The Evil Decline of Britain’s FAILED Stalin 

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To be fair, a communist revolution would be called off here because it was raining.

Fun fact! the british discourse around the use of tanks against the hungarian uprising is where the term "tankie" comes from

Im not a communist at all, but as a working class scum, that one line "the working man had just earned the right to vote in 1918" is sad as hell. I guess building the nation for pennies and dying by the hundreds of thoussnds in the Great War finally forced their hand 😢

Zoinks Scoob, these guys really give me the CPGB's

18:01 In America, communists had no shot at controlling the unions because a handful of 99 level capitalists got their first: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese.

As a Hungarian, it warms my heart that you mentioned our revolution, mate, I really appreciate it

"It got a little messy" in describing the communist regimes may be the greatest understatement of all time

BRITS have suffered GREEK STYLE AUSTERITY since 2008 without having same level of debt like Greece

Russian communist leadership was very impressed by Pollit. They even renamed their executive committee in honour of him- the Pollit Bureau...😉😎

Susan Michie was leader of one faction of UK communists. She was from a family of bankers who married into the minor nobility. She was for a time married to a Corbyn adviser who was from a different banking family which had also married into the minor nobility. Her mother was a Dame a grandfather was a Barron. She once started a speech to the communists with the words “We the working class…”

I used to share a house with Rosa Rust's son and met her on a number of occasions. I only learnt her true story years later. Lovely lady who didn't dwell on her suffering. One of my links to history which I treasure.

There was a communist uprising in Wales in 1831 known as the Merthyr Rising (It was in Merthyr Tydfil) a bunch of coal miners started to boogaloo and the gov sent the army in and shot a bunch of them dead. It was the first time in the UK the red flag was used as a symbol for the working man. My great great uncle was a part of that uprising. For the record I am not a communist lmao

And really, people also tend to forget how life under the ruling class was back then. In russia that was so ridiculously extreme, no wonder the revolution took off. The Tsars family was probably speaking more french and german than russian in their palaces, while workers had basically no rights, lived in the dirt and were one broken leg away for starving. And if anybody was bold or dumb enough to peacefully formulate ideas on how to better their situation, the secret service of the Tsar and the police would drag in in some dark basement and dealt with the problem without any regulations. If I was in that situation, you better bet I would have at least give some idealistic revolutionary a chance instead of living a live without any hope of it getting any better.

fun fact : now the standard of living in britain 2024 is lower than east germany 1985

Its important to bare in mind that the Russian Empire wasn't comparable to its counterparts in the West at the time. It was a much more brutal and authoritarian regime led by a despotic emperor where a majority of the population were slaves to him. The working classes in the western world at the time had it hard, but at least they were free people, which wasn't the case in Russia.

'"Cups of tea and art silk stockings prevented a revolution in Britain' George Orwell

I'm a trolley

Enjoyin these new docs loads! GG JtG!

Communism in Poland was never our (polish citizens) choice. Many people in Poland in 1945 ware pro labor wrights, but almost no one was communist, and no one was pro letting Moscow rules here. Communism in Poland happened, cause of the outcome of the II WW - Stalin invaded and started long lasting occupation of this part of Europe. It was the same for Czechoslovakia, Finland, ... If you think about it, Hungary was even on Hitler side! The only exception was Yugoslavia- Tito (who managed to win the war there without USSR's "help" was in some part a communist, but not loyal to Moscow. Yugoslavia and Russia are the only 2 country's in Europe, where there own communists did win.

I think another reason why communism will never take off here is because the rich have segregated themselves. Unless you live around London or Cheshire seeing actual rich people never happens for most. You see them showing off online and what not, but in reality its not bieng rubbed in your face making you angry. If you live in the north east and can't leave that area for example you might see one rich person a year and they are probably a politician. Everyone knows inequality exists here, they just arent made bloodthirsty from it because they have there space and we have ours and were happy with that.

Jimmy posts a new video? I watch.

This and the Mosley video are class. Continue with the historical videos!!!

Thanks for that Jimmy, that filled in a lot of gaps in my limited knowledge of the subject

Class video yet again, Jimmy! Looking forward to the Thatcher one

What happened to that video about England's seaside towns? I can't find it anymore.

A great video m8 tnx!

Hah, when I saw the title I wondered if it was going to be about Red Robbo. I'd never heard of Harry Pollit.

Please more of these history videos. They are so bloo'y good to watch 😂

31:15 The difference is that those other countries were invaded by the ussr.. it has mostly nothing to do with the political conditions. Many of these countries had a history of democracy and leftist movements. I know you probably know this, but the way you scripted it, it sounded quite ignorant.

Your videos are fantastic man. Keep doing what you are doing

Well researched and informative video essay. Thumbs up.

Great watch, just a little note though, bullion isn't a "raw material", it's actually refined to a very high level of purity.

Unexpectedly in-depth, great video.

My British grandmother grew up as a kitchen maid in one of the great houses of Britain. After she left service and made a life for herself after World War I, the whole experience of abuse and exploitation made her a lifelong supporter of Communism. The neighbors even called her "Red Kate." When I was a wee lad during the 1970s, she used to lecture me on how much better-off Russkis became after the Revolution.

love your vids keep up the good work mate

Great vid mate. Only my 2nd one of yours after oswald mosely. Hitting subscribe

'Arry Pollitt wuz a Wurker, one of Lenin's lads, 'Til 'e wuz foully murdered by those counter-revolutionary cads...

Great video man, just stumbled across your channel.

Very entertaining and very well-researched and educational. I've learned a lot. Love your sense of humour.

Fake in the Daily Mail. What a surprise

you should definitely do a video on Chartism really interesting British precursor to both the labour movement and Marxism

The amount of work going into these videos is insane! I hope squarespace are paying you well.

Love your videos, bro

jimmy, you own me

8:58 One note - Poland was not defending against Russia, first, there was no Russia at the time but the Union of Soviets, and second, the Polish dictatorship attacked USSR first. Im Polish btw

Fun fact: The Communist Party of Britain still exists, and in the 2024 election it got a grand total of 2,622 votes, 0.01% of the total vote

Hey jim ik this co.ments really late but id love to see a series of videos about the differant history and cultures from cits and there sorta area i think youd do a great job thank you

I'm up in fife in Scotland and we had a huge communist presence here up until the end of USSR. We even have a street called Gagarin way which was the only street named after a communist in the free west (allegedly) at the time

Okayish video but you know that all of this a little bit more complicated than “we had democracy over here” at the end. History and society is much more complicated and confusing than this.Especially after e.g. the Industrial Revolution, nation building out of feudalism and WW 1 and the Great Depression.

I love how his name was Pollit as in Politburo lol.

A great video, mate.

Polit was truly a terrible human being.

37:00 austerity and social budgets being slashed are what emphasise the necessity of revolution

19:21 I remember reading about the train derailment in the history textbook at school. If I remember correctly, it derailed due to the tracks being greased on an uphill gradient, which caused the train, which inexperienced drivers were driving due to the strike action, to slide down the line and derail as a result.

I really enjoy this channel ❤❤❤

4:30 The Russian Revolution was against the Provisional Russian Government and not the Tsar, he had been deposed in february 1917

People, when talking about socialist or communist movements, always forget that communists always forced the ones in power to change things to appease the lower classes. The best example I'm aware of is Bismarck who said openly that he was forced to do the social reforms because communist/socialist movements were a real threat for the government. Only if they fear the status quo is in danger, they agree to moderate reforms that benefit the working class. Would I want extreme left to win and lead my country? Hell no. But I support their actions because it's an important lever and shifting the discourse.

I clicked on the video link, didn’t saw a video about your over night bus trip. Did you upload it?

It’s a shame that you didn’t take the time to fully research communism before making this video, to be fair it can take years to fully understand it

What manner of bollocks is this. Trust me bro history…

In every video about communism everyone saying "communism become messy...", every regime in history of this world is messy

Excellent video

I think Harry comes out ok from this. Evil? The implication is that everybody always played fair except the CPGB. Hardly. I would humbly suggest that the British ruling class have performed the odd "skirt around democracy". Maybe in Scotland we just respect our revolutionary forbears a bit more, even though we now know they didn't have all the answers. It took the British radical left far too long to separate from Stalin and Stalinism but I'd rather have somebody like Pollitt to speak up for victims of zero hours contracts and the gig economy than say, Wes Streeting.

COMMUNISM is responsible for the eras of high standard of living in the West. The Fear of Communism is why a Labour movement, the Social Welfare State and the NHS was tolerated by the UK Ruling Class. USA's greatest period of prosperity 1940-90 was thanks to the New Deal and LBJs Great Society Policies that were all brought in out of fear of Communism spreading to USA. The "Nordic Model" of Soicial Democracy was enacted out of fear of the USSRs Communism appealing to working class and middle class people in those countries. THE MOMENT USSR is disbanded, Western Govs immidiately roll back Social Welfare and protections from Capitalist exploitation of workers. Today UK and USA are both in "Second Guilded Ages". We need COMMUNISTS just scare the shit out of Oligarch and Billionaires and keep their worse instincts in check

Stalinism in particular never had a big following in the UK, nor did it in West Germany interestingly enough, I think Orwell had a big influence on stopping the British left going in that direction and British socialism always had a big Christian socialist element, i.e the first Labour leader, Keir Hardie, was an evangelical I believe (that must sound weird to contemporary American readers, an Evangelical socialist!). I´m socialist but not an out and out communist, I think communism as people intended it, i.e a society with no hierarchies, isn´t really possible in big large scale societies, I think you have to have some sort of central government to protect people´s rights, people aren´t good enough to live in large societies without big restrictions on their behaviour.

NEW JIMMY! Would be super cool if you and Nick, the fat electrician, jumped on a video. Js.

nice video mate

Tories lied about Labour just before an election? *shocked Pikachu face*

Our Britain 🇬🇧

Mate loving these videos about obscure English history that doesn’t get taught!

Hard to build support for Bolshevik policy in the UK when Stalin is supplying the petrol for the Blitz.

Say what you want about our country, Im glad the UK survived

24:36 This never happened. Social Democrats are capitalists, NOT socialists. Literally on the opposite sides of the spectrum.

This is very good content.

Babe wake up, new jimmy vid

Citizens: we gave you the power but we're starving now! Communism: trust me bro

I am a commie b*strd, but I must agree that the GBCP's political strategy was inept to say the least. Personally, I think that if we can have a democratic political system, why not a democratic economic system too? No idea about how to get there - doubt it will happen in my life. 🙁

Well presented.

good vid. should do one on the far right next

Loved the vid Worth noting though, there's quite a bit of discussion based on sources from the time that the nazi-soviet pact was done to buy time on both sides as opposed to "we love each other". When Stalin took over Russia was still mostly agricultural so 5 5 year plans (over 25 years) were started which were done to heavily industrialised Russia and create a vast modern army (I.e tanks, machine guns, etc). This is where a lot of the famine comes from as Russia mostly generated funds by selling food abroad to the extent millions died (its worth noting as well that the exact number has been scrutinised quite a bit but it was certainly a lot). Hitler wanted the pact so he didn't have to fight a war on two fronts and attacked Russia only when the western front got quiet with the intention of taking it quickly and then getting back to the Western front. It has been generally accepted that what Russia wanted to do was basically have Germany exhaust themselves and the rest of Europe and then when the time was right Russia would move in with a full fresh new army, conquer Europe and install communism everywhere. Thus they didn't wanna annoy Germany until they were ready thus the "don't say anything bad about Germany" rules. Why did I make this rant? Just cause the vibe of the video implied Russia and Germany as besties which isn't exactly true and the Teacher in me felt the need to make a comment that no one will read. For what it's worth Stalin did warm up to hitler as time went on to the extent he executed the first few people who reported the nazi's attacked because "hitler wouldn't break his word" so there is something to be said about their "friendship" but yeah war time European politics is a mess.

I'm a Socialist and I get so fed up with people who seem to think that Socialist = Communist. The two ideo.ogies are completely different. Brilliant video. Cheers!

The irony when he's talking about how "life wasn't easy" for the common people before the revolution against the picture of the Gulag prisoners hammering a peg.

Me and Alexis Sayle went through this with our parents... not the easiest thing to describe to other people but blimey it was an education, however much enforced, and still believe in poking the inequalities of life with a gurt shitty stick ! Many thanks and power to the people etc !

ash sarkar mentioned 🔥🔥🔥

Why does bro act like gulags are a communist thing only? I mean the Tsar also had gulags and to a much bigger extent then the soviets. Either way acting like the soviets are the only way socialist revolutions will go is kinda dumb because each revolution has separate factors and people leading it, like idk, Cuba, Vietnam and China? But china ended its democracy after Xi took power, but Cuba and Vietnam are thriving socialist democracies and economy's plus no gulags, I mean the soviets did terrible things I wont lie, plus I'm not a tankie but I feel sometimes the soviet union is just demonized, for no reason and is used as a got 'cha against all socialist movements.

Hard done by . Brilliantly put .

ur vids are important to the world keep it up Jim x

Do Thatcherism next

Make a video about the starving of the indian people because the british and the opium war with china because the british and all bad things they did to the colonis..

@JimmyTheGiant Amazing video as usually! What sample did you use at 29:34? I was editing my video while watching your episode and this part perfectly synchronized with my edit, lol Would be amazingly thankful

To be somewhat pedantic, the Daily Worker used to illustrate this video is the American Daily worker. The British one was quite different.

Britian at that point had their own Gulags in prison colonies. You people forget that forced prison labour never starter or ended with USSR even in Russia. It was called katorga and started in 16th century.

The irony is, Pollitt was the only major leader of the British far left who wasn't a malignant narcissist, and he had the worst ideology of them all.

We had our peasants revolt in 1381 got it over with early.

You used the best history RU-vid channel out there for your intro to the Russian Revolution, good man

Il boit quotidiennement à la cruche de l'idéologie bourgeoise et savoure son thé du révisionnisme.

The word Fascist in 2024 simply means not a communist. This is the problem with diluting the meaning of words.

Yessss sitting down to a curry and a new video from jimmy after a shit work meeting is the best way to end my day 👌

Marxism is based in dialectical materialism and is factually and scientifically correct. The issue Marxism has it that Marx was far better at critiquing capitalism than he was laying an actual concrete foundation for socialism and it's transition into communism so what you end up with is nations and their politburos/leaders leaving things to interpretation or some degree of trial and error. And although trial and error is itself inherently "dialectical", it doesn't leave much margin for error when talking about the lives of millions of people.