USSR | Joseph Stalin | Svetlana Alliluyeva interview | 1980's

[@karloliver4949]

She was said to be crazy. In this interview, it's absolutely apparent she is NOT crazy. Very intelligent, interesting woman.

[@kevinrkinsella]

During her time living in Cambridge England Svetlana had enormous responsibilities and doubts about her situation. Divorced, single mother, living in a complex society and using her intellect to keep moving forward. These days I suspect her difficulties would be better recognised - our Royal Family now speaks about the struggle to cope - but then her issues were categorised in a very negative way. When Svetlana decided to return to Russia she took her young (US citizen) daughter out of UK school to an alien homeland. Eventually the young lady was able to return to her UK school and complete her education - but her experiences created a personality that is easily mocked and derided. Antique dealer is a skilled profession and Tattoos are not exclusively worn by people whom one should give a wide berth. Stalin’s daughter and granddaughter are victims of the greed and manipulations of others - victim blaming is way too easy.

[@Zlervo]

She's extremely articulate and clever.

[@patriciagrossman7600]

Reading Stalin’s Daughter, it becomes clear that Svetlana’s “craziness” was purely a concoction of the USSR’s propaganda campaign.

[@fuckbankers]

Brajesh Singh was her true love.

[@fuckbankers]

She's got her marbles for sure.

[@Error-5478]

7:48 when she said 90's, it honestly took me a minute to realize she meant the 1890's.

[@sereysothe.a]

Error and soon "the 10s and 20s" will mean the 2010's and 2020's

[@Error-5478]

@@sereysothe.a yeah

[@katiec972]

Your father was almost 70 when you were born??

[@badcornflakes6374]

@@Error-5478 Yup, maybe this is the golden age of Anime right now. We'll look back at the 10's and 20's reminiscing about why we didn't do more. Why did we sit in front of a TV and watch hours of Anime instead of going outside?

[@beback_]

No she meant the time of "Grove is in the heaaaaaaaaaghhrt"

[@Dibari89]

Her English is exceptional.

[@katherinetutschek4757]

Better than mine😂

[@diegosmith3534]

Indeed.

[@juusohamalainen7507]

She had lived in UK and USA for decades.

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

According to Elliot Roosevelt, Stalin spoke English.

[@alexanderkogan5815]

@@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive Who was Elliot Roosevelt? If you are talking about President Roosevelt's wife, her name was Eleanor. But whoever said that Stalin spoke English made an incorrect statement - Stalin spoke only his native Georgian language, and Russian with a very hard Georgian accent.

[@catherinefink9114]

I enjoy and admire the AMOUNT of information she is willing to give. Most people who interview today give little to no information in response to (usually albeit lame, overused questions from interviewers). Also, when people respond to questions, in complete sentences, not jumping around all different subjects and making jokes.

[@mikicerise6250]

That's because back then people were actually expected to learn how to speak and how to think coherently. This was before the "dumbing down".

[@nikolayskvotsov3868]

That is the difference between russian and western community. Today russians are same like westerns but in her times we were like one tribe and we did not have any interviews. So if you would interview a soviet man he would be confused as hell and told everything what he thought. Because he used to speak this way and do not understand how it could be another. And today people try not to give any information in interview, speak dipomatic way and tell only obvious things.

[@evanstj5]

Yes. She was a highly educated and cultured person. She had spent her lifetime speaking guardedly as did all Russians of her generation.

[@hmd764]

She’s very manipulative and probably doesn’t even speak the truth most of the time

[@TurdFerguson7]

The only child Stalin truly loved. What a remarkable woman. She stayed so humble and true to herself.

[@kova1577]

I can’t imagine having the knowledge of your father being a deranged lunatic

[@ImGoingSupersonic]

Also, his first wife. It was said when she died Stalin went full throttle nut case.

[@Americanhonkee]

​@@ImGoingSupersonic true.. It was kato, his 1st wife, that Stalin truly loved.. He was still sane when kato was alive.. He had some sort of humanity left in him.. But once kato passed away, he became something truly terrifying.. Can't say if he really loved Svetlana that much..

[@Thot_Patrol_USA]

the only girl is the only one he liked lol

[@socire72]

yeah. Stalin saved her from much trauma in one situation, Beria (famed rapist, paedophile, who advocated for a capitalist USSR) was alone in the same building as her. Stalin then sent an NKVD death squad with orders to shoot if he touched her. Beria learnt his place, the monster.

[@Rajj854]

Loved this interview. The interviewer did a great job, and Svetlana was honest and mature. Would love to see the full interview.

[@Plushteddybear69]

Her voice is so relaxing, and her English is fantastic. Lovely and interesting interview...

[@shuddupeyaface]

Remember when television was interesting.

[@Pfsif]

No

[@papasmurf5431]

but yeah remember dial up? remember payphones? good riddance. miss you grandma!

[@ZachMeador]

nope

[@praem9597]

Now its all lies, like the covidscam.

[@excelexplained4443]

You mean the situation room with wolf blitzer isn’t interesting?!?!?

[@annaket5148]

I’m Russian and I’m glad that I understand English , because I never had opportunity to listen her in any way

[@nyk3334]

Russians seem to be good at most things. Why is that? Education or sociology or,both?

[@vkrgfan]

@@nyk3334 Because Svetlana married moved to the West and she didn't give many interviews in Russia.

[@LoraOssetian]

@@nyk3334 the education used to be the strong side of the Soviet system and it was for free. Selective though.

[@s.k634]

@@nyk3334 they have a higher IQ than Westerners and are into maths .

[@elchicano187]

VICTORY TO UKRAINE!!!

[@MrMarek19]

She is very smart but why blame her of his father crimes why some of people so rude to her. Respect to her

[@SxVaNm345]

Sins of the father to the child idea

[@QuantumRift]

Only a dumbphuk would blame her.

[@ffjsb]

@@QuantumRift Well look around... there's a LOT of dumbfucks out there.

[@sokolallaraj4646]

Did she somehow made any apology for the victims of his father? If yes for sure deserves some respect if not just let her go and that's it. In stalins time if u just mentioned usa you were finished yet his children and grand children live in usa

[@ffjsb]

@@sokolallaraj4646 The fact that she came to the US is a huge slap in the face to Stalin and communism.

[@johnsmith1474]

Wow, what a great historical artifact. Perfectly honest, down to Earth, believable, and just noble.

[@joshuataylor6087]

She was born into a complicated world and became a complicated character.

[@georgimavrodinov4500]

Absolutely correct! Her father also was born in a complicated world and made this world much more complicated. I am an old man now and Stalin's daughter was my girl for a half an year. For this I was arrested and I had a lot of troubles, the only thing which save my live, was Stalin's death

[@CH-wp5hp]

@@georgimavrodinov4500 your girlfriend?

[@georgimavrodinov4500]

@@CH-wp5hp I mean, She was the girl, who I was sleeping with Her, because We were full fell in love

[@georgimavrodinov4500]

@@CH-wp5hp I mean, She was the girl, who I loved and sleeping with Her, because We were full fell in love, but not for so long

[@leodavies9383]

@@georgimavrodinov4500 have you met her father Joseph stalin

[@CitizenAyellowblue]

What a fascinating and articulate person.

[@giorgitoriashvili2042]

She is not Russian she is half Georgian half Russian because Stalin was from city Gori, Georgia

[@badcornflakes6374]

@Ursula Widawska What a broad statement

[@sidneiricardoroquedacosta8149]

she was a stalin but she was not Joseph Stalin, respect Svletana

[@leodavies9383]

She loved her father but she didn't like what he done

[@type2523]

Sidnei Ricardo Roque da Costa don’t respect this bitch at all

[@denxero]

lol you say this as if Joseph Stalin was a bad man or something.

[@mikhailalmaz]

Dshugashvilli was Stalin's real second name.

[@BoskoBuha99]

Actually in her early years she was known as Svetlana Stalina she adopted her mothers last name much later in life.

[@augustinedennis4865]

Excellent interview.May Svetlana REST in Peace.

[@MERA1439]

What a treasure of interview.

[@JohnMcMahon.]

Fascinating insight from a truly reliable source. I could listen to her for hours.

[@henrysmommy7]

She is funny, for real, she did his favorite subject was mathematics, not humanities. Makes me love her for the quick wit and the way she just slid that in there... 🥰

[@martinnolan4800]

Jen Nelson A telling observation...

[@BinanceUSD]

Stalin once said murdering one is a tragedy a million is a statistic! Yeap a maths guy.

[@doug604]

I don't think it was meant in the way you seem to have taken it. Pretty sure it's just that he was unusual because young revolutionaries tend to be more interested in the humanities than mathematics.

[@martinnolan4800]

drubliff krent You may well be correct. It’s difficult not to think she might have meant it though. Her father was given to making rather opaque comments. His lieutenants often arrested/killed people only to be told that he had meant it as a joke. I don’t mean to compare her to him. She was also a victim. Whatever about the humanities he killed and terrorized a vast number of humans.

[@martinnolan4800]

mind Definitely puts getting a “harsh” review in the paper into context.

[@jeffmoore9487]

Very impressive woman. Such clarity of thought.

[@chetdeter5137]

This is an historical treasure.

[@suzegiljer3206]

Stalin is his nickname his real surname was Josef Vasirionovic Djugashvili.Stalin means Man of steel.

[@denxero]

Vissarionovich, per the usual latinized form.

[@Search1110]

Tell us where such hugely stupid morons are born. If you are not aware just shut your hole. It stinks.

[@QuantumRift]

Yea, no shit, Sherlock,.

[@edgregory1]

@Suzi surnames are aliases not nicknames. His nickname was Koba.

[@Natadangsa]

No, his real name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili

[@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606]

After watching “The Death of Stalin” everytime I see her I want to just scream “Svetlana!!!”

[@TheDavidmax77]

Haha, top comment

[@wetertiana9668]

Degenerat...

[@epicman746]

“Who said anything about harm?”

[@kl24601]

Hahahhaha QUICK, THE RACE HAS STARTED

[@gart9680]

Fantastic film that manages to portray the madness, horror & ridiculousness of totalitarian rule

[@admirninta8868]

Unhappy kids ,become unhappy parents,and make their own children very...very unhappy. This is ,in few words,the story of Svetlana.

[@svitllana7510]

in the Soviet Union, many people respected Stalin, and even many years later, girls were named after Stalin's daughter, Svetlana, which was a popular name. I am also Svetlana.

[@socire72]

Makes sense. No matter what westerners think he may or may not have done, he is still someone who fought against facism.

[@rutherfojr]

Fascinating story especially at the end the Germans bombing Moscow Ww2.. So it turns out a servant girl to stalin delivering food to him when asked if she was afraid of the bombing said no it was ok and he thus changed his mind becsuse he observed that girl represented thr average Russian and he must have assessed that moral wasnt too bad and there was fight still left in the people.so instead of the government leaving Moscow it not only stayed but it held the parade which bolstered the troops and turned the face of the war and history.. on the such Little Things our world depends

[@matthewvalentinas]

Nah, Russia would have still rolled the Germans whether they took Moscow or not.

[@rutherfojr]

@Doug Bevins luckily I don't believe in God as such. There probably was more to it than that. But with Stalingrad Leningrad and Moscow all under siege and increasing supplies from allies as well as the Soviet war machine gearing up in the east. Who knows.

[@SiiliViin]

Stalin was cruel dictator and if she would say, she is afraid, then next day she would be just shot as not proper soviet citizen or whatever reason.

[@fredrickmiya7433]

Actually, other historians claim Stalin had given up and was expecting a sort of coup d'état against him, but was taken aback by the confidence of the cabinet and the population in general in him to lead the war effort against Germany.

[@peaceandlove544]

@@fredrickmiya7433 the way he forsaw and had made 30k tanks to fight the nazis when they invaded sooner than later, says otherwise

[@wendylynn7605]

A fascinating, first-hand account.

[@dustyrustymusty3577]

I am impressed at her fluency in the english language. Her defection is the greatest comment she could have ever made concerning her father.

[@MPresheva]

She defected in danger of restover of politbiro politicians after Stalin's death. Or maybe they sent her out to get rid of her.

[@dustyrustymusty3577]

@Underdawgification Not likely. Read her letters.

[@SkyRider4815]

They would kill her if she remained in ussr

[@andreytrifonov1614]

@@SkyRider4815 You never lived in USSR. She came back, lived in Georgia, had car and driver, was making trouble, but may be because she is woman/meaning hapless for the soviets/, she was absolutely safe. Khruschev and Brezhnev were not murderers like Stalin.

[@SkyRider4815]

@

[@BioDieselEstate]

Wow. Svetlana really looked like her paternal grandmother, red hair and all. Ms. Alliluyeva was lucky to be left untouched by the madness which affected the Alliluyevas. If only the Soviet state, and then the Russian state had looked after her a bit better.

[@Ross-nd6xi]

@🌟༻🅹🅰🆈🅵🅰༺ ✓ • 5 years ago that's trotsky

[@peaceandlove544]

family madness? only his father power blinded him.to absolut paranoia

[@LoraOssetian]

@@peaceandlove544 they had it in Nadejda's family history

[@trevormatthews7981]

Letters to a Friend by this woman one of the best told stories I have read. I was left with an image of how the relationship between Beria (KGB type) and Stalin developed. It left a chill reminder that any leader can fall under the spell of the advisors a leader chooses to be around him.

[@hughmungus1767]

@trevor Matthews - I truly hope you're not trying to convince people that Stalin had been a sweetheart right up until he fell under the influence of the evil Beria because there is a LOT of history that would contradict that argument.

[@trevormatthews7981]

@@hughmungus1767 No that wasn't my point. The people who a leader chooses as their gate keeper was more my point, and then how much power they give person. For example in her book Stalin's daughter tells of Beria bringing in files on people and leaving them for Stalin's approval. She says Stalin never opened the files and Beria would collect these. The people in the files then became victims of the terrible purges.

[@shahrulamar5358]

@@hughmungus1767 Beria originaly want to become architect. Unfortunately he become evil man because of his surrounding. 😟😟😟

[@adjeiboateng6720]

Beria didn't charm Stalin. Stalin saw himself in him and used him to get stuff done.

[@Americanhonkee]

​@@hughmungus1767 beria was to Stalin what dr Gebols was to Adolf...

[@nickymouse1617]

Невероятная женщина,очень приятно слушать ее невероятный уровень английского. Очень интересный рассказ.

[@zamanium7517]

Типичный английский викторианской эпохи который преподавали в совдепе

[@annaket5148]

Умная женщина отличный английский

[@410_jav]

Long live Ukraine

[@ImGoingSupersonic]

​@@410_jav I sit with Ukraine!

[@goroh1]

​@@zamanium7517в каком месте он викторианский? Очень сильный русский акцент. Уровень английского обычный для человека постоянно проживающего в англоязычной стране.

[@jaceylataire2511]

Lovely lady... I liked this interview immensely!!! Thank you!! ❤️

[@mimibarn]

Gosh it's incredible what you find on here!!!! Thank you so much for posting.

[@sivanekinci]

So nice and down to earth,straight,gentle,sincere women.

[@smugle629]

My right ear enjoyed this, thanks!

[@kathleenbonner4146]

i can't get over how "irish" she looked...even that she looks a lot like my own mother. pat bonner

[@michaelheery6303]

She was on the RIORDANS..

[@philiposhea2299]

Some maintain that the Irish migrated from Siberia

[@michaelheery6303]

@@philiposhea2299 YEP i saw them hurling there,

[@michaelheery6303]

@@philiposhea2299 watch adeola fayehun SHE HAS GOOD SHOW ON SUNDAY NIGHT,

[@markm.3297]

@@philiposhea2299 she could pass for a German or English grandma also. Just proves we have more similarities than differences.

[@indranil56]

Respect to Ma'am Svetlana. Seeing you makes me feel, if I want I can do anything. Everytime seeing you empowers me.

[@wildandwonderful7069]

Stalin's only grand daughter is Chrese Evans, a 44 year old eccentric tattooed antique dealer n Portland Oregon USA. No joke!

[@stephencockett9959]

What about the 12 year old girl that he impregnated in Siberia? Lydia Prerepregina. A mass murderer and paedophile. Nice bloke.

[@stephencockett9959]

Martin Nolan - your replies are not showing on the article - you must be shadow banned for some reason. The long dead arm of uncle Jo maybe? Anyway stalin's mate Lavrenty Beria - head of his secret police - used to get his men to abuct Russian school girls which he then tortured, raped and murdered in his Lubyanka offices. There must have been literally thousands over the years - and he obviously took his work home with him. Recently the skeletons of over 200 very young girls were discovered under the domestic property where Beria lived. Sounds like the soviet leadership would have fitted in very well with today's so called 'elite'.

[@ajNKaj]

Wild and Wonderful wow. Woman of ‘Steel’ after all!

[@ajNKaj]

Stephen Cockett oh my goodness 😢😭

[@maofas]

@@stephencockett9959 Oh please, more lies, shut your crypto-Nazi piehole. No such evidence has ever been found, go back to Infowars.

[@wendyspear]

Great interview.

[@iamtheomega]

I wish I had an interview like this of my grandmother.

[@vikasrana2500]

Her english improved since she arrived US in 1950s. During her interview in 1950s, her English was typical Russian, but here she was speaking somewhat like native american.

[@sandydennylives1392]

She learned to talk about only gardening with Dad. If she spoke about her school friends or people known to Dad they tended to disappear very swiftly.

[@larrygall5831]

It's too bad this great interview was botched so badly. One side of the audio out, and the interview cut short abruptly. I'm still glad I seen it. Nice woman, I like her. Incredibly stable for someone brought up in a nuthouse.

[@martinnolan4800]

Larry Gall This is an amazing insight. Was he “mad” at all though ? Or just a true believer Communist. Same thing, maybe.

[@gregkinney2565]

@@martinnolan4800 Or maybe just a typical sociopath.

[@martinnolan4800]

Greg Kinney Any day that you might be having a difficult time, just remember that you aren’t living under the rule of Stalin.

[@mariom1954]

Something that is very seldom mentioned about Stalin is that he was a very successful example of self-educated man. Considering his humble background he developed a strong desire for learning, he was a good student, though not very disciplined, and he always read a lot. In that aspect he was not Lenin, whose education and knowledge was beyond any standard of average person, and he certainly acked Trockij’s brilliant oratory, however Stalin always read a lot, to an average of five hundred pages a day, and it was not easy reading, we are talking about Marx, Lenin and so on, not Mickey Mouse. When one thinks of politicians in charge nowadays, ignorant clowns such as johnson and trump, well Stalin indeed was a giant.

[@hmd764]

The ''500 pages'' a day part is probably fiction. Where does he even get time reading 500 pages a day? Stalin sure read a lot but not 500 pages a day.

[@BUSeixas11]

My right ear enjoyed this thoroughly

[@catbangs276]

Read "Stalin's Daughter" by Rosemary Sullivan. Many of the comments here only illuminate people's ignorance of her life.

[@munyaradzimunodawafa7745]

true ,what an outstanding literary piece it gave me a different perspective on her life. its a tragedy when people take things for face value without proper research and analysis

[@sereysothe.a]

Kathy Han u got some issues

[@kayt9627]

Kathy Han can you repeat that In English?

[@davidrenton]

@@hansu0001 it must be interesting in your reality

[@xoioti]

Really love it when the audio plays only on the right side ( head phones )

[@lunova5029]

Same 😂

[@lodovicoconrado3297]

Thanks for uploading this, amazing document.

[@melindadouglas1673]

What a testimony she has. Very interesting.

[@Ozymandias1]

She did make a mistake about KGB replacing the household after her mothers death. The KGB was founded in 1954 (one year after Stalin died). At the time of her mother's death it was the NKVD. Though it's understandable since the Soviet secret police changed its name so often.

[@ExVeritateLibertas]

It was the all the same damn thing. It was the KGB even if it was called NKVD.

[@hosokawashin-nichi4577]

It was the MGB, actually

[@stephanlang2267]

Very lovely woman. Rest in peace Svetlana 💞💞💞

[@V0L1SH10N]

I respect Stalin for stiking in Moscow. His resolve saved the capital from the the Nazi occupation. If Moscow were surrendered, the spirit of the Red Army would be destoryed. Leningrad's front would be lost as a result etc. You get the point. The eastern front -- the last hope in the war against Hitler would have been lost. But Stalin saved it all.

[@gart9680]

Stalin was Hitler's allie at the start of the war & he had purged the Soviet military, air force & navy of its top commanders, so that, when the fight started the Soviet forces got swept aside far too easily & territory lost. The vast numbers of Soviet dead (in comparison to others fighting Germany) are a testament to Stalin's poor leadership.

[@shahrulamar5358]

@Tony Benn (Real) Ribbentrop was hanged at Nuremberg prison after the war. Molotov continued to live until 1986.

[@surendramumgai631]

@@gart9680 The other countries did not fight Hitler's armies as ferociously as the red army and soviet civilians did and hence the larger number of soviet casualties.

[@a_solidly_boned_duck3956]

@Tony Benn (Real) The west did not invade Poland, the USSR did. To the world it was a non-aggression pact but there was the secret clause that gave the baltics to Stalin, and Germany agreed to help justify the USSRs invasion of Finland. Stalin signed it out of opportunism and to expand his empire, not out of self defense. Stalins purge was also out of pure paranoia, not some deep compromise of his ranks, many of those he gulag'd had been communist party members just as long if not longer than he had been. The Nazi documents show that their intellegence agencies were piss poor at even knowing the moods of other countries much less do deep plants and infiltration of the Red Army. Fascism sucks, it is not pro-Nazi to point out that Stalin, while he was strong enough to hold Russia together and beat back one od the most evil regimes ever, was a imperialist wack job monster. Both can be true. I love knowing the fact that he died in his own piss on a couch from a stroke caused by his extreme paranoia. Its double funny because he could have been saved, but he had gulag'd all of his best doctors!

[@Ffffffffff366]

@@gart9680 you don’t know how WW2 went down at all do you? (You don’t need to answer because I’ve already read the neon sign which say’s you don’t)

[@ireneorefice4604]

Both my parents and their families went thru this. some disappeared, Mom too didn't talk. they were from Ukraine and Estonia, similar situatios.

[@indranil56]

I respect this lady. I feel sad wont be able to meet Her ever.

[@jesuisravi]

intelligent woman

[@Sportliveonline]

its amazing

[@N.Y.Business]

Her English improved so much since her arrival in 1967. Beautiful.

[@ringkichardthethrid7147]

Why haven't I seen this before? And come to think of it, why do I have this strange fascination with the life of Stalin? (also with "The Death of Stalin", funniest movie ever) *Popcorn munching intensifies*

[@peaceandlove544]

Real people are more complex than the propaganda we are fed

[@juliuscaesar9889]

She looks so much like him in facial features.

[@BoskoBuha99]

Really how so? Most people think she looks nothing like him.

[@SA-yn6pg]

CharlyRomeo2009 he’s actually right, we are not talking about hair colour, or eye colour.

[@roryclague5876]

I agree, Julius. The chin, mouth, forehead, and jawline are strikingly similar. Look at young Stalin. It's almost uncanny. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_of_Joseph_Stalin#/media/File:Stalin_1902.jpg

[@nikolayskvotsov3868]

She looks another. She looks white and he is caucasian.

[@kayvan671]

@@BoskoBuha99 She has the same nose. She's half Russian and half Georgian.

[@redjirachi1]

Even outside of Stalin's actions as dictator, it's nice to know that Svetlana broke the cycle of abuse her father and grandfather were part of

[@shaundgb7367]

Fairly sure I saw an interview with her son and I not convinced the cycle of abuse was broken. She has same eyes as Stalin which weird to watch.

[@hmd764]

Same eyes as Stalin? are you blind? her eyes are wide open while Stalin's eyes almost look Chinese

[@Achxlx]

@@hmd764 chinese ? oo boy

[@hmd764]

@@Achxlx Stalin was a Caucasian (in the litteraly meaning of the word) and Caucasoid type like Europeans and Middle easterns but his eyes were thin and slanted, lots of Europeans/Middle easterns can have slanted eyes, lol, but you'd have to be blind if you think his daughter has the same eyes or looks like him. He looks like an Iranian his daughter looks German

[@syourke3]

I have watched interviews of Professor Stephen Kotkin on his recent biography of Stalin. He discounts reports that Stalin had a terrible and violent childhood and says that Stalin's had a "normal" childhood - that there is no reliable evidence that his father was a violent drunkard. But listen to what Stalin's own daughter says in this interview - that Stalin himself reported that his father was often a violent drunk who beat his wife and child and that the child Stalin once threw a knife at his father to protect his mother. I think Stalin's daughter is a very reliable reporter about her father's childhood because she heard Stalin talk about it privately. Stalin would have had no reason to say that his own father was a violent drunk if it was not true. Its not the sort of thing one makes up. I think Kotkin is wrong about Stalin's childhood.

[@natk4275]

Steven Yourke psychopaths don't come out of nowhere. Stalin would have to have had fearful and violent childhood to turn out the way he did. People tend to replicate emotional patterns they pick up in childhood...

[@johna8541]

ANTI-ZIONIST idiot that's his daughter. Do you know more than her

[@rojaaaa]

Stalin did not talk to or cared much about his kids anyway. For him everything was ideology- in reality religious fanaticism (marxism leninism). Lenin supported concentration camps openly and Stalin claimed to be his best "pupil". So I would say this cruelty is result of communistic ideology rather than some personal feautures. I rather trust a serious historian than this woman, who changed sympathies, religions and men like underwear...

[@СтепанБеркутов]

She is not a reliable reporter, look up her biography

[@lodovicoconrado3297]

@V. V Dahmer? Dude, Dahmer had a shitty childhood. One of his high school classmates made a comic and then a movie about him.

[@ahousecatnamedmr.jenkins1052]

Stalin seriously had the greatest smile ever! It's almost unnerving knowing what he was. But his smile was very disarming

[@admiralsemmes6939]

Ur comment reminds me of what people said about various mass murderers like John Wayne Gacy and Son of Sam who were both noted for their charming personalities.

[@willshogren1987]

FDR really liked Stalin, in spite of having a pretty good idea what he was up to, said he was a pleasant guy. There's that one picture of them cutting up with Churchill in Yalta.

[@SoryRN]

@@admiralsemmes6939 Stalin was no mass murderer he was a Hero Hero of the Soviet People and the World

[@harrietharlow9929]

@@SoryRN I call bullcrap. He was responsible for the purges of the thirties as well as the Holodomor. When the USSR was attacked he actually went on a three day freak out. Watch the movie "Stalin" which is available on You Tube. It's quite accurate.

[@SoryRN]

@@harrietharlow9929 The purges showed the people even the most higher ups in the governement could be purged and actually trialed insted of just being let free to do corruption Also could you provide me the link or date of the film as for now all I see are a multidude of flims named like that and the first I saw was one that was released just right after the end of the cold war which doesn't seem so trustable and reliable and especially when a lot was revealed of the USSR after 1991

[@syourke3]

I think she is very honest about her father. Stalin’s childhood was horrid. Father was a drunk, violent, lived in poverty, his mother used to beat him, too! Stephen Kotkin rejects all this about Stalin’s awful childhood but I think he’s very mistaken to do so. Stalin had no reason to tell his daughter that his own father was a violent drunk if it wasn’t true. Stalin’s mother once told him that it would have been better if he had become a priest! Can you imagine Joseph Stalin as a priest?!

[@syourke3]

k tom Was Stalin a psychopath? If so, why did he give up his prospects for a comfortable life as a priest or other professional and join a revolutionary party that imposed a life of great hardship, personal danger, repeated imprisonments in Siberia, etc.? Stalin must have had a deep hatred of social injustice or he never would have joined the Bolsheviks in the first place. Stalin was a committed Communist revolutionary and he was utterly cunning and ruthless in achieving his political ends. But I don’t think that means he was a psychopath. He sacrificed the lives of millions of people to achieve his goal of industrialization which he believed was absolutely vital to the survival of the Soviet Union and his party. He instituted the Terror to those ends. He may well have been paranoid. But I’m not sure he was really a clinical psychopath.

[@syourke3]

k tom You should listen to what Professor Kotkin says about Stalin. He has completed 2 volumes of his biography on Stalin. You are obviously wrong. Stalin was a committed Communist because he was appalled at the brutal injustices of the Czars regime. Anyone with any social conscience at all would have been a revolutionary in Russia at that time. Stalin did have a social conscience or he would not have joined the Bolsheviks at all. Obviously, he robbed banks to support the revolutionary cause. Lenin appointed him as his right hand man. Lenin started the terror and he chose Stalin because he knew Stalin was ruthless. If Stalin was a psychopath, then it follows Lenin was, too. Obviously, the leading Bolsheviks didn’t think Stalin was a psychopath or they would not have kept him on as Party Secretary. Stalin committed monstrous crimes against the people of Russia but I would be very wary of making snap clinical psychiatric diagnoses about him. If Stalin was a psychopath, then the same would hold for Lenin, Trotsky et al. Are all such radical fanatics psychopaths?

[@hughmungus1767]

@@syourke3 - Stalin once confided to Beria that he (Stalin) was afraid that he (Stalin) was conspiring against HIMSELF! So yes, he was VERY paranoid at the very least.

[@willshogren1987]

He was probably suffering from mental illness later in life, uninterrupted binge drinking will do that. I think pathologizing Stalin from beginning to end is too convenient though. All of the 1917 Bolsheviks were hard, uncompromising men who never shied away from killing so he wasn't that exceptional early on. I think you get little hints along the way and if anything, I think it underscores the need for checks and balances of some sort, even if you're committed to maintaining democratic centralism in some form or fashion. He wasn't crazy, he was a revolutionary for whom the ends justified the means no matter how monstrous. I think for those of us who are still trying to apply Marx, Stalin is an important cautionary tale we ignore at our peril.

[@harrietharlow9929]

I'd prefer not to lol. I really can't picture him as a priest. The only thing scarier than that would be him as a Bishop.

[@stephenabm7779]

An interesting interview.

[@senssinekong1332]

Stalin's face was very brave and elegant when he was young.

[@nikolayskvotsov3868]

All caucasians looks brave and pretty. Actually they are not as they look.

[@leriaslanishvili1751]

@@nikolayskvotsov3868 What do you want to express with this statement?

[@leriaslanishvili1751]

@Nikolay Skvotsov Stalin was not brave or....

[@Ffffffffff366]

@@leriaslanishvili1751 yes he was

[@thatsnodildo1974]

I feel bad for her. Having to lived in the shadow of her fathers crimes. Crimes she did not commit nor have any control over. She lived a life but I blame a lot of her short comings such as her failed marriages on her Father. But even with them she over came a lot and im glad she isn't at all like her father.

[@crowbar9566]

It would have been interesting to hear her views on his crimes, and the people around him like Beria (a serial killer and rapist of children in his spare time as well as chief of the secret police henchmen who committed most of the atrocities). Would she be frank or would there be some denial or excuses made on his behalf?

[@wildandwonderful7069]

sociopathology is inherited solely from the female side so Stalin's children would not have inherited that genetic trait, unless the mother had it.

[@SA-yn6pg]

Wild and Wonderful you don’t inherit sociopathology, that is made. Only psychopathy can be created trough genes.

[@Idontknow-ov5qx]

Do you also feel bad for the relatives of Churchill and Truman who had to live with the crimes committed by those leaders who caused the deaths of millions? They were all equally evil

[@crowbar9566]

@@Idontknow-ov5qx Appropriate name because you don't know shit if you think Churchill and Truman were equally evil as Stalin. STFU.

[@jacktheripoff1888]

Stalin, Hitler, and Napoleon. The Georgian, the Austrian, and the Corsican. None of them were born in the nations that one day they would rule.

[@marcushull1179]

That's in the Jesuits revolution 101 handbook. Boris Johnson was born in New York by the way..

[@b1b2b3f9]

@brbnews shut the fuck up why are u faking it

[@apalumbo8585]

Stalin was born in the Russian empire , which had the same , even more nations (Finland ) of ussr. Why are you so dumb ?

[@jacktheripoff1888]

@@apalumbo8585 National boundaries not withstanding, just how "Russian" was Stalin?

[@apalumbo8585]

@@jacktheripoff1888 stalin didn’t rule Russia you dumb fuck, he was the general secretary of ussr, you could use your stupid argument for Lenin (because back than the ussr had many other nations which were not Russia : Georgia, Armenia ecc..) and say he wasn’t even Georgian why was he chairman ?!!!&?&(!,?’vjcnc damn you’re stupid

[@ImGoingSupersonic]

This is amazing. Crazy she ended up dying in my home state of Wisconsin. Of all places!

[@rridderbusch518]

Same! I heard that Svetlana died in *southern* Wisconsin. My spouse and I already have our graves there!

[@Bobber256]

Brilliant woman, clearly.

[@waggishsagacity7947]

I remember when Svetlana defected to the U.S. She was mobbed by the media and her defection was sort of celebrated as the Victory of Capitalism over Communism. Svetlana was, as I recall, apolitical, and wanted to disappear rather than stand out. She evidently succeeded, and the media left her alone. I love her humor.

[@valterbranislav8304]

I read her book TWENTY LETTERS TO A FRIEND. This is probably the best book ever written about her father. In the book she describes all of his crimes, without hiding anything. Yet, she still loved him because he was her father.

[@chad3232132]

What crimes?

[@rojaaaa]

I read that book. While interesting, I remember it as quite pro-Stalin. She certainly did not "describe all his crimes". In fact his worst crimes, according to her, was that he dismissed her affair with a 40 y.o womanizer and that he forced her to study history.

[@leriaslanishvili1751]

We Georgians are not Asians, we are Caucasians, Eastern Europeans.

[@leriaslanishvili1751]

Our DNA is not as similar as Asians, we are CAUCASIANS not even Europeans, You' better Research what DNA an Haplogroups we belong.

[@kayvan671]

More or less

[@evanstj5]

I was struck at once by the tremendous sadness in the eyes of this woman when I first saw her on TV after her escape/defection from Soviet Russia. I read the 20 letters book as a student and it had a big impact, as I recall. The sadness is still there, she's very careful and guarded - force of habit I suppose. But there's also a joy, a very Russian, likeable sort of joyfulness noticeable in this video. What can it have been like, to have been the daughter of a man so universally reviled and condemned ?

[@majdkm93]

Aren't the Americans the ones who killed the indigenous people and settled their lands, so who is the most damned globally condemned after these crimes?

[@mntsam1930]

Crazy to think she grew up in the Kremlin, and died as a British citizen.

[@jeb678910]

Love this. Love you Svetlana.

[@nyk3334]

This woman sat in Beria’s lap. Yikes. Poor girl.

[@zurabtsirekidze2223]

Her telling seems to be very honest!

[@Idontknow-ov5qx]

Stalin was one of the greatest leaders in history and is credited for developing the USSR to become one of the two greatest powers in the world. It was Stalin who was the leader who defeated the Nazis, not Churchill or the others. Stalin is not liked by the British (show me one good world leader who is) but liked by the people who lived under him. Let us remember that none of history leaders was angel but they should be judged by the circumstances of their time

[@TheDieselbutterfly]

You are an idiot

[@enriquequiroga4603]

Psychopath

[@s1050]

Great post finally someone not brainwashed. I think Lenin, Mao, Castro and Ho Chi Minh were also true heroes. All demonised in the west due to the Cold War. Mao in particular has laughable slander against him if you know anything about the TRUTH, which anti-communists are NOT interested in.

[@dianalee1589]

I am curious what was the rational for all those who died under his watch , how do you think he rationalized it to himself

[@Idontknow-ov5qx]

@@dianalee1589 What you say is the western claim, is it true? if yes then Stalin was evil. I dont believe anything that comes from the West. The Russians have a completely different story. However, what do you think of Churchill deliberately bombing civilians Dresden killing tens of thousands, and all done on purpose after the war was over. I am an Arab and remember well how the west claims the Syrian president was engaged in killing children! for us the Syrians that was absolute rubbish and evil propaganda

[@suskagusip1036]

She maybe a Kremlin Princess but she's a Human being with good education and come into terms between the good and evil. Bless her heart.

[@rojaaaa]

Scary. She looked identical to Stalin in facial expressions, eyes movements (look at any videoclip). Reading about her she does not seem to have been a very sympatetic character.Cold. Egoist. Left kids and men as soon she got tired of them. Being Stalin's daughter does not make her a criminal, but neither does it make her a "poor victim". Though I feel sorry for her brothers, Yakov and Vasily who got killed and fought against Nazism.

[@rojaaaa]

@@levifromthehood No he was killed.

[@levifromthehood]

By the evil capitalist ALCOHOL.

[@chuckbuckbobuck]

Yakov was a brave man who met an undeserved fate.

[@rojaaaa]

@@chuckbuckbobuck Handsome too. Both his sons met undeserved fates. You don't choose your parents, but out of the children Svetlana seemed most similar to the father.

[@hughmungus1767]

Rojaaa - Vasily died in 1962 but not fighting Nazism. He was an alcoholic who was in and out of prison after his father died.

[@mock15halo]

I can tell she’s keeping things from us on certain questions, but not twisting the truth

[@boiledliddo]

fascinating interview

[@michelehopper449]

She is very smart, she speaks well. She looks pretty.

[@emilyhayek1132]

She is very attractive lady and very articulate. Speaks English very well. How long did she live in America?

[@mikicerise6250]

She speaks well by modern standards. By contemporary standards, she simply knew how to speak, and was of sound mind.

[@bencheesecake8795]

my right ear was fascinated

[@robert_sovitsky]

She said " My Father could beat up your Father!!"

[@kamakirinoko]

Only one channel working. The other one must have been arrested.

[@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606]

The left channel was found trying to assassinate Stalin via harmonic transmissions and was executed

[@dannygjk]

@@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606 not executed - reeducated.

[@gerry9011]

I feel sorry for her, really.

[@alexander3543]

Compare her with Brezhnev's daughter and you will see what happened to this country - gold turned into dirt after Stalin's death

[@alexander3543]

Doug Bevins Dear Friend, you've been brainwashed

[@mehmeh1999]

@@morgenholz7937 million

[@worldoftancraft]

@Ruturaj Shiralkar holodomor? So he was killing by holod, not golod? By cold, not by hunger and famine?

[@worldoftancraft]

@Ruturaj Shiralkar so "golodomor", yes? Also where is logic to just kill a population of you own. Also, there are been the same things at that day's south-east of Poland, nowadays north-west of Ukraine, question: does it also been organized by bloody dick-tator Stalin at beyond the state's borders? Or maybe there were been a different, natural factor(s)?

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Brezhnev's daughter was a materialistic, "loose" woman. Even Brezhnev himself thought so. He supposedly spoke of his disappointment to Nixon.

[@KNT1964]

Прекрасная скромная мудрая женщина! Восхищаюсь Светланой Иосифовной!

[@willshogren1987]

Her English is extremely good. Was that common in the upper echelons of USSR leadership?

[@shahrulamar5358]

Of course her English is good. She lived in America. 🇺🇲 🇺🇲

[@ИристонИристонский]

Да, она закончила спец. школу с англ. языком в СССР .

[@flexinglads5439]

She reminds me of an old lady down our street, Mrs Farthing.

[@a.j.c.908]

How many people woul have lived if little Joseph had had a happier chilhood.

[@SmurfsAndRaspberries]

He'd even be better of with the Hitler's... Atleast Alois cared about his son's education and interests. Choosing the only school who haf art classes for him.

[@rosiemackenzie5976]

Having a father like that could be a crushingly hard load to bear. Once you fully realise what he did, and once you fully realise how other people may very well perceive you.

[@MPresheva]

When we judge people, we have to consider the times they living in. In Stalin's era, it was "kill or be killed". If Trotski stayed in power, maybe the same, even worst things would happen. Huge continent, civi var that lasted for a decade, after that ww2....You make your moves the best you can, but the outcome turns out terrible...

[@freelancer9955]

She is one of the Red hair women. Sincerely.

[@freelancer9955]

@alan wilson ) Nothing, in particular. She was a writer. Seriously, as well.

[@larkatmic]

Fascinating

[@2prize]

She has her dads flawless hairline

[@buddabulletproof]

It's hard to imagine this gentle, urbane older lady with flawless English is really the daughter of one of the hardest and brutal people in human history.

[@mariamadalena7759]

ELA ESCREVEU UM LIVRO CHAMADO "20 CARTAS A UM AMIGO"; GOSTEI DA LEITURA E RECOMENDO!

[@lm1383]

Despite her being used for such propaganda purposes, this doesn't actually portray Stalin negatively. I guess in the time of this interview, everyone just took for granted the worst possible narrative on Stalin. I should point out that she lies at least once in this interview. KGB is established in 1954, a year AFTER Stalin's death. This may seem irrelevant, but it is actually a highly important detail. The Soviet Union changes dramatically in nature from '54 and onwards, since this is when khrushchev revises the socialist constitution of the Soviet Union, reimplementing capitalist marked economic policies. This is the start of growing economic inequality in the Soviet Union, and the KGB is therefore an agency involved in the repression of ordinary citizens, for the protection of capital, and not an agency dedicated to the repression of the exploiters. The distinction between the KGB and the previous agency NKVD is a very important distinction, one that the daughter of Stalin should understand. This could be an attempt to blame the crimes of Khrushchev and his thugs on Stalin and socialism.

[@frankanderson5012]

Louise Matthé You're very suspicious. Don't see why she should get exact dates right and no reason why it might not just be an error. It doesn't mean she's lying.

[@BioDieselEstate]

Louise Matthé Or, the simple answer is this: Svetlana, giving an interview in 1989/90 to Thames Television of England, knows that most people will be familiar with the term KGB not NKVD. So, she uses KGB. Much in the same way that nowadays, even though the KGB has been replaced with FSB for almost thirty years, commentators say "FSB, todays KGB."

[@lm1383]

@@BioDieselEstate No. Considering how many time the state security changes names in the years when the Soviet Union is still socialist, and the fact that the name KGB stays from '54 til '91, this is not a "detail" someone would just gloss over. Why are you making excuses for her?

[@BaikalTii]

@@lm1383 Your understanding of history is warped by your politics. In the West, the KGB is NOT known for persecuting Soviet citizens; the regime of Khrushchev is not considered murderous. Rather, he was a reformer of the corrupt system created by a monster. By the time of the KGB, the gulags were empty. You're correct, though. She should have used the name NKVD. They were the perpetrators of all the most serious crimes committed by your socialist "hero" in his "worker's paradise".

[@porkyfedwell]

Advocatus diabili

[@jamesbach3535]

I find this lady intelligent and interesting. I would have loved to have met her. I wasn’t born. I just love this lady.