politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:

- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
I mean, Stalin locked swaths of people up, incited pogroms, expelled political dissidents -- but does that make those actions "Stalinist" in any context? It reads to me as an appeal to red scare sensibilities. In fact these are moves are out of any authoritarian's playbook. It's fascist brain drain. I think that's all they're saying. Granted ML tends toward tankie, but this take seems fine
I don't know where all this talk of Stalinist came from. That right there was my first posting of it in this thread. Stalin was an authoritarian dictator. Stalinist/leninist it's all just another flavor of authoritarianism. Not unique to either one of them really. And ultimately a straw man. Just as the claims of sedition are a deflection.
It's literally in the title of the post and your comment was defending the take by presenting an example of something Stalin did.
Like, how much more of a connection is needed?
Also, no. Stalinist and Leninist are not "flavors of authoritarianism". Words have meaning derived from the historical process of meaning creation in a society that you live in. Stalinism has a meaning that is historically defined. Leninism has a meaning that is historically defined. It not just "whatever was done".
If that's the case then the all genocides are Bidenism because Biden presided over a genocide. Genocides would also be Harrisism. Drone strikes of American citizens would be Obamism. Saving Nazis would be Trumanism.
None of these words mean those things.