Communism
After communists gained control over the region, they began to appropriate grain from the landowners. Eventually the population began to starve and epidemics spread. During this time Mennonites began organizing to immigrate to Canada. In 1923 many of the former large landowners, ministers and internal refugees migrated to Canada, with credit provided by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In 1926 the village of Einlage was abandoned to make way for the flooding from the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station dam. Many other Chortitza Mennonites suffered under the dekulakization programs of the 1920s and the collectivization of 1930. Confiscated land was given to peasants, usually Communist Party members. In May 1931, with these newest citizens of Chortitza village voted out the remaining Mennonite landowners. From 1929 to 1940, 1500 men of a total population of 12,000 were exiled to hard labor in the far north or Siberia.
Read more about this topic: Chortitza Colony
Famous quotes containing the word communism:
“The Cold War isn’t thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn’t sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)
“Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is exploitation of the strong by the weak.”
—Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865)