Russian Famine And American Hoover Relief (1921-1923)

Russian serious famine in 1921 is one of important events in the history of Russia in the 20th century. Although historians at home and abroad have paid attention to this problem, few carried out systematic research on it. Starting from the relief of American Relief Administration (ARA) to Russian serious famine in 1921, this paper tries to thoroughly and systematically study the reasons why this famine appeared, the specific situations ,its historical status, the function of American relief to it, the aim of American relief and the influence this relief had on Russian-American relationship.The basic ideas of this paper are the followings. The occurrence of the famine was the outcome of the historical inevitability and contingency. The application of the New Economic Policy was the most important factor to get rid of this famine. American aid also played an important role in it. Based on common interests, with hostility in heart, the cooperation between the two countries showed a more general meaning, that is , the ideological difference is not necessaring a main factor causing international conflicts. This paper is mainly divided into four parts.The first part is about the reasons why the famine appeared and analysis on its background. Several Agriculture reform in Russia didn't deal with properly the relationship between people and land, which was the essential reason why the famine occurred. The Bolshevik party did not stop the execution of the military communism policy in time which aggravated the degree of the famine. The natural disaster is only an accidental factor.The second part is about the causes of Russian-American cooperation and Riga negotiation. Russia realized that it could not get rid of the famine without support from other countries and it could not confine itself in the cage of ideology. The reasons why America offered help were: alleviating the sale pressure of agricultural products, striving for the American citizens who were jailed in Russian, humanitarianism and anti- Bolshevik thought. The two countries solved the biggest disagreement in negotiation, that is ARA' s action independency. The final result was that soviet government obtained superintendence to ARA action, made ARA assure neutrality, and ARA had a good chance to contact widely hungry Russians victims.The third part is about the process of the relief. The members of ARA offered food and medical treatment to Russian children, and relief developed quickly from central...