Okay, maybe that was propaganda, but this time Xi really is a Communist dictator and China is an authoritarianism! Trust me, bro.
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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"merely the captain of the team".
LOL. Ever see the team photos?
The "i voted" is just ππ
The fact that the CPSU was under constant danger of infiltration and espionage, and thus needed to be purged, does not contradict Stalin's reported style of leadership as recognized by the CIA in an internal document shared in the meme above. The USSR, throughout its early period (founding until end of World War II), was under constant siege, invasions by capitalist powers, civil war, and active infiltrarion by fascists. These drastic conditions required resolute actions, ones broadly supported both by the party as well as by the general population. We are cutting out the Cold War and Red Scare for the purpose of this conversation, but it wasn't that the siege lessened, it just changed character.
Stalin's style of leadership in meetings was generally recognized as being quiet, allowing other members of the Politburo to speak up first, contemplating, then coming to a firm motion to push for and vote on. This was an effective method of leadership, and is what the CIA is principly describing here as being a "captain of the team." Additionally, Stalin tried to resign no fewer than 4 times, all of which were rejected. Had he abandoned his post against the wishes of the Politburo, there would possibly be political crisis.
I recommend you read Domenico Losurdo's Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend. Losurdo challenges the liberal over-demonization of Stalin while shedding accurate light on Stalin's real and genuine shortcomings and mistakes. It's perhaps the best attempt by a modern writer to utilize all of the information we actually have available to sweep away the mountain of Red Scare propaganda to recognize the real Stalin, both good and bad.
Anna Louise Strong on Stalin (re your second paragraph)
Great excerpt! Definitely helps to show his method in action.
I didn't even realise it was an excerpt.
Essay? Article? Don't know what the word for it is, excerpt is wrong though now that I think about it.
No, the source lists it as being pp 46-64 from The Soviets Expected It
Oh, I was accidentally right then, haha. Does that make me double wrong? π
Fun fact: these photos were actually doctored by the cia to make him look more like a dictator.
https://archive.org/details/cia-rdp-80-00810-a-006000360009-0_202404/page/n1/mode/2up β it's a more ambivalent document than the quote suggests
It's 1950s CIA of course it's inconsistent.
Fun fact: the subject of that report is "comments on the change of Soviet leadership" and the header says "This is UNEVALUATED information".
Iβm sorry canβt hear you over the sound of Tupolev designing planes from a gulag
Copying @ihave69xibucks@lemmygrad.ml's comment
You mean after he passed classified information to the French and Germans, was part of a sabotage ring to intentionally slow down soviet production, and tried to purposefully make mistakes in his designs as a form of sabotage? So he was thrown in a gulag(Scary word for prison because no other country has those right?), and forced to continue working with strict oversight so as to make sure he did not try to sabotage the designs again?
I know the lemmy.world user will not see this, but atleast someone else who doesn't know this context might.