Quote Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla View Post
...As I said, Nicholas was a fool and a man badly out of touch with his people but he was still better than Lenin or Stalin, who could have remade Russia as a Liberal western-looking democracy and instead grabbed it by the throat and stamped on it harder than the most conservative member of the Tsar's court.
Well yeah, Stalin was a total monster, but I would disagree with that assessment of Lenin. Lenin was a brilliant man who truly cared about the plight of the commoners. His only problem was that he died too soon without being able to fully implement his vision. Modern capitalism largely owes its more humane approach towards economy to Lenin, because we have seen what happens when the common man gets pushed too far. As much as I dislike communism, I have to admin that Lenin was a great man who had changed the world for the better.