Stalin's forgotten victims stuck in the gulag

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | March 2, 2003 | Tom Parfitt

[MadIvan]

The victims of the Gulag get a lot less press than those of the concentration camps; possibly because their existence is extremely embarassing to the Left. Stalin's crimes should be discussed more widely, and how bad Communism was should never be forgotten.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[xJones]

Like many in Russia, she refuses to blame Stalin for her suffering. "He didn't know about my imprisonment. The system was to blame, not Stalin. He did the right thing for the Soviet Union."

Good grief, Ivan. If Stalin had known about her specific imprisonment he probably would have had her shot for annoyance. Stalin put the system into place, what is that idiot thinking?

[UCFRoadWarrior]

The victims of the Gulag get a lot less press than those of the concentration camps; possibly because their existence is extremely embarassing to the Left. Stalin's crimes should be discussed more widely, and how bad Communism was should never be forgotten.

Regards, Ivan

---

Thats true, Ivan. Stalin killed a lot of people in the Gulags and thru forced famines (about 7 million in Ukraine alone).

I dont think the liberal media will ever give a full and accurate accounting of Stalin and his genocide of many different peoples.....many small minorities in the USSR were also killed and deported to the Gulags

I bet soon, with the liberals becoming more anti-Semitic and Islamocentric.....you may see Hitler and the Holocaust less emphasized. Fortunately the Jewish community in the US is large enough and influential enough to keep memories of the Holocaust in the minds of everyone.

Maybe someday, conservative leaders and groups can hook up with Gulag surviviors and their descendants to give more attention to Stalin and his crimes against humanity

[Savage Beast]

Astute observations, Ivan. The Left is still not convinced that communism won't work. And nevermind that "stalinism" is requisite. Such is of no consequence to Leftists.

[Mr. Silverback]

What is really hilarious is that even the Communists left in our nations are throwing Stalin under the bus. At one protest I Freeped, I had several Communists tell me that Soviet Communism would have produced a paradise on Earth if Lenin had lived longer or been able to hand things off to a legitimate follower isntead of Stalin. When I pointed out that Communism had not worked in any other country and had been universally murderous, they dismissed these cases as further examples of Stalinism. For some reason, all these folks did still think that Castro is a Leninist and that he's making a beautiful worker's paradise down in Havana.

[backhoe]

How bad can Communism be?

That Bloody Century Pass'd- "We have nothing to fear but Governments Themselves..."

The Killing Fields & Murder of a Gentle Land- what really happened in Cambodia a quarter-century ago

[vbmoneyspender]

[S]he gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken [her] to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of [her] nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. [She] had won the victory over [herself]. [She] loved Big Brother.

[Pontiac]

Fortunately the Jewish community in the US is large enough and influential enough to keep memories of the Holocaust in the minds of everyone.

The victims of the Gulags and other of Stalin’s victims are dying at a rapid rate. There needs to be a remembrance project to capture the memories of the horrors that these people have experienced like there is of the Holocaust

[vbmoneyspender]

When I pointed out that Communism had not worked in any other country and had been universally murderous, they dismissed these cases as further examples of Stalinism. For some reason, all these folks did still think that Castro is a Leninist and that he's making a beautiful worker's paradise down in Havana.

This is where Marx made his big mistake. Marx never should have attempted to place his workers' paradise in the hear and now because all that did was give everyone a real world benchmark for whether Marx's religion of Communism was succeeding or failing.

[Pontiac]

Here is a good referance book your may want of pick up.

The Black Book of Communism

[gracex7]

There's always Solzhenitzyn's "Gulag Archipeligo" trilogy. It is a long, hard read, but an amazing document on the gulag system written by a man that survived it not once, but twice.

[nickcarraway]

Like many in Russia, she refuses to blame Stalin for her suffering. "He didn't know about my imprisonment. The system was to blame, not Stalin. He did the right thing for the Soviet Union."

Wow, she is beyond a useful idiot. She outsrips Chauvinism, because Nicolas Chauvin was never imprisoned under Napoleon

[nickcarraway]

ping

[Pontiac]

There's always Solzhenitzyn's "Gulag Archipeligo" trilogy.

Truly a great document but still only the experience of one man.

With at least 11 million dead under Stalin it is with out a doubt inadequate to the task of telling the story of human misery that was life under the boot of that monster.

[Cacique]

Before Lenin died he was responsible for at least 1 million deaths. His problem is he did not live long enough to try to equal Stalin's record.The precursor of the KGB was not founded by Stalin but by Lenin.

On a per capita basis Tito was more of a Stalinist than Stalin (one of whose victims incidentaly, was my grandfather), but he was our acomplice and our communist, so we did not care.

Mao was not a Stalinist and he probably was responsible for more people murdered than was Stalin. Other "moderate" communist regimes such as those of Vietnam and Laos were also responsible for the deaths of millions. No communist regime has existed in which thousands of people were not summarily shot or tortured.

The only reason Castro did not reach the million victims mark is that he runs a very small country. Per capita he is just as bad. He is responsible by conservative estimates for upwards of half a million deaths. People who visit Cuba should tour the prison at the "Isla de Cochinos" which holds thousands of political prisoners and see what a paradise it is.

These people who argue such nonsense are idiots and useful tools. Unfortunately there are too many of them around. Our media should constantly remind people of the "other holocaust" that occured under communism so people understand what utopias lead to. Our apologist leftist media however, would not hear of it.

[eleni121]

According to The Black Book of Communism comrade Lenin was even worse than Stalin in term of victims killed.

[Lady In Blue]

Thanks!

[Mr. Silverback]

According to The Black Book of Communism comrade Lenin was even worse than Stalin in term of victims killed.

How is that even possible?

[plusone]

Many of the founding members of the Russian communist party were Jews. Trotsky and Lenin for example. When Stalin sent in the KGB killing squads into Ukraine in 1932/33 the leaders of these squads were Jews. It is one of the reasons that the Ukrainians sided with the Nazis during the war...their hatred of what Moscow and their Jewish lackies did to them. Some of the Nazi concentration camps had only skeleton SS detachments present, for administration etc. The guards were Ukrainians. (See the movie "Escape from Sobibor"). Thanks.