Tito vs. Hitler/Stalin vs. Horthy

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

a terrible fascist vs. a more tolerable communist and a terrible communist vs. a more terrible fascist. do you vote ideologically or go with the least repressive guy in each case?

For those unaware Tito was communist dictator of Yugoslavia from the end of WWII to 1980, and a guy I've always had a bit of respect for. He was the only world leader willing to stand up to both the Soviets and the US, and after thwarting several assasination attempts from Stalin, wrote him a letter saying flat out that if Stalin didn't quit sending assasins after him, he would "send a man to Moscow and there wouldn't be a need to send anymore". Yugoslavia was the only European nation where citizens could travel to both Western and Eastern bloc nations. He declared himself president for life, and actually lived out the title, before dying of natural causes. He was also a militant hardine anti-Fascist.

Horthy was the fascist ruler of Hungary during WWII. Probably the least repressive of the Axis powers, and he opposed the Holocaust and refused to extradite Hungarian Jews. Extradition of Hungarian Jews didn't start until the Nazis forced him to step down from power in 1944. He was also the only Axis leader to not die during or be executed shortly after the war (Hitler committed suicide, Mussolini was shot by some awesome anti-fascist freedom fighters, Tojo was executed by the US, and the dictators of Romania and Bulgaria were executed by the Soviets). The Soviets spared him because he was working toward a peace treaty before his removal.

I vote Tito/Horthy.

[nclib]

I vote Tito/Horthy.

So would I.

[skybridge]

Hitler/Stalin is about as likely as Roosevelt/Stalin or Churchill/Hitler

[minionofmidas]

If forced to vote I'd go with the more tolerable fascist in either case (so, Tito/Horthy). Then again, that consideration got Hindenburg reelected in Germany in 1932, and look who he appointed Bundeskanzler.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Roosevelt/Stalin

There's lots of people in the US in the 40s who would've voted that. Of course, the reason Stalin was fairly popular here even after WWII is the true horrors of Stalinist Russia weren't known at the time. the same way lots of Americans supported Hitler before we got into WWII.

[minionofmidas]

Hippy-era singer, Country Joe McDonald was born in Arizona in 1941 or so.
Anyways, his official name is Joseph Stalin McDonald.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

oh yeah, Tito was not the "more tolerable fascist" since he wasn't wa fascist at all. He was the leader of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia.

[minionofmidas]

I know that.
I'm just refusing to call his politics "socialist".

[dazzleman]

I would also vote for Tito-Horthy, given these bad choices.

This is probably the first time I have agreed with BRTD.

[J. J.]

Tito/Horthy.  Tito was not known for purges and had some free market attitudes.  Horthy was not as Fascist as Franco.

[nclib]

Hitler/Stalin is about as likely as Roosevelt/Stalin or Churchill/Hitler

He meant Tito vs. Hitler and Stalin vs. Horthy.