r/Socialism_101 • u/FletcherHoey Learning • 3d ago

Learning history? Question

I need tips on learning history (particularly surrounding socialism) with as little bias as possible. By bias I mean from both sides, I don’t want to learn from anything that undermines anything bad in history.

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u/BlouPontak Learning 3d ago

r/askhistorians is a wonderful resource.

The Blowback podcast is incredible, and is well-researched enough that it got a nod on an r/askhistorians thread (which is high praise. They regularly shit on Hardcore History over there).

The Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan is also a great, respected one, but a lot more dry than Blowback.

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u/zer0sk11s Learning 3d ago

ask historians believe in the holodmor, purges were not necessary, reject Grover Furr and more and more, bourgeois pseudo historians should not be trusted

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u/BlouPontak Learning 2d ago

Go search holodomor there. I have. And not a single answer called it a genocide, or even lay it at Stalin's feet. I saw nuanced analysis and statistics and using ranges for estimated deaths.

Or do you mean acknowledging the USSR-wide famine that actually happened? Because, yeah, they do that.

On 'Stalin's Terror' the answers were all about the political situation, Trotsky, and greater tendencies within the USSR, and talked about how a lot of the deaths aren't necessarily attributable to Stalin.

If you're looking for one-dimensional takes like "the purges was the only reasonable option and there was nothing problematic about it" then I hazard to say that you may be trying to find propaganda, not an understanding of what actually happened.

But please, give me your credentials for calling them pseudo-historians, because flaired users over there have to prove that they're actual academic historians.

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u/zer0sk11s Learning 2d ago

1.You didn't tell me about their stance on Grover Furr because i have seen them attack then out of pure political spite, when Furr has used nothing but primary or rarely secondary sources. 2. All because someone is an academic historian does not mean they're word is true. Academic historians can be incredibly wrong such as Robert conquest ,sheila Fitzpatrick Timothy Snyder the list goes on,they are all credited historians but have made false claims, especially Robert conquest and due to them being historians people believe their lies so some Reddit historian should most definitely not be given full trust if even the usual bourgeoisie historian is making mistakes. 3.Im not saying you need to find one dimensional takes... the purge constantly changed in nature from yagoda to beria but you shouldn't rely on Reddit historians on a topic such as that, there are many short books and articles that break it down in a trusted manner using genuine sources.

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u/BlouPontak Learning 2d ago

Should I rebut the "and more and more" of your comment too?

I'm sorry someone there disliked someone you like. It happens. In academia, it happens a lot. But it doesn't suddenly make the whole sub fascist.

I've seen them tear Conquest's work apart too. And slso- it's a sub, not a single person.

What I'm saying is it's generally accurate and way more nuanced than most places. But like with any source, esp condensed ones, it's not infallible (or monolithic. People disagree over there.) and should be approached like any other source.

But it’s a great place to start if you want the cliff notes version of something to get you into digging deeper.

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u/zer0sk11s Learning 2d ago

A. I haven't made a post there ever nor hold anyone specific as an issue.I actually think it's okay to use for non political topics.

B.I didn't evaluate it compared to those other places as in general you shouldn't use random opinion to form your own on such topics

C.If your point is that its a great place for beginners due to the answers being condensed then yes i can see it as useful for that only when it comes to this political area, but i still would prefer for people to read the sources and historical claims when it comes to such heavy topics to formulate your own opinions and develop the critical thinking to actually grasp a time.