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Any tankies here, I need you opinion on this comment I got

It's difficult to say that Joseph Stalin was anything short of a totalitarian dictator.

There are people who disagree with that assessment, believing that the structure of the Soviet government checked his power, or that he was some sort of socialist ascetic who lived simply to serve the people. Neither of those arguments refutes the notion that Stalin was a dictator, and neither has any basis in fact.

Let's start with the definition of a dictator - a ruler with total power over a country. Joseph Stalin personified this definition. His policy choices were pursued with all means necessary, including wholesale killing. And while there are things that he wanted and never got, that was never the result of someone standing up to him, because standing up to him within the Soviet Union always resulted in death.

Stalin's power, in fact, went beyond that. He wasn't merely a dictator, he was a totalitarian dictator. Life in the Soviet Union required complete subservience not just to the state and the communist sanial contract, life in the Soviet Union required complete subservience to Stalin. His name was invoked in every aspect of life, at every level, like the name of God in a theocratic society. School children sang songs about him, movies were made about his heroic exploits, his likeness graced every public area (frequently in counter-factual recreations of great moments from history), an military units fought for his glory. Even things like scientific achievements and breakthroughs in engineering were attributed in part to him.

There are people who argue that this simply is not true, citing the pluralistic structure of the Soviet government and the presence of the Politburo as checks on Stalin's power. This argument is, quite simply, stupid. Stalin became the General Secretary two years before Lenin died, and from that point on he controlled who was and was not given favor by the Party. While that is not absolute power in and of itself, and others in the Politburo had significant power, it was enough for Stalin to isolate Lenin in his final days and other rivals in the years to come. And he didn't merely control the politics, he controlled the ideology, too. Only his views were valid, including his views on Communism, Socialism, Leninism, history, economics, and military strategy and tactics. Anyone who rivaled him, let alone stood up to him, had to die. Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Kirov - the list goes on. And those who stood with him, like Molotov, Khruschev and Beria, had to drink and dance on his command.

Other Stalin apologists believe that he was some sort of ascetic, completely dedicated to serving his people. His selfless nature, they believe, is proof that he was not a dictator because dictators have to acquire vast personal wealth. This is not only beyond the definition of what a dictator is - a leader with total power - it ignores the fact that he was the richest man in the entire Soviet Union. No one had more than he did. Yes, he had but a simple three-room apartment. But this was in a time when whole families lived in single rooms of communal apartments, and Stalin's three-room apartment was in the Kremlin. With obedient servants. He was also the ruler of all he surveyed in the rest of the country, including dachas and vacation properties. Stalin was also a leader who never missed a meal or a drink, despite the fact that millions of his people died of starvation.

A tinpot dictator in a small country hoards money because they want to buy things with it, and because they know that they will need it if and when they are deposed. Stalin didn't hoard money because he didn't have to. There was nothing the Soviet state had that he couldn't make his own, there was nothing else in the world he wanted, and there was no chance of anyone else taking power from him. He knew he'd die with his boots on, and he did.

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It says a lot of arguments exactly what tankies usually say so please read it

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