this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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Tbh basically all the bigwig dudes in the politburo were assholes (lenin being a super aggro debatebro, stalin being a backroom schmoozer who refused to enforce lenins anti corruption orders, trotsky being a dramatic debatebro fixated on theory, every member being willing to ignore the soviets, unions and the CC if they disagrees with them)
That said there was definitely more than a bit of personality conflict involved in the infighting of the 10s, 20s and 30s (to the extent that some of the policy arguments were more about the personalities involved and internal power struggles than the actual policy or theory.)
I think that it's maybe a little generous to call him fixated on theory.
No one said his idea of theory was even remotely correct or grounded in Marxist principles that weren't distorted to funhouse mirror levels
There are definitely theoretical points that he cared about (and indeed points he got right), but I guess my thing is that a lot of what he said seems downstream of his personal feud with Stalin and maybe thwarted personal ambitions, and for a professed Marxist speaking to fellow professed Marxists, theory is one of the most rhetorically expedient cudgels.
it's okay to be a smug asshole if you're right. full support to comrade lenin, who could lift me over his head with his left pinky.