Chapter 610： The Great Famine in Ukraine (Part 1)

When Romania chose a new prime minister lively, a violent tragedy was happening in the Soviet Ukrainian Republic across the border.

In this dry and cold weather, Riltov was looking for the trap he had set in the woods outside the village to see if there was any prey.

The round of inspections disappointed him, and there was no prey. Only the dead crow that was picked up halfway made Riltov not feel too sad. The churning stomach acid in his stomach made Riltov extremely uncomfortable. He knew it was because of his body that he hadn't eaten. But thinking of the family's mother, sister, wife, and children, the family is still waiting for themselves, Riltov can only continue to look for them in the quiet wilderness.

Not far away, other people could be seen looking for food in the wilderness just like him. In order to save energy, they basically do not speak. Everyone looked around vigilantly, like a lonely hungry wolf in the wilderness. But they don't have the hunting skills of wolves, they can only look for hibernating small animals in the wilderness. If anyone can find the mole nest, it's worth cheering. Because the current voles nests have their stored food, which not only allows people to eat meat but also get valuable food.

Yes, for the Soviet Ukrainian Republic, food is the most tempting thing.

There are many reasons for everything, including the impact of drought on Ukraine’s domestic agriculture. However, the main influence comes from man-made actions, and the instruction to come to Moscow is also one of the important promoters. The effect of the "Five-Year Plan" on the Soviet Union is not negligible, but its impact is not only on the good side, but also on the bad side.

A large number of people were gathered in urban factories, which reduced the agricultural population of the Soviet Union, but their tasks were increasing. In addition, in order to develop heavy industry, the Soviet Union used most of the grains produced by collective farms for export in order to obtain foreign exchange and equipment needed for industrialization. It is also one of the incentives.

Since 1928, the grain collected by the Soviet government in Ukraine accounted for 42 of the total grain collected in the Soviet Union. You know, Ukraine's land area accounts for about 3 of the Soviet Union.

There is also the problem that not only is the implementation of predatory grain expropriation in the countryside, but also the "collectivist" transformation, requiring all farmers to join the "collective farms." For those who do not cooperate with the reform, they are directly classified into the "rich peasant" class, which will be subject to capital punishment or exile to Siberia. Many farmers are worried about being classified as "rich peasants", so naturally they dare not cultivate. This has led to a sharp decline in the productivity of agricultural production technology.

In direct proportion to the farmers’ enthusiasm for production, Ukraine’s grain output has declined year by year since 1930. In 1930, Ukraine’s output was 22.9 million tons. Finally, the amount of grain handed over to the Soviet Central Committee was 7.8 million tons, which is 13. Can barely make it through.

In 1931, the total grain output was only 17.6 million tons, and 7 million tons were still required to be handed over to the Soviet Central Committee. For this reason, farmers had to use their grain reserves.

However, the situation has been deteriorating. By 1932, the output was only 12.8 million tons, but the target was stunned by the Ukrainians. If it did not decrease, it increased, and 7.7 million tons of food had to be handed in! That is, more than 60% of the total output must be handed in, which is far beyond the capacity of Ukrainian farmers.

The peasants didn’t want to starve to death, of course they didn’t want to pay. Stalin was thinking about his grand plan of urban industrialization. This is the top priority and must be steadily advanced. The local bureaucrats also need to "inject their political achievements" to claim credit. Governments at all levels, from the central to the local level, sent people to collect food by force, and they were not even able to raise any objections. Whoever has objections is "anti-Bushwick." At the same time, it also stipulates that "theft of collective farm property" is punishable by ******. In order to promote the "collective farms," ​​a political campaign of severe crackdowns was carried out, tens of thousands of people were arrested and nearly 5,000 people were executed.

However, the Central Committee of the Soviet Union issued a deadly policy, implementing the "identity card system" order throughout the Soviet Union, stipulating that all citizens of the Soviet Union except farmers can obtain identities... Then, the Politburo of Ukraine in January 1933 A decision was made: "It is forbidden to sell train tickets to farmers for leaving Ukraine at railway stations." Any hungry people fleeing Ukraine are arrested as "class enemies" and their fate will inevitably die.

Therefore, the peasants in Ukraine are completely tied to Ukraine and cannot even escape famine. If in the original history, the Ukrainian people could only tolerate this situation, until Moscow found out that a great famine had occurred in Ukraine and provided material relief.

But now Ukrainian farmers have some new ideas, that is, fleeing to Romania. Because West Ukraine is occupied by Romania , the contact between the two sides will not be completely blocked. Although the Soviet Ukrainian government tried its best to block the border between the two countries, it still could not completely prevent the two sides from contacting each other. After all, there are too many relatives between the two Ukraine. How could the Ukrainian people not understand the Western Ukraine under Romanian rule? Therefore, the Ukrainian people in the Soviet Union know something about the situation in Western Ukraine.

In the village where Riltov is located, there happens to be a person who has relatives in West Ulan.

Solvasv was a friend of Riltov, and when Riltov was looking for food in the wild, his friend also came to look for him.

"Aunt Norna, is Riltov at home?"

"He is not here, he is out of the village."

"Thank you."

When Riltov returned to the village with the dead crow, he happened to see his friend Solvasv waiting at the entrance of the village against the cold wind.

"Solvasv, who are you waiting for?"

Riltov, who saw that he was a good friend from a long distance, greeted him.

After seeing Riltov, Solvasv hurried forward and whispered. "I'm waiting for you."

"Wait what I do."

He was dragged into a remote corner by Solvasv, who didn't understand his friend's intention at all. The friend looked around and whispered. "I can't live this life now, I want to leave the village."

"Then you want to go..."

Riltov, who was about to ask questions, seemed to understand at this time, and after looking around for a while without seeing other people, he whispered. "You don't want to die, dare to say this kind of thing here."

Yes, Romania is a taboo subject in Soviet Ukraine. Who dares to talk about this topic casually, the Ministry of the Interior will let them know how serious the consequences are.