A Study On The Great Ukrainian Famine Of 1932-1933

The famine is one of the three sources of human tragedy, and it is an extremely inharmonious episode in the course of development of human society. As one of the three famines in Soviet Union times, the great famine of 1932-1933 deserved our full attention. It was not only because the government of Soviet Union long concealed the truth, but also because Ukraine, famous as"European granary", was the most severely damaged area. The great Ukrainian famine was an inevitable and distressing topic in the history of Soviet Union. But at present the study on this subject was very weak in China. So the author of this paper gathered data with great efforts, reviewed the whole course of beginning, developing and subsiding, analyzed and discussed the main cause, consequences and effects of the famine, and gave his own views on the nature and the death toll which were the two focuses of the argument among all parties concerned.The historical background to the great Ukrainian famine was that Soviet Union carried out the strategy of national industrialization.The natural disaster, agriculture all-over collectivization and liquidating rich peasantry resulted in the failure of crops for two successive years of 1931-1932.And the peasantry paid a high price for the industrialization, which we can learn from the defect of the planned economy of Soviet Union, neglecting the peasantry's right to existence and development and taking away too much grain from the peasants.Moreover, the government's fault was concealing the information of famine and not relieving the famine victims with all its strength. This historical tragedy led to widespread loss of life in Ukraine and great changes in the structure of the population and the society. Furthermore, because Ukraine persisted in using the famine as a strong weapon to attack Stalin's power in course of struggling for independence and going into the western societies, today's Ukrainian-Russian relations were seriously affected and the gap between the two nations was deepened.As to the death toll, there was a considerable disagreement. The statement that Ukraine had lost a population of 4 million to 5 million coincides with the historical facts. As for the nature of the famine, the statement of"genocide"was lack of convincing evidence if we consider the areas, victims of the famine, or the relief measures the government had taken. The famine provided a profound lesson for the economic construction and social development of the socialist country.