Page 61 - Communism in Ambush

eral collectivization policy in 1931, a total of 7.7 million tons of grain was
demanded from a Ukrainian harvest which collectivization had brought
down to 18 million tons. This brought the already overburdened vil-
lagers almost to the point of starvation and the villagers of Ukraine
began to resist Stalin's troops—which made Stalin even more pitiless. In
July of 1932, he issued a virtual death order against the whole of the
Ukraine by increasing the previous quota demanding another 7.7 mil-
lion tons of grain to be delivered to the State. Millions of people were
condemned to die of starvation. This policy is described in Brian
Moynahan's book, The Russian Century: A Photographic History of
Russia’s 100 Years:
Requisitioning gangs of Communist activists, armed with steel rods up to
ten feet long, swarmed over the Ukraine. 'They searched in the house, in
the attic, shed and cellar,' a victim recalled. 'Then they went outside and
searched in the barn, pig pen, granary, and straw pile...' Crude watchtow-
ers were put up in the fields, posts with a hut of wood and straw atop
them. Here guards armed with shotguns would look out for snipers; those