FUNCTIONING OF THE CHUVASH REGIONAL COMMISSION TO COMBAT THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAMINE AND ITS UYEZD UNITS DURING THE YEARS OF MASS FAMINE IN THE VOLGA REGION (1921–1923)

Inna Yu. SEMENOVA

УДК [94:612.391(470.344)”1921/1923″]:364.3

ББК Т3(2Рос.Чув)613-209.2

Key words

famine in the Volga region, death from starvation and pestilence, famine front, the Central Commission for famine relief, social assistance to the starving people, Chuvash workers’ and peasants’ families, Regional Commission for combating the consequences of famine under the Regional Executive Committee of the Council of workers’, peasants’ and Red Army deputies of the Chuvash Autonomous region (1921–1923), uyezd commissions for famine relief, the All-Russian Committee for agricultural assistance (CACA)

Abstract

The disaster that broke out in the Soviet Republic (late 1920 – early summer of 1923) was enormous both in its territorial extent and in its destructiveness. According to various sources, mass famine in the Volga region took away the lives of more than 22 million people (according to official data of the Soviet government – 5 million). Each separate region of the country tried to overcome the famine situation in different ways. The Chuvash region (now the territory of the modern Chuvash Republic (ChR)) was among the regions which failed to cope independently with the looming threat of population extinction from famine and pestilence. The Soviet government, in existing circumstances, took unprecedented measures to resolve the situation of famine, for the first time applying for help abroad.

Based on previously unpublished archival data, the author shows the work of the Chuvash autonomy authorities together with the Chuvash Commission for combating the consequences of famine and its uyezd units to solve the problems of famine situation in the national region of the country.

The study performed suggests that the Chuvash Autonomous Oblast (ChAO), despite the fact that it was one of the most severely affected regions of the Soviet Republic by crop failure and famine, was still able to effectively use the resources coming from the grain-producing provinces of the RSFSR, the Central Committee of Pomgol, the Committee of American aid, for its recovery.

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Information about the author

Inna Yu. Semenova – Post-Graduate Student of Historical Sciences, Russian History Department, Chuvash State University, Russia, Cheboksary (iysemenova@mail.ru).