The meme presents two opposing historical narratives surrounding the Holodomor famine in the Soviet Union during 1932–1933. The historical accuracy of the claims within the meme is debated, though a consensus among scholars confirms the famine was man-made and resulted in millions of deaths.
The left panel highlights the Ukrainian perspective:
The Holodomor (meaning "death by starvation") was an artificial famine, often considered an act of genocide by Ukrainian and many Western historians, engineered by Joseph Stalin's regime.
Millions of Ukrainians, primarily rural farmers, died due to forced collectivization policies and impossibly high grain quotas imposed by the state.
The right panel features a Soviet-era justification:
Wealthier peasants, labeled as kulaks ("fist" in Russian), resisted collectivization by hoarding and burning grain and killing livestock, which some claim worsened food shortages.
Soviet authorities portrayed kulaks as enemies of the state and exploiters of poorer peasants, justifying their persecution, deportation, and execution as a class. The claim about collaborating with an SS division refers to later events in World War II and is separate from the famine's immediate causes.
The bottom panel uses a popular internet meme template featuring the character Miles Edgeworth from the Ace Attorney game series, although he never actually says the line "You are not a clown. You are the entire circus" in the game. The character is used to dismiss the opposing argument entirely.
The ongoing debate centers on whether the famine was an intentional, genocidal act directed specifically at Ukrainians to suppress nationalism or primarily an unintentional consequence of the disastrous and brutal agricultural collectivization policies across the USSR.
Would you like to know more about the Holodomor or the historical debate surrounding its causes?
