Stalin: In the Wrong? :: essays research papers

Stalin, by many people today, would be considered a horrible man who had caused much harm to the world. This, of course, is in modern terms. History has a way of reshaping the ‘morality’ of events over a period of time. Take, for example, the Crusades. The majority of Europeans at the time vastly agreed with their purpose. Now, however, they are seen as a religious leader’s abuse of power and an unfortunate loss of life. Will the same reversal occur with the view of Stalin? After all, he did completely reshape a backwards society. Since we cannot conceivable travel into the future, Stalin will be assessed from acclaimed people of the past. These people will have no prejudice towards Stalin in their ideals because they will not have known of Stalin nor the Soviet Union. However, their overall opinions will not fluctuate based on Stalin and thus Stalin will be judged. Stalin will be evaluated by the following three distinguished historical intellectuals: Plato, Mac hiavelli and Sir James G. Frazer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first person we shall introduce to judge Stalin is the Athenian philosopher Plato. Plato, in his dialogue in the First Book of The Laws, suggests a very simple, yet effective, test for selecting and educating men who can be trusted as statesmen. This test, which later became known as the wine test, was supportive of Plato’s views. It was not simply enough to be a wise ex-soldier, as many people believe Plato choose them to be the most qualified. In the dialogue, Plato states that drunkenness loosens a man’s tongue, which gives the presents public an idea what he is really like. By this simple test, Plato would readily support Stalin. Stalin was well-known to drink everyone else â€Å"under the table†. In fact, Stalin imbibed much more than his fellow British counterpart, Sir Winston Churchill, and his successor, Khrushchev. Stalin, being a Georgian, took great pride in his raising on a diet of mutton and wine, and as he grew, found wine no t potent enough, preferring to consume vodka. Wine, he said, was merely ‘juice’. Stalin, when he drank, rarely fluctuated from what he said when he was sober, proving to be a very consistent man. However, the people that he had at his little get-togethers were not, and often he used the information obtained here to ‘purge’ later victims.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plato saw the wine test not as a means for him or others to get drunk, but instead loosen the tongue.