Holodomor
•Historical Outline (2)
•Citizenship & Identity (20)
•Ukrainian Nationalism (22)
•Soviet and Russian Nationalism (37)
•Foreign Policy (46)
•Globalization (48)
•Liberalism (50)
•Historical Controversy (56)
Historical Outline
Russian Empire
• late to industrialization
• late to democratic reform
• citizens lacked rights enjoyed by most Europeans
Russian Empire
Czar Nicholas II
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Russia not prepared for WWI
problems on the front
food riots broke out in the cities
forced to abdicate in early 1917
Bolsheviks and Lenin
• overthrow provisional
government and take
control in November 1917
Civil War
• fighting takes place across the country against many
groups opposed to Bolsheviks
• Bolsheviks ultimately win and consolidate power
War Communism and Famine
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no private property,
nationalization of all industry,
rationing of food
government monopoly on foreign trade.
War Communism & severe drought lead to
10 million deaths
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR)
• created in 1922
• Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
(Ukrainian SSR) was one of the
founding Republics
New Economic Policy
• introduced by Lenin to rejuvenate the
economy
• embraced by many in Ukraine
Joseph Stalin
• ruled the Soviet Union 1928 1953
• rejected the NEP
• Stalinism was characterized
by terror and totalitarian rule
Five Year Plans
• organized the economy
• peasants forced to give up land and join
collective farms
• goal was to quickly industrialize
• needed to sell grain to buy parts
Peasants Reject
Collectivization
• many burn their crops and livestock
rather than hand them over
Kulaks
• Kulaks were the most
successful farmers under the
New Economic Policy
• Bolsheviks knew they would
be the strongest opponents of
collectivization
• They were 'eliminated' as a
social class
Attack on Peasants
• those resisting collectivization are
persecuted
• Kulaks are arrested, exiled, sent to
prison, tortured or killed
Great Depression
1930s
• hardship around the world
• wheat prices to drop
• lower prices affected the
first Five Year Plan
• government increased
quotas
Food Becomes State
Property
• On August 7, 1932 a law came
into force that stipulated that
all food was state property
• peasants unable to meet
quotas were stripped of all
foodstuffs
Starving Peasants
• forbidden to take food
from the field
• forbidden to flee the
region or leave the
country
• shot for looking for food
Ukrainian Cities
• also saw famine as
rations were cut off to
many parts of the
country
• urban workers were
encouraged to see
themselves as the
leaders the revolution
Death By Famine
• By 1933, 25,000 were starving
to death per day. Diseases
were spreading
• incidents of cannibalism
• almost no one outside
Ukrainian SSR knew
Citizenship and Identity
Citizenship
and Identity
Ukrainian Nationalism
Kieven Rus’
• first Eastern Slavic state, Kievan
Rus’
• late 9th to mid 13th centuries
Cossacks
• large influence on Ukrainian
culture
• Bohdan Khmelnytsky was a
famous Cossack who tried to
unite Ukrainians
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Taras Shevchenko
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a writer and artist who lived in the 1800s
helped form Ukrainian national consciousness
inspired revival of Ukrainian culture.
called for more autonomy for the regions
served time in jail for his beliefs.
Today he has become an almost iconic figure
Divided People
• Prior to World War I, the area that is
now Ukrainian Republic was divided
between the Russian and AustroHungarian Empires
• Successor States after the war did
not include Ukraine
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR)
• created in 1922
• Ukrainian Soviet Socialist
Republic (Ukrainian SSR) was
one of the founding Republics
The Polish–Ukrainian War
• 1918 and 1919
• played a role in the development of
Ukrainian nationalism
• Ukraine was defeated
• deepened feelings of patriotism
• Eastern Galicia later became part of
Ukrainian SSR and remains a part of
the Ukrainian Republic today.
Expressions of
Ukrainian
National Culture
• were allowed under the
policy of Korenization
until 1930
Ukrainian National Orthodox
Church
• important national symbol for
Ukrainians
• Created in the 1920s
• Allowed to flourish to
undermine Russian Orthodox
Church
Stalin reverses
Korenization
• state identifies Ukrainian
bourgeois nationalism as
major problem
End of the Soviet Union
• Fifteen new countries created when
Soviet Union disbanded at the end of 1991
• Ukraine becomes independent nationstate
Challenges of
Independence
• Orange Revolution in 2004-2005
Relationship to Russia
• Ukrainians struggle to
define their relationship
with Russia
Ukraine Today
• Orthodox Christianity
• Eastern Catholicism
• Both important influence on
culture
Ukrainian Cultural
Practices
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food preparation
embroidery
weaving
songs
stories
lace-making
pysanky
dance
music
"Razom nas bahato, nas ne
podolaty"
Russian and Soviet
Nationalism/Ultra
Nationalism and Ukraine
What is Ultranationalism?
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authoritarian organizations/governments
anti-immigrant
scapegoating
indoctrination
propaganda
Russian Empire
• Romanov Dynasty
• Orthodox Church
• Russification promoted
Russian Culture throughout
the empire
Russian
Empire
Communism and Internationalism
• the new Soviet government was united by
ideology not ethnicity
Communism as basis
for National Identity
• Bolsheviks though communism
would spread around the world
Sovietization
• led to Russians taking
important positions
• elimination of any
threats to government
Ukraine and Russia
• a challenging relationship
Ukrainian SSR
• lacked power
• lacked influence
Foreign Policy
• the actions a nation takes in relation to other
nation-states or international organizations
The Holodomor and
Foreign Policy
• What policies should Canada and/or
the international community have
changed?
• Could actions have been taken to
prevent or lessen the effects of the
Holodomor?
• What principles should we follow in
creating our foreign policies?
• Does humanitarianism trump national
sovereignty in the international
system?
• Is there a point at which the
international community should
intervene in the affairs of another
country?
• Who should make these decisions?
Globalization
Globalization
• the process by
which the world’s
citizens are
becoming
increasingly
connected and
interdependent
• Bolsheviks tried to
increase
connectivity &
interdependence
among people of
the Soviet Union
Principles of Liberalism
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freedom
equal rights
liberal democracy
liberal democracy
free and fair elections
human rights
capitalism
free trade
freedom of religion
Classical Liberalism and Russia
• Russia was slow to embrace
liberal ideas and principles
Russia and Liberalism
• Russians have never been exposed to liberal principles for a
long period
• Many Russians demanded a move toward liberal principles
after the 1905 uprising
Totalitarian Communism
• rejection of liberalism
To what extent should the government be
involved in the economy?
Communism
• government control of the
means of production
Historical
Controversy
• Was the Soviet government
intent on destroying Ukrainian
nationalism?
• Should the victims of the
Holodomor be seen as primarily
Ukrainians or as peasants?
• How many people actually died
in Ukraine during the
Holodomor?
• How many people died in other
Soviet Republics during this
time due to collectivization?
• What motivated the decisions
of the central government /
Stalin?
Consensus
• a famine occurred in
Ukraine between 1932-33
• the primary cause was
forced collectivization
• most of the victims were
ethnic Ukrainian
Genocide
• the deliberate and systematic
destruction, in whole or in part,
of an ethnic, Race (classification
of humans), religious,
or national group
Raphael Lemkin
• developed and promoted
concept of genocide
The Holodomor
Was a Genocide
Was Not a Genocide
•government’s attack on political,
cultural and religious elites
•the government’s destruction of
the Ukrainian churches
•policies aimed specifically at Ukraine
that removed foodstuffs from
starving peasants
•the dispersion of Ukrainians to other
parts of the Soviet Union
•huge influx of Russians to Ukrainian
SSR
•government’s stated policy of
elimination of the Kulaks as a social
class and the categorization of so
many Ukrainians as Kulaks
•millions of non-Ukrainian Soviet
citizens also died during the famine
•disregard for the lives of the people
in the pursuit of economic goals
•Soviet Union saw such tremendous
loss of life in its first 30 years due to
the totalitarianism and the
Holodomor is best interpreted as part
of this
•Stalin alone is believed to be
responsible for at least 20 million
Soviet citizens – some estimates go
as high as 60 million
Recognition of the Holodomor
• 2006 - Ukrainian parliament pass law
recognizing Holodomor as genocide
• 2008 European Parliament recognizes
Holodomor as crime against humanity