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Mykola Zharkikh (Kyiv)

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The easiest way to overcome famine

Nicholas Zharkikh

If somewhere occur famine – there simply increase the number of commissars. And if started talking about the famine and its victims – and there need to increase the number of commissars, who would with clever and smooth lies neutralized talking. One of these latter category of commissars is V.P. Danilov (Danilov V. P. Discussion in the Western press about famine 1932 – 1933 biennium. and "demographical disaster" of 30-40-ies in the USSR. – Voprosy istorii, 1988, № 3, p. 116 – 121).

Specifically, V.P. Danilov taken to refute the well-known "detractor" Robert Conquest, which in his new book in 1986 calculated that in 1930 – 1937 USSR population losses amounted to 14.5 million (including 6.5 million – victims of dekulakization, 1 million – victims of the tragedy of Kazakhstan 1930 – 1931, 7 million – victims of famine in 1932 – 1933, with the last 5 million died in Ukraine, 1 million – in the North Caucasus and another 1 million – elsewhere). The total count of Robert Conquest coincides with my (Zharkikh M. The demographic loss of population of the USSR in 1914 – 1950. – Evshan–zillja, 1988, № 4).

But V.P. Danilov's attack to bastion of Robert Conquest (7 million deaths from starvation) failed. One year after Danilov was published work by S.V. Kulchitsky (Kulchitsky S.V. Demographic consequences of the famine in Ukraine in 1933. – K., 1989 – 13 p. – Preprint of the Institute of History of the USSR, № 4) and said that the minimum number of famine victims in Ukraine – 3 million. If the 30 million hungry Ukrainian famine deaths of 3 million, then to 77 million hungry in the USSR for this ratio 7.7 million people died! Slanderer, as it almost always turned out right, and denunciators, as too often happens – wrong, because our historians did not realize that it is necessary to expose only those statements that are really false and statements that really true, should be taken, although they also were "unpleasant". Lying brings certain benefits when it can not expose, but when using it trying to disprove the truth, it is never useful. If the version of "Questions of history" is learned, the level of our historical science would be increased.

April 24, 1989.

Full text in ukrainian language.