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The Holodomor (Ukrainian: Голодомор) was the largest catastrophe to affect Ukraine in the 20th century. In the years 1932 and 1933, between 2.2 and 10 million people were starved to death.

The causes of the Holodomor can be classified into Political and Natural.

Forced Collectivisation
The idea of collective farms was introduced into Ukraine in 1925, after the death of Vladimir Lenin. The new, collective farms, "Kolhosp" (Ukrainian: Колгосп) were presented by the communist party as the wave of the future, and membership was voluntary. The idea was not popular, however, and it was not accepted by the farmers - as of 1929, only 5.6% of Ukrainian farmer households, and 3.8% of arable land was collectivised.

This was not a satisfactory result for Joseph Stalin, to whom the idea of collectivisation was very important. Between November 10 and 17, 1929, a series of meetings of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (at the time known as the VKPU) were called. At these meetings, the lack of membership in collective farms in Ukraine was squarely placed at the feet of the "kurkuls" (Ukrainian: Kуркуль) - wealthy peasants. Also at these meetings, the twenty five thousanders - groups of young urban communists - were organized in order to spread the ideals of communism to rural communities throughout the ussr. Because the twenty five thousanders did not have any real connection to the countryside, they relied mostly on like-minded farmers.

In December of 1929, a decree was issued by the communist party of the ussr that stated all farm animals - especially draft animals, cattle, pigs, sheep & goats - were property of collective farms. This, in turn, led many farmers in Ukraine to slaughter their livestock. Also in 1929, a decree whose aim was to eliminate kurkuls as a social class was issued by Joseph Stalin.

On January 5, 1930, the communist party issued a decree that all of the land in the ussr had to be collectivised. All land was to be taken away from the "kurkuls", and the kurkuls were to be either executed, exiled, to Siberia, or sent to work camps near their residence. The army as well as communist party members were dispached to Ukraine to carry out these policies. Although the policy of "dekulakization" (de-kurkulization in Russian) were ussr-wide, 15% of all kurkuls exiled were from the Ukrainian SSR.

The term "Kurkul" was ultimately applied to any farmer resisting collectivisation. The 1930 decree gave the twenty five thousanders power to execute or exile anybody resisting collectivisation.

The stalinist policy of forced collectivisation basically meant that while there was food available, it was only available on the kolhosps - collective farms. Grain was forcibly removed from any farmer who was not a member of a collective farm, and declared "property of the state". Anybody who did not want to join a collective farm, or who was considered a Kulak, was unable to have acess to food.

Criminal Prosecution for personal trade of Foodstuffs
On August 7, 1932, the communist party of the soviet union passed a law "to protect socialist property from theft". By this point, all foodstuffs in the ussr - including grains and animals - had been forcibly collectivised, making them property of the stated.

This law was worded in a very vague way, however, which meant that it was open to interpretation by local authorities. There was a recorded case that on August 22, 1932, a 5 year prison term was handed out for the trade of tobacco for bread.

Restriction of Movement
As it became apparent that food was not to be had outside of collective farms in Ukraine, many farmers hoped to seek food elsewhere, outside the borders of the Ukrainian SSR. Many tried to move to other parts of the USSR, or other countries. However, the GPU (the forerunner of the KGB), had set up border patrols preventing people from leaving Ukraine.

The first decree forbidding leaving Ukraine was passed on January 22, 1933. Between January 23 and February 2, 1933, 3681 people were intercepted trying to enter the Russian ssr from Ukraine, and 16,773 train passengers were intercepted and returned.

These GPU patrols, combined with mandatory travel documents, implemented in December of 1932, made leaving Ukraine practically impossible.

To make departure even less likely, a special decree, signed by joseph stalin and molotov, announced that anybody trying to leave the Ukrainian SSR and/or the Kuban Region (which also had a very large ethnic Ukrainian population) was an "enemy of the people", and was travelling to agitate against soviet power. All who had left Ukraine and/or Kuban were to be immediately arrested and returned.

Export of Grain
The ussr continued to export grain even while the Holodomor was taking place in Ukraine. The amount of grain exported decreased from previous years, but it was still considerable: in 1930/31 there had been 5,832,000 tons of grains exported. In 1931/32, grain exports declined to 4,786,000 tons. In 1932/1933, grain exports were just 1,607,000 tons and in 1933/34, this further declined to 1,441,000 tons.

The fact that the ussr continued to export grain even while there was famine is a major reason that many scholars consider politics to be the major factor contributing to the Holodomor.

Natural Reasons
Some scholars point to natural reasons as the main causes of the Holodomor.

In 1931, there was a drought in parts of the USSR, which could have impacted grain producing regions of Ukraine. However, this drought was not as severe as the drought of 1936, and no famine occurred in that year. Also, the drought of 1931 was not centred in Ukraine, according to the leading soviet authority on droughts.

Another suggested reason for the Holodomor is the lack of draft animals for plowing the land. This was possibly due to many farmers' reactions against collectivisation.

However, many scholars agree that because the Soviet Union exported grains rather than retaining food for its citizens, the causes of the Holodomor were not natural.