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
And yet, here this person is, not incorrectly using Stalin to say communism is bad. He is criticizing Stalin on his merits, or lack thereof, and not using one person to disparage communism.
You are one tying Stalin’s crimes to communism.
Stalin tied himself to communism as much as possible, all critics of communism tie Stalin to communism as much as possible.
think reeeeeLly hard about how that might be a relevant point to be had.
also lemmy is chock full of tankies tying stalin to communism but pretending like he was super good and all of the bad things he did were western propaganda
That’s the same “logic” as claiming that all critics of the Nazis are really trying to speak ill of people of Germanic Ancestry or that all critics of Zionism are anti-semites.
Just because those evil regimes tied themselves to those groups or ideologies doesn’t mean that critics of the regime are actually trying to speak ill of the groups or ideologies those evil regimes linked themselves to.
In fact the strategy of misportraying criticism of the regime as being criticism of the group that regime claims to represent, is a common propaganda trick of the most evil of regimes.
my point is that stalin didn’t represent communism, as is widely claimed
not sure what “logic” you used to get to that…
many people do claim that all criticism of israel is just antisemitism, nobody claims that criticism of nazis is a criticism of the german people.
some people have claimed that socialism, which is part of the nazi acronym, is bad because nazis are bad… but that’s pretty rare, so not worth noting when talking about them.
Well, we’re totally in agreement then.
… nowadays.
Back then, the Nazis themselves did (more specifically that criticism of Nazism was criticism of the Germanic People or even of the Aryan Race), similarly to how the Zionists do it now for the people they claim to represent.
Those regimes are the ones doing such associations and then their supporters abroad as well as various useful idiots pick it up and parrot it.
The point I was trying to make was that Stalin and his followers claimed to represent Communism when they in fact did not (not even close). I know that’s not quite the same as claiming to represent a race, ethnic group or religion as the ethno-Fascists do, but I think claiming to represent an ideology it’s a similar technique and similar you see mindless supporters and useful idiots pick it up and parrot it.
that was the point i was making
👍
Yes, those tankies are twisted, bring unable to support communism without making excuses for a brutal dictator.
So surely you must appreciate someone capable of criticizing that brutal dictator without smearing communism in the process, right?
Why would you see a conversation about a brutal dictator and jump in to talk about how he was a communist? Don’t you think it might be people like you that encourage tankies to reflexively disagree with any criticism of Stalin?
If you can’t have a conversation about Stalin’s crimes without someone erroneously bringing communism into it maybe that’s why frustrated communists often defend the indefensible.
what a lame troll
no i’m not, i also don’t care about arguing with someone this dense
Well, have a nice day then. I genuinely hope you find something you do care about today.
certainly not you arguing that i said something i didn’t, and then that i shouldn’t say something