is Stalinism morally superior to Nazism?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Yes, though that's an incredibly low bar to say the least.

[Lief 🗽]

Yeah, obviously. Pretty sure Stalinism doesn't call for the extermination of a handful of difference racial and ethnic groups, nor does it call for the resettlement of those groups' lands with colonists after it has been forcefully conquered.

[Redalgo]

I reckon Stalinism is morally superior to Nazism but again... neither is desirable.


Stalinism as a variation on Marxist-Leninism is distinguished by its plans to:

• Achieve socialism without foreign assistance, if need be
• Afford that goal primacy over other ideals and interests
• Bring each country to a nationalist, democratic stage of development prior to socialism
• Defend its bureaucratic "workers' state" from dissenters

Nazism as an offshoot of fascism is distinguished by its calls for:

• Aryanism and racist opposition to the Jews, Slavs, Romani, etc.
• Campaigns in eugenics to promote racial purity and superiority
• The proletarian homeland to defeat foreign, plutocratic nations
• A stronger aversion to capitalism than to mainstream socialism

Edit: Mind you, this is judging the ideas themselves. Personally, I more strongly oppose fascism on principle than Marxist-Leninsim. Stalinism is inherently totalitarian but - unlike Nazism - does not in practice have to be anti-egalitarian or persecute peoples based on their affixed statuses.

[© tweed]

Yeah, obviously. Pretty sure Stalinism doesn't call for the extermination of a handful of difference racial and ethnic groups, nor does it call for the resettlement of those groups' lands with colonists after it has been forcefully conquered.

such things are not explicitly codified within Stalinism but Stalinism very much provides the space for ethnic persecution to occur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Germans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors'_plot

[LastVoter]

Yeah, obviously. Pretty sure Stalinism doesn't call for the extermination of a handful of difference racial and ethnic groups, nor does it call for the resettlement of those groups' lands with colonists after it has been forcefully conquered.

such things are not explicitly codified within Stalinism but Stalinism very much provides the space for ethnic persecution to occur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Germans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors'_plot

Don't forget Chechens/Vainakh, which has the largest impact on Russia today.

[The Simpsons Cinematic Universe]

Depends on what's meant by Stalinism. The supposed ideology itself? Yes. The actions of Stalin, as opposed to those of Hitler? Probably. The man, Stalin, as opposed to Hitler? Who knows? Stalinists I've met tend to just dismiss atrocities committed by Stalin's government as imperialist propaganda, whereas Nazis are more of a mixed bag. I would argue that in some ways, conflating Stalinism with Naziism perpetuates this sort of view. An example of this is that I've heard the Ukrainian famine compared to the Holocaust in the past, where one is an example of inefficient famine-control policies worsening the situation and leading to more death, and the other is a an example of a deliberate attempt to exterminate millions of people. Stalinists focus on small arguments like that, which divert their attention away from the very real problems of Stalinism - extreme political repression and censorship, reactionary nationalism and social conservatism, oligarchical concentration of political power into the hands of a few... etc.

So, having somewhat looked into the history of the eastern bloc in the past, I don't really think I'd place Stalin in a category distinct from any authoritarian nationalist leader in the present or past, be it the Kims, Mugabe, Franco, or whoever. Adolf Hitler is one category up, in my very subjective view of things.

Then again, all politicians, and especially nationalistic authoritarian leaders, are pretty terrible in their own right. There's little point in discussing the merits of these leaders and their ideologies when the net harm they cause to the world depends much more on the circumstances in which they come to power than their own beliefs and character.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Yes. Pol Potism might give Nazism a run for the money.