Conquest Prize 2018
The Conquest Prize for Contribution to Holodomor Studies is awarded on a biennial basis to the author of an outstanding article that contributes to a fuller understanding of the Holodomor. A jury of eminent specialists is assembled to determine the winner of the $2500 CAD prize. The Conquest Prize honours historian Robert Conquest, author of the groundbreaking work The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine, which marked a watershed in the study of the Holodomor at the time of its publication in 1986.
ABOUT ROBERT CONQUEST
The Robert Conquest Prize honours historian Robert Conquest, author of the groundbreaking work The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. Published in 1986, Harvest of Sorrow marked a watershed in the study of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33. Dr. Conquest’s comprehensive treatment addressed the role of Communist ideology and its relationship to the peasantry, collectivization policy and implementation, the deportation of kulaks, issues of nationality and religion in the Soviet Union, and the role of Stalin in the Famine. Dr. Conquest described the failure of the West to respond to reports of the Famine and assigned culpability to Stalin and his regime for setting impossibly high grain requisitions, seizing foodstuffs, preventing the starving from seeking food elsewhere, and covering up the crime. Based on eyewitness testimonies, his analysis and conclusions were corroborated by Soviet archival materials that became accessible with the collapse of the USSR.
Harvest of Sorrow sparked debates in academic and political circles and ensured widespread awareness of the Holodomor. In a legacy marked by achievement, Harvest of Sorrow is certainly one of Robert Conquest’s greatest accomplishments.
-
2018 Conquest Prize Winner
The first winner of the prize is Professor Lucien Bianco for his article “Comparing the Soviet and Chinese Famines: Their Perpetrators, Actors, and Victims.” Professor Bianco is an eminent French historian and Sinologist specializing in the history of the Chinese peasantry in the twentieth century. The panel of jurors consisted of Olga Andriewsky (Trent University), Andrea Graziosi (Università di Napoli Federico II), Norman Naimark (Stanford University), Frank Sysyn (University of Alberta), and Lynne Viola (University of Toronto).
One juror wrote: “This article has great sweep, situating the problem of the Holodomor in a comparative framework of famines in Communist societies.” Another noted: “The essay’s ambitious and successful comparative thrust…reveals a profound and unique knowledge of the 20th century’s communist-related famines, properly situating the Holodomor among them, [and] placing each in its proper context, without losing sight of their specificities.”
Professor Bianco will receive the award at a ceremony in Paris on November 25, 2018, at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr the Great (Cathédrale Saint-Volodymyr-le-Grand). The award ceremony will be part of this year’s Holodomor commemorations in Paris, which will begin at the Arc de Triomphe, followed by a ceremony at the Cathedral of Saint Volodymyr, and culminating with a Liturgy in Notre Dame Cathedral.
