Russian Revolution 1/Mark Steel

[fistfulofknowledge]

As much as I like Mark Steel his views on Lenin and the origional Bolsheviks are are quite naive. Lenin was just as tyrannical as Stalin, indeed almost all of Stalin's reign was a continuation of Lenin's ideals

[Voodoofreak35]

@fistfulofknowledge You are wrong. Plain wrong about history. A good book to read about this is Lenin's Last Stuggle by Moshe Lewin.

[fistfulofknowledge]

@Voodoofreak35 Considering that it was Lenin who created the first gulags, created the first secret police, censored the press after being in power for 48 hours and who contributed to the deaths of many people, no I don't think Lenin was greatly better than Stalin. It's a shame that such a revolution, which could have brought Russia democracy and equality withouth as much blood shed, resulted in victory for the Bolsheviks and not for the Kronsadt sailors or other groups.

[Faboba]

First; thanks very much for uploading, this is hilarious. Second; kudos for your image choices. Third; in case you ever come to do the images again the remark at ~5:57 about 'mad staring eyes, minister without portfolio' is a reference to Peter Mandelson who is about as widely known in the UK as Bill English is in NZ.

[Ignozi]

Lenin was killed by Stalin?

That's news to me.

Last time I heard, he died from a series of strokes.

Some historians he had syphilis, but the Glorious Party did not want to disgrace their leader.

[Traitorfish]

@Ignozi Lenin died prior to the rise of Stalin, yes, but many of the leaders of the revolution, most famously Trotsky and Bukharin, were murdered by Stalin.

[natmanprime]

thank you for uploading btw

; )

[sewagedweller]

dude nice work and cheers for mark steel

[acerb45666555]

what???!!! Raspuitn in control of government ministries?!! i never knew that. thats lettin him go to far! i mean having little spiritual chats with the royals was one thing, but to allow him entry into government was crazy!!...... i see why the younger nobles got rid of him!! it makes sense now!

[TheWilliamcale]

okay a leftist with a brain

[Trulsrohkig]

I already show Mark Steel in class ; )

[odentroll]

Mark certainly has a touch with history..

and the Irony of life.

[miidaj]

mark steel should be shown in school.

[davidbeast123]

Our philosophy teacher shows him :D

[Shebaqueenof]

Where o where can you get these lectures on tape or dvd? I have searched and can't find a US source.

[tiarnan17]

go on his site, they have all the radio lectures free to download as mp3s. my recommendation is to listen to them while cycling, it's a good combination.

[debyte]

Many thanks to odentroll for posting this. Best wishes. Paulie.

[dorit323]

Whoever selected the images for this is a genius

[odentroll]

Thank you for the feedback

[Blackbeeomalley]

I'm using Mark Steel's brilliant lectures as part of my revision for my exam in two days time. If all my revision was based around Mark's lectures I would procrastinate far less and actually learn something useful!!

[sweetpotos]

ALL POWER TO THE SOVIETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lenin's time has come again!!!

[odentroll]

It was a great human experiment,

a pitty it went all pear shaped.

[natmanprime]

@odentroll if by 'pear shaped', you mean 'Stalin shot everyone' lol

the people that crave power know you've got to take it

that's not a very left wing thing to do

: (

[xvxkh]

@natmanprime

since when did Stalin shoot everyone, ignoramus!

During the purges 700 000 people were executed. In a country of over 160 million! Hardly everyone.

Plus one has to take into consideration the universal hostility towards the young republic - besieged from all sides. Add to this huge amount of sabotage, thousands of terrorist acts against Soviet officials and the rise of fascism and it gets quickly clear that anyone else in Stalin's position would not have acted much differently.

[natmanprime]

@xvxkh Stalin lived in a palace while his people were killed en masse

he did it to hold on to power

everyone was in poverty

they were kept in the dark

his 'socialism' was just like hitler's national socialism.

if the people aren't free in the first place it already IS fascism you ignoramus

[xvxkh]

@natmanprime

WAIT A MOMENT! Are you implying that people lived in greater poverty under Stalin than under the previous czarist regime?! Maybe in an alternative universe where only the lives of aristocrats count...

It is utterly hilarious how somee demonize the USSR (even after Stalin), when they can never point out to any previous point in history where the Russian people (as well as almost all other nationalities comprising the USSR) were more prosperous. Hell, even today they have it worse!

[natmanprime]

@xvxkh of course I'm not implying that. One fascist ruler was exchanged for another. That's all. Now stop talking like a politician with an agenda to defend and start talking like a human being.