On 06/27/2016 08:36 AM, John Newman wrote:
On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 08:10:26AM -0700, Rayzer wrote:
There's historical evidence to dispute the concept that Stalin was "Mad".
A biography written about a decade ago included a conversation between Stalin, and his son, who was influence peddling the family name. To the best of my recollection the convo went like this:
Stalin to his son: "You are not "Stalin". I am not "Stalin". "Stalin" is that person you hear about on the radio and read about in the newspapers"
Josef Stalin was aware that his persona had been hijacked and he was not in charge of all events that were occurring in his name. Compare to Hitler, who was thoroughly delusional.
I'm not familiar with the anecdote you mention, but it sounds like he was acknowledging his own cult of personality.. Anyway, I was being slightly hypberbolic when I said "mad".
I read a biography of Stalin like 6 months ago by a guy named Khlevniuk, and the picture of Koba was not one of insanity per se.. but he was filled with paranoia, extremely crafty, and took a "kill first" policy with anyone that could possibly pose a threat. He was actually planning a bunch of Jewish pogroms when he died in 53. Beria was said to have danced in glee around the still-living but paralyzed Stalin after his fatal stroke... of course, Beria was one sick puppy himself.
The anecdote was mentioned on Doug Henwood's [lbo-talk] list quite a few years ago when the bio (author unknown to me now... fog of time, was mentioned in the post) was first published. I was paraphrasing, but it's a close paraphrase. Rr