Hermit Crow

A place for a recluse.

[jacensolodjo]

actually  one last anti commie post while I’m thinking about it and because I never got around to making a proper list of books that I use as my sources like i keep saying I will. Obviously, the Black Book is one. Also these books are mainly centered around Russia/Ukraine/Poland/Eastern Europe et al except for Black Book of Communism. I have not read a lot of books centered around other areas such as Latin America, unfortunately. I’m sure other people probably have resources floating around for that.

But I also suggest, especially for English speakers: 

Black Book of Communism by Stéphane Courtois, Andrzej Paczkowski, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Margolin, and several others - Is very often referenced by younger books. Some parts are actually written by ex-commies.

Harvest of Sorrow by Robert Conquest - However, like Black Book it is obviously dated but that doesn’t mean its facts are out of date. in fact, the two can actually end up referencing each other depending on which edition it is.

Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum - What it says on the tin, talks about the Holodomor also referred to as the Red Famine. (I especially like that she actually asks locals about it! Historians, unlike anthropologists, tend to be very hands off when doing research which can result in a lot of errors and just a feeling like the person doesn’t actually care about what happened they just want the fame from talking about it.)

The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder - though it isn’t STRICTLY about communism (it is also very anti-fascist) i still recommend it because he gets into the how things happened as well as how to combat said things, both fascist and communist

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder - Also goes into warning signs (mainly about fascism) but he talks about communism some too (as well as Putin)

Execution by Hunger by Miron Dolot - Is actually a first person memoir about the collectivization and Holodomor. This is very heart wrenching to read but I find it important!

Borderland by Anna Reid - Is a broader look at the history of the Polish/Ukrainian/western Russia area but does touch on important points but it is not to be confused with

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder (see above) - And as expected, it talks about the Polish/Ukraine/North Caucasus region between the 1930s to 1950s. 

Judgment in Moscow: Soviet Crimes and Western Complicity by Vladimir Bukovsky - Basically what it says on the tin, describing what all the West did and didn’t do. Did as in how Western Commies helped and didn’t do as in how they tried to stifle the crimes.

A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia by Alexander Yakovlev - This is slightly different from other books in that this is written by a man who was a high ranking official in the USSR. And yet he became instrumental in revealing all the atrocities committed, especially where antisemitism was concerned (which led to him being ‘made’ to retire aka banished). 

Stalinist Perpetrators on Trial by Lynne Viola -  NKVD operatives were tried secretly. And what exactly happened in those courtrooms was unknown until now. In their own words they describe the Great Terror and what they were expected to do as good communists. 

Gareth Jones: Eyewitness to the Holodomor by Gamanche Ray - Gareth Jones was the first Western journalist to find the true story of the Holodomor and did his best to make the world see what was happening. There is a huge suspicion that he was assassinated for this, but it has not been proven. This book is made up of his journals and biography.

More Than a Grain of Truth by Dr. Margaret Siriol Colley and Nigel Linsan Colley- Another book about Gareth Jones, written as a kind of ‘true story behind the film’ for the movie Mr. Jones

Babi Yar by Anatoly Kuznetsov - Is ostensibly an ‘autobiographical novel’ about the massacre of Babyn Yar but towards the end it goes into the Soviet denial of the massacre and the fact they didn’t even put a plaque up. 

Stalinist Rule in (the) Ukraine by Hryhory Kostiuk - What it says on the tin. Dives into communism in the Ukrainian SSR. 

Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum - Details the USSR towards the end of world war two and a little after the death of Stalin.

The Road to Terror: Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks 1932-1939 by J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov - Details the lead up to the Great Terror and all the power struggles that went on. 1933 is considered the year of the Terror Famine aka Holodomor. 

Stalin’s Secret Pogrom: The Post War Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee by Joshua Rubenstein and Vladimir P. Naumov - Next to the Doctors’ Plot and the myriad purges involving Jewish commie party members, this really drives home just how antisemitic Stalin really was. 

The Black Years of Soviet Jewry 1939-1953 by Jehoshua A Gilboa - Things really started to heat up antisemitic wise in 1939. And the ‘black years’ are considered to have only stopped thanks to Stalin’s death (on that year’s Purim just before a signed order that could have completely wiped out the remaining Jews in the USSR).

The Last Empire: Nationality and the Soviet Future by Robert Conquest - Discusses multiple different ethnic groups that suffered under the USSR, including Jews. Obviously it will show its age just like some of Conquest’s other books (like What to Do When the Russians Come). But still pretty solid especially for discussing lesser known ethnic groups.

The Jews of the Soviet Union by Benjamin Pinkus - Discusses specifically anti-semitism perpetrated by the commies/USSR (it was absolutely systemic).

Anti-Semitism Without Jews: Communist Eastern Europe by Paul Lendvai - talks about the phenomenon of how anti-semitic propaganda, etc., seems to be even stronger in places where the Jews are actually absent. Systemic Commie anti-semitism. 

The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry by Ilya Ehrenburg and Vasily Grossman - So damning that the USSR stole the manuscript for it and even the typewriter tape! They ‘arrested’ the book rather than the authors, in a manner of speaking. Another of the black books often quoted by books that came after. 

There is also a book that is actually more comic book, called the Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks by Igort. It is graphic (both literally and figuratively) in its depiction of life in both Ukraine and Russia throughout the communist years. I wouldn’t consider it on the same level as the others when it comes to reading especially for those who have difficulty seeing certain things related to genocide. But it is still a good thing to have. There is a LOT of text to it that is helpful in addition to the images.

[jacensolodjo]

Some of y'all like communism a little too much and act too much like it's communism or else you're a big ol' conservative republican who loves capitalism and 'Merica. (P.S. not everything is about the United States of America. No, not even if you dig. Misery can be brought by more than the US of A.)

It's concerning as someone who spends half their time trying to tell children about communist atrocities and wondering how many of them go home and rant about how evil I am for being against communism. Even after knowing/learning communism has killed far more millions than we will ever really fully know because they figured out how to do it a little too well in an age when you just have to toss everything into a fire to get rid of the evidence.

How much generational trauma is still going along the bloodline because of communism. How many victims feel like they have to be silent or else they get dogpiled by children. Telling them they're wrong.

Do you even know who the Khmer Rouge killed? Why?

Do you even know what the Holodomor is?

How many millions of Ukrainians and Cambodians are gone because of communists? Because their ideology literally says to murder en masse? I'm sorry that isn't what you took out of your little commie manual.

How much bigger, fuller, wonderful would life be in dozens of places if not for communism? Communism does not encourage art. It does not encourage writing (except for the machine of communism). It does not care if you are disabled, it will kill you for being useless as a worker. If you think it cares a fucking whit about people like me, you're sadly mistaken.

Queer people are an abomination. They will not/can not produce future workers. They are things to be killed and dumped into pits because they are not proper members of the Party. Some even got forced sterilization just for that extra bit of misery and humiliation.

It is not the amazing, wonderful, loving, caring ideology you take it for.

It cares not for true science. If a scientist disagrees with the Party Scientists, they have to go. Communist Science looks like putting hundreds into the freezing cold. Forcing them to have children. For the sole purpose of making the children immune to the cold. That's not how that works. So many dead for science that isn't real science. Where is your concern for ethics? For humanity? It does not exist in communism.

Communism is not what you think it is. Communism has murdered millions. Communism has hurt the families of people you claim the glory of communism in front of.

Better dead than red? Dead because of Red.

Communism is not 'people of color winning' in South America, in Cuba. In Cambodia. In China. It's people of color dying because of an ideology that should have been stopped in the 1800s.

[marsprincess889]

People who live in the western world and consider themselves communists/socialists really need to double, triple, quadruple (etc) check what that really means and maybe rethink a couple of times, or maybe learn history better. Abd that's the least that they should do.

[exciztence]

you are talking about a dictatorship tho…..

[marsprincess889]

Tell me about historical examples of communusm that did not evolve into a dictatorship, and how many of them were there. I get that people have been fed up with capitalism but when they speak as if communism is something very different from a dictatorship I cannot help but laugh, bitterly. Communism has always been something that sounds much better on paper. When many countries are still shaking off its devastating effects 30+ years later, and countries that have not known it strive towards it, you have to ask why is that so, and what made post soviet countries, for example, so averse towards even the mention of it. Idk what kind of communism you are thinking of but the one that history has known IS dictatorship.

[exciztence]

if it’s dictatorship it’s not communism. Just like if it’s capitalism it’s not socialism. That is all.

[marsprincess889]

Well, you have not answered my question and by that you proved my point. I don't care how communism is defined theoretically, this post (op) is talking about how catastrophic it has been historically, and how people in the western nations, esp the states, are advocating for a regime that their country has not known. We are talking about history, you are talking about a theory.

[thehermitcrow]

China was and is communist. If you read the history of China and Mao and how they turned into communism, through Russia's involvement, you can easily say they were and are communist. They are also a dictatorship. By a quick, simple definition, dictatorship means one person or one party that has absolute power/control. We can agree that the CCP, and Xi Jinping, has absolute power over it's people. Xi Jinping has no opposition, and we know he would get rid of them if he did. North Korea's Kim Jung Un is similar, since NK was influenced by China. There is nothing stating that communism cannot turn into a dictatorship. And most often, Communism does turn into a dictatorship simply because that one party or that one person refuses to give up their authority, like Lenin and Mao.

Exciztence. You need to read the history of communism. There are plenty of books from China to North Korea highlighting communism and how it often turns into a dictatorship. Communism is not a dictatorship by definition, but communism often leads to a dictatorship, and dictatorships can be hybrid. I keep bringing up China because it is a perfect example of a mix of communism and a dictatorship.

And just to tally: well over 100 million people died under communism, worse than the death toll of Nazi Germany. Heck, you'd have a better chance at surviving under Nazi Germany than under Stalin's communist rule. China alone had around 50 million people die from starvation, and that is only from the famine period, not the deaths from Mao's Cultural Revolution. Cambodia's Pol Pot killed around 2 million, 25% of Cambodia's population at the time. We don't need to guess that the death number under communism is far, far higher than what was given. China does like to fudge the numbers, and do it frequently.

In conclusion, Communism should have died in the 1800s and should have stayed dead.

[marsprincess889]

Thank you🙂

[thehermitcrow]

You're welcome. I know some Koreans who escaped North Korea to the US. How sad it would be to have communism follow them. One of them hated his name because it translated to "loyal to your country". He had his name officially changed to an english name.

[jacensolodjo]

Some of y'all like communism a little too much and act too much like it's communism or else you're a big ol' conservative republican who loves capitalism and 'Merica. (P.S. not everything is about the United States of America. No, not even if you dig. Misery can be brought by more than the US of A.)

It's concerning as someone who spends half their time trying to tell children about communist atrocities and wondering how many of them go home and rant about how evil I am for being against communism. Even after knowing/learning communism has killed far more millions than we will ever really fully know because they figured out how to do it a little too well in an age when you just have to toss everything into a fire to get rid of the evidence.

How much generational trauma is still going along the bloodline because of communism. How many victims feel like they have to be silent or else they get dogpiled by children. Telling them they're wrong.

Do you even know who the Khmer Rouge killed? Why?

Do you even know what the Holodomor is?

How many millions of Ukrainians and Cambodians are gone because of communists? Because their ideology literally says to murder en masse? I'm sorry that isn't what you took out of your little commie manual.

How much bigger, fuller, wonderful would life be in dozens of places if not for communism? Communism does not encourage art. It does not encourage writing (except for the machine of communism). It does not care if you are disabled, it will kill you for being useless as a worker. If you think it cares a fucking whit about people like me, you're sadly mistaken.

Queer people are an abomination. They will not/can not produce future workers. They are things to be killed and dumped into pits because they are not proper members of the Party. Some even got forced sterilization just for that extra bit of misery and humiliation.

It is not the amazing, wonderful, loving, caring ideology you take it for.

It cares not for true science. If a scientist disagrees with the Party Scientists, they have to go. Communist Science looks like putting hundreds into the freezing cold. Forcing them to have children. For the sole purpose of making the children immune to the cold. That's not how that works. So many dead for science that isn't real science. Where is your concern for ethics? For humanity? It does not exist in communism.

Communism is not what you think it is. Communism has murdered millions. Communism has hurt the families of people you claim the glory of communism in front of.

Better dead than red? Dead because of Red.

Communism is not 'people of color winning' in South America, in Cuba. In Cambodia. In China. It's people of color dying because of an ideology that should have been stopped in the 1800s.

[marsprincess889]

People who live in the western world and consider themselves communists/socialists really need to double, triple, quadruple (etc) check what that really means and maybe rethink a couple of times, or maybe learn history better. Abd that's the least that they should do.

[exciztence]

you are talking about a dictatorship tho…..

[marsprincess889]

Tell me about historical examples of communusm that did not evolve into a dictatorship, and how many of them were there. I get that people have been fed up with capitalism but when they speak as if communism is something very different from a dictatorship I cannot help but laugh, bitterly. Communism has always been something that sounds much better on paper. When many countries are still shaking off its devastating effects 30+ years later, and countries that have not known it strive towards it, you have to ask why is that so, and what made post soviet countries, for example, so averse towards even the mention of it. Idk what kind of communism you are thinking of but the one that history has known IS dictatorship.

[exciztence]

if it’s dictatorship it’s not communism. Just like if it’s capitalism it’s not socialism. That is all.

[marsprincess889]

Well, you have not answered my question and by that you proved my point. I don't care how communism is defined theoretically, this post (op) is talking about how catastrophic it has been historically, and how people in the western nations, esp the states, are advocating for a regime that their country has not known. We are talking about history, you are talking about a theory.

[thehermitcrow]

China was and is communist. If you read the history of China and Mao and how they turned into communism, through Russia's involvement, you can easily say they were and are communist. They are also a dictatorship. By a quick, simple definition, dictatorship means one person or one party that has absolute power/control. We can agree that the CCP, and Xi Jinping, has absolute power over it's people. Xi Jinping has no opposition, and we know he would get rid of them if he did. North Korea's Kim Jung Un is similar, since NK was influenced by China. There is nothing stating that communism cannot turn into a dictatorship. And most often, Communism does turn into a dictatorship simply because that one party or that one person refuses to give up their authority, like Lenin and Mao.

Exciztence. You need to read the history of communism. There are plenty of books from China to North Korea highlighting communism and how it often turns into a dictatorship. Communism is not a dictatorship by definition, but communism often leads to a dictatorship, and dictatorships can be hybrid. I keep bringing up China because it is a perfect example of a mix of communism and a dictatorship.

And just to tally: well over 100 million people died under communism, worse than the death toll of Nazi Germany. Heck, you'd have a better chance at surviving under Nazi Germany than under Stalin's communist rule. China alone had around 50 million people die from starvation, and that is only from the famine period, not the deaths from Mao's Cultural Revolution. Cambodia's Pol Pot killed around 2 million, 25% of Cambodia's population at the time. We don't need to guess that the death number under communism is far, far higher than what was given. China does like to fudge the numbers, and do it frequently.

In conclusion, Communism should have died in the 1800s and should have stayed dead.