I certainly didn't put it there for my health.
I guess you mean by killing he helped them. Helped the poor... Stalin's Russia was insanely poor and he killed over 20 million civilians.... real admirable system there, huh Pat.
Stalin made Russia into one big industrial farm. Stalin also let the serfs keep their farms and freed the serfs from their owners. He didn't kill the poor. He killed those who he felt were threats to him. Christ, you're acting like I'm idolizing the guy. I respect what he tried to do and how he experimented with communism, not the fact that he killed 20 million people.
Originally posted by Don Marco:
I have to disagree, Pat. He was part of the reason, not the reason. The industrial power of the US would have prevailed in the long run.
He was a brutal dictator that murdered at a magnitude that challenges even Hitler. He is virtually indefensable for any type of human rights or even human decency, so calling him a "great communist leader" is a bit misguided, in my opinion. Unless brutality, oppression, and fear are a measure of greatness, Stalin falls far short of great.
Just wondering, but do you think Lenin would've been able to make socialism OR communism work in Russia? I am pretty sure that I heard that Lenin and Stalin didn't even get along.
Would the allies have defeated the Nazis without the help of the Russians, probably, but the war would have been much longer, and much more costly to both the UK and the US, especially if Hitler and Stalin had maintained their earlier alliance.
I disagree. I don't think that the US and UK could've beaten Germany without Russia. It was pretty much the US and UK alone, since France fell to Germany and Vichy France backed the Nazi's. I believe Canada helped us and some other European nations as well, but the US and UK were the 2 main forces on the Allies. Japan probably would've made the war last much longer too, but we decided to drop the 2 a-bombs to prevent further Allie casualties. I honestly can't see the Allies winning without Russia. Russia's military and technology was just so dominant at the time and every time that the US felt they gained a step in the arms race, we found Russia right there with us. -Pat
