Here our esteemed comrade has posted a link and extracted those quotes which suit his posture.
Missed for the choice cuts were
"..According to West Virginia University professor Dr Mark Tauger, to assert that the famine was a political measure intentionally imposed through excessive procurements is to take an uncritical approach to the official sources.[63] Tauger writes that he is skeptical of Conquest's claims about the famine and of the accuracy of Conquest's book on the subject.[64] He has argued that the 1932 harvest was smaller than the official estimate, and smaller than the harvest of 1933, which would suggest the famine was not "man-made."
Tauger's evidence, methodologies and conclusions in regard to the famine were criticized by Robert Davies and Stephen Wheatcroft in their book The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931–33, published in 2004.[65] Wheatcroft additionally claims Tauger's view represents the opposite extreme in arguing the famine was totally accidental.[66] Tauger, however, maintains that his harvest estimates are supported by evidence, and his conclusions are shared by a number of other scholars.[65] In reply, Wheatcroft continues to maintain Tauger's use of the evidence is oversimplified, that his methodology is faulty, and that his conclusions overall are wrong.[67] Tauger replied in kind, defending his work against Wheatcroft's criticisms.[68]
Historian James Mace wrote that Mark Tauger's argument "is not taken seriously by either Russians or Ukrainians who have studied the topic."[69] However, Robert Conquest himself admitted that "Mark B. Tauger has produced some interesting material on the 1932 which will doubtless contribute to debate among economists.".[70] John-Paul Himka, professor at University of Alberta, wrote that "Tauger’s substantive argument, that the famine was in part generated by a change in the way Soviet authorities estimated harvest size, has not been confronted by diaspora scholars or publicists."[71] But Dr. David Marples, professor of history at the University of Alberta, is critical of Tauger's claims, stating "Dr. Tauger and other scholars fail to distinguish between shortages, droughts and outright famine. There is no such thing as a "natural" famine, no matter the size of the harvest. A famine requires some form of state or human input."
Comrade Stalin
