Matvei Bronstein: Theorical physicist. Pioneer of quantum gravity. Arrested, accused of fictional “terroristic” activity and shot in 1938

Lev Shubnikov: Experimental physicist. Accused on false charges. Executed

Adrian Piotrovsky: Russian dramaturge. Accused on false charges of treason. Executed.

Nikolai Bukharin: Leader of the Communist revolution. Member of the Politburo. Falsely accused of treason. Executed.

General Alexander Egorov: Marshal of the Soviet Union. Commander of the Red Army Southern Front. Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Arrested, accused on false charges, executed.

General Mikhail Tukhachevsky Supreme Marshal of the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the Red Napoleon. Arrested, accused on fake charges. Executed.

Grigory Zinoviev: Chairman of the Communist International Movement. Member of the Soviet Politburo. Accused of treason and executed.

Even the secret police themselves were not safe:

Genrikh Yagoda : Right-hand of Joseph Stalin. Head of the NKD Secret Police. He spied on everyone in Russia and jailed thousands of innocents. Yagoda was arrested and executed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genrikh_Yagoda

Nikolai Yezhov : Appointed head of the NKD Secret Police after the death of Yagoda. Arrested on fake charges, executed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov

Everybody was absolutely terrified during this period. At least 600 000 people were killed and over 100 000 people were deported to Gulags in Siberia.

Today, Russian schools no longer teach what Joseph Stalin did. Many young russians actually believe that Stalin was a great patriot.

This is part of an effort by Vladimir Putin to rehabilitate him:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/10/vladimir-putin-russia-rehabilitating-stalin-soviet-past

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/05/21/stalin-is-making-a-comeback-in-russia-heres-why-a89155

  • Sunforged@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    I honestly have no issue there. My issue is the claim that such atrocities don’t happen in democratic institutions.

    • MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      I honestly have no issue there. My issue is the claim that such atrocities don’t happen in democratic institutions.

      I can’t recall any democratic countries, fragile or not, that can hold a candle to the atrocities committed by Joseph Stalin.

      Can you point out the equivalent that we should look at in this case of whataboutism? Since we’re talking about millions being killed by Joseph Stalin, what are the comparables?

      • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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        Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the archival revelations, some historians estimated that the numbers killed by Stalin’s regime were 20 million or higher.[5][6][7] After the Soviet Union dissolved, evidence from the Soviet archives was declassified and researchers were allowed to study it. This contained official records of 799,455 executions (1921–1953),[8][9][10][11][12] around 1.5 to 1.7 million deaths in the Gulag,[13][14][15] some 390,000[16] deaths during the dekulakization forced resettlement, and up to 400,000 deaths of persons deported during the 1940s,[17] with a total of about 3.3 million officially recorded victims in these categories.[18] According to historian Stephen Wheatcroft, approximately 1 million of these deaths were “purposive” while the rest happened through neglect and irresponsibility.[2] The deaths of at least 5.5 to 6.5 million[19] persons in the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 are sometimes included with the victims of the Stalin era.[2][20] - wikipedia

        So being generous we’ll go high and say 10 million

        According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 9 million people die annually from hunger and malnutrition, mostly in regions where capitalist-driven global inequality has made basic necessities unaffordable or inaccessible.

        So less in a year due to capitalism (ignoring wars and whatnot) than the total of Stalin. But also dealing with huge differences in populations involved. Both seem pretty shitty if you ask me.

        • MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world
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          48 minutes ago

          An estimated 30 local NKVD agents, guards and drivers were pressed into service to escort prisoners to the basement, confirm identification, then remove the bodies and hose down the blood after each execution. Although some of the executions were carried out by Senior Lieutenant of State Security Andrei Rubanov, Blokhin was the primary executioner and, true to his reputation, liked to work continuously and rapidly without interruption.[14] In keeping with NKVD policy and the overall “wet” nature of the operation, the executions were conducted at night, starting at dark and continuing until just prior to dawn. The bodies were continuously loaded onto covered flat-bed trucks through a back door in the execution chamber and trucked, twice a night, to the nearby village of Mednoye. Blokhin had arranged for a bulldozer and two NKVD drivers to dispose of bodies at an unfenced site. Each night, 24–25 trenches were dug, measuring 8 to 10 metres (26 to 33 ft) in length, to hold that night’s corpses, and each trench was covered over before dawn.[17]

          Blokhin and his team worked without pause for 10 hours each night, with Blokhin himself executing an average of one prisoner every three minutes.[2] At the end of the night, he provided vodka to all his men.[18] On 27 April 1940, Blokhin secretly received the Order of the Red Banner and a modest monthly pay premium as a reward from Stalin for his “skill and organization in the effective carrying out of special tasks”.[19][20] His tally of 7,000 shot in 28 days remains the most organised and protracted mass murder by a single individual on record, and caused him being named the Guinness World Record holder for “Most Prolific Executioner” in 2010.[2][3]

          Ya, totally equivalent.

          Sit the fuck down.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      My issue is the claim that such atrocities don’t happen in democratic institutions.

      But that’s the point, they don’t. Atrocities can happen, but not as bad as such.
      Just give one example of a democracy where an atrocity remotely close to that happened.

      • flandish@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        they don’t?

        lol. have you seen how child labor works? or banana republics? or coups? or prison labor? or slavery?

        come on now. stop being a thick moron.

      • Sunforged@lemmy.ml
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        5 hours ago

        You sure?

        Really?

        How sure?

        Like, I could look at ICE raids and their obvious purpose of terrorizing the immigrant community, but I have a feeling you’re the type of bootlicker that thinks those actions are justified.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Compared to genocide by Stalin, ICE is peanuts.
          But no it’s not justified, that still doesn’t make it an equal atrocity to what Stalin did.
          Also USA is not a democracy, it is a deeply dysfunctional democracy. And In USA it can go 2 ways now, they either go full dictator, or if they go the other, these things will be softened.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_mortality_in_the_Soviet_Union_under_Joseph_Stalin

          official records of 799,455 executions (1921–1953),[8][9][10][11][12] around 1.5 to 1.7 million deaths in the Gulag,[13][14][15] some 390,000[16] deaths during the dekulakization forced resettlement, and up to 400,000 deaths of persons deported during the 1940s,[17] with a total of about 3.3 million officially recorded victims in these categories.

          So kindly piss off with your false equivalences.

          • Sunforged@lemmy.ml
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            5 hours ago

            Dude the US is fully funding a genocide right now. Since October 7, 2023, the U.S. has provided Israel with billions in military aid, including at least $21.7 billion in approved funding, along with tens of billions more in future arms sale commitments.

            Your entire premise is so inherently flawed.

            Also rofl at you sounding like a tankie:

            Also USA is not a democracy, it is a deeply dysfunctional democracy.

            “It wasn’t real communism bro.”

            • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              Please read my edited post.
              And no I’m not anything remotely like a tankie, I am one who favor ACTAUL democracy, where among the best models we have running currently is the Scandinavian model.
              A 2 party system can never be accepted as a functional democracy, also the level of corruption in elections is undemocratic. preventing people from voting and gerrymandering.
              All those things detract from USA as a democracy.

              You are delusional and create strawmen and then you think you have a superior view based on your delusions and false equivalences that have no basis in reality.

          • flandish@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            fine. compare stalin to something else that was closer to his time than he is to us:

            American slave trade. do it. tell me stalin was worse than slavery?

            the gfy.

            • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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              4 hours ago

              Again with USA as the example, no other democracy had slaves like USA did.
              On the other hand comparable stories to Stalin can be found in multiple autocratic systems.
              Where USA is the exception as in exceptionally bad among democracies, what Stain did is commonplace among autocracies.

                • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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                  4 hours ago

                  If you are referring to South Africa you are a moron.
                  Because South Africa was very much an authoritarian leadership, and ruled by a white minority by force.
                  WTF is that reference supposed to show that does anything but support democracy?