THE DEATH OF STALIN (2018)

[ER]

It took a tyrant of Stalin's nature to retain power under the jungle-like conditions of the formative years of the USSR, and lacking Stalin's brutal nature, Trotsky, an inept man and not the brilliant thinker or humanitarian revisionist history has made him out to be, would not have lasted long. Power struggles and wars between factions would have resulted after Trotsky's downfall and life might actually have been worse in the midst of internecine conflict than it was in our timeline with Stalin in the Kremlin. IMHO.

WTF?
(That's short for "What the f**k?")

From a disinterested perspective that's my honest opinion, not praise of Stalin. I base what i wrote up above on thinking about the power players active after Lenin's death, men who could have made a grab for power but Stalin eliminated them. Absent Stalin's purges these figures would almost certainly have factionalized a nation Stalin united through terror and ruled from the vacuum he created by mass murder.

Believing as I do that Trotsky would have been too idealistic and weak to retain power in the savage environment of Russia circa the late 1920s, it becomes almost automatic to project civil war which may (or may not) have resulted in more deaths than we saw under Stalin.

If you really need me to add this disclaimer, fine: I'm just speculating on what might have been, not saying Stalin was anything but a cruel man. History often requires its students to write dispassionately about very terrible people.

[Pacman000]

It took a tyrant of Stalin's nature to retain power under the jungle-like conditions of the formative years of the USSR, and lacking Stalin's brutal nature, Trotsky, an inept man and not the brilliant thinker or humanitarian revisionist history has made him out to be, would not have lasted long. Power struggles and wars between factions would have resulted after Trotsky's downfall and life might actually have been worse in the midst of internecine conflict than it was in our timeline with Stalin in the Kremlin. IMHO.

WTF?
(That's short for "What the f**k?")

From a disinterested perspective that's my honest opinion, not praise of Stalin. I base what i wrote up above on thinking about the power players active after Lenin's death, men who could have made a grab for power but Stalin eliminated them. Absent Stalin's purges these figures would almost certainly have factionalized a nation Stalin united through terror and ruled from the vacuum he created by mass murder.

Believing as I do that Trotsky would have been too idealistic and weak to retain power in the savage environment of Russia circa the late 1920s, it becomes almost automatic to project civil war which may (or may not) have resulted in more deaths than we saw under Stalin.

If you really need me to add this disclaimer, fine: I'm just speculating on what might have been, not saying Stalin was anything but a cruel man. History often requires its students to write dispassionately about very terrible people.

Ah, but would the inevitable war have led to a less-tyrannical government? Would such a government still be around today? And what would the benefits of said government be?

[indianasmith]

That's a question best answered by a writer of alternative history like Harry Turtledove.

[RCMerchant]

from ER-

"Believing as I do that Trotsky would have been too idealistic and weak to retain power in the savage environment of Russia circa the late 1920s, it becomes almost automatic to project civil war which may (or may not) have resulted in more deaths than we saw under Stalin."

So just let the maniac take over and not the idealist? I would rather die for a belief than win with a meglomaniac.

[indianasmith]

But the end result would be the same.  Bloodshed, confusion, and death, with a strongman eventually seizing power.
Plus . . . Trotsky was not all goodness and light.  He and Lenin could be just as bloodthirsty as Stalin.
Communism is a blood-soaked and evil philosophy that has never failed to end in tyranny.

[indianasmith]

I watched this movie again tonight and was once more impressed with the stellar performances and clever screenwriting.  This really is a great film!

[RCMerchant]

And I still really need to see this!
I am fascinated by this period in history-between World Wars. So much was going on.

[RCMerchant]

But the end result would be the same.  Bloodshed, confusion, and death, with a strongman eventually seizing power.
Plus . . . Trotsky was not all goodness and light.  He and Lenin could be just as bloodthirsty as Stalin.
Communism is a blood-soaked and evil philosophy that has never failed to end in tyranny.

ALL governments are blood soaked.
I agree, to an extent.
The idea of pure Communism is bad. No one want's to live in a world that makes you a drone.
The hippies tried it- and it ended up like Manson and Jim Jones.
Human nature is not gonna let us live like 'hippies'.
But what do I know? I live in the backwoods of Michigan, all I can do is run my mouth about s**t I never lived in.

[Rev. Powell]

Still my #1 movie of 2018. Nothing better has come along so far.

[lester1/2jr]

Bride of Stalin is an intense movie not all would be ready for https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103025/