Fitzpatrick, Sheila., ed. Stalinism: New Directions. Rewriting History Series, edited by Jack

R. Censor, Number 10. London: Routledge, 2000. xii + 377 pp. Glossary, Further Reading List, Index. ISBN: 041515233X (hbk) 0415152348 (pbk.).

A revisionist version of Stalinist history written by a selection of historians, who, according to Fitzpatrick grew up post-Cold War, and wrote under the influence of “theorists Foucault, Deraida, Habernas, and Bourdieu” (1).

A particularly interesting chapter is:

“Fashioning the Stalinist Soul” The Diary of Stepan Podlubnyi, 1931-9,” by Jochen Hellbeck (77-116), describing the morphing of a man from being the son of a repressed kulak to the ‘ideal Soviet man.’ Many points made in this Diary will remind readers of Pavel Morozov. Hellbeck’s citations provide leads to material for an investigation of denunciation, and of the sycophants who were so common in Stalinist USSR.

Fitzpatrick, Sheila. Stalin’s Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after

Collectivization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. xi + 386. Glossary,

Chronology (October 26, 1917-April 20, 1940), Bibliographic Source Notes, Abbreviation of Fequently Cited Titles, Notes, Index. ISNB: 0-19-506982-X.

Fitzpatrick addresses Russian peasantry, “despite the oft-varying “experience of collectivization and the cultural construction of the kolkhoz in different regions. . . ” that she states, “lie beyond my scope in this book” (18).

Pertinent chapters are:

“Collectivization,” states that the peasants perceived the Soviet government as worse and more innately responsible than that of the Tsar during earlier agricultural crises

(48-80)

“Exodus” (80-102)

“Second Serfdom” (128-151)

“Malice” including aspects of denunciation (233-261)

“The Mice and the Cat” referring to Russian folkloric association regarding Stalin and the peasantry (286-312)

Golkin, Arline T. Famine: A Heritage of Hunger: A Guide to Issues and References. Guides

to Contemporary Issues Series, edited by Richard Dean Burns, No. 6. Claremont, California: Regina Books, 1987. ISBN: 0-941690-21-0. viii + 168 pp. Maps.

Worldwide Famine Chronology (xi-xiii) dated from Biblical references of Famine in Genesis, and Egyptian Famine circa 3500 B. C. (earliest known written record of a famine)-1986 A. D. Each chapter is endnoted, selected bibliography by subject matter.

Golkin notes that famine is not usually a natural phenomenon, but the result of political decisions/reasons/policies, as was the case during Soviet collectivization and the resulting Holodomor. Significant chapters of this book deal with the universal features of famine regardless of location. Particularly Chapter VII, “Hunger and the Decline to Famine” (101-116). This chapter deals with malnutrition, undernutrition, starvation, and the various accompanying diseases and epidemics.

The Selected Bibliography includes items pertaining to world famine problems, government aid programs, affects of climate and ecology, intervention, case studies, reference works, historical famines, dictionaries, and reports.

Hadzewycz, Roma, George B. Zarycky, and Marta Kolomayets, ed. The Great Famine:

The Unknown Holocaust: In Solemn Observance of the 50^th Anniversary of the

Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33. Compiled and edited by the Editors of the Ukrainian Weekly. Jersey City, New Jersey: Ukrainian National Association, 1983. v + 88pp.

Foreword by Omeljan Pritsak. Black-and-white Photographic Illustrations, News Clippings.

Contains the following articles:

“The Man-made Famine of 1932-33: What Happened and Why,” James

Mace

“America’s Red Decade,” Myron B. Kuropas

“Malcolm Muggeridge on Stalin’s Famine: ‘Deliberate’ and ‘Diabolical

Starvation,” Marco Carynnyk

Eyewitness Recollections

Survivor’s Accounts

From The Black Deeds of the Kremlin: A White Book: hogs fed; people ate the grain supplied to feed these animals (58). Hiding grain, and possession of the grinding apparatus of various types forbidden (58-60). Slaughterhouse of children in Poltava (60). Doctors forbidden to list starvation as cause of death (62). Machine-gunning of starving who were trying to reach grain stockpiles—697 killed (64).

Chart:

Starvation from forbidden travel to find food (70).

Press Accounts

Transport of food on train forbidden by law without a license (78).

Dissidents on the Famine:

Leonid Plyushch, “Parcels of food to Ukraine were frequently sent back” (83).

Petro Grigorenko notes a Communist victim of Purges felt he deserved no sympathy, but that his death was a “just retribution for his activities in the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party in Stanislav against the people” (84-85).

Ukrainian Herald of Kharkhiv, and Kyiv

Dead Famine victims cleaned away, so not seen by foreigners (86).

Includes Editor’s Note:

To “break the will of a nationally conscious Ukrainian peasantry and to finance rapid industrialization, the Soviet regime under Stalin ordered the expropriation of all foodstuffs and grain in the hands of the rural population.”

The Foreword discusses the rise of Ukrainianism before the Famine years, including

advances in international recognition of Ukrainian arts, sciences, language, as well as their status as an independent nation. This flowering period was followed by the destruction of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, including writers, and the blind kobzari, the bards of Ukrainian folk memory and history.

“To Be Remembered,” James E. Mace.

Famine compared to Cambodia—communist “reign of terror on the population designed to utterly destroy the nation as it had hitherto existed so that a new regime might recreate it in its own image” (9).

Issues of the history of the 1920’s: the “White Terror,” the Bolshevik conquest, and the question of “banditry,” or “freedom-fighter” lead into the discussion of the rise and fall of Ukrainianization. The OGPU, and the development of its a system of “snitches” is explained (25). On December 27, 1929, it was decided that the “liquidation of kulaks” and expropriation were goals to be achieved. On January 5 and 30, 1930, this was legalized by the Central Committee.

Starvation of Kazakhs taught lesson of famine as a political weapon (29). Effectiveness of blacklisting villages. A woman selling human body parts freed by NKVD “instead of taking action against her, they burst out laughing, ‘What? You killed a kulak? Good for you!’ and they let her go’” (32).

Russians sent to repopulate villages had additional rations (36).

Charts:

Comparing Ukrainian and Russian collectivization.

Population of USSR, of Russians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, 1926 and 1939

Shows USSR population as a whole + 15.7%; Russians + 28.0%;

Byleorussians +11.3%; Ukrainians – 9.990%

“America’s Red Decade,” by Myron Kuropas addresses these issues:

The perception held in the United States of life in the Soviet Union was one of “sexual equality, birth control, progressive ideas of education, Esperanto” (40). Leftist press apologists carried forth the illusion of the Soviet way of life as a forward-looking one of great modernity (43-44). Despite protests, President Franklin D. Roosevelt extended diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union on November 16, 1933.

“Malcolm Muggeridge on Stalin’s Famine,” by Marco Carynnyk puts the Famine

death toll in clearly understandable numbers: “25,000 per day, 1,000 per hour, 17 per minute” (46). Interview of Muggeridge regarding his personal experiences, perceptions, and observations based on his independent journey through famine areas in Ukraine.

Asking about British liberal opinion, Carynnyk sought clarification: “You are implying that the liberal intelligentsia did not simply overlook the regime’s brutality, but actually admired and liked it.” Muggeridge replied, “Yes, I’m saying that, although they wouldn’t have admitted it, perhaps even to themselves” (51). The capitalist reasoning was, “You never get any labor trouble” (51).

Haliy, Mykola. Organized Famine in Ukraine, 1932-33. Chicago: Ukrainian Research and

Information Institute, Inc., 1963. vi + 48 pp. Periodical index, Map, Index of Quoted Authors, Recommended Reading. LCCN: 71-28100. Published in Ukrainian in 1968, Orhanizovanyi holod v Ukraini 1932-1933, LCCN: 79-371939

Includes quotes from world journalism, and official Soviet denial (30). The contrast between the guided tours given foreign dignitaries compared to what they would have seen in open unrestricted travel. Executions and deportations are detailed. A typical famine meal described.

Haliy quotes Khruschev, “The Ukrainians avoided meeting this fate only because there were too many of them and there was no place to deport them,” (8). Men were taken away and/or killed, so only women and children were left behind to survive as best and if they could.

Grain losses in 1932, as noted in Soviet press (25). The blockading of villages (26); taxes; espionage; and snitching (26-27).

The plight of children, especially those of the peasantry noted regarding the availability and questionable survivability of Soviet children’s homes. “There was no place for the children of ordinary peasants” (11).

Death toll ordered altered, and cause of death not to be written on death certificates as, “starvation,” but attributed to “other causes” (43).

Bibliography (45-46) recommends:

The Anti-Stalin Campaign and International Communism: A Selection of Documents

The Naked Rise of Communism, by F. L. Kluckhohn

A Socialist’s Faith, by N. L. Thomas

Verdict of Three Decades from the Literature of Individual Revolt Against Soviet Communism, 1917-1950

Holubnychy, Vsevolod. The Industrial Output of the Ukraine, 1913-1956: A Statistical

Analysis. Munich: Institute for the Study of the USSR, 1957. xx + 64. Includes errata notation. English and Ukrainian. LCCN: 58-23837.

Authorial Introduction mentions that statistical data is most complete for the years 1920-1928. “The period between 1929 and 1938 is covered by very few statistical handbooks, most of which are seriously incomplete or designed purely for propaganda (2). He includes a description of his sources and methodology (54-63).

The Famine years are included in as much detail as possible.

For the years 1913-1939, he defines the borders of the Ukrainian SSR as of January 1, 1939, “excluding Western Ukraine and Crimea, but including Moldavia” (2). Entries are clearly marked with full source notations. Subject matter:

“Heavy Industry” (6-38)

“Light Industry and Food Industry” (39-47)

“Consumer Goods Industry” (48-53)

“Industrial Output of the Ukraine Together with the Crimea” (53)

Hryshko, Wasyl. The Ukrainian Holocaust. Edited and Translated by Marco Carynnyk.

Toronto: Bahriany Foundation, SUZHERO (Soyuz ukrains'kykh zhertv rosiys'koho komunistychnoho teroru Ukrainian Assoc. of Victims of Russian Communist Terror)

, and DOBRUS (The Democratic Organization of Ukrainians Fomerly Persecuted by the Soviet Regime in U.S.A), 1983. Notes, Select Bibliography. viii + 165 pp. LCCN: 84-149667.

Part One: “The Origins of Soviet Genocide,” focuses on the anti-national, anti-peasant aspects of Marxism/Leninism/Stalinism in the Soviet Union, specifically leveled against Ukrainians, but also against other national groups that were persecuted for ethnic/cultural reasons (1-68).

Part Two: “The Ukrainian Holocaust of 1933,” points out the power of dehumanization when such terms as “kulak,” “sub-kulak,” “class enemies,” etc. were applied. This section includes testimonies.

Chapter Six contains the historical perspective, and socio-political aspects.

The poem, “The Cross,” by Mykola Rudenko, translated by Simon Starow is included on pages (134-143).

Katz, Zev, Rosemarie Rogers, and Frederic T. Harned, ed. Handbook of Major Soviet

Nationalities. London: The Free Press, 1975. xvii + 481 pp. Notes, Appendix. Charts, Reference Lists, Index. ISBN: 0029170907; LCCN: 74-10458.

This book is helpful for developing an understanding of Ukraine’s position in the “Nationalities Question” in the USSR as a whole, and in comparison with the other Soviet nationalities and ethnic groups. The Famine years are mentioned, but this book is a better resource for evaluating the issue as a matter of the long-term effects of the tragedy as perceived in later years.

“Comparative Tables for the Major Soviet Nationalities” (Appendix, 435-466).

Khelemendik-Kokot, Antonia. Kolkhoz Childhood and German Slavery. Translation of

Kolhospne dytynstvo i nimets’ka nevolia. Ukraine, 1993.

iii + 239. Black-and-white Photographs, Maps. LC: HC340.19.F3.

The author provides historical background dating from her early childhood pre-collectivization through the Famine years, World War II, culminating with descriptions of her time spent as an Ost-arbieter in Germany, the repatriation, and her eventual emigration to the West.

The attempts of teachers to get information from children about hidden stores of food are discussed (21-22). She mentions the price-gouging that took place (48-49); the plagues of lice and other insects (58-59); and the fact that livestock were killed because there was no fodder for them (62).

Kolasky, John. Education in Soviet Ukraine: A Study in Discrimination and Russification.

Toronto: Peter Martin Assoc., 1968. ix + 238 pp. Tables, Photo-Documents from later years showing continuity of de-Ukrainianization, Glossary, Appendices, Bibliography, Index, LCCN: 68-19628.

Chapters bearing upon the subject of de-Ukrainianization and lack of opportunity due to dekulakization:

“Lenin and the National Question” (1-9)

“The National Question in Ukraine from Stalin to Kruschov (sic)” (10-25)

Details the de-Ukrainianization of education, also noting, “about a quarter of the peasantry, who starved to death in the Famine of 1932-33, which was caused by forced appropriation of all grain…” (20).