In the resolution on the victims of famine in the USSR in 1932-1933 adopted April 28, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) de facto declined to call the so-called Golodomor genocide of the Ukrainian people. This brings to an end one of the most scandalous disputes between Ukraine during Yushchenko’s presidency and Russia, the resolution of which was much facilitated by the new head of state in Ukraine. Speaking to the assembly a day prior to the adoption of the resolution, Viktor Yanuvkovich said that he believes it would be incorrect and unjust to call Golodomor a genocide aimed at a specific people. With this, he indicated his agreement with the position of Moscow, which can be considered a major foreign policy victory for Russia. However, this in no way means a loss for Ukraine.
Resolution 1723 places the responsibility for the deaths of millions of people in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova on the shoulders of the totalitarian Stalinist regime, which carried out a cruel policy of forced collectivization, deportation and confiscation. It confirms that the mass hunger and deaths of millions of peasants were a result of the intentional actions of Stalin’s government. The document rejects all attempts to justify these actions and calls upon historians and politicians of all the affected states to unite their efforts to establish a complete and truthful, and non-politicized, picture of this tragedy.
The decision by this respected European body should play a positive role in developing a sober and unprejudiced approach to these tragic events. However, disagreements on this issue are likely to remain for some time, and the reolution itself requires some explanation, says Mikhail Dmitriev, director of Moscow State University’s Center for Ukrainian and Belarussian Studies.
The resolution states, “Millions of innocent people in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, which were parts of the Soviet Union, lost their lives as a result of mass starvation caused by cruel and deliberate actions and policies of the Soviet regime.”
“It would be incorrect to call the actions of the Soviet authorities deliberate,” said Dmitriev in a conversation with Russkiy Mir’s correspondent. “There is no dispute that the policy of Stalin and his associates was criminal and that it led to the deaths of millions – this is clear and agreed upon by all. But the question of whether this amounted to a deliberate physical destruction of the peasants remains an issue for discussion. No one has been able to prove, and probably never will be able to, that the aim of the Stalinist regime was the physical destruction of peasantry. Furthermore, based on published documents, in all of the regions hit by the famine, local party and law enforcement leaders understated the giant losses resulting from collectivization. And in their reports they even intentionally understated the scale of the famine. To a great extent the responsibility for this horrible famine rests on the local leadership.”
The resolution’s authors write, “In Ukraine, which suffered the most, the peasantry was particularly hit by the Great Famine…” However, the figures indicated further in the document indicate that proportionately Kazakhstan suffered the heaviest losses while the total number of deaths was greatest in Russia. Given such facts, Dmitriev says that it is difficult to agree with the statement that Ukraine suffered the most. “In reality, the worst losses from the famine were in the Greater Volga region, in particular in the Saratov region and the German Volga Republic,” he said.
Despite the proclamation of a new official position from President Viktor Yanuvkovich, it remains early to say that the Ukrainian side will not push on this issue further. “The position that the famine of 1932-33 was a genocide of the Ukrainian people wasn’t just the position of a certain school of Ukrainian politicians,” says Professor Dmitriev. This was the official position of the academic establishment of Ukraine.” Dmitriev believes that discussion of the issue is possible on the international level under the auspices of a European body, which his Ukrainian colleagues also sought at one time. At the same time, he sees much value in PACE’s suggestion that all of the affected states establish a day recognizing the victims of the famine, as has been done in Ukraine. “Russia should start the practice of commemorating victims of the famine on the same day that it is done in Ukraine,” Dmitriev suggests.
