The bourgeoisie and many leftists not only compare Stalin to Hitler, but they often claim him to be ''worse'' than Hitler and that he ''killed'' more. They are so readily to believe the ridiculously high death counts that had been given, which even western historians are starting to re-evaluate, and so quick to blame any death on Stalin, whereas the deaths due to the great depression in other countries are ignored. Most deaths in the time of Stalin were not due to massacres, genocides or government cruelty, but due to poverty that already existed, and which Stalin and the CPSU tried to alleviate, and succeeded. The USSR became strong due to the success of Stalin and the support of the people, workers and the oft-neglected peasants. The ideas of Lenin were successfully carried forward by Stalin. Also, thank you for the link, I'll certainly have time to read, so I will. P.S. Sorry for posting twice instead of once. My post was two long so I decided to just split it.
You are welcome, comrade. Stalin did make a few bad decisions and the USSR certainly had its fair share of problems (such as the outlawing of homosexuality), however, what people seem to forget so easily is that Stalin and the CPSU had to deal with reactionaries, hostile factions and the simply fact that they were a new power, with little allies, that had to build a strong country.
Thanks, comrade. It's no surprise that bourgeois class interest gave rise to ridiculous slander against both Stalin and the USSR. But it's sad to see many leftists so uncritically swallowing even the crudest anti-communist accusations. They don't realise that they play into the hands of the bourgeoisie, weaken the communist movement and discredit everything great which was achieved in the name of socialism. If Trotsky or whoever had been in his place we'd hear the same lies about them. This is not to say that we mustn't criticise Stalin and blindly glorify the USSR but there's a huge difference between being critical of Stalin's (actual) theories and policies and arguing along the line of "Zomg, totalitarian mass murderer just like Hitler!!!" If you are interested in the extent of "Western hostility" I recommend reading this book, it documents anti-Bolshevik activity by the West from the very moment when Lenin arrived in Petrograd: http://www.shunpiking.com/books/GC/
You make a lot of good points in the Marxist-Leninist group, Rjevan, and on the main board of course. I find my self in agreement with you on many issues. Stalin certainly was a real socialist and one that has been vilified unfairly by the Western media to the extent that even many leftists detest him. He worked hard to keep the Soviet state from crumbling, this means he had to make some decision that are not popular with many leftists, but we had to fight reactionaries and make his country strong enough to survive with Western hostility. If Russia was a weaker power, it would have easily been beaten by the USA and its underdogs, or would have just fallen apart in no time.
