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Deadly socialism shown by holodomor famine
One hundred years after the communist revolution of 1917, and how quickly we forget the horrors of the past.
A case in point is the third of millennials who support socialism, according to a recent survey from Harvard. These young people may not have forgotten just how bad such a centrally planned society is, probably because they never knew. But that’s OK because a recently published book should help enlighten them.
Anne Applebaum’s Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine describes in gruesome detail the plight of Ukrainians under the Soviet system starting in 1917. She then takes us through the 1920s to the famine of 1933 when an estimated 4.5 million, or more than one in 10 of Ukraine’s population, died directly and indirectly as a result of the catastrophe. Most of the deaths from the famine of 1933 came in the first half of the year, according to research cited in the book.
Some of those who perished did so as they grabbed ears of wheat from the fields and then tried to nourish themselves only to die because their bodies were too weak.
If it weren’t for the socialist influence, the famine might never have happened. Ukraine has long been notable for its startlingly fertile soil and even now has an outsized impact on global grain markets, exporting wheat, corn and sunflower products, to name a few. It is one of the world’s top grain exporters.
What happened is simple: The Soviets took over the running of agriculture and not only failed in their efforts to grow food but also made things worse. First, they set prices of foodstuffs too low for farmers to want to sow grain. Second, they exported what grain there was to secure much-needed foreign currency.
The result was starvation of millions.
Not content with killing people, the socialists then lied about it. In fact, the very idea that communism as an economic system had failed to feed its people was something that was never to be spoken on pain of a long prison sentence.
The book doesn’t dwell on it, but Ukraine then suffered an invasion by the Germans a few years later.
To me, Applebaum’s book also shows that lying, cheating, and corruption (however you define it) are endemic to communism, or collectivism, as it is to any system that favors people for anything other than their abilities to do their job.
This book is a must-read for anyone who doesn’t know the monstrous history of central planning.
For those who find reading too tricky, maybe the darkly comic movie The Death of Stalin would get the point across. Anyone who remembers just how evil Stalin’s regime was, may not find it too funny, but everyone can understand from the movie the wickedness of the system.
www.google.com
One hundred years after the communist revolution of 1917, and how quickly we forget the horrors of the past.
A case in point is the third of millennials who support socialism, according to a recent survey from Harvard. These young people may not have forgotten just how bad such a centrally planned society is, probably because they never knew. But that’s OK because a recently published book should help enlighten them.
Anne Applebaum’s Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine describes in gruesome detail the plight of Ukrainians under the Soviet system starting in 1917. She then takes us through the 1920s to the famine of 1933 when an estimated 4.5 million, or more than one in 10 of Ukraine’s population, died directly and indirectly as a result of the catastrophe. Most of the deaths from the famine of 1933 came in the first half of the year, according to research cited in the book.
Some of those who perished did so as they grabbed ears of wheat from the fields and then tried to nourish themselves only to die because their bodies were too weak.
If it weren’t for the socialist influence, the famine might never have happened. Ukraine has long been notable for its startlingly fertile soil and even now has an outsized impact on global grain markets, exporting wheat, corn and sunflower products, to name a few. It is one of the world’s top grain exporters.
What happened is simple: The Soviets took over the running of agriculture and not only failed in their efforts to grow food but also made things worse. First, they set prices of foodstuffs too low for farmers to want to sow grain. Second, they exported what grain there was to secure much-needed foreign currency.
The result was starvation of millions.
Not content with killing people, the socialists then lied about it. In fact, the very idea that communism as an economic system had failed to feed its people was something that was never to be spoken on pain of a long prison sentence.
The book doesn’t dwell on it, but Ukraine then suffered an invasion by the Germans a few years later.
To me, Applebaum’s book also shows that lying, cheating, and corruption (however you define it) are endemic to communism, or collectivism, as it is to any system that favors people for anything other than their abilities to do their job.
This book is a must-read for anyone who doesn’t know the monstrous history of central planning.
For those who find reading too tricky, maybe the darkly comic movie The Death of Stalin would get the point across. Anyone who remembers just how evil Stalin’s regime was, may not find it too funny, but everyone can understand from the movie the wickedness of the system.
Ukraine's Famine Shows Deadly Socialism At Its Core
A new book sheds light on the harsh realities of communism.
www.google.com
