Oh, the terror of it all!

Responding to: Andra's post, which responded to Nate's.

Industrialization did not necessarily need a communist regime to increase. As far as I can tell, there can be no connection made between Stalin's ideologies and the increase in industrialization. Thus, the two do not need to go hand in hand. Industrialization and the improvement of Russia as a whole could have occurred without the terror, which makes it completely and utterly not understandable and unjustifiable to me.

When I think about communism, I never associate it with industrial progress; rather, I view it as a political system beyond manufacturing/materialistic/competitive capitalism. Rather than thinking that "Industrialization did not necessarily need a communist regime to increase," I marvel at the fact that Stalin was able to apply communism in such a way that it did boost industrialization. While this in no way justifies the mass killings and virtual enslavement of 10% of Russia's population, there is a connection between "Stalin's ideologies and the increase in industrialization." As I see it, a main focus of Stalin's was to ensure the survival of the "first communist state." Unlike Trotsky, Stalin did not think a world-wide revolution was necessary, but he still knew that Russia could, at any point, be threatened by other European powers. Thus, the increase in industrialization grew Russia's self-sustainability and prepared it for future conflicts. While I cannot agree with the tactics used by Stalin to bring about industrialization, I cannot deny that Russia needed to be brought up to speed in terms of industrialism if they wished to compete on the world stage.

In related news, I found this article particularly interesting. It's from January 1937 and discusses Trotsky, Stalin, and about Stalin's forced rise to power.

Trotsky urged the industrialization oi Russia, and that was "Trotskyism" until he had been kicked out and it became Stalinism. Trotsky urged regimentation oi [sic] the Russian peasantry by the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, the peasants to be uprooted from their little holdings and forced onto vast collective farms with tractor; replacing horses and Moscow able at any moment to shut off the gasoline if the peasants got obstreperous. That too was "Trotskyism," bitterly denounced by Stalin until, Trotsky having been ousted, it became and is today Stalinism. (page 6)