The Congress of Victors Mystery: Did Stalin Lose to Kirov?

Comments · 269

• AU

  @auzandil · 1 year ago

  I admire the fact that, even as you increase the production value and the theatrics with every new video, you avoid the trap that some video essayists fall into -- that is, style over substance. As usual, an intriguing and original question, handled with an academic rigor that is unusual for Youtube.

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• FE

  @FEMAWaltonSimons · 1 year ago

  The middle ground option that votes were mostly disqualified or removed by spontaneous initiative from the counters seems the most plausible. It doesn't require an elaborate and perfectly covered-up conspiracy like the high estimate but it also doesn't discount the consistent testimony regarding the existence and subsequent disappearance of "explicitly" anti-Stalin ballots.

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• CO

  @COMCOM755 · 1 year ago

  A pretty good analysis of the congress, shows that "stalin didn't get the most votes, so he killed kirov" is certainly a fantasy

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• VA

  @vallraffs · 1 year ago

  It is pretty remarkable and really sad, when you look through a list of russian revolutionaries, to see just how many lost their lives in or around 1937

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• SP

  @spartakus8377 · 1 year ago

  Do one about Bukharin, he was quite an interesting character in the Soviet history.

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• SA

  @samk2407 · 10 months ago (edited)

  It seems most plausible to me that as you say, minor changes to the votes were made because they wanted complete unity. That's both important enough and mundane enough to be believable without being this kind of unprecedented complete rebellion which would be super out of character as you pointed out.

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• TH

  @therand0mchannle350 · 1 year ago

  I am glad that you cite your sources. I always respect creators who put in the effort to source, credit and cite the related information that they used in videos such as this one. Do not bow down to style, stay true to form.

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• RU

  @RufustheRed-gx8bh · 1 year ago

  Anti communist historians tend to accuse Stalin both of the crimes he actually committed (Moscow trials, Trotsky's assassination) and the crimes he didn't commit. In Kirov's case, they follow a narrative similar to Shakespeare's Richard III: a supervillain plans everything, scheming his way to the top and murdering everybody in the way. The fact that Stalin lost control of the situation more than once isn't taken into account, and the general context is ignored. The collectivisation, with its conflicts, put the workers against the paesants, and such tensions brought disappointment, to the point where a desperate and furious communist vented his rage by killing Kirov.

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• NE

  @nemo222w · 5 months ago

  The congress of victors should be called the congress of martyrs because Koba murdered over 700 delegates out of 1100. The revolution eats its children.

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• MA

  @MatthewChenault · 1 year ago

  I highly doubt the vote narrative as it’s trying to make Stalin out to be directly challenged by Kirov who never showed any form of disloyalty to Stalin. <br><br>If anything, it’s more likely Kirov’s sudden assassination was what led Stalin down the path of paranoia. After all, Kirov - for all intents and purposes - was a confident party member who was at the height of his power, yet was assassinated for little to no reason. <br><br>Couple that with Trotsky prodding at the Soviet Structure from the outside and Stalin likely connected some dots (dots that weren’t there) to argue this notion of a Trotskyite plot from within conspiring to take out the top leadership. <br><br>What further leads me to suspect this is the fact Kirov never got the “Yezhov” treatment; he wasn’t expunged from the records, but was consistently honored and recognized, especially with the honor of having an entire heavy cruiser class named after him. If he was an enemy of Stalin, why would Stalin allow for him to be honored?<br><br>Simply put, I doubt Stalin had anything to do with Kirov’s assassination and the flimsy case arguing for it through this notion of the “no votes” doesn’t compel me.

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• IN

  @insomnibomb4830 · 1 year ago

  This video is really satiating my hunger for historical politics with colored squares until the next Historia civilis video comes out

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• GA

  @garmagarmagarma · 1 year ago

  That last sentence goes hard!

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