Tuesday, 3 June 2025

 

The Holodomor—literally "death by hunger" in Ukrainian—was a catastrophic famine that occurred in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. Whether it should be classified as a genocide or a tragic famine akin to earlier premodern famines is deeply contested and depends heavily on how one interprets intent, responsibility, and historical context.

Here is a breakdown of the main arguments from both perspectives:


Holodomor as Genocide

Many scholars, several countries (including Ukraine, Canada, the U.S., and others), and the Ukrainian government argue that the Holodomor was a genocide. Their case typically rests on the following:

1. Intentional Policies

  • Stalin's regime implemented harsh grain requisition quotas that were impossible to meet, knowing this would leave Ukrainian peasants without food.

  • The Soviet government sealed borders of Ukraine and confiscated foodstuffs, preventing both escape and relief.

  • Blacklists and penalties targeted Ukrainian villages, which were often punished collectively.

  • The famine disproportionately affected ethnically Ukrainian regions, while other Soviet republics were spared the worst effects.

2. Targeting Ukrainian Identity

  • Simultaneous repression of Ukrainian intellectuals, language, and culture.

  • Some historians argue that the famine was part of a broader attempt to quash Ukrainian nationalism and resistance to collectivization.

3. Genocide Convention Criteria

  • Under the UN Genocide Convention, genocide includes acts committed with intent to destroy "in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

  • Proponents argue that Stalin’s actions meet this threshold regarding Ukrainians as a national group.


Holodomor as a Tragic Famine (but not Genocide)

Other historians, particularly those closer to post-Soviet or Marxist historiography, see the Holodomor as part of a wider set of famines caused by modernization policies, political repression, and poor governance—but not genocide per se.

1. No Explicit Orders to Exterminate Ukrainians

  • Critics argue that there is no “smoking gun” document proving that Stalin intended to exterminate Ukrainians as a group.

  • They frame the famine as a brutal but politically motivated class war, not an ethnic one—targeting kulaks (wealthier peasants), not Ukrainians as an ethnic group.

2. Similar Famines Elsewhere

  • Kazakhstan, parts of Russia, and other regions also suffered deadly famines during collectivization.

  • This suggests a broader systemic failure of Soviet agricultural policy rather than an ethnically targeted genocide.

3. Instrument of Control

  • The famine is viewed as a consequence of Stalin’s efforts to consolidate power, extract resources for industrialization, and crush resistance—without a specific genocidal intent.


Middle Ground and Scholarly Debates

  • Some scholars view the Holodomor as a politically motivated famine with genocidal elements but stop short of calling it genocide under strict legal definitions.

  • Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term genocide, considered the Holodomor an example of it, particularly as part of cultural genocide.

  • The debate often reflects broader geopolitical narratives, including tensions between Russia and Ukraine today.


Conclusion

Whether the Holodomor is classified as genocide depends on one’s interpretation of:

  • Intent (Was the suffering collateral or purposeful?),

  • Target (Were Ukrainians targeted as a national group or as part of class warfare?),

  • Comparative context (Is it unique or part of a pattern of modern famines due to totalitarian mismanagement?).

While the historical facts of mass starvation and immense suffering are undisputed, the categorization as genocide is both a legal and political judgment. Most contemporary scholars agree it was a man-made famine, with some asserting it was used deliberately to break Ukrainian resistance, while others view it as collateral to brutal industrial and agrarian policy.

If you’re exploring this topic further, I can also provide key texts and authors from both sides of the debate.

You said:

They frame the famine as a **brutal but politically motivated class war**, not an ethnic one—targeting **kulaks** (wealthier peasants), not Ukrainians as an ethnic group.

Did a disproportionate number of wealthy peasants die?
ChatGPT said:

The short answer is no—during the Holodomor, the majority of those who died were not kulaks (wealthy peasants), but rather ordinary peasants, often among the poorest and most vulnerable.

Here’s a breakdown of the historical and demographic context:


1. Kulaks Were Already Targeted Earlier

  • The Soviet regime had already largely eliminated kulaks as a class before the Holodomor.

  • The Dekulakization campaign (1929–1932) involved mass arrests, deportations, executions, and the confiscation of property. Between 1.8 and 2.5 million people were deported or otherwise repressed during this campaign.

  • By 1932, most of those classified as kulaks had been exiled, killed, or reduced to poverty. They were not the majority of the population left to suffer the famine.


2. Holodomor Victims Were Mostly Poor and Middle Peasants

  • The famine primarily hit ordinary rural Ukrainians—smallholders, landless laborers, and collective farm workers.

  • These groups had already lost control over their land and resources due to collectivization.

  • Many victims were children, the elderly, and women, who were especially vulnerable once food requisitioning took everything.


3. Famine Was Geographically and Demographically Broad

  • It disproportionately affected ethnic Ukrainian rural areas, especially in the fertile grain-producing central regions, such as Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

  • While class categories were part of the Soviet administrative framework, the famine did not discriminate strictly by class—it wiped out entire villages.

  • There is no evidence that the famine was targeted specifically at remaining kulaks, or that kulaks died in disproportionately higher numbers during 1932–33 than the general population.


4. Soviet Grain Requisition Policy Was Indiscriminate

  • The quotas demanded from Ukrainian villages were imposed regardless of local conditions, and often exceeded the total harvest.

  • Villages that failed to meet quotas were blacklisted, had all food confiscated, and were effectively blockaded.

  • These policies did not distinguish between rich and poor—they enforced mass starvation through collective punishment.


Conclusion

While the kulaks were targeted during the earlier class war phase (1929–1931), by the time of the Holodomor (1932–1933), the famine affected mostly non-kulak peasants, many of whom had already been collectivized and disempowered. The Soviet regime’s punitive policies did not require that people be rich to be punished—they simply had to be rural, Ukrainian, and not meeting impossible demands.

This is a key point in the debate over whether the famine was a class-based repression or an ethnic-national elimination strategy, and helps undermine the narrative that the famine was just a tragic side effect of class warfare.

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