From the book “Stalin” the seminal work of Historian Domenico Losurdo

  • cricbuzz [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    67
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m currently reading Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend and these quotes are both referenced there as well. So satisfying to see the malding of Hitler and Goebbels once they realize they are absolutely fucked.

    Interestingly, the British intelligence was way off too when it came to intelligence about the capabilities of the Soviets. Clearly nothing has changed as it sounds like today

    • CyborgMarx [any, any]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      44
      ·
      1 year ago

      The aristocratic arrogance of British intelligence has always been its downfall, when paired against the bourgeois lawyers of the Napoleonic empire they at least could give as good as they got, but since then it’s been blunder after blunder with only the explosive strength of anglo capital saving them from total collapse

      • utopologist [any]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        48
        ·
        1 year ago

        Incredible book and should be essential reading. It’s not a biography, as I heard it described a few years ago, but an unrelentingly thorough historical analysis of Joseph Stalin, his role in the USSR, and the various criticisms of him that have entered common discourse to the point where people who don’t know anything about history know that “Hitler and Stalin” are history’s greatest monsters. Losurdo looks at how this came to be and deconstructs anti-communist narratives using sources that even the most ardent anti-communist can’t deny are valid (capitalist historians, Stalin’s enemies, etc). It’s an incredible piece of scholarship that, by the end, demonstrates just how deeply our understanding of historical events and figures have been shaped by the specific ideology of capitalist power

      • cricbuzz [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ll try to remember that, comrade! But @[email protected] really sums it up nicely so far!

        The general format so far has been to present an anti-Stalin trope as true, then do a surgical, thorough take-down of that trope. The initial example, which I hope I don’t spoil, is Khrushchev presenting to (I believe) the Communist party members behind closed doors. He presents a massive diatribe against Stalin and the “cult of personality” he claims surrounded Stalin and how it was completely unwarranted and Stalin was an ineffective military leader, political leader, etc. Then the author has been going essentially passage by passage refuting this “take-down” and highlighting Stalin’s profound leadership.

        Really opening up my eyes to Stalin as a leader and his views of the Communist project

          • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            13
            ·
            1 year ago

            The mass deportations were distinctly un-Marxist. I would say it’s the only valid criticism I’ve ever seen. Ironically, it’s not what libs obsess about. They’re always mad that he aggressively suppressed antisemitic right-wingers.

            • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              The deportations weren’t all the same and I think there was a better case for the deportation of Germans from Poland, etc. even if it was still in error.

              By contrast, I think Stalin’s virulent homophobia and staunch opposition to any appeals for tolerance along Marxist lines is one of the most clear-cut cases of him being personally flat-out wrong.

              • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]@hexbear.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 year ago

                That’s fair, coming from a Marxist. I’m not interested in hearing it from a liberal that doesn’t have any understanding of why all kinds of prejudices thrive under capitalism.

      • Vncredleader@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Also the Soviets had just trounced Japan at Khalkhin Gol. Even Churchill was frequently calling the British mindset stupid and outright lies.