The Big Show in Bololand: The American Relief Expedition to Soviet Russia in the Famine of 1921

by Bertrand M. Patenaude

When a devastating famine descended on Bolshevik Russia in 1921, the United States responded with a massive two-year relief mission that battled starvation and disease, and saved millions of lives. The nearly 300 American relief workers were the first outsiders to break through Russia’s isolation, and to witness and record the strange new phenomenon of Russia’s Bolshevism. This epic tale is related here as a sprawling American adventure story, largely derived from the diaries, memoirs, and letters of the American participants, who were a colorful mix of former doughboys, cowboys, and college boys hungry for adventure in the wake of the Great War. The story is told in an anecdotal, even novelistic, style that is accessible to a broad readership. More than a fascinating historical narrative, the book serves as a political and social history of the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, and as a study of the roots of the fateful U.S.-Soviet rivalry that would dominate the second half of the twentieth century. The book’s opening section of chapters recounts the chronological story of the American mission to Bolshevik Russia, dubbed by those who served as the “Big Show in Bololand.” It is followed by sections which examine the personal triumphs and tragedies of the relief workers and of their beneficiaries; the political confrontations between these emissaries of American capitalism and the Bolshevik commissars, who struggled to gain control over the relief effort; and the unique American-Russian cultural encounter occasioned by the presence of the relief workers, who came into daily contact with all classes of society―from impoverished former aristocrats to the poorest peasants.

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction

832 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2002

Reviews

[Olesya Gilmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent in scope and detail in illuminating a forgotten slice of history in the Russian-American relations saga.

[Rhuff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you ever wanted to know about the American Relief Administration in early Soviet Russia in 1921-1923 - but didn't know to ask. Biomedical/east European/human rights historian Bertrand Patenaude's brick of a book is a thorough flea-combing of the facts and figures, failings and fulfillment, of the emergency rescue mission to hungry Russia in the long-eclipsed Volga Famine of the early '20s. It was this partly natural, partly manmade catastrophe that led to Russia's first attempts at perestroika, the New Economic Policy; the Chernobyl of its time that changed fundamentally the trajectory of the early USSR.

Petanaude follows the rise of the ARA from its beginnings in WW I relief; its expansion into the Near East and postwar Europe under future president, Herbert Hoover; and its greatest challenge in Lenin's "Bololand." It's a story of such human and political magnitude that one can only wonder why its legacy was allowed to die. But so it did, through mutual recriminations on both sides, until its carcass lay, ironically, like bare bones embedded under the permafrost of cold war.

It's a story of intrigue, Robert Conrad-like missionaries lost in a heart of darkness, the Russian mafia, cannibalism; but also of dedicated Americans and Russians who tried to make a difference and largely succeeded. This very success made it an embarrassment to the Soviet government, like admitting one was once on welfare, with dignity saved by trashing the donor's integrity and the necessity of his assistance.

But there's no doubt that without the ARA Russia was on its way to dissolution as a human society. Whatever one thinks of the October Revolution, it was not alone in producing the postwar Russian collapse that killed, probably, more than five million people in the greater Volga Basin by hunger and disease. One reason for this manifestation of humanitarian aid was the fear that many of these destitute would find their way into an already-strained Europe - and Lenin forbid! - even to America. Better to feed them at home to keep them there. On this point Moscow and Washington were in mutual coexistance.

Hoover's humanitarian legacy was later tarnished by his mishandling of the American catastrophe of 1929. The open door of commece Hoover envisioned for Russia was cut off by mutual distrust, often led by himself. His narrow-mindedness led to his misunderstanding of needed systemic solutions beyond feeding the hungry through free will charity.

An essential work for all those interested in early Soviet and Russian general history; and in modern drives to "do something" in the wake of localized social crises. One can only be thankful that Russia was yet too vast, and American air power yet too tiny, to contemplate humanitarian bombing for "regime change."

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent example of how to write history. Patenaude takes the American Relief Expedition in Soviet Russia during the famine of 1921 and uncovers important political and cultural changes throughout the event. Numerous useful sources are cited and interesting anecdotes are sprinkled between dense research to create a narrative both interesting and enlightening.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the American Relief Association and the 1921 famine in Russia. The book deals with the difficulties of dealing with the Soviets and the immense problem of feeding millions of starving people.

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