The deportations started in 1930 and sparked off numerous rebellions. These rebellions were brutally suppressed by the Soviet police. When it became clear that the peasants and the government were effectively at war, the peasants responded by slaughtering their animals (26 million cattle and 15 million horses) and destroying what grain they had. This confirmed in the mind of Stalin what he had long thought– that the peasants could not be trusted and that they had to be killed off or forced to obey Stalin. By December 1931, famine spread throughout the Soviet Union. Stalin had done nothing to help its starving people. In fact, on June 6th, 1932, Stalin ordered that the government should let the peasants starve rather than act to help them. Stalin refused to recognize the enormity of what he was doing. When he was challenged at one meeting to tell the truth, he told his accuser to become a writer so that he could continue writing fables. He even accused the head of the Bolsheviks in the Ukraine of being soft on peasants when he asked Stalin to provide his troops with more grain as they were starving. Throughout the whole era of the famine there is no evidence that Stalin was willing to change his policy by any degree. He even introduced the Misappropriation of Socialist Property Law– this stated that anyone caught stealing just one husk of grain was to be shot. Internal travel within the USSR was made all but impossible as the government had total control over the issuing of internal passports that were needed to travel. No one will ever know for sure how many died. However, it is generally accepted that within the Ukraine between 4 and 5 million peasants died. Over 5 million households were affected either by deportation, prison or executions. Life Under Stalin Stalin’s totalitarian rule revolutionized Soviet society. He relied on total control and limited individual freedoms. Women’s roles, however, were greatly expanded. With the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, women won equal rights. After Stalin became dictator, women helped the state-controlled economy prosper. Under his Five-Year Plans, many women had no choice but to join the
The deportations started in 1930 and sparked off numerous rebellions. These rebellions were brutally suppressed by the Soviet police. When it became clear that the peasants and the government were effectively at war, the peasants responded by slaughtering their animals (26 million cattle and 15 million horses) and destroying what grain they had. This confirmed in the mind of Stalin what he had long thought– that the peasants could not be trusted and that they had to be killed off or forced to obey Stalin. By December 1931, famine spread throughout the Soviet Union. Stalin had done nothing to help its starving people. In fact, on June 6th, 1932, Stalin ordered that the government should let the peasants starve rather than act to help them. Stalin refused to recognize the enormity of what he was doing. When he was challenged at one meeting to tell the truth, he told his accuser to become a writer so that he could continue writing fables. He even accused the head of the Bolsheviks in the Ukraine of being soft on peasants when he asked Stalin to provide his troops with more grain as they were starving. Throughout the whole era of the famine there is no evidence that Stalin was willing to change his policy by any degree. He even introduced the Misappropriation of Socialist Property Law– this stated that anyone caught stealing just one husk of grain was to be shot. Internal travel within the USSR was made all but impossible as the government had total control over the issuing of internal passports that were needed to travel. No one will ever know for sure how many died. However, it is generally accepted that within the Ukraine between 4 and 5 million peasants died. Over 5 million households were affected either by deportation, prison or executions. Life Under Stalin Stalin’s totalitarian rule revolutionized Soviet society. He relied on total control and limited individual freedoms. Women’s roles, however, were greatly expanded. With the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, women won equal rights. After Stalin became dictator, women helped the state-controlled economy prosper. Under his Five-Year Plans, many women had no choice but to join the
USSR%20Under%20Stalin.docx