Holodomor: Class Warfare and Confiscatory Taxation in the Extreme

The Holodomor, mass starvation of Ukrainian peasants in 1932-1933, was a prime example of class warfare and confiscatory taxation.

Shameful journalists, some of them from the West, promoted the lie that the famine was really nothing more than a “hunger protest” against progressive Socialist policies by rich farmers.

First, the government used confiscatory taxation to seize assets, then when people began to starve they seemed unable, and unwilling, to do what was necessary to save lives. The sad truth: Stalin and the Communists meant for millions to die. It was the class warfare cleansing of Ukraine.

To be blunt, we should not be so surprised at the nationalistic pride many Ukrainians feel, and for their anger against Russian oppression and occupation.

Our American readers should also understand that when political parties, such as the party of Barrack Obama, promote class warfare, the logical conclusion can too quickly be taken to the extreme.

Russia Threatens Principle of Reciprocity Against Financial Lawsuits

The Russian Duma (Parliament) building in Moscow. Photo: The Mendeleyev Journal.

Smarting from the potential of massive losses over shareholder lawsuits in European courts over the Yukos affair, the Russian Parliament, the Duma, has introduced a bill that would allow Russia to confiscate property belonging to foreign states. Sponsors of the bill expect the bill to become law in January of 2016.

Citing European court rulings that award large sums to former Yukos shareholders, Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed the Duma to prepare legislation that would give Russia the ability to seize foreign assets in Russia as a “tit for tat” strategy against Yukos associated losses. Last Wednesday the Duma’s website published the text of the lawsuit, calling the idea a form of the “principle of reciprocity.”

Yukos was the former oil giant that was seized and dismantled by the government. It’s primary partner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was sentenced to prison on questionable legal grounds, and many considered him to be a political prisoner. He was released from prison prior to the Winter Olympics in 2014.

European courts have ruled against the Russian government, awarding millions of dollars to former shareholders. The assets of Yukos eventually found their way into oil companies controlled by the Kremlin, primarily the closely held Russian oil company Rosneft.

Russian Duma members sponsoring the measure openly hint that the new bill is designed to intimidate countries whose courts rule against Russia in such lawsuits. Konstantin Dobrynin of the upper chamber’s constitutional law committee, told the Moscow Times newspaper that “the idea of the legislation is of a preventative character.”

After courts had begun to rule against Russia in June, President Putin indicated that Russia would respond in kind and promised that “we will defend our interests.”