1st Edition

Unnatural Deaths in the U.S.S.R.

Edited By Iosif G. Dyadkin Copyright 1983
    72 Pages
    by Routledge

    80 Pages
    by Routledge

    This astonishing and sobering account of government- and war-induced civilian deaths in the Soviet Union calculates that Soviet loss of life between 1928 and 1954 was far higher than Western ex-perts have ever believed. Applying mathematical techniques to Soviet demographic statistics, Dyadkin shows that Stalinist repres-sion and World War II must have taken the lives of between 43 and 52 million Soviet citizens.

    In the first period, 1929-36, one of collectivization, Stalin control-led and eliminated classes; during the Great Purge of 1937-38, mil-lions of Communist party members and bureaucrats were executed, and then the purge extended into the Red Army. Dyadkin shows that World War II took close to 30 million lives and that during 1950-53 another 450,000 died in prison camps.

    Introduction 1. Has No One Been Forgotten? 2. Basic Sources 3. Population Losses during the Class Elimination Period of 1929-36 4. Male Losses during Peacetime (1926-40, 1950-54) and the Gulag Population and Prison Death Rate (1950-54).5. Natural Death Rate (1927-40) and Losses from Repression and the Soviet/Finnish War of 1939-40 6. Birth and Death Rates from Unnatural Causes (1929-36) 7. War Casualties and Losses Due to Privations during World War II 8. Assumptions and Techniques 9. Potential USSR Population Changes in 1926-50 without Repressive Policies and World War II 10. Conclusion

    Biography

    Iosif G. Dyadkin