"In October 1939, [Stalin] told the Lithuanian Foreign Minister that it was no concern of the Soviet Union how the Lithuanian government dealt with its Communists; and, even more bluntly, he informed the Latvian Foreign Minister: 'There are no Communists outside Russia. What you have in Latvia are Trotsk[y]ists: if they cause you trouble, shoot them.'" (Martin McCauley, Communist Power in Europe, 1977, p. 29.)
Post other examples of the legitemate mistakes of Stalin and his government. This is NOT a thread for bourgeois propaganda, kulak apologism, or Tr*ts. What this is is a thread for uprooting idealism like cults of personality and hero worship in favor of sober analysis of our own history. Provide good sources for your claims. We need less anarchists claiming the USSR was tyrannical and less ML's claiming it was a perfect bastion of effective proletarian democracy, and more nuance and good faith internal debate all around.
The reaction to Barbarossa was slow, inefficient and further orders were unwise, such as the refusal to give up territory, the battle of Brody, Finland and many other encirclements/pockets that the Germans had relative ease in opening. Modern combat changed the difficulty of seizing Finland, compared to the Finnish war of 1808-1809. The lack of tactical retreat early-war was a little arrogant, but I think the Stavka overestimated the usefulness and industry of the territory that the Germans came to occupy in the war (Yes I know the SU did scorched earth/shipped industry when retreating), and so they attempted to hold on to Kiev, Kharkov etc at huge and unnecessary cost. Not all of these were the fault of Stalin however, the decisions prior, during and after ww2 weren't all some architecture built by I.S.
This isn't an example of anti-internationalism, or betraying Communism as a movement I think. Looks a bit more like realpolitik to me, remember Molotov Ribbentrop was being signed near this time, and Lithuania was planned to be under German influence
I haven't really done much research on the Spanish civil war however it seems that supplying the Republicans was probably logistically difficult, and supplying tanks and air force wings would be more difficult than say Italy, which was reasonably close to Spain at the time.
You mind actually posting the rest of what Martin said along with the quote hun? Nobody actually unironically claims this. the Stalin did nothing wrong is a meme.
Liam Thomas
wew lad rip socialist internationalism we petite-bourgeois now
