So my thoughts have been drifting into the realm of Soviet history and politics recently. (Can you blame me?)
Obviously, there's a lot of Alternate history written about Stalin and the other contenders to leadership of the Soviet Union. Some even argue Stalin's brutal drives for industrialization and his purge of non-Russians and dissidents were what allowed Russia to survive WWII.
I ask you folks- who would have been the best candidate to lead the USSR? Trotsky is the most commonly named candidate, but his 'World Revolution' probably would have ended badly and he was pro-agriculture himself. So which Party member could have made the best leader? Molotov? Bukharin? A surviving Lenin (assuming he wasn't shot)? How would they deal with the famines, Depression, Nazis, etc?
Discuss, please!
Obviously, there's a lot of Alternate history written about Stalin and the other contenders to leadership of the Soviet Union. Some even argue Stalin's brutal drives for industrialization and his purge of non-Russians and dissidents were what allowed Russia to survive WWII.
I ask you folks- who would have been the best candidate to lead the USSR? Trotsky is the most commonly named candidate, but his 'World Revolution' probably would have ended badly and he was pro-agriculture himself. So which Party member could have made the best leader? Molotov? Bukharin? A surviving Lenin (assuming he wasn't shot)? How would they deal with the famines, Depression, Nazis, etc?
Discuss, please!