The famine in the Volga region is one of the most tragic events in the national history of the 20th century. When you read about it, it is hard to believe that it was in reality. The photographs taken at that time seemed to be shots from the Hollywood trash horror. There are cannibals, the future Nazi criminal, church robbers, and the great polar explorer. Alas, this is not fiction, but real events that occurred less than a century ago on the banks of the Volga.
The famine in the Volga region was very severe both in 1921-22 and in 1932-33. However, his reasons were different. In the first case, the main one was weather anomalies, and in the second - the actions of the authorities. We will describe these events in detail in this article. You will learn how cruel the famine in the Volga region was. The photos presented in this article are living evidence of a terrible tragedy.
In Soviet times, "news from the fields" was held in high esteem. Many tons of grain found their place in news program frames and newspaper strips. Even now, you can see stories on this topic on regional television channels. However, spring and winter for most residents of the city are simply obscure agricultural terms. The farmers from the television channel may complain of severe drought, heavy rainfall and other natural surprises. However, we usually remain deaf to their troubles. The presence of bread and other products today is considered an eternal fact, not subject to doubt. And agrarian disasters sometimes raise its price by only a couple of rubles. But less than a century ago, the inhabitants of the Volga region were at the epicenter of a humanitarian catastrophe. At that time, bread was worth its weight in gold. Today it is hard to imagine how severe the famine in the Volga region was.
The causes of the famine of 1921-22.
The lean year of 1920 was the first prerequisite for disaster. Only about 20 million pounds of grain were collected in the Volga region. For comparison, its amount in 1913 reached 146.4 million pounds. Unprecedented drought brought spring of 1921. Already in May, winter bread died in the Samara province, spring began to dry out. The appearance of locusts, which ate the remains of the crop, as well as the absence of rain, caused the death of almost 100% of the crops by early July. As a result, famine began in the Volga region. The year 1921 was very difficult for most residents of many parts of the country. In the Samara province, for example, about 85% of the population was starving.
In the previous year, as a result of the “surplus appraisal,” almost all food supplies were seized from the peasants. The kulaks were seized by requisition, on a "free" basis. Other residents were paid money at the rates established by the state. The food detachments were in charge of this process. Many farmers did not like the prospect of the seizure of food or its forced sale. And they began to take preventive "measures." All stocks and surpluses of bread were subject to "utilization" - they sold it to speculators, mixed animals with food, ate themselves, brewed moonshine on its basis or simply hid it. "Food Survey" initially spread to grain fodder and bread. In 1919-20, meat and potatoes were added to them, and by the end of 1920 - almost all agricultural products. The peasants after the surplus appraisal of 1920 in the autumn were forced to eat seed grain. The geography of the regions affected by the famine was very wide. This is the Volga region (from Udmurtia to the Caspian Sea), the south of modern Ukraine, part of Kazakhstan, the Southern Urals.
Actions of the authorities
The current situation was critical. The USSR government did not have food reserves in order to stop the famine in the Volga 1921. In July of this year, it was decided to ask for help from the capitalist countries. However, the bourgeois were in no hurry to help the Soviet Union. Only in the beginning of autumn did the first humanitarian aid arrive. But she was insignificant. In late 1921 - early 1922, the amount of humanitarian aid doubled. This is a great merit of Fridtjof Nansen, a famous scientist and polar explorer who organized an active campaign.
Help America and Europe
While Western politicians pondered what conditions the USSR would put forward in return for humanitarian aid, the religious and social organizations of America and Europe set to work. Their assistance in the fight against hunger was very great. The activities of the American Assistance Administration (ARA) have reached particularly large proportions. It was led by Herbert Hoover, US Secretary of Commerce (by the way, an ardent anti-communist). According to estimates, on February 9, 1922, the United States' contribution to the fight against hunger was estimated at $ 42 million. For comparison, the Soviet government spent only $ 12.5 million.
Activities carried out in 1921-22
However, the Bolsheviks were not inactive. A decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets in June 1921 was organized by the Central Committee Pomgol. This commission was given special powers in the field of distribution and supply of food. And similar commissions were created on the ground. Active purchase of bread was carried out abroad. Special attention was paid to helping peasants in sowing winter crops in 1921 and spring crops in 1922. About 55 million pounds of seeds were purchased for these purposes.
Soviet power used hunger to deliver a crushing blow to the church. On January 2, 1922, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to liquidate church property. At the same time, a good goal was declared - funds from the sale of church property should be used to purchase medicines, food and other necessary goods. During 1922, property was seized from the church, the value of which was estimated at 4.5 million gold rubles. It was a huge amount. However, only 20-30% of the funds were allocated for the stated goals. The main part was "spent" to kindle the fire of the world revolution. And the other is simply stolen by local officials in the process of storage, transportation and seizure.
The horrors of famine 1921-22.
About 5 million people died from hunger and its consequences. Four times increased mortality in the Samara region, reaching 13%. Most of all, children suffered from hunger. There were often cases when parents deliberately got rid of excess mouths. There was even cannibalism during the famine in the Volga region. Surviving children became orphans and replenished the army of street children. In the villages of Samara, Saratov, and especially Simbirsk province, residents attacked local councils. They demanded to give them rations. People ate all the cattle, and then set to cats and dogs, and even people. Hunger in the Volga region forced people to go to desperate measures. Cannibalism was just one of them. People sold all their property for a piece of bread.
Prices during the famine
At that time, the house could be purchased with a bucket of sauerkraut. Residents of the cities were selling property for nothing and at least somehow held on. However, in villages the situation became critical. Food prices skyrocketed. The famine in the Volga region (1921-1922) led to the fact that speculation began to flourish. In February 1922, in the Simbirsk market, a pound of bread could be purchased for 1200 rubles. And by March they asked for a million for him. The cost of potatoes reached 800 thousand rubles. for pood. At the same time, the annual earnings of a simple worker amounted to about a thousand rubles.
Cannibalism during the famine in the Volga region
In 1922, reports of cannibalism began to arrive in the capital with increasing frequency. The January 20 reports mentioned his cases in the Simbirsk and Samara provinces, as well as in Bashkiria. It was observed everywhere where there was a famine in the Volga region. The cannibalism of 1921 began to gain new momentum the following year, 1922. The newspaper "Pravda" on January 27 wrote that in starving areas there is a general cannibalism. In the districts of the Samara province, people, driven by hunger to madness and despair, ate human corpses and devoured their dead children. This is what famine in the Volga region led to.
Cannibalism of 1921 and 1922 was documented. For example, in the report of a member of the Volspolkom on April 13, 1922 on the inspection of the village of Lyubimovka, located in the Samara region, it was noted that "wild cannibalism" takes mass forms in Lyubimovka. In the stove of one resident, he found a cooked piece of human flesh, and in the hallway - a pot of minced meat. Near the porch were found many bones. When asked about where she got her flesh, she admitted that her 8-year-old son had died and she cut him to pieces. Then she killed her 15-year-old daughter while the girl was sleeping. The cannibals of the famine in the Volga region in 1921 admitted that they did not even remember the taste of human meat, since they ate it in a state of unconsciousness.
The newspaper "Our Life" reported that in the villages of the Simbirsk province on the streets are corpses that no one removes. The lives of many people were carried away by famine in the Volga 1921. Cannibalism was the only way out for many. It got to the point that residents began to steal from each other the stocks of human meat, and in some volosts they dug up the dead for food. Cannibalism during the famine in the Volga 1921-22 no one was surprised.
The consequences of the famine of 1921-22.
In the spring of 1922, according to the GPU, there were 3.5 million starving people in Samara province, 2 million in Saratov, 1.2 in Simbirsk, 651.7 thousand in Tsaritsynskaya, 329.7 thousand in Penza, 2.1 million - in the Tatar Republic, 800 thousand - in Chuvashia, 330 thousand - in the German commune. In the Simbirsk province, only towards the end of 1923 the famine was over. The province for the autumn sowing received help with food and seeds, although until 1924 surrogate bread remained the main food of the peasants. According to a census conducted in 1926, the province's population has declined by about 300 thousand people since 1921. Typhoid and starvation killed 170 thousand, 80 thousand were evacuated and about 50 thousand fled. In the Volga region, according to conservative estimates, 5 million people died.
Famine in the Volga region 1932-1933
In the years 1932-33. hunger repeated. Note that the history of its occurrence in this period is still covered in darkness and perverted. Despite the huge amount of published literature, debates about him continue to this day. It is known that in 1932-33. in the Volga, Kuban and Ukraine there was no drought. What then are its reasons? Indeed, in Russia, traditionally, famine was associated with grain shortages and droughts. Weather in 1931-32 was not very favorable for farming. However, she could not cause a massive shortage of bread. Therefore, this famine was not the result of natural disasters. It was a consequence of the agrarian policy pursued by Stalin and the reaction of the peasantry to it.
Hunger in the Volga region: reasons
The immediate cause can be considered the anti-peasant policy of grain procurement and collectivization. It was carried out to solve the problems of strengthening the power of Stalin and the forced industrialization of the USSR. Ukraine, as well as the main grain regions of the Soviet Union, the zone of continuous collectivization, was struck by famine (1933). The Volga region again experienced a terrible tragedy.
Having carefully studied the sources, one can note a single mechanism for creating a hunger in these areas. Everywhere it is violent collectivization, dispossession, forced procurement of bread and state deliveries of agricultural products, suppression of peasant resistance. The inextricable link between hunger and collectivization can be judged even by the fact that in 1930 the period of stable development of the village that came after the famine of 1924–25 ceased. The food shortage was already marked in 1930, when continuous collectivization was carried out . In a number of regions of the North Caucasus, Ukraine, Siberia, the Middle and Lower Volga, food difficulties arose due to the campaign for the harvesting of bread in 1929. This campaign has become a catalyst for the collective farm movement.
1931, it would seem, was supposed to become well-fed for grain growers, since a record crop was harvested in the grain regions of the USSR due to favorable weather conditions. According to official figures, this is 835.4 million centners, although in reality - no more than 772 million. However, it turned out differently. Winter-spring 1931 was a harbinger of a future tragedy.
The famine in the Volga 1932 was the logical result of the policy pursued by Stalin. Many letters of collective farmers in the North Caucasus, Volga region and other regions about the difficult situation were received by the editorial office of the central newspapers. In these letters, the policy of collectivization and grain procurement was called the main causes of difficulties. Moreover, responsibility was often assigned to Stalin personally. The Stalin collective farms, as shown by the experience of the first 2 years of collectivization, were essentially in no way connected with the interests of the peasants. The authorities considered them mainly as a source of marketable bread and other agricultural products. At the same time, the interests of farmers were not taken into account.
Under pressure from the Center, local authorities scooped up all available bread from individual farms and collective farms. Through the "conveyor method" of harvesting, as well as counter plans and other measures, strict control over the crop was established. Activists and disgruntled peasants were ruthlessly repressed: they were expelled, dispossessed, and put on trial. The initiative came from the top leadership and from Stalin personally. Thus, from the very top there was pressure on the village.
Peasant migration to cities
The large-scale migration to the cities of the peasant population, its youngest and most healthy representatives, also significantly weakened the production potential of the village in 1932. People left the villages at first out of fear of the threat of dispossession, and then collective farms began to leave in search of a better share. In the winter of 1931/32 Due to the difficult food situation, the flight of the most active part of the individual farmers and collective farmers to the cities and to work began. First of all, this concerned men of working age.
Mass exits from collective farms
Most of the collective farmers sought to get out of them and return to sole management. The first half of 1932 saw the peak of mass exits. At this time in the RSFSR, the number of collectivized farms decreased by 1370.8 thousand.
The Blown Sowing and Harvesting Campaign of 1932
By the beginning of the sowing in the spring of 1932, the village turned out to be undermined by animal husbandry and a difficult food situation. Therefore, this campaign could not be carried out on time and efficiently for objective reasons. Also in 1932 it was not possible to harvest at least half of the grown crop. A large grain deficit in the USSR after the end of this year's harvesting and grain procurement campaign arose due to both subjective and objective circumstances. The latter include the consequences of collectivization already mentioned above. First, the resistance of the peasants to collectivization and grain procurements became subjective, and secondly, the policy of repression and grain procurements carried out by Stalin in the village.
The horrors of hunger
The main granaries of the USSR were seized by hunger, which was accompanied by all its horrors. The situation of 1921-22 was repeated: the cannibals of the famine in the Volga region, countless deaths, huge prices for food. Numerous documents paint a terrible picture of the suffering of many villagers. In cereal regions subject to continuous collectivization, the epicenters of hunger concentrated. The situation of the population in them was approximately equally difficult. This can be judged by data from the OGPU reports, eyewitness accounts, closed correspondence with the Center for Local Authorities, and reports from the MTS political departments.
In particular, it was established that in the Volga region in 1933, the following settlements located on the territory of the Lower Volga Region were almost completely depopulated: the village of Stary Grivki, the village of Ivlevka, and the collective farm named after Sverdlov. Cases of corpse eating, as well as burials of victims of hunger in common pits in the villages of Penza, Saratov, Volgograd and Samara regions were identified. This was observed, as is known, in Ukraine, the Kuban and the Don.
Actions of the authorities
At the same time, the actions of the Stalin regime in overcoming the crisis boiled down to the fact that residents who were in the zone of hunger were allocated significant seed and food loans, with Stalin’s personal consent. Export of grain from the country by decision of the Politburo in April 1933 was stopped. In addition, emergency measures were taken to strengthen the collective farms from the point of view of organizational and economic with the help of the political departments of MTS. The grain procurement planning system in 1933 changed: fixed delivery rates began to be set from above.
Today it is proved that the Stalinist leadership in 1932-33. kept silent about hunger. It continued to export bread abroad and ignore attempts by the public of the whole world to help the population of the USSR. Acknowledging the fact of hunger would mean recognizing the collapse of the country's modernization model chosen by Stalin. And this was unrealistic in conditions of strengthening the regime and defeating the opposition. However, even within the framework of the policy chosen by the regime, Stalin had the opportunity to mitigate the scale of the tragedy. According to D. Penner, he could hypothetically take advantage of the normalization of relations with the United States and purchase surplus food from them at cheap prices. This step could be regarded as evidence of the goodwill of the United States towards the Soviet Union. The act of recognition could “cover” the political and ideological costs of the USSR if it agreed to accept America’s help. In addition, American farmers would benefit from this step.
Memory of the victims
At the Assembly of the Council of Europe on April 29, 2010, a resolution was adopted on honoring the memory of the country's inhabitants who died in 1932-33. due to hunger. This document says that this situation was created by "deliberate" and "cruel" actions and policies of the regime of that time.
In 2009, the "Memorial to the victims of famines in Ukraine" was opened in Kiev. In this museum, in the Hall of Remembrance, the Book of Memory of the Victims in 19 volumes is presented. It recorded 880 thousand names of people who died of hunger. And these are only those whose death today is documented. N. A. Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, May 31, 2012 in Astana opened a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Holodomor.