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There is a really interesting take on Beria in what is possibly the best Stalin's biography ("Court of the Red Tzar"). Apparently, Beria saw himself a successor

There is a really interesting take on Beria in what is possibly the best Stalin's biography ("Court of the Red Tzar"). Apparently, Beria saw himself a successor to Stalin who would put the country onto a milder course, and he was looking forward to redeeming himself in the face of history. There was something to the effect of him saying that his children would get educated at Oxford. And he did not mean it how current Russian elites do it (so that their seed can escape the country they have been destroying), but rather to highlight his appreciation for Western values / education / culture and willingness to learn from the recent WW2 allies and adapt their methods on USSR territory. The whole idea of "my children will study at Oxford" coming from someone like Beria was shocking. Beria was by all means a horrible person. But Khruschev (or anybody else really that high up the Soviet totem pole) was as much of an executioner and a murderer. It's just that Khruschev has won and he got to make Beria a (justified) boogeyman. Now we know of Khruschev as just an inefficient manager who took off his shoe at UN and not as a person who called arresting 308 people a poor performance for 1936 Moscow or a person who orchestrated bloody repressions in Ukraine. At the same time, although Beria's activities were pure terror during Stalin's rule, chances are, if Beria did come to power, he'd have been a better ruler than Kruschev from the humanistic perspective (less people would have been murdered and sent to camps, less errors made etc.). But that's a lot of "ifs". It does sound wild (to me as well), but then there is evidence of USSR party elites (e.g. Kaganovich) turning from maniacs and terrorists into peaceful bureaucrats overnight upon Stalin's death.

spaetzleesser 5y ago
“It does sound wild (to me as well), but then there is evidence of USSR party elites (e.g. Kaganovich) turning from maniacs and terrorists into peaceful bureaucrats overnight upon Stalin's death.” Same happened in Germany. Nazis turned practically overnight into exemplary democrats.
- a0-prw 5y ago
  Yes, it's amazing how civilized people can be when their paycheck depends on it XD
wolverine876 5y ago
Beria's claims or promises are meaningless; that's a completely untrustworthy source. Beria was a homicidal maniac telling you that, if you give them power, they'll be 'milder'. Lots of homicidal maniacs, and even plain old dictators, say the same. The next step, after they gain power, is to say that there is a new period of openness, and their critics are encouraged to speak out. This releases some pressure while the dictator consolidates control over the levers of power - it's not rule of law, so unlike an elected President, the levers don't just shift to the new person. And of course it helps that their critics identify themselves. You should know what happens next. (A popular early step is that enemies are arrested for 'corruption'.)
- wellthisisgreat 5y ago
  The nuance there is that Beria made those claims in private and did not want that to be known. At that moment he would score more political points presenting himself as a hardliner. It was something the author of that book found out almost by accident doing the research about his private life. If not for the excellent quality of the other material in that book I would have not really paid much attention to what Beria had to say about his plans
lr1970 5y ago
> It does sound wild (to me as well), but then there is evidence of USSR party elites (e.g. Kaganovich) turning from maniacs and terrorists into peaceful bureaucrats overnight upon Stalin's death. They were "murderous bureaucrats" for whom mass murder was a faceless statistics. They would not fret or get emotional about it neither before nor after the fact. A glimpse of artistic rendition of how plain and "bureaucratic" a mass murder machine could be is a historic re-enactment movie "Conspiracy" [0] about Wannsee conference of 1942 (it is about Nazi Germany not USSR but the theme of "murderous bureaucracy" seems to be universal). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(2001_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(2001_film)

spaetzleesser 5y ago

“It does sound wild (to me as well), but then there is evidence of USSR party elites (e.g. Kaganovich) turning from maniacs and terrorists into peaceful bureaucrats overnight upon Stalin's death.” Same happened in Germany. Nazis turned practically overnight into exemplary democrats.

a0-prw 5y ago
Yes, it's amazing how civilized people can be when their paycheck depends on it XD

wolverine876 5y ago

Beria's claims or promises are meaningless; that's a completely untrustworthy source. Beria was a homicidal maniac telling you that, if you give them power, they'll be 'milder'. Lots of homicidal maniacs, and even plain old dictators, say the same. The next step, after they gain power, is to say that there is a new period of openness, and their critics are encouraged to speak out. This releases some pressure while the dictator consolidates control over the levers of power - it's not rule of law, so unlike an elected President, the levers don't just shift to the new person. And of course it helps that their critics identify themselves. You should know what happens next. (A popular early step is that enemies are arrested for 'corruption'.)

wellthisisgreat 5y ago
The nuance there is that Beria made those claims in private and did not want that to be known. At that moment he would score more political points presenting himself as a hardliner. It was something the author of that book found out almost by accident doing the research about his private life. If not for the excellent quality of the other material in that book I would have not really paid much attention to what Beria had to say about his plans

lr1970 5y ago

> It does sound wild (to me as well), but then there is evidence of USSR party elites (e.g. Kaganovich) turning from maniacs and terrorists into peaceful bureaucrats overnight upon Stalin's death. They were "murderous bureaucrats" for whom mass murder was a faceless statistics. They would not fret or get emotional about it neither before nor after the fact. A glimpse of artistic rendition of how plain and "bureaucratic" a mass murder machine could be is a historic re-enactment movie "Conspiracy" [0] about Wannsee conference of 1942 (it is about Nazi Germany not USSR but the theme of "murderous bureaucracy" seems to be universal). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(2001_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(2001_film)