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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by sadschmuck@hexbear.net to c/history@hexbear.net

No.

According to a claim circulating online, there is a CIA document or internal communication from the 1950s asserting that Joseph Stalin was not a dictator. The existence of this document is cited as proof either that Stalin was not a dictator after all, or at least that even the CIA didn't think he was. However, looking at the document in question, we see it is not a pronouncement of fact by the CIA whatsoever, but an anecdotal information report submitted to CIA information gatherers. As such, the document is a primary source representing the perspective of one anonymous informant, not the opinion of the CIA as a whole. Additionally, the document is contradicted by dozens of more reliable or detailed documents obtained or created by the CIA in the same period, indicating that they did not believe Stalin was non-dictatorial as claimed.

The transcript is in the comments.

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[-] sadschmuck@hexbear.net 4 points 7 months ago

Re the 2nd video:

As the story goes, Stalin was Lenin’s right-hand-man and the person slated to succeed him upon his death. Or if not Stalin, sometimes emphasis is placed on Leon Trotsky as a possible alternative. However, in actuality there was a man more senior than both Stalin and Trotsky, a man who was Lenin’s original right-hand-man: Yakov Sverdlov. Up to his untimely death in 1919, Sverdlov held the reins of the Secretariat, placing him in a position to succeed Lenin if the opportunity arose. He was effectively Stalin before Stalin, serving as the blueprint for the latter’s rise to power.

this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
52 points (98.1% liked)

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