It's not who casts the vote, but who counts them...

soviet78

[+-]

Soviet cogitations: 4510
Defected to the U.S.S.R.: 07 Oct 2004, 22:04
Ideology: Marxism-Leninism
Resident Soviet

12 Feb 2018, 21:28

Hey guys, remember that apocryphal Stalin quote, that one designed to make him out as an absolute dictatorial madman?:

"Joseph Stalin" wrote:
"It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes."

Turns out what he actually said was:

Actual Stalin wrote:
"We, the representatives of the workers, need for the people not only to vote, but to rule. For it is not those who choose and vote that rule, but those who govern."

Source: Concluding Remarks on the Report on the National Question, Pravda, January 17-18, 1918.

So he wasn't really saying 'screw elections, I'll do whatever I please', but that the ruling class determines the outcome of elections, and therefore the interests of the working class can only be truly represented if they are really in charge.

"The thing about capitalism is that it sounds awful on paper and is horrendous in practice. Communism sounds wonderful on paper and when it was put into practice it was done pretty well for what they had to work with." -MiG