All but the most rabid and delusional fanatics recognize Stalin for the monster he was, but Lenin is generally sidelined in the discussion. Which is a shame, really, because I think he's much more interesting (and sympathetic, frankly, though I don't know much about Russian history at all).
And do you know any good books on the revolution and USSR in general? 
A monster who founded a totalitarian regime. I am no fan of Lenin. At all. The Red Terror occurred under Lenin. .
If you want to know about the Revolution then you need to go further back in time to understand Russia itself. But Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy is a good place to begin for the revolution. Otherwise some general histories of Russia itself might not be bad. For more histories of the Soviet Union, I would ask Tom. He is an expert and extremely well read on the subject. I actually have a love/hate relationship with Russian/Soviet history. I prefer German history. Soviet history is too depressing especially since it affected my family in many negative ways.
Stalin was a monster but I wonder what the Soviet Union would have been like without him. Would they have been as ready for the Germans without his emphasis on massive industrialization? Would Germany have thus won WWII by quickly knocking out the Soviet Union and then focusing on the buildup of their navy to take out the UK? More what ifs.
*NM*
- 14/03/2017 11:54:45 PM
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