The Holodomor occurred amid Stalin’s aggressive push for rapid industrialization and the forced collectivization of agriculture across the USSR. Key policies included:
Collectivization — Private farms were seized and merged into large state-controlled collective farms (kolkhozy). Peasants resisted, often slaughtering livestock and hiding grain rather than surrendering it.
Dekulakization — Wealthier peasants (“kulaks”) were labeled class enemies, deported, executed, or sent to labor camps. This targeted rural Ukrainian society, including community leaders, clergy, and intellectuals.
Grain requisition quotas — The Soviet state imposed unrealistically high grain procurement targets on Ukraine (a major grain-producing region) to fund industrial projects and feed cities/workers. Even in the face of poor harvests, officials confiscated food from villages, leaving peasants with nothing.
Blacklists and border sealing — Entire villages were blacklisted for failing quotas, banned from receiving food or leaving their areas. Internal passports were introduced (mostly denied to peasants), preventing flight to cities or other regions.
Suppression of Ukrainian culture — The famine coincided with purges of Ukrainian intellectuals, closure of Ukrainian-language schools, and efforts to crush national identity, seen by many as part of a broader campaign against Ukrainian nationalism.