Patriarch Tikhon and the Famine of 1921-1922

• In Event: Hunger, Homelessness, and Humanitarianism in Russia's Revolution and Civil War

Abstract

This paper argues that Patriarch Tikhon readily responded to famine relief and was only blocked from contributing by the government. The coercive confiscation of church valuables was not motivated by the famine, but the government’s financial needs—but the famine presented itself as a convenient propaganda tool to justify what they anticipated would be an unpopular policy.

Author

• Scott M. Kenworthy, Miami U of Ohio