ThoughtGallery.org > Red Famine: Anne Applebaum with John Podhoretz

Red Famine: Anne Applebaum with John Podhoretz

Between 1931 and 1934, at least 5 million people died of hunger all across the Soviet Union. Over 3 million of them were Ukrainians. The grand humanitarian tragedy followed in the wake of Stalin’s launching in 1929 his policy of agricultural collectivization, which forced millions of peasants across the Soviet Union off of their land and onto collective farms.  The peasants resisted, producing less food, and then a drought piled on to the misery. The result was a catastrophic famine—the most lethal in European history.

Instead of sending relief, the Soviet state used the catastrophe as an opportunity to rid itself of a political problem. A series of rebellions in Ukraine had unsettled Stalin’s control over the region, and so he capitalized on the famine to eradicate the fractious peasantry and replace them with more cooperative Russian peasants. The state sealed the borders and seized all available food. Starvation set in, and people ate anything, in some cases killing one another for food.

Applebaum will speak with Commentary magazine editor John Podhoretz to detail this recently unearthed true story behind the millions of Ukrainian deaths, one not of bad policy but of deliberate murder. As the struggle between Russia and Ukraine over the latter’s independence remains in the global spotlight, this story of Stalin’s greatest, most heartless, and least known crimes against humanity takes on renewed significance.











When: Wed., Oct. 25, 2017 at 6:30 pm
Where: New York Public Library—Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
476 Fifth Ave.
917-275-6975
Price: Free, reservation recommended
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Between 1931 and 1934, at least 5 million people died of hunger all across the Soviet Union. Over 3 million of them were Ukrainians. The grand humanitarian tragedy followed in the wake of Stalin’s launching in 1929 his policy of agricultural collectivization, which forced millions of peasants across the Soviet Union off of their land and onto collective farms.  The peasants resisted, producing less food, and then a drought piled on to the misery. The result was a catastrophic famine—the most lethal in European history.

Instead of sending relief, the Soviet state used the catastrophe as an opportunity to rid itself of a political problem. A series of rebellions in Ukraine had unsettled Stalin’s control over the region, and so he capitalized on the famine to eradicate the fractious peasantry and replace them with more cooperative Russian peasants. The state sealed the borders and seized all available food. Starvation set in, and people ate anything, in some cases killing one another for food.

Applebaum will speak with Commentary magazine editor John Podhoretz to detail this recently unearthed true story behind the millions of Ukrainian deaths, one not of bad policy but of deliberate murder. As the struggle between Russia and Ukraine over the latter’s independence remains in the global spotlight, this story of Stalin’s greatest, most heartless, and least known crimes against humanity takes on renewed significance.

Buy tickets/get more info now