• Sundial@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Thanks for the suggestions. I found a free copy of This Soviet World. I skimmed through a bit of it and it has some interesting talking points but it’s a bit dated. It was written in 1936. Stalin did a lot after the fact and we learned a lot after the USSR fell.

        • Sundial@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          I appreciate that and you’re not wrong. But the topic of the conversation was Stalin killing a lot of people and not just CEOs. While western media has over exaggerated the numbers, it’s still a substantial amount. It’s well documented that he purged a lot of dissenters in the government and military.

            • Sundial@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              You and I can argue the numbers until we’re both blue in the face. But the fact of the matter is he did purge a lot of people out of Russian politics and society. If you think that’s an incorrect statement than you need to explain why.

              • cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml
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                9 months ago

                Part of the problem is that even the Soviet perspective on what happened during Stalin’s time in power is in question. Khrushchev clearly lied about the extent to which Stalin was a brutal dictator. I suspect he did that to distance his own government from the brutality of the decisions the Soviet government was forced to make in order to survive through WWII. Capitalist countries were happy accept that narrative because it aligned with their desire to portray socialism as an abject failure equivalent to fascism. As such, by the time the Soviet archives were opened up for academics to research what actually took place during Stalin’s reign, the narratives concerning him were already set in stone.

                • Sundial@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  No disagreements on what you said.

                  In another discussion on this thread I quoted some numbers provided from declassified documents from the USSR after it’s fall. And even those have numbers in the millions. It seems those are the generally accepted numbers among historians.

                • Sundial@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  I gave you examples and all you said was you didn’t give a shit since I said wikipedia.

                  You’re not one to talk about arguing in good faith. I’ve been pretty civil with you given some of your stupid replies to my other comments in this thread.

                  Again, if you want to tell me that what I’ve read is wrong then feel free to explain it to me. And not from very outdated books from the 30s or the CIA document from the 50s, neither of which say that I’m wrong btw.