this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2026
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History Memes

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[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 65 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Low estimates are nine million dead and the high estimates are that he killed thirty million of his citizens.

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 51 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Western propaganda! TO THE GULAGS WITH YOU.

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 68 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Oh never mind Stalin was nine to thirty million dead Lenin was only four to fourteen million.

I keep confusing these mass murdering communist heads of state.

[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Oh, I thought you were talking about Zedong... D:

His number is forty to seventy million dead.

High score so far.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

did someone mention Deng Xiaoping?

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Okay Stalin was just a dipshit but most people you're counting against Lenin died in circumstances legitimately out of his control (the civil war and the famine resulting thereof). He was still a dipshit, but not a mass murdering dipshit.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 11 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I mean, I don't know how much blame I'd ascribe to Lenin, but his 'war communism' policy was very much a contributor to the famine.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 5 points 1 month ago

I mean true but save for some weird decisions (something something bag men) that strictly goes under the war part; I can forgive the Bolsheviks for not pulling punches while fighting literal fascists, and they did address the problem as soon as they knew about it. War communism didn't need to be as brutal or as far-reaching as it was, but for the most part it was an acceptable play in a terrible situation.

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[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 month ago (4 children)

But Lenin has a fancy sarcophagus so he gets a free pass.

It's ironic that you say "sarcophagus" because the only reason Lenin was mummified was that King Tut's tomb had been discovered just before his death. Pravda had covered the discovery extensively and the Bolsheviks decided to capitalize on Tut's popularity by preserving Lenin's corpse -- in hilariously amateurish fashion, since mummification was not something regularly done in Russia.

[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 7 points 1 month ago

Also, Stalin was hot when he was young, so we can fix him.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

It's not that fancy though. I found it deeply unimpressive honestly.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 month ago

Psh, Ho Chi Minh's is better

[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 3 points 1 month ago

Bro, I mix them up too. Don't worry. I know that Lenin came first and that he didn't want Stalin to take over after him because he was too radical or something. But saying no to Stalin is like saying no to Putin. The word doesn't exist to them. But when it comes to numbers and statistics of who did what, I fuck it up constantly. I'm also not at all super knowledgeable about Russian history. Had a brief obsession with the Romanov dynasty, which is its own can of fucked up worms, but when it comes to communism, it's just so uniquely awful and demotivating to hear and read about that I tune out. Communism to my brain, is the gray apartment blocks where everything looks the same and there is no life and beauty anywhere.

[–] real_squids@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nitpicking but Gulag is singular and it's the division in control of the camps, where you'd be sent. It's like saying to the Pentagon with you

[–] Tja@programming.dev 8 points 1 month ago

TIL, but in common speech gulag is always used for the camp itself.

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 22 points 1 month ago (8 children)

What are you referencing? Even in the most anti communist historical interpretations the vast amount of deaths are usually attributed to Stalin, not Lenin.

If we're talking about the holodomor..... That began in 1932, roughly 8 years after Lenin had already died.

I'm not claiming that there aren't any valid criticisms of the Russian revolution, however I think attributing all that criticism to Lenin is just historically inaccurate.

We also have to view history within the context of their own time when evaluating things like social morality. Was the Soviet revolution devoid of crimes against humanity, no. But I think it would be hard to argue that it wasn't a vast improvement compared to the literal tyrannical rule of the Romanov family.

[–] JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Lenin is responsible for a huge amount of deaths during the revolution, during the civil war and after. This whole story of "Lenin was good and then Stalin corrupted the revolution" is actually rooted in the propaganda of Khrushchevs destalinisation. But if you read a good biography of Lenin, you will find out that was totally fine with all the political murders

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Lenin is responsible for a huge amount of deaths during the revolution, during the civil war and after

I would say that the Romanov are the party who are largely responsible for the deaths during the revolution. Some kind of revolution was going to happen in Russia, and just reducing all the blame on Lenin ignores the context of the actual fractious nature of the revolution.

This whole story of "Lenin was good and then Stalin corrupted the revolution" is actually rooted in the propaganda of Khrushchevs destalinisation.

Again, I didn't say he was a nice guy. My claim was that it's straight up ahistorical to claim he murdered 9 million people.

if you read a good biography of Lenin, you will find out that was totally fine with all the political murders

What is a revolution if not a collection of political murders? Again, we have to view the revolution with context and measure them against their contemporaries. It's not as if the revolution happened to a ruling government that was unfamiliar with political murders themselves.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)

I would say that the Romanov are the party who are largely responsible for the deaths during the revolution. Some kind of revolution was going to happen in Russia, and just reducing all the blame on Lenin ignores the context of the actual fractious nature of the revolution.

Would you like to remind me what kind of mass violence there was between February and October in 1917

It’s not as if the revolution happened to a ruling government that was unfamiliar with political murders themselves.

Would you like to remind me what provisional government and elected legislature the Bolsheviks actually performed their revolution against?

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[–] sundaymidnight@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago (7 children)

First of all, I don't really know of anyone calling Konstadt rebellion to be led by anarchist. They were ardent communist who became disillusioned over time due to poor working conditions.

Secondly, out of the 15k men who held the fort, it's thought that around 10k escaped to Finland during the fighting, all while killing around 10k soldiers of the red army.

I don't really think this really fits within the scope of the argument that Lenin murdered 9 million people.

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[–] ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Churchill starved 4 million Bengali to death.

And the high estimates of excessive deaths in British occupied India is 100 mil?

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

So because British imperialism was bad, mass death in the Soviet Union was okay?

It seems like you're learning the wrong lessons from history...

[–] ugandan_airways@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

It’s that same style whataboutism that Trumpers love to do: “what about Biden?” It’s fucking annoying and I hate Joe Biden. When your only argument is pointing to what someone else did, you don’t really have an argument.

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[–] Draegur@lemmy.zip 14 points 1 month ago

Sounds like we all agree that IMPERIALISM BAD. Glad that's been cleared up

Cool. The first one still happened.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 39 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Watch it, you'll summon the .ml tankies defending War Crimes

[–] timestatic@feddit.org 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah lmao I literally thought this is just calling on the .ml invasion to happen. Its only a matter of time now

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think piefed defederated with .ml

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

No, I think we're still federated. I'm just very 'active' as a moderator in the HistoryMemes comm banning tankie apologists here, so they probably don't see much point in it.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 month ago

Oh, I see. Keep up the good work!

[–] XM34@feddit.org 3 points 1 month ago

Here, take this badge of honor for your work: 🎖️

[–] timestatic@feddit.org 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago

Oh I agree, it's so peaceful on these threads. I block all the .ml comms but I still have to see .ml users in other threads so I'm planning on switching to piefed

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 25 points 1 month ago

Countdown to a brigade of triggered tankies:

3... 2... Oh wait, this is piefed

[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

People who think Bernie Sanders is right-wing hate this post

[–] sundaymidnight@piefed.social 9 points 1 month ago

haha certain persons cof cof... ml... cof cof.. 'll have a brain bleeding

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