Me in 2014: Stalin was an evil dictator whose harsh methods were not justified
Me in 2024: Stalin was soft. And we're all paying for it.
Sorry, Joe.
that's a fun angle for some agitprop. tell people about the exploits of young stalin using his given name and then you can hit them with an actually verified "and that young bankrobber's name? josef stalin"
That bank robbery honestly doesn't make him look very good. A lot of random people got killed for a pile of money that couldn't be spent.
i hope it's clear i'm riffing and not giving instructions for a comedy routine.
Quoting obscure Georgian political philosopher Ioseb Jugashvili
Where was that letter that Lenin wrote that said something like Stalin was too soft?
And yes, if the Red Army wasn't exhausted and war weary they absolutely should have denazified all of Europe, and if Stalin wasn't such a big softie maybe the combined efforts of the PVA and Red Army aviation would have led to a unified Korea, leaving the PLA open to retake Taiwan. And if he purged all the capitalist roaders harder maybe the USSR wouldn't have fallen to revisionism.
This is all wishful thinking, can't change history, but maybe through the power of friendship we can purge even harder than ever before.
iirc there's an extended section from Molotov's memoirs where Molotov says that Lenin was much harsher than Stalin
Me in 2014: Stalin was an evil dictator whose harsh methods were not justified
Me in 2024: Stalin was soft. And we're all paying for it.
Sorry, Joe.
There are days when I wake up wishing I could scour the Earth with a flaming sword
So yeah, I get it
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
For you, it was the day that you decided you would make Stalin look like an anarchist. For me, it was Tuesday.
I'm working on a 5 year plan.
