Discussion of Stalinism

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Targetted for deportation to sunny Siberia. Not extermination. Big difference.

I'm just going to presume that was a joke.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I think Hitler was more idelogically-inclined and deranged, whereas Stalin was more in it for himself, albeit with an element of paranoia.

Whether or not Hitler believed that he was creating a better world, I would not mean to suggest that he was still not evil. I don't care whether the ends can justify the means (from his point of view, Nazims is ), because any human should be unable to bring themselves to condemn people to their deaths on the scale that Hitler did. Often the greatest evils in this world aren't commited by the charismatic nutters we like to demonise. It's just the boring bureaucrats sitting behind their desks, following orders. Killing didn't even have to be personal back then, just swith the gas on and that's it done. Totalitarian regimes and modern technology can be a very dangerous combination in that sense. No one person kills people, the system does.

[Scurvy]

I'm not sure a body count really surfices for who is 'more evil' out of Hitler and Stalin - bad logic

I would claim both were ideologically driven - even if both spiralled into paranoia by the end of their rule

In terms of Stalin - whatever you think of his methods (and his alteration of marxism) he moved Russia forward hugely economically, and by the Cold War it was the 2nd largest power in the world, no small feat

similarly Hitler took over from a crumbling regime in Weimar and wasnt far in the 2nd world war from ruling much of Europe - again, that in no way justifies his methods


- to say discussion (or defence) of either is insulting is seriously wrong - some people deny the holocaust ever happened - so prove it did, as opposed to being insulted - far more constructive, and avoids censorship problems etc.