--- Luke Weiger <lweiger at umich.edu> wrote: It's also legitimate to wonder why (as Brad DeLong once did on this list) authoritarian socialism as practiced in the 20th century ended up producing so many Stalins. (Though I'd say authoritarianism in general tends to produce batshit crazy leaders.)
-- Luke
---
Not really that many. If by "Stalins" you mean mass-murderers with personality cults, there's just Stalin himself (and his circle, by extension), Mao, and Pol Pot (and their circles, by extension). Maybe Ceausescue? (I think Stalin was completely rational and not "batshit crazy" until at least the year or so before his death, but that's another matter.)
I think that that these leaders rose to power against a background of total state collapse probably had something to do with it.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
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