at least the face of the government, no?

well aren't they? if a dictator runs the country, are they not the government of that country?

most dictators (actually dictators or not) are just figureheads

look if the dictator don't like someone in the gov (or anyone in general) they just vanish them

@smiley you telling me stalin was a mere figure head?

especially if we're talking about stalin (which i would not consider to be a dictator)

yes

stalin was a figurehead

how was he not a dictator

stalin was certainly not a figurehead

he literally purged his rivals

@smiley You need to read some fucking history

Stalin's word was fucking law, how was he not a dictator

and gained power through blackmail and alliances

this is the most woke take on stalin wtf

because he didn't hold absolute power or control or absolute "anything" really
he had a single vote in the soviet congress
his decisions were outvoted many times
he tried to resign 4 times and they were all rejected by the congress

says who

let me get citations

"look guys i'm not in total control"

the new york times visited the soviet union at one point and praised their democratic process

okay okay

they kept up a front

was *Mao* a dictator?

Lego has apparently made Tim Pool after he's finally had enough.

doctator

shut up

new hat for the medic in tf2

Mao was the best dictator

Mao's word was literally gospel

killed more than 100 million chinks

gotta praise

even aside from deaths

he's probably up there as the person who fucked their own country the hardest

>pest policy

kek

The British historian Robert Service who specialized in Russian history wrote about this in his biography of Stalin:
```
On 27 December 1926, he [Stalin] wrote to Sovnarkom Chairman Alexei Rykov saying: ‘I ask you to release me from the post of Central Committee General Secretary. I affirm that I can no longer work at this post, that I’m in no condition to work any longer at this post.’ He made a similar attempt at resignation on 19 December 1927.
```

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIIh00ETbxA

>killing the farmers

We need another mao in china tbh

we need a pinochet in china