The 'famines' were greatly exaggerated by the papers owned by "America's No. One Fascist" William Randolph Hearst at the behest of Adolf Hitler to the tune of one million marks to demoralize the left in Germany and America.

It's worth noting that the media as a whole thoroughly eviscerated the stories when they were first published, resulting in retractions and, in some countries, the criminalization of possession of his "newspapers". Coming back into public consciousness as 'fact' during the McCarthy era, again, to be refuted before reemerging in '84

For those interested, "Famine, Fraud, and Fascism" is a detailed and very well researched book detailing the indoctrination of a malicious, intentional famine against the Ukranian people, which in several different ways (reused photographs from the Austro-Hungarian war, falsified accounts including a black caricature by a convicted serial fraud who never stepped foot in Ukraine) is false on it's face.

Really, my only beef with Stalin is the recriminalization of gay marriage. Something the west can't say they were better about.