Life changed greatly under Stalin, literacy rose to nearly 99% - from 5%, new universities opened, people could hold political office, women could have careers and hold office. Millions of new homes were built - mostly high rise apartments. Health-care and education were free - and good. And the country was transformed from an agricultural economy to a global superpower in about 15 years.

The means of this economic transformation were the policies of collectivising agriculture and the Five Year Plans.
The Five Year Plans built vast factories in places like Stalingrad, Leningrad and other cities across the Soviet Union. They also built hydro-electirc dams, canals, railways and other infrastructural projects. The aim of them was to modernise Soviet industry, to try to bridge the gap between the Western Democracies (including, after 1933 Nazi Germany). The Soviet Union before Stalin was still a backward, almost medieval country, roads were unmade, most people lived in villages in wooden houses and had no electricity, the five year plans changed all that - they created a massive urban working class, most of the country was electrified and in the cities most people lived in new apartments. And, most importantly, they provided the economic, political and social conditions that allowed the country to absorb the Nazi assault beginning in 1941 and to eventually push them all the way back to

Life changed greatly under Stalin, literacy rose to nearly 99% - from 5%, new universities opened, people could hold political office, women could have careers and hold office. Millions of new homes were built - mostly high rise apartments. Health-care and education were free - and good. And the country was transformed from an agricultural economy to a global superpower in about 15 years.

The means of this economic transformation were the policies of collectivising agriculture and the Five Year Plans.
The Five Year Plans built vast factories in places like Stalingrad, Leningrad and other cities across the Soviet Union. They also built hydro-electirc dams, canals, railways and other infrastructural projects. The aim of them was to modernise Soviet industry, to try to bridge the gap between the Western Democracies (including, after 1933 Nazi Germany). The Soviet Union before Stalin was still a backward, almost medieval country, roads were unmade, most people lived in villages in wooden houses and had no electricity, the five year plans changed all that - they created a massive urban working class, most of the country was electrified and in the cities most people lived in new apartments. And, most importantly, they provided the economic, political and social conditions that allowed the country to absorb the Nazi assault beginning in 1941 and to eventually push them all the way back to

>The laborers of Tiflis declared a strike, whereupon they were summarily arrested by the czarist authorities and made to pass before an entire rank of soldiers, each of whom whipped them with the knout. Then the turn of the workers' leader came:

>He bent down to the ground, picked a tender blade of grass and passed it between his teeth…. The knout fell upon him maniacally, the blood spurted from his wounds, but he… did not utter a sound…. He passed the entire rank without bending, without groaning, and when he reached the last soldier he removed the blade of grass from between his teeth and gave it to him. "Take this to remember me by," he said. "Look, I didn't even bite it. My name is Stalin!"

That's pretty badass
t. Trotskyite

Stalin always was a shitty military leader. During the war against Poland in the early 20s his units always had the highest casualties and later on he ruined the red army for years with his purges and by placing the biggest part right next to the border where the Germans could bomb them to pieces within a few days.

>>14
>Stalin always was a shitty military leader
How is that relevant? His work was done as a political leader and activist, not a military leader. He didn't personally control the soviet army, he knew to leave that business to his generals. He only gave general orders, capture this, defend this. But he didn't in detail specify how it should be done, like Hitler did.

>>14

You should read about his great purges

>>24

He ordered no retreat for weeks which caused the downfall of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. In fact he pretty much acted like Hitler during the early stages of the German invasion and only later gave his generals a free hand. In the end he crippled the army, the party and the system for his personal gains. You think they would have let him die from his stroke that easily if they weren't scared of this Georgian bastard? Once Stalin and his puppets were gone, the soviet union was better off until they failed to reform.

Even as someone who is somewhat infatuated with the idea of the USSR, Stalin seemed as someone who was battling the people rather than fighting alongside them.

>>9
>That's pretty badass
Hence why one might want to put it into question. It's no secret the USSR had a firm grip on its poets, musicians, writers and so forth. Why should this anecdote be excepted?

>>62

Except that it most likely never happened. I took a seminar on uprisings in the Soviet Union and it was clearly stated that historians never found proof that Stalin was even in Tiflis when the strike happened. Soviet history tried to paint him as a great revolutionairy when most he did was holding speeches and handing out pamphlets.

I suppose that had Stalin acted in a Humane Way during the Great Patriotic War Russia would not even Exist Today

>>65
Could you back that up with something?

>>76
I was really hoping for something more substantial than that. I mean, putting more men in the field will increase your combat effectiveness, certainly.

>Care to cite where the quoted-text is from?

Murdering 20 million people for shits and giggles pretty much trumps any good this asshat might have accomplished.

It's pretty telling that any good stories about Stalin are immediately taken as propaganda while saying that Stalin personally signed the death warrants of 20 million people (~10 percent of the population and almost equal to the soviet death toll in WW2).

>>122
>20 million people
Bullshit.