Causes of The Holodomor - Natural Reasons

Natural Reasons

Drought has been mentioned as the major reason for the Holodomor by Soviet sources since 1983. This explanation has been modified by the Western historian Dr. Mark Tauger, who concluded that the famine was not fundamentally "man-made". He says that rustic plant disease, rather than drought, was the cause of the famine. The most that can be said of the contribution of human actions is that draft shortages, lack of labor, systemic economic problems, mismanagement, and peasant resistance exacerbated the crop failures already created by natural disasters.

In 1932, extremely dry weather reduced crops in some regions, and unusually wet and humid weather in most others fostered unprecedented infestations. These conditions reduced the potential yield, as drought had in 1931. Drought, rain, and infestations destroyed at least 20% of the harvest, and this would have been sufficient on its own to cause serious food shortages or even famine. The historian Mark Tauger believes that if these factors had not developed in 1931 and 1932, agricultural production would have been considerably larger.

The drought was not as bad as that of the non-famine year of 1936, and the earlier drought was centered outside Ukraine, according to the leading Soviet authority on drought. The prime cause of the major crop failure of 1932–33 was plant rust rather than drought. Nevertheless, there was a significant drought in 1931, which caused a considerable decrease in the harvest, while in 1936 the decrease in the harvest was not as catastrophic. Historian James Mace wrote that Mark Tauger's argument "is not taken seriously by either Russians or Ukrainians who have studied the topic." In addition, Stephen Wheatcroft, author of The Years of Hunger, claims Tauger's view represents the opposite extreme in arguing the famine was totally accidental.