A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Tonight's Movie Is 'Stalin'
My Comment: It is hard to believe that this man ruled the Soviet Union for decades.
My father hated the guy James. The horror stories that I heard from people who suffered because of him .... and survived .... it would make your skin crawl. To put it bluntly .... to call him a paranoid psychopath would be an insult to all the paranoid psychopaths of the world.
Yeah, I believe it. I was a little tongue in cheek. Many stories of tough military guys crapping in their pants at those infamous late night interviews. What gets me is how smug the West is in the sense that so many think a "Stalin" could never happen here. Well one could in a heart beat.
It's been a lot of years since I took History of the Soviet Union with Dr. Entner so I may not remember the story correctly. But, under Lenin, all the great Bolshevik thinkers led the Politburo, but Stalin wasn't one of the bright guys and was charged with staffing the bureaucracy.
He filled it with mediocre men who knew that their jobs depended on him. When Lenin died, he first schemed to get the suspect Jew/Menchevik Trotsky out of the way.
Once that was done, he schemed with the hardliners on the Poliburo to have the NEPmen arrested. He replaced them with his own creatures and then had the hardliners arrested.
Since they all believed that the Party was infallible and the Party had arrested them, they figured they must be guilty and freely confessed to what they hadn't actually done.
Moral of the story, it's not always the ideologues who are the danger, but the scheming peasant failed theology students always are.
Lovely man, worked very hard for the people you know. Was somewhat famous for staying up late to interview lucky individuals.
ReplyDeleteMy father hated the guy James. The horror stories that I heard from people who suffered because of him .... and survived .... it would make your skin crawl. To put it bluntly .... to call him a paranoid psychopath would be an insult to all the paranoid psychopaths of the world.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I believe it. I was a little tongue in cheek. Many stories of tough military guys crapping in their pants at those infamous late night interviews.
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me is how smug the West is in the sense that so many think a "Stalin" could never happen here. Well one could in a heart beat.
If I remember right, didn't he have a nickname... Koba?
ReplyDeleteKoba, i think you are right. I watched the movie in my summer holiday
DeleteIt is hard to believe that Mao ruled China for decades.
ReplyDeleteThere were much more competent people within the CCCP.
Both men built party within the party. Hitler and others have done the same.
Now we have to explain the mechanics of it with psychology and sociology or we get to repeat it ad naseum.
James,
ReplyDeleteIf I hadn't known who we were talking about, I would have though you were talking about Mao.
It's been a lot of years
ReplyDeletesince I took History of
the Soviet Union with Dr.
Entner so I may not remember
the story correctly. But,
under Lenin, all the great
Bolshevik thinkers led the
Politburo, but Stalin wasn't
one of the bright guys and
was charged with staffing
the bureaucracy.
He filled it with mediocre
men who knew that their
jobs depended on him. When
Lenin died, he first schemed
to get the suspect Jew/Menchevik
Trotsky out of the way.
Once that was done, he
schemed with the hardliners
on the Poliburo to have the
NEPmen arrested. He replaced
them with his own creatures
and then had the hardliners
arrested.
Since they all believed that
the Party was infallible and
the Party had arrested them,
they figured they must be
guilty and freely confessed
to what they hadn't actually
done.
Moral of the story, it's
not always the ideologues
who are the danger, but the
scheming peasant failed
theology students always
are.
ofs
That's pretty good ofs.
ReplyDelete