[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2148-E2149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING FORMER SOVIET UNION'S REPRESSIVE POLICIES 
                      TOWARD THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, October 10, 1998

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues on the House 
International Relations Committee in supporting the adoption of House 
Concurrent Resolution 295 remembering the suffering of the people of 
Ukraine on the 65th anniversary of the horrendous 1932-1933 famine 
which resulted in the death of more than seven million people--a 
quarter of the population of that land.
  Such massive loss of life, Mr. Speaker, is always a great tragedy, 
but the Ukraninian famine was a particularly devastating event because 
it was largely an articial diaster--it was the consequence of vicious 
misguided policies of the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union. In 
1929, the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, decreed the implementation of 
the policy of collectivization in agriculture, largely to ensure 
government control over the country's agriculture. This was done in 
order for the totalitarian government in the Kremlin to control more of 
the country's agricultural products to provide hard currency and 
capital for investment in industrialization.
  After forced collectivization began in 1929, the rural population of 
Ukraine began to suffer. The diet of the population began to worsen. By 
the fall of 1931 the people of this rich breadbasket were trying to 
survive on a diet of potatoes, beets and pumpkins. Hunger people from 
Ukraine were traveling in ever larger groups to neighboring areas, 
particularly to Russia, to find food.
  By the spring of 1932 people began to die of starvation. Conditions 
were so difficult that when peasants began the spring sowing, they kept 
the seeds that were necessary for that year's crop home for their 
children to eat. This

[[Page E2149]]

further exacerbated the crisis. Western journalists provided reports of 
the seriousness of the situation in Ukraine, and the few non-Soviet 
visitors who were permitted to visit Ukraine confirmed the seriousness 
of this tragedy.
  Demographers who have carefully studied this era have concluded that 
seven to ten million people died as a consequence of this government-
induced famine and the terror and repression carried out against 
peasants in Ukraine. When Members of Congress wrote to the Soviet 
government at that time, the Soviet Foreign Minister responded by 
calling reports of the famine `lies circulated by counterrevolutionary 
organizations abroad.''
  Mr. Speaker, it is most appropriate that we commemorate--in sorrow 
and in regret--this tragic episode in the history of Ukraine. It is 
important that in remembering this period, we commit ourselves to take 
action to prevent similar atrocities in the future in Ukraine or in any 
other nation.
  This is also an occasion, Mr. Speaker, for us to rejoice that the 
people of Ukraine are now in the position to determine their own 
destiny. As a free and independent nation, the fate of the people of 
Ukraine now lies in their own hands. It is important for the people of 
Ukraine to know that we in the United States welcome their independence 
and that we are committed to their success as they seek to move toward 
a free and open and democratic society and toward a prosperous and free 
market economy.
  Mr. Speaker, I join in marking this tragic era in the history of 
Ukraine, and I extend my best wishes to the people of Ukraine as they 
work to assure that such a catastrophe never befalls their country.

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