by Robert Conquest
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Product Description
The Harvest of Sorrow is the first full history of one of the most horrendous human tragedies of the 20th century. Between 1929 and 1932 the Soviet Communist Party struck a double blow at the Russian peasantry: dekulakization, the dispossession and deportation of millions of peasant families, and collectivization, the abolition of private ownership of land and the concentration of the remaining peasants in party-controlled "collective" farms. This was followed in 1932-33 by a "terror-famine," inflicted by the State on the collectivized peasants of the Ukraine and certain other areas by setting impossibly high grain quotas, removing every other source of food, and preventing help from outside--even from other areas of the Soviet Union--from reaching the starving populace. The death toll resulting from the actions described in this book was an estimated 14.5 million--more than the total number of deaths for all countries in World War I.
Ambitious, meticulously researched, and lucidly written, The Harvest of Sorrow is a deeply moving testament to those who died, and will register in the Western consciousness a sense of the dark side of this century's history.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 The Horrors of the Soviet State., 2007-06-30
The black earth
Was sown with bones
And watered with blood
For a harvest of sorrow
On the land of Rus.
- _The Armament of Igor_.
_The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivizaton and the Terror-Famine_, first published in 1986, by historian Robert Conquest is an excellent accounting of the horrors of the Soviet state unleashed upon the Russian peasantry by the Soviet Communist Party between 1929 and 1933. Robert Conquest is a British historian who early on joined the Communist Party and fought in World War II; however, after seeing firsthand the horrors of Soviet communism he became an anti-communist. In this book a detailed accounting of the more than 14.5 million deaths (more than the total number of deaths from all countries involved in World War I) that resulted directly from policies sanctioned by the Soviet Communist Party is detailed. Such policies as dekulakization, collectivization, and the "terror-famine" in the Ukraine had drastic consequences for those living under this oppressive and horrendous regime. Further, many Western intellectuals turned a blind eye to these atrocities because of their support for this horrendous and ungodly ideology. Even today many continue to deny such crimes occurred among the communists, while at the same time a repeated accounting is made of Nazi and fascist crimes. For those who believe that Soviet communism was a just and noble endeavor, a book like this is certainly sobering. Through painstaking research, Robert Conquest unveils the horrors behind Soviet communism.
Conquest begins by noting the importance of Ukrainian nationalism, feared by the Soviets, and comparing the atrocities of communism to those of the other totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century, Nazism and fascism. To begin with, the Soviets long regarded the peasants as backwards and reactionary, clinging to their traditions and religion, and thus "counter-revolutionary" and a threat to human progress. Such hatred for the peasant goes all the way back to Karl Marx, the founding father of Soviet communism. Lenin also denigrated the peasant as a threat to the creation of the Soviet state. Conquest traces the development of Ukrainian nationalism as it contrasted with Leninism and Soviet communism. For example, as Engels commented, "Now you ask me whether I have no sympathy whatever for the small Slav peoples, and remnants of peoples . . . In fact, I have damned little sympathy for them." During the years 1917 - 21, the revolution broke out sponsored by the Bolsheviks. At the same time the peasant war and famine broke out. Repeated famines were common in the history of the Soviet regime, showing the utter failure of the Soviet economic system to provide food for its people. Such famine was so bad at times that many Russians even had to resort to cannibalism in their efforts to stay alive. Further, during this time and following, the Soviet state began a series of purges against "counter-revolutionaries", those who stood in the way, the religious, and those who did not sufficiently truckle to the powers that be. The NKVD and secret police were formed to rid the state of dissenters. The League of Militant Godless, a band of militant atheists, formed which sought to purge the state of religious and ransacked the Orthodox churches. At the same time, purges were made of kulaks (and suspected kulaks), largely middle-class peasants who could afford to hire labor or lenders. Frequently the individuals accused of being kulaks were very poor, and hardly the rich exploiters they were portrayed to be. Indeed, the accusations and railings of individuals such as Josef Stalin against the kulak bear an eerie resemblance to those of Hitler. At the same time, the free peasantry was abolished and the land was laid to waste. So inefficient were the Soviet agricultural methods that millions starved. In particular, children faced a horrific fate under the Soviet regime and frequently starved or were left to die as orphans. All the while massive purges continued and the state officially denied any problems existed (afterall the Soviet state was supposed to be a utopia). Conquest sums up the death toll as follows:
Peasant dead: 1930 - 37 11 million
Arrested in this period dying in camps later 3.5 million
TOTAL 14.5 million.
The record of the West in responding to these atrocities was equally horrendous, particularly among intellectuals who frequently harbored communist sympathies. In particular, individuals such as Sidney and Beatrice Webb and Walter Duranty denied such occurrences. Further, the reports of such individuals (which could be likely classified as nothing more than official propaganda for the Soviet state) were accorded places of prominence among leading Western sources. However, others did catch on to the evils of the Soviet regime and began speaking out against it as well as providing aid. Following this, Conquest attempts to assign responsibilities for such atrocities. Certainly, we cannot forget these horrors and a full accounting must be made, even and especially if such an accounting happens to undermine one of our most favored ideologies. Conquest ends by discussing the aftermath of such terror and the Soviet Union up to the present time. This book was written before the fall of the USSR.
This book is to be highly recommended for those who want to know the truth about Soviet Communism. The official Soviet line denied such atrocities occurred under their regime. The twentieth century is likely to be remembered as an era of totalitarian regimes, and the Soviet Union remains one of the worst such regimes ever known to man. Nevertheless, there exist those who continue to deny that such things ever occurred because of their support for such an ideology. Indeed, Conquest himself has been much vilified by a largely pro-Communist Left that refuses to face up to its own atrocities while at the same time preaching constantly about the horrors of "right wing fascism". That is why a proper accounting such as that made in this book is all the more important.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
One of the more important conservative books of our time, 2007-04-29
This was the first thorough Western documentation of what happened in the Communists' collectivization famines in the Ukraine and just how many people died - 10 to 15 million, more than died in the Holocaust. This is one of the more important conservative books of our time, because it documents in copious detail one of the worst crimes in history, one which the Left has continually sought to cover up or downplay.
Ukrainian peasants were murdered, starved or deported to slave labor and death in order to turn their rich farmland into collectives. As Ukrainians they ran up against the supposedly internationalist but really Russian nationalist Communist regime, and as peasants they were officially regarded as a uselessly reactionary class unreceptive to revolution, by the proletariat-favoring Party.
Nearly every aspect of the Holocaust 10 years later, is on display here - starving people to weaken them, looting their wealth before killing them, waves of deportation over several years, and shipping them in boxcars to concentration camps with no hope of return. It gives rise to this stunning question: did Hitler model the tactics of the Final Solution on this?
That this work wasn't done in the West for nearly half a century is itself criminal, allowing the left to argue for coexistence with a "peaceful" and "progressive" Soviet Union. And the academic silence tells you all you need to know about the state of today's academy. Conquest documents the willing burial of the facts by Western liberals, most importantly New York Times writer Walter Duranty who knew about it but didn't publish it, meanwhile continuing to glorify the Socialist Revolution in print.
When you read about this, you'll wonder, "Why haven't I heard about this before?" Good question.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
What Conquest's power is over the unknowing., 2007-01-13
Years ago I attended a 2 yr. technical school, which required taking a speech class in addition to electronics classes. The text of my 15 minute speech was extracts from 'Harvest of Sorrow.' I knew the speech was having an effect of sorts, for a class full of fidgety post teen guys slowly moved their attention from hand held games and car magazines to me, with their mouths hanging open. I finished my speech and left, thinking nothing more of it.
The next day, a teacher from another class approached me, saying, "Do you know that you are now famous? The speech teacher raved on and on at our lunch after the class, saying that you had the entire class riveted to the floor with that subject! He said that after 14 years of teaching speech, your effort forced him to give his first 100% grade for a speech!"
It strikes one to think that there is so much WW II stuff on the History Channel that it is now called the Hitler Channel, but they will barely give one hour a month for a far greater demon (Stalin) and a far worse system (Communism.) Why?
3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Incentives matter, 2005-10-15
This book shows just how bad things can get when the realities of economics are ignored. When people have no incentive to produce, they will not produce. This is a message that I wish were better understood by those who persist in thinking that we can solve poverty by giving out handouts.
8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
 Informative, but a bit too academic, 2004-09-19
A very thorough account of the collectivization of farms in Ukraine and the resulting starvation of the families who grew the food that got shipped elsewhere by order of the communist authorities. It's a more heady and academic read than I would like, but certainly worthwhile as a history of that time and place.
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