Since A, Bougakov has raised the issue of the death rates in Russia, I will
add the summaries of the evidence on that matter as well. As I said, the
strategies of Holocaust deniers show a consistent pattern, and Bougakov
comfirms that view. Instead of any evidence related to the issue, he complains
about "psychos - communists, nationalists" and about "subcultural groups,
deviant behaviour and so on". This probably indicates the atmoshpere at the
Higher School of Economics, which was specifically established to train the
new managers for the transition economy of Russia.
Nevertheless the reality is quite different. The scale of the deaths caused by
the transition to a free market in Russia is enormous. At least twice as many
people were killed, as at Auschwitz. Denial of any personal or poliitcal guilt
in the Russian case, would logically imply that no-one was guilty of
Auschwitz. Again it is the strategy of Holocaust deniers such as David Irving,
to break down the events into fragments, and insist of proof of explicit
political intent at each stage. That is not the historical reality.
I should add that Margaret Thatcher herself publicly restated the figures of
Robert Conquest for the deaths caused by Stalin, in particular in the
Ukrainian famine. These estimates are made on the basis of the approach
criticised by A. Bougakov. Yet they are commonly accepted as historical fact,
and so is Stalin's personal responsibilty, although he never gave an order to
starve anyone. Clearly, the poliitcians who implemented the transition in
Russia are responsible for its effect, and Boris Yeltsin should be the first
to face the death penalty in this respect.
The best material on the excess mortality in Russia is this paper:
Jacob Nell and Kitty Stewart (1994)
Death in transition: the rise in the death rate in Russia since 1992
UNICEF International Child Development Centre. Innoccenti Occasional Papers,
EPS 45.
I made this summary of its conclusions for the website below. They refute the
claim made by A. Bougakov that there was a continuous fall in mortality:
- Only 37% of additional deaths from 1989 to 1993 can be attributed to changes
in size and structure of the population.
- Of 349 000 additional male deaths in 1993, only 91 000 can be explained by
changes in population size or structure.
- In one year, from 1992 to 1993, male life expectancy fell by 3 years: from
62 years to 59 years.
- The rise in mortality affects men more than women: in Russia in 1993, female
life expectancy was almost 14 years longer than male life expectancy.
- The rise in death rates affects mainly the population of working age.
- Alcohol poisoning, suicide, and murder account for 14% of the rise in death
rates from 1989 to 1992.
- More Russians died in 1993 from suicide, murder and alcohol poisoning, than
in the 11-year Afghanistan war.
- In one year, from 1992 to 1993, male deaths from alcohol poisoning rose by
69%, and female deaths from alcohol poisoning rose by 90%.
There are many other interesting aspects, and I recommend the paper and the
other articles listed at at the website. The most interesting conclusion for
the Thatcher issue is this:
- Excess mortality profiles for British unemployed, and for Russia since 1992,
are comparable.
In other words there is a consistent pattern of deaths. Until I read that, I
had not realised that it would be possible to calculate the deaths caused by
Thatcherism - even if there was no national rise in death rates. Only a
demographic research project can establish the exact totals, but is is
certainly numbered in tens of thousands.
So let me repeat: it is a historical fact that Margaret Thatcher and her
cabinet had the deliberate intention to kill large numbers of people. That was
related to their belief in the necessity to subject large sections of the
population to harsh conditions of life, in a free market-economy. It is also a
historical fact that they implemented that intention. It is a historical fact
that Margaret Thatcher, the members of her cabinet, and policy-level civil
servants, are individually and collectively responsible for that mass murder,
in both the historical and criminal-legal sense.
--
Paul Treanor
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/dem.wrong.html
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