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[Mintball]

BrisbaneRhino wrote:

Lenin was in favour of violence against anybody and everybody who stood in his way. The most nonsensical whitewashing of history is the suggestion that somehow Stalin was the terrible oddball of Russian revolutionaries, and Lenin some kind of peace loving representative of all that was good and a great ideological thinker.

Can we assume that you believe that violence is never justified to overthrow repressive (and violent) regimes?

[Mugwump]

Lenin was by no means an angel and it is absolutely true to say he sanctioned some terrible deeds. But it's not like the Tsar and his cronies (in addition to the invading American, British, French and Japanese expeditionary forces) stuck to Queensberry Rules.

If we're going to draw useful conclusions about Lenin and the Bolsheviks it's probably a good idea to ask the Russian people before anyone else. The last time I checked their achievements remain part of a proud national heritage - even after the fall of Communism.

If Lenin was around today he would not have been afraid to regulate the excesses of the banking sector and take action against the culprits.