Famine 1891-1892
The famine of 1891 and 1892 was one of the most severe agricultural crises to strike Russia during the nineteenth century. In the spring of 1891 a serious drought caused crops to fail along the Volga and in many other grain-producing provinces. The disaster came on the heels of a series of poor harvests, its impact worsened by endemic peasant poverty and low productivity. The population of the affected areas had few reserves of food and faced the prospect of mass starvation.
Beginning in the summer of 1891, the imperial Russian government organized an extensive relief campaign. It disbursed almost 150 million rubles to the stricken provinces, working closely with the zemstvos, institutions of local self-government responsible for aiding victims of food shortages. The ministry of internal affairs established food supply conferences to coordinate government and zemstvo efforts to find and distribute available grain supplies. When massive backlogs of grain shipments snarled the railroads and threatened the timely delivery of food, the government dispatched a special agent to remedy the situation. The heir to the throne, the future Nicholas II, chaired a committee designed to encourage and focus charitable efforts. Many public-spirited Russians - Leo Tolstoi, Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Korolenko and others - rushed into the countryside on their own initiative, setting up a large network of private soup kitchens and medical aid stations.
The relief campaign was remarkably successful. More than 12 million people received aid, and starvation was largely averted. Mortality for 1892 rose in the sixteen famine provinces - about 400,000 deaths above normal - much of it due to a simultaneous cholera epidemic. But compared to contemporary Indian and later Soviet famines, this loss of life was minimal. Still, the famine aroused public opinion. Many blamed the government's economic policies for causing the disaster, and its relief efforts were often unfairly criticized. Consequently, the famine proved to be an important turning point in Russian history, beginning a new wave of opposition to the tsarist regime.
Source: Answers.com
Resources to learn more about this topic:
According to an article titled "The Famine in Russia" [The Century; a popular quarterly. Volume 46, Issue 4, Aug. 1893] written by Jonas Stadling, in the winter of 1892 the mortality rate in the Volga German colonies was about five times the normal rate or 200 in 1,000. Stadling writes "Persons who try to ameliorate the condition of the masses are suspected persons, and are lucky if they do not see the inside of a prison, or even Siberia." - Read the entire article on the Cornell University website.
"Starving on the Volga" from the March 8, 1892 New York Times
"The Russian Famine" of 1891-92 by David P. Lilly
"Famine in Russia, 1891-1892" by Richard G. Robbins
"Russia Then and Now, 1892-1917" by Francis Brewster Reeves
"In The Land Of Tolstoi - Experiences of Famine And Misrule In Russia" by Jonas Stadling and Will Reason (the entire book can be downloaded at Google Books)
Wikipedia - Russian Famine of 1891 - 1892
Portrait of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain).