chives makes this a particularly promising area for research. This aspect of the matter
is ever timely, as the proper response to genocide is a problem frequently encountered
in the conduct of our foreign policy. .

(3) Has genocide, particularly by famine, been institutionalized by the Soviet Union and its client states? Is Ukraine in the 1930s a precedent for Ethiopia in the 1980s?

I expect other government agencies will have enough interest in the Commission’s work to support related efforts. For example, we know that General Secretary Gor¬bachev was bora and raised in rural Stavropol Oblast Stavropol Oblast, which is lo¬cated in southern Russia, southeast of Ukraine, has a substantial Ukrainian population and was hard-hit by the Famine. Given his age and surname (probably derived from the Ukrainian Horbach or Horbaty), it is very possible that Gorbachev is a survivor of the Famine, and very likely grew up among people who spoke of the Famine. This possibility should elicit enough interest in the intelligence community to produce addi¬tional support for research on the Famine in southern Russia, and conditions there during the 1930s and 40s. At a minimum, I expect we should be able to get some help from interested individuals in government who have useful expertise and access to relevant archives.

2. The Famine Commission and the Soviet Union

As with much of the Soviet and pre-Revolutionary history, Soviet authorities deny there was a famine, and this attitude reflects the weak moral basis and subjective in¬security of the Soviet system. The present is a time of change in the Soviet Union, and we have the opportunity to pose the question, “Are you willing to accept your own history, as civilized countries do?” Because the Famine is a Ukrainian matter, we have a rare opportunity to deal directly with Ukraine, rather than the Soviet Union. On paper, Ukrainian authorities are constitutionally competent to engage in foreign rela¬tions, and the reality of these powers deserves to be probed anew.

I suggest we approach the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences with a proposal for joint research related to the Famine. A delegation to Kiev headed by our Congressional members might most effectively deliver this proposal. There is a small chance that we will receive a positive response, which would constitute a small but unmistakable step on their part toward ideological alignment with the free world, and toward the rule of constitutional law. At the very least, our proposal would elicit a debate within the Uk¬rainian government and scholarly community.

At worst we will be ignored. Most likely, our proposal will elicit a shrill denuncia¬tion in the Ukrainian press. In this case our Commission would become known throughout Ukraine, and in the minds of the Ukrainian public the Famine would change from a bad dream, hardly remembered and perhaps imagined, to a topic of con¬versation, its importance subscribed by the U.S. government A notorious similar inci¬dent occurred in the late 1960s, when the Ukrainian press loudly denounced John Kolasky, a high ranking Canadian Communist who spent two years in Kiev and ended up writing books about how Ukrainians are discriminated and mistreated. But for these attacks, John Kolasky would have remained virtually unknown in Ukraine.

We have leverage with the Soviet authorities. We have complete control over what research we support, and considerable influence on what Radio liberty and V.O.A.