Evening star., 1933-10-06
RUSSIAN FAMINE
DEATHS 5,ODO,O1O
But Soviet Leaders Who Let
It Go On Regard 1t
as "Merciful."
RY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

MOSCOW.-RusSia is now emerging
successfully from famine. as serious
a famine as the one which devastated
the country few years after the great
war.
The more recent famine was not due
to the shortage of crops. 1t was man
made famine, and not God-sent. II
was the inexorable result of the eco
nomic dislocation which came two years
ago when the leaders of the Soviet
Union decided to bring the peasants
under Communism.
Many peasants in 1881 resented the
change. They slaughtered their i've
stock rather than turn it over to the
state. In 1882 these disgruntled peas
ants took from the land only small
part Of the crop-enough for their own
use The best Of their crops rotted IN
the fields. But the government, seeing
the rotting crops. took from the dis
gruntled peasants thu governments
share, leaving the dissatisfied peasants
short rationed. Moreover, the govern
ment, by ballyhoo competitive methods,
took too much grain from the loyal
peasants. The Winter of 1882 and '33
found meat shortage on the farms,
shortage of work, animals and short
grain rationS all over the farming coun-
try.
Famine Allowed to Come.
From the viewpoint of the leaders of
the Soviet Union their policy of alloca-
ton was wise. They pursued it per-
sistently and probably granted their
premise on the whole mercifully. Their
premise is that might makes right for
the largest good. The Russian leaders
believed the peasants needed lesson.
So they let the famine come. They
were and are honestly and coldly logi-
cal. Still that word "merciful' seems
rather inept at first.
For no one can doubt that since the
Russian government has adopted its
policy millions of Russian peasants have
died from what are known as hunger
diseases: Typhus, tuberculosis and
dysentery. The number is placed
variously by impartial observers. Prob
ably from 100000 to 100000 peasants
have died from these famine diseases
in the last two years who would be
alive but for the governments order
bringing the peasants into collective
farming.
Reporters for American newspapers
who have lived in Russia from 3 to Is
years agree upon a minimum of g.
O0O,00O deaths. Walter Duranty of the
New York Times, dean of the American
newspaper men here, having been in
Moscow more than a dozen years. who
certainly is not unfriendly to the Soviet
leaders, in dispatch to his paper made
it clear that his estimate was 100000
deaths in the last two years due to
diseases arising from short rations and
malnutrition. Ralph Barnes of the
New York HeraldTribune has placed
the death figure at 100000. The
figures of Henry Chamberlain Of the
Christian Science Monitor of Boston
and the Manchester Guardian of Eng
land would not run more than 1000 900.
Peasants Learn, Famine Ends.
The famine is over now. Stain be-
lieves that the peasants have learned
their lesson and that collective farming
and state farming will now proceed
successfully. The peasants may wei
believe that Stain has learned his
lesson also, for in disposing of this
years harvest the Russian government
was much more generous in its allow
ance for the peasants than it has been