Did Stalin's Accomplishments Justify His Means

Did Stalin’s accomplishments justify his means? While in some ways his methods prepared Russia for World War II and caught the country up with the rest of the world, his methods for reforming the Soviet Union were brutal, cut throat and resulted in the deaths of millions. Therefore, after much thought, I have come to the conclusion that Stalin’s accomplishments did not make up for the horrid acts he committed for the ‘greater good.’ During the time that he was in power, it is estimated that he was responsible for the deaths of around 20 million of his own people, not including the millions more that perished in WWII. Stalin himself was ruthless and paranoid and the people lived in fear, Stalin the only person truly safe from the midnight disappearances and
People feared being taken by the Secret Police in the ‘bread trucks’ and of being sent to the Gulag in Siberia where survival in the brutal conditions was highly unlikely. At one point at least one in twenty people were in the Gulag, and as a result, the country ran largely on slave labour. Although many argue that Stalin prepared Russia for the war, it also should be noted that he killed off at least 50 per cent of the army officers during the Purges out of pure paranoia, leaving the army brutally unprepared for war. The some accomplishments and advances are therefore overshadowed by the loss and suffering. Most people were unable to even reap the benefits while dying, locked in the Gulag or living in a state of constant fear. And if Stalin had been on the “wrong side” in the war would he still be viewed by the world as the same man? In fact many believe that he was just as bad as Hitler himself. Slaughtering millions should not be overshadowed by the few positives and should not just be just diminished to a means to an end for the greater good of the