The 1921–1922 famine in Tatarstan was a result of war communism

War communism

War communism or military communism was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921...

 policy, realized in Tatar ASSR as well as elsewhere in the USSR. It started in autumn 1921. More than 2,000,000 peasants starved, particularly in Arsk

Arsk Kanton

Arsk Kanton was an administrative division of the Tatar ASSR in 1920–;1930. Its area was 7,500 km²; population: 375,000. In 1926, 59.2% of the population were Tatars, 37.5%—Russians, and 2.7%—Udmurts. The administrative center of the kanton was the town of Arsk...

, Sviyazhsk

Sviyazhsk

Sviyazhsk or Zöyä is a rural locality in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers...

, Mamadysh

Mamadysh

Mamadysh is a town and the administrative center of Mamadyshsky District of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Vyatka River , east of Kazan. Population:...

, Menzelinsk

Menzelinsk

Menzelinsk , also spelled Minzala or Minzele, is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the Menzelya River , east of Kazan. Population: 15,800 . Russians account for 49.3% of the town's population, while Tatars comprise 46.8%.It was founded in 1584–1586 and was granted status of...

, Spassk

Spassk

Spassk may refer to:*Spassk, Penza Oblast, a town in Penza Oblast, Russia*Spassk, Kemerovo Oblast, an urban-type settlement in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia*Spassk-Dalny, a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia*Spassk-Ryazansky, a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia...

, Tetyushi

Tetyushi

Tetyushi is a town and the administrative center of Tetyushsky District of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the shore of Kuybyshev Reservoir, south of Kazan. Population:...

 and Chelny kantons.

At the end of 1921, the special committee Tatpomgol was established to cope with the famine. Right up to August 1922, Tatpomgol imported 8,000,000 pood

Pood

Pood , is a unit of mass equal to 40 funt . It is approximately 16.38 kilograms . It was used in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Pood was first mentioned in a number of documents of the 12th century....

 (Russian pounds) of food, including 2,000,000 seed, with a loan. 210,000, mostly children, were evacuated to Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

, Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

 and Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

.

The emergency feeding points were established throughout the republic. The Soviet government invited international organizations, such as International Workers Relief

International Workers Relief

The Workers International Relief — also known as Internationale Arbeiter-Hilfe in German and as Международная рабочая помощь in Russian — was an adjunct of the Communist International initially formed to channel relief from international working class organizations and communist parties to...

 and American Relief Administration

American Relief Administration

American Relief Administration was an American relief mission to Europe and later Soviet Russia after World War I. Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, was the program director....

to improve the situation. On July 1, 1922, more than 1,600,000 were fed in those emergency points. The number of the victims is estimated at 400,000 to 600,000. 86,000 farms disappeared (16.2% of the total). After the famine, the leadership of the republic was dismissed.