…that I cannot find an ounce of evidence to support
I’m doing yet another deep dive on Soviet history during the Stalin years (I’m an ML in a trot org and want receipts) and this statement perfectly encapsulates how fucking frustrating it all is. Even revisionist school historians, who tend to be more reasonable, cite Hoover Institution ghouls for like half of their sources.
Like I’ll read a chapter describing how bad something was. I make notes of anything sourced from the Soviet Archives or other firsthand accounts, cross out anything citing Robert Conquest and the like (or often just unsourced claims or “we don’t have evidence but it was probably blah”). And what I’m left with is a skeleton of facts that don’t really point one way or another. The narrative “skin and muscle” constructed around this skeleton more often than not just seems to corroborate the author’s pre-existing beliefs. I could just as easily invent a believable counter-narrative (which is what less-scrupulous authors have done), but it ultimately doesn’t prove anything.
There was a really good post on r/history from like 10 years ago about the Nazi efficiency myth and how much more effective the Soviet army over time. The emphasis was that the Soviets applied “scientific socialism” to their strategy and tactics and would pore over results of battles and incursions making constant adjustments to avoid prior mistakes.
Edit: I don’t remember if logistics were specifically mentioned but one assumes that planning would improve as the war went on.
I sell newspapers constantly because I’m trapped in a Trotskyite cult where comrades (white college students) criticize me mercilessly for having a flag from the USSR (degenerate workers state)
They won’t let me order vegan pizza anymore because the phone is Stalinist and “summoning my pizza slaves with a bureaucratic app" is “bad vibes”
I’m doing yet another deep dive on Soviet history during the Stalin years (I’m an ML in a trot org and want receipts) and this statement perfectly encapsulates how fucking frustrating it all is. Even revisionist school historians, who tend to be more reasonable, cite Hoover Institution ghouls for like half of their sources.
Like I’ll read a chapter describing how bad something was. I make notes of anything sourced from the Soviet Archives or other firsthand accounts, cross out anything citing Robert Conquest and the like (or often just unsourced claims or “we don’t have evidence but it was probably blah”). And what I’m left with is a skeleton of facts that don’t really point one way or another. The narrative “skin and muscle” constructed around this skeleton more often than not just seems to corroborate the author’s pre-existing beliefs. I could just as easily invent a believable counter-narrative (which is what less-scrupulous authors have done), but it ultimately doesn’t prove anything.
No one ever really answers the question “if they were so bad at everything and starving, how did they compete with us in a space race and a Cold War?”
It has always been cope
Nowadays these same people are busy coping about China
“Our enemies are weak and incompetent. They are also an existential threat to not only our way of life but the entire world.”
it’s almost like there’s some kind of “continuous shifting of rhetorical focus”
There was a really good post on r/history from like 10 years ago about the Nazi efficiency myth and how much more effective the Soviet army over time. The emphasis was that the Soviets applied “scientific socialism” to their strategy and tactics and would pore over results of battles and incursions making constant adjustments to avoid prior mistakes.
Edit: I don’t remember if logistics were specifically mentioned but one assumes that planning would improve as the war went on.
By necessity, it would have to.
how many newspapers a week does your trotskyite org make you sell?
I sell newspapers constantly because I’m trapped in a Trotskyite cult where comrades (white college students) criticize me mercilessly for having a flag from the USSR (degenerate workers state)
They won’t let me order vegan pizza anymore because the phone is Stalinist and “summoning my pizza slaves with a bureaucratic app" is “bad vibes”