Me and my girlfriend pretty often have heated but respectful political discussions and recently we were discussing Stalin. She thinks that he was awful, mainly because of repressions, cult of personality etc.
When I say that repressions were actually good and Stalin didn't kill enough fuckers, she gets a little angry, but I can't seem to explain my position in great detail because of lack of knowledge.
In the case of the cult of personality, I say that Stalin WAS loved by the majority of soviet citizens because he did a shit ton of good for them, but she still doesn't quite get it.
What arguments would you suggest to use, or maybe something to read in order to deepen my knowledge on the topic?
The Proles of the Round Table podcast did several episodes on Stalin. They also did an episode with another podcast about Stalin that is incredibly informative. They also interviewed Grover Furr who is an non-communist historian who has written several book debunking the western lies about Stalin. Dude went into the Soviet Archives expecting to verify all the claims and found out it was all bullshit. His books are a slog to read. He's writes dry and factual and his obsession with Stalin and fact checking people on it is very autistic in nature. The man is brilliant.
https://prolespod.libsyn.com/special-release-episode-28-grover-furr
https://podtail.com/en/podcast/revolutionary-left-radio/stalin-a-marxist-leninist-perspective/
https://prolespod.libsyn.com/episode-31-stalin-was-a-mensch-a-look-at-the-antisemitism-of-the-ussr