Uncommon Knowledge: Part 1: Stephen Kotkin on Stalin’s Rise to Power

Recorded on July 29, 2015
Part 1: Stalin was born in a small town in Georgia in which he was educated to become a priest. After succeeding in school and becoming a devout follower of the faith, Stalin left the priesthood and became a communist revolutionary. World War I and the revolutions of 1917 set the stage for Stalin and the Communists to take power in Russia.

[@cavaliermama56]

It’s just incredible how Kotkin speaks for hours and never refers to notes, and cites exact dates, names and events. Brilliant and a great storyteller who makes history come alive.

[@PaulOutsidetheWalls]

Peter Robinson, You give a great interview every time! Thank you!

[@emintey]

Actually I thought it was a good talk despite the interviewer.

[@barneyfife5712]

The interviewer interrupts way too much.

[@mikeherrman5653]

The Uncommon Knowledge series is a gift

[@rileystewart9165]

I love listening to this guy. So knowledgeable .

[@garym2879]

I love Uncommon Knowledge, and these two episodes with Stephen Kotkin are great. He's so knowledgeable and well spoken. However, how is it that while I listen to him, I can't stop thinking about Joe Pesci?

[@flamedestroyer6]

Kotkin clearly knows his stuff; I look forward to reading his book very soon!

[@Katharez]

27:55 it’s not Yakov Sverdlov in the photo next to Lenin and Stalin, it’s Kalinin. Contrary to Stephen Kotkin point, Sverdlov’s contemporaries called him to be a good public speaker. Through addressing numerous crowds of workers in Ural, spreading Marxist and Leninist ideas to masses he became a well-known figure and leader of revolution. Not talked about in the West much. But until his sudden death at the age of 33 he was definitely the main candidate for Lenin’s position. Thanks for this interview. I love Stephen Kotkin!

[@vernontoews1982]

If anyone doubts the cruelty of Stalin, my immediate family in Chortitz Ukraine suffered at a level us present day softies could not imagine. Why do we not have more control over our scholastic ideologies ????

[@Hugatree1]

Being obsessed with Russia this interview is incredible. I have his book (volume 1), it is a spellbinding read! Thank you!

[@ericcarlson3746]

to really enjoy Mr. Kotkin's presentation, catch the videos where he addresses an audience, he's an amazing storyteller in the best sense

[@coolworx]

20:18 Kotkin nails it 3 years out...

[@OneTwo1989]

20:20 casually predicting 2016 election outcome LUL

[@tubularbill]

Another excellent interview from Mr Robinson

[@ShamanNoodles]

i could watch kotkin talk for days

[@hansdeleeuw4431]

I appreciate these discussions so much. Thank you Peter. Interesting for me the following. I went to a private school in Cape Town, Diocesan College. It was quite left wing and many of the lecturers had graduated from Oxford or Cambridge university. This was back in the 60's. Most lecturers were socialist or communist although they had to be careful as the government had no empathy with them. Mr Kotkin mentioned Kravchenko and by chance (our school has a huge library), I had read the book "I Chose Freedom". It was a fascinating book and totally contrary to what the lecturers said about the communist utopia. One teacher declared at the time every Russian citizen earned $50 per month. Quite a sum back then. I remembered asking if this was true from one of them. He verified and I asked him if he would read the book. He did, (he was actually my History teacher, a really nice guy). However, he was very perturbed about what he had read, and could not believe the book came from the school's library. We became good friends. He retired and settled in a typical little "dorp" (village) in a farming area. I visited him often, had tea and tennis biscuits, until he passed on.

[@trwsandford]

Buying the book. I could listen to this guy for hours. Looking forward to the read.

[@someoneelse.2252]

Looking forward to reading this book during my lunch break.

[@Brian31881]

Stalin, the "revolutionary," was a bank robber exiled to Siberia for his crimes. Many of the middle class intellectual Bolsheviks were shocked by his casual cruelty and sadism. But even they were unprepared for the savagery of the purges and the ease at which their loyalty was discounted. All of this is widely reported about Stalin and the Soviet Union. Perhaps, not in KZbin videos, but it is easily found in books about the period.

[@C_R_O_M________]

One very "juicy" detail is the fact that Lenin was sent by the Germans themselves during WW1, with a train that passed through German grounds. They did so in order to create political turmoil within Russia so as to neutralise the eastern front.

[@scpmr]

27:54 That's not Sverdlov on the picture. That's Kalinin

[@Igneous01]

So as I understand it, Stalin was very smart, but also had a grand sense of self and his abilities. He believed that he alone could do a better job at anything than anyone else. His escapes from exile and outsmarting and outmaneuvering the powers at be only confirmed that he was much smarter than these dummies trying to run the show. When the cards fall into place, he by mere chance becomes head of the entire state after Lenins death. He sees this as yet another sign of his god given right to rule. He was the top of his class when he was younger. He was the leader of all the little gangs and groups. He outsmarted the tsarist regime countless times. Now through sheer chance he's the leader of the entire nation. He must have believed that he had a divine right to rule the Soviet Union. And because he was always at the top 1%, or the leader, he never had the humbleness of recognizing his short comings. He must have literally thought he could do no wrong, given how perfect he was when he was younger.

[@lss922]

this guy talks like Joe Pesci

[@Longtack55]

His face resembles Joe's also.

[@murrayaronson3753]

I went to a lecture once by Richard Feynman on the Mayan calendar and he talked like Kotkin and Pesci.

[@ericcarlson3746]

his presentations to a live audience are much better- he really knows how to present to a crowd. This 1 on 1 is drier

[@christopherlee2488]

Well Played, Scotty!

[@emintey]

Joe Pesci with brains.

[@ingenuity168]

Brilliant!

[@lebenstraum666]

Very good discussion. The only addition needed is to discuss Zinoviev and Kamenev in more detail, as they were friends but separated before 1917. Stalin shared exile with Kamenev so they knew - and disliked - each other. That Kamenev did not support Zinoviev's use of the "Lenin Testament material" against Stalin is thus rather odd. Perhaps then the reason for this is that he knew the Lenin Testament material to be contrived if not faked outright. What does the documentation show of Kamenev's visits to Lenin?

[@mrberry7950]

This should be good. There's like 40 channels and half of US & world history curriculum is devoted to how bad the Nazi's were but I can find barely anything on Marx Lennon Stalin's evils. Book's on how bad China was is even harder to find. If anyone can reply to me with book recommendations I'm all ears.

[@inthenameofjustice8811]

+Mr Berry The Black Book of Communism, a good place to start. Almost anything by British historian Robert Conquest would be good for an overall understanding of Soviet society but his book, "The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties," gets down to the nitty gritty. You are right though. Socialists have slaughtered between 100-162 million people and seemingly got off largely scot free. No Nuremberg style trials for the bastards. No banning of Socialism (Which is long overdue). No ostracising of mad Karl Marx. We have given this scum too much leeway for far too long and it is time they were thoroughly dealt with.

[@yuripantyhose4973]

+InTheNameOfJustice The Black Book of Communism changed my life, was a socialist until I read that book. What's interesting is people think socialism and communism is two different concepts, but it's not. Communist are always socialists. Even North Korea says it's socialist.

[@inthenameofjustice8811]

againstjebelallawz Well, in that case, everyone should instantly believe you.

[@againstjebelallawz]

It's true!

[@bilbob7624]

+Mr Berry...the book is great. very intense, tons and tons of info. it's a chronological fact oriented account.

[@mrjones7222]

Thanks

[@nazmul_khan_]

Kalinin is conflated with Sverdlov at 27:56

[@dragonbarviewstevetomkinso4871]

Coursera have an ongoing course called "Stalin and Stalinism". Well worth checking ot out.

[@largelysubatomic]

I read Kotkin's Stalin volume 1 recently. Its a long read but definitely worth it and based on extensive research primary source documents, many of them recently uncovered. Here's a really good talk he gave, especially the last few minutes where he talks about Stalin's leftist idealism creating an even more unjust system than the one he helped overthrow kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3fGk2hmfbqBrKc

[@cripppton]

1. He didnt say that and 2. It wasnt the case in reality

[@rotax636nut5]

Kotkin would make a great double for Joe Pesci

[@klied246]

Poeple most of the time consider themself as a victims. It's easy to come as a good guy and pretend you are going to deliver them for the ''evil'' of things. It less easier to tell them the ''evil'' is part of truth to accept.

[@19battlehill]

Why does he not talk about the fact that both Lenin and Trotsky are in exile -- how does a revolution start when the leaders are in exile??? Who funded Lenin ???????????

[@TheVeritas2100]

U.S. financiers, can't you read :-)

[@derpderpyderp4412]

That was Kalinin in the picture not Sverdlov

[@murrayaronson3753]

Correct.

[@ricardo53100]

That picture of Stalin, Lenin and Sverdlov is interesting. None of those gents were using their birth name except for Sverdlov and I think that the picture of Sverdlov looks a lot like Kalinin ,

[@yurimikhail6907]

It is kalinin , that's not sverdlov.

[@laserdrip]

@Carmel how do you know? Can you share your source?

[@6663000]

great

[@joniheisenberg]

At 7:23 Kotkin states “after he’s(Stalin) murdered.” Stalin officially died of a hemorrhagic stroke.Was this a slip on Kotkin’s part or will this be his hypothesis in his final volume? 🤔

[@johnadan6466]

Couple of omissions: Lenin himself personally ordered the murder of the Czar and his family. Then he got himself shot 3 times with a Colt 45 and survived, which sounds like a miracle, until you understand that the bullets were drilled (lightened) and filled with poison, which messed up the ballistics. Stalin earned his spurs with Lenin by robbing and killing the business people, to finance Lenin. They did not care that they killed the goose which laid the golden eggs, so they had to deal with the famine and a civil war. Stalin used brutal enforcers, like Ivan The Terrible axmen "OPRICHNIKI" to get the money and paid them with a portion of the loot, the "PAKETA", as an incentive. His henchman BERIYA even carried an axe in his belt, openly in the public, to intimidate everybody. In WW2 Stalin saved his life by joining the Allies and letting the professionals, like Zhukov and Rokossovyi, to run the military operations. He almost killed Rokossovskyi by torture, like Tuchachevsky. Rokossovskyi only survived, because he did not sign the forced confession, to live and be called back to service, when the stuff hit the fan. 70 years after the death of Stalin, his corrupt system of greed, corruption and kleptocracy continues today. They do not understand that the free private small business gives 70% to the economy, creates the most jobs, raises the standard of living, makes the country strong. Greed and corruption do the opposite. They even have a law, that the politicians do not need to disclose the source of their money. Will see, how long this can last.

[@gofar5185]

thank you so much hoover institution... some details of the making of lenin protege(stalin)... it enlightens the germs of questions among maoist students why mao said a chaotic & tumultuous muskowa(russia) is lucky to have stalin... only the head of stalin can stabilize a chaotic & tumultuous populous peoples... the presence of high seat power struggles among the peer leaders, the populous middle class that could be categorized as bourgeosie people, a yet unorganized populous military... those germs of questions couldnt be answered by guessing... teachers simply say... that is all there is to it... we will stray from the right direction if we add self interpretations to the chaotic & tumultuous & bourgeosie description of mao... that is all there is to it...

[@goedelite]

Without meaning to subtract from Prof Kotkin's work, I would bear in mind that the rule of only working from "real-time", what was recorded at the time of the events rather than in retrospect, would be very limiting if applied to US history since the end of WWII. We know that beginning with Pres Truman, the US instituted what we now call "the secret state" composed of intelligence agencies, CIA and others, that not only supply advice to the President but engage, as well, in secret operations internationally. Only much later, when documents are finally de-classified - to the extent they are - do we learn what was really happening. "Real-time" history may not be the real history in time - which we may never know!

[@cormacfinn6430]

So basically what’s he’s saying is Trotsky didn’t have the makings of a varsity athlete and Stalin couldn’t find his shin box.

[@knockshinnoch1950]

An engrossing discussion.

[@hereigoagain5050]

" ... which shows that even The New York Times can from time to time get something just exactly right." Do you need to start with an ad hominem attack? Thanks for posting the interview.

[@Sgman1991]

Would it be possible to title these as "Uncommon Knowledge?"

[@lukebruce5234]

Sverdlov lol, that pic must be a meme by now.

[@perplexedpenguin2196]

that intro beat is really good...its like retro cyber punk

[@againstjebelallawz]

Stalin wasn't the big advocate of world revolution; Trotsky, intellectual predecessor of the neocons, was.

[@dukerwong3900]

The cruel Staling's rise and the entire Communism ideologies systems in Russia can be happened in any other countries where including the United States of America, if we are not cautious enough, ignored our own foundations of the Capitalism system of the liberty and entrepreneurships, if we ignore our country's own constitutions of the rules of the laws. Often, we are easy to talk and easy to ignore at the same time. If we ignore now and continue to ignore, if we let our own America's legacies of the foundations, constitutions and unity as the principles to be faded, the other side of the ideologies of the Communism systems will be started and getting stronger and spreaded and or other Shria laws to be mixed in with the ideologies. This is why we must cherish what we have for other peoples to dream for it. This is why we must stand up by America's own spirits of the equality of the opportunities instead of the equality of the property of the ideologies of the Communism systems. This is why America's own rules of the laws of our country's own constitutions are extremely important to maitain, protect and defend our country's own foundations of the Capitalism systems of the liberty and entrepreneurships and unity altogether forever for America's own security issues and safety, prosperity and unity by America's own patriotism and loyalty as the principles. Otherwise America's own patriotism and loyalty as the principles will be fated to risk America's own foundations, constitutions and unity. This is why I believe the it doesn't matter for whatever reasons, whatever is happening, whatever the issues, we will always and should never ignore America's own foundations, constitutions and unity, but to stand up and stand up strongly and firmly for America's own legacy loyally and patrioticly to never create any loopholes for the ideologies of the Communism systems to create any Stalin typed evil leadership experiences to bring America and Americans together towards the neither the Communism systems, nor the Terrorism regime, but America's own foundations and constitutions as well as our country's own unity. Because our own constitutions will be the power to guarantee America's own foundations of the Capitalism systems of the liberty and entrepreneurships. Our country's own foundations and constitutions and unity will be the power to make sure America is secured and safe, prosperous and united together. Dividing Americans by races, genders and between the rich and poor are the Communism ideologies system countries loved ruse to start their gegime and expanded to the Stalin's cruelties and dictatorship countries witch caused human bones piled up as the mountains and tears turned like rivers. Asking Americans' conscience and heart, is America's own foundations, constitutions and unity are important and favored, or the flames of the Starlin's ideologies of the Communism systems more pushed in America's own Capitalism systems of the liberty society or only America's own foundations and constitutions and unity should be focused on? The cruelties of the Stalin dictatorship will make the goosebumps up, even we just think about it or read about it, or hear about it. This is why we should never let this become the reality. This is also why President Reagan, President Bush 41 and President Bush 43 made sure that America's own foundations and constitutions as well as our country's own unity must be there strongly and firmly forever. This is why if we love America, we must love and appreciate America's own foundations and constitutions as well as our country's own unity 1st.

[@MrVinnyable1]

brilliant sir!

[@donpayette7062]

Hmmm. There seems to be a difference of opinion about Stalin's height: From wikipedia with refs to a couple books: "In adulthood, Stalin measured 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall. To give the impression that he was taller, he wore stacked shoes, and stood on a small wooden platform during parades."

[@lebenstraum666]

Important to remember however is that people then and people in Georgia and Russia were shorter than people in the West.

[@AF2Zradio]

An anecdote about Stalin says that he was rather short but also possessed farsighted vision. During the war he had the legs of the map room table shortened so that his generals, who were all taller than he, had to stoop and bow in order to see details on the maps, while he stood above them at full stature.

[@hanimani5596]

the guest sounds and looks like joe pesci

[@barneyfife5712]

Kind of sounds like Joe Pesci, but doesn't look anything like him.

[@AlexeiRamotar]

The czar dissolved the parliament whenever he wanted. The Duma became a laughing stock.

[@tomaszserafin5386]

"Stalin wasn't the big advocate of world revolution; Trotsky, intellectual predecessor of the neocons, was." It depends on what you mean by world revolution. If it is understood as a military conquest and expansion of political influence then, well, that's exactly what Stalin was preparing for throughout the 1930's. The rampant industrialisation and modernisation was for the military purposes to a large extent. So in this sense Stalin was intending to 'spread the revolution', at least to conquer Europe, but I am sure he went even further than that in his imagination. Then quite suddenly Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany and that kind of put a spanner in the works.

[@johnnyscifi]

Tomasz Serafin Totally agree!!!

[@syourke3]

No. There’s no evidence at all to support your contention that Stalin intended to conquer Europe at any time. Stalin did want to bring Eastern Europe under Communist control in order to have a buffer zone between Soviet Union and Germany which had invaded Russia twice within the span of 25 years. Stalin made a deal with Churchill and Roosevelt at Yalta to divide Europe into shorter of influence and he was very careful to abide to the terms of that agreement. Thus, Stalin did nothing to support the Communists in France, Italy and Greece after WW2 because those countries were in the US / British sphere of influence. Stalin was not an adventurer like Hitler was. He was more cautious and more realistic. He did not overplay his hand.

[@AmySavage6]

@@syourke3 You are to a great extent correct. Stalin was extremely cautious and pragmatic in his approach to spreading revolution. It can be deduced from how he utilized Comintern whose job it was to co-ordinate the global efforts of communists, almost no activity in Europe except efforts to paralyze parliamentary action. And even that was changed into "popular front" co-operation when the Nazi threat became more clear. But in China especially we can see that he was by no means against spreading communism, he actively supported CCP and initially KMT as well in order to replace the Beyiang government with a more pro-Soviet one and directed CCP to undermine the political process in their favour. Eventually he did even abolish Comintern during the war to appease the West. It could with some justification be said that Stalins long game approach of first building up USSR so that it can properly support revolutions in established states in the West was much more effective than Trotskys permanent revolution would have been. Eventually Trotsky would've had a war with the West while Stalin had great success in the diplomatic field in always alleviating the crises as they rose with relatively minimal concessions on his part.

[@andredel.8302]

When Hitler came to power, Stalin knew who invest money in Adolf Hitler and sooner or later he will attack the USSR, that`s why Stalin said, " we roll 50 years back during revolution and civil war, we must to jump over this gap in 10 years what ever it cost to us, or we stop to exist".

[@williamreymond2669]

17:00] . Peter Robinson says: ...Then the whole experiment gets buried with the outbreak of the First World War. Crude, but fair enough?" What Westerners get wrong, consistently, is underestimating the eastern-asiatic thinking of the 'Russian people' as a whole forgetting almost entirely their long history of conflict with asiatic non-European peoples and nations. Take the 1990 movie The Russia House for instance - the one with Sean Connery just before the collapse of the USSR. Bartholomew "Barley" Scott-Blair (Sean Connery), the head of a British publishing firm says something to the Western intelligence apparatchik he is doing business with something like: "...I believe in *my* Russians!" Yes, exactly the mistake, believing that the real European-Russian historical/cultural connection is the dominant mode of operation of Russians from west to east. Yes: Tolstoy, yes Dostoyevsky, yes Tchaikovsky the western looking aspect of Russian civilization, but in my estimation, represents only about 25% of the center of mass of Russian civilization as a whole. Also in my estimation there is a very Russian tendency towards authoritarianism, centralization, and cruelty that can only be understood from an asiatic perspective - not a western one.

[@countchocula2169]

This prof is so similar in mannerisms to vdh. I wonder if that school makes you like that somehow or that's the type they attract.

[@19battlehill]

This guy could be Joe Pesci's double -- looks and sounds just like him.

[@meeeka]

First problem: Grand Duke Michael Alexandovitch, did NOT say upon his brother’s abdication, “no thank you.” Misha, met with Rodzianko, the head of the Duma and other members, secretly in Petrograd, as he was called by them from his home in Gatchina. Michael was told of the abdication and that he was now the czar. Michael, a decorated officer, who had been very able on the field, very brave, and much smarter than Nicky, asked a couple of questions: 1. Can the Provisional Government guarantee that the riots can be suppressed if he become tsar? No. 2. Can the Provisional Government guarantee the safety/security of him and his family if he takes the throne? No. 3. Can these reps of the PG accurately state that the PEOPLE would accept Misha on the throne? Rodzianko’s answer was, “not at this time. Later.” In turn Michael, a very different kind of Romanov, said, “I will not be tsar unless the people want me. WHEN they want me in the future, I will take the throne.” This was what Rodzianko has been aiming for, a neutralisation of Misha. So R agreed with Misha that later, when security/order had been re-imposed, Michael would become a constitutional monarch, in that future and his abdication papers were drawn up reflecting this agreement. Of course in July 1918, Michael was murdered the same or next night after Nicky and his family, with other family members killed off within days. So it never came to pass. Second problem: supposedly no true photos of Stalin and Lenin together exist. So the Prof uses a forged photo to illustrate that which never happened? Hmmmmm....

[@jeffkalb4032]

In other words, he said "no thank you."

[@monolith94]

Stephen Kotkin's claim that Stalin's religiosity doesn't fit the Communist narrative is tremendously naive. It absolutely fits into the Communist narrative, because it portrays a narrative of a true idealist who "wakes up" to Socialist ideology and becomes a Marxist.

[@lebenstraum666]

Correct! It is but a short step from belief in Christian "equality before God" to atheistic communistic "equality".

[@laserdrip]

Stalin never enjoyed the religious education that was imposed on him by his mother. Going to seminary was a means of survival first and foremost. Sure Stalin's mom was religious herself. Stalin begrudgingly went to seminary but hated the rules and sanctions of that lifestyle.

[@napoleonbonaparteempereurd4676]

@@lebenstraum666 Because all Athiest are Communists in you're small mind... I'm sure you would have loved to live under the corrupt Clergy

[@tomhurley974]

stalin wants to be a priest

[@duckndive666]

🇬🇧 a truly great man Don't get me wrong I'd have been fighting with the Germans in WW2 It's hard not to admire this very clever , ruthless leader who completely outsmarted all the USSR's enemies leaders

[@benquinney2]

Blue blood

[@FakeNewsHunter]

☭★ ☭★ ☭★ ☭★ *Six Quotes on Stalin* ☭★ ☭★ ☭★ ☭★ *Roosevelt on Stalin* "This man can act. He always has a clear goal in mind. Working with him is a pleasure. There is no trickiness with him. He sets out the question, he wants to discuss, and of which more will be deviated in any way. " (Roosevelt, President of the United States of America) *J. E. Davis on Stalin* "He (Stalin) is regarded as a consistently clean living man, modest, restrained, purposeful, a man of single-track thinking, directed his thoughts and intentions of communism and the rise of the proletariat is ... He's a clever sense of humor. And a Great Spirit. Sharp, pervasive smart and above all, I feel it wise. If you can imagine yourself a personality that leverage the full opposite of being in all things, what the rabid famous Stalin opponents could devise, then you have a picture this man " (JE Davis, "The US ambassador to Moscow" 1943, p 144 u. 276) *Bertolt Brechton Stalin* "The oppressed from five continents, those who have been freed, and all those fighting for world peace, the heartbeat must have hammered as they heard Stalin is dead. He was the embodiment of their hope. But the spiritual and material weapons, which he produced, are there, and there is the teaching, new to produce. " (Bertolt Brecht) *Winston Churchill on Stalin* "He was an outstanding personality who, impressed in our rough time, in the period in which his life was. Stalin was an exceptionally energetic, well-read and very strong-willed man, fierce, rugged, relentlessly in the matter, as in conversation, which even I, who grew up in the English Parliament couldn't oppose nothing ... In his works one could feel a gigantic force. Stalin's power was so great that he does not know a same among the leaders of all nations and ages ... The people could not resist his influence. When he entered the room the Yalta Conference, we collected all of us, literally as if on command. And, strange as it is, we laid hands on our sides. Stalin had a profound, thorough and logical mind. He was an unsurpassed master is to find a way out of difficult moments in the most hopeless situation ... He was a man who destroyed his enemy with the hands of his enemies, so us, which he called openly imperialists, forced to fight against imperialists. He took over the Russia of the hook plow and left it in the possession of nuclear weapons. " (Winston Churchill, Stalin) *H.G. Wells on Stalin* (long version - see link below) “I have never met a man more candid, fair and honest, and to these qualities it is, and to nothing occult and sinister, that he owes his tremendous undisputed ascendency in Russia. I had thought before I saw him that he might be where he was because men were afraid of him, but I realize that he owes his position to the fact that no one is afraid of him and everybody trusts him.” ~H.G. Wells -Experiment in Autobiography more: Long version: mltheory.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/h-g-wells-on-joseph-stalin/ Check out H.G. Well’s interview of J.V. Stalin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d36apmRjd7Zrrdk www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1934/07/23.htm *Alexander Zinoviev on Stalin 1993* "Since I was seventeen, I have been a staunch anti-Stalinist. The idea of an assassination attempt on Stalin dominated my thoughts and feelings. we studied the technical 'possibilities of an attack. We started with the practical preparations. "" If they had sentenced me to death in 1939, would have been the right decision. I had planned to kill Stalin and that was a crime, right? When Stalin was still alive, I saw it differently, but now that I can see the whole century, I say, Stalin is the greatest personality of this century have been the greatest political genius. a scientific Position against someone, does not necessarily reflect the personal behavior. " (Alexander Zinoviev, Les Confessions d'un homme de trop, Olivier Orban Verlag, 1990, p. 104, 120. Interview Humo 25 February 1993, p. 48-49) Why do they not produce films about the real massmurderers of our time - the US presidents and their NATO puppets? Really any of them provided censored massmurder or murdered hidden as "humanitarian bombings" or with their "Al CIADa" head choppers in Chenchnya, Lybia, Sudan, Somalia, Mali, Syria, Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Kosovo) etc. etc. Avoid one-sided information. Read also Pro-Stalin books for download:* www.plp.org/books Read what Stalin really did think, write and do in his works. You can find anything by year and subject www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/decades-index.htm or search within the Stalin section: www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/search.htm

[@benquinney2]

Remain chance

[@anairenemartinez165]

Like Batista in Cuba, let Fidel Castro alive and go in exile

[@koxkola]

I didn’t know Joe Pesci was a history buff

[@godgunsandgoldens]

Stalin was more like 5'4" according to sources who knew him. Cult of Personality.

[@syourke3]

Jim Assalone The police booking records say he 163 centimeters which equals 5’4”.

[@epus40]

38[vershok] x 4,445cm = 168.9 cm = 5.54' @@syourke3

[@andredel.8302]

Stalin was taller than Hitler, and he wasn`t a small man, if you look up at the pictures it shows a lot.

[@gav_mcdougle]

I keep thinking this is the guy from my cousin Vinny

[@gregsentertainment]

Wow Joe Pesci has changed!!

[@WildBillCox13]

Forgive me, but claiming in hindsight that Stalin "organized the local boys and was their chief arbiter," sounds an awful lot like Hitler's biographies written by NaSDAP editors. That isn't part of any legitimate narrative. That is hagiography, an essential component of any Cult of Personality.

[@Marcinmd1]

.............................. Joe Pesci

[@broski2399]

perfect example of how you feed sheeple with the info. very big chance this is not true.

[@manucaption]

I really like this series, except that the host is smarmy and pretentious. He should let his guest take the stage like the CSPAN guy who does booktv or Charlie Rose.

[@promotedfacepulling2913]

What an hilariously zealous fairytale. Jezza must have made us buy many for him and his Comrades.

[@FakeNewsHunter]

Just the first sentence of this paid cheater here: "Stalin enslaved farmers in collectivization" What a BS. First before the farmers, no: the farm workers"(!) got the land from Tsarists larger landowners who did enslave the farm workers! The political motto was: The land to those who do work on it! a motto of the state of workers and farmers, shown by their symbol hammer and sickle. Enslavement ???? The political parole was "same conditions for workers and farmers: I.e. Job security, free health care, free education, free housing, free pensions etc. etc. anything a socialist country offers their people. This was in the times of mechanization of agriculture! Machinery was introduced in agriculture! in the soviet union any farmer was saved in the collective farming, could even become president, like e.g. Chrustchev did. In opposite, the US farmer was expropriated and thrown into hunger and leaving their land. Search for the "American Holocaust". please to understand this.

[@ryansyler8847]

Were the cheap shots really necessary? "Even the New York Times gets it right..." "The czarist regime kept track of its radicals like we do our visa holders..." You're blowing your credibility. A wise conservative heroine once said, "Vulgarity is no substitute for wit." Your attempts at wit, sir, fall flat.

[@huayucachi1]

It's incredible the amount of verbal abuse and hefty amount of money spent trying to defile the memory of Stalin that has been going on for more than 60 years. thanks to Stalin, Mao Tse-tung transformed China into a decent country and the Soviet Union became a space pioneer and nuclear power able to resist the imperialist mood. Still, Stalin went through a very crude ordeal as most Bolsheviks and spent real harsh times as prisoner of the Czar in Siberia. in 1914 he almost perish in one of those camps surviving 50 degrees Farenheit below zero temperatures. Of course after Stalin took power The Gulag was the natural retribution awarded to the enemies of the revolutionary state. But the world wide well-financed campaing to demonize the most loved leader of the Soviet Union keeps going on endlessly. It reminds me of a huge number of people who regard Robespierre, Marat, Danton and most representatives of the French Bourgeoisie like monsters. The bourgeoisie made France what it is today and were as ruthless as the Bolsheviks, so what's the big deal? That's the way reality evolves and is met by human beings. Reactionaries like Hitler and Mussolini want to turn back the clock of time while revolutionaries want humanity to go forward, to advance but encounters strong opposition that has to be dealt with. Moreover the final occidental narrative is what has taken over many deluded brains; thanks to that narrative Truman is a great dude. He's not the genocidal type of monster who dropped 2 nuclear bombs over defenseless japanese communities. no. he's cool. Churchill, personal hero for many individuals had a long history of crimes against Africans , Arabs and Indians as representative of the bloody british empire which forced millions of chinese to become opium freaks. No wonder the degrading political campaign against the most honest leader of the world gains steam. It is a fact that Stalin never kept a penny for himself being the greatest economic support of Lenin during his younger years of Robin Hood life directly participating in all kind of confiscations and bank assaults to finance the revolution. After the successful October Revolution 16 foreign imperialistic armies invaded the Soviet Union to put back the bloody Czar in power. These invading armies helped by the rich peasants starved the population to blame Lenin. Stalin helped Lenin in the ensuing Civil War and Stalingrad was named after him because he defeated the Czarist Army there ending the foreign intervention. Then Stalin took over after Lenin death and this time he defeated the russian royalty, big slave owners and big landowners. Stalin knew he had to industrialize the Soviet Union to save it from the threatening Nazi leadership. But the rich and powerful hated evolution and attacked the revolution. Stalin had no other way to deal with arsonists, murderers and agents of foreign empires. Nobody can deny Stalin saved the world from the Nazi-Fascist hordes but the western aristocratic world leaders and mouthpieces of hatred for the defenseless and poor will never forget and will never forgive that the son of a servant rose up so high in history that he is still remembered as the one who turned backward Russia into an industrial power, stronger enough to save civilization from the Nazi Beast. These well-paid " intellectuals" of British and American imperialism aim to make Stalin look like Hitler. But they have failed. Even Thomas Mann, a german writer with no left leanings and persecuted by Hitler stated the difference."Nazi ideology is quite different from socialism." Hitler and Stalin are quite opposite. Hitler and Nazism is an animalistic bestiality of the german aristocracy while Stalin and socialism is an idealistic movement of the working class for equality among humans. An experiment for equality is very difficult to achieve due to our own greediness and selfishness and as such is subject to mistakes and infights that affect the course of the dream of humanity: World Brotherhood. Stalin made mistakes. Mao pointed out that Stalin didn't quite understand dialectics main and secondary contradictions. Stalin worst mistake was that he didn't believe that deep inside the party were the main enemies of socialism. Nikita Khrushchev being the main one whom in 1956 at the xx party congress denounced Stalin crimes and cowardly took his remains out of red square. of course Kruschev stabbed his former leader in the back after Great Stalin died, paving the way for what we see today: THE OLIGARCHIC RUSSIAN MAFIA KLEPTOCRACY LED BY PUTIN. That's a reality of human life. Either the reactionaries stab you in the back or you stab them first. Now tell me what would have become of China without the leadership of Mao? it would be a multicolonial entity belonging to the great powers, not the china that we know today. Japan wouldn't have declared war on USA if USA had allowed them to take over China. things happened because there was a chinese red army led by Mao that changed the course of history. If that's not greatness i don't know what it is. Now Katyn forest massacre, well the polish were the most arch reactionary anti semitic savages on those days ready to slaughter any semblance of human rights as they do today jailing anybody that acknowledge that the polish did the Nazis dirty work in the concentration camps. Well Stalin took advantage and hit first. The same happened when the red army stopped near Warsaw. Stalin was not stupid to spend soviet lives to save the bloody polish royalty. pretty simple. in the end what makes Stalin and Mao so important in history is that they changed the world for good. Thanks to them the owners of the world learned that you can not abuse a people forever and made reforms: social security, 8-hours shift, paid vacations and lots of benefits for the working class. so if millions died by any reason or another, today there are millions like you who enjoy the good life thanks to the blood spilled by the martyrs of the working class and their main heroic leaders: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. In the end, thanks to Stalin and Roosevelt people still breathes on this planet.

[@acosorimaxconto5610]

Truth Hurts!