An Introduction to Stalin The following is Bruce Franklin’s
introduction to his book, ‘The Essential Stalin.’ As always,
reposting here does not imply agreement, endorsement, or
affiliation. I used to think of Joseph Stalin as a tyrant and
butcher who jailed and killed millions, betrayed the Russian
revolution, sold out liberation struggles around the world, and
ended up a solitary madman, hated and feared by the people of
the Soviet Union and the world. Even today I have trouble saying
the name “Stalin” without feeling a bit sinister. But, to about
a billion people today, Stalin is the opposite of what we in the
capitalist world have been programmed to believe. The people of
China, Vietnam, Korea, and Albania consider Stalin one of the
great heroes of modern history, a man who personally helped win
their liberation. This belief could be dismissed as the product
of an equally effective brainwashing from the other side, except
that the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union, who knew
Stalin best, share this