I think a lot of people, partially bc of propaganda, get over the idea of lenin as a harsh man because of the revolutionary context but can't do that with stalin's wartime context, whereas the truth is both men made exceptionally tough (to some brutal) decisions during their times of leadership
There's also the propaganda value of turning Lenin into a martyr betrayed by Stalin to delegitimise the soviet union. It's part of why Khrushchev was so stupid to demonise Stalin after his death as Stalin could at that point only serve as a political tool to legitimise the Soviet union. He wasn't going to challenge Khrushchev anymore because he was dead
Imagine a soviet union which took a 70-30 view of its leaders and refined and developed marxism further to adapt to soviet conditions. I know some people put the turning point for the collapse of the USSR as pre-Krushchev, but...
I think a lot of people, partially bc of propaganda, get over the idea of lenin as a harsh man because of the revolutionary context but can't do that with stalin's wartime context, whereas the truth is both men made exceptionally tough (to some brutal) decisions during their times of leadership
There's also the propaganda value of turning Lenin into a martyr betrayed by Stalin to delegitimise the soviet union. It's part of why Khrushchev was so stupid to demonise Stalin after his death as Stalin could at that point only serve as a political tool to legitimise the Soviet union. He wasn't going to challenge Khrushchev anymore because he was dead
Imagine a soviet union which took a 70-30 view of its leaders and refined and developed marxism further to adapt to soviet conditions. I know some people put the turning point for the collapse of the USSR as pre-Krushchev, but...