Perhaps the most interesting thing in journalistic practice is to debunk myths. Meticulous and merciless. When it turns out to reveal some socially significant lie, then you rejoice like a child, again and again checking the reliability of all the facts you have accumulated. This time I was interested in an extremely controversial and even scandalous topic in modern society - the tragedy in Ukraine in 1932-33. Together with a professional researcher of the Soviet era, historian Ivan Chigirin, who disinterestedly helped me to comprehend the secrets of archival work and provided the materials he had obtained over the past seven years, I managed to find previously unknown documentary data that could shed light on the events of those years. It was not possible to answer the main question: how did famine arise in the republic and who is to blame for it. However, using the originals of archival documents, one can come to the unequivocal conclusion that both the Soviet government and Stalin personally did everything possible to prevent famine in Ukraine. Even to the detriment of other regions of the Union.
Everybody in the house
The myth, in which most modern people blindly believe and even voiced by many politicians, is that the famine in Ukraine in 1932-33 was artificially provoked by the government of the USSR. Allegedly, the industrialization of the country was then carried out at the expense of the mass sale abroad of grain and other food raw materials. However, anyone can be convinced of the falsity of this statement, if he is not too lazy to look at the reports of the Conference of Wheat Exporting Countries, held from 21 to 25 August 1933 in London. Exporters strictly controlled the observance of mutual agreements, therefore, the figures given are beyond doubt. With the export rate set for the USSR at 50 million bushels (1 bushel = 28.6 kg), only 17 million were exported in 1932. For this, a scandal was literally arranged for the Soviet delegation with the demand to immediately restore supplies in accordance with the obligations assumed. But the obligations were never fulfilled. Compared to the previous year, wheat exports have significantly decreased and, according to the London conference, amounted to 486,200 tons. If in 1931 the USSR supplied only 714 tons of flour through Turkey and Egypt, Palestine and to the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, then in 1932 and later for three years such deliveries were not carried out at all.
On the contrary, it was in 1932 that our country, for the first time in its history, became one of the world's largest importers of food products and agricultural raw materials. In connection with the poor harvest, which took place both in the USSR and in most European countries, urgent measures were taken. Agreements were signed with Persia (present-day Iran) for the supply of grain and rice. If the import of bread in grain in 1931 amounted to 172 tons, then only in 1932, in addition to other food products, 138, 3 thousand tons of bread and 66, 9 thousand tons of rice were imported to the Union. In 1931, 22.6 thousand heads of cattle and 48.7 thousand heads of small livestock were purchased in Turkey, and in 1932 these figures increased to 53.3 (2, 4 times) and to 186, 2 thousand, respectively..heads (3, 8 times). In total, in 1932, the USSR purchased 147.2 thousand head of cattle and 1.1 million small livestock abroad, as well as 9.3 thousand tons of meat and meat products (an increase in comparison with 1931 by 4.8 times).
Bread
Ukraine, on the other hand, was in a special position for the Soviet government. In 1932, according to both the State Statistics Committee of the Ukrainian SSR (declassified in 2001) and the official statistical reference book "Socialist Construction of the USSR (1933-1938)", the gross harvest of grain crops amounted to 146,571 thousand.centners. According to the rules in force at that time, collective farms and individual farmers had to sell a third of the harvest to the state at a fixed price. Considering that the population of the Ukrainian SSR was 31, 9 million people, the remaining grain was enough for 839 g per day for each inhabitant. This was even more than the norm established in Germany (700 g). But the Stalinist government decided to increase this figure as well.
From the decision of the Politburo of January 7, 1933: “65/45 - on the grain procurement plan: 1. To reduce the grain procurement plan from the 1932 harvest by 28 million poods. 2. In accordance with paragraph 1 of the resolution, to approve as final, subject to unconditional and full implementation, the annual grain procurement plan (without garnets): … Ukraine - 280 million poods. We consider: according to data from several (including Ukrainian) sources, the gross harvest of grain crops in 1932 amounted to 146,571 thousand centners, roughly - 916 million poods. Subtract the plan - 280 million poods. It turns out that 636 million remain for food. We divide this number by the population of 31,901,400 people (as of 1933-01-01) and by the number of days in a year. We get 873. At that time, many developed countries of Europe would have envied such a bread supply.
The year 1933 is even more interesting. Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) No. 129 of January 10, 1933 for the Ukrainian SSR for 1933 set a plan of 256 million poods of grain (including 232 collective farms and 24 individual farmers). A separate item added another 9, 5 million. The total figure of the plan of grain delivery was 265, 5 million poods (42 480 thousand centners). The gross harvest of grain amounted to 222 965 thousand centners. Taking into account the plan for 1933, 180,485 thousand remained in the republic. The population as of January 1, 1934 was 30,051, 1 thousand people. In per capita terms, the figure for a well-to-do fist is generally obtained - 1.6 kg per day. That's almost 2 kg of baked bread! What hunger, comrades?
In terms of the provision of mechanized agricultural equipment, Ukraine ranked first among all the republics of the Union and was one of the five in Europe, because both tractors and other agricultural machines were supplied there on a priority basis in accordance with the resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Of the 102 machine and tractor stations (MTS) organized in the USSR in 1929, 34 were created in Ukraine. In 1932, 445 MTS worked there, and in 1933 there were already 606 MTS. In 1933 alone, the agriculture of the Ukrainian SSR received 15,000 tractors, 2,500 combines, and 5,000 complex machines. Note that none of the republics of the Union received such a large amount of agricultural machinery from the center. Even virgin Kazakhstan received much less. As of June 1, 1932, the MTS of Ukraine had 18,208 tractors, and as of January 1, 1934 - 51,309. And this is for processing 19.8 million hectares!
Meat
As of February 1, 1932, the total number of livestock in Ukraine amounted to 13,533 thousand heads, including 4257,7 thousand from peasants and individual farms. It is noteworthy that four months later, by June 1, 1932, the total number of livestock increased by 250 thousand. This indicates a sufficient supply of livestock with fodder, the absence of epidemics and diseases, which not only excluded the death of animals, but also contributed to the increase in the herd. It turns out a strange situation: the cattle were fed, and they themselves were dying of hunger? What dedication!
However, in this case, Moscow also reduced the norms for the delivery of meat to the Ukrainian SSR relative to other republics of the country. So, God forbid, brotherly Ukraine is not deprived. When the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of the republic issued a decree on the delivery of meat in accordance with the plan, the center decided to cancel it and proposed to lower the rate. Item 48/35 of 29 IV.1933 “On the resolution of the Central Committee of the CP (b) U on the delivery of meat. Propose to the Central Committee of the CP (b) U to abolish its resolution of April 3, 1933 on the procedure for the mandatory delivery of meat. (For whom it is interesting: RGASPI, fund 17, inventory 3, delo 922, sheet 12.) But, despite all the measures, an acute shortage of food among the population of Ukraine still arose. Therefore, the number of cattle began to decline. From February 1, 1932 to July 1, 1933 - by 1226 thousand heads. Yes, they ate it. But the question arises: if you really were starving, why didn't you eat more?
The harvest was good, and in Ukraine already in July 1933 grain deliveries were fulfilled by 87%, and in August - by 194.8%! The plan was almost twice overfulfilled. First Secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party (b) U M. M. Khatayevich reported to the 17th Party Congress: “Comrade Stalin yesterday absolutely correctly, with the greatest acuteness, raised the question of animal husbandry. In our region, only the last 4-5 months are designated as months of change, as months of a noticeable turn in the direction of the rise of livestock … as of January 1, 1934, 155 thousand pigs. The pig population has almost doubled in five months.” This and many hundreds of other documents clearly show that things in the Dnipropetrovsk region were going well. Yes, the number of animals was decreasing because they were simply being eaten. In a year and a half, only 130 thousand pigs were eaten. region from starvation died 179,098 people? Some kind of paradox.
A fish
To provide the Ukrainian SSR with fish by 1932, four republican trusts were organized in the Azov-Black Sea basin: Crimean, Azov-Black Sea, Azov-Donetsk and Ukrainian-Black Sea. At that time they were very well equipped. So, for example, only the Ukrainian-Black Sea trust had at its disposal, not counting hundreds of sailing and sailing-rowing vessels, 415 motor vessels (including 350 in the mining fleet and 65 in the service fleet). 9893 people worked in various divisions of the trust (as of 1933-01-01). And in the Ukrainian newspaper "The Voice of Rybaka" No. 34 dated May 18, 1932, there was data on how much money fishermen received for a centner of fish caught (in rubles): herring - 8, roach - 7, large part - 7, red fish - 40, caviar - 300. For comparison: even the fishermen of developed Italy in terms of Soviet currency were content with 25-30% lower fees. At the same time, in 1932, all fishery products remained in Ukraine. The Ukrainian People's Commissariat for Supply prohibited Ukrrybsbyt from concluding an agreement with Glavryba, arguing that Ukrrybtrest is a republican one and therefore everything caught should be distributed according to the orders of Ukrnarkomsnab. And the Soviet center did not object to this state of affairs. Let them eat all the fish themselves, if only everything is safe in the republic. After all, this is our western outpost.
According to the surviving reports of the Ukrrybtrest, in 1932 and 1933, 4336.6 thousand centners, or more than 433 thousand tons of fish were caught in Ukraine. It was processed in artels and collective farms and was supplied both fresh and frozen, as well as smoked, salted and canned. For example, the Azov-Donetsk Fish Trust in 1933 produced 5285 thousand conventional cans of canned fish. At the trust warehouses in Mariupol on January 1, 1933 (just in the hungry winter), due to disruptions in transport, 1,336 centners were not exported, and on 1934-01-01 - 1902 centners of finished products. Moreover, from Donetsk, where people were starving, to the warehouse a little more than 100 km. How can this be understood ?!
Evgeny Shvedko, who at that time worked as the chairman of the village council of the town of Bezymyanny, said: “… And in the 30s there was nowhere to put fish. One artel of Bezymyanny in 1933 handed over to the state almost 1000 poods of valuable sturgeon breeds - 16 tons. Each sturgeon walked under 2 meters, and the beluga even more. Could dying peasants have raised such a catch from the sea, and, having picked it up, die of hunger? Understand, no one denies the tragedy of the Holodomor. But why lie and falsify? Why, for example, were the family from our village burned down in the hut and all our fishermen who died at sea recorded as the "famine" victims?!.. This is a lie!"
How is it "And in the 30s there was nowhere to put the fish" when the starving Donetsk region was nearby? It is only 114 km from Donetsk to the coast of the Sea of Azov. It turns out that the fish was not transported on purpose? Moreover, coal was delivered to seaports by rail, and there were not enough wagons to take the fish back? Fantastic, isn't it? It is worth recalling that in the Donetsk region in the same 1933, 119 thousand people died.
The Soviet government sought to provide the Ukrainian population with even delicious seafood. The meeting in the Glavryba on November 17, 1932 made the following decision: “… 2. The Ukrainian and Crimean fish trusts should immediately begin the extraction and processing of secondary seafood, allocate the necessary number of floating units for fishing … … 6. Ukrrybtrest, simultaneously with the extraction of edible mollusks, to deploy shrimp and sea grass in the Odessa-Skaddovsk region. 7. The above-mentioned trusts should work out the issue of using oyster and mussel shells, as well as small shrimps for feed meal …"
In addition, Chernomorzverprom worked in Ukraine, which was engaged in the extraction of dolphins, prickly sharks (katrana), beluga, sturgeon. In 1932, he harvested 56 163 dolphins, and in 1933 - 52 885. Of these, the Sevastopol Salot Plant produced technical and medical fat, which, by the way, was supplied to the pharmacy chain of Ukraine. For example, 1040 kg of fish oil was supplied to Vinnitsa, and 424 kg to the pharmacies of Kherson. In total, Chernomorzverprom caught in 1932 2003 tons, and in 1933 - 2249.5 tons of fish and sea animals. There was also industrial fishing in the areas of "small" fishing (ponds, lakes, rivers), which amounted to 23,770 tons in Ukraine in 1932, and in 1933 - 20,100 tons of fish. And all these nutritious products remained in the republic, and in a number of cases they even organized fish deliveries there from other regions. Here is an interesting decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b): “p. 82/69 of May 8, 1933 - “On fish supply for Ukraine and the Central Black Earth Region. "To offer the People's Commissariat of Education to release in the second quarter 1,500 tons of fish for collective farmers working on weeding, breaking through and sharovka beets, of which - 1,200 tons in Ukraine and 300 tons in the Central Black Earth Region."
Deliveries from the Center
For those who are especially curious, I will immediately indicate the path: Special folders of the Politburo, which reflect the entire course of supplies to Ukraine, are in the RGASPI, in fund 17, inventory 162, storage units 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.
The volume of grain crops alone supplied from the Center at the expense of the regions and territories of the USSR engulfed in famine to Ukraine only from March 19, 1932 to July 4, 1933, is more than 1 million tons. Including: for seeds 497, 98 (including 64, 7 thousand tons for fodder) and for food 541, 64 thousand tons. This is not counting food, equipment and fodder, the supply of which was regulated by special orders of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. It is interesting to analyze the data of budgetary projections of those times. The income part of the budget of Ukraine in 1933 amounted to 1,033.4 million rubles with expenditures of 1,021.5 million. Unlike all previous and subsequent years, in 1933 Ukraine did not transfer a single kopeck to the all-union budget, and the subsidy to the republic from the all-union budget was 21, 1 million rubles.
For comparison: Belarus transferred 0.3 million rubles to the country's budget in 1933. The sown area in Belarus for grain crops in 1933 occupied 2.48 million hectares, in Ukraine - 19, 86. Tractor fleet of the BSSR as of 01.01.1934 was 3, 2 thousand units, in Ukraine - 51, 3 thousand units. With the sown area eight times smaller than in Ukraine, the number of tractors was 16 times less, that is, twice the large areas were cultivated with a horse plow. But money was transferred to the general budget regularly.
The conclusion is unambiguous: the amount of grain that was collected in the Ukrainian SSR, not even counting the one sent from the Center, the number of herds of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, as well as fish products, is quite enough to adequately feed the population of Ukraine in 1932-33. Where did this hunger come from at all? I would like to add: Hello! Garage!
Working with archives of original documents of the Stalinist era dragged me in, like playing DOOM 2 in my childhood. I wanted to dig further and deeper. I came across such "tasty" circulars, saturated with a particle of the author's soul, that I, if I had my way, would have cited all of them in the article. Here is one of them. "No. 231-28ss dated 17. VI.1933. I ask the Politburo to approve the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on the release of 7 million from the reserve fund of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR. rubles for the costs of maintaining children's institutions in 1933 in connection with the need to expand their network. V. Molotov. "Per". Stalin, Kaganovich, Andreev, Kuibyshev, Ordzhonikidze, Voroshilov. " Wow: expanding the network of expensive children's institutions during the period of total hunger! By the way, the number of schoolchildren, which the state provided with food and proper living conditions, increased by 1,096,141 in Ukraine during the worst time (1932-33). And this, as we understand it, is not due to population growth. That is, the socio-economic situation of Ukrainian children improved during this period. Also at the expense of the Center.
Another interesting fact: it turns out that in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 there was a large branched network of resorts. It was funny to read the reports and testimonies of people about it. For example, "a memorandum on the state of resorts in 1933 and the prospects for the development of the industry in the second five-year period." In 1933, the number of bed-months was 80 387, the number in fact: sanatorium patients - 66 979 people and attached "on the course" - 12 373 people. From the report: "… A significant failure to comply with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars is due to the fact that the collective farm organizations, despite a number of requirements of Ukrkurupr and other organizations, did not master the kurmes allocated to them." Although the expenditure part of the budget for sanatoriums in 1933 amounted to 20, 258 million rubles, including 10, 275 million for food. corpses, and 10% (almost 7 thousand) of the resort places already paid for (and, accordingly, provided with food) by the state have not been developed!
Mortality in the Ukrainian SSR
According to declassified data from the TsUNKhU of the State Planning Committee of the USSR, compiled on the basis of certificates from the UNKhU of the Ukrainian SSR, the decline in the population of Ukraine in 1932 from all causes (including death under the age of 1 year, old age and from external causes, including from hunger) was 668, 2 thousand. human. In 1933 - 1850, 3 thousand people. And the average mortality rate in the period from 1927 to 1937 (excluding 1932 and 1933), with an average population of 31.9 million, was 456.6 thousand. Let us compare: in Ukraine, 782 died from all causes in a quite prosperous 2005 thousand with a population of 47, 1 million people. The figures are quite comparable.
The number of patients with life-threatening infectious diseases in the republic in 1933 (in thousands of people) was: typhoid fever - 50, 4, typhus - 65, 6, measles - 89, whooping cough - 46, 8, dysentery - 30, 5, diphtheria - 21, 1, malaria - 767, 2. In total, 1,082 thousand people suffered from these diseases. According to the Ministry of Health of the Ukrainian SSR, mortality from infectious diseases accounted for 25.6% of total mortality, or 250.1 thousand people. I will cite an excerpt from a memorandum of the Dnipropetrovsk regional department of the GPU dated March 5, 1933 to the chairman of the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR Balitsky: "In the Novovasilyevsky district, high mortality refers to a large extent to mass diseases of tropical malaria, which took the form of a mass epidemic with a large number of deaths." Note that after the revolution, an economic blockade was declared in our country, and quinine, which was used to treat malaria, was among the goods prohibited for supply. Soviet health care throughout the Union was free, and the indicators for the provision of the population with medical services were among the highest in Europe (even in those difficult times), but the health care system was physically unable to respond so quickly to the sudden epidemic of malaria that hit most regions of the USSR.
In books, films and TV shows, you can often find the statement that people were held in their places of permanent residence. Not a single authentic document has confirmed this fact. In 1931, 1.212 million people arrived in 21 cities of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1932, in 18 cities - 962.5 thousand, in 1933 in 21 cities - 790.3 thousand, in 1934 in 71 cities - 2, 676 million. There were many visitors from Russia. For example, refugees from the Volga region came to Zaporozhye in search of food, where there was a severe crop failure.
About representativeness of data
In cities and villages, all acts of civil status (birth, death, marriages, divorces) were drawn up by the registry office. In the villages, their functions were performed by village councils.
An example of their conscientious work is the presence of very detailed figures on marriages concluded in the hungry year, 1933. This information is presented not only for each region of Ukraine, but also for each quarter and month separately for cities and villages. In total, 229,571 marriages were concluded in the Ukrainian SSR in 1933, of which 70,799 in cities and 158,772 in villages. Since we are talking about weddings, we will ask only one question: "Did they do without the traditional crowded feast?" Every day in the settlements of Ukraine, an average of 629 marriages were registered. Of these, 194 weddings took place in cities, and more than twice as many in the countryside - 435 weddings a day. How can this knowledge be reconciled with evidence of widespread hunger?
These data, the same as for mortality, were received by the UNHU of Ukraine from the same inspectors and sent to the Center, and there is no reason not to believe them.
Cheating Moscow
In November 1933, Ukrainian party leaders reported to Moscow about the unprecedented successes of republican agriculture.
“The Central Committee of the CPSU (b) - comrade. Stalin, comrade Kaganovich, Council of People's Commissars of the USSR - Comrade. Molotov
… the Ukrainian party organization … ahead of schedule and completely by November 6, completed the bread-giving in all cultures and in all sectors. In this victory, the decisive role was played by the enormous help provided by the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the Union to collective farms and individual farmers of Ukraine in the spring of 1933 with seeds, food and fodder, as well as a huge number of tractors, cars, combines and other agricultural machines. This victory was the result of the Bolshevik struggle of the Ukrainian party organization … for the implementation in practice of the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) - to take the agriculture of Ukraine from a breakthrough state to the forefront. Kosior, Postyshev, Chubar.
Such cheerful reports sounded against the background of unprecedented mortality in the republic. And in order to confuse the traces, throughout 1932 and 1933, the Ukrainian party organization was engaged in endless reorganizations of the administrative division of the republic. In 1932, 41 districts were divided into 492 districts, which were subordinated directly to the leadership of the republic (what a sick brain could think of this!), Then, in the very famine, in 1933, districts were collected into eight regions. And in order to make it absolutely impossible to make out anything at all, it was during the period of the most severe famine in 1933 that the transfer of the capital of Ukraine from Kharkov to Kiev was started. From a speech at the 17th Congress of S. Kosior: “Comrade Stalin, then, before the liquidation of the districts, we were warned that we would not be able to cope with the leadership of such a large number of regions as in Ukraine and that it would not be better to create regions in Ukraine. We then essentially dissuaded this proposal from Comrade Stalin, assured the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) that we ourselves - the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) U - would cope with the leadership of the regions without the regions, and this caused great harm to the cause …"
Theft and sabotage
Here I will not argue and give assessments, but I will just give a few documents without comments.
"Resolution No. 364 of the Bureau of the Soviet Control Commission" On the illegal spending and squandering of funds by the NKJust of the Ukrainian SSR"
The Commission of Soviet Control established that the People's Commissariat of Justice and the Prosecutor's Office of the Ukrainian SSR, represented by their responsible workers, illegally spent, squandered and used for self-supply from March 1933 to April 1934 - 1202 thousand rubles … For comparison, this is four (!) times more funds transferred by the Byelorussian SSR to the all-Union budget in 1933.
From the minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Presidium of the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Collegium of the NK RFKI USSR: “15L / 1-33. About the squandering of products and raw materials at the confectionery factory. Karl Marx in Kiev. The Presidium of the Central Control Commission of the CPSU (b) and the Collegium of the NK RFKI USSR note that the leadership of the confectionery factory named after Karl Marx … for 1932 and 1933 it allowed a massive waste of finished products (in 1932, 300 thousand poods of confectionery for 20 million rubles) …"
“From the memorandum of the Economic Department of the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) U Comrade. Kosioru dated December 10, 1932.
… In the Odessa region. revealed 264 mills, producing secret grinding. One Dnipropetrovsk region. 29 secret mills were identified and 346 mills were allowed to operate without the permission of the Procurement Committee. In Vinnitsa region revealed 38 secret mills, producing secret grinding of grain … Only in the indicated areas GPU bodies in just 20 days discovered more than 750 secret mills. Please note that it was in these regions that the highest mortality was observed. They killed 1.086 million people from hunger and disease in 1933.
Note by I. V. Stalin to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine S. Kosior:
T. Kosior! 26 / IV 32
Be sure to read the attached materials. Judging by the materials, it looks like the Soviet power has ceased to exist in some areas of the Ukrainian SSR. Is this really true? Is it really that bad with the village in the Ukraine? Where are the organs of the GPU, what are they doing? Maybe they would check this matter and inform the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the measures taken?
Hi. I. Stalin"
In my research, I was not able to draw an unambiguous conclusion about where did such a huge amount of food go. This will be the subject of separate laborious work. But absolutely all documentary materials - Ukrainian, Moscow, German, international - testify to the fact that the Soviet government paid close attention to the food well-being of Ukraine and did everything possible (sometimes even impossible) to prevent famine in this republic. We only note that after a thorough investigation in 1935-39, in which hundreds of leading investigators and criminologists participated, the perpetrators of massive embezzlement and the organization of artificial famine in the Republic of Ukraine were found, and their guilt was proven. In 1939, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CP (b) U 1928-38 S. V. Kosior, as well as the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR in 1923-34 V. Ya. Chubar were convicted and executed by a court verdict.
