The Soviet system is the best example of what happens when the measurement becomes the metric - it produces all sorts of unintended effects, trains of freight being moved hundreds of miles to fulfill a ton-mile quota, ignoring what functionaries in the aparat say, because they dont fit the measurement-metric, etc.
Like you, I don't believe that mass starvation was the point, but it did have the effect of temporarily tamping down nationalism too.
The Soviet system is the best example of what happens when the measurement becomes the metric - it produces all sorts of unintended effects, trains of freight being moved hundreds of miles to fulfill a ton-mile quota, ignoring what functionaries in the aparat say, because they dont fit the measurement-metric, etc.
Like you, I don't believe that mass starvation was the point, but it did have the effect of temporarily tamping down nationalism too.
I also found https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007CJLZKQ/ quite interesting, as to how it painted stalinist society, and gave me a clearer understanding.
I'm eagerly looking forward to the final part of the biography on stalin.