Timothy Snyder, The Making of Modern Ukraine, Lecture #15: Ukrainization, Famine, Terror: 1920s — 1930s
For those who are not familiar with Timothy Snyder, he is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He speaks five and reads ten European languages, including both Ukrainian and Russian.
His book, “Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin,” which I highly recommend, is not only meticulously researched, it is essential reading for a complete understanding of WWII as well as Europe today.
I have undertaken to summarize all of Snyder’s lectures. I am also following along in the reading (see syllabus link below), which has not only been enlightening, but enjoyable. As always, my summaries are meant to be a guide, rather than a substitution for Snyder’s lectures.
I’ve just finished watching Timothy Snyder’s 15th lecture for his course, The Making of Modern Ukraine. This lecture was called “Ukrainization, Famine, Terror: 1920s — 1930s.” I sat up and paid close attention to this lecture, because the topic was covered in “Bloodlands.”
In the 1920s, Ukraine went through a renaissance, a flowering of Ukrainian literature and social philosophy that emerged when Soviet Russia allowed for national identities. Ukrainian peasants benefitted during this period of “Ukrainization”, because, according to Lenin’s interpretation of Marx, capitalism was a necessary stage in the historical progression to socialism (i.e. peasants could earn money by selling their goods in the interim).
This capitalist “stage” was eliminated after Lenin died and Stalin took over. The collectivization of farmland in the late 1920s once again reduced peasants to virtual serfs. Ukrainian peasants resisted, naturally. But Stalin was intractable in sticking to his 5-year plan. Even in the face of poor harvests, Stalin demanded that established grain quotas be met (as well as meat quotas when the grain quotas came up short). This policy led to the deaths of 4 million Ukrainian peasants by starvation — the Holodomor (1932–33). (I have seen figures as high as 7 million.)
An important point to remember about the Holodomor is that it was not the result of nature, but of policy. There was plenty of food available. In fact, Russia was still exporting it. Like all recent famines, including the Irish potato famine, the Holodomor was the result of a political decision. And that decision was based on ideology, not reality.
Ukrainians died in droves. They were not allowed to leave Ukraine in search of food. (This policy had the unintended effect of Russia recognizing the national boundaries of Ukraine.) Nor were peasant children allowed to go to cities to beg for food. According to the tenets of Marxian historical evolution, in which the proletariat — not peasants — would eventually control the state, peasants were expendable.
Snyder made a valuable point: Totalitarian thought eliminates the concept of individual rights. It even denies that the existence of individuals has any importance. This is true of fascism as defined by Mussolini (see: “The Doctrine of Fascism”), and of Stalin’s version of communism. Not only do individuals have no rights, but the state justifies the elimination of individuals en masse by presenting (in many cases, inventing) continual external threats.
In the case of Russia during the 1930s, the external threat was Polish spies and provocateurs. This was not a real threat, because a non-aggression pact was signed between Poland and Russia in 1932. But, as Snyder points out, the threat will only be successful if it isn’t real. (Real threats represent unresolved problems.) Stalin used the imaginary Polish threat to justify the Great Terror of 1937, during which 700,000 people were purged (i.e. tortured, executed, and/or shipped to the Gulag). Ukrainian peasants and intellectuals were Stalin’s primary targets.
Snyder made an interesting observation about Stalin’s Russia, and totalitarian thinking in general. It requires an enemy with “super-powers.” One person has to be made responsible for everything that has gone wrong — and punished accordingly. In Russia, that meant every individual at a local level had to be accused, and found guilty, of the policies that led to the failure of the 5-Year Plan.
As Snyder spoke, I was reminded of the “super-villains” who are being blamed by the GOP (along with their associated militias and right-wing organizations) for all the economic and social ills in the US — namely “antifa,” (which is a straw man if ever there was one), BLM, immigrants, Jews, Democrats, George Soros. These “threats” serve to galvanize an aggrieved, gullible, and anxious segment of the population. Imaginary external threats are remarkably effective tools of manipulation. (They hide real threats, which usually originate from the same people who are touting the imaginary ones.)
For autocrats, individuals don’t matter, and facts don’t matter. The only thing that matters is the narrative. So beware of simplistic narratives. Capitalism does not produce democracy any more than communism — the last stage in Marxian “historical” development — leads to a proletarian paradise. And, while it’s satisfying to think that prosecuting and jailing our current “super-villain” (Trump) will solve all our problems, it won’t.
You can watch the 15th lecture for The Making of Modern Ukraine here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dy7Mrqy1AY
The syllabus for the course is here: https://snyder.substack.com/p/syllabus-of-my-ukraine-lecture-class
You can watch all of Timothy Snyder’s lectures for The Making of Modern Ukraine here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewfxO7LhBoz_1Mx1MaO6sw_
You can read my summaries of his lectures here: https://ericaverr.medium.com/
Erica Verrillo is the author of the Phoenix Rising Trilogy (Random House). Her short work has appeared in over a dozen publications. She is also the author of the definitive reference guide for treating myalgic encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide, now in its second edition (first edition, St. Martin’s). She holds degrees from Tufts University (BA — History) and Syracuse University (MA — Linguistics) as well as doctoral work in Linguistics, Anthropology, and Speech Communication. Her professional life includes: Spanish language editor for the journal Mesoamerica, linguistics instructor (Dartmouth), Spanish and ESL instructor (Syracuse University), classical musician (Oxford Symphony Orchestra), Mayan linguist (SUNY Albany), and director of a non-profit NGO for Mayan refugees. She is the president of the American Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to to serving the needs of patients and caregivers through support, advocacy, and education. Her writing blog, Publishing … and Other Forms of Insanity, has received nearly 8 million page views. You are welcome to visit.
