Joseph Stalin and Terror Famine

The Ukrainian famine—known as the Holodomor, a combination of the Ukrainian words for “starvation” and “to inflict death”—by one estimate claimed the lives of 3.9 million people, about 13 percent of the population. And, unlike other famines in history caused by blight or drought, this was caused when a dictator. “The Ukrainian famine was a clear case of a man-made famine,” explains Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and author of the 2018 book, Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine. He describes it as “a hybrid…of a famine caused by calamitous social-economic policies and one aimed at a particular population for repression or punishment.” In those days, Ukraine—a Texas-sized nation along the Black Sea to the west of Russia—was a part of the Soviet Union, then ruled by Stalin.

Patrick Kiger, historian, Holodomor, Historychannel.com, 2019

Describe ONE event in Europe prior to 1932 that would cause Joseph Stalin to begin his policies in Ukraine.

Explain ONE economic policy of Joseph Stalin that caused the Holodomor.

Explain ONE political element of Joseph Stalin’s government that affected Holodomor.