Hunger: A Diary

“The Hunger” was deservedly translated into several foreign languages, and was repeatedly reprinted in Russia. Possessed of great talent as a realist, and of a profound knowledge of the life of the rank and file among the workers and government employees during the epoch of military communism, Semenov gave an uncannily truthful picture of the terrible months of famine endured by the masses in revolutionary Petrograd, the starvation which led to sickness, death, degeneration, moral and mental deterioration, but which, nevertheless, was unable to keep the sounder elements among the workers — particularly the youth — from remaining faithful in the defense of the Revolution and from struggling on until better times came. This work is unquestionably new, vivid, highly interesting and instructive to non-Russians and to all who were far away from the starving masses of Petrograd during the Russia’s Civil War.

Translated from the Russian by L. S. Friedland and J. R. Piroshnikoff. Originally published in 1925.

This story has 4 chapters featured on this site, containing a total of 5,493 words.

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