Photo:15th anniversary of Holodomor – postcard, public domain
Under Stalin, communism revealed its devastating capacity for human suffering. His policies were nothing short of catastrophic for the people of the Soviet Union, erasing countless lives and crushing individual freedoms under the weight of collectivist dogma. Stalin’s brutal consolidation of power in 1929 marked the beginning of a nightmare for millions, as he waged war against private enterprise, farmers, and dissenters under the guise of economic progress.
Stalin’s assault on the kulaks, independent farmers he labeled enemies of the state, laid the groundwork for one of history’s most horrific atrocities. Accused of hoarding grain amidst a failing monetary system, these farmers were targeted for total eradication. Over 2.6 million people—kulaks and those branded as “kulak-adjacent”—were arrested, deported, or executed. This forced collectivization triggered the Holodomor, a man-made famine that starved millions, particularly Ukrainians, to death. The tragedy exposed communism’s inherent cruelty, as the regime weaponized food to assert control.
Stalin’s drive for industrialization turned millions into state-owned slaves. Entire industries were built on the backs of forced laborers, many of whom toiled under horrific conditions in the gulags. Far from achieving economic autonomy, Soviet industrial advances were modeled on Western designs, a bitter irony for a regime that claimed to reject capitalism. Meanwhile, the arbitrary production targets set by central planners led to chaos and scapegoating, with innocent engineers accused of sabotage and sent to their deaths in sham trials.
The toll of Stalin’s policies was staggering. By 1937, the population census revealed 15 million fewer people than expected, a grim testament to the regime’s deadly incompetence. While some opportunists benefited from the chaos, the majority suffered under relentless labor demands and crushing repression.
Stalin’s reign was a damning indictment of communism’s evils—proof that when government seeks to control every aspect of life, it only delivers misery, death, and despair.
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/national-sovereignty/communism/the-horror-of-stalinism/
Phyllis Schlafly 