Red Famine

This is a difficult book to review. Not because it is hard to read, but because of the information given. This book is a history of state sponsored genocide (broadly defined) and famine. It covers some of the reasons for the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

The Holodomor (as it is known) is little known in the West. The reason for this is because of the lack of information at the time (early and mid-1930s) and the cover-up by both the Soviet government as well as Western politicians and media who wanted to side with the Soviets against Hitler, admired the new communist government, or just did not want to be involved.

The scars are so deep that the results are still being shown today. The Ukrainians government is corrupt and the institutions are not trusted. The Russians still re-write history to lessen or negate any blame they might fall under. Many of their institutions are direct descendants of those that carried out the orders and atrocities against the people of Ukraine. Sides are still polarized and might be for generations to come.

The Soviets/Bolsheviks were a minority of the Russian people that came to power through violence and propaganda. They maintained that power through violence and propaganda. Ukraine was one who suffered, probably more than most during this time. To push forward their agenda (the Soviet ideology and their collectivization program) the people were stripped of their belongings (farm equipment, farm animals, seeds), their institutions (government and religious), and later (as the famine spread) their food. All this was done as the Soviet Union exported grain and other food stuff to other parts of the world as their own people starved

This books paints a very vivid picture of death by starvation from adult to young children. It also tells of the disposal of the dead that resulted from the strict ideological beliefs of those in charge. Anyone who voiced displeasure of what was happening was labeled subversive or enemy of the state and was imprisoned or killed. The lucky ones seemed to have been killed quickly. The unlucky ones seemed to have slowly starved.

This is a time of history that should be remembered. Even though it is hard to face. The more we know, hopefully the less likely we are to repeat it.