American Relief Fund and the USSR
I'm currently reading Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America by Ted Morgan and I came across something that I found rather interesting.
During the time after the civil war in the USSR, there was a famine in which the Bolsheviks couldn't subside. The ARA (American Relief Administration) stepped in to help feed the people of Russia. Not to say they intent was only to help, they also hopped to cause a counter-revolution while they were there.
When it came to the transportation of the food donated from the US, Lenin and Trotsky both agreed that the Bolsheviks should provide free transportation because the US is doing what the SU could not, feeding the Russian people. On the other hand, Stalin wanted to make them pay for the transportation and called the ARA a front for espionage. The ARA was a front, but that doesn't mean the Russian people should starve.
Of the three main leaders of the time, only one of them was willing to allow millions of people starve due to chances espionage. Oddly enough, he was the one who gained control after the death of Lenin. This whole situation seemed as though Stalin feared the loss of power more than the loss of life.
During the time after the civil war in the USSR, there was a famine in which the Bolsheviks couldn't subside. The ARA (American Relief Administration) stepped in to help feed the people of Russia. Not to say they intent was only to help, they also hopped to cause a counter-revolution while they were there.
When it came to the transportation of the food donated from the US, Lenin and Trotsky both agreed that the Bolsheviks should provide free transportation because the US is doing what the SU could not, feeding the Russian people. On the other hand, Stalin wanted to make them pay for the transportation and called the ARA a front for espionage. The ARA was a front, but that doesn't mean the Russian people should starve.
Of the three main leaders of the time, only one of them was willing to allow millions of people starve due to chances espionage. Oddly enough, he was the one who gained control after the death of Lenin. This whole situation seemed as though Stalin feared the loss of power more than the loss of life.
posted by D_Bokk at 11:30 PM
3 Comments:
that is very true, Stalin was a man who wanted a government controlled economy for power and not for the greater good. He was not even truly a communist in my book because he allowed trade with capitalists and as Marx said communism is the abolishment of private property which in my opinion means destroying money and systems of trade, and replacing it with all things turned into public property and shared. I also at times doubt Lenin's intentions due to some of his actions and policies. I do however like Trotsky, however i think he was a bit naive and to trusting of lenin, but he really did seem to care about the people of the entire world.
Trotsky wouldn't have been all to much better then Stalin. A lot of Trotskyists wanted to have a world war to force revolutions worldwide. Trotsky himself aided Bourgeois intelligence after being thrown out of the USSR. All in all, there isn't really a good guy/girl in the USSR. If there ever was - he/she would have been killed before he/she became well known.
Hmm that's interesting. I'll look into that. I am not to knowledgable on the various so-called communist countries or leaders. I'm more into the philosophy.
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