Why did Stalin have him shot? I mean, I get Stalin was real paranoid and had a ton of people shot but it seems the decisions of who to shoot most the time was completely arbitrary. Same thing with Tuchachevesky, or Bukharin. They never were, nor were they likely to be, any challenge to Stalins power. Did Uncle Joe just shoot everyone based on a coin flip or what.
>>941925
Also general Purge thread I guess
Because like you said, he was paranoid. There's no logic or tangible reason in all that, he was just crazy.
>>941925
Did he redo his pose for the edited version?
Seems like his smile faltered.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/6840405/Josef-Stalin-defaced-drawings-with-rude-comments.html
http://knowledgenuts.com/2014/03/18/stalin-liked-to-deface-pictures-of-nude-men/
>>941951
L-lewd
>>941947
I think it might just be the lighting/color, but it does kind of look like that.
>>941947
Nah it's just less detailed
>>941938
Why did the rest of the Politburo go along with it?
>>941993
What do you think would happen if they didn't?
>hint, it involves getting purged
>>941998
How did he go from being a relatively unknown member of the party to becoming the dictator?
Russia as whole seems to be pretty blade about the whole thing.
>oh yeah hundreds of thousands of people were purged but that's price if industrialization lol
>>941951
>tfw your pasty flabby bourgeois capitalist pig ass will never be spanked red raw by Stalin in his soviet punishment dungeon
>>942010
Didn't he intercept Lenin's last orders or something?
>>942010
He was very close with Lenin from before the revolution, because of his actions in the Caucasus. The idea that he came out of nowhere is basically Trot propaganda. Stalin was the most committed and forthright heir of Lenin, so it made sense that he took over.
>>941925
It became clear to Stalin that Ezhov was too incompetent and corrupted to be left at power. But he could not just retire him, it was too dangerous - Stalin's enemies would use him.
>>941925
He basically killed anyone that annoyed him.
One of the reasons Zhukov wasn't purged was because Zhukov quickly learned unconscious signals Stalin would give physically based on his mood, things like how long Stalin dragged on his pipe and such.
Due to this, he was able to pretty much play Stalin like a fiddle.
>A secretary is standing outside the Kremlin as Marshal Zhukov leaves a meeting with Stalin, and she hears him muttering under his breath, "Murderous moustache!". She runs in to see Stalin and breathlessly reports, "I just heard Zhukov say 'Murderous moustache'!" Stalin dismisses the secretary and sends for Zhukov, who comes back in. "Who did you have in mind with 'Murderous moustache'?" asks Stalin. "Why, Iosef Vissarionovich, Hitler, of course!" Stalin thanks him, dismisses him, and calls the secretary back. "And who did YOU think he was talking about?"
(stolen from wikipedia)
>>942908
Congrats Mrs secretary you won VIP tour of a gulag of your choosing.
>>942810
Well Lenin did write that Stalin had to be removed before he died, so i don't know how "close" he was with him. I think Lenin liked Trotsky and Kamenev better than Stalin.
>>941925
that guy was shorter than stalin
>>942893
No, Stalin killed those who was not useful to him a posed a threat.
>>943117
151 cм
>>941925
He basically found someone else who could do the same job only better. Yezhov wasn't particularly well educated or naturally intelligent, had multiple problems with his personal life (alcoholism, homosexuality, etc.) that also interfered with his work and didn't have the kind of skill set that could be well applied to any kind of governance beyond authorising mass executions. Replace him with someone far more intelligent, capable and morally bankrupt and from Stalin's perspective nothing of value was lost.
>>943154
Ezhov was good only at quantity, not quality.
>>943117
Why is it always manlets, and often homosexual ones to boot?
>>943454
Do you have to ask? It's because they never learn.
>>942010
He didn't come out of nowhere but he was certainly the grey man. He was an efficient administrator and used his General Secretary post to full advantage. It also helped that his rivals were from the wings of the party (Trotsky left, Bukharin right). He was able to establish himself as the centre ground succsssor to Lenin.
>>941925
>le stalin was an evil supermurderer maymay
>>943550
>Stalin was a good boy he dindu nuffin
>>943550
his favorite assassin is recognized by Guinness world records as -literally- the man who killed the most people ever
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin
>>941925
Yezhov went a bit overboard with the purging.
>>943711
B-but Joey Steel signed off on most the executions . And Kaganovich went even more overboard but he stayed in the inner circle.
>>944439
>B-but Joey Steel signed off on most the executions
How? More than half of million was executed during Great Purges. It's not possible for one man to examine all cases. Stalin was directly involved only with persecutions of higher-ups.
>>943112
No, that document was forged by his wife. Lenin had been incapacitated due to stroke before that, and all communication passed through his wife, who hate Stalin.
>>943709
Supposedly the new Kotkin book is better, because his sources are more objective. Haven't read it yet, but I really should. You?
>>941925
Wasnt stalin manlet? That guy is head shorter than him.
>>941998
You would think they wouldn't go through with it once they saw that he was killing all the people who carried out his previous purges after they did it.
>>945964
Stalin's height was 174 cm in 1911 according to police data. It's 5' 8''.
>>946085
>WHEN
>>942189
Russians - I haven't met all Russians so I don't mean all Russians but those Russians I have experienced, before an autist goes ballistic - seem to have this weird sense of... propaganda--tier-happinessabout the USSR. "Yes yes yes some people died... but you lynch negroes! And we were a superpower! Soviet stronk! Rashka will rise again! Anyone who disagrees is a fascist!"
>>942908
What the fuck, how can someone be this paranoid?
>>948076
That is a joke. An anecdote. A humorous, made up story.
Slavs are subhumans who have nothing to be proud of for themselves so they need a big daddy dictator to tell them what to do.
>>941925
If he didn't have him shot, the NKVD would've shot Stalin. As simple as that. Today it's hard to believe but in the 30s deposing Stalin was a real possibility. It was him or them.
But yes, of course most of the victims didn't have to die. He was just a paranoid fuck.
>>950031
Yezhov was never in any sort of position to shoot Stalin. He was hated by the rest of the Politburo and the only thing that kept him at the head of the NKVD was the influence of Stalin.
>>941925
> Did Uncle Joe just shoot everyone based on a coin flip or what.
Nah.
Stalin's role in Purges was greatly exaggareted. Propaganda needs simple things: STALIN DID IT. Complex explanations about new Soviet Constitution and old status quo are boring.
IRL the whole mess was more of an infighting among the high-ranking Party members that got out of hand, than a coherent attempt to reduce corruption or Stalin's ambitions.
I'm surprised nobody pointed that out yet
>>942189
Because Purges are propaganda. There are no serious attempts at discourse about anything related to 1937/38. It's all about "common knowledge" or "obvious facts". Except "facts" and "knowledge" are hearsay or an obvious invention. It's pure undiluted bullshit at this point.
How many people even know that "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." is a fiction? Literally. The "quote" was invented by a rabid anti-communist writer in 1989. But it's the most famous "Stalin's quote". As if this populist would've ever considered writing something like this.
>>950268
vatnik please
>>950276
And here we have exhibit B: the new generation that got spoonfed Kremlin's propaganda.
They don't know anything about USSR, except "it was worse than what we have today, so we shouldn't complain much".
>>950268
Quotes are mixed up.
"Death solves all problems. No man - no problem" was attributed to Stalin in Rybakov's novel Children of the Arbat (1987), but later he said he had no source for the statement.
"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." was attributed to Stalin in 1981 (Portrait of a Tyrant).
>>950308
better than the Kremlin isn't a high bar
>>950268
Sure he may not have personally ordered each arrest but it's not like he stood helplessly by while the Party members were cruelly killing each other. If he didn't want the Purges to happen they wouldn't have happened.
>>950654
> If he didn't want the Purges to happen they wouldn't have happened.
And what exactly would've he done? Purged all high-ranking Party members who demanded to start Purges? Oh, wait.
>>950811
The purges was entirely his initiative dumbass.
>>945964
Yezhov was 5'0 to Stalin's 5'6.
>>943697
That's impressive. Someone should make a movie about him.
>>941925
Stalin, translated is "The Man of Steel" He was Superman before Superman was a comic.
>>943697
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin
ef and cursory positive identification, before being handcuffed and led into the execution room next door. The room was specially designed with padded walls for soundproofing, a sloping concrete floor with a drain and hose, and a log wall for the prisoners to stand against. Blokhin would stand waiting behind the door in his executioner garb: a leather butcher's apron, leather hat, and shoulder-length leather gloves. Then, without a hearing, the reading of a sentence or any other formalities, each prisoner was brought in and restrained by guards while Blokhin shot him once in the base of the skull with a German Walther Model 2 .25 ACP pistol.[13][14][15] He had brought a briefcase full of his own Walther pistols, since he did not trust the reliability of the standard-issue Soviet TT-30 for the frequent, heavy use he intended. The use of a German pocket pistol, which was commonly carried by German police and intelligence agents, also provided plausible deniability of the executions if the bodies were discovered later.[16]
nasty
>>941925
Stalin dindu nuffin', he a good boy
>>941925
In year 1937 was punished a prominent Soviet diplomat Dzhelalutdin Korkmasov. By birth he was from Daghestan, his kin have ancestor Shamil. His son of Eric remained one. At the beginning of World War II he called into the army. At the front it was injured and invalid out of army. After arriving in capital Moscow, he from his friends on the famous government house created an youth organization by the name “Death For The Fathers”. Purpose of the organization was attempt on the life of Stalin. Into it entered besides Erica Tanya Poluyan, Svetlana (surname is not thus far established), Volodya Rukhimovich (a son of Commissar, Lena Bubnov (a daughter of Commissar of education). Soon group fell in the field of sight NKGB, and in it they injected agents of this organization: Aleksey Smirnov and Anatoly Granovskiy. But further entire activity of conspirators was controlled by the corresponding organs. An attempt was not only planned, but also was assigned date – on May 1, 1944. Began the day assigned. After parade Smirnov and Volodya Rukhimovich leave on Vorobyevs mountain, where, as Smirnov asserted, Stalin will arrive after parade. They were armed, and cartridges, certainly, Smirnov placed blank. Other members of group had to after the attempt hide pistols. And here seemed “the Packard” of leader. Are in front and from behind - cars “Linkoln” with the protection. But instead of Stalin from the car unexpectedly jumped out operational workers and they surrounded “the zone of action”.
M. Hawks and V. Tereckov. Secret of the secrets of Moscow. - M.
M. Кopшyнoв и B. Tepeхoвa. Taйнa тaйн мocкoвcких. - M.
>>941925
May be Stalin was paranoid, but after couple of years of rule by Stalin, onto USSR were a lot of people wishing bring death to Stalin.
Paradox. Stalin was paranoid because he fear attempt for kill him, and because Stalin repress many people many people wish kill him, conform his paranoia.
The terror was a mixture of top down and bottom up. Much of the denouncent came from the urban working class who were against peasantisation of the cities.
>>943136
Nice Cyrillic m, buddy.
