Showing posts with label stalin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stalin. Show all posts

Monday, December 18, 2023

Communist Dictator Joseph Stalin on This Day in History

 

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This Day in History: Socialist Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin was born on this day in 1878. This murderous tyrant who killed more people than Hitler was actually nicknamed "Uncle Joe" by leaders in the West. This started with Franklin Delano Roosevelt who went to great lengths to warm the image of Stalin and the Soviet Union in the eyes of the public. FDR purposefully claimed that the Katyn massacre was committed by Germans, despite knowing that Stalin was behind this mass execution of nearly 22,000 Polish officers. 

I remember this quote from A.J. Jacob's 2005 book _The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World_: "If there’s one ironclad rule I’ve learned about government, it’s this: never trust a politician with the nickname 'Uncle.' You’ve got Uncle Joe Stalin … Ho Chi Minh, whose nickname was Uncle Ho. And for the trifecta, you’ve got [“Uncle”] Paul Kruger, the founder of South Africa’s nefarious Afrikaaner nation… So if you see an uncle on the ballot, do not be tempted to vote for him. He is not actually your uncle. He will not tell you funny jokes and pull nickels out of your ear. Instead, he may try to have you purged. Just to be safe, stay away from politicians named Papa as well."

Here are some quotes from Stalin to help you determine his character:

“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?”

“Death is the solution to all problems. No man, no problem.”

“Gratitude is an illness suffered by dogs.”

“I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how.”

“Education is a weapon, the effect of which is determined by the hands which wield it, by who is to be struck down.”

“The press must grow day in and day out — it is our Party's sharpest and most powerful weapon.”

“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”


*FDR also admired Fascist Leader Benito Mussolini.

Monday, June 21, 2021

Preacher of Evil, Niccolò Machiavelli on This Day in History


This Day in History: Niccolò Machiavelli died on this day in 1527. He is best known for writing The Prince, a pessimistic look at human nature and political philosophy. As he writes: “It is much safer to be feared than loved because ... love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” He argued that the ruler or government ought to do good when possible, but they must not be afraid to do evil to stay in power. Other men are willing to do evil in order to overturn the leader's rule, and because of this fatal tendency, leaders must also do evil from time to time. 

As a result, the word “Machiavellian” has come to denote someone who is cunning and unscrupulous. The Prince made it into the Catholic Church's first "Index of Forbidden Books" in 1557.

"Niccolò Machiavelli was reviled throughout Europe during the 16th century and on into the next two centuries. He was considered to be someone unique in the history of the West, a conscious preacher of evil, a diabolic figure who had unleashed the demons in the world of politics. The English used his given name as a synonym for the Devil, 'Old Nick.' As Macaulay put it, 'Out of his surname they have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a synonym for the Devil.'"~Murray N. Rothbard

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini wrote a discourse on The Prince

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin read The Prince and annotated his own copy. 20th-century Italian-American mobsters were influenced by The Prince. 

Hitler kept a copy of The Prince by his bedside.

John Gotti and Roy DeMeo would regularly quote The Prince and consider it to be the "Mafia Bible".

In the movie "A Bronx Tale", local mob boss says that while in jail, he passed the time by reading Machiavelli, whom he describes as "a famous writer from 500 years ago"—and then tells him how Machiavelli's philosophy, including his famous advice about how it is preferable for a leader to be feared rather than loved if he cannot be both—have made him a successful mob boss.

Rapper Tupac Shakur read Machiavelli while in prison and was so influenced by his work that he eventually changed his rap name from 2Pac to Makaveli.


See also Machiavelli the Visionary 1892

Machiavelli's Prince, Article in The Nation 1891

Machiavelli Wasn't Machiavellian

See also: Over 200 Books that have CHANGED the World on DVDrom - For a list of all of my digital books and ebooks and books on disks click here




Sunday, May 3, 2020

Niccolò Machiavelli on This Day in History


This Day in History: Niccolò Machiavelli was born on this day in 1469.  He is best known for writing The Prince, a pessimistic look at human nature and political philosophy. As he writes: “It is much safer to be feared than loved because ... love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” He argued that the ruler or government ought to do good when possible, but they must not be afraid to do evil to stay in power. Other men are willing to do evil in order to overturn the leader's rule, and because of this fatal tendency, leaders must also do evil from time to time. 

As a result, the word “Machiavellian” has come to denote someone who is cunning and unscrupulous. The Prince made it into the Catholic Church's first "Index of Forbidden Books" in 1557.

"Niccolò Machiavelli was reviled throughout Europe during the 16th century and on into the next two centuries. He was considered to be someone unique in the history of the West, a conscious preacher of evil, a diabolic figure who had unleashed the demons in the world of politics. The English used his given name as a synonym for the Devil, 'Old Nick.' As Macaulay put it, 'Out of his surname they have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name a synonym for the Devil.'"~Murray N. Rothbard

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini wrote a discourse on The Prince

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin read The Prince and annotated his own copy. 20th-century Italian-American mobsters were influenced by The Prince. 

Hitler kept a copy of The Prince by his bedside.

John Gotti and Roy DeMeo would regularly quote The Prince and consider it to be the "Mafia Bible".

In the movie "A Bronx Tale", local mob boss says that while in jail, he passed the time by reading Machiavelli, whom he describes as "a famous writer from 500 years ago"—and then tells him how Machiavelli's philosophy, including his famous advice about how it is preferable for a leader to be feared rather than loved if he cannot be both—have made him a successful mob boss.

Rapper Tupac Shakur read Machiavelli while in prison and was so influenced by his work that he eventually changed his rap name from 2Pac to Makaveli.


See also Machiavelli the Visionary 1892

Machiavelli's Prince, Article in The Nation 1891

Machiavelli Wasn't Machiavellian

See also: Over 200 Books that have CHANGED the World to Download - For a list of all of my digital books and ebooks and books on disks click here