Stalin The Scamp

Via DK I see Arthur Scargill - failed Union boss, failed revolutionary, and, well, failure - has recently been asked about his thoughts on Stalin. That is Stalin - the mass murdering, sociopath former dictator of the Soviet Union, by the way.

"Next Scargill was asked by a listener about his views on JV Stalin: did he regard him as "a good socialist"?"

If Scargill had even a basic knowledge of his own political creed, then he would know that Stalin was a Marxist-Leninist, and therefore not a socialist. Yes, we’re getting into political semantics here, but socialists were not leftwing enough for Stalin. In fact, Stalin would have had Scargill arrested, locked up, tortured and then shot in the back of the head. Mind you, if I was a totalitarian dictator, I’d probably have Scargill arrested and shot as well.

""Arthur replied that he thought Stalin had been a "very good leader", especially during World War II."

A very good leader?! Presumably Pol Pot was a really good leader as well.

And World War Two was not exactly Stalin’s finest hour. The war began partly because he signed a non-aggression pact with the Nazis. Then, Stalin was utterly unprepared for the Nazi invasion. When it happened, Stalin suffered a nervous breakdown, and one of the reasons why the Nazis were able to plough so far into Russia was because Stalin was not ready and was, initially, not able to fight the war. And the Soviet campaign was not one of heroism and audacious warfare. It was a war of attrition, pure and simple. One of the reasons why the Soviet army kept on advancing is because the front line troops knew that if they turned round or retreated, their fellow Communists would gun them down just as freely as the Nazis.
It is difficult to have a "good war" as a leader, and all war leaders are open to criticism. But the Soviet victory in World War Two was despite Stalin, not because of him.

"It was true that he had committed "many, many errors", but, there again, "Churchill in Britain was also criticised"."

Interestingly, whilst you could criticise Churchill during the war, no-one could criticise Stalin until well after he died. That is because Churchill was a leader of a democracy. Where as Stalin was the same as Hitler – regarding any criticism of his leadership and personality cult as a crime deserving the death penatly.

"Campbell at this point mildly suggested that it was perhaps not Stalin's record as war leader that was the main issue. After all he stood accused of being a "mass murderer". Did Scargill think Churchill had killed more people than Stalin? And what about the gulags, the show trials? Yes, yes, said Arthur, but these "mistakes" must be seen in context."

Mass murder in context? Sheesh. It is difficult to put the murder of millions of people into perspective. But perhaps Scargill has revealed more than he realises about his own intentions than he realises. Maybe in Scargill land murder is ok, as long as it is pursing some sort of dysfunctional socialist utopia.

"Don't forget, "the problems of the Soviet Union were infinitely worse after Stalin than before his death"."

No, the problems of the Soviet Union were bad after Stalin died, but nowhere near as bad as during his reign. Because the mass murder and intentional starvation of large swathes of the population at least slowed down under Stalin’s successors, even if they didn’t stop. And, not being a socialist, I tend to see the lessening of starvation and mass murder as a good thing. Crazy, eh?

"As Scargill was unwilling to venture an opinion on whether Stalin was responsible for more deaths than Churchill"

Historical consensus on the number of people murdered by Stalin? Millions (possibly as many as 60 million). Historical consensus on the number killed by Churchill? Zero. It is therefore a tough question to answer, if you can’t count.

"Campbell tried another tack: who did our general secretary think was worse - Stalin or Thatcher? By now Scargill was really getting tied in knots. Until and unless he knew the truth, he could not go along with allegations against the former Soviet leader: "If people were killed, or put into concentration camps, it was wrong.""

What evidence does Scargill need?! The resurrection and confession of the long dead Soviet dictator? Nice clarification that killing and concentration camps are wrong. It does say something that Scargill had to make that clarification, though.

"Arthur conceded that Stalin may have done those things, but he knew that Thatcher had "destroyed our manufacturing industry, people's hope"."

Destroying the manufacturing industry is on a par with mass murder and the elimination of a political class in the world of Scargill.

"The listener who had originally asked the question compared Scargill's response to the holocaust-denial of David Irving."

Which is a very nice comparison. I rather think that Scargill would be disgusted with the crimes of Hitler, but tacitly accepts the murders of Stalin et al, simply because Stalin’s opinions are closer to his. Nothing like being a two faced bastard, is there?

"Scargill did, however, state that he had always opposed the restrictions on travelling abroad that the USSR had imposed."

Apparently mass murder is ok, restricting travel isn’t. The mind boggles.

The world according to Scargill – a world where Stalin made "some mistakes". Proof (if anyone really needs further proof) that socialists live in a parallel world that has no connection with reality.