What Lenin thought of Stalin - An extract from his will

[komsomol]

During his final days Lenin did all he could do reverse the course his country was heading in (the rise of Stalin and appearance of bureaucratisation. Here was his last attempt, from his will to get rid of Stalin.

"Stalin is too rude, and this fault, entirely supportable in relation to us Communists, becomes insupportable in the office of General Secretary. Therefore I propose to the comrades to find a way to remove Stalin from that position and appoint to it another man who in all respects differs from Stalin only in superiority - namely, more patient, more loyal, more polite, and more attentive to comrades, less capricious etc"

[ComradeJunichi]

If only the comrades did that...

[Hattori Hanzo]

right, they ignored that part.
lenin wasn't a saint but he did what he had to.

[pastradamus]

he also called described trotsky as being "arrogant" and thats probably the reason he never got the job.

[Hattori Hanzo]

no way!

[Red Revolution]

The question to ask is did Stalin do a good job?
Lenin was on his death bed when he thought that. Who else could have coped with the job. Who else wouldn't have surrended when the Germans were within firing distance of Moscow?

[Fuck A Capitalist]

Nevermind that he did that by starving and killing millions of his own people at that time and in the years to come.

[gee q]

stalin was a ***** and lenin knew that. this is the ultimate proof to all those right wingers out there who think communism was corrupt fro mthe beginning in russia.

[gee q]

I guess it isnt the ultimate proof...but at least it shows lenin didn't want corruption.

[Gavin]

Lenin said bad stuff about all the possible candidates for leadership - that is why they all decided it best to ignore the will completely.

[Revolution Hero]

Quote: from gee q on 11:37 pm on July 14, 2002
stalin was a ***** and lenin knew that. this is the ultimate proof to all those right wingers out there who think communism was corrupt fro mthe beginning in russia.


Stalin wasn't corrupt. He had just too much power, that's all. But he wasn't corrupt.
I have read a book about Stalin, written by his bodyguard, the man who was always close to Stalin. According to this book Stalin had only two pair of socks, and one pair of old shoes, and he didn't even want to change them on the new ones, when some of his closest men advised him to put on the new shoes on the Victory Parade in Moscow.
When Stalin have died he have left approximately only 250 roubles to his daughter , as a legacy. That was all money he had, and that made two monthly salaries of the average worker. But Stalin didn't need money ( he wasn't corrupt), he needed power, that was all he needed.

USSR wasn't corrupt state, as the corruption wasn't the state politic. People were killed for being corrupt.

[Ernesto Guevara]

Lenin was totally right. If Stalin didnt come to power and someone else did, perhaps the soviet union wouldnt have ended up the way it is now.

If only someone listened.

[kingbee]

damn right. imagine if trotsky came to power- completely diff story. trotsky saw the rise of facism in germany, and called for it to be stopped before anyone else. stalin withdrew help from the spanish civil war, and also helped negotiate the end of the national strike in britain in 26. think if different policies were used, then spain and britain could have undergone communist revolutions, and hitler would be another part of history. trotsky was proved right in the end- he said that ,in 1936, the stalinist system was going through a transitional stage- it would either go socialist, or revert back to capitalism. we all know how the story ends

[Mazdak]

And the Cult of Personality was not Stalin's doing, even his own daughter, who denounces him says this. Anyone who knew Stalin said that he was not at all arrogant and wasn't too happy with the cult growing around him.

[Revolution Hero]

I have made a little research about the topic. Lenin's words , which are mentioned here are correct, but Moloch have missed the most important part.
Lenin have critisized Stalin, showing his bad sides, then Lenin have listed some of Stalin's good sides ( so Stalin's character sides were balanced). And at the end Lenin said that he couldn't see any better candidate for the Soviet leader's position, than Stalin. So, the party didn't ignored Lenin's advice. They just couldn't ignore comrade Lenin.

[ernestolynch]

'Rev Hero' can you give me the title/author of that book please, the Stalin one you mentioned above?


Trotsky was a Menshevik Hyena by the way.

[Revolution Hero]

I have read it in Russian, hope you will find it in English.
It is called "Near Stalin. Notes of the bodyguard." written by Alexey Trofimovich Ribin.