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.
Voting solves nothing. If the Republicans are pro-genocide and pro-environmental collapse and he 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.
What books you reading? I wanna follow along with the Americans
Domenico Losurdo’s Stalin: The History and Critique of a Black Legend
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.
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.
Did you read those before or after you voted for a rapist?
Voting solves nothing. If the Republicans are pro-genocide and pro-environmental collapse and he 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.