Lenin's period of most intense purging - The Red Terror - was a blip compared to Stalin's purges.
Lenin's purges might have killed somewhere around 50-100k from 1917-1922. That millions died from the Red Terror was propaganda picked up in Western media at the time, and has been largely discredited. Also at the time, Western countries, Japan, and even Nationalist China were openly working against the USSR with saboteurs and spies hoping to crush the nascent communist experiment from spreading. That doesn't even include the actual White Army remnants who had designs of continuing the Russian Civil War, which could have caused millions of more deaths if a civil war were to reignite.
Stalin had at least 750k shot as enemies of the state from 1929-1953 - we have paperwork. That does not even include death from forced labor or gulags. Stalin's purges of the armed forces leadership during the 1930's probably caused millions of extra deaths of Soviet soldiers during WWII because of a dearth of good military officers.
Lenin's Red Terror, like it or not, cleaned up a lot of problems left over after the fragile success of the Russian Revolution. Stalin's purges were largely directed at enemies of Stalin, not the State.
Lenin's period of most intense purging - The Red Terror - was a blip compared to Stalin's purges.
Lenin's purges might have killed somewhere around 50-100k from 1917-1922. That millions died from the Red Terror was propaganda picked up in Western media at the time, and has been largely discredited. Also at the time, Western countries, Japan, and even Nationalist China were openly working against the USSR with saboteurs and spies hoping to crush the nascent communist experiment from spreading. That doesn't even include the actual White Army remnants who had designs of continuing the Russian Civil War, which could have caused millions of more deaths if a civil war were to reignite.
Stalin had at least 750k shot as enemies of the state from 1929-1953 - we have paperwork. That does not even include death from forced labor or gulags. Stalin's purges of the armed forces leadership during the 1930's probably caused millions of extra deaths of Soviet soldiers during WWII because of a dearth of good military officers.
Lenin's Red Terror, like it or not, cleaned up a lot of problems left over after the fragile success of the Russian Revolution. Stalin's purges were largely directed at enemies of Stalin, not the State.
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