[frog in a pot]

Western ideas had undermined the basis of Russian nationalism and there were numerous radical parties by the middle 1800s.

You may be correct about that, especially if you refer to our early several "radical" parties and the fact we experienced a bloody civil war by the middle 1800s.

I was looking at the more immediate and direct causal circumstances that led to the birth of Stalin's Russia, the end game of quite a time line of history. (Whether Putin's government will provide the opening move for his people of a new timeline is another matter.)

Those circumstances I refer to, are IMO more comparable to what we see happening here at the moment.

[arrogantsob]

This is just the beginning.