The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine

The black earth Was sown with bones And watered with blood For a harvest of sorrow On the land of Rus. - _The Armament of Igor_. _The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivizaton and the Terror-Famine_, first published in 1986, by historian Robert Conquest is an excellent accounting of the horrors of the Soviet state unleashed upon the Russian peasantry by the Soviet Communist Party between 1929 and 1933. Robert Conquest is a British historian who early on joined the Communist Party and fought in World War II; however, after seeing firsthand the horrors of Soviet communism he became an anti-communist. In this book a detailed accounting of the more than 14.5 million deaths (more than the total number of deaths from all countries involved in World War I) that resulted directly from policies sanctioned by the Soviet Communist Party is detailed. Such policies as dekulakization, collectivization, and the "terror-famine" in the Ukraine had drastic consequences for those living under this oppressive and horrendous regime. Further, many Western intellectuals turned a blind eye to these atrocities because of their support for this horrendous and ungodly ideology. Even today many continue to deny such crimes occurred among the communists, while at the same time a repeated accounting is made of Nazi and fascist crimes. For those who believe that Soviet communism was a just and noble endeavor, a book like this is certainly sobering. Through painstaking research, Robert Conquest unveils the horrors behind Soviet communism. Conquest begins by noting the importance of Ukrainian nationalism, feared by the Soviets, and comparing the atrocities of communism to those of the other totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century, Nazism and fascism. To begin with, the Soviets long regarded the peasants as backwards and reactionary, clinging to their traditions and religion, and thus "counter-revolutionary" and a threat to human progress. Such hatred for the peasant goes all the way back to Karl Marx, the founding father of Soviet communism. Lenin also denigrated the peasant as a threat to the creation of the Soviet state. Conquest traces the development of Ukrainian nationalism as it contrasted with Leninism and Soviet communism. For example, as Engels commented, "Now you ask me whether I have no sympathy whatever for the small Slav peoples, and remnants of peoples . . . In fact, I have damned little sympathy for them." During the years 1917 - 21, the revolution broke out sponsored by the Bolsheviks. At the same time the peasant war and famine broke out. Repeated famines were common in the history of the Soviet regime, showing the utter failure of the Soviet economic system to provide food for its people. Such famine was so bad at times that many Russians even had to resort to cannibalism in their efforts to stay alive. Further, during this time and following, the Soviet state began a series of purges against "counter-revolutionaries", those who s

Robert Conquest has endured the slurs of the Communist Left in America and Europe as he continues to recall history as a way to chronicle the fight for individual liberty. History will extol his virtues far more than present day academics or big media worthies ever will. This story of inhumane cruelty, perpetrated by Bolshevik ideologues, is so horrible that one wants to suspend disbelief at the turn of every page in every chapter. The complete disregard for the Kulaks by the Bolsheviks at the expense of achieving an ideal should be a lesson for us all. This story should be on the History Channel every week like the stories of German concentration camps. The sheer numbers of genocidal killing show this crime to be even bigger than the holocaust. Conquest details this horror, chapter and verse, of Stalin's collectivization of agriculture in the Ukraine. He shows the Communist ideal for what it is, a fraud, and this is why we don't see this event chronicled on a weekly basis. We have too many people in the media in America who are seemingly ignorant, or who wish to turn their heads to the truth, of what actually happened. We still have the "Walter Duranty types" among us who would seek to distribute misinformation to the public in order to keep the collectivist ideal alive. It makes you wonder what it takes for people to get the message?This book points out how Duranty was given a Pulitzer Prize for his misreporting from the Soviet Union, in the early 30's, that the famine and genocide in the Ukraine were virtually non-existent. That this cur and toady of Stalin, for 14 years the voice to America from Moscow, has not had his Pulitzer prize retroactively recalled tells you something about those who award the Pulitzer prize. This prize is clearly a very bad and a very sick joke.If the Irish think their potato famine was a tragedy, which it certainly was, and they thump their chest at the English, which they certainly do, what do they have to say about the Bolshevik's slaughter of the Kulak's? One would think that all people of all nations would band together to denounce such inhumane treatment of mankind by a concentrated number of ideological zealots as described in this book. This is a very sad story that is very trying to read. It's like reading Valladares' book "Against All Hope" which is about Cuba under Castro. A more comprehensive book would be "The Black Book of Communism" which also includes information about this Soviet caused famine in the Ukraine. It also includes the plight of people, in all of the other countries that are or have been under the yoke of Communist dictators. Their methods of societal control are identical to those chronicled in this book; the mind reels at the numbers of the dead, ...7 million... 11 million... 14 million? It's just too much to believe. This holocaust should never be forgotten. It should be taught as a required course for college graduation. Why isn't it?

I had heard a little from Ukrainian friends about these horrible and diabolical events of the late 20s, and early 30s in Ukraine but NOTHING prepared me for the vast extent of the Atrocity of the century (yes - in due respect to the Jewish people, I am rating this event as even worse than the Shoah, for numerical reasons primarily. I am certainly not discounting Hitler's atrocity against your people). Conquest relates the events in all their starkness and horror. The weaknesss of Western Governments to do anything at all leaves one disgusted. I am frequently staggered by Communists frequently demanding that certain alleged Nazi war criminals be brought to justice - so they should be - but totalitarianism is always the same, whether from the right or left, and Communism, as Conquest demonstrates, has more than its fair share of blood on its hands. This story MUST be told and retold. The world must know. I congratulate the author for having the courage to go into print in the face of virulent left wing lying propaganda.

I did not believe Eastern European friends and dissidents who told me 20 years ago about the mass murder by starvation, deportation, and shooting of the Ukrainian peasantry in the 1930ies. This thoroughly researched and exceptionally well written book removes all doubts. The book exposes both the extensive scale of the genocide (many million dead) and western complacency. It surprises that this major event in European affairs is largely absent from past and present western consciousness.This book is hard to put down as it combines excellent writing with a gripping if true and gruesome story. Conquest gives the men, women, and children that vanished a loud and clear voice without loosing sight of the larger political context. He demonstrates the deadly consequences of individual actions and individual inactions that killed the farmers of the Ukrainian "bread basket." The story has a chilling echo in more recent events in Rwanda, Kosovo, China, and North-Korea.

Harvest of Sorrow is an important book for any age. Meticulous, rich with history, but refreshingly unemotional, Conquest knows and writes of the Soviet Union in a way that will bring everyone who reads this book to a much closer understanding of what really went on economically, and the twisted fates of 20 million people under communist manipulation and control . All that has helped bring mother Russia to the point she is today. In chaos and turmoil, and on her knees. This book should play an important role in every high school civics class today, and find its way to the reading tables of anyone interested in the economics and agricultural systems of communism.We were so moved by this book and another timeless classic - The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek that we also felt compelled to create a web page just for these type of books because we feel that many people may not yet have a clear understanding of what communism is (and was)all about. From what we've learned here, we have to say we "thought" we knew, but found we didn't have the actual bottom line until we'd digested this material.