Reading Red Harvest by Anne Applebaum about the famines brought about by Stalin in the Ukraine and the details of madness, corruption and ignorance are killing me to process and try understanding without flinching or fast forwarding. It is staggering to wade into these waters. Q Anon and Trump have nothing on Stalin. It couldn’t be more obvious that the ability to kill, steal and torture has nothing to do with what country you live in or what political or religious identity you swear allegiance to but everything to do with something you are born with, like it or not, like bees born to pollinate, cats born to jump at dangling string in the air, people are born to easily join the group behavior especially given a few examples of murder. After trying forced collectivization, desperation ensued and people were emotionally driven to exhaustion as the new authorities invented classism or made counter-revolutionary accusations against unwilling participants and initiated endless robberies, gulag sentences, uprisings and murders. Stalin wrote a piece of propaganda with the heading “dizzy from so much success” to spin the resistance and failure as if, it was the greatest agricultural achievement ever. Where have I heard this dissonance before…. “you’re going to be tired of so much winning, this is the best economy ever, this is the greatest presidential team ever”. Another interesting part of the story is how the peasants eventually improvised new lyrics to the Soviet songs they were forced to hear. It makes me think wider about improvisation, beyond musical examples, like what kind of improvisers are the powerless and what kind are they who suddenly acquire power? Having to use force sort of proves you don’t know how to be creative. You’re a lousy improviser if you’re allergic to freedom. Stalin and Trump all force and propaganda, inept, whereas Mandela could wail. Creating a truth and reconciliation committee, that wins him the Albert Ayler best in government award.