I've read about Stalin raping a 14 year old girl while on the run from the Czar. Is this true?
All that's actually known is that it was alleged, Beria apparently though it was credible and sought to suppress the rumor, and an anti-communist tabloid in the 90s claimed to have found someone claiming to be Stalin's illegitimate grandchild but no DNA testing was done nor was there ever any followup or further investigation. There's no hard evidence or even firsthand allegations, just reports that it was a rumor and that some people in the Soviet leadership believed it and that they may or may not have seen more direct evidence that was never recorded. Trying to find the truth of it is on par with trying to figure out who Jack the Ripper was or any other historical mystery: an exercise in futility given every witness and all physical evidence is long gone, at least unless the alleged descendant reemerges and DNA testing on them and Stalin's known relatives is done.
That said, I don't think the truth of the matter is ideologically important: the fact that Stalin was, as a person, kind of a piece of shit in general shouldn't be controversial. It's his role and performance as a leader and even the question of how much of that was specifically him as opposed to his bloc in general that are important, and even there he mostly only looks good in comparison to how royally his successors fucked up, along with being ascribed credit for the broader Soviet victory in WWII. That said, liberals constantly try to direct attention to Stalin in particular and frequently just repeat outright lies made up by Cold Warrior propagandists and if even an inch is given there they'll just double down and keep doing it even harder no matter how much one denounces him, because their goal isn't ideological discussion but to browbeat and silence any and every leftist (that's right, they do it just as hard to anarchists too because it isn't genuine, it's a rhetorical bullying technique), so it genuinely doesn't matter what Stalin did or did not do: he's not important anymore and truth doesn't matter to people who bring him up, so the only correct response is to ignore it and continue to emphasize the material successes of 20th century socialist projects instead of getting bogged down in relitigating what long dead men may or may not have done.
I hope nobody here is dumb enough to actually believe this. The claim originates from Simon Sebag Montefiore, one of those "communism killed trillions" people and was reported in a local tabloid. I honestly have never read a Stalin biography, even an anti-communist one, that ever mentioned this.
Safe to say that this is another one of those right wing smear campaigns like "Che killed gay people" and many others.
It's so funny that simon sebag montefiore is the origin of that claim considering he's in epstein's flight logs (with his name slightly misspelled)
https://ibb.co/jLF5bGB
Should probably add that Montefiore is from such a long line of finance ghouls that it's almost hack to point out. His family has been rich since capitalism began, and deeply connected to the financial fims of the City of London. For more reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Montefiore <-- Simon Sebag Montefiore's ancestor, who apparently started the family fortune.
Edit: Historians have questioned some of his writings, however the New York Times fucking loves them :shocked-pikachu: I know. Somehow those sentences are written back to back in his Wiki-page, which should arouse zero suspicion of his credibility and his works.
There is supposedly an investigation into this done by Khrushchev's KGB head, but somehow the original document has never actually been sourced, including by the book that first broke this story in the English language. I really don't think it's credible.
I feel like this is about as relevant as wether or not Hitler was nice to animals or whatever.
Who cares.
My understanding is that there's literally no evidence. Khrushchev ordered Stalin investigated (and we all know the veracity thereof) and wow what do you know the investigation revealed that he totally raped someone and no you can't see the evidence, just trust us.
I don’t have any evidence to back either side
Why let that stop you from weighing in? It hasn't stopped anyone else.
Yeah its probably true. Stalin the historical figure and Stalin the man are to be separated imo. He was monstrous to his family. EDIT: PROBABLY SOME BULLSHIT I PICKED UP YEARS AGO:
After learning of his son's failed suicide attempt he was said to have replied "he can't even shoot straight."That son would later die in a German PoW camp.Not good. Still shouldn't have stopped at Berlin, tho.
I can't find it, I'd delete my comment but I don't want the replies to lose context, it was probably just anecdotal bullshit
I can't find any reputable historians who actually mention this claim, even anti-communist ones.
https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/stalin-and-his-lover-aged-13-6581841.html
It literally has no other mentions other than a pop historian that claims communism killed trillions. I think its safe to say that it was all BS.
https://www.reddit.com/r/InformedTankie/comments/lg8fqn/on_stalins_alleged_sexual_assault_of_a_13_year/
That would been early in his life yeah? A man with an 1700s education, after a life of abuse and misery who's primary job was robbing banks might do bad things. For sure any soldier is likely to commit any number of sins aside from murder. The important data to consider in this is that it doesn't matter. Capitlaism sucks, the ussr was good, and debating century old gossip is pointless nerd shit. What could it mean? It couldn't be usefully used to think about anything today. It is only brought up as a smear taxtic. He never owned slaves so he would be better morally than american founding fathers. Every single US politican is at best a date rapist. So it doesn't matter.
