On 06/27/2016 08:36 AM, John Newman wrote: > On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 08:10:26AM -0700, Rayzer wrote: >> There's historical evidence to dispute the concept that Stalin was "Mad". >> >> A biography written about a decade ago included a conversation between >> Stalin, and his son, who was influence peddling the family name. To the >> best of my recollection the convo went like this: >> >> Stalin to his son: "You are not "Stalin". I am not "Stalin". "Stalin" is >> that person you hear about on the radio and read about in the newspapers" >> >> Josef Stalin was aware that his persona had been hijacked and he was not >> in charge of all events that were occurring in his name. Compare to >> Hitler, who was thoroughly delusional. > > I'm not familiar with the anecdote you mention, but it sounds like > he was acknowledging his own cult of personality.. Anyway, I was > being slightly hypberbolic when I said "mad". > > I read a biography of Stalin like 6 months ago by a guy named > Khlevniuk, and the picture of Koba was not one of insanity per se.. > but he was filled with paranoia, extremely crafty, and took a "kill > first" policy with anyone that could possibly pose a threat. He > was actually planning a bunch of Jewish pogroms when he died in 53. > Beria was said to have danced in glee around the still-living but > paralyzed Stalin after his fatal stroke... of course, Beria was one > sick puppy himself. >
The anecdote was mentioned on Doug Henwood's [lbo-talk] list quite a few years ago when the bio (author unknown to me now... fog of time, was mentioned in the post) was first published. I was paraphrasing, but it's a close paraphrase. Rr
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