I was arguing with someone in the V**shite subreddit because I’m a masochist. That was the first time I’d ever heard the term “little green men.” Apparently, not knowing who these guys are disqualifies me from having an opinion on Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, so I’m trying to learn. Who are these people? Did they do something awful and genocidal that I’m not aware of? Or is this person just talking out of their ass?
In my research, I encountered more of Stalin’s infamous deportations, namely that of the Crimean Tartars to the Central Asian SSRs. It seems downright ghoulish to me that he would do that, especially given the death and suffering it caused. Is anyone familiar with the rationale behind these deportations? Is it not as bad as it seems, or is this a black mark on his record? If it’s a black mark, how do we make sense of that while still upholding Stalin’s legacy?
And of course, whenever Russia comes up, the radlibs and the anarchists all flock together to insist that Russia is a colonizing, imperialist power. I’m aware that imperialism is something pretty specific, and not something that Russia can be rightfully accused of. Even so, I have to admit that I’m not fresh on what DOES count as imperialism. Will someone elucidate this for me?
Thanks in advance.
We acknowledge the good, the complex, and the errors without exceptionalizing them as uniquely moral or malicious. He achieved invaluable victories for the working class. His actions as a revolutionary were absolutely crucial to the founding of the first socialist state and he oversaw Europe’s liberation from 20th century fascism more than any singular leader, warts and all. And along the way he also made grave errors, made unsavory decisions, and even gave into some reactionary social views of the time.
We uphold Stalin’s legacy in a similar way anti-communists are able to somehow hold up the legacy of liberal leaders (although unlike libs, we gotta pursue our revolutionary history with rigorous honesty). FDR interned Japanese people en masse and proceeded over the most destructive civilian bombing campaign in history. George Washington was a horrific slaver and rapist, was famously cruel in his genociding of indigenous nations, and held the record for the most wealthy US president all the way up until Donald fucking Trump. Lincoln oversaw the largest mass execution of native people in the history of America. Andrew Jackson, the fucking successful prototype for Hitler, still has a talking robot showcased at Disney World.
I’m not saying this for whataboutisms sake, but how come communists and communist figures are expected to be 100% correct and righteous without hindsight when anticommunists and liberals are allowed to confidently uphold literal slavers and genocidaires as great, respectable men void of any criticism? Any honest study of Stalin will demonstrate that he was not some unique “despot” or whatever when compared to other Allied Power leaders.