“Famine was the mark of a maturing agricultural society, the very badge of civilization.”
–Richard Manning
Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1933. It was particularly severe in Ukraine and came about as part of Joseph Stalin’s policy of collectivisation according to which peasants were forced to relinquish their land, personal property and collective farms which were to be used for producing for the state alone. In some instances, he even ordered the deportation of Kulaks, the wealthy peasants, as well as those who resisted the policy of collectivisation. The resulted in a prop in production, the disorganisation of the rural economy and tremendous food shortages that deprived millions in Ukraine. Death rates spiked to 5 million out of which 3.9 million were Ukrainian. Police archives relay instances of cannibalism, lawlessness, theft and even lynching. Large graves were discovered and pictures of dead bodies littered on the streets were also found.