This is a very surface-level analysis of Socialist history, though, your reliance on describing mechanisms in terms of “shifting towards or away from authoritarianism” is precisely the crux of the issue. If you want to say Mao retained influence despite being recalled, describe how and why! Don’t just vaguely gesture at “authoritarianism” as though it’s a miasma that grows and shrinks, describe how there were many people still loyal to him and his ideas despite the party shifting away from him. By folding it under an umbrella of “authoritarianism” you shroud your points. For Stalin, for example, his resignation was rejected, the fact that it was rejected does not mean it was more authoritarian by itself. Rather, it proves a reverse, that Stalin could not simply do whatever he wanted.
My point is that you attempt to describe nuanced, multifaceted concepts in vague and nondescript terms, and this runs counter to any actual points you are trying to make. I could just as easily call your claim that “I CANNOT” dispute your claims to be itself “authoritarian,” but I won’t because that’s silly too.
I will concede that I’m not well versed in socialist history enough to further buttress my points than i already have. However, you contradict yourself saying “Stalin could not simply do whatever he wanted”. This is like saying Hitler wasn’t a bad guy because he didn’t do the killings himself.
We are both aware of the history of the Soviet Union under Stalin (probably you moreso than me, which confuses me as to why you would suggest Stalin couldn’t do whatever he wanted).
Are you suggesting that The Great Purges, The Holodomor influenced by his forced collectivisation, The Gulag system, The Great Terror, The Soviet-Nazi pact, The Katyn Massacre, The Anti-Jewish campaigns and many more atrocities were not examples of Stalin doing whatever he wanted?
I genuinely want to believe that you’re not one of those crazy Marxists bud.
No, in no way is that comparable. The CIA didn’t believe he was all powerful, and in his attempts to resign, he even tried to suggest eliminating his two positions overall. I suggest that Stalin could not simply do whatever he wanted because I understand, like the CIA did, that he was more of a “captain of the team.” He certainly had extensive power and his opinions were held with high weight, but he did not have absolute command nor all-encompasing command. He had the power of his positions, and no more. I suggest reading books on Soviet History post-early 90s, after the Archives opened up.
My friend, you’re grossly downplaying the severity of your arguments here, and linking to a CIA document and a hexbear thread 💀 isn’t assisting the argument. That document (and subsequently YOU) severely underestimates the extent of Stalin’s authoritarian control.
Who wrote that document? No really? Talking about how Stalin faced limited external opposition. WELL NO FUCKING SHIT!! BECAUSE HE PURGED ANY OPPOSITION THE SECOND HE HAD THE CHANCE TO!! YOU’D BE OUT OF YOUR MIND TO OPPOSE HIM!!
Also, the document is talking about how he was merely the leader among many. Are you aware that Stalin had absolute control over the NKVD, the military, and the political system? The purges and repression of opposition eliminated any real collective decision-making. His control over the apparatus of power meant that, in practice, his word was final. Khrushchev’s rise to power came after Stalin’s death, in part because of Stalin’s purging of potential rivals—further solidifying that Stalin was more than just “the captain of a team.”
I genuinely can’t believe these takes and it can only be retorted by someone who was in support of the actions of his regime frankly speaking. I don’t know why you can’t be Marxist and condemn the actions of Stalin or all the other authoritarian communist regimes. It’s quite frankly ridiculous that you would offer up these points to me as solid rebuttals. I may not be an expert in sociology or history or political science or whatever, and I may just be a college student who engages in political discourse merely as a hobby, but I refuse to take anyone who downplays the acts of Stalin and his regime, nevertheless in the face glaring contradictions, seriously. I’m sorry buddy. I tried to engage in this discussion with you unbiasedly, but i can’t take it anymore.
