[Gustav Fluffy]

'Communism is the lowest form of wit.'

A bloke at my school came up with that. Probably the only remotely intelligent thing he's ever said.

[Gothmog]

You seem to know lots about Soviet History, and I defer to you in many regards. I did my undergrad degree thesis on Bukharin, worked part-time for a year in this research assistant job, and am now just starting a PhD on Soviet social history (the female Bolshevik Elite) under Stalin. So, I'm not a proper historian yet

-Very interesting. Being from Australia, you probably had contact with Wheathcroft...I mean, there aren´t much Sovietologists in Australia, right?

By 1941, everyone under 24 had been born in the USSR. Everyone under 30 would not have remembered life under the tsar. Their government was nothing but legitimate. They felt as strongly about it as any of us might about our own native land. And they had little reasons to despise the authorities in most instances. This, I believe, explains a lot.

-Something like the Heaven´s mandate in old China? But still a government can lose the heaven´s mandate if his behaviour is bad enough....I think the Soviet system in the 30´s went to the extremes of good (industrialization, educational opportunities) and evil (famine and purges), that´s why this question of social support is a puzzling one.

[Maxim Litvinov]

Met Wheatcroft once - he talked to me for a few hours when I was doing my Bukharin thesis. I also approached him as a supervisor for my PhD, but signed up at another uni before he could get back to me fully (he was over in Russia when I emailed him). I think he got a bit peeved with that, because he'd expressed his interest - there aren't too many people wanting to do degrees in Soviet history going around.

I agree - the whole popularity thing is very puzzling. Which is why this guy I was researching for is needing years to explore the subject, for one thing. I just think the fact that most soldiers knew the Soviet system and accepted it - almost as the only possible system - is a very important part of the explanation.