Justification of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 as genocide in the light of the concepts of R. Conquest and R. Lemkin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2018.04.098Keywords:
Holodomor, genocide, Conquest, Lemkin, Nove, grain procurement, natural penalties;Abstract
The article analyzes the reasoning by Robert Conquest and Raphael Lemkin for the Holodomor of 1932–1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people. The focus is on the argument of British economist Alec Nove, an opponent of Conquest, who stated that "Stalin’s blow had been directed against the peasantry, among which happened to be many Ukrainians, rather than against the Ukrainians, among whom there were many peasants". This argument did not allow identifying the Holodomor with the criteria of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of December 9, 1948. The author, basing on an analysis of historical sources found by researchers in recent decades, comes to the conclusion that Stalin’s "crushing blow" was directed against Ukrainians, among whom there were many peasants, and not against peasants, among which there were many Ukrainians. It is proved that the contradictory nature of the concepts of R.Conquest (Terror-Famine) and R.Lemkin (the destruction of the Ukrainian intelligentsia – the brain of the nation, the clergy – the soul of the nation and the farmers – keepers of the national spirit) is purely external. In the main, both concepts are consistent with each other and should be used to reproduce the real picture of the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
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