h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Total Terror - The Policies of Josef Stalin - A1004266
Author: Twophlag Gargleblap - The BBC kindly asks you not to say anything meaningful at this delicate time. - U109577

A recently completed school paper; contains more interpretation than hard data. Submitted for sport more than for publication.

Good grief - no comments in six weeks! Shame on everyone, including me!
Here's some thoughts:

Man of Steel (needs explaining!)
I think this needs more context setting - perhaps an introductory paragraph setting the scene - 1917 revolutions, Civil War, Lenin, Trotsky in one paragraph.
Could you also explain some of the economic background - not everyone will know about the NEP?
There's a rogue "I" in the last paragraph of this section.

The New Soviet Man
I think the bit on solipism is interesting, but I think (for the lay reader) confuses rather than enlightens. Perhaps worth mentioning the Stakhanovites and Socialist Realism?

I think in general this does read a bit too much like a university paper. There's lots of analysis, which is good, but it probably needs some more general background and facts and figures for the general reader.

But having said that, I'm going to ignore it and suggest some other things that might be worth considering:

Do you think that Stalin's nationality (Georgian rather than Russian) was important?

Do you think that the Stalin iconography was just a continuation of the way the Tsars had portrayed themselves? The Tsars liked to be regarded as borderline-saints, particularly by the peasantry. In fact, was Stalin's whole rule really a continuation of Tsarist rule.

Given the institutionalised savagery, how on earth did the USSR defeat Hitler? And was this a price worth paying? I think that Communist ideology was that conflict would be inevitable with the capitalists, and so Stalin (who favoured socialism in one country rather than Trotsky's total revolution, as I'm sure you know) expected an attack and wanted to build a strong country that could resist attack. Capitalism would fall due to its inherent contradictions, given time.

Lots of commemnts.... perhaps more later...

Fellow researchers, this entry has been unjustly ignored. Tell us what you think!!

I see that the intro para is now there


I'd say this entry could be split at the headers and converted to a h2g2 University project!

Are you still with us Twophlag? I hope so. I think this should go into the Edited Guide (gomenasai, Bossel-san!). What do you reckon, comrades? Is this nearly ready?
Sam.

I disagree with the statement that Stalin was the 'Big Brother Orwell warned us of'. He wasn't: America was. Hence Britain's redesignation as Airstrip One.
Remove this contentious statement and I'll be happy to pick it.

FM
Scout

Stalin wasn't big brother.

O'Brien's point is this:
Hitler - killed dissidents.
Stalin - killed dissidents and first made them appear to repent through show trials.
Big Brother makes Winston Smith *actually* repent of his crimes against the party. That's what's really scary about "1984".

I'm still not sure that this entry is accesible enough - the introductory paragraph that I suggested hasn't been written as far as I can see. But then I know something about this area, and perhaps I'm not the best person to judge whether it is accesible or not.

Otto

It might be worth adding Lenin's thoughts, as he dictated them in a "testament" he dictated about a year before his death...

"Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, has concentrated enormous power in has hands, and I am not sure he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution... Stalin is too rude, and this fault, entirely supportable in relation to us Communists, becomes insupportble in the office of General Secretary. Therefore I propose to the comrades to find a way to remove Stalin from that position and appoint to it another man who in all respects differs from Stalin only in superiority - namely, more patient, more loyal, more polite, and more attentive to comrades, less capricious, etc."

One other comment on this entry. While the facts presented are accurate, they style of the presentation approaches propoganda. Rather than just present the facts, which clearly mark Stalin as the dangerous madman the he was, the author makes a point of using a lot of emotion-laden adjectives to drive that point home.

As it stands, this strikes me as being largely an opinion piece. Granted, it reflects popular opinion and one which I share. This could just be my problem, though.

0

After reflecting upon what I said earlier, I think, personally, that the entry should be more of a historical acoount of what went on, rather than why, simply because the vast majority of (even educated) people are ignorant of what this murdering git got up to. Comapre this with what people know about the Nazis, for instance. The entry assumes a lot of knowledge of events and circumstances: there is no (explicit) mention of Yezhovshchina, for example.

Look after the facts, and the interpretations will take care of themselves.

FM
Scout

Could someone tell me what the shoe banging incident at the U.N. was? It sounds fun...

"Could someone tell me what the shoe banging incident at the U.N. was? It sounds fun..."

In 1960, Krushchev was speaking emotionally at the UN. While behind the podium, he had taken off his shoes, which were too tight. As he was banging his fist on the podium to drive home a point, his watch flew off. Krushchev bent down to pick up his watch and noticed the shoes. The rest is history. (Take this version with as many grains of salt as you like. I picked it up from an article written by his granddaughter.)

BTW, the phrase "We will bury you" was not a threat to the Western nations. It's a Russian saying, meaning simply that we will live longer than you. Wrong, as it turned out, but if he was nothing else, Krushchev was a true believer in Communism.

0

The author has left the building - time for a move?

yes, unfortunately

Seconded

Will anyone be picking up the sequel "Total Crap - The Policies of Tony Blair" ...

I'm afraid the h2g2 University is closed