The Volga Famine of 1921-22: How Lenin's War on Peasants Killed Millions

In 1921, as the Russian Civil War wound down, a catastrophic famine swept the Volga region, killing an estimated five million people. But this was no natural disaster. Lucas and Luna explore how Bolshevik grain requisitioning under War Communism, the collapse of transport infrastructure, and the deliberate targeting of peasant farmers turned a drought into a demographic catastrophe. They examine the role of the Cheka in seizing grain, the international relief effort led by the American Relief Administration under Herbert Hoover, the macabre reports of cannibalism, and the political fallout that forced Lenin to compromise with the New Economic Policy. Along the way, they discuss the little-known story of the Samara famine of 1921, the testimony of British journalist Arthur Ransome, and the controversial decision by Soviet authorities to export grain even as people starved.

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