L4 Flashcards
The Great Leap Forward
1958-1962
economic, social campaign within the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
~30 million people died
Ukrainian Holodomor
1932-1933
Stalin’s policies:
5-year plan for rapid/heavy industrialisation (1928)
Forced collectivization resulted in resistance; threat of nationalist uprising (1929-1932)
Regime responded with terror, resulting in famine
The famine is often seen as punishment for Ukrainian resistance.
holodomor= to kill by starvation
political famines
Ukrainian Holodomor
Chinese Great Leap Forward
Great Leap Forward Famine VS Holodomor
In both cases there is a misrepresentation that fuels a government policy or requirements that will backfire
-> people don’t want to speak out to party leaderships that are higher in the chain of command; so, even though it’s a communist organization, there’s still a hierarchy (system failure)
-> people were enthusiastic about joining the Great Leap Forge and to modernize, believing they could contribute to economic progress (enthusiasm for innocence)
Seen as something that moves this communist ideology as a market system is also that leaders prevent at most to agree that it actually failed.
“famines don’t occur in a functioning democracy” (amartya sen)
in a democracy every individual has their own sovereignty. so, they know what is based on them. This way, when a leader fucks it up, they can choose to not elect this leader next time. So, leaders have something to lose. They need to be accountable for somehting as visible or as detrimental as a famine crisis.
Why is free press important in a healthy democracy?
You need a population that is informed about the political system
What are the two types of Food Availability Decline (FAD) during famines?
FAD 1: An objective lack of food, no division of available food can prevent famine.
FAD 2: A lack of distribution due to political reasons, where feasible policies could have prevented or reduced the famine’s severity.
How was food used as a weapon during World War I?
Britain blockaded German ports, cutting food supplies.
Germany retaliated by using submarine warfare to cut British food imports.
By 1918, German demoralization from food shortages contributed to their surrender.
What factors contributed to the Holodomor famine?
Stalin’s collectivization policies.
Forced grain requisitions.
Political punishment for Ukrainian nationalism.
Disputed as genocide or politically motivated starvation.
What were the main causes of the Greek Famine (1941-42) during World War II?
Six months of war devastation.
German occupation and food confiscations.
Allied blockade, which cut off food imports.
What was the Dutch Hunger Winter (1944-45) and its cause?
A mild famine in the Netherlands caused by a German blockade in retaliation for a railway strike initiated by the Allies and the Dutch government in exile.
What was the German Hunger Plan during the Siege of Leningrad (1941-44)?
A Nazi policy to starve encircled Soviet cities (like Leningrad) by cutting off food supplies, resulting in around 1 million deaths.
What were the consequences of Mao’s Great Leap Forward (1958-61) in China?
Forced collectivization and agricultural reforms to boost industrialization.
Grain requisitioning led to severe food shortages.
The death toll from famine is estimated between 15 and 30 million people.
What were the contributing factors to the Great Leap Forward Famine?
Eradication of earlier safety nets (religious institutions, migration).
Forced grain contributions and communal farms.
Fear of being labeled a “class enemy” prevented private coping mechanisms.
What did Hitler’s reading of Malthus influence during World War II?
Hitler saw hunger as a tool of conquest, believing that the “surplus populations” of Jews and Slavs had no right to exist, leading to the use of starvation in the German Hunger Plan.
