The Great Purge: Stalin's Darkest Moment

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[@IntotheShadows]

Get an exclusive Surfshark VPN Holiday Season deal! Enter promo code ITS to get up to 6 additional months for free at surfshark.deals/its

[@reborninflames2188]

Hey guys, not sure if you've ever uploaded a presentation about how Stalin managed to use his cunning to expand of the powers of his position of General Secretary to end up gaining control of the entire USSR by, but I'd love to see it.

[@-InsaneDane-]

I have used Surfshark for years. But, big but, whenever I'm outside Denmark, my home country, and I set the location to Denmark, all my Danish apps like DR tv etc know I'm actually not in Denmark and can't use the service, so anybody have that problem in there country? The same with netflix etc etc. Maybe it's because the Danish internet security is just way too superior compared to other countries 😮

[@aiprangon]

at 12:00 - 12:15 sorry to say it was totally bullshit, after WW2 German generals feed us this bullshit. when record shows Hitler face resistance from his generals on Poland and French. but in case of USSR Hitler face ZERO resistance from his generals. some generals even more enthusiastic then Hitler himself.

[@darthracer777]

Excellent analysis, Simon. If you haven't done so, I look forward to your critique of Mao's regime.

[@markgaston8316]

Skip 1min 20sec (10% of the video) cus Simon's getting greedy.

[@ZombiiChix]

I have a sibling who is an unapologetic Stalinist that claims the holodomor was caused by bad weather... And that Stalin is only considered a dictator because of FBI propaganda. It's genuinely really depressing

[@nenasiek]

How do they even come to this conclusion? Is it just propaganda accusations or Is he/she also into other "alternative facts" like flat earth?

[@gregorgerzson1767]

Sounds like your sibling is braindead.

[@richardcranium3579]

@@VladR1024now it’s being canonized in the US indoctrination facilities.

[@MaliVal]

He’s not entirely right or wrong. He was objectively a dictator because he had absolute power. But both Stalin and Mao are relentlessly misrepresented intentionally by western news outlets / old politicians because they both were in power during the cold war. And it was literally Americas job to slander the USSR and China. As it was their responsibility to slander us. The horror stories we hear over here are so different from first hand accounts for a reason.

[@colejosephalexanderkashay683]

​@@VladR1024in which tounge? I've always heard it referred to as holodomor

[@andreasmuller4666]

And that´s still only a small part of Stalins body count. The man was utterly insane.

[@muscledavis5434]

Everything about him is just SCARY

[@Jeanne90275]

Evil and paranoid, but not clinically insane. That would be letting Stalin off the hook for the atrocities he committed on a scale only exceeded by Mao. Ah, communism, the system for egalitarianism and prosperity.

[@metroidhunter965]

Yet he’s held in high regard by a lot of people. The fact that communism isn’t met with the same scorn and disgust as national socialism is a true tragedy. But that is a rant and fight in of itself.

[@FlintIronstag23]

Fortunately Stalin died in 1953. Khrushchev said he was preparing for another massive purge of the Communist party and an antisemitism campaign through the alleged Doctor's Plot.

[@JohnSmith-ez7ip]

@@metroidhunter965 The true tragedy is the fact that capitalism isn't met with the same scorn and disgust as CAPITALIST THIRD REICH is a true tragedy.

[@seanoreiley48]

I worked with a woman who was a child during the whole Holodomor. One day, for whatever reason she decided to tell me about part of it, and told me how it got so bad that her mother had to choose to stop feeding a sick child in order to ensure that the rest of her children survived. They had to sit there and watch as the child died.

[@theguybehindyou4762]

And I have to watch NPCs in the west demand we try the same thing here. Thank God for the second amendment!

[@ostrich67]

@@theguybehindyou4762 Oh shut up.

[@LagrangePoint0]

@@theguybehindyou4762 And they love to wear shirts with che guevera's face on it

[@marhanen]

@@LagrangePoint0 While your side is saying to put millions into camps

[@paulk8072]

The Protocols of Zion

[@ukoutdoors3022]

There was a Russian joke from soviet times: A man and his wife were sleeping one night when they were awoken by a hammering on the door at 3am. They sat up, looking at each other with fear on their faces. Eventually the husband said 'well, I suppose I'll have to see who's there'. He returned a few moments later and said with relief -' wonderful news, darling. The building is on fire'.

[@josephshreeves8192]

Even after years of being reminded of the Purge, that body count (and %) of senior political and military figures is insane. How the hell do you kill that many offices down to the battalion level is actually unbelievable. Its wonder the USSR survived WW2 even with all the help

[@9n3-]

They never recovered from WW2. Germany absolutely led to the decline, just decades after. Commies will claim that changes caused the fall, but they never economically recovered. The NatSocs has the final laugh.

[@c4662]

Basically, it's down to Russia land terrain which makes it virtually impossible to invade.

[@blitzattack567]

@@c4662How did the mongols do it?

[@dawidkiller]

@@blitzattack567 massive mobility difference for the time

[@blarfroer8066]

​@@blitzattack567Russia was much smaller at the time. The Asian parts of Russia weren't colonised until the 18th century. And the Soviet Union was even bigger than Russia today.

[@SparkBerry]

Visited Stalin's birthplace in Gori, Georgia recently. The museum doesn't mention the atrocities, as it was built during the Soviet era. The Occupation Museum in Tblisi however makes it very clear who the villians were.

[@jake8855]

Well, Stalin was no villain, so it sounds like Shakaasvili's museum is the propaganda one.

[@thondrakyawsein3000]

Didn’t u just watch the video

[@jake8855]

@@thondrakyawsein3000 This shitty youtube video? What about it?

[@NagandEmerald]

​@@jake8855 He very much was a villain. His 20-40 million victims all have something to say about him being the villain. Even Lenin was Stalin's most vocal critic.

[@jake8855]

@NagandEmerald 20-40 million victims huh? Hahaha. Those are fantasy numbers. Anyway, one man's hero is another man's villain, I guess.

[@fishyerik]

If you ever gain great power, try to remember this: If you have to kill your own people on an industrial scale to stay in power, you might not be as great leader as you think you are. Also, "purging" your opponents, and potential opponents, among your own subjects instead of exercising your power in a constructive manner, tends to become a sisyphean task.

[@lynnmeyers10]

I'll remember that!😂

[@jazz4asahel]

Bolshevism is an extension of Marxism. Bolshevism is about getting things done in any way that works. Stalin did what he thought necessary to properly build the communist state.

[@seleneIrisRegisteredNurse]

Ok. I will take this into account when I rule the world.

[@Pharmerlynda]

The best leaders bring the opposition into their own inner circle and try to learn from them…

[@user-vt1xy5ts6h]

Stalin blamed the atrocities of the civil war and the genocide of the 1920s, including his own guilt for participating in these monstrous anti-Russian acts, on "enemies of the people." But indeed, most of those who were repressed in 1937 and later were enemies of the Russian people. By destroying the Bolshevik Guard, Stalin not only dealt with rivals in the struggle for power, but also to some extent atoned for his guilt before the Russian people, for whom the execution of revolutionary rioters was an act of historical retribution. During the 1930s and 1940s under the leadership of Stalin At least 800,000 Jewish doctors, the flower of the Jewish anti-Russian organization, who hoped to turn Russia into a Jewish state, were killed- a gift. Almost all Jewish leaders were destroyed - di, and the chances of remaining in power in Russia were minimized. In fact, Stalin is attempting to create a Soviet national system and destroy the Soviet government, based on the dictatorship of the communist party, from which there was one step towards a complete restoration- the birth of the national Russian state. Along this path, Stalin makes a number of decisive steps to purge the state apparatus of cosmopolitan elements, attract honest, hardworking and selfless Russian people into it, develop a sense of Russian patriotism, and pursue a traditional Russian foreign policy. However, this policy of Stalin did not suit the Jewish and cosmopolitan forces of the Bolshevik party. A conspiracy was organized against Stalin and his closest associates (Zhdanov, Kuznetsov, Voznesensky and others) , as a result of which at first the most loyal people to him were liquidated (the Leningrad Affair), and then, according to the information of his inner circle (Molotov, Kaganovich, Stalin's son Vasily), he himself was secretly killed.

[@helenafarkas4534]

there is a REASON that during the early stages of Hitler's invasion of the soviet union, the german troops were treated as LIBERATORS. it's not hard to imagine that if orders had been different on how to treat the soviet civilians, that Hitler might have easily taken soviet territory and been able to turn it's massive military capabilities against the West. instead they treated the soviet civilians as racially impure and subhuman, which quickly soured the welcome they recieved, which was among the largest of hitler's mistakes

[@joshuaboerger7965]

They were the liberators. Zionists won

[@cumcumson5661]

Mistake implies this would be regretted by Hitler if miraculously we could ask him about this today. Eastern extermination was core to his ideas, he made no mistake in his orders regarding the civilians. He specifically wanted to wipe them out.

[@xx133]

No, they were not. Nazis did the Holocaust to communists, as much as they did to the Jews. There was no question that Hitler wanted to eliminate all communists, he ran on that in his campaign, then he carried it out domestically. Also, Russians were proud communists-sadly they were under a totalitarian regime that had no interest in communism, outside of marketing to the masses. Even still, Stalin had a high approval rating, even among the west, where he was referred to as “uncle joe”.

[@reliantncc1864]

This is a direct cause of Putin being able to accuse Ukrainians of Nazi affiliation. It's not as clever as he thinks, since the implication is that Soviet rule was so bad the Ukrainians preferred Nazis, but it is pretty awkward for Ukraine right now.

[@xx133]

@@reliantncc1864 No, what you’re stating isn’t entirely true. Are there Nazis in Ukraine? Yes. Are there Nazis in Russia? Yes. Putin is just using the Nazi narrative as pretext to invade, just like the U.S. did in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc. Putin likes to troll the U.S. He also stated that Ukraine has weapons of mass destruction, touted regime change, and stated that he’s going into Ukraine to save the population from their oppressive government. All the same propaganda talking points that the U.S. gives whenever it wants to invade a country.

[@robgregory5136]

It’s unfortunate that more people aren’t aware of of horrors of communism like they are of nazism.

[@arkpath8319]

This is by design

[@n1gtwhisper158]

Totalitarianism sucks yes

[@jonnyd9351]

@@n1gtwhisper158Totalitarianism has been around forever. Marxist-leninist/Stalinist/nazi totalitarianism were a bit more evil that average.

[@atigamerofficial]

@@jonnyd9351 before 1900, things which stalin did was normal thats why no one hears about them

[@ttuny1412]

Maybe I missed it but you failed to mention Trotsky ended up with an axe in his head while in exile.

[@kellymcmanus150]

Mexico

[@4bschaum]

it was an ice pick

[@ttuny1412]

@@4bschaum Ice axe if you want to be specific

[@4bschaum]

@@ttuny1412 yeah i only knew the German Word we say 'eispickel'

[@kellymcmanus150]

@@4bschaum Ramón Mercader in Mexico with an ice pick.

[@georgedavies5042]

The fact that Stalin isn’t counted with hitler as one of history’s greatest monsters is genuinely concerning to me

[@tomfox9083]

Well that because theirs so many communists still alive

[@user-td2jw9ze2c]

Tojo?

[@hewhoshallnotbenamed5168]

​@@user-td2jw9ze2cA monster to be sure but nowhere close to that of Stalin, Hitler, or Mao.

[@user-td2jw9ze2c]

@@hewhoshallnotbenamed5168 Unit 731?

[@hewhoshallnotbenamed5168]

@@user-td2jw9ze2c Again, evil but nowhere near the levels of evil committed by the big 3 despots of the 20th century.

[@johnmcguigan7218]

The great tenor Sergei Koslovsky was added to one of the execution lists. He also happened to be Stalin's favorite singer, and was occasionally called to the Kremlin in the middle of the night to sing for Stalin. (A remarkable operatic tenor, Koslovsky also recorded albums of Russian popular folk songs.) When Stalin saw Koslovsky's name on the execution list, he crossed it off, replying in anger, "If Koslovsky is executed, who will sing for us? YOU?" Yes, music hath charms....

[@JoeRogansForehead]

Yeah his name was actually Ivan koslovsky . Great Russian sterotyping calling him Sergei . Of course every uniformed person liked your comment with the wrong name in it because they love a fake story . Imagine acting like you know something and getting it so wrong “The great tenor” like you even know what that means. You don’t even know his name. Not too good at google are you.

[@josephschultz3301]

It's absolutely soul-crushing to think about how many people within the Soviet Union were _murdered_ just to satiate the ego of this one megalomaniac man. The body count is an intense and humbling thing to think about and, unlike Adolf Hitler, there are people in former Soviet Bloc states that still think of him as an overall force for good as a world-changer. That is wild to me. And horribly, utterly depressing.

[@Hebdomad7]

Sadly there are people who think fondly of insane mustach man too. These people are idiots. Idiots mustach man would have gladly thrown into their meat grinder without blinking to further their own goals.

[@SamBrickell]

Stalin wasn't the real problem. The real problem was a government structure that gave him all of that power. Same problem with Hitler, Pol Pot, and Mao.

[@user-zb9lv3gh8s]

And now Russia is led by a Stalin fan boy who's racking up numbers of his own.

[@josephschultz3301]

@@SamBrickell While I understand where you're coming from, you're absolutely _wrong._ Yes, it's easy in our "new and enlightened" age to dunk on communism, but Stalin was the problem. Stalin used communism to reach his prominent point of power. Communism itself is just a concept. Sure, it sucks, and it's used by terrible regimes as an excuse to execute absolute control, but overlooking the ones actually taking control isn't just foolish, it's disingenuous. Stalin was a madman, a paranoid psychopath that murdered countless millions for no other reason than the fact that it suited his agenda. Even attempting to argue against that FACT is itself evil. The closest that anybody came to him within his own regime is Beria. And there's an argument to be made that that man is _just_ as evil. Perhaps you're typing this out from a former Soviet Bloc state, I dunno. Regardless, you're factually wrong. This doesn't come down to opinion. This isn't subjectual. Stalin was evil. That's just true. I won't accept a fake-ass argument otherwise.

[@John-PaulHunt-wy7lf]

Purging the lies out of the fake left isn’t communism it’s accountability! If they say it’s cancel culture then let them leave the Democratic Party for the magatards and gop in our toxic culture wars in the USA media wars here post failures in Iraq and Afghanistan here!

[@blenderbanana]

"Stalin killed every other second in command & high officer; but he would never murder me." - ☺️

[@samueljohnson8911]

*🤓

[@svenrio8521]

Seriously, I don't know what Yehzov and Yagoda expected? Why the hell wouldn't they take this risk of attempting to kill Stalin before he killed them is a mystery.

[@lisapop5219]

I didn't know that about the Polish or accused Poles. Both my husband and my family are Polish but they both came to the US pre ww2. We were taught about the purge in school. We learned about the politicians, military, jews, kulacks, even khazacks, but no mention of the Poles and accused Poles. No wonder why they were so brutal to them in the war and after

[@VladR1024]

I only recently learnt that the strife between Polacks and Russians goes back half a millennia (in principle, not much different than Palestina region). So, of all the atrocities Stalin did, this is the only one where I can see that he used his position to "get back at those ****" one more time. I appreciate these tidbits of information. Since I grew up under Iron Curtain (we used to cross the border and shop in the Poland), all history was filtered and adjusted to fit the propaganda. Only select few unimportant things were left intact. Basically, 95% of the history that we were taught was lies and adjusted propaganda. It's like growing up on a different planet, really...

[@user-vv8ve4px5j]

Do you guys go shopping for Polish sausage at a hardware store? Or are part of the Polish space program planning to land on the sun at night when it's cooler?

[@VladR1024]

​@@user-vv8ve4px5j No one in their right mind would dare buying a sausage from Polacks after the huge scandal of mixing horse meat into the sausages :)

[@TRPGpilot]

@@user-vv8ve4px5j A village is missing it's clown . . .

[@TheBuhrewnoShow]

White Rus, Hussars, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth... Poland, and other slavic countries in general, have beef with Russian culture and history spanning nearly 1000 years.

[@rashkavar]

It is notable that the Red Army purge as mentioned *did* severely reduce the Soviets' military capacity. Just look at their first war after this incident: the Winter War against Finland. The Finns fought valiantly, but their defensive tactics were not really all that innovative at first, and only really got innovative because the Soviets were presenting tactical options that had previously been largely unavailable because...well, competent commanders don't make mistakes that big. But as they blundered their way through that war, they learned. Marching into a Finnish meat grinder is a very good incentive to learn how to survive walking into meat grinders, and by the time Operation Barbarossa came along, they were well on the way to a structural recovery that would make the Red Army capable of taking on the Wehrmacht. It took them another year and a bit of walking into a German meat grinder to finish learning that lesson, but they had enough soldiers and territory to lose that said lesson could be learned before they were in an unwinnable situation. (It's remarkable just how cleanly the tides of war turn in WWII, especially in this theatre. North Africa had a bunch of back-and-forth in Libya early on, but aside from that, before Operation Torch and Stalingrad, the Germans win the vast majority of their battles, after those 2 events, they lose the vast majority. (Seriously, the Battle of the Bulge is the closest thing I can think of to a significant victory and that's an unmitigated disaster where they burn their reserves in a suicidal offensive.) Similarly, the Japanese Navy win pretty much everything up to Midway, and lose pretty much everything after. (The Japanese Army is mostly tied up in China where my understanding is much more spotty and, iirc, the official record is also pretty spotty.))

[@thisishandlenumber2048]

I remember hearing stories about the US Airforce and how they handled their best pilots. While the Axis Powers tended to send their best pilots on the most important missions the US would send theirs home or to the UK to train the next batch of pilots. So the Axis Powers dominated the skies early in the war due to an experience mismatch but they eventually lost their best pilots and the quality of training that their new pilots received paled in comparison to the Allies. This led to the Allies taking control of the skies and the Axis Powers could do next to nothing to regain dominance because all of their surviving pilots were just flat out worse. If these mentalities were also applied to other aspects of the war I could see why there was such a drastic turning point. The Axis Powers would have tried to maximize their gains while the Allies would have focused on sustainability and surviving to the next day which would explain why the wheels came off both the German and Japanese Empires in the second half of the war.

[@SEAZNDragon]

@@thisishandlenumber2048 If there's anything the US Armed Forces is good at is making sure they cycle through NCOs as trainers in basic and advance training and having NCOs and more experienced junior enlisted pass on knowledge at the unit level.

[@gregoryoliff7887]

The turning points you point out are mostly where Allied Powers finally amassed large enough armies to create long, well supplied fronts that the focused attacks with limited resources by the Axis couldn't break through. Japan is more a story of biting off more than they can chew, but it's also still partially true that a big turning point of the war in the pacific came at Midway when the US was able to damage the Japanese Navy below that threshold where the US would out produce them for the end of time. The Allied Powers were probably something like 70% of the industrial power of the world at the time. All the strategy in the world, and all the brutality and fear tactics in the world, can't overcome a difference in production like that. WW2 taught us that quantity, if done right, is it's own quality, and there's really no replacement for endless supplies and a bottomless war chest.

[@rashkavar]

@@gregoryoliff7887 Yeah, Japan (or at least Yamamoto and a couple other higher ups) knew they were taking a huge gamble in taking on the US. There was the demand for Indonesian oil, so they saw the need to get the Philippines out of the way...and then Pearl Harbor raid in order to scare the US into letting them just keep the Philippines. Which, uh...is a vast miscalculation on their part. They might have been able to just take the Philippines and leave the US alone without provoking the war; they probably could have just sailed around and left the US to stay isolationist...but no, they decked the US navy right in the nose, and got a very American reaction: "We'll build 3 times as much navy, and then shoot and bomb you into submission and/or oblivion, we don't care which."

[@reliantncc1864]

The Japanese knew they never had a chance unless they could demoralize America to the point of pressuring us into surrender. Their initial hope was to force a treaty at the very beginning, before we'd gotten invested. Their second hope (far-fetched as it was) was to force the US Navy into a single catastrophic battle (the "Decisive Battle Doctrine") again as a demoralization strategy. But they knew there was no challenging our industrial power. If we didn't lose our nerve, we could build ships and aircraft faster than the Japanese could possibly destroy them, and our homeland was unassailable.

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

According to Stalin there was nothing like the sleep he enjoyed after watching all his enemies killed. Once the purge got started going if your neighbor was on the list and wasn't home the agents might just take you. Because if they came up short on their lists the agents themselves might be sent in their place. There was a multi story apartment building that had an elevator that was usable only by agents. It opened into the flats by a door. Everyone who lived there had to use the stairs.

[@lynnmeyers10]

I saw that doc. It gave me chills.

[@schokobar4133]

Do u have an source for that because thats sounds absoult made up

[@joshuawhinery208]

Psychopathy, paranoia and power politics create a VERY scary sort of madness when combined

[@tabithan2978]

Reminds me of Trump.

[@metalopoly2569]

​@@tabithan2978*Progressive Democrats (they share similar ideology with Stalin)

[@ratgobbler]

@@tabithan2978 Not sure how that’s related.

[@triggeredcat120]

Even narcissism.

[@vodkarocket1]

@@ratgobblerits not related at all, but there are those who love to crowbar his name into every conversation. It’s beyond predictable and boring.

[@katrinaprescott5911]

By far the best history of the Great Purge is "The Great Terror" by Robert Conquest. He first wrote the book using information from dissidents and samizdat in the 1960s as well as some reasonably accurate information released during that decade by the Soviets. He was able to refine and mostly reaffirm his original narrative in 1989-1990 with official records made available through Glastnost and the fall of the Soviet Union. Kirov was most likely assassinated by the secret police at Stalin's direction. It is true he was a Stalin supporter, but he was also a popular politician in his own right with a strong power base in Leningrad. By getting rid of him Stalin eliminated a potential future rival and provided a justification for eliminating the rest of his rivals, actual and potential. One interesting thing Conquest noted is that despite the fact that Stalin was a dictator, he still didn't have the absolute power Hitler did. So while Hitler was able to act unilaterally based on the "führerprinzip", Stalin had to go through the motions of trials and involving the Politboro. He still got what he wanted but he had to go through a pretense to do it.

[@theguybehindyou4762]

Not sure if that says more about Stalin or the officials who approved his actions?

[@WitchyWagonReal]

Excellent book...a must-read (the revised one amended with post-Soviet archives). Stalin nearly lost control in 1941. He was convinced he would be arrested and executed at his dacha for losing Russia to the Germans, as they converged on Moscow... reasoning that his purge had backfired by crippling the military, and terrifying his subordinates too far, to revolt. But it didn't... the rest of the stooges knew he was the only person with the iron will who could lead them out of disaster when the chips were down. Once they pledged their confidence... he did it (swinging the hammer Georgi Zhukov). The guy was a lot of things, all rotten... but stupid he was not. He seized the moment-- and that is why he is still revered, despite his horror. Because he saved Russia in the Great Patriotic War. With Kings... the worst fades over decades, but their legendary wins always remain for eternity. 🤷🏻

[@jdmack1]

​@@WitchyWagonRealStalin's crippling of the military did backfire, but the Red Army only won thanks to Hitler's stupidity when it came to military matters. Stalin's alleged "Iron will" had nothing to do with it. Hitler sending all of his armored divisions to Stalingrad and getting bogged down in a war of attrition when all of his generals were telling him to focus on Moscow, had everything to do with it.

[@jake8855]

Kiriv wasn't assassinated on Stalin's orders, actually. Even anti-Stalin biographers don't believe he did.

[@danieldavidisson9906]

Excuse me for saying so, but I am a researcher at the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies at UC Berkeley, and Robert Conquest is considered an anti-communist hack. Publications that deliberately falsify and distort history should be banned honestly. Conquest is a prime offender. Stalin’s Terror of 1937-1938: Political Genocide in the USSR by Vadigm Rogavin, is by far the best account of the purges. t took 10 years to complete, Rogavin sown grandfather had died in the purges, As a researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Rogovin studied and wrote about the existence and growth of social inequality in the USSR and its implications for social justice, labor productivity, and social morality in Soviet society. Rogovin’s interest in analyzing the allocation of wealth and privileges in the Soviet Union grew out of political conclusions he drew about the origins of the Soviet bureaucracy.

[@multiyapples]

Rest in peace to those that passed away.

[@michinwaygook3684]

Don't forget that Sergei Korolev was put in a Gulag in Siberia and almost died there. Korolev was one of the Soviet Union's biggest trade secrets at the time and was the man that started the Space Race. Like the Americans the Russians were trying to design ballistic missiles that could cross the ocean. It was Korolev that redirected their attention to space (i.e. put a satellite up there and you could spy on the Americans). You should do a whole video on this man. He was the glue holding the Soviet Space Program together and when he died it fell apart around their ears. The Soviets had 50+ firsts to the Americans 20+ firsts. The Soviets were planning on landing a man on the moon before the Americans but Sergei Korolev died before that could happen and the rest is history. What did Korolev die from? Long-term injuries suffered from his time in the Gulag in Siberia. You should do an entire video on this man. Very few Westerners know of this man and his incredible achievements. There was a book written about him by an American named James Harford called ' Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon'. James Harford was a graduate of Yale College in mechanical engineering and was for 37 years the staff director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

[@bludeuce3855]

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was also sent to a Gulag

[@Dojaesd]

I used an ai chatbot that was mimicking an interrogator from the NKVD it was quite accurate to this

[@TheRedskins822]

It’s always the worst kinds of sociopaths who end up in leadership positions.

[@alaskan_bigfoot9090]

self serving people are usually the ones who thirst for power, reasonable people have no desire to rule society and unfortunately people havent learned that someone promising a better future usually means they want it on their terms regardless of how it changes your life.

[@dannymoneywell]

I bet you don't think McCarthy was a sociopath too. 😂😂😂

[@bruno17289]

Is more that he was in a position where power was too centralized and also he was one of the most ruthless persons ever.

[@stooge389]

He was a psychopath, not a sociopath. He knew exactly what he was doing.

[@cursocuritiba]

Always...

[@QPRTokyo]

I have always considered Stalin more evil than AH and my god that is saying something. This story missed out so much. This is the rose coloured glasses version.

[@Huskerguy316]

WAY more evil than AH. Stalin directly ordered mass murder while Hitler choose to be willfully ignorant of the atrocities his SS were committing

[@jacobpieters4500]

To be fair, if even a mere fraction of Stalin's administration's atrocities were listed in total, the video would still likely be about 5 hours long. Let alone Stalin's successors or other Communist regimes.

[@schokobar4133]

Hitler killed 35m civilians based on they nationalty + all the soldiers, stalin killer an estimated from 5,5m in the holodmor,600k in hes deportations and 700k-1,2m in hes purges, if your really say stalin was more evil than hitler than is something terrible wrong with you

[@mbazzy123]

Lavrentiy Beria also had a reputation as Stalins purge master

[@samsungtesz2193]

Well yes, but the video does little to mention him

[@sonanderson6351]

@@samsungtesz2193he came after the great purges

[@herptek]

Beria was not by any means the first.

[@cyndis3942]

@@sonanderson6351 ok, I didn't know that; I was also expecting beria. now I wonder how he and zhukov survived all of that and rose so high in the ranks; being as competent as they were. can't be a good story though lol

[@paulceglinski7172]

Beria was his head psychopath and pervert. Just saying.....

[@Damien-og6sk]

Though being a work of fiction, the film "captain volkogonov escaped" is a terrifying portrayal of Stalin's purges

[@lipingrahman6648]

The 20th century was an era of monsters, fanatics, and pious fools. I’m surprised how the species survived to this date.

[@spacegerrit9499]

They'll say that about us.

[@gregkosinski2303]

The 20th century, for all its horrors, was a relatively peaceful century compared to the rest of human history

[@user-gi8pk9uc7q]

One of the worst examples of paranoia causing more problems than it solved in history!

[@austindenotter19]

So,,,,,,,, covid reaction?

[@triggeredcat120]

@@austindenotter19Clown

[@shaiaheyes2c41]

Stalin/USSR also ethnically cleansed Murmansk for Norwegians. "Sofia Petrovna" is a great witness account from the times of Stalin's purges in the 30s. "The Cheka" by George Popoff was published in the 1920s. He was arrested under Lenin and interrogated by Felix Dezerzhinsky, the head of the Cheka (later NKVD, KGB now FSB) himself. Anyway, he describes one of the executioners in Lubjanka prison who loved his job. He was allowed to steal all the belongings of the executed and sell it on the black market. David Satter write of this too, and how non of them were ever punished (books; "It was a long time ago and it never happened anyway", "Age of Delerium", "The Less You Know the Better You Sleep" etc.).

[@ObergefreiterJPorta]

Funny how many of us Norwegians died trying to keep the soviets Fighting in WW2 with our convoys. When they literally genocided those in kola. Thanks for sharing, I did not know of this beforehand🙏🏻

[@shaiaheyes2c41]

@@ObergefreiterJPorta You're most welcome. It's betrayal, treason. Stalin had a lot of agents back then, and KGB Putin has a lot of them today. The Soviets wanted to invade Norway but Hitler beat them to it. Today, like before WWII, our defences have been neglected, and we see no leadership rise to protect our lands and people. This weakness is not by coincident.

[@fencserx9423]

Plot twist: telling everyone their stuff is now everyone’s stuff makes them stop working as hard to produce stuff

[@austindenotter19]

Boom!

[@lucamckenn5932]

They traded one family of fat cats in charge to several dozen fat cat families in charge. Oh and their friends, children, and naturally of course anyone they don't like doesn't get anything. Faaaar better than the Czar dynasty. At least when they had a Czar they had some semblance of glory to being Russian. Now the glory is gone and you serve the will of the party. Truly a better evil (sarcasm).

[@fencserx9423]

@@lucamckenn5932 what’s worse is the Czars were actually moderating. Alexander II was trying to institute liberal reform and was assassinated because (and this was no sht the reason) “If he reforms the government it will lessen the revolutionary spirit and prevent revolution”… communists don’t want it better. They want to be in charge.

[@CZpersi]

There was a quote that "no military has ever suffered such losses in the time of war as the Soviet did in the times of peace". Being called a "Trotskyite" back in the Communist times of my country used to be even worse than "Capitalist", "Zionist" or "Western Imperialist"

[@krakrtreacysr907]

Zionist and commun 😊t are one in the same no??

[@greywolf7577]

No, they clearly have nothing to do with one another. Zionism is the belief that the Jews should live in Israel. Communism is opposed to Capitalism. @@krakrtreacysr907

[@CZpersi]

@krakrtreacysr907 Ever heard about Slansky trial? Also, today's Zionism is mostly right-wing. Left-wing, labour Zionism lost its momentum in the 1970s.

[@dustinfrey3067]

While Kulaks could refer to wealthy landowning farmers, it was primarily used to refer to any landowners and thier family members, even distant relatives. You were a kulak even if the land you owned was just enough (and sometimes not even that much) to support your family's food needs. There were very poor landowners. These were people who found a way to scrap up enough money to buy a small plot of farm land. Or people who had inherited this small piece of land from a relative. Or people who were previously tenant farmers and when the "Kulak" died they would will a small portion of farm land to thier loyal tenant farmers. These tenant farmers who now had a small plot of farm land, were extremely poor and barely grew enough food to feed thier families. Yet, under communist Stalin (Not just Stalin though, this was status quo for communist regimes) it didn't matter if you were a dirt poor farmer who just so happened to own the land you farmed. You were a Capitalist Kulak and the enemy of the socialist state. Many kulaks were arrested and/or killed outright no matter if they would have been willing to comply or not. Others were given an opportunity to comply with the seizure of thier land, farming equipment (if they had any, most had very little if any), all live stock (including chickens and other small farm animals), thier homes, and all of the food they had grown and harvested. They would take every single bag of grain, every canned or jarred goods, everything. Then they were given the "choice" to go work on a collective farm, or move to the city to work in a factory. But, if they resisted at all, in anyway the state seizure of thier lives and everything they have. They were arrested and/or killed. In fact, that was only true at first. After the failure of Stalins collectivisation of farming, Kulaks became not just a public enemy, but public enemy number 1. So at that time kulaks were given no choice, they were either shot on site or arrested and sent to the Gulag. The purge of kulaks was so complete, you didn't even have to have ever owned land or have any personal wealth at all. If you had family even distant that had been landowners (no matter how poor) or you were precieved to have a wealthier family member, you were guilty, you were a kulak, you were the enemy of the socialist state. You were sabotaging the progress of the socialist state and therefore a domestic terrorist and could be and should be treated as such. It was utter insanity. We would be smart to learn the lessons necessary to prevent this ideology from ever taking root in the west or really anywhere again.

[@kylehassan972]

Do you have any good books on this topic? Its very interesting

[@Dawn737]

Wow! I used to wonder why some movies portrayed the head villain killing his sidekicks, merely to silence them because they knew about his evil deeds. I see now that the writers were probably inspired by Stalin, since he had a kangaroo court convict all of his enemies, then he has everyone who helped him also killed so that even they can't report to anyone what he did, even though they were helping him!

[@JoshuaTootell]

Dude, this goes back WAY farther than Stalin 😂

[@Dawn737]

@@JoshuaTootell Really? Who else killed the very people who had assisted them, just to silence those people?

[@dfuher968]

"A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic" - Josef Stalin

[@gregorgerzson1767]

"No man, no problem" - Stalin

[@cumcumson5661]

This is a quote by a German satirist. Stalin never said this, at least there are no records ever found of him uttering this anecdote.

[@Stichting_NoFap]

that's how basically everyone thinks because almost everyone is non-vegan and therefore don't think funding an endless amount of deaths is wrong, while they're sad or outraged when they hear about a single dogs death.

[@cumcumson5661]

@@Stichting_NoFap Animals are different to humans.

[@morningstararun6278]

Stalin never ever said it. And this is how the lies about Stalin are being propagated. Develop some balls and seek the truth.

[@RasAlHaq]

Mao: "Collectivisation? Five year plans? Hold my beer..."

[@wolfy8006]

Great video, now do a bigger monster that killed even more men than Stalin, Mao.

[@samueljohnson8911]

And pol pot, killed a higher percentage of his country.

[@seafoxx777]

Zhukov was also untouchable and avoided the purges simply because he was so beloved.

[@pyromania1018]

Actually, he escaped the initial purge because he was off fighting the Japanese in Mongolia. By the time he got back, the purge had ended, and his demonstrated competence at deep battle doctrine made him someone worth keeping alive. It was only after WWII that he became too popular to kill, though Stalin demoted him and kept him under surveillance.

[@MichaelSHartman]

While your your video is informative to older audiences, it is a much needed by younger audiences. Few could match Stalin in atrocities. Echoes, and shadows of past times haunt us today. So few have read 1984 (or Animal Farm), understand its inspiration, see the parallels, or heed its warning. Even a second cold war is upon us.

[@jam-trousers]

I love that Simon unabashedly picks subjects that ensure he cannot avoid absolutely mangling the names every time. I’m here for it

[@sallyintucson]

Nobody speaks every language.

[@stuartkcalvin]

@@sallyintucson I can speak back perfectly.

[@jam-trousers]

@@sallyintucson I could get snarky and say that Simon is just lazy, most of his pronunciation howlers are easily resolved by a simple google search. And I’m a bit of a grumpy tosser with this stuff due to my interest in languages. But I don’t care, I like Simon and his videos and his pronunciation doesn’t detract from their quality. So it makes me laugh.

[@ericeven4090]

And to think this man is considered a hero of Russia and someone who Putin has modeled himself after. Speaks volumes of the current situation.

[@viralarchitect]

Stalin is an example of why absolute power is frankly undesirable. The kind of paranoia that literally takes away all of your humanity and keeps you thinking your own family is trying to kill you honestly sounds like hell to me. So much senseless death.

[@FleetAdmirable]

Stalin is an example of why schizos shouldn't have absolute power. Dude could do anything he wanted and he wanted to kill.

[@pazsion]

and yet he didnt make the lists himself or issue orders to do this?

[@emmanueldidier321]

​@@pazsion He did. He signed "albums" with lists of hundreds of people condemned (before trial by the Nkvd Special Courts).

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

Stalin is directly or indirectly responsible for pretty much everything that went wrong in the world through 1945. Fear of his tyranny ironically led Germany to embrace a different form that somehow managed to be worse. He allied his government with Hitler in the destruction of Poland, encouraging both Germany's ambition and contempt for the East, and was convinced there would be no invasion of the USSR. Having purged the Soviet military of all competent leaders, his actions caused the needless deaths of millions of his countrymen (the wermacht wasn't _that_ brilliant, the Red Army was just mostly leaderless) and delayed the destruction of the Third Reich by at least two years.

[@Navarothravenheart2688]

I wouldn't limit it to Stalin. The USSR, its leaders and the communist guerrillas it supported were the main force of evil in the world in the 20th century.

[@js5665]

Releasing prisoners from prisons? Not enforcing laws against violent persons? Imprisoning people against your political party? Trying to imprison or remove your political opponent from the elections? Why does this sound so familiar?

[@patrickWWW]

Because the uniparty has been hard at work to achieve this very goal and sadly the uneducated proles of America support it adamantly.

[@michaelriecher5632]

90 years later and Russia hasn’t changed that much

[@tardvandecluntproductions1278]

Oh it did, it got even more corrupt! Army personal didn't had the corruption money to by yachts under the Soviets.

[@enclavesoldier769]

Totalitarianism veiled with democracy. Very scary, and countless idiots fall for his Stalinist propaganda

[@duncancurtis5108]

Pyotr Grigorenko wrote: In the late 30s Heydrich passed data to Moscow designed to wring the neck of the Red Army. It worked. The entire top brass was blitzed and replaced with sycophants with no experience of military command.

[@celticlass8573]

Certainly sounds familiar!

[@bunk95]

Militaries are fictional…

[@lashlarue7924]

Reinhardt Heydrich? I never knew he had a hand in that!

[@duncancurtis5108]

It's in a lot of WW2 books about the run up to 1939, espionage and secret pacts.

[@cumcumson5661]

This sounds made up, what is this event/letter/data referred to?

[@TrophyGuide101]

Before he died Lenin was afraid the revolution would fail when Stalin took over as he believed half of the population wouldn't follow Stalin. Stalin said "Don't worry, half of them will follow me and the other half will follow you"

[@Canalcoholic]

There once was a bastard called Lenin, Who did one or two million men in. That's a lot to have done in, But where he did one in, The old bastard Stalin did ten in. Christopher Hitchens.

[@blu3508]

Simon you are looing CLEAN in this video my guy

[@dmitryfishbeyn1455]

The beginning of the Great Purge was right after the May Day parade of 1937, with the arrest of Marshal Tuhachevski. Commissar Yezhov of NKVD went into overdrive thus earning him the nickname the bloody dwarf.

[@theawesomeman9821]

I used to attend a history class where no one liked the teacher. Likewise, she never liked any of us. One of the few things I remember from her class was her quoting Stalin while giving us cold eyes, "a single death is a tragedy and a million deaths is a statistic."

[@nowthatsjustducky]

Perfect reply to that would have been from Mel Brooks, "Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."

[@user-io9ie5cs8j]

​@@nowthatsjustducky LOL thanks I needed that

[@richardcranium3579]

She probably lived a privileged life and saw herself as above everyone else. Narc traits under the surface. Like Marx

[@classifiedveteran9879]

I mean, Stalin wasn't wrong in saying that. _(In a way.)_ A single person dying can move a whole nation. (As we sometimes see, such as George Floyd.)_ But then 1.19 Americans died from COVID-19, and people literally couldn't care less. 🤷‍♂️ * Not trying to start a political debate here, just trying to put things into perspective. Black lives *do* matter. I just think having all those protests at the start of the pandemic got a lot more people killed indirectly as a result. It's just an example that came to my mind.

[@reliantncc1864]

"Dark humor is like food; not everyone gets it." Another (fake) Stalin quote.

[@tomkarren2473]

I really appreciate this video. The kids these days they need to hear this stuff.

[@myrpok]

Given how quickly he assumed absolute power, no one could ever call him Josef Stalling.

[@mikeybrown8258]

Already an underrated comment 😂

[@Silverwing2112]

Bruh, wish I'd thought of that.

[@Chilidogsunday]

Peak comment. I rolled reading this.

[@Rudyelf1]

Had Vladmyr been alive he wouldn’t be Lenin him rise to power. Yeah, bad pun. If this was comedy school I would have bad Marx. As Gorbachev would say, “a stain on comedy.” Get it? Gorbachev…stain. I’m sorry. Tip your waitress.

[@njm5642]

The perfect dad joke doesn’t exi…

[@EHou01]

Mao says hold my beer.

[@MalikF15]

Seriously this one of the biggest self inflected things a nation can do. You’ve purged needed officers and administrators in time you need them. Thank god for the Soviet Man power otherwise they couldn’t have compensated during the early days of the wars

[@stoneman210]

the army was the same size as the german army, and the 'human wave' offensives were actually german slander, if the soviet union had a lower population, however they would not be able to reinforce the absurd encirclements (that ironically happened due to terrible military acts such as 227 'no step back'). So basicly if the soviet union generals got good they would not need the extra manpower - the soviet tactics were good, but strategy was terrible.

[@user-io9ie5cs8j]

​@@stoneman210 They did use human waves, until they were able to build up. There's film done by Russians of it. Never heard the German propaganda angle

[@stoneman210]

human waves were only used as a last resort@@user-io9ie5cs8j

[@KingBrandonm]

​@@stoneman210Russia is still using human wave tactics today.

[@stoneman210]

@@KingBrandonm 1. Russia is on the defensive, human wave operations are an offensive strategey 2. Im talking about the soviet union, not the Russian federation 3. The tactics being used in ukraine are very similar to trench warfare, and the only feasable operations are mass assault. Mass assualt is different than a human wave 4. 'human wave' tactics are simply impossible with decent defensive positions 5. The way that the ukraine front is positioned is along the dniper and the ukranian marshes. A mass assault there would be incredibly hard

[@mellyboo513]

Simon … how many channels do you have? Simon… YES.

[@VladR1024]

My Grandma was considered a Kulak (owned more than 8 acres of farm land). While as kids we never stopped hearing about how the land was taken over forcefully, (and many other horrible stories) I now realize, she should be grateful to have actually survived! They did "volunteer" the land "to the party" as by the time our village was next, the accounts of Kulaks executed on the spot already made it all the way to our village. Wait, I just realized that am grateful, as otherwise I wouldn't even exist :)

[@ZeroResurrected]

Stalin also tried to paint the targets of his purges as fascists or Nazis…Gee, does that sound familiar at all today?

[@koalabandit9166]

Hitler seems to have substituted the Devil in the western mind, which means that everyone, from Putin to the progressives, compares their opponents to the Nazis. It does sound familiar, but you could be talking about anybody. It's like everyone watched the same History Channel documentary and doesn't know anything else.

[@TheRogueEmpire]

like how the right calls democrats nazi fascists?

[@davidhollenshead4892]

Not really as Donald Trump is a Neo-Fascist and calling his MAGA, tools, fools, idiots, white nationalists and authoritarian types is accurate. Which one type are you???

[@nobbynobbs8182]

Yup, the Soviets originally blamed their Katyn massacre on the Nazis. And now Putin's fascist regime is using neo Nazis to "denazify" Ukraine, a country where over 70 percent of it's population democratically elected a Jew to be their president

[@unotechrih8040]

Well, we all know the democratic socialists that are in charge of the country are, in fact, SOCIALIST. This is a regular from their playbook.

[@richardsuggs8108]

And yet Stalin had not achieved ‘true communism’ . Neither did Mao nor Pole Pot nor Castro or anybody.

[@unotechrih8040]

Maybe when you give it a go it will work this time, right comrade? lmao

[@stooge389]

I'm kinda amazed you managed to go through the whole video without mentioning Beria.

[@Monatio79]

He didn't need to. The moment Simon stood up at the end, it was almost as if he wanted to say "You all know who came next? Well, maybe next time. That's enough evil for today." Maybe there'll be a part two? "The life and crimes of Beria." He was such a despicable being that he deserves an entire video.

[@cmhughes8057]

Stalin was a monster, Kruschchev, as much as I don’t trust or like him, saved the Soviet Union when Stalin died. If not for him, many millions more would have died. Stalin was that much of a monster that if allowed, would have killed everyone off if he could have got away with it, of that I believe.

[@tomsmith2209]

Georgy Zhukov survived the purge, largely because Stalin (and everyone else) was reportedly terrified of him.

[@rykkje]

He was posted in the far east, and somehow flew under the radar. The purges weren't exactly surgical in whom to strike, so I'd say blind luck will have helped..

[@ttuny1412]

Zhukov had devised a plan of escape if Stalin came after him.

[@ttuny1412]

@@rykkje You are correct. Being in the far Eastern part of the USSR played a big role in him not being purged. He did have a plan of escape if he was to be purged.

[@user-vv8ve4px5j]

@@ttuny1412 A plan as cunning as a fox that used to be professor of dunning at Oxford University?

[@reliantncc1864]

Stalin needed him. Imagine WW2 without Zhukov. It looks like the destruction of Russia, Stalin's ignominious execution by a Luger, and the death of all of Stalin's dreams. Stalin may have had virtually unlimited power at home, but he still needed a military run by someone with a strategic mind.

[@TheMormonPower]

Imagine that, you have a show trial, everyones found guilty by the judges, then almost all executed....Then you turn around and have all the judges and executioners murdered....Talk about total power, My God !!!

[@Didyeaye404]

It's kinda like being a kid and the ball the crew has is yours. You are all powerful you control the play the teams the time the rules

[@Didyeaye404]

And who executes the executioner, because he then becomes the executioner

[@ChristineCAlb1]

I love these stories about the old Soviet Union. Another great job Simon.

[@mladenmatosevic4591]

Kulaks were also heads of larger farms operated by extended family, something called today "Farm managers". During rapid industrialization many kulaks were imprisoned and killed whhile many young men and women were lured to work in industry. In same time lots of farm products had to be exported in order to buy machinery for new factories. And in planning, there were many optimistic predictions about yields and efficiency. When this failed options were to slow down industrialization, to take produce from farmers by force or to risk uprising of hungry factory workers. It is clear what option was taken. Ironically, when war did broke out, Soviet army had not as bad shell hunger as Russian army in WWI, which caused massive losses and revolution of 1917.

[@pixelpatter01]

Funny how Stalin and his regime killed more than Hitler but only occasionally gets mentioned even though he was much worse and over a longer time period. Western media and politicians have always had a soft spot in their hearts for Old Uncle Joe. Churchill and Roosevelt knew the Communists and Stalin were bloodthirsty killers even before the Soviets jointly invaded Poland with Germany but willingly joined with him. I met a man who was on a freighter delivering to Murmansk during WW2; he slipped off the ship one night to look around and saw women and children chained together working on a road in a snowstorm. He said after seeing that he wondered if we were on the right side.

[@reliantncc1864]

Doesn't help that FDR himself was more than slightly socialist.

[@Pdmc-vu5gj]

Really? Every Western civilization university class discussed how brutal Stalin was. Where did you go to school?

[@Pdmc-vu5gj]

​@@reliantncc1864Goofy comment

[@otisdylan9532]

If Hitler had been in power for as long as Stalin was, he likely would have killed just as many people. I'll agree that the two were comparable.

[@xxvxxv5588]

​@@Pdmc-vu5gj Total bs. Stalin is definitely not as despised compare even such people as Pinochet or Margaret Thatcher in Western universities.

[@zdan420]

This man has to be the hardest working man on KZbin.

[@dherman0001]

He reads scripts. He doesnt film, edit or write his material. He's admitted to this. It's a cake job.

[@blakelloyd8541]

This is a rather tame description of the purge.

[@gagemead27]

Funny. All the Stalin jokes and my friend make at work, and this shows up.

[@TheScotian82]

Yezhov.. the ultimate 'Yez man'.

[@thomas_jay]

It's amazing how russian history seems to repeat itself (Ivan the Terrible, Stalin, Putin, ...).

[@bryonslatten3147]

Clinton, Biden…

[@thomas_jay]

@@bryonslatten3147 Oh, I didn't know these were russian rulers.

[@johnburns9634]

I guess everyone ignored The Holodomor.

[@gsmith1213]

Interesting video. You do auctions as well?

[@ryanroberts1104]

Why don't they teach stuff like this in school? I might have paid attention rather than smoking pot...

[@reliantncc1864]

I know, right? I mean, I didn't smoke pot and I always had an interest in history, but I do feel that my schooling in history let me down. Probably 95% of my historical knowledge was gained 10+ years after finishing school. They wasted time on the cotton gin and left out Stalin?

[@MrTaytersDeep]

Because University and left wing types want Socialism Communism so why would they teach you how bad it is when it goes wrong of which in every country it has ever been tried has

[@Pdmc-vu5gj]

What are you babbling about? This was taught in world history class. You must have been asleep

[@Pdmc-vu5gj]

​@@MrTaytersDeepI went to liberal arts school. Stalin and his evil were taught. Where did you go to school?

[@ryanroberts1104]

@@Pdmc-vu5gjNot like this they don't.

[@mathbc1984]

That is interesting, that might be the root cause of the English expression to layoff an employee: You are fired. Execution in the 20th century is often dine with firearm.

[@eadweard.]

When someone is executed by gun you don't say "he was fired". You say "he was shot".

[@smallmass]

"and passing acquintances" you got me there.

[@thefisherking78]

A couple of great books I found on Audible in the last 2 years that touched on this in substantial detail were Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder and The Gates of Europe by Serhiy Plokhy. Both very good, if heavy and dark.

[@beltigussin81]

Blokhin eventually offed himself after losing his position.

[@boldCactuslad]

He gave himself four heart attacks in the back of the head during an alcoholic binge.

[@beltigussin81]

@@boldCactuslad If anyone can pull that off it would be Blokhin. Say what you will but the man was talented...in his special way.

[@alicejohnson8751]

During the purge Soviet officials were sent regional quotas for how many people to kill and send to gulags they had to meet. So they ended up just killing people or sending them to the gulas to meet the quotas and making up charges.

[@noahlogue]

Simon you spoil us so much.

[@user-xi4os2jw7y]

my great grandfather was murdered during the purges, his son (my grandfather) was 2 years old when he died. they just snapped him out of existence. my great grandmother never spoke about him with my mother, likely out of fear of what would happen to her. it wasn't until the late 80s during glasnost when my grandfather's family received a letter confirming that he died; how he died or what he did to deserve it is lost to time.

[@lostbutfreesoul]

I do not recommend looking up what Blokhin did for fun. Consider, now, how close he was to taking over....

[@shadowleon659]

I still think that Stalin was an even greater madman than Hitler.

[@Hebdomad7]

Only because Stalin lived longer. They were the same kind of madman.

[@nobbynobbs8182]

At least Germany today looks at Hitler with disgust, while Russia venerates a monster like Stalin as a hero

[@Dawn737]

And Mao was an even greater madman than both!

[@alexivankov1874]

No, he wasn't

[@nobbynobbs8182]

@@alexivankov1874 seek mental help

[@OfishcialDiscusCanada-cu9df]

Does this dude sleep? He has 85 channels and puts out a new video every 3 minutes. Respect.

[@soul1d]

What a time to be alive to see the Lite version of this today

[@Pdmc-vu5gj]

Where?

[@metalopoly2569]

​@@Pdmc-vu5gjCanada maybe... ever heard of MAIDs? They're unaliving the homeless and disabled vets and calling it universal healthcare

[@greywolf7577]

Russia keeps throwing people out of windows to kill them or just murdering people in prison.@@Pdmc-vu5gj

[@connormurphy6753]

KILL THE MALL thumbnail had me so confused lol

[@ChrisFarrell]

That 1+% number for ethnic minorities in the USSR must be wrong, I think? Maybe it’s just for Russia proper? A quick check of Wikipedia says that Soviet Union was only 70-ish% Slavic, and Slavic would include ethnic minorities like Ukrainians and Cossacks. Plus you have all the Turkic people in the Caucuses, Central Asia, and elsewhere. The Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union were quite diverse. Something that made Stalin distinctly uncomfortable.

[@stooge389]

Before Lenin died, Stalin's main policy assignment was the "nationalities" question- how to deal with such a diverse set of Peoples under one Communist government.

[@andykalaveshi8894]

Bro I'm sorry, but you need sound foam. The reverb is killing me. But very interesting video! You definitely know how to tell a good story

[@28ebdh3udnav]

Imagine how rich and happy the people in western Europe if the Communist never came to power, if democracy was successful in 1917, and if the second world war didnt happen? I think they would be just as rich as the West

[@no2party]

Question: " Why is Hitler up to his neck in blood?" Answer: " Because he's standing on Stalin's shoulders."

[@user-vv8ve4px5j]

Actually he was inspired by us and our treatment of black people and native Americans.

[@martinforester3471]

Should that not be the other way round? Oh! Wait a minute. No.

[@reliantncc1864]

​@@user-vv8ve4px5jActually, you're a liar. Hitler was openly contemptuous of America because we mixed races (he was far more racist than you realize, because it wasn't black and white to him, it was even English and Italian and Norwegian and Turkish and German and Indian and it goes on forever). To him, an American of German descent and an American of French descent should not marry. This made him disgusted by America because we were too accepting of racial differences. I'd suggest you look stupid, but I suspect you still don't see it.

[@zangrygrapes4571]

@@user-vv8ve4px5j still found a way to bring the USA into this did you?

[@user-vv8ve4px5j]

@@zangrygrapes4571 Well he was inspired by how the native Americans were treated, Jim Crow, American eugenicists views of sterilization and slavery. Don't blame me for him being inspired by American policy or stating facts. You can dislike it all you want doesn't change facts.

[@rn5598]

I thought Stalin ate all the grain with his giant spoon

[@ayla8d]

Bro the polish suffered at the hands of Stalin and the nazis what a tragic injustice

[@reliantncc1864]

True. Poland had it hard for basically 200 years, worse than anyone on earth. Meanwhile they're great people who didn't deserve any of it.

[@horse-4598]

*clicks on video. *immediate ad

[@koreywilliams4570]

I will never understand how one person can control an entire army. Like no one in that group was like, this guys a nut why are we listening to him? Case of collective stupidity.

[@ayakid921]

case of collective terror mixed with paranoia

[@bunk95]

Armies are fictional…

[@eadweard.]

Dopey remark. What do you imagine would have happened to people saying such things?

[@Johnzen03]

Propaganda is extremely powerful. Just keep in mind there are people who think January 6th was an insurrection attempt rofl. 😂😂😂 If you believe that you’d easily be one of the people turning your fellow man into the KGB or the Nazis.

[@CLBellamey]

I thought the same thing. Look up the poem "First They Came" by Martin Niemöller, it's what comes to mind when I think about it.

[@LikaLaruku]

Xi Jinping out there trying to recreate the greatest hits of Kim, Hitler, & Stalin, all at the same time.

[@unotechrih8040]

Yeah, that wacko is another example of the wonders of communism.

[@johnbuchan6565]

This guy has more channels than Direct TV

[@user-ze9to3ef1f]

I love your videos❤❤❤

[@jamusloos2859]

Alexander solzhenitsyn said there was about 12 million at any one time in the gulags and estimated well over 50 million dead. I always hear less and it bothers me how much of this we ignore and repeat.

[@alexivankov1874]

There weren't even 50 mill citizens in whole country, that's unrealistic number.

[@jamusloos2859]

@alexivankov1874 oh yes there was lol

[@alexivankov1874]

Solzhenitsyn is a liar. Everyone knows it.

[@alexivankov1874]

@@jamusloos2859 lol proof

[@Navarothravenheart2688]

​@@alexivankov1874 I think he was more trustworthy than USSR data

[@MayOdinGuideYou]

Man's greatest enemy is himself.. 😔

[@davidwright4537]

I had to stop this video to check the playback speed! OMG, slow down if you want to be heard and understood.

[@robertsinnott1941]

You should cover valise blokhin, he sounds crazy!