Lenin, Stalin and Mao ruthless?
Defiantly Stalin and Mao but both sides were doing 'terrors' during the Russian civil war.
Lets leave Lenin out of it because he had the decency to die early on. Stalin via the Ukrainian Famine is estimated to have killed up to 7 Million and during the great purge in the 1930s is thought to have killed a Million or so. Mao, during his great leap forward is thought to have killed somewhere in excess of 20 million. Absolutely right, they really are not in the same league as Hitler.
Depends on your views and perspectives. Some claim Stalin killed more that 40 million but the population just kept on growing. Economic mismanagement is not in the same league. Ya know what, let's classify all the famines in the British empire as the same as the holocaust. Largely smeg economic management and the lack of industrial agriculture.
Dan, the Western allies had agreed on a demarcation line with the Russians about where they would advance too. It was only in the final stages of the war that they started to seriously doubt the Russians and after the war they realised the Russians had no intention of allowing any of the eastern bloc countries to have a democratic system of government.
Look up operation unthinkable, I'll interest you. That was a war plan devised by Britain to invade the USSR after Germany and Japan had been defeated.
Remember the Soviets lost around 20-40 million soldiers and civilian due to various causes in the war. Not to mention there industrial and agricultural heartland was decimated. I have studied Potsdam and the associated conferences are you are correct on that. The big 3 shared the opinion that Germany should divided after the war and Churchill defended his deal with Stalin in parliament.
The communist revolution(s) were indeed a response as was the rise of Nazism. Botha are failed and ghastly blots on humanity.
Not necessarily the one in the America's were largly in response to America's Monroe doctrine and control of the American's along with the brinkmanship of the cold wars. I would say Communism was a response to capitalism, Just many communist groups came out empowered after the second world war such as in France, Albania (yeah I know about hoaxa0, Italy and Yugoslavia
Yes, there is an urge in some quarters to limit free speech and ditch democracy. That is why groups like Antifa should be stopped in their tracks.
Disagree, Free speech repression should only be limited with the anti-Vaxination movement look at them there crazy! we should have a right to critique and debate one another as we do know. And racial discrimination (the Real kind not OMG there's no blacks in this film) should be banned and disapproved by the public.