I just watched a video on how Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, quite possibly the two most famous leaders of the Soviet Union, were different. It was explained that Lenin and Stalin both killed people, but the difference was, Stalin actually enjoyed it, while Lenin merely did it out of “political necessity.”
Be that as it may. Okay, fine, Lenin may well not have been the sadist that Stalin was, but, two things must be taken into account: one, Lenin killed almost as many people as Stalin did, two, he was just as heartless. The very fact that he allowed, and may even have ordered (according to Trotsky,) that the Russian royal family be herded down into a basement in the dead of night and killed is completely barbaric, and utterly inexcusable.
We must always remember, even if the Russians don’t, that the atrocities committed by Stalin were preceded by atrocities of almost equal brutality, committed by Lenin. So, in closing, no one, I repeat, NO ONE, can excuse Lenin’s behaviour by pointing to Stalin’s and claiming it was worse. It simply cannot be done.
