"The late Leonid Krasin ... was the first, if I am not mistaken, to call Stalin an "Asiatic". In saying that, he had in mind no problematical racial attributes, but rather that blending of grit, shrewdness, craftiness and cruelty which has been considered characteristic of the statesmen of Asia. Bukharin subsequently simplified the appellation, calling Stalin "Genghis Khan", manifestly in order to draw attention to his cruelty, which has developed into brutality. Stalin himself, in conversation with a Japanese journalist, once called himself an "Asiatic", not in the old, but rather in the new sense of the word: with that personal allusion he wished to hint at the existence of common interests between the USSR and Japan as against the imperialistic West."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Anti-imperialistsAtheistsGeneral Secretaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet UnionSoviet premiersPeople from Georgia (country)
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Leon Trotsky, in Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence (1947), edited and translated from the Russian by Charles Malamuth, London: Hollis and Carter, LTD.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Joseph Stalin
219 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Joseph Stalin →
Related Quotes
"Stalin was an example of creativity, humanism and an edifying example of peace and heroism! [...] Everything that he …"
"During that meeting, King told us, when they were talking about what was going to happen to the Germans after the war…"
"You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs."
"We will hang the capitalists with the rope that they sell us."
"When my mother left us, [Stalin] was left completely alone. And I think what came next, in the late 30s and after the…"
"Comrade Stalin showed us how to build socialism in a backward country: it's painful to begin with, but afterwards eve…"
"Quantity has a quality all its own."
"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?"
"Death solves all problems — no man, no problem."
"The following afternoon we had a conference with the President, and from 4:00 until 7:00 met with all the "Big Three.…"