Matvei Bronstein: Theorical physicist. Pioneer of quantum gravity. Arrested, accused of fictional “terroristic” activity and shot in 1938
Lev Shubnikov: Experimental physicist. Accused on false charges. Executed
Adrian Piotrovsky: Russian dramaturge. Accused on false charges of treason. Executed.
Nikolai Bukharin: Leader of the Communist revolution. Member of the Politburo. Falsely accused of treason. Executed.
General Alexander Egorov: Marshal of the Soviet Union. Commander of the Red Army Southern Front. Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Arrested, accused on false charges, executed.
General Mikhail Tukhachevsky Supreme Marshal of the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the Red Napoleon. Arrested, accused on fake charges. Executed.
Grigory Zinoviev: Chairman of the Communist International Movement. Member of the Soviet Politburo. Accused of treason and executed.
Even the secret police themselves were not safe:
Genrikh Yagoda : Right-hand of Joseph Stalin. Head of the NKD Secret Police. He spied on everyone in Russia and jailed thousands of innocents. Yagoda was arrested and executed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genrikh_Yagoda
Nikolai Yezhov : Appointed head of the NKD Secret Police after the death of Yagoda. Arrested on fake charges, executed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov
Everybody was absolutely terrified during this period. At least 600 000 people were killed and over 100 000 people were deported to Gulags in Siberia.
Today, Russian schools no longer teach what Joseph Stalin did. Many young russians actually believe that Stalin was a great patriot.
This is part of an effort by Vladimir Putin to rehabilitate him:
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/05/21/stalin-is-making-a-comeback-in-russia-heres-why-a89155
No one is asking you to trust it, just to choose it.
Strip away all the labels and theory and you’re left with two basic choices. One where the method of change is persuasion, and one where the method of change is bloody revolution, over and over and over without end.
As much as it might rankle you, and me, to accept having to convince a majority to allow us to live our lives as we damn well please, if I was given the opportunity to appoint a dictator, or dictatorial class, that would remake society exactly as I wanted, I wouldn’t do it. Because who would succeed them, and once you have given that power to a class of people, deposing them is a lot harder, and bloodier, than persuading a few percent of your neighbors.
I’m an anarchist, I don’t despise democracy because I love dictators but because I want tiranny to go away. it’s not a black and white choice between guillotining everyone and installing a dictator, that’s a made-up dichotomy by status quo theoreticians.
i wouldn’t have to persuade anyone if I lived in a community where the police were kicked out like a Zapatista town. who would even be there to enforce the transphobic law? the transphobic community members would have to dirty their own hands instead of deputizing a cop to get rid of me. and in those cases, everyone being trained in armed self-defense kicks in
Just because you didn’t do the persuading doesn’t mean that no one did. Somehow they got together and decided to kick the fuckers out.
If you think I’m creating a false dichotomy, please enlighten me how.
I’m saying either everyone gets an equal say or…
No matter what you put after the “or”, you’re creating a hierarchy with a class that gets to impose their will until stopped with force. As an anarchist, you should understand that.
absolutely, everyone gets an equal say unless it infringes on someone else’s bodily autonomy. hency why democracy is never gonna work for queer people. we have to work outside of the state