Soviet-Empire.com U.S.S.R. and communism historical discussion.
17 Feb 2018, 21:56
No doubt in my view Stalin himself was a murderous tyrant, but there can be a sinister agenda behind the inflation of the death tolls attributed to his rule. I've heard figures of 20, 40 and even 50 million people he has supposed to have killed. Some on the far right seek to whitewash their ideology by denying the Holocaust, but there are others who adopt a more subtle approach: don't deny the crimes of Nazism, but instead exaggerate the crimes of 20th century socialism to such an extent that the crimes of Nazism are diminished in comparison.
This creates a problem for socialists because you either argue with such exaggerations and risk being branded a "Stalinist" or you avoid the subject, but this only emboldens enemies of socialism to exaggerate the crimes of socialism further. In light of this, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mainstream, indeed "establishment" programme taking on the statistic of 20 million or more and essentially demolishing it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05yffxb. Worth listening to.
It goes without saying that the loss of any human life under Stalin was a tragedy, but this does not mean we should allow history to be rewritten.
This creates a problem for socialists because you either argue with such exaggerations and risk being branded a "Stalinist" or you avoid the subject, but this only emboldens enemies of socialism to exaggerate the crimes of socialism further. In light of this, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mainstream, indeed "establishment" programme taking on the statistic of 20 million or more and essentially demolishing it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05yffxb. Worth listening to.
It goes without saying that the loss of any human life under Stalin was a tragedy, but this does not mean we should allow history to be rewritten.
19 Feb 2018, 17:57
You don't have to use liberal rhetoric to offer a critical analysis of Stalin's leadership. In fact that he continues to be so maligned by the west just goes to show how dangerously polarizing a figure Stalin was and is.
That said attributing every bit of death and misery in the Soviet Union to Stalin is just hysterical garbage completely detached from history. Stalin was not a Great Man in command of History and the Soviet state apparatus. He was just a man caught up in it all as much as anyone. A man who couldn't even quit.
That said attributing every bit of death and misery in the Soviet Union to Stalin is just hysterical garbage completely detached from history. Stalin was not a Great Man in command of History and the Soviet state apparatus. He was just a man caught up in it all as much as anyone. A man who couldn't even quit.
14 Mar 2018, 14:50
One thing I always find odd is that Western media often counts the Soviet deaths in World War 2 towards Stalin's death count. But I've never seen them say 'Churchill is responsible for the deaths of 450,00+ Brits' etc.