Churchill’s Famine: The killing of three million is a story waiting to be retold

On a purely technical level, importing enough food to feed all the people necessary to prevent 3 million deaths feels staggering. Imagine the convoys.<p>Every time I read about WWII maritime logistics, I’m blown away by the sheer scale of it.

I happen to be reading &quot;Churchill’s Secret War,&quot; the book mentioned in the article.<p>It&#x27;s amazing. Get it if you&#x27;re interested in this topic.

If you’re interested in a counter argument, see <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spectator.co.uk&#x2F;article&#x2F;winston-churchill-isnt-to-blame-for-the-bengal-famine&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spectator.co.uk&#x2F;article&#x2F;winston-churchill-isnt-t...</a>

Deaths in Bengal famine were due to native Indian administration and hoarding to grains by Hindu merchants. Why do you think Bangladesh never pays any attention to the famine? This re-surfacing of famine myths is Hindu Nationalist project at play.<p>1) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;full&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;jid.3635" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;full&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;jid.3635</a><p>2) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;journal.oraltradition.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;files&#x2F;articles&#x2F;31i&#x2F;06_31.1.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;journal.oraltradition.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;files&#x2F;a...</a><p>3) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jstor.org&#x2F;stable&#x2F;651058" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jstor.org&#x2F;stable&#x2F;651058</a><p>4) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;full&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;jid.3635" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;onlinelibrary.wiley.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;full&#x2F;10.1002&#x2F;jid.3635</a><p>5) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.euppublishing.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;10.3366&#x2F;brs.2009.0004" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.euppublishing.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;10.3366&#x2F;brs.2009.0004</a>

<i>&quot;Famines struck India from almost the beginning of British colonial rule. In 1770, over one million people died of starvation in Bengal, 13 years after Robert Clive’s seizure of the region following the Battle of Palashee (Plassey). Famines across India followed: the most devastating were in 1783-84, 1791-92, 1837-38, 1860-61, 1876-78, 1896-97 and 1899-1900.&quot;</i><p>This is very deceptively phrased. It suggests that there was no famine in India before, and somehow Britain caused that problem to arise for the first time.<p>Other famines in India:<p>1. 1335-1342<p>2. 1460<p>3. 1520<p>4. 1555<p>5. 1629-1632, the biggest famine in Indian history<p>6. 1655<p>7. 1682<p>8. 1702-1704<p>The rule of the East India Company started in the 1750s. The British Raj (Empire proper) in the mid 1800s. Famines continued up to the green revolution.<p>The way the article presents famine as some sort of direct consequence of one set of empires being replaced by another suggests that the article has an agenda that goes beyond history.

Must read book : THE ANARCHY: THE RELENTLESS RISE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. You wouldn’t believe this part of history

They say state socialism killed millions, and point to the Holodomor and Great Chinese Famine as examples. They are not wrong that collectivization did that.<p>But they never stand up and discuss how state capitalism is explicitly behind famines like the Great Irine Potato Famine and the numerous ones in Bengal - with this one postdating Holodomor.<p>In the Irish Potato Famine, 15% of the country perished — it was right next door to the English — and did so largely due to enforcing private property of landlords above human lives of Irish peasants and sharecroppers.<p>Whether it is a Raj government that got set up to protect the state capitalist “East India Company”, or whether it is “wartime communism”, requisitioning food from starving peasants to feed cityfolk is something only a powerful state apparatus can do at such a scale, and at such a scale it is entirely out of touch with the people on the ground. People have suffered under both economic systems, it is just in the USA it is fashionable to associate communism with the State while capitalism has come to be somehow associated the absence of one.

I don’t know if this is true so maybe I shouldn’t be mentioning it, but: I had a driver for a week in India who I talked with a lot because my wife and our two friends rode in the back seat while I sat up front. One of our longer conversations was about British rule. Our driver claimed that England very purposefully dismantled India’s education system and had the harsh punishment of “hand maiming” that was frequently meted out for even small infractions.<p>Empires, especially when in decline, can be brutal so maybe what our driver told me is true.

Don&#x27;t forget about the great famine in Iran during WW1 - that is the REAL HOLOCAUST committed by the English.

I am offended when many people in the US consider Winston Churchill as a leadership icon. Indian MP, Shashi Tharoor&#x27;s observation Churchill was no better than the Nazis is the correct one. Winston Churchill had an extremely derogatory attitude towards Indians even for his time. His policies killed millions of Indians. Indians need to re-write history from Indian perspective and tell the true story of Churchill, a genocidal racist who deserves to be in the trash can of history.