Operation Barbarossa: The 75th Anniversary of the Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union

John Newman jnn at synfin.org
Mon Jun 27 08:36:16 PDT 2016


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.

-- 
John 
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