The Soviet media accordingly began a campaign portraying the kulaks as illiterate, selfish, subhuman hicks. If you were hungry—and everyone was hungry—it’s because the greedy kulaks were hoarding food. After all, everyone knew that the Ukraine was the breadbasket of Europe. It is little surprise that those few who managed to make their way to the cities, destitute and barely clothed, were therefore often treated with unmitigated contempt and as worse than animals.
