POLITICS : Stalin and the subversion of truth.

Starting in 1928, Joseph Stalin was notorious for eliminating any possible threat to himself.

He was responsible for liquidating (a nice way of saying murdering) millions of the Soviet Union's own citizens. From a humanitarian standpoint, it's...heartwrenching.

From an historical standpoint, what stands out is one thing in particular: he went after anyone - ANYONE - who might pose a threat to his supreme power.

He held numerous trials. Or rather, "trials." They were held publicly, and the outcome was always decided ahead of time. They were carefully rehearsed; prosecutors read their lines, witnesses memorized the correct testimony, judges knew the verdict they were expected to render, and in the end the accused would "confess" their crime publicly.

But the really fascinating part is how additionally unsafe it was to be in any close proximity to him.

He would turn on anyone too close because they...were a potential threat to his supreme power.

One of his greatest and most notable achievements was removing the legendary Soviet military leader Marshal Tuchachevsky as a threat. “Removing,” of course, meaning “tortured until confession received, then shot in the back of the head, then executing or sending off all his family to the gulags.” His guilt was assured, as judges on the tribunal to assess his guilt were fearful that they would be next.

And there was something to that fearfulness: five of the eight judges were soon accused (“treason” being a good catch all), convicted, and executed themselves. Stalin’s method was classic in its elegant brutality, bringing visions to mind of the Visigoths forcing Roman slaves to bury their deceased leader, Alaric, with his treasures in the diverted river bed of the Busento, and then killing them to avoid divulging the site.

As did many pirates, ancient Egyptians, and many others throughout history. Get peons to do your dirty work because they fear you, then replace (i.e. kill) them. Foster distrust and conflict and make people fight for their lives, because then there will always be an intense competition to see who might stay alive. That hope that maybe, just possibly, with enough loyalty, they might be able to keep their head.

Or keep their job.

But I Iike to think of Stalin’s example and what can be learned from it today: you hire people to do your dirty work. You demand unswerving loyalty, and you reward that unswerving loyalty with an impossible-to-predict mix of carrot and barbwire-wrapped stick. You constantly keep your subordinates, especially those who also have power, guessing - and fighting - to survive.

You create a culture of paranoia where the greatest attribute and accolade is total allegiance to the supreme leader, and if you demonstrate enough loyalty, then you might survive.

You might. For a while.

Until it’s better that you don’t. And then you’re dispensable. Replaceable with someone who has slightly less power and slightly more loyalty.

To those who sell their soul to survive: when you are betrayed by those whom you have given your allegiance to; when you have sold others out to ingratiate yourself; when you have fired good and decent servants in the name of Realpolitik and your personality-culted master, knowing you are committing moral suicide,

then know that you may have survived another day, but when you fight for that kind of survival, it’s just for another day. Or two. Or three. Or an indeterminate length of time. But your time will come. You have given up something precious that is probably irretrievable.

Your dignity.
Your honor.
Your trust.
Possibly your career.
And your legacy.

Your legacy.

People keep track of these things. People who write down happenings for history. And someday, those written-down happenings become the historic record for future generations.

So know that there are many, many, many eyes watching, and many, many, many typewriters clacking to ensure there is a record of those who aid and abet in indefensible actions against humanity.

We may not be the ones to pass judgment.

We may not like the timeline of justice.

We may be powerless in the here and now to right blasphemous wrongs TODAY.

But history, for all its faults and cracks and biases, will bear a picture of today’s happenings and those who have abetted crimes against human dignity, conscience, and truth. Your choices today will be future history.

I am a skeptic in many ways. A skeptic sometimes teetering precariously close to cynicism.

But I have a tiny percentage of my heart and head solidly reserved for hope, faith, and belief.

One of the things I am optimistic about is the belief, perhaps naive, but also born out from a longstanding love of studying history and patterns, that a certain ‘bulk of the truth’ will come forth and be available as a record for future generations.

A record of the moral failings, ethical atrocities and political fratricides that are unprecedented in modern times in my country.

A record that helps us to not repeat these failings.

A record that reminds us there may not always be clear-cut heroes and villains...and that reminds us that occasionally there are.

Joseph Stalin is looked at somewhat favorably today, from my understanding, by a significant number of Russians and Georgians, due to his helping turn the country into a world power.

But for history at-large, he is a figure that is horrifying. A genocidal leader that decimated much of his own country, targeted specific classes and groups for extermination, and destroyed the lives of many, many people. Most of those people didn’t know him personally.

And some of them, as they came to regret, learned that there was such a thing as being too close to power.

Why do I keep writing?

I don’t know.

Because life needs to be written down.

There needs to be a record.

There needs to be a record so that there can someday be a reckoning.

Thank you to those servants who have served and who continue to serve our country with humility, integrity...and to provide us with an example of what it means to serve with honor and stand up for your country above yourself.

Thank you. Thank you for your service, and I am sorry for those times when you are betrayed by those above you who are using you for their own endgame. I am sorry.

I leave with two of my favorite quotes: