Joseph Stalin organized events intended to cause a famine in Ukraine to protect his government. Despite the fact that the long-awaited opportunity for independence had arrived in 1917, the newfound freedom of the Ukrainian people was short-lived, due to Stalin's uncontrollable seizure of power by Vladimir Lenin. Stalin's government caused chaos and conflict followed by Ukrainian troops fighting Lenin's Red Army, the Russian White Army (troops devoted to the Tsar), as well as invading forces from Germany and Poland. At the same time, Stalin implemented the Soviet system of land management known as collectivization, resulting in the takeover of private farms. Joseph Stalin caused a famine in Ukraine as a terrible punishment for the Ukrainian people's desire to gain independence, resulting in the deaths of many. After Lenin's death in 1924, he was followed by Joseph Stalin, one of the most ruthless human beings to ever hold power. Stalin had to trick his rival Leon Trotsky into missing Lenin's funeral; resulting in support from the Ukrainian people to become Lenin's successor. Stalin's joke on Trotsky led people to deny it...