Results of Famine in the Soviet Union
Foreign Aid, Censorship, and Death Resulted from Food Scarcity
Dec 29, 2008
Millions of people perished during periods of famine in the Soviet Union, and disease, cannibalism, murder, and starvation, resulted from decreased resources. The famine of 1921-23 claimed several hundred thousand lives. Estimates of the death toll for the 1932-33 famine reach as high as 10 million. While foreign aid and media attention were generous during the 1921 famine, possibilities of outside help for victims or news reports about the famine were quashed during the famine of 1932.
Starvation During Famine
Village populations in famine-struck regions of the Soviet Union were severely decreased by starvation during periods of famine. Some villages became ghost towns, even bereft of cats, dogs, and birds – every last animal was eaten in the residents' efforts to stay alive. For those who remained alive during famine, limbs were bloated, stomachs were distended, and victims were so weak they could not remove the bodies of family members who had died. Illnesses, such as typhus and cholera, claimed many who did not die outright of starvation.
Famine and Cannibalism
The phenomenon of cannibalism swept through famine-struck regions of Russia and Ukraine. Surviving victims of famine sometimes resorted to cannibalism. They may have eaten those who had already died, captured orphaned children, or murdered enemies in order to feed themselves and their families.
Foreign Aid for Famine in the Soviet Union
During the famine of 1921, the Soviet Union permitted foreign countries to send aid to its famine victims. Herbert Hoover sent representatives from the American Relief Administration (ARA) to famine-struck regions of Russia to distribute food, medicine, seeds, and other supplies. The International Red Cross and other organizations were also a part of the relief effort of this famine. However, foreign aid was not accepted for the famine of the 1930s.
Government-Mandated Media Censorship of Famine
Though newspapers reported on famine without hesitation, the Soviet government refused to recognize the famine of 1921. In addition, important information was still withheld; people who attempted to get out of famine-struck regions were not told that train routes were blocked in an effort to contain disease epidemics. This refusal to recognize famine was taken to extremes during the famine of the 1930s. Though millions of people were suffering, the word “famine” was banned from the media. Newspapers were forbidden to report about the famine. Even individuals who spread rumors of famine could be arrested for “counterrevolutionary” behavior. Rumors of famine that made it to the West were roundly denied by the Soviet government.
Refrences
Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. 775-780.
Medvedev, Roy. Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989. 240-245.
Merridale, Catherine. Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-Century Russia. New York: Viking, 2000. 155-165.
