies of socialist industrialization and agricultural collectivization during Stalin's period, and we should not blame Stalin for the mistakes and mistakes; Third, at least so far, there is no evidence that Stalin created famine in Russia or Ukraine to achieve the goal of exterminating Ukrainians or other ethnic groups. Scott, a British liberal journalist, once said: "Facts are sacred and explanations are free." [38] Regarding Stalin's responsibility in the Soviet Union 1932- 1933 famine, from the middle of the last century to the present, western academic circles, Ukrainian academic circles, political circles and Russian academic circles have different opinions, and the diversity of opinions truly reflects the "freedom of interpretation". However, it should be the duty and obligation of historians to respect historical facts. Speaking with "sacred facts" can really convince people. There is no evidence that Stalin murdered Ukrainians, but it is an indisputable fact that the Soviet Union achieved industrialization and became a world power. Therefore, after Gorbachev criticized and denied Stalin in the later period of his administration, and for a period of time after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, there appeared a social ideological trend of reevaluating Stalin in Russia. [39] Today's Russians miss Stalin, miss Stalin's era, and regard Stalin as a leader of a big country and a symbol of safeguarding national rights and interests. In the past year or two, the new Russian middle school history textbook approved by the Russian Ministry of Education puts forward that Stalin's approach is reasonable because he is the leader of a big country facing war. [40] This view not only reflects the social trend of thought that Russia needs leaders of powerful countries today, but also reflects the rationality of Russian historical thought. The scientific attitude towards Chinese history is to treat and evaluate historical figures rationally, put them in the historical environment at that time, and evaluate historical figures with facts instead of covering up history and distorting historical facts.