Stalin Quote

[4thInter]

what does stalin mean by "I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this: who will count the votes, and how." -JS:confused:

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

It means "fuck elections, I'm in charge."

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Are you sure that's even a Stalin quote though? Just like those quotes always attributed to Churchill and what-ever, they are often largely deformed or entirely figments of imagination, sometimes taken from others. (A case in point is that dreadfully stupid quote about "Liberal at 20... conservative at 40...", often attributed to Churchill, but not actually so.)

[Redistribute the Rep]

I think he's saying that it's not so much who people vote for, but who counts the votes that matters. So basically whoever is in power and is counting the votes decides the elections

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

The origin of the quote is Boris Bazhanov, an anti-communist Soviet defector, who attributes it to Stalin in his autobiography.

Not to rush to the defense of Stalin, but it's very likely bullshit.

[Sea]

what does stalin mean by "I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this: who will count the votes, and how." -JS:confused:It's similar to what Lenin meant about how one persyn with a gun can control a hundred without.

Oh wait.. Lenin never said that did he..

[The Intransigent Faction]

I've often heard it as "It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes."

That sounds to me like a straightforward summary of plenty farcical elections. It's just a way of saying that elections don't really determine who has political power as much as those who decide the socioeconomic/political (hegemonic) parameters within which elections occur do.

Of course, not to restate the obvious, but "Quotes on the internet aren't always accurate." - Abraham Lincoln, 1945.

[Prometeo liberado]

what does stalin mean by "I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this: who will count the votes, and how." -JS:confused:

You have to understand the context in which this quote was uttered. The Bolsheviks were debating a moratorium on a parliamentary procedure for a move to amend a floor vote on a standing regulation whether or not to allow the DH rule as per the newly collectivized Soviet-MLB. So you can pretty much understand the historical importance. Also Stalin new the preponderance of human error when counting all those hanging Chads and as they were working with a limited version of MAC, well you understand.

p.s. If you open ANY dictionary anywhere you'll see that any and all derogatory references and quotes are attributed to Stalin. Just read any thread on RevLeft and you'll see.:)

[RyeN]

As long as the parties we vote for are all the just different heads of the same beast, it doesn't matter who we vote for eh!

[KobeB]

what does stalin mean by "I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this: who will count the votes, and how." -JS:confused:

Exactly that Mr. Stalin like a kitchen Chèf who supervises the dish, while others observe his final touch and voilà dinner served.:grin:

[exeexe]

what the quote means is that the workers (those who count the votes) are more powerful than the millions who have been passivated by the state and who as a last act of defense are voting

[Rafiq]

Notice it's only those conservative liberal scum who make shit up and rehash it casually.