Chronology of the Famine

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLIII

By Staff | December 11, 1983

July 1-15, 1934
On July 1, Svoboda printed an article which reported that Pravda, the communist newspaper in Moscow, had stated that the harvest in Ukraine had been very poor. According to a Communist Party official, this was due to a drought, mainly on the steppes of Ukraine. That same day, Svoboda also printed an article based on news stories in Pravda as to why the capital of Ukraine was moved from Kharkiv to Kiev. Pravda stated that Kiev had been rebuilt, polished up. According to that newspaper, the “nest of Petliurist intellectuals” did not like this move because they could no longer openly do their business.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLII

By Staff | December 4, 1983

June 16-30, 1934
On June 16, Svoboda reported that six commissars in Kiev had been sentenced to death for extortion. Also on that day Svoboda reprinted a memorandum sent by the United Ukrainian Organizations of the United States to President Roosevelt. This memorandum included an article by William Henry Chamberlin from the Christian Science Monitor. The article was titled “Famine Proves Potent Weapon in Soviet Policy” and described Mr. Chamberlin’s trips through Ukraine. The editorial that day in Svoboda stated that it was important for the Ukrainian people in the United States to approach the subject of the famine united, to approach each and every city and state government official on behalf of the Ukrainian people suffering because of famine in Ukraine. On June 18, Svoboda reported that Pavel Postyshev had said in a speech that nationalistic and Fascist elements in Ukraine were trying to worm their way into the Communist Party in order to harm party policy.

Ukraine

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLI

By Staff | November 27, 1983

June 1-15, 1934
On June 1, Svoboda printed a news item from Moscow which stated that there was a great drought in Ukraine. The Soviets reportedly said they would raise the price of bread because the harvest was poor. On June 2, Svoboda printed a news item about the Belgian-Ukrainian Committee to Save Ukraine. The story stated that the Ukrainian immigration in Belgium had organized a committee over a year ago which worked for famine victims in Ukraine and the Kuban. That same day, Svoboda reported that a resolution about the famine had been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, by Rep. Hamilton Fish.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XL

By Staff | November 20, 1983

May 15-31, 1934
On May 17, Svoboda reported on a news item published by Pravda in Moscow. According to the Communist paper, renovations in Kiev were progressing to prepare the city for its new role as the capital of the Ukrainian SSR. Pravda reported that 50 million rubles were allotted for the building of new homes for the members of the government. In the May 18 issue of Svoboda, the headline read: “Kiev Ukrainianizes!” It was a sarcastic headline, referring to the fact that a radio report on the Kiev May 1 parade was done in Russian. In previous years, it was always reported in the Ukrainian language.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXXIX

By Staff | November 13, 1983

May 1-15, 1934
On May 1, the headlines in Svoboda read: “A New Famine Catastrophe in Ukraine.” According to reports from a Swiss newspaper, Ukraine, the richest land in the Soviet Union, once abundant with flour, buckwheat, sugar, fish, butter and fat, now lacked all of these products. The population continued to starve. The Ukrainian Bureau in Geneva commented on the Swiss story, stating that once again the people would go hungry and wondered whether once again the good deeds of the capitalist “bourgeois countries,” would have to rescue the Soviets from a famine as they did 12 years earlier. On May 2, Svoboda reported that the purges of Ukrainians continued.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXXIV

By Staff | November 13, 1983

December 16-31, 1933
On December 16, Svoboda printed news reports from Chicago about a demonstration protesting the famine that would take place on Sunday, December 17. At a meeting of the newly organized “Committee for the Struggle against Famine in Russia,” in New York, one of the main speakers, a Russian, stated that the famine in both Ukraine and Russia was not due to climatic conditions or natural disaster, but it was a famine brought about by the political dictatorship of the Soviet regime and unsuccessful agricultural politics, reported Svoboda on December 16. The speaker documented the famine by quoting news reports from various newspapers. On December 18, Svoboda ran a report datelined Finland, which stated that many Soviet citizens were fleeing to the north and settling in Finland in order to escape the famine in the Soviet Union. On December 19, Svoboda printed a front-page story about the famine demonstration in Chicago which took place on December 17.

Chronology of the Famine

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXXVIII

By Staff | November 6, 1983

April 1934
On April 2, Svoboda reported on a news item carried by the Lviv newspaper Novy Chas, which stated that Soviet guards along the Zbruch River did not allow anyone to seek refuge in western Ukraine. The news item stated that often the Ukrainians on the western side of the river would see their brothers and sisters looking like the walking dead, rather than the proud, healthy landowners they once were, trying to escape Soviet Ukraine. Even though only a few made it over to western Ukraine, they continued trying to escape the hell of the Communist system. On April 3, Svoboda printed a news item with the headline: “The Teachers of Soviet Ukraine after the Purge.” According to news reports printed in the Kharkiv newspaper Kommunist, as a result of numerous purges of the schools in Soviet Ukraine, most of the teachers were sent to Siberia because of their nationalistic tendencies and counterrevolutionary spirit.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXXVI

By Staff | October 23, 1983

February 1934
A story datelined Moscow in the February 5 issue of Svoboda reported that Soviet actions against the Ukrainian nationalists continued. According to the story, Ukrainian nationalists had supplied books on Ukrainian nationalism to schools. Only after Pavel Postyshev came to Ukraine was this action halted, Komsomolska Pravda reported. That same day, Svoboda printed a letter in English which was written by a staff worker for The Oregonian. Quoting a lecture by a labor expert Whiting Williams, who was formerly on the faculties of Harvard, Dartmouth and Oberlin, he wrote:

“‘All of my observations in Russia last summer led me to support the pope in his contention that there is widespread starvation in the red land.'”

“American correspondents in Moscow were prohibited from entering the starvation districts in the Ukraine at the time Mr. Williams was visiting the district and seeing many persons starving to death before his own eyes.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXXV

By Staff | October 16, 1983

January 1934
Svoboda printed news datelined Moscow in its January 4 issue. According to Pravda, the new year’s preparations for planting were going quite smoothly. This was attributed to the fact that all political offices made sure to collect the proper amounts of grain from the peasants. The newspaper also stated that the Soviets were able to liquidate all the “kulak elements” and saboteurs. Also on January 4, Svoboda printed an English-language page with press accounts from newspapers across North America which protested against the Soviet Union.