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!

  • Burnbabylon [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Thanks so much!!! this is really great info and sources. Has anyone seen any death toll approximations out there that aren’t so blatantly false? I feel like an understanding of the actual scale of the famine would be really helpful for evaluating the Soviet response

    • darkcalling [comrade/them, she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      It's likely impossible to get good numbers. There were other things happening including a Typhus epidemic which would skew death numbers. The thing to understand is this is a region that like many regions had for centuries experienced periodic famines that killed from tens of thousands to millions, regularly, without anyone blaming anyone in particular for them. There were no large scale famines which resulted in large scale death after the Soviet Union arose from the great patriotic war (WW2). There were famines, there were problems with weather and shortages, but not the kind of large-scale death you saw before.

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        This was really the last big one right? I'd say going through it and dealing with the aftermath kept it at the forefront of everyone's mind as something to prevent in the future at all costs. The fact that not only was this famine was a natural/historical thing, but that the cycle of famine was broken after it shows that it wasn't some malicious tool of genocide, but a fuck up at preventing the forces of nature from doing what they had done for centuries.