Reply #91: A couple of points, though you're obviously better-read

[Jed Dilligan]

on the subject.

1. Wasn't it Stalin's decision to move production behind the Urals? That was probably the most important factor in Soviet victory IMO.

2. The woeful defense of the border in Summer-Fall 1941 can be interpreted as an enormous bluff to make the Hitler overextend himself. Brutal way to play mind games, but I think Stalin understood Hitler's mind to this extent.

3. If it was basically the officer corps that won the war, how could the purges of 37-38 have worked against winning the war? Brutal way to change staff, but he apparently had the right guys at the end of it.

I don't admire Stalin and don't really know where this argument started, but I think my original point is that bad people sometimes work to good ends, or sometimes speak the truth. I didn't know you were such a WWII buff, but you haven't changed my view that Stalin was a shrewd leader who basically mindfucked everyone, while also killing a lot of innocent people.