Famine in Tsarist Russia
We all know about the Famine in the Volga region in 1920–21 and the Famine in the early 1930s, that is, under the “Bolsheviks,” who are considered the culprits of these disasters. Moreover, they are accused of premeditated murder - that these “famines” were organized by them for the extermination of the people and therefore fall under the definition of genocide. One could believe this if the Famine in Russia first happened during the “Bolsheviks", and before their rule, people had never heard of such a disaster. But, it turns out, hunger was a regular and massive phenomenon in tsarist Russia. The hungry years were repeated with the same frequency, after 8-11 years, with which the lean years happened.
Starvation as a disaster, covering a more or less significant group of the country's population, was widespread in Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as in Western Europe of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. Russia followed the same path as the countries of Western Europe, but lagged behind by 50 years.
On average, 10% of the population starved in European Russia.
SHARE OF HUNGERS IN THE POPULATION OF CENTRAL RUSSIA
(without Poland and without Finland) in 1891-1911
HUNGER: 1891 - 25.7% and 1892 - 9.1%. In 1893 - 0.1%, 1894 - 0.5%, 1895 - 1.1%, 1896 - 2.2%,
1897 - 3.8%, 1898 - 9.7% 1899 - 3.2%, 1900 - 1.5%.
At the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia were hungry: 1901-1902, 1905-1908 and 1911 - 1912.
In the years 1901 - 1902 49 provinces starved to death: in 1901 - 6.6%, 1902 - 1%, 1903 - 0.6%, 1904 - 1.6%.
In 1905 - 1908. From 19 to 29 provinces starved to death: in 1905 - 7.7%, 1906 - 17.3% of the population
In 1911 - 1912, over 2 years, famine swept 60 provinces: in 1911 - 14.9% of the population.
On the brink of death were 30 million people.
According to various estimates in the years 1901-1912. about 8 million people died from hunger and its consequences. The tsarist government was preoccupied with how to hide the scale of hunger. In the press, censorship forbade the use of the word “hunger,” replacing it with the word “underperformance.”
One can doubt the concrete figures about the number of deaths from starvation, but one cannot doubt that hunger was a regular and widespread phenomenon in tsarist Russia.
GRAIN FOR EXPORT. Despite the famine, grain flowed from Russia to Europe (as now oil and gas also go to Europe, bypassing Russia). On average, 30% of the bread was exported annually. So, the trade in bread was a necessary measure, and was not at all due to an excess of it. The Tsarist Minister Vyshnegradsky, answering the accusations of selling bread abroad even during the famine in Russia, said from the rostrum of the State Duma: “We are undernourished, but we’ll take them out!” This slogan was implemented.
HUNGER LOAN.
Getting hungry help (the “hunger loan”) was also difficult. A “hunger loan” was 1 pound of flour per month per adult and 1/2 pound of flour per child. The following categories of rural population were excluded from the recipients of the “hunger loan”:
- adults aged 18 to 55 years (they say, there is nothing to feed parasites);
- ownerless peasants (that is, 3.5 million families, usually laborers);
- widows and orphans, they had to be fed by rural society "from surplus aid."
Thus, the most defenseless sections of society were doomed to starvation. Where does the “starving” village come from? Moreover, the received "hunger loan" subsequently had to be repaid. In 1911, over 20 million rubles were recovered from the starving Samara province. arrears for "hunger loans" of previous years. How many people in 1911-1912 killed the "hungry loans" received in 1901-1902. 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908 ...
HUNGER 1905 - 1907 In 1906, the Volga provinces were most affected: Samara, Kazan, Ufa, Simbirsk and Saratov, and from the internal: Tambov, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza. The harvest of bread was so bad that it could not be reaped or mowed, but had to be pulled out with the hands with roots. Sometimes the annual grain yield per family of 8 people was 60 kg. The peasants poorly ate rye bread baked with pea flour, “sawdust” and even clay were mixed into the bread “for volume”.
From a malnutrition, a fierce epidemic of typhus began. Masses of hungry people went from villages to cities to earn money. There were cases of suicides of people who could not find either food or work. Thanks to the assistance of local authorities and the Red Cross, free dining rooms and food outlets were opened, giving out 270 million meals and rations during the disaster.
HUNGER 1911 again brought terrible disasters to the village. In summer, there was intense heat, drought, hot winds, dry winds, severely manifested in the Volga region and the Don. The harsh winter of 1911-1912 with snowstorms and an unusual spring flood of rivers further worsened the situation. Only one third of the crop was harvested versus the average. A crop failure covered the vast territory of the entire Volga region (from the Lower to Astrakhan), the Kama region, the Urals and Western Siberia. Help had to be provided in 60 provinces, especially in Samara, Orenburg, Perm, and also in the Don region.
PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS: helping the starving
During the great famine of 1871 under Alexander II, zemstvos, the Red Cross and other organizations, such as, for example, the N.I. Surgical Society, were actively involved in helping the starving. Pirogov.
Emperor Nicholas II, on the contrary, sharply curtailed the rights of the zemstvos to combat hunger, and in 1911 and 1912 completely prohibited the participation of zemstvos, the Red Cross, and charitable organizations in helping the starving. Nicholas II issued a unique decree "On the preparation of bread from bards and straw flour, which could replace the use of ordinary rye bread."
The number of people in need, according to rough estimates, amounted to 8.2 million people. Prominent publicist doctor, Chairman of the Pirogovsky Society D.N. Zhbankov wrote: “Diseases and cases of starvation, ruin and general poverty, mutilation of moral character - robberies, arson, trafficking in children and yourself, suicide and complete physical and spiritual prostration - all this bring crop failures in Russia.”
And only in 1911 the tsarist ministers for the first time decided to import grain to fight hunger.
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Starvation as a disaster, covering a more or less significant group of the country's population, was widespread in Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as in Western Europe of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. Russia followed the same path as the countries of Western Europe, but lagged behind by 50 years.
On average, 10% of the population starved in European Russia.
SHARE OF HUNGERS IN THE POPULATION OF CENTRAL RUSSIA
(without Poland and without Finland) in 1891-1911
HUNGER: 1891 - 25.7% and 1892 - 9.1%. In 1893 - 0.1%, 1894 - 0.5%, 1895 - 1.1%, 1896 - 2.2%,
1897 - 3.8%, 1898 - 9.7% 1899 - 3.2%, 1900 - 1.5%.
At the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia were hungry: 1901-1902, 1905-1908 and 1911 - 1912.
In the years 1901 - 1902 49 provinces starved to death: in 1901 - 6.6%, 1902 - 1%, 1903 - 0.6%, 1904 - 1.6%.
In 1905 - 1908. From 19 to 29 provinces starved to death: in 1905 - 7.7%, 1906 - 17.3% of the population
In 1911 - 1912, over 2 years, famine swept 60 provinces: in 1911 - 14.9% of the population.
On the brink of death were 30 million people.
According to various estimates in the years 1901-1912. about 8 million people died from hunger and its consequences. The tsarist government was preoccupied with how to hide the scale of hunger. In the press, censorship forbade the use of the word “hunger,” replacing it with the word “underperformance.”
One can doubt the concrete figures about the number of deaths from starvation, but one cannot doubt that hunger was a regular and widespread phenomenon in tsarist Russia.
GRAIN FOR EXPORT. Despite the famine, grain flowed from Russia to Europe (as now oil and gas also go to Europe, bypassing Russia). On average, 30% of the bread was exported annually. So, the trade in bread was a necessary measure, and was not at all due to an excess of it. The Tsarist Minister Vyshnegradsky, answering the accusations of selling bread abroad even during the famine in Russia, said from the rostrum of the State Duma: “We are undernourished, but we’ll take them out!” This slogan was implemented.
HUNGER LOAN.
Getting hungry help (the “hunger loan”) was also difficult. A “hunger loan” was 1 pound of flour per month per adult and 1/2 pound of flour per child. The following categories of rural population were excluded from the recipients of the “hunger loan”:
- adults aged 18 to 55 years (they say, there is nothing to feed parasites);
- ownerless peasants (that is, 3.5 million families, usually laborers);
- widows and orphans, they had to be fed by rural society "from surplus aid."
Thus, the most defenseless sections of society were doomed to starvation. Where does the “starving” village come from? Moreover, the received "hunger loan" subsequently had to be repaid. In 1911, over 20 million rubles were recovered from the starving Samara province. arrears for "hunger loans" of previous years. How many people in 1911-1912 killed the "hungry loans" received in 1901-1902. 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908 ...
HUNGER 1905 - 1907 In 1906, the Volga provinces were most affected: Samara, Kazan, Ufa, Simbirsk and Saratov, and from the internal: Tambov, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza. The harvest of bread was so bad that it could not be reaped or mowed, but had to be pulled out with the hands with roots. Sometimes the annual grain yield per family of 8 people was 60 kg. The peasants poorly ate rye bread baked with pea flour, “sawdust” and even clay were mixed into the bread “for volume”.
From a malnutrition, a fierce epidemic of typhus began. Masses of hungry people went from villages to cities to earn money. There were cases of suicides of people who could not find either food or work. Thanks to the assistance of local authorities and the Red Cross, free dining rooms and food outlets were opened, giving out 270 million meals and rations during the disaster.
HUNGER 1911 again brought terrible disasters to the village. In summer, there was intense heat, drought, hot winds, dry winds, severely manifested in the Volga region and the Don. The harsh winter of 1911-1912 with snowstorms and an unusual spring flood of rivers further worsened the situation. Only one third of the crop was harvested versus the average. A crop failure covered the vast territory of the entire Volga region (from the Lower to Astrakhan), the Kama region, the Urals and Western Siberia. Help had to be provided in 60 provinces, especially in Samara, Orenburg, Perm, and also in the Don region.
PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS: helping the starving
During the great famine of 1871 under Alexander II, zemstvos, the Red Cross and other organizations, such as, for example, the N.I. Surgical Society, were actively involved in helping the starving. Pirogov.
Emperor Nicholas II, on the contrary, sharply curtailed the rights of the zemstvos to combat hunger, and in 1911 and 1912 completely prohibited the participation of zemstvos, the Red Cross, and charitable organizations in helping the starving. Nicholas II issued a unique decree "On the preparation of bread from bards and straw flour, which could replace the use of ordinary rye bread."
The number of people in need, according to rough estimates, amounted to 8.2 million people. Prominent publicist doctor, Chairman of the Pirogovsky Society D.N. Zhbankov wrote: “Diseases and cases of starvation, ruin and general poverty, mutilation of moral character - robberies, arson, trafficking in children and yourself, suicide and complete physical and spiritual prostration - all this bring crop failures in Russia.”
And only in 1911 the tsarist ministers for the first time decided to import grain to fight hunger.
source
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