I’m glad the Bolsheviks were as heavy-handed as they were. It’s something they learned as a necessity from the errors of the Paris Commune. Even well into Stalin’s leadership period, I think they should’ve been even more suppressive of counter-revolutionary elements. It reminds me of the meme of a Russian elderly man saying not enough were shot during the Stalin era lol and yeah, seeing that Khrushchëv wormed his way into power and ousting some of the most revolutionary-minded Party members just so that he could carry out and blunder with his social democratic vanity projects.
This is true, but I don’t think the factors that led to the Khrushchev coup relied only on Stalin’s lack of persecution of political enemies. The very extremely centralized nature of the Soviet government, together with the excessive punishment of dissidents, led to the very dissidents hiding their true colors and conspiring against Stalin’s government. Had these people a voice to openly state their intentions, they could have been outmaneuvered, just like Stalin did to Trotsky’s coup. Understand that every action has a reaction and sometimes by trying too hard to prevent an outcome people end up causing it.
I’m glad the Bolsheviks were as heavy-handed as they were. It’s something they learned as a necessity from the errors of the Paris Commune. Even well into Stalin’s leadership period, I think they should’ve been even more suppressive of counter-revolutionary elements. It reminds me of the meme of a Russian elderly man saying not enough were shot during the Stalin era lol and yeah, seeing that Khrushchëv wormed his way into power and ousting some of the most revolutionary-minded Party members just so that he could carry out and blunder with his social democratic vanity projects.
This is true, but I don’t think the factors that led to the Khrushchev coup relied only on Stalin’s lack of persecution of political enemies. The very extremely centralized nature of the Soviet government, together with the excessive punishment of dissidents, led to the very dissidents hiding their true colors and conspiring against Stalin’s government. Had these people a voice to openly state their intentions, they could have been outmaneuvered, just like Stalin did to Trotsky’s coup. Understand that every action has a reaction and sometimes by trying too hard to prevent an outcome people end up causing it.