19. Soviet Authorities Preferred to Let Millions Starve to Death Rather Than Allow Knowledge of the Disaster to Spread
By early 1933, Stalin’s Terror Famine was in full swing. Thousands – most of them peasants in the countryside – were dying every day, collapsing from starvation and its attendant consequences. However, the steadily growing disaster did not halt the forced collectivization or the forced confiscation of grain and foodstuffs from peasants who had no surplus to spare. As news leaked of what was going on, Soviet authorities denied the catastrophe’s existence, labeled it fake news, and refused humanitarian aid from the International Red Cross and other NGOs.
Amidst an information clampdown, the Ukraine and southern Russia – the regions most impacted by the famine – were put under lockdown. Travel to and from the famine zones was restricted, trapping and condemning to death millions who might have survived had they been allowed to leave for parts of the USSR where food was more available. Stalin and his henchmen preferred the deaths of millions to a PR disaster if so many eyewitnesses were allowed to spread their knowledge of the catastrophe taking place in the “workers’ paradise”.
