It was weird reading Stalin for the first time, because I had gotten so used to reading Marx and Lenin. Those two were firebrands, constantly belittling their opponents, mocking people, using grandiose language. It’s awesome.
So I expected Stalin to take that even further, since he’s so much more widely demonized. I thought he was going to be flinging the spiciest insults I’d ever read. I was stoked.
I was kinda shocked to see he was actually very polite and chill compared to them. He wrote a lot more clearly too. I’ve read that one interview Stalin did with HG Wells a bunch of times. Wells is kinda rude to Stalin a bunch of times, and says a boatload of liberal claptrap. But Stalin just remains composed and even compliments Wells a few times. Stalin was way more respectful to his political opponents than Marx was to his allies lmao
He’d debate people in the New York Tribune. I also heard once that the amount of material Marx wrote about Max Stirner exceeds the material that Stirner himself wrote in total.
There’s the annoying stereotype you sometimes see where people are like “Oh, Stalin wasn’t smart, he was a brute who only rose to power through violence and coercion” b/c when you read anything he wrote, he shows a clear understanding of his subject by making very careful, easy to follow arguments that explain the concepts he talks about concisely. Obviously you gotta hand it to the kind Vladimir Ilyich but for me Stalin might actually be more enjoyable to read
It was weird reading Stalin for the first time, because I had gotten so used to reading Marx and Lenin. Those two were firebrands, constantly belittling their opponents, mocking people, using grandiose language. It’s awesome.
So I expected Stalin to take that even further, since he’s so much more widely demonized. I thought he was going to be flinging the spiciest insults I’d ever read. I was stoked.
I was kinda shocked to see he was actually very polite and chill compared to them. He wrote a lot more clearly too. I’ve read that one interview Stalin did with HG Wells a bunch of times. Wells is kinda rude to Stalin a bunch of times, and says a boatload of liberal claptrap. But Stalin just remains composed and even compliments Wells a few times. Stalin was way more respectful to his political opponents than Marx was to his allies lmao
Hot take, Marx would be debating people on Twitch if he was alive today.
He’d debate people in the New York Tribune. I also heard once that the amount of material Marx wrote about Max Stirner exceeds the material that Stirner himself wrote in total.
Marx and Stirner are the 19th century Destiny and Hasan.
Ok maybe not, I don’t see Stirner debating anyone. Dude was too edgy to even do that.
It’s a tragedy that Marx was born too early to be history’s greatest poster.
There’s the annoying stereotype you sometimes see where people are like “Oh, Stalin wasn’t smart, he was a brute who only rose to power through violence and coercion” b/c when you read anything he wrote, he shows a clear understanding of his subject by making very careful, easy to follow arguments that explain the concepts he talks about concisely. Obviously you gotta hand it to the kind Vladimir Ilyich but for me Stalin might actually be more enjoyable to read