@OF-8 Did you say that you base your beliefs on individual realisation, or not?

Metaphorically, of course

what a shitshow

lmfao

@друг I think we all knew you were being metaphorical lmao

but good to clarify anyway

@друг Would he stay right-wing if he was able to read?

damn

You know the guy's not the brightest

He could take it as a serious threat

@ShadyMarxist just brought down the people's hammer

lmso

Russian historian Oleg V. Khlevniuk states "…theories about the elemental, spontaneous nature of the terror, about a loss of central control over the course of mass repression, and about the role of regional leaders in initiating the terror are simply not supported by the historical record."[92] Stalin personally directed Yezhov to torture those who were not making proper confessions. In one instance, he told Yezhov "Isn't it time to squeeze this gentleman and force him to report on his dirty little business? Where is he: in a prison or a hotel?" In another, while reviewing one of Yezhov's lists, he added to M. I. Baranov’s name, "beat, beat!"[93]

Oleg V. Khlevniuk. Master of the House: Stalin and His Inner Circle. Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-300-11066-9 p. xix

i never once said what i base my beliefs on you silly commie

@Sorghagtani Beki I've read that source before, actually

The idea that Stalin intended for Yezhov to arbitrarily arrest and execute thousands just because of two specific comments about two specific prisoners is ridiculous, first of all

second of all I have something for you

In addition to authorizing torture, Stalin also signed 357 lists in 1937 and 1938 authorizing executions of some 40,000 people, and about 90% of these are confirmed to have been shot.[94] While reviewing one such list, Stalin reportedly muttered to no one in particular: "Who's going to remember all this riff-raff in ten or twenty years time? No one. Who remembers the names now of the boyars Ivan the Terrible got rid of? No one."[95] Stalin's alleged remark may be compared with Hitler's famous admonition to his generals in 1939: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"[96]

Michael Ellman, Stalin and the Soviet Famine of 1932–33 Revisited Europe-Asia Studies, Routledge. Vol. 59, No. 4, June 2007, 663–693. PDF file

Quoted in Dmitri Volkogonov, Stalin: Triumph and Tragedy (New York, 1991), pg 210.

Richard J. Evans (4 November 2010). "Who remembers the Poles?". London Review of Books. 32 (21). Retrieved 4 February 2012.

>implying they'd waste at least 40,000 cartridges on shooting people

smh

Again, common anti-Stalin quote, no evidence to back up the claims of the statement, and the lists were generally signed off with the acceptance of the entire politburo, not just Stalin, meaning they must have thought whoever was being executed was guilty.

"Stalin reportedly muttered to no one in particular"

😂

Let me give it a try

also, here's a good source

https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/beria_andreev_malenkov012939eng.html

A letter from Beria to Stalin explaining how Yezhov had been executing and arresting thousands of innocent people.

A letter never intended for the public to see.

Did Stalin give a response?

@OF-8 Then you based your criticism on individual realisation, and yet have no stake in it yourself, so why is individual realisation important?

Well, the executions post-Yezhov died down to barely any from the previous thousands, so you tell me.

"The leadership of the NKVD in the person of com. Ezhov not only did not put a stop to this kind of arbitrariness and extremism in arrests and in the conduct of investigations, but sometimes itself abetted it." "2. Enemies of the people who penetrated the organs of the NKVD have consciously distorted the punitive policy of Soviet power, have carried out massive, unfounded arrests of completely innocent persons, while at the same time covering up real enemies of the people."

It is known that, after Beria was put in place, the NKVD radically changed its ways

I am asking if Stalin even tolerated Yezhov's atrocities

Do you have anything that would imply that Stalin was critical of Yezhov?

"Com. Ezhov concealed in every way from the Central Committee of the ACP(b) the situation of the work in the NKVD organs. Besides that he hid from the CC ACP(b) materials that compromised leading NKVD workers."

That's the main reason why Beria was given that charge in the first place