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What is your opinion of Joseph Stalin? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 weeks ago by AnonomousWolf@lemm.ee to c/socialism@lemmy.ml

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I believe in socialism, but I feel Stalin shouldn't be idolised due to things like the Gulag.

I would like more people to become socialist, but I feel not condemning Stalin doesn't help the cause.

I've tried to have a constructieve conversation about this, but I basically get angry comments calling me stupid for believing he did atrocious things.

That's not how you win someone over.

I struggle to believe the Gulag etc. Never happened, and if it happened I firmly believe Stalin should be condemned.

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[–] Gucci_Minh@hexbear.net 63 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Me to other Communists: Stalin was a complex character who did make mistakes, went too hard on some stuff and not hard enough on others, but overall was a force for good, and I can never fault him for leading the USSR in defeating the Nazis.

Me to libs: You will not talk badly about uncle Joe Steel, ender of the holocaust, killer of fascists, beacon of hope to the global south.

I would like more people to become socialist, but I feel not condemning Stalin doesn't help the cause.

Constantly repudiating historical socialists for being the wrong type of socialist hurts the cause far more, and is exactly what the feds want you to do.

[–] ferristriangle@hexbear.net 31 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I feel the same towards Stalin as I feel towards most figures and places that have been relentlessly smeared by Cold War and Red Scare propaganda.

And that is that the entire reason these figures are so viscously demonized is because capitalism cannot survive the threat of a good example. The ruling class needs the most radical allowable criticism of their system to be, "Sure, we have many faults, but all of the alternatives are far worse so you better not dare even thinking about fighting for positive change."

That narrative can only function if every victory of the global proletariat is smeared as a dystopian hellscape ruled by cartoon villains. And I don't think it's to our benefit to cede that rhetorical ground wholesale out of fear that challenging it might be unpopular among Cold Warriors.

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