Albert Einstein agreed and he seemed like a pretty smart dude:
Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.
Stalin, really? But I thought he would be critical of Stalin, considering he thought Lenin’s policies were unadvisable but necessary as a last resort, and he supports Lenin, so I thought Einstein wouldn’t be too keen on Stalin but just rather critically supportive…
No. Einstein was a lifelong defender of the Bolsheviks, and stood by Stalin even during and after the purges. The man staunchly supported USSR even when it became controversial post-ww2. He is the highest profile advocate of the USSR during ww2.
Given that he was a socialist before ww2 began and that the USSR rescued jews it actually shouldn’t be that surprising that a jew who lived in germany during the peak of antisemitism before the war and escaped the nazis would be quite supportive of Stalin.
We don’t know too much about his opinion of lenin’s policies, he was vague about it. I prefer to think he sees Lenin’s approach as unadvisable because of how incredibly difficult it was and how Lenin spent his entire life on it, sacrificing himself, and arguably cut his life short. Most people think the wound he took in the attempted assassination probably contributed to his early death.
Albert Einstein agreed and he seemed like a pretty smart dude:
famous tankie, Albert Einstein.
Dude loved Lenin and Stalin.
Stalin, really? But I thought he would be critical of Stalin, considering he thought Lenin’s policies were unadvisable but necessary as a last resort, and he supports Lenin, so I thought Einstein wouldn’t be too keen on Stalin but just rather critically supportive…
Edit: I edited my comments for clarification
No. Einstein was a lifelong defender of the Bolsheviks, and stood by Stalin even during and after the purges. The man staunchly supported USSR even when it became controversial post-ww2. He is the highest profile advocate of the USSR during ww2.
Given that he was a socialist before ww2 began and that the USSR rescued jews it actually shouldn’t be that surprising that a jew who lived in germany during the peak of antisemitism before the war and escaped the nazis would be quite supportive of Stalin.
We don’t know too much about his opinion of lenin’s policies, he was vague about it. I prefer to think he sees Lenin’s approach as unadvisable because of how incredibly difficult it was and how Lenin spent his entire life on it, sacrificing himself, and arguably cut his life short. Most people think the wound he took in the attempted assassination probably contributed to his early death.
I’ll refer to@[email protected]’s post referencing Einstein’s letters