If he hadn’t been, would the USSR survived? That focus on technology, factories, and efficiency, no matter the cost, seems like the right approach when there’s Nazis at your doorstep, conquering all of Europe and conducting mass exterminations.
Nothing says “preparing for war against the Nazis and capitalists” like murdering your entire officer corps of true believers that won the Revolution that you didn’t actually fight in
If he hadn’t been, would the USSR survived? That focus on technology, factories, and efficiency, no matter the cost, seems like the right approach when there’s Nazis at your doorstep, conquering all of Europe and conducting mass exterminations.
Nothing says “preparing for war against the Nazis and capitalists” like murdering your entire officer corps of true believers that won the Revolution that you didn’t actually fight in