What do you think?
Rate this book
The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan
"The book brings the largely unknown story of the Kazakh famine of 1930-33 to light, using this case study to overturn several assumptions about violence, modernization, and nation-making under Stalin"--
ebook
First published November 15, 2018
33 people are currently reading
425 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Read
August 16, 2022I think we’re becoming much more familiar with the Great Famine that Ukraine suffered in the early 1930s. Much less has been written of a similarly tragic episode in Kazakhstan. Professor Cameron ably fills in many missing pieces, burdened as she undoubtedly was with significant institutional and cultural limitations. And why should we care? She answers that question, “By the famine’s end in 1934, some 1.5 million people, a quarter of the republic’s population, had perished in a cataclysm of unprecedented proportions.” What happened in Kazakhstan in those years, therefore, likely makes the top-ten list of 20th century government-inflicted miseries outside war. Blame for this catastrophe squarely rests with Moscow and one Moscovite in particular, however, it’s worth mentioning that most of the deaths Professor Cameron referenced occurred under the visionary local leadership of a faithful apparatchik, one Filipp Goloshschekin, who was rewarded for his dogmatic zeal first with a demotion and removal to Moscow in early 1933 along with some uncomfortable public criticism, then with a long overdue firing squad in 1941, which sadly provided no retributive consolation to victims.
Professor Cameron concludes her fine work with several important observations. First, Kazakh history demonstrates the Ukrainian famine was not unique. Similar atrocities occurred in at least one other removed quarter of the USSR. Second, a reevaluation of the explanations for the Ukrainian famine is warranted in light of the events in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh people began to suffer in the late 1920s, well before the beginning of the Holodomor and for significantly different reasons. Third, a reappraisal of Soviet collectivization’s role in the violence directed against ethnic groups is needed since the state appeared to act with similar vengeance across ethnicities. Stalin really was an equal opportunity psychopath.
Professor Cameron concludes her fine work with several important observations. First, Kazakh history demonstrates the Ukrainian famine was not unique. Similar atrocities occurred in at least one other removed quarter of the USSR. Second, a reevaluation of the explanations for the Ukrainian famine is warranted in light of the events in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh people began to suffer in the late 1920s, well before the beginning of the Holodomor and for significantly different reasons. Third, a reappraisal of Soviet collectivization’s role in the violence directed against ethnic groups is needed since the state appeared to act with similar vengeance across ethnicities. Stalin really was an equal opportunity psychopath.
July 18, 2021
Long, academic sentences. Hugely important book. It has a counterpart in German by Robert Kindler, who, like Sarah Cameron in 2016 prior to this book, wrote a chapter for a 2011 collective publication prior to his 2014 book "Stalins Nomaden", however, with a different focus. Her focus, back in 2016 in "Communism and Hunger", was to outline new research questions, some of which she came to answer in this book. The purpose of that collective publication was to create a wider comparative framework for understanding famine under planned and collectivised economies.
There is an argument to be made --because you will not find it in S. Cameron's book-- that the concept of (marxist) communism itself is inextricable with the famines it produces. The ideology identifies traits in human nature as "bourgeois", perpetuating class war with the weapons that only complete domination could bring, namely withholding food to coerce, punish, torture and subjugate. Even working for the government didn't secure food, at times. Sometimes, however, food was used as a carrot as well as a stick, enabling government officials, party cadres, to privilege individuals willing to conform, cooperate, do their bidding, etc.; yet many things prevented such a mechanism from saving the millions of lives lost. First of all, many did not have any favour to return and, on the other hand, when one was labeled a saboteur, or ones village or district was blacklisted, for not working hard enough for sometimes unrealistic quotas, or perceived disobedience/lack of enthusiasm for the bright future, it had murderous consequences without anything that could be done about it. So this is how many chose to flee -- into the cities, or, simply, out of the country, leaving behind "socialism in one country" (or, later, the socialist camp).
S. Cameron is strong on the refugee crisis (the "Barefooted flight") and the government's responses. Closing borders (before the same happened for the Ukraine), chasing down and murdering unarmed refugees, mostly from the lowest social standing, in their thousands, especially at the eastern border with China, triggering a diplomatic crisis.
[I’m still in the process of contrasting secondary sources & making notes]
I wrote a children's story/simplified short story, inspired by the “dry” facts about different types of soil (earlier in the book), wanting to put a human face to it. I may resume the story with a group of fleeing Kazakhs arriving and settling in China, living through "Land Reform" (on my list is the book "Land Wars" by Brian DeMaire, Lucien Bianco's "Jacqueries et Révolutions dans la Chine du XXème siècle" and I'm currently reading "How the Red Sun Rose" by Gao Hua).
A Farmer and his Family: An Experience
An enthusiastic farmer and his family decided to plot a piece of land in the middle of nowhere within the vast country of Soviet Kazakhstan. Other farmers were already doing well in different parts of the country due to fertile soils with good, nitrogen-rich humus, though the weather could be increasingly dry and successive hot, cloudless days would sometimes evaporate all the rain. There were people who settled down on neighbouring plots and started cultivating the land. Some were amateurs and would gladly receive help from others. The whole family was involved. Soon the first sprouts were appearing within some of the neighbouring plots; and the first plants. In a few days, he thought, mine will sprout too. A little hut, which they obtained through the help of a party cadre they knew, that had provided for the fees, was their dwelling. A well organised effort to house and settle even the nomadic tribes was on its way in the whole country. The future looked bright like the sun.
But the crops did not come in a few days, and some that came after weeks were stunted in their growth. A frown crept onto the farmer’s face and a furrow buried itself into his forehead, the more the weeks passed by. He knew not whence his ill luck had come. He tried to rejoice at the luck of some of his neighbours and at the birth of a daughter, which reassured him that the most important kind of fertility was not amiss. If he did not have close ties to many of the neighbours, he had some, one of whom produced an awesome yield; but this did not do much to reassure him, because he knew how many had had similar results to his and would definitely support the most fortunate of his friends in distributing his share to families even less fortunate than his own.
It was said that there were different types of soil. The more fertile were: chernozem (or black earth) and chestnut, a soil that didn’t tolerate as much intensive plowing; the lesser, solonchak and solonetz, were both patchy, encumbered by mineral deposits. But such details did not preoccupy the minds of anyone outside of specialist circles, and the party was discouraging them being mentioned in political discussions. Matters of climate did not contribute to positive change, it was thought, for who wants to dwell on slow climatic structures of nature that had not been able to justify the way society had been organised in the past, for so many centuries? What the government instead did was to demand from the farmers to give up their harvest to distribute it among those that did not produce food themselves, in the cities. Many that had been unfortunate, like our farmer, were hopeless, since they could barely provide for themselves and had to provide with produce for others. His family was one of the first to go without food for several days, until they were helped out by friends, who were limited in their generosity, because they in turn had much of their agricultural yields taken away by the state.
Without food, generosity also did not last forever: “Everyone was now preoccupied by getting something to eat for the following day—or that same day, or that very moment, to relieve their hunger pangs. Even the kindest-hearted people and closest friends and relatives could no longer help one another out.”*
By the end of the year half of the families, as far as the eye could see, had died of hunger, and many had fled.
*Mukhamet Shayakhmetov in his memoirs, “Silent Steppe”, 163, quoted by Cameron.
There is an argument to be made --because you will not find it in S. Cameron's book-- that the concept of (marxist) communism itself is inextricable with the famines it produces. The ideology identifies traits in human nature as "bourgeois", perpetuating class war with the weapons that only complete domination could bring, namely withholding food to coerce, punish, torture and subjugate. Even working for the government didn't secure food, at times. Sometimes, however, food was used as a carrot as well as a stick, enabling government officials, party cadres, to privilege individuals willing to conform, cooperate, do their bidding, etc.; yet many things prevented such a mechanism from saving the millions of lives lost. First of all, many did not have any favour to return and, on the other hand, when one was labeled a saboteur, or ones village or district was blacklisted, for not working hard enough for sometimes unrealistic quotas, or perceived disobedience/lack of enthusiasm for the bright future, it had murderous consequences without anything that could be done about it. So this is how many chose to flee -- into the cities, or, simply, out of the country, leaving behind "socialism in one country" (or, later, the socialist camp).
S. Cameron is strong on the refugee crisis (the "Barefooted flight") and the government's responses. Closing borders (before the same happened for the Ukraine), chasing down and murdering unarmed refugees, mostly from the lowest social standing, in their thousands, especially at the eastern border with China, triggering a diplomatic crisis.
[I’m still in the process of contrasting secondary sources & making notes]
I wrote a children's story/simplified short story, inspired by the “dry” facts about different types of soil (earlier in the book), wanting to put a human face to it. I may resume the story with a group of fleeing Kazakhs arriving and settling in China, living through "Land Reform" (on my list is the book "Land Wars" by Brian DeMaire, Lucien Bianco's "Jacqueries et Révolutions dans la Chine du XXème siècle" and I'm currently reading "How the Red Sun Rose" by Gao Hua).
A Farmer and his Family: An Experience
An enthusiastic farmer and his family decided to plot a piece of land in the middle of nowhere within the vast country of Soviet Kazakhstan. Other farmers were already doing well in different parts of the country due to fertile soils with good, nitrogen-rich humus, though the weather could be increasingly dry and successive hot, cloudless days would sometimes evaporate all the rain. There were people who settled down on neighbouring plots and started cultivating the land. Some were amateurs and would gladly receive help from others. The whole family was involved. Soon the first sprouts were appearing within some of the neighbouring plots; and the first plants. In a few days, he thought, mine will sprout too. A little hut, which they obtained through the help of a party cadre they knew, that had provided for the fees, was their dwelling. A well organised effort to house and settle even the nomadic tribes was on its way in the whole country. The future looked bright like the sun.
But the crops did not come in a few days, and some that came after weeks were stunted in their growth. A frown crept onto the farmer’s face and a furrow buried itself into his forehead, the more the weeks passed by. He knew not whence his ill luck had come. He tried to rejoice at the luck of some of his neighbours and at the birth of a daughter, which reassured him that the most important kind of fertility was not amiss. If he did not have close ties to many of the neighbours, he had some, one of whom produced an awesome yield; but this did not do much to reassure him, because he knew how many had had similar results to his and would definitely support the most fortunate of his friends in distributing his share to families even less fortunate than his own.
It was said that there were different types of soil. The more fertile were: chernozem (or black earth) and chestnut, a soil that didn’t tolerate as much intensive plowing; the lesser, solonchak and solonetz, were both patchy, encumbered by mineral deposits. But such details did not preoccupy the minds of anyone outside of specialist circles, and the party was discouraging them being mentioned in political discussions. Matters of climate did not contribute to positive change, it was thought, for who wants to dwell on slow climatic structures of nature that had not been able to justify the way society had been organised in the past, for so many centuries? What the government instead did was to demand from the farmers to give up their harvest to distribute it among those that did not produce food themselves, in the cities. Many that had been unfortunate, like our farmer, were hopeless, since they could barely provide for themselves and had to provide with produce for others. His family was one of the first to go without food for several days, until they were helped out by friends, who were limited in their generosity, because they in turn had much of their agricultural yields taken away by the state.
Without food, generosity also did not last forever: “Everyone was now preoccupied by getting something to eat for the following day—or that same day, or that very moment, to relieve their hunger pangs. Even the kindest-hearted people and closest friends and relatives could no longer help one another out.”*
By the end of the year half of the families, as far as the eye could see, had died of hunger, and many had fled.
*Mukhamet Shayakhmetov in his memoirs, “Silent Steppe”, 163, quoted by Cameron.
August 17, 2019
Heartbreaking, necessary reading. I recommend pairing this with David Moon’s The Plough that Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia's Grasslands, 1700–1914 for an examination of tsarist colonial settlement to enable drawing of continuities with Soviet Kazakh policy. Despite the complexity of genocide studies, Cameron thoughtfully analyses the historiography of the Kazakh famine in relation to its overshadowing by the better-known and studied Ukrainian famine. Her finest achievement, however, is centering the tragedy that the Kazakh people suffered.
November 22, 2021
Мне хочется написать о книге «Голодная степь» американского историка Сары Камерон, данная книга была основой ее научной аспирантской диссертацией, но в первую очередь я хочу отметить, что мы должны знать историю и это не в коем случае не должно порождать меж.национальные конфликты и агрессии. Как говорила моя подруга почти на всех уроках политологии: «ВОЙНА ЭТА ИГРА КОРОЛЕЙ, А НАРОД ЛИШЬ ПЕШКА». И так данная книга рассказывает о казахской трагедии (1931-33гг.) во времена сталинской пятилетки, коллективизации советских республик. В этой книге автор опираясь на архив данных отвечает на вопросы: 1. Какая причина казахского голода 2. Виноват ли Сталин в произошедшим/был ли специальный умысел созданию голода в казахской степи. 3. Какие ущербы понесли казахи (материальные, моральные, количественные и культурные) 4. Почему тема казахского голода все еще не получила полит.статуса по сравнению с украинским голодоморам (хотя по исследованием США, Казахстан считается самой пострадавшей республикой по всему союзу) 5. И наконец можно ли признать казахский голод геноцидом. Сама книга делится на шесть глав
1. Степь и урожай. В Данной глава объясняется номадизм и сама казахская идентичность, о первых товарообменах с русскими переселенцами и о переходе с высоко калорийной пищи к пшенице.
2. Можно ли доехать до социализма на верблюде? Здесь о начале коллективизации и о рисках при тотальной перемене образа жизни с кочевого в оседлый. Как раз в этой главе и говорится, игнорирование о предупрежденных рисках Сталином
3. «Малый Октябрь» Казахстана. Эту главу можно также назвать Семипалатинским делом, где описывается как продвигалась конфискация скота и имущество в этом регионе, о том как сами назначенные казахи «активисты» (люди выбранные для исполнения конфискации в разных аулах) перегибали палку «Шаш ал десе бас алып» (скажешь принести волосы, принесут голову) вместе со скотами обкрадывали дома вплоть до вещей, что люди умирали не только от голода, но и от зимних морозов. О прошении Голощекина Москвы снизить требуемый для поставки мясо и зерно, что получил в конечном итоге отказ. Строительство КАРЛАГ в Карагандинской области.
Глава 4. Кочевники в осаде. Здесь упор идет на западный Казахстан, на отличающийся кочевой жизнь Адайцев, по какому принципу западный регион поделили на Актюбинскую и Гурьевскую область и почему первая попытка интеграции Адаевский округ в советский союз потерпел крах.
Глава 5. Насилие, бегство и голод. Данная глава описывает политические попытки остановить отток казахов от советского союза и жестки меры по возвращению беженцев во время голода. Особый акцент отношения союза с Китаем и политика в Синьцзяне. Репрессия.
И наконец Глава 6. Казахстан и политика голода, 1931-34 годы. О роли Филиппа Голощекина, в которым он был признан виновным в кризисе казахского голода, замена Голощекина ( казнен в 1941 г.) на Левона Мирзояна (казнен в 1939г.) и его репрессивная политика. Также в этой главе описывается рост детей беспризорников и дет.дома, состояние Алма-Аты. В заключении и эпилоге в собирательной форме отвечает на вопросы с целью чего и была выпущена книга.
Меня очень порадовало, что книга выпущена и на казахском языке и его дата выпуска, конечно хотел��сь бы, чтобы такие книги выпускали наши историки, но как пишет автор, что очень сложно получит доступ к базе данных и предпочтения нашего правительства не политизировать данную тему, что в корне отличает нас от Украинского подхода.
Книгу можно приобрести в Меломане за 4750 тг.
1. Степь и урожай. В Данной глава объясняется номадизм и сама казахская идентичность, о первых товарообменах с русскими переселенцами и о переходе с высоко калорийной пищи к пшенице.
2. Можно ли доехать до социализма на верблюде? Здесь о начале коллективизации и о рисках при тотальной перемене образа жизни с кочевого в оседлый. Как раз в этой главе и говорится, игнорирование о предупрежденных рисках Сталином
3. «Малый Октябрь» Казахстана. Эту главу можно также назвать Семипалатинским делом, где описывается как продвигалась конфискация скота и имущество в этом регионе, о том как сами назначенные казахи «активисты» (люди выбранные для исполнения конфискации в разных аулах) перегибали палку «Шаш ал десе бас алып» (скажешь принести волосы, принесут голову) вместе со скотами обкрадывали дома вплоть до вещей, что люди умирали не только от голода, но и от зимних морозов. О прошении Голощекина Москвы снизить требуемый для поставки мясо и зерно, что получил в конечном итоге отказ. Строительство КАРЛАГ в Карагандинской области.
Глава 4. Кочевники в осаде. Здесь упор идет на западный Казахстан, на отличающийся кочевой жизнь Адайцев, по какому принципу западный регион поделили на Актюбинскую и Гурьевскую область и почему первая попытка интеграции Адаевский округ в советский союз потерпел крах.
Глава 5. Насилие, бегство и голод. Данная глава описывает политические попытки остановить отток казахов от советского союза и жестки меры по возвращению беженцев во время голода. Особый акцент отношения союза с Китаем и политика в Синьцзяне. Репрессия.
И наконец Глава 6. Казахстан и политика голода, 1931-34 годы. О роли Филиппа Голощекина, в которым он был признан виновным в кризисе казахского голода, замена Голощекина ( казнен в 1941 г.) на Левона Мирзояна (казнен в 1939г.) и его репрессивная политика. Также в этой главе описывается рост детей беспризорников и дет.дома, состояние Алма-Аты. В заключении и эпилоге в собирательной форме отвечает на вопросы с целью чего и была выпущена книга.
Меня очень порадовало, что книга выпущена и на казахском языке и его дата выпуска, конечно хотел��сь бы, чтобы такие книги выпускали наши историки, но как пишет автор, что очень сложно получит доступ к базе данных и предпочтения нашего правительства не политизировать данную тему, что в корне отличает нас от Украинского подхода.
Книгу можно приобрести в Меломане за 4750 тг.
August 27, 2025
Excellent though heartbreaking book. Contrary to what the title might suggest, it's not only about the horrors of the famine itself, but sets the scene with colonisation by imperial Russia, is very informative on traditional nomadic way of life and society, and ecology of Kazakhstan.
July 31, 2025
Wow. This is definitely one of the better history (and dissertation-to-book) books that I've ever read. Cameron is very careful to remain unbiased and show multiple sides of every part of the events she covers. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping she publishes more about Kazakhstan, because there are so few English-language books and papers out there, especially that actually use references from Kazakh writers.
The Hungry Steppe covers a tragic historical event in Kazakhstan's history that probably remains unknown here in the West: the famine of 1930-1933 caused by Stalin's collectivization process, but also racist stereotypes, during the making of the Soviet nation.
There's so much I want to say about this, but I really don't have the words. The book goes into why we know more about the Ukrainian famine then we do the Kazakh one (mainly because of the active diaspora in the West), but we really need to learn more about this one as well.
All I can do is recommend this book and leave with the last paragraph of the epilogue:
"[…] the fact that the Kazakh famine, though one of the most heinous crimes of the Stalinist regime, does not fit readily into the legal definition of genocide should challenge historians to rethink the ways that we categorize and study mass atrocities and their perpetration. In placing so much emphasis on those cases that fit a particular definition of genocide, we may conceal other cases of mass violence, such as the Kazakh famine, that also stemmed from a political process and that were no less destructive to human life."
The Hungry Steppe covers a tragic historical event in Kazakhstan's history that probably remains unknown here in the West: the famine of 1930-1933 caused by Stalin's collectivization process, but also racist stereotypes, during the making of the Soviet nation.
There's so much I want to say about this, but I really don't have the words. The book goes into why we know more about the Ukrainian famine then we do the Kazakh one (mainly because of the active diaspora in the West), but we really need to learn more about this one as well.
All I can do is recommend this book and leave with the last paragraph of the epilogue:
"[…] the fact that the Kazakh famine, though one of the most heinous crimes of the Stalinist regime, does not fit readily into the legal definition of genocide should challenge historians to rethink the ways that we categorize and study mass atrocities and their perpetration. In placing so much emphasis on those cases that fit a particular definition of genocide, we may conceal other cases of mass violence, such as the Kazakh famine, that also stemmed from a political process and that were no less destructive to human life."
April 10, 2023
Important book, and (as far as I can tell) a very fine academic work.
I've recently read Anne Applebaum's "Red Famine", and can't help comparing them, probably somewhat unfairly, since the style of the books is quite different, and the two didn't set out to write the same kind of book - Cameron's book is more academic in style. It will certainly be very useful as reading for academics and students working on the topic in the future.
But for Goodreads, I think of how the books are to read for a general audience. Cameron falls short of Applebaum in two main respects: One is that Applebaum had a lot more eye witness accounts - Cameron has a few, but brief and far between. She does explain part of the reason why, though: Most of the victims of the Kazakh famine were illiterate and couldn't write letters or petitions. And oral history projects only started very late, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, so Cameron has had a lot less to work with.
The second thing is the somewhat formulaic way of writing chapters. Cameron adheres to the academic structure of 1: "in this chapter, I will discuss..." ... then 2: the discussion ... then 3: "in this chapter I have discussed..." Not using those exact words, but still, for a general reader like me, it makes the read somewhat cumbersome and repetitive. Also, in places, every chapter seems to be treated as a separate work, so information that has been given before, is repeated needlessly.
So basically, important book, good research, presentation could have been better.
I've recently read Anne Applebaum's "Red Famine", and can't help comparing them, probably somewhat unfairly, since the style of the books is quite different, and the two didn't set out to write the same kind of book - Cameron's book is more academic in style. It will certainly be very useful as reading for academics and students working on the topic in the future.
But for Goodreads, I think of how the books are to read for a general audience. Cameron falls short of Applebaum in two main respects: One is that Applebaum had a lot more eye witness accounts - Cameron has a few, but brief and far between. She does explain part of the reason why, though: Most of the victims of the Kazakh famine were illiterate and couldn't write letters or petitions. And oral history projects only started very late, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, so Cameron has had a lot less to work with.
The second thing is the somewhat formulaic way of writing chapters. Cameron adheres to the academic structure of 1: "in this chapter, I will discuss..." ... then 2: the discussion ... then 3: "in this chapter I have discussed..." Not using those exact words, but still, for a general reader like me, it makes the read somewhat cumbersome and repetitive. Also, in places, every chapter seems to be treated as a separate work, so information that has been given before, is repeated needlessly.
So basically, important book, good research, presentation could have been better.
January 15, 2024
This book makes writing about an incredibly complicated topic look deceptively easy. The prose elegantly and economically presents and supports its arguments. The author’s proficiency in Kazakh and Russian has allowed this to be the first book of its kind in English on the subject. While capturing the tragedy it never fails to look at the broader context. It is all the sort of book that because of Kazakhstan’s relationship with Russia is not possible to have with the same broader arguments. It is a book I was looking for some fifteen years ago and that I am so glad exists now.
February 18, 2019
Very powerful book. A product of an extensive 'on the ground' research is heart breaking, tragic and damning to read. Apart from making a great contribution to a history of Kazakhs and people of former Soviet Union, the book is a warning to modern Kazakhs of what total disregard for people can do, whether by Bolsheviks in Moscow or people with Boleshevik methods closer to home...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2019
Relatively academic so it's not like a rip-roaring read but it is an English-language book about a topic that is mostly unknown in the English-speaking world. The most interesting things to me were some of the comparisons between western understanding of the Ukrainian famine vs. the Kazakh famine.
October 17, 2023
Interesting read on a lesser known historical event. Given current geopolitical issues surrounding Russia, it is a very relevant and important read.
January 7, 2024
Новый книжный год начался с еще большей ненависти к совку
February 2, 2025
Thank you Sarah Cameron, so important to capture all the facts in the book. As a kazakh, it’s difficult to read about this tragic period of our history.
July 27, 2025
Incredibly important piece of work.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews