Matvei Bronstein: Theorical physicist. Pioneer of quantum gravity. Arrested, accused of fictional “terroristic” activity and shot in 1938
Lev Shubnikov: Experimental physicist. Accused on false charges. Executed
Adrian Piotrovsky: Russian dramaturge. Accused on false charges of treason. Executed.
Nikolai Bukharin: Leader of the Communist revolution. Member of the Politburo. Falsely accused of treason. Executed.
General Alexander Egorov: Marshal of the Soviet Union. Commander of the Red Army Southern Front. Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Arrested, accused on false charges, executed.
General Mikhail Tukhachevsky Supreme Marshal of the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the Red Napoleon. Arrested, accused on fake charges. Executed.
Grigory Zinoviev: Chairman of the Communist International Movement. Member of the Soviet Politburo. Accused of treason and executed.
Even the secret police themselves were not safe:
Genrikh Yagoda : Right-hand of Joseph Stalin. Head of the NKD Secret Police. He spied on everyone in Russia and jailed thousands of innocents. Yagoda was arrested and executed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genrikh_Yagoda
Nikolai Yezhov : Appointed head of the NKD Secret Police after the death of Yagoda. Arrested on fake charges, executed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov
Everybody was absolutely terrified during this period. At least 600 000 people were killed and over 100 000 people were deported to Gulags in Siberia.
Today, Russian schools no longer teach what Joseph Stalin did. Many young russians actually believe that Stalin was a great patriot.
This is part of an effort by Vladimir Putin to rehabilitate him:
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/05/21/stalin-is-making-a-comeback-in-russia-heres-why-a89155
And this, folks, is why I prefer to live in a democracy.
Perhaps some dictators are competent. But if they go crazy, you are truly fucked.
i’d like to point out that communism is an economic system whereas democracy is a social one, they are not incompatible concepts….
just because Stalin wasn’t a very communist regime but was brutally authoritarian and is widely criticized as “what communism is like”.
But he wasn’t criticizing communism, or advocating for capitalism. He was criticizing a dictator and saying he prefers democracy.
Unless you think communism can’t exist outside of a brutal dictatorship.
Communism under a dictatorship is a paradox. The people own and control nothing. The leader and their chosen circle own and control everything. That is neither communism nor socialism and it is not possible for either to exist in any authoritarian context.
I like the “moneyless” part of the definition, aka if you have a currency you’re not communist. Which, to be fair, they didn’t call themselves as a country.
Yep.
Communism and socialism in itself isn’t that problematic an economic system. Unless of course you belong to the few select brands of freeloaders who’ve successfully managed to sell to the general population that without you, everything would collapse (looking at you, landlords and billionaires and stock market speculators).
The problem is that the economic part can’t work without an evenly matched societal system - and for people to bypass their immediate greed reaction of the usual “why should the result of my work go to others who didn’t do that work” BS, as seeing far ahead to realise that pooling resources in such manner will benefit everyone, and when the community thrives, so does the individual. For that, one needs proper education, which is usually the antithesis of a capitalist system (a capitalist system will inherently only allow one to learn a limited set of facts, and will systematically ridicule those who dare step outside those limits).
And herein lies the second problem. Socialism and communism could be great for the average people, but the average people have been misled and lied to and been brainwashed for so long, they need to be forcibly broken out of that bubble. And the only way to force that is through a revolution, and authoritarian enforcement of the socioeconomic system.
Now the problem with that is… it’s incredibly easy for a malicious actor to then infiltrate the authoritarian system, and push its leaders to do counterproductive things. Add on top of that the constant CIA meddling, and you get your run of the mill authoritarian “communist” (in name only) paranoid leader who rules with an iron fist. The intention might’ve been good, but the execution was starkly against the very people the revolution was supposed to help. Repeat it a few times and now the whole world is afraid of the economic system, not authoritarianism.
Then continue by throwing in some brainwashed tankies who literally suck up to the authoritarian regimes, spreading BS about how those are “true communism”, just so average people don’t even consider learning about it because the term becomes synonymous with authoritarians and their bootlickers.
The problem is that the economic part can’t work without an evenly matched societal system
well that’s absurd, and exactly why the tankies are shilling so hard
but the average people have been misled and lied to and been brainwashed for so long, they need to be forcibly broken out of that bubble. And the only way to force that is through a revolution, and authoritarian enforcement of the socioeconomic system.
That word “only” seems too pessimistic and unjustified, and your point relies too heavily on it.
seeing far ahead to realize that pooling resources in such manner will benefit everyone,
Pooling resources is how car insurance works.
It’s part of how car insurance works. It also works by underwriters and adjusters being paid to do everything they can to keep from paying out claims.
And the value it provides is enough to prop up the entire car insurance industry with incredibly inflated salaries at the top, and pay for a good portion of the damage caused by car accidents plus a fuckload of attorneys paid trying to avoid the rest of the damage.
Communism inherently couples both the economy and the government.
In theory, capitalism can be decoupled since it mostly depends on laissez-faire governance. Communism inherently requires a planned economy and centralized control of such.
There is theoretically nothing stopping said leaders of a communist regime from being elected through a democratic process. But much like democracies tend to favor capitalism and (lower case) libertarian ideals, communism tends to lend itself to dictatorships because… you have a centralized control of all aspects of society.
is the democracy in the room with you now?
Looks around.
Is that what you gotta tell yourself?
I honestly have no issue there. My issue is the claim that such atrocities don’t happen in democratic institutions.
I honestly have no issue there. My issue is the claim that such atrocities don’t happen in democratic institutions.
I can’t recall any democratic countries, fragile or not, that can hold a candle to the atrocities committed by Joseph Stalin.
Can you point out the equivalent that we should look at in this case of whataboutism? Since we’re talking about millions being killed by Joseph Stalin, what are the comparables?
Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the archival revelations, some historians estimated that the numbers killed by Stalin’s regime were 20 million or higher.[5][6][7] After the Soviet Union dissolved, evidence from the Soviet archives was declassified and researchers were allowed to study it. This contained official records of 799,455 executions (1921–1953),[8][9][10][11][12] around 1.5 to 1.7 million deaths in the Gulag,[13][14][15] some 390,000[16] deaths during the dekulakization forced resettlement, and up to 400,000 deaths of persons deported during the 1940s,[17] with a total of about 3.3 million officially recorded victims in these categories.[18] According to historian Stephen Wheatcroft, approximately 1 million of these deaths were “purposive” while the rest happened through neglect and irresponsibility.[2] The deaths of at least 5.5 to 6.5 million[19] persons in the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 are sometimes included with the victims of the Stalin era.[2][20] - wikipedia
So being generous we’ll go high and say 10 million
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 9 million people die annually from hunger and malnutrition, mostly in regions where capitalist-driven global inequality has made basic necessities unaffordable or inaccessible.
So less in a year due to capitalism (ignoring wars and whatnot) than the total of Stalin. But also dealing with huge differences in populations involved. Both seem pretty shitty if you ask me.
An estimated 30 local NKVD agents, guards and drivers were pressed into service to escort prisoners to the basement, confirm identification, then remove the bodies and hose down the blood after each execution. Although some of the executions were carried out by Senior Lieutenant of State Security Andrei Rubanov, Blokhin was the primary executioner and, true to his reputation, liked to work continuously and rapidly without interruption.[14] In keeping with NKVD policy and the overall “wet” nature of the operation, the executions were conducted at night, starting at dark and continuing until just prior to dawn. The bodies were continuously loaded onto covered flat-bed trucks through a back door in the execution chamber and trucked, twice a night, to the nearby village of Mednoye. Blokhin had arranged for a bulldozer and two NKVD drivers to dispose of bodies at an unfenced site. Each night, 24–25 trenches were dug, measuring 8 to 10 metres (26 to 33 ft) in length, to hold that night’s corpses, and each trench was covered over before dawn.[17]
Blokhin and his team worked without pause for 10 hours each night, with Blokhin himself executing an average of one prisoner every three minutes.[2] At the end of the night, he provided vodka to all his men.[18] On 27 April 1940, Blokhin secretly received the Order of the Red Banner and a modest monthly pay premium as a reward from Stalin for his “skill and organization in the effective carrying out of special tasks”.[19][20] His tally of 7,000 shot in 28 days remains the most organised and protracted mass murder by a single individual on record, and caused him being named the Guinness World Record holder for “Most Prolific Executioner” in 2010.[2][3]
Ya, totally equivalent.
Sit the fuck down.
What the fuck are you on about? I guess it’s easy for a smooth brain moron to hype up gross mass murder as somehow way worse than prolonged systematic suffering and death. You’re a fucking lost cause.
My issue is the claim that such atrocities don’t happen in democratic institutions.
But that’s the point, they don’t. Atrocities can happen, but not as bad as such.
Just give one example of a democracy where an atrocity remotely close to that happened.they don’t?
lol. have you seen how child labor works? or banana republics? or coups? or prison labor? or slavery?
come on now. stop being a thick moron.
Why do you first support my point, and then call me a moron?
was your point that capitalism is doing what stalin did?
Compared to genocide by Stalin, ICE is peanuts.
But no it’s not justified, that still doesn’t make it an equal atrocity to what Stalin did.
Also USA is not a democracy, it is a deeply dysfunctional democracy. And In USA it can go 2 ways now, they either go full dictator, or if they go the other, these things will be softened.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_mortality_in_the_Soviet_Union_under_Joseph_Stalin
official records of 799,455 executions (1921–1953),[8][9][10][11][12] around 1.5 to 1.7 million deaths in the Gulag,[13][14][15] some 390,000[16] deaths during the dekulakization forced resettlement, and up to 400,000 deaths of persons deported during the 1940s,[17] with a total of about 3.3 million officially recorded victims in these categories.
So kindly piss off with your false equivalences.
Dude the US is fully funding a genocide right now. Since October 7, 2023, the U.S. has provided Israel with billions in military aid, including at least $21.7 billion in approved funding, along with tens of billions more in future arms sale commitments.
Your entire premise is so inherently flawed.
Also rofl at you sounding like a tankie:
Also USA is not a democracy, it is a deeply dysfunctional democracy.
“It wasn’t real communism bro.”
fine. compare stalin to something else that was closer to his time than he is to us:
American slave trade. do it. tell me stalin was worse than slavery?
the gfy.
because they’re Tankies
Keep making assumptions.
At this point, ml username is a choice. To be a tankie.
I enjoy supporting the developers of the platform and their federation policies. That’s really all it comes down to.
fuck off, tankie swine
There’s a pretty good Behind the Bastards episode on Stahlin. Basically he was an ultra-paranoid drunk that forced his cabinet members to get drunk with him on a regular basis, which pretty much ruined any potential for effective government in the USSR.
Russia has a strong-man fetish which even the Bolsheviks couldn’t overcome. For all the post-revolution ideology and communist rhetoric, they still just want a Tsar.
For all the post-revolution ideology and communist rhetoric, they still just want a Tsar.
So true: this is scientifically measurable on the Slavic barbarian skull /s
dot ml 'bout to crest the horizon like the riders of rohan.
I can’t decide if it’s their job or their religion.
Stalin was explicitly taking inspiration from the Terror of the French revolution.
This is literally a CIA redscare OP, it wasn’t random they were Nazi’s he was targetting
sub on lemmy.world
OH I am on the CIA liberal instance 😂
Сука Блять
Are you a bot, cause it’s unhinged if you spend your time doing this shit all over social media for free, like take a step back, take an edible and look at yourself objectively, so you like what you see
Just to clarify, since Yezhov (listed above in the post you’re replying to) was the main architect of the Yezhovshchina, and was himself later a victim of the same Great Purge, did he do some hard self-reflecting and turn himself in?
Where did you read about this being CIA propaganda from?
If it’s not from Russia or china’s talking points it’s CIA propaganda according to .ml
They don’t know how to handle dissenting information to their narrative. Dessalines does a good job keeping the .mls in an echo chamber by banning anybody who disagrees with him or dissents in any way.
I mean, at the very least that is on brand for stalin
https://en.prolewiki.org/ or like literally any legit communist works
Yeah, but that’s just kgb propaganda
Ok, buddy
Nailed it.
