David Quarter wrote:
> I realize that by not having lived in the Soviet Union, it's difficult
> for me to speak on this issue.. That being said, your perception of
> Lenin, which you claim to based on your experience of living in a
> "communist" country may not necessarily reflect the experiences
> all those who have had a similar luxury. I had a friend who was born
> in raised in a Soviet "satellite", yet whose feelings of stalinist style
> communism is relatively positive ;needless to say, he is scathing
> in his criticism of the western style capitalism.
I'd say that as much as I have been to the former "satellites" they were
not as totalitarian as the USSR itself. And surely, the opinions may
vary. What I can still say is that at least here, these people form a
small minority.
> there is still quite *significant* support for communist parties in
> many countries in Eastern Europe.
I am aware of the fact. AFAIK, there are many factors that contribute to
this.
> I don't know what your'e saying here.
You can see the web page I referred to in my previous posting. To put it
shortly, the War Communism (Boyevoi Kommunizm) was the steep change of
former softer policy made by Lenin in 1918-21. There were "theoretical"
reasons for this, but in practice it resulted millions of people dying.
Kronstadt rising was the rebellion of Baltic Fleet seamen who were
discontent with the Bolshevik rule. It only resulted in hundreds of
dead.
> I'm not of the belief that Lenin was an angel. I was merely writing
> the obvious -- I'm sure this the opinion shared by most marxists
> (and"objective" social historians) -- when stating that considerable
> disagreement exists as to whether Lenin's theories (in particular,
> on centralization) are where the roots of Stalinism lie (i.e., the
> genocidal policieis of Joseph Stalin).
Maybe. Maybe not. Opinions differ. Possibly Pol Poth, Kim Il Sung and
Hitler have also had interesting (on purely theoretical level) ideas.
They are still regarded as mass murderers.
To be a bit blunt - for me it sounds a bit over-confident to use
"Marxist" and "objective" in the same sentence. Oh well...
> . This rather apologetic position might in part explain your critical
> statements on Lenin(?).
I tried to be honest about my background. You can interpret it as you
wish.
Maybe we have too different backgrounds. And I wonder if the
continuation of this discussion is of any interest to listmembers or
should we carry it over to private mails instead?
Best regards,
Kaido Kikkas
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