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The only source for population statistics I could find in a three-week search was in a book called "The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913-1945."
All statistics provided are from the above source unless mentioned otherwise.
The only source for population statistics I could find in a three-week search was in a book called "The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913-1945."
All statistics provided are from the above source unless mentioned otherwise.
With
any detailed analysis of a nation and the population, especially with
how they increase or decrease and the causes behind it, population
statistics are the first most important source of information to
obtain. So, let’s detail the early years of the USSR when Stalin
was head of state (1924 - 1940).
The
yearly death toll during this period was between 3 to 5 million. Most
of these deaths were caused by disease and famine. This was because
of the USSR's lack of agricultural development and poor farming
methods left over from the Czarist period. The same situation existed
in other agrarian nations in Africa, South America, and Asia. From
1924 to 1940 the birth rate in the USSR was between 4 to 6 million.
Following these official vital statistics shows that the population
of the Soviet Union grew yearly by 1 to 3 million, due to the death
rate.
A study done in 1929, which is mentioned in the book Red Medicine (Chap. 16) found that 3,941,021 people had life threatening diseases, the worst of which was malaria. A little under 3 million people were infected with malaria. This doesn’t even count deaths caused by assaults and other crimes, which was ruthless in agrarian societies at the time. Death by accidents, death by terrorism, etc. are also not considered here.
Due to the lack of economic development in the USSR, there was a shortage of proper medicines to treat epidemics, which produced higher mortality rates. Evidence shows that these numbers downward during the years between 1924 and 1940. Mostly in late 1930's to early 1940's.
A study done in 1929, which is mentioned in the book Red Medicine (Chap. 16) found that 3,941,021 people had life threatening diseases, the worst of which was malaria. A little under 3 million people were infected with malaria. This doesn’t even count deaths caused by assaults and other crimes, which was ruthless in agrarian societies at the time. Death by accidents, death by terrorism, etc. are also not considered here.
Due to the lack of economic development in the USSR, there was a shortage of proper medicines to treat epidemics, which produced higher mortality rates. Evidence shows that these numbers downward during the years between 1924 and 1940. Mostly in late 1930's to early 1940's.
It
wasn't until the 1930's when the USSR carried out its five-year plans
to industrialize the country, that the death rate steadily decreased
from 20.3 in 1926 to 17.5 in 1938 and to 9.7 in 1950. The birth rate
also decreased in the USSR from 44.0 in 1926 to 37.5 in 1938 and to
26.7 in 1950. The decrease of birth rate was due to the
industralization and development in the USSR.
As
I reported previously, the USSR's population increased by 1 to 3
million yearly, keep in mind the USSR's population was under 200
million people. There were only two points in Soviet history did the
population decrease. The first time was during the 1933 famine, which
claimed, at most, up to 5 million lives. There were a few causes for
this famine. One of the main causes was that the Kulaks (rich
peasants) who had ownership of nine tenths of the farmland in Russia.
They turned them into plantations and housed farm peasants on the
land, whose only job was to work the land or face homelessness and
starvation. Kulaks were a class among the peasants that made
themselves wealthy via slavery. The Kulaks hated the Soviets because
the Bolshevik program called for collectivization of agriculture.
Lenin himself called the Kulaks a bunch of exploiters who must be
destroyed. However. since they just overthrew the Czar, Lenin and the
Soviets was busy building the new government. And it was not until
the 1930's collectivization, which was implemented to destroy the
Kulaks as a class, and to turn over the farmland to the peasants who
actually worked the land, that the Kulaks revolted by burning their
food supply, killing their livestock, and burning their crops, which
contributed to the naturally occurring famine of 1933. The sabotage
and wrecking activity of the Kulaks contributed to the USSR's
inability to produce enough food for the general population.
The
second time the population of the Soviet Union decreased was after
1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the USSR. After WWII a total of 27
million Soviet troops were killed in the war, and 13 million Soviet
civilians died under Nazi occupation.
Information on the WWII USSR causalities of Red Army personal provided by the interdepartmental commission of the Russian Federation; which is mentioned by both Russia Daily and sputniknews.com.
Information of USSR civilian deaths by Nazi occupation provided by necrometrics.com
Keeping in mind the fact that the population increased by 1 to 3 million yearly, and that rampant disease claimed as many as 3 or 4 million lives during the early years of the USSR, keeping in mind the fact of the famine of 1933, leading up to WWII, which claimed 27 million lives, there is no way Stalin could have mass murdered 60, 50 or even 30 million people, without the population showing a clear and unavoidable decrease. Even if this was the case, given all of the USSR's history, if the myths about Stalin’s role in mass terror were true, the Soviets would never be able to fight off Nazi Germany because of a lack of available soldiers and morale. Under the scenario of professional anti-communists like Robert Conquest and Timothy Snyder of Yale University, there is no possible way that the USSR would have enough workers to become a superpower in such short time to rival the U.S. in production output. There is no scientific way to apply the claims of these professional liars! One would have to ignore all of Soviet history to make the claim that Stalin’s leadership killed millions of innocent people. Even during the USSR's involvement in WWII, from 1941 to 1945; the fact that 27 millions soldiers and 13 million civilians died, shows a clear unavoidable decrease in the USSR's population.
Information on the WWII USSR causalities of Red Army personal provided by the interdepartmental commission of the Russian Federation; which is mentioned by both Russia Daily and sputniknews.com.
Information of USSR civilian deaths by Nazi occupation provided by necrometrics.com
Keeping in mind the fact that the population increased by 1 to 3 million yearly, and that rampant disease claimed as many as 3 or 4 million lives during the early years of the USSR, keeping in mind the fact of the famine of 1933, leading up to WWII, which claimed 27 million lives, there is no way Stalin could have mass murdered 60, 50 or even 30 million people, without the population showing a clear and unavoidable decrease. Even if this was the case, given all of the USSR's history, if the myths about Stalin’s role in mass terror were true, the Soviets would never be able to fight off Nazi Germany because of a lack of available soldiers and morale. Under the scenario of professional anti-communists like Robert Conquest and Timothy Snyder of Yale University, there is no possible way that the USSR would have enough workers to become a superpower in such short time to rival the U.S. in production output. There is no scientific way to apply the claims of these professional liars! One would have to ignore all of Soviet history to make the claim that Stalin’s leadership killed millions of innocent people. Even during the USSR's involvement in WWII, from 1941 to 1945; the fact that 27 millions soldiers and 13 million civilians died, shows a clear unavoidable decrease in the USSR's population.
