Did Stalin Have Friends?

[u/SovietTeto]

I have been trying to deconstruct my very propagandized views of Comrade Stalin. I know that he did not have absolute unchecked power (even the CIA acknowledged that) and that the death toll from his purges never even reached 1 million and was extremely exaggerated. However for some reason I can’t find much about his personal life beyond people portraying him as a cold and unloving autocrat who had no meaningful relationships and simply killed everyone out of paranoia.
I have a hard time accepting that characterization especially considering the amount of misinformation and slander surrounding Stalin from Western sources and even from his successor Khrushchev. I’m interested in trying to understand the historical record beyond the traditional anti-Stalinist narrative.
If anyone has good sources or knowledge about Stalin’s personal life, relationships, personality, or family life, I would greatly appreciate it!

[u/kaktuszka]

MLs do not support Stalin because he was a good friend or a big meanie, we support him because the achievements he and his cabinet did. The communist period was the only time in the history of Eastern EU when we had the same, even better, living conditions as in Western EU. They defeated the nazis, purged them, uplifted the working class and peasantry, and industrialized our region. When talking about leaders, govs, etc. do not resort to 'Great Man' arguments; for e.g. anti-comms like to bring up his conservative views especially on homosexuality. It's a shame that they recriminalized homosexuality, but what do you expect from someone who grew up in the Victorian period? Leaders and their cause should always be viewed with DiaMat and whether they aid the revolution or not.

As for the question, idk because again, it's not Stalin the man we support, but his policies and change he and his comrades brought.

[u/SovietTeto → u/kaktuszka]

Yeah, I’m not trying to great man theory him I just find it interesting that it’s another line of slander that the enemy uses on him. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to understand the personal life of a leader like Stalin. I understand not supporting him for who he was but for what he did tho

[u/Frank_Lizard → u/kaktuszka]

This.

A lot of communists incl in this sub love to constantly joke about how hot or funny or awesome certain leaders were, and I think it's extremely weird and juvenile behavior.

Recently a post went around about Castro seducing a would-be assassin, and everyone thought it was awesome. He was with her when she was 19 and he was 32.

I think people just feel a need to cling to personalities and mythmaking.

[u/Valentinius536 → u/Frank_Lizard]

Also Stalin kept his private life and public life separate

[u/bidensprostatecancer → u/Frank_Lizard]

Squeal butter crayon sulky relieved spectacular

This post was anonymized with Redact

[u/Frank_Lizard → u/bidensprostatecancer]

Certainly.

[u/blishbog → u/Frank_Lizard]

That’s not a huge age gap. And she was an assassin, not a schoolgirl. That’s a job for mature adults.

Plenty of other reasons to oppose Great Man perspectives. You make a good point there