Due to the recent death of Comrade Stalin's daughter Svetlana [aka Lana] I thought that it's time to revive a thesis I wrote for my Soviet History class circa December, 1973
Given that both Lenin and Stalin ruthlessly persecuted and purged, can we still compare and contrast their approaches?
The approach I took was to contrast NOT their degree of zealousness; after all the Cheka / Ogpu [Lenin] were as ruthless as the NKVD / MVD [Stalin]. What DID change? The targets of their zeal!
Lenin went after Czarists and "Whites" and other factions who opposed Bolshevism. EG Lenin was willing to overlook Trotsky's personal history as a Menshevik because of his steadfast loyalty to the Bolshevik Revolution. Thus Lenin's "US" were the community of all good Bolsheviks and his "THEM" were all those opposed to Bolshevism
Stalin morphed the zealousness by turning internally onto Fellow Bolsheviks. Stalin's "US" were the community of all those who'd give their life for Stalin and his "THEM" were all those had an independent power base and could thus think and act on their own w/o Stalin
As a result, Trotsky, Kirov, Bukharin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, etc. Were all Bolsheviks in good standing, yet nevertheless were ruthlessly and brutally purged. Their goodstanding as Bolsheviks is testified to by the fact that most were posthumously rehabilitated - except for Trotsky.
Hopefully the Mussar here for US is obvious. How far to take "Kannaus"? Think about it.
Shalom,
RRW
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