That is the state policy of forced buying at fixed price which on practice basically was outright confiscation of food from peasants. https://en.wikipedia.org/

That is the state policy of forced buying at fixed price which on practice basically was outright confiscation of food from peasants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodrazvyorstka#Soviet_prodrazvyorstka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodrazvyorstka#Soviet_prodraz... Beside everything else (like massive loss of work capable men and horses (there were no tractors back then) due to WWI and the Civil War), the important point here is that usually everything was taken away, including that grain, potatoes, etc. that would otherwise be used as seeds next year. Not having anything to plant next year naturally amplified the situation into such a severe famine. In general dominance of such short-term approaches were the hallmark of USSR through all its existence. Another situation of famine and related cannibalism - 2 and half year siege of Leningrad during WWII by Germans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad#Cannibalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad#Cannibalism and some stats : "By December 1942 the NKVD had arrested 2,105 cannibals – dividing them into two legal categories: corpse-eating (trupoyedstvo) and person-eating (lyudoyedstvo). The latter were usually shot while the former were sent to prison. The Soviet Criminal Code had no provision for cannibalism, so all convictions were carried out under Code Article 59–3, "special category banditry".[72] Instances of person-eating were significantly lower than that of corpse-eating; of the 300 people arrested in April 1942 for cannibalism, only 44 were murderers.[73] 64% of cannibals were female, 44% were unemployed, 90% were illiterate, 15% were rooted inhabitants, and only 2% had any criminal records. More cases occurred in the outlying districts than in the city itself. Cannibals were often unsupported women with dependent children and no previous convictions, which allowed for a certain level of clemency in legal proceedings.[74] Given the scope of mass starvation, cannibalism was relatively rare.[75] Far more common was murder for ration cards. In the first six months of 1942, Leningrad witnessed 1,216 such murders. At the same time, Leningrad was experiencing its highest mortality rate, as high as 100,000 people per month. Lisa Kirschenbaum notes that rates "of cannibalism provided an opportunity for emphasizing that the majority of Leningraders managed to maintain their cultural norms in the most unimaginable circumstances."[75] "