Every year on the fourth Saturday of November, Ukraine commemorates the victims of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 and the mass artificial famines of 1921–1923 and 1946–1947. In 2024, this day falls on November 23. This year, for the third time, we commemorate the victims of communist genocide in the context of the Russian Federation’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
Is it worth remembering and talking about the Holodomor today, in the context of the ongoing war? Absolutely yes. Not only is it worth it, but it is also necessary!
The Holodomor of 1932–1933 was the first genocide on Ukrainian lands in the tragic 20th century. According to various estimates, its victims ranged from 4 to 7 million inhabitants of Ukrainian villages and cities. The memory of the crime of the Soviet totalitarian state, on the one hand, was carefully hidden and distorted by the communist regime itself, and on the other, it continued to weigh with an often-unconscious trauma on all residents of Ukraine – on those who directly suffered from the Holodomor, and on their descendants.
The mechanism that led to the Holodomor was put into effect in Moscow by the then leaders of the Communist Party. In January 1928, total control of the state and the party was increasing, the regime introduced forced grain procurement. Most or all the grain grown was taken from farms. At the same time, the liquidation of the most prosperous farms began. These actions by the authorities caused mass protests and uprisings. However, despite this, by October 1931, 68% of peasant farms had become collectivized, effectively state-owned. In the summer of 1932, due to growing resistance, Stalin and his entourage decided to organize an artificial famine so as not to “lose Ukraine.” Ukraine was being forced to knowingly unrealistic grain procurement plans.
On August 7, 1932, the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR “On the Protection of Property of State Enterprises, Collective Farms and Cooperatives for the Strengthening of Social (Socialist) Property” was issued, known among the people as the law “on five ears of corn”. Five months after the adoption of the law, about 55,000 people had already been convicted under its articles. Of these, more than 2,000 were sentenced to death. Even children who tried to find at least some foods were punished.
In November 1932, detachments were organized to search for and confiscate grain, other products, and livestock from private farms. The “blackboard” regime was introduced. Putting a settlement or district on the “blackboard” led to its complete blockade, special repressive measures, and this threatened the complete destruction of its inhabitants. In June 1933, the death rate from famine in Ukraine reached its peak. According to demographers, from 800 thousand to over 1 million people died that month.
During the famine, the totalitarian government not only did not stop the forced seizure of food, but also rejected aid from abroad and threw all its forces into isolating the starving regions. The army and NKVD units surrounded Ukrainian cities and railway stations, because the peasants tried to escape from starvation by fleeing. Villagers were forbidden to travel to other regions of the USSR. Bread was confiscated and sold to other countries for currency, which was used to purchase machines and other equipment for industrial enterprises.
To destroy Ukrainians as a nation is the goal of the organizers of the Holodomor. To permanently eliminate the language, culture, history, everything that makes us unique in this world. That is why it was on such a scale – millions of people were killed.
On November 28, 2006, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law “On the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine.” According to Article 1, “The Holodomor is recognized as genocide of the Ukrainian people.” Article 2 states that “public denial of the Holodomor is recognized as an insult to the memory of millions of victims, a humiliation of the dignity of the Ukrainian people, and is unlawful.”
As of October 2024, the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine was recognized as an act of genocide at the parliamentary level by 28 states.
Today, a terrorist country is trying to wipe us, our cities and villages off the face of the earth. Times have changed, the enemy is the same. We must remember to stand and win.
Iryna Piskareva