Stalin is well liked in Russia (somewhat, anyway; he brings up polarizing viewpoints kind of like FDR in the US) because, for all his faults, he was exceptionally good at finding people that didn't like him in the Soviet Union and having them executed along with their families, friends, and possibly coworkers. His brilliant method of keeping people loyal to him was to first massacre nearly every person of importance from his generation, particularly old Bolsheviks that could possibly get enough support to rival him, including some of his closest and most loyal friends like Bukharin and the Alliluyevas. He would then indoctrinate the next generation to mindlessly follow his every command, and then massacre the higher-ups of that generation, too. He continued this up until his death, when he was probably assassinated by the "Heroes of the Great Patriotic War" like Molotov and Beria that he was planning to purge like every previous government he had led. Khrushchev and the rest were decidedly less willing to engage in wanton murder, and thus didn't get the honour of becoming "heroes" for future generations.
Anyhow, it's really debatable as to whether Stalin was the only reason Russia industrialized. Assuming the Whites had won, Russia would have industrialized anyway as indeed it was already beginning to, especially considering how the Lenin years basically put Russian economic growth to a halt as the new Soviet government tried to figure out how to prevent starvation (before coming to the conclusion that they may as well restore Capitalism for food, which worked more or less effectively up until Stalin decided to mix things up). Kerensky was a drugged-up nut to be sure, but Russia survived worse rulers than him and it's doubtful that he'd hold power for very long without the threat of Bolsheviks keeping the Whites looking for a "strong leader". A non-Soviet Russia by 1940 would be much more powerful than the Russia ineptly ruled by the Romanovs during 1914. Alternatively, nearly any of the other Old Bolsheviks, from Trotsky to Kamenev to Bukharin and Rykov would have probably led Russia to a better position than it was in under Stalin on the day of the German invasion. Ignoring industrialization, let's look at all the brilliant things Stalin did to lead the Soviet Union to victory:
-Refused to consider any defensive preparations to deal with a possible German invasion
-Had nearly all of his competent officers shot, including such leaders as Tukhachevsky, the fellow who basically pioneered the strategies that would end up being used to win the war. One side effect of this was a critical shortage of officers for a large portion of the war, leading to minimally trained squad commanders leading battalions and battalion commanders leading regiments.
-Completely ignored his spy rings and intelligence services, the best in the world at the time, when they basically gave him nearly exact dates for when the Germans would invade and how strong their forces were.
-Of the survivors, he had arrested or shot those that advocated any kind of defensive strategy for dealing with a potential German invasion, or indeed anyone that suggested the possibility of a German invasion at all (quite ironically, some of those arresting for suggesting that Germany may invade were still in jail well after the Germans actually invaded)
-When actually invaded, instead of having his existing forces hold their positions to delay the invaders or tactically retreat and bleed them white, he repeatedly threw his disorganized forces against the Germans in pointless, bloody counterattacks that crippled the Red Army up until mid/late 1942. He also had officers that either didn't obey these orders or "failed" in counterattacking superior forces - guess what! - imprisoned or executed.
-He continued to directly order pointless, bloody offensives that sapped Soviet strength right up until the end of the war, though he gave his generals slightly more leeway after 1941 fortunately enough
-Near the end of the war, when Soviet forces neared lightly defended Berlin and had an opportunity to end the war nearly a year ahead of time, Stalin ordered his forces to stop and instead focus on taking heavily defended territory in Central Europe so as to get a zone of control in Austria, resulting in tens of thousands of additional Soviet deaths when the Germans actually reinforced Berlin
This is ignoring the various atrocities preceding the war that led to millions of deaths, left Soviet agricultural production in shambles after years of relative efficiency, and very nearly caused the Germans to gain the support of peoples they quite openly expressed a desire to exterminate and relocate.
Industrialization and superior production absolutely saved the Soviet Union after the disasters of 1941-42, but the Germans absolutely should not have reached so close to seizing Moscow as they did. Had Stalin not utterly destroyed his own nation's ability to fight before the war and then destroyed the bulk of his initial forces during it, the Soviets would have easily been capable of rolling over the Wehrmacht by 1943 or so. Of course, if Stalin was so competent then there may well have been a red flag flying over Paris after the war, so there's that.
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Topic: Sheb's European Megathread: Remove Feta! (Read 1776868 times)