To the Editor:
Question - What to do with Sask. Party politicians that spread fascist propaganda? Namely Premier Brad Wall and Deputy Premier Ken Krawetz and their bill 40 (The Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Holodomor Memorial Day Act.)
So, what is this holodomor anyway? That is the Ukrainian name for a great famine the Ukrainians claim was imposed by Stalin's Communist government on the farming peasants of Ukraine. The claim is 10 million Ukrainian farming peasants starved to death in the heart of Europe's breadbasket during the years of 1932-33. That being 1/3 of the Ukrainian population.
The Ukrainians have a special flame of remembrance. In late April 2008, some Ukrainians carried that flame to the steps of the Saskatchewan Legislature.
A special ceremony took place outside the Legislature with Saskatchewan MLA's and media to honor survivors of the famine. (The media reports form the basis of this letter).
That was not a famine like sometimes occurs in nature when rainfall is in short supply. This was a deliberate famine by acts of the Soviet Communist government.
So, what do the Nationalist Ukrainians claim these acts were?
(a) The Soviet Communist government seized the farmers land. Without land, it's self evident the farming peasants would produce nothing from the soil.
(b) The Soviet government seized the farmer's livestock. That would be the chickens that lay the eggs, the hogs that produce the bacon, the cattle that provide meat and milk, and let us not forget the heavy horses to till the soil.
(c) The Soviet government also seized the farmers' grain right down to the seeds saved for planting, but that's not all, they even went about confiscating food where some may have been stashed away.
Those Soviets sure did a thorough job. The borders of Ukraine were strictly patrolled by the military to prevent starving Ukrainians from crossing into Russia in search of food (Ukrainian claim in the Regina Leader-Post Nov. 23, 2010). I must agree, under those conditions, it seems plausible with the farmers unable to produce food that 10 million farmers could have starved to death. But, right here we run up against a massive conundrum. How is it the food producing farmers starved to death for lack of food while the other 20 million Ukrainians under the tight rein of internal passports that produced no food, did not starve to death? Where did that massive tonnage of food come from to keep those 20 million Ukrainians alive?
What to do with the population demographers claiming the population of the Ukraine increased during the famine not decreased? (Google) Wall and Krawetz seem to be overly anxious to support the charge of famine-genocide made against the Soviet people by contemplating having this propaganda taught in the school system.
Henry Neufeld, Waldeck, SK.
