Hoover helping Bolsheviks

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"The Great Famine (PBS documentary)" hit Soviet Russia in 1921, when war and communist mismanagement exacerbated a period of bad weather.  The scenes were pitiful: hungry people looking like skeletons from the Nazi camps, 10 million dead, and stories of cannibalism.

The U.S. came to the rescue, sending tonnes of food to Soviet Russia. While "American Relief Association" had people in Russia, managing the supplies, local commissars often managed to use the food as a political tool to favor some and deprive others.

The U.S. helped the Soviets, until the Lenin realized that he needed to allow a little more economic freedom with his "New Economic Plan". 

In the U.S., leftist journalists helped the Soviet cause. They said food aid should not be used to help just ideas and people who were more amenable to U.S. policies. So, in truly christian style, the U.S. should turn the other cheek, love its enemies, and help all alike. Herbert Hoover led the organization of the relief effort, proving that his handling of the stock market crash of 1929 was not his first piece of great management skills being strategically misdirected to cause more pain. (More from Wikipedia)

Overall, an interesting documentary.





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