As with fighter craft, food, ammo, jeeps, etc. World Leaders kept Stalin supplied with pipes, cigarettes, blends, cigars, and, so I've been told by history buffs, Churchill was his best "supplier". I rather doubt he was particularly concerned with "names", or manufacturers. Might have been though. I have read he preferred the harsh cigarettes of his youth to "Western" products. He's not around to ask so we forced put a bit of faith into pages written by those close to the subject. Or, we can simply buy off on any thing we hear which suits us.
To look at Stalin's Russia through 20th Century, western eyes is to miss most of the story. Solzhenitsyn probably wrote it best in his trilogy. I am or was acquainted with many Far Eastern Russians, many are now dead. Some were the children of Gulag denizens, prisoners and staff, and other, a few still alive, had been sent to the Russian Far East by Stalin's people. Very few blamed him for their being in the prison system. Most blamed the "system" and/or Stalin's underlings. To a very many Stalin was/is still viewed as the Savior of Mother Russia, the man who won WWII.
I try to remember the words of a professor, "No historical figure is only what the writers have painted him/her to be." Always check investigate the biases and preferences of authors.
Stalin was definitely not benign as a ruler. He was certainly self-serving. He wasn't a Russian but, he fullly understood how to motivate the Russian's love of Russia. One of the most studied leaders of the 20th Century.
To look at Stalin's Russia through 20th Century, western eyes is to miss most of the story. Solzhenitsyn probably wrote it best in his trilogy. I am or was acquainted with many Far Eastern Russians, many are now dead. Some were the children of Gulag denizens, prisoners and staff, and other, a few still alive, had been sent to the Russian Far East by Stalin's people. Very few blamed him for their being in the prison system. Most blamed the "system" and/or Stalin's underlings. To a very many Stalin was/is still viewed as the Savior of Mother Russia, the man who won WWII.
I try to remember the words of a professor, "No historical figure is only what the writers have painted him/her to be." Always check investigate the biases and preferences of authors.
Stalin was definitely not benign as a ruler. He was certainly self-serving. He wasn't a Russian but, he fullly understood how to motivate the Russian's love of Russia. One of the most studied leaders of the 20th Century.
