I find it so disturbing and unnerving how, in famines that occurred in the socialist world, some people were in such an extreme situation that they had to resort to eating their own family members and friends. In particular, I heard this occurred during the Great Leap Forward, and the Soviet famines of the 1920s and 1930s.
What caused this to happen?
Not to defend the anticommunists, who certainly contributed to the famine, but the causes of the 1930s famine were primarily environmental. Drought, infestations, and wheat rust had more devastating effects than the petty bourgeois terrorism.
Absolutely. I'm just in the habit of pointing out anticommunist causes due to the widespread belief that Stalin himself caused the famine.