dark side of the moon

los angeles times ^ | 4.28.03 | lesley chamberlain

[liberalnot]

it is not the case, as those who see communism as the equivalent of or worse than nazism have argued, that leonid brezhnev's russia was stalinist. under communism, people slept more easily in their beds and led happier lives.

[plusone]

It makes you wonder how many others have happened that we don't know about. Thanks.

[edwin hubble]

"more people were killed under stalin than hitler."

Yes, far more people were killed under Stalin than under Hitler. At least 4 million more.

Stalin had a gift for brutality and terror that differed in scope and scale from Hitler. To argue that things weren't so bad under Brezhnev is an nice exercise. Just not very meaningful.

[edwin hubble]

Typo: "an nice exercise"

= a nice exercise

[plusone]

Is this available on video?

[liberalnot]

got me.

the whole article struck me as push-pull. for example:

For this reviewer, the pride and self-belief that Soviet ideology generated, the willingness to make sacrifices for the collective good, has constantly to be kept in mind when judging the gulag.

my head hurts!

likewise, there's another article, front page, today in the lat, saying that feminists were better off under saddam!

ok, if you read the obits in the la times, communist hollywooders of the mccarthy era long for the "good ol' days of the soviet union." there was one just a week or so ago. a hollywood writer that said the soviets were "humanists".

[liberalnot]

so, the question is, why are all of the holocaust museums dedicated to nazism, and do not address communism?

[plusone]

In the lead up to WW2, the Ethiopian king Sallasi (sp) was overthrown by Mussolini's fascists. There was a great uproar about this. Yet when the communists overthrew the last king of Ethiopia (Sallasi's grandson IIRC) in the 1980's, there was not a peep from the press or the world community. There is a natural left leaning bent to world affairs. That's why the Reagan years stand out so much.

[Skooz]

Yes. I did a Google Search and there are several places from which to order it.

[edwin hubble]

"so, the question is, why are all of the holocaust museums dedicated to nazism, and do not address communism? "

Short answer is the left doesn't want to hear it...

NPR Saturday morning did a piece on the Stalinist terror and torture museum in Budapest. It seemed to be well balanced and presented.

Now the left party is in power in Hungary and they want to de-fund the museum. (Seems the left party is the institutional successor to the Communist Party and they don't like the forthright tone of this musuem.)