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Comment on YSK that Joseph Stalin created the Great Terror. He started killing people randomly including artists, generals, doctors, scientists, government officials. Everyone was terrified.

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ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

It’s more that some people don’t actively condemn him to the satisfaction of others.

The USSR under Stalin defeated Nazi Germany. Idle denunciation of Stalin in 2026 is the classic and most trusted pivot for (crypto)fascists to focus on when cornered or feeling insecure.

That’s the primary scenario that people are accused of ‘defending Stalin’. There’s always a nazi all too willing to spearhead this conversation, 70 years on after his death. Usually can’t even bring up Khrushchev and De-Stalinization usually since it’s not focusing on Stalin enough.

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prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

Usually can’t even bring up Khrushchev and De-Stalinization usually since it’s not focusing on Stalin enough.

They usually can’t bring this stuff up because they have no idea about any of it

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dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I’ve spent time with Marxist-Leninists who worshiped Stalin, thought Stalin was a great Marxist theorist, and he also was very fond of North Korea. While I’m not saying you’re wrong, I do wonder what you make of someone in a leftist space who was so enthusiastic about Stalin without being prompted to defend him by fascists?

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- ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I wouldn’t really be able to know what they’re on about without interacting with them, quite frankly. But I can’t say I really approve of the worship of political figures, historical or not.
  
  I try to approach historical figures as a part of the context in which they existed. It does sound like this person was into theory, so I’d wager their interest in Stalin was more academic than a celebration of the ills that occurred in 20th century Eurasia. But if this person was advocating for Lysenkoism or someshit then you’ve got a grade A idiot.
  
  Like, I find Stalin to be fascinating and the balance of power that he operated both inside and outside the USSR to be remarkable. He can be a very symbolic figure for a kind of struggle against overwhelming odds, which resonates at least on some level with a lot of people, Marxist or not. People get really into things like mob bosses and Scarface so I would try to slate someone’s fandom of Stalin against that, too.
  
  Also, if American, we go over eight decades of rabid anti-communism so sometimes people throw up things like hammers and sickles just as a fuck-you to (Neo)McCarthyism.
  
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