Talk:Semyon Budyonny

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An apology for reflexively blaming Adam Carr for the article's POV in my edit summary. While he started the article, the most blatant POV was due to a recent addition not made by him. Everyking 07:38, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Personally I favor Ruy Lopez's version. "Crony" is plainly POV. Anyway, I think the article should mention his poor performance as a commander in the early stage of WWII, but it should also mention his skill as a cavalry commander in the civil war, which explains his rise to high rank. It isn't as if he rose purely because he was politically favored. Everyking 4 July 2005 07:55 (UTC)

His rise to high rank was due to Stalin's patronage and nothing else. He may have been a talented cavalry commander, but this was a totally irrelevant talent for holding a major command in a modern war, as was amply shown in the event. That he was a Stalin crony is not a POV, but a well-attested historical fact. Why is a small faction on Wikipedia editors so reflexively hostile to any statement of fact which reflects badly on the Soviet Union or anyone in it? Adam 4 July 2005 08:14 (UTC)

"Crony" has a negative connotation attached. That he was strongly loyal to Stalin is true, but that does not need to be characterized as cronyism. There are NPOV ways of stating it. Budyonny was politically reliable at a time when there was a deep concern about disloyalty among the high ranks of the military. Everyking 4 July 2005 09:07 (UTC)

• Of course "crony" has a "negative connotation" - it's a description of a negative phenomenon. It is not the same as being totally loyal. A crony is one who attaches themselves to a powerful person for self-serving or corrupt purposes.
• "Budyonny was politically reliable at a time when there was a deep concern about disloyalty among the high ranks of the military." This is a disgusting misrepresentation of what happened in the 1930s, when Stalin and his cronies wantonly murdered thousands of blameless officers out of sheer paranoia. Blyukher, Yegorov, Yakir etc were also "totally loyal," but they and their families were murdered while incompetent toadies like Budyonny survived, and their survival led to '2 million Soviet soldiers' deaths in 1941-42. Your attitude makes me sick. Adam 4 July 2005 10:11 (UTC)

Fine, Adam, I'm out of this. You keep a hold on these articles with a Conquest-like POV and a person's got to be more aggressive than me to do anything effective about it. Everyking 4 July 2005 10:40 (UTC)

I am honoured to be compared in even a small degree to Robert Conquest, a fine historian and a man of great moral courage, whose professional and personal reputation has emerged unscathed from 35 years of denigration by apologists for totalitarianism. If you want to place yourself in the latter category, that is your choice. Adam 4 July 2005 10:52 (UTC)

Adam Carr has broken the 3RR on this article, pushed POV in it ("crony") and has been abusive to users ("Your attitude makes me sick"). I think it's fairly clear who is being rational about this (me, Everyking) and who is being POV and abusive about this. Sadly, I somewhat agree with Everyking's sentiments, POV warriors like Adam Carr seem to have the upper hand on this wiki, which is why I spend more time on other ones. Ruy Lopez 4 July 2005 17:38 (UTC)

• "Crony" is a fact, not POV. I undestand that the term may seem offensive in the given context. If one feels so, they are free to use a more neutral term, but to dismiss it altogether is ridiculous. On the other hand IMO Adam seems to misinterpret the posts Budyonny held: all positions he held in WWII (I added in his article recently) were actually nothing but sinecures: Budyonny did not have any operative command in WWII; at times he was merely transmitter of Stavka's decisions. The positions held are ridiculously vague: "commander-in-chief of troops" in this or that "direction". I guess, Stalin was tyrant, but not idiot, and did not give Budyonny any real job, and in fact since 1942 he held no positions at all, with the exception of that of commander in-chief of Cavalry Corps since 1943, which was a joke, and all his subsequent career was down the slope. He was merely a sample icon of the Russian Civil War. It seems that of civil war legends only he and Voroshilov were left alive. mikka (t) 5 July 2005 00:05 (UTC)

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• I stand by the use if the word "crony" as a statement of objective fact. There is such as a category as "crony" in the world, Stalin had them, and Budyonny was one.
• I did not break the 3R rule. I think it is a stupid rule and I break it when I feel it necessary to do so, but in this instance I didn't, and I believe the 3R committee has not upheld R Lopez's complaint.
• "Your attitude makes me sick" is not abusive, it is a statement of fact. I'm sorry if descriptions of my emotional state offend R Lopez's delicate sensitivities. He seems very selective in what he finds offensive. He laughs off mass murder by Stalin and Pol Pot but is offended by my criticism of Everyking.
• The more time R Lopez spends on other wikis the better as far as I am concerned.
• I acknowledge Mikka's expertise on Soviet military history. I suggest he amend the article as he sees fit and then we can discuss his changes. Adam 5 July 2005 00:25 (UTC)

In Alan Clark's Barbarossa, which I thought was the leading source on the German-Russian conflict in World War II, the author calls Budenny and Voroshilov "those two sly and durable toadies of Stalin's." Compared to that, "crony" seems pretty mild. darwin56 14 July 2005.

More bad and less bad are both bad. Anyway, since Adam has announced a hiatus, I think we should unprotect this article now. Everyking 04:09, 15 July 2005 (UTC)