this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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[–] KurtVonnegut@hexbear.net 27 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yes, the real smart people know that Stalin was evil like Darth Vader right?

Please read a book before you post. No investigation, no right to speak.

[–] Grapho@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Nah dude worse than Vader, because Vader found redemption in making up with his son after being a space Nazi.

You'll find he's exactly like Voldemort

[–] disco@lemdro.id 0 points 3 days ago (2 children)

What books you reading? I wanna follow along with the Americans

[–] KurtVonnegut@hexbear.net 20 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

If you want to learn about Stalin, I would start by reading Stephen Kotkin's two books which cover his life up to WWII in detail. Kotkin is a liberal, so he is no fan of Stalin, but he does very thorough research.

Stalin: Passage to Revolution by Ronald Grigor Suny gives a more sympathetic account of Stalin's early life, his extreme suffering caused by the Czarist regime, and his dedication to making the world a better place. This book goes in depth into the Menshevik-Bolshevik split, and why Stalin chose to side with Lenin and internationalist socialism instead of the more nationalist Georgian Mensheviks.

Domenico Losurdo's Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend does not go in-depth in biographical details, but it is definitely the best "defense" of Stalin's various actions. The main rhetorical technique is comparing Stalin to other leaders at the time - Hitler, FDR, Churchill, etc.. To the point: Stalin never attacked a city with a nuclear bomb (like the USA), Stalin never caused famine and starvation for profit (like Britain), and Stalin never tried to exterminate an entire ethno-religious group (like Hitler). Nobody is saying Stalin was perfect, but compared to other world leaders he was a much more moral leader than them, and ultimately did much more good for the world overall, such as almost single-handedly defeating Nazi Germany.

[–] disco@lemdro.id -2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Did you read those before or after you voted for a rapist?

[–] KurtVonnegut@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Voting solves nothing. If the Republicans are pro-genocide and pro-environmental collapse and the Democrats are also pro-genocide and pro-environmental collapse, voting is not the solution to our problem. You might as well criticize me for which type of shoes I wear, it has the same influence on Politics, which is zero.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Thebigguy@lemmy.ml -2 points 2 days ago

I thought the book was ok Losurdo definitely had his rose tinted glasses on when he wrote it, but that’s just my weird anarchist opinion.