I know this seems like an obvious attempt to start a struggle session, but I promise I’m asking in a good faith attempt to learn:) y’all are way smarter and better read than any group I’ve ever been a part of before tbh

I’m listening to the rev left Stalin episode and they’re discussing the holodomor. Clearly a lot of what I thought I knew is capitalist propaganda. However, there also seems to be a possible motivation here to gloss over some of the bad elements of the USSR? I also feel slight alarm bells going off at some parts but idk why really, probably bc it brings up feelings associated w Holocaust denial, even though I know they’re v different issues.

I’m kinda new to the left so I don’t feel like I have the knowledge or the critical thinking skills to tackle this issue on my own.

It seems to boil down to: did the holodomor happen? If yes, was it intentional? If no, was it avoidable?

I’m sure this discussion has happened before so feel free to just link me to stuff haha. Insight appreciated!

  • glimmer_twin [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    Was there a famine in the USSR in the 30s? Definitely. Was it a genocide planned by the Soviet state? Definitely not. Famines had happened for time immemorial under the Russian empire - nobody accuses those of being genocidal. The Dust Bowl was happening all through the 30s in the USA - due to a mix of environmental factors and bad farming methods, again, nobody accuses the US government of genocide (not in this case anyway).

    I think the same applies in the USSR. A mix of bad weather and mistakes made with farming, essentially a “run of the mill” famine. Also, the rich peasants were 100% hiding their produce and doing spiteful things like killing livestock rather than let it be collectivised.

    The effort to paint the famine as “The Holodomor”, some kind of genocide, has been a nazi project since the very start. This really ramped up after the Holocaust in an attempt by nazis to draw a false equivalence between their crimes and the USSR, and Ukrainian fascists loved spreading it too. And, as always, the capitalists were more than happy to go along with the Nazis because it studied their purposes for Cold War propaganda.

    ETA: at a bare minimum stop calling it Holodomor. Every time someone does it’s a victory for fascist propaganda.