During the Famine of 1932 – 33 it 's estimated that 7.8 – 11 million people died from starvation . The implication is that the total death toll ( both direct and indirect ) for Stalin 's collectivization program was on the order of 12 million people . It is said that in 1945 , Joseph Stalin confided to Winston Churchill at Yalta that 10 million people died in the course of collectivization
at Yalta
Yalta Conference
Collectivization in the Soviet Union