This raises interesting questions about whether Stalin on balance made positive contributions or whether his behavior once in power set back the cause of Socialism so badly that the project originally started by Marx and Engels with the Communist Manifesto was irreparably destroyed ---
Even in the 1960s, it was unclear what the long run consequences of Stalinism was ---- I remember Joan Robinson saying once that she thought that Stalinism had created such cynicism among the Soviet population that the cooperation that was necessary for socialism to flourish (which she thought she saw in Mao's China --- yeah, right!) was no longer possible .... but I have a vague memory that even Isaac Deutcher's political biography of Stalin gave him on balance "positive" marks --- making a SHARP distinction between Stalin and Hitler for example. As always, "the future determines the past" and as people experience history, they look at the past differently .... Part of the issue depends on whether one thinks the Soviets defeated Hitler BECAUSE of things Stalin did (industrialization, etc., buying two years with the pact, etc.) or IN SPITE OF things Stalin did (killing all the generals, massacring and/or starving peasants, etc.) ??? On Wed, May 12, 2021 at 12:07 PM Dennis Brasky <[email protected]> wrote: > Sergei Loznitsa’s new found-footage documentary illuminates Soviet life in > the immediate aftermath of the dictator’s death. > > Which can be taken as a warning: Any population can be swayed and > subjugated by tyranny. They could be us. But the tone of “State Funeral” is > more meditative than admonitory. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8520): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8520 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82776196/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
