Stalin's image, was: Re: great moments in the history of liberalism Chris Doss Koba was the guy in charge of expropriations in the Caucasus. "Expropriations" is a euphemism. It means the Koba was the head of a large organization that specialized in armed robbery, extortion, kidnap-for-money, protection rackets, piracy on the Black Sea, counterfeiting, gun-running, calling hits on people, and developing close relationships with (non-Revolutionary) organized crime, without which it is impossible to do any of these things. They had actually paid off Baku Gangland to not let Mensheviks enter parts of the city. It should not be surprising that Stalin used gangster tactics when in power because he was actually a gangster, or something close to it. He was a capo. God knows how many people he'd killed or had killed even before the Revolution. His enforcer Koma (who wrote his memoirs -- it's amazing how much of this stuff is lying around unpublished, repressed by Stalin and then later gathering dust) actually ripped a man's heart out of his chest. Now, that is hardcore. And he impregnated a 13-year-old girl while he was at it.
OK, so Trotsky probably didn't know about the 13-year-old girl. But it boggles the mind that he could in good faith describe this de facto gangland boss as a faceless bureaucrat, especially when the reality would have been much more incriminating as to the kinds of things Stalin was capable of. I speculate, based on nothing but guesswork, that Trotsky did not want to draw attention to this because it would likewise drawn attention to the fact that the Bolsheviks had engaged in this kind of activity, which would not have endeared him to the people defending him at the Counter-Trial, for instance. I can't see John Dewey looking at it favorably. "Oh, so you were kidnapping people? Really, you don't say? Hmmm." As an aside, I find it hilarious that Stalin's operation in the Caucasus was being underwritten in part by the Rothschilds, as appears to be the case. It's almost as funny as the time Stalin tried to escape from the Okhrana in drag. I can just imagine it. Koba in a dress. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
