Famous people on Stalin

"By the way, there are increasing signs that the Russian trials are not faked, but that there is a plot among those who look upon Stalin as a stupid reactionary who has betrayed the ideas of the revolution."

—Albert Einstein

“I have never met a man more candid, fair and honest, and to these qualities it is, and to nothing occult and sinister, that he owes his tremendous undisputed ascendancy in Russia..."

"...I had thought before I saw him that he might be where he was because men were afraid of him, but I realize that he owes his position to the fact that no one is afraid of him and everybody trusts him."

—H.G. Wells

“Every Party member must raise his revolutionary qualities in every respect to the same level as those of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin."

—Nelson Mandela

“Stalin was not a man of conventional learning; he was much more than that: he was a man who thought deeply, read understandingly and listened to wisdom, no matter whence it came..."

"...He was attacked and slandered as few men of power have been; yet he seldom lost his courtesy and balance; nor did he let attack drive him from his convictions nor induce him to surrender positions which he knew were correct..."

"...As one of the despised minorities of man, he first set Russia on the road to conquer race prejudice and make one nation out of its 140 groups without destroying their individuality..."

"...His judgment of men was profound. He early saw through the flamboyance and exhibitionism of Trotsky, who fooled the world, and especially America... Stalin stood like a rock... as he continued to advance toward a real socialism instead of the sham Trotsky offered..."

"...Such was the man who lies dead... In life he suffered under continuous and studied insult; he was forced to make bitter decisions on his own lone responsibility. His reward comes as the common man stands in solemn acclaim.”

—W.E.B. DuBois

"In all spheres of modern life the influence of Stalin reaches wide and deep... His contributions to the science of our world society remain invaluable. One reverently speaks of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin—the shapers of humanity’s richest present and future."

—Paul Robeson

"I have sworn before a picture of the old and mourned comrade Stalin that I won't rest until I see these capitalist octopuses annihilated."

—Ernesto Che Guevara

“[Khrushchev] accused Comrade Stalin of allegedly interfering in other parties, of imposing the views of the Bolshevik Party upon others. [...] at no time did comrade Stalin do such a thing towards [...] the Albanian people and the Party of Labor of Albania..."

"... he always behaved as a great Marxist, as an outstanding internationalist, as a comrade, brother and sincere friend of the Albanian people. In 1945, when our people were threatened with starvation..."

"...comrade Stalin ordered the ships loaded with grain destined for the Soviet people, who also were in dire need of food at that time, and sent the grain at once to the Albanian people...""

"...Did Stalin make mistakes? Of course he did. In so long a period filled with heroism, trials, struggle, triumphs, it is inevitable not only for Joseph Stalin personally but also for the leadership as a collective body to make mistakes."

—Enver Hoxha

"Lenin and Stalin have evidenced their outstanding brilliance as mass leaders in every revolutionary requirement: in Marxian theory, political strategy, the building of mass organizations, and in the development of the mass struggle."

—William Foster

"Stalin stood in the forefront of the tide of history guiding the struggle, and was an irreconcilable enemy of the imperialists and all reactionaries [...] Stalin’s life was that of a great Marxist-Leninist, a great proletarian revolutionary."

—Mao Zedong

“I know that after my death a pile of rubbish will be heaped on my grave, but the wind of History will sooner or later sweep it away without mercy”

—Joseph V. Stalin

"Stalin was not a dictator as the Supreme Commander of the Red Army, fighting a life and death battle, not only for the Soviet people, but to save all of humanity from this scourge of fascism..."

"...Stalin had the greatest regards not only for the Marshals, but also for the Generals and Commanders, which he made certain to know personally, and, he knew the strong and weak points of all of them..."

"[...] I realized, as we all did, that Stalin was not the kind that objected to sharp questions or to anyone arguing with him. If someone says that was not the truth, they are liars!"

—Georgy Zhukov

"To completely repudiate the historical experience of the Soviet Union, [...] to repudiate Lenin, to repudiate Stalin was to wreck chaos in Soviet ideology and engage in historical nihilism. It caused Party organizations at all levels to have barely any function whatsoever..."

"In the end the CPSU—as great a Party as it was—scattered like a flock of frightened beasts! The Soviet Union—as great a country as it was—shattered into a dozen pieces. This is a lesson from the past!"

—Xi Jinping

"[Stalin] proved himself great in peace and in war. He showed an indomitable will and courage which few possess. Perhaps when history comes to be written about him, many things will be said and we do not know what varying opinions may be recorded in subsequent generations..."

"[...]Again, people may agree or disagree with many things that he did or said. But the fact remains that he built up that great country [USSR]...“

"[...]So here was this man who created in his lifetime this bond of affection and admiration among vast numbers of human beings, a man who has gone through this troubled period of history..."

"...He made mistakes in the opinion of some or he succeeded—that is immaterial—but everyone must necessarily agree about his giant stature and about his mighty achievements..."

"[...]Undoubtedly, even though Marshal Stalin has passed away, because of the great hold he had on their minds and hearts, his influence and memory will continue to exercise people’s minds and inspire them."

—Jawharlal Nehru

"Sometimes it is asserted that, whereas the form may be otherwise, the fact is that, whilst the Communist Party controls the whole administration, the Party itself, and thus indirectly the whole state, is governed by the will of a single person, Josef Stalin..."

"...First let it be noted that, unlike Mussolini, Hitler and other modern dictators, Stalin is not invested by law with any authority over his fellow-citizens, and not even over the members of the Party to which he belongs..."

"...He has not even the extensive power which the Congress of the United States has temporarily conferred upon President Roosevelt, or that which the American Constitution entrusts for four years to every successive president..."

"...So far as grade or dignity is concerned, Stalin is in no sense the highest official in the USSR, or even in the Communist Party. He is not, and has never been, President of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Union Congress of Soviets..."

"...a place long held by Sverdlov and now by Kalinin, who is commonly treated as the President of the USSR. He is not (as Lenin was) the President of the Sovnarkom of the RSFSR, the dominant member of the Federation or of the USSR itself..."

"...the place now held by Molotov, who may be taken to correspond to the Prime Minister of a parliamentary democracy. He is not even a People's Commissar, or member of the Cabinet, either of the USSR or of any of the constituent republics..."

"...If we are invited to believe that Stalin is, in effect, a dictator, we may enquire whether he does, in fact, act in the way that dictators have usually acted..."

"...by collecting all the available evidence... we do not think that the Party is governed by the will of a single person or that Stalin is the sort of person to claim or desire such a position."

—Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield

"Stalin does not seek honours. He loathes pomp. He is averse to public displays. He could have all the nominal regalia in the chest of a great state. But he prefers the background. He is the perfect inheritor of the individual Lenin paternalism..."

"...No other associate of Lenin was endowed with that characteristic. Stalin is the stern father of a family, the dogmatic pastor of a flock. He is a boss, with this difference: his power is not used for personal aggrandisement..."

"...Moreover, he is a boss with an education. Notwithstanding general impressions, Stalin is a widely informed and well-read person. He lacks culture, but he absorbs knowledge. He is rough toward his enemies, but he learns from them."

—Isaac Don Levine

"No, single persons cannot decide. The decisions of single persons are always, or nearly always, one-sided decisions. In every collegium, in every collective body, there are people whose opinion must be reckoned with..."

"...From experience, we know that, approximately, out of every 100 decisions made by single persons, that have not been tested and corrected collectively, 90 are one-sided..."

"...In our leading body, the Central Committee of our Party, which guides all our soviet and party organisations, there are about 70 members. Among these members of the Central Committee there are to be found the best of our industrial leaders, cooperative leaders..."

"...organisers of distribution, military men, propagandists and agitators, experts on soviet farms, on collective farms, on individual peasant agriculture, experts on the nationalities inhabiting the Soviet Union, and on national policy..."

"...In this areopagus is concentrated the wisdom of the Party. Everyone is able to contribute his experience. Were it otherwise, if decisions had been taken by individual, we should have committed very serious mistakes in our work..."

"...But since everyone is able to correct the error of individual persons, and since we pay heed to such corrections, we arrive at more or less correct decisions."

—Joseph V. Stalin

"There are some men who do not die. Stalin is among them. Stalin was an example of creativity, humanism and an edifying example of peace and heroism! Everything he did, he did to serve the people..."

"...Our father Stalin is dead, but in remembering his example, our affection for him will make our arms grow strong towards building a great tomorrow, to secure a future in memory of his great example!”

—Salvador Allende

"In the so-called mistakes of Stalin lies the difference between a revolutionary attitude and a revisionist attitude. You have to look at Stalin in the historical context in which he moves..."

"...you don’t have to look at him as some kind of brute, but in that particular historical context. I have come to communism because of father Stalin and nobody must come and tell me that I mustn’t read Stalin. I read him when it was very bad to read him..."

"...That was another time. And because I’m not very bright, and a hard-headed person, I keep on reading him. Especially in this new period, now that it is worse to read him. Then, as well as now, I still find a series of things that are very good."

—Che Guevara

"There are people in the world who consider that I am the Caribbean Stalin. And I do look like him: look at my facial profile. Sometimes I look in the mirror and it seems to me that I look like Stalin."

—Nicholas Maduro

"I believe that for real Communists, Stalin weighs no less than Lenin. And in percentage of right decisions, he doesn't even have an equal in world history"

—Xi Jinping

"Stalin established unity in the Soviet Union. He consolidated what Lenin had begun: party unity. He gave the international revolutionary movement a new impetus. The USSR’s industrialization was one of Stalin’s wisest actions.”

–Fidel Castro

“For it was after Stalin that the Russian state began to fall into its present state of decay.”

—Huey P. Newton

"Yeah, I'm really into books... Right now, I'm into Art of War, Thoughts of a General.. What's that book I got, the Russian guy? Stalin, I got that..."

—Tupac Shakur