Douglas Tottle (born 1944, believed to have died 2003 or earlier) was a Canadian trade union activist and journalist, author of the ''Fraud, Famine, and Fascism: The Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard''. Tottle asserts that the idea that the artificial Ukrainian famine of 1932–33, the
Holodomor, was intentionally created by the Soviet government originated from propaganda spread by former
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
,
anti-communists
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
, and
Ukrainian nationalists
Ukrainian nationalism refers to the promotion of the unity of Ukrainians as a people and it also refers to the promotion of the identity of Ukraine as a nation state. The nation building that arose as nationalism grew following the French Revol ...
, sometimes posing as academics in Canadian universities.
Tottle's critics regard him as a "Soviet apologist", or a "denunciator" of the famine. Tottle has been defended by the
Stalin Society, author Jeff Coplon, and the
Swedish Communist Party, who insist that his book is valid historical research that exposed the "myth of the famine-genocide
..once and for all". Tottle's work was submitted to the
International Commission of Inquiry Into the 1932–33 Famine in Ukraine and was examined as evidence during the Brussels sitting of the commission.
Biography
Tottle was born in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, but later lived mainly in Western Canada. He had various jobs throughout his working life, including photo-lab technician, fine artist, miner and steelworker. As a trade union activist, he edited ''The Challenger'', a journal of the
United Steelworkers
The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...
, from 1975 to 1985. Tottle also researched labour history and worked as a union organiser, for example among
Chicano
Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...
farm workers in
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and
Native Indian farm workers in
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
. Tottle has written for various Canadian and American publications.
''Fraud, Famine, and Fascism: The Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard''
Douglas Tottle is mostly known for his book ''Fraud, Famine, and Fascism: the Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard'' in which he argues that the theory that the
Soviet famine of 1932–33
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
was intentionally orchestrated by the USSR, was a creation of
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s propagandists, thence perpetuated in America by newspaper magnate
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
.
Tottle argues that although mistakes in Soviet economic policy were contributors to the famine, other factors including kulak sabotage, hoarding of grain, weather conditions and foreign sanctions also contributed.
Tottle writes that he is more interested in the "Nazi and fascist connections" and the "coverups of wartime collaboration". In 1988, the
International Commission of Inquiry Into the 1932–33 Famine in Ukraine was set up to establish whether the famine existed and its cause. Tottle was invited by the commission to attend the hearings, but did not respond. Tottle's book was examined during the Brussels sitting of the commission,
held between May 23–27, 1988, with testimony from various expert witnesses. Commission president Jacob Sundberg subsequently concluded that Tottle was not alone in doubting a "famine-genocide", alluding to the fact that material included in his book could not have been available without official Soviet assistance.
[A.J. Hobbins, Daniel Boyer, "Seeking Historical Truth: the International Commission of Inquiry into the 1932-33 Famine in the Ukraine", ''Dalhousie Law Journal''hh, 2001, Vol 24, page 166]
Anne Applebaum
Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe.
She has worked at ''The Econ ...
theorizes that institutes of the Soviet government contributed to its writing, reviewed manuscripts and that Soviet diplomats also promoted the book.
She also states that this may have been a political response to the publication of
Robert Conquest
George Robert Acworth Conquest (15 July 1917 – 3 August 2015) was a British historian and poet.
A long-time research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Conquest was most notable for his work on the Soviet Union. His books ...
's ''
The Harvest of Sorrow
''The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine'' is a 1986 book by British historian Robert Conquest published by the Oxford University Press. It was written with the assistance of historian James Mace, a junior fellow ...
'' in the preceding year.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tottle, Douglas
1944 births
Canadian non-fiction writers
Canadian trade unionists
Possibly living people
United Steelworkers people
Writers about the Soviet Union
Writers from Quebec