Scott Powers
Republican Rep. Scott Plakon, who is of Ukrainian descent, has filed a resolution calling for a day of remembrance in Florida for the Holodomor, the famine genocide inflicted by Soviet leaders in the 1930s, killing millions of Ukrainians.
Plakon introduced his Holodomor Remembrance Day resolution (HR 8055) on Tuesday, the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would send troops into two Ukrainian provinces already largely controlled by Russian separatists, and two days before Putin launched Russia’s full assault against Ukraine.
Plakon’s resolution calls for Florida to recognize Nov. 26, 2022, as Holodomor Remembrance Day.
Holodomor (Ukrainian for murder by starvation) occurred in 1932 and 1933 in Ukraine, orchestrated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. In part, Stalin sought to punish Ukrainians for bucking his government and its policies. He also wanted to forcibly break up Ukraine’s family farm culture to make way for Marxist collective farming. And he wanted to use Ukraine’s rich agricultural output to prop up Russia during what was then a severe Eastern European drought.
The Soviets forced Ukraine to export virtually all its agricultural output to Russia, and confiscated livestock, food, crops, even seeds. That led to mass famine in Ukraine.
Estimates range from three to 10 million Ukrainians starving to death. Plakon’s resolution cites higher (still nonetheless credible) estimates of seven to 10 million Holodomor deaths in Ukraine.
Plakon had been contemplating a Florida Holodomor Remembrance Day resolution before it was clear that Putin would seek to reassert Russian control by force over Ukraine.
“It’s even more important than a week ago,” Plakon said Thursday of his resolution. “I hope that this is not history repeating itself. The moves that Putin is making recently seem like some of the moves that Stalin made. I just hope it has a different outcome.”
HR 8055 cites estimates there are 42,000 Floridians of Ukrainian descent.
The resolution will automatically be entered into the record for the Legislative Session.
Plakon plans to discuss the resolution and expand on his comments on the current crisis on the floor Friday, at the end of the House’s session. He also intends to call attention to the Ukrainian Festival Orlando, which is taking place this weekend in Apopka.
