s rule    million but at least  million dead  Some editors find this number highly exagerated the original text simply said  million or more dead The proponents of the higher numbers cite this quote in their support  According to Roy Medvedev Stalins victims numbered forty million Solzhenitsyn says the number is far greaterperhaps sixty million The debate continues even now  From the book Lenins Tomb  The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by DAVID REMNICK p   My question is Are the numbers cited above  million dead reasonable or do these numbers include Gulag prisoners who survived I know that it is difficult to estimate the death toll but what are the most authorative sources on this subject Can you help me find a reasonable range for estimation and the best sources to support it  I appreciate your help    Most mainstream western historians give a figure of  million that is itself probably a considerable overestimate     Info box inaccuracies   I think there something wrong with the infobox the top one with the picture and the succession boxes at the bottom First the infobox says his term of office was from  I assume we are talking about the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union here so I added that in But if we are talking about the office of General Secretary how can we say Lenin was the successor as Stalin was the first General Secretary Also Im not as sure about this but I believe all Soviet leaders following Stalin were known as First Secretaries so Malenkov doesnt technically work as a successor either I dont think Also the successor box on the bottom for General Secretary is definitely wrong as Stalin was the first and Lenin never held that position he was the Chairman and indeed granted Stalin his position Didnt want to make changes without consensus   The secretary position was that of the top boss of the Soviet Communist Party There is no reason to play technicalities about a particular office with a specific title The issue is pretty confusing and there is no reason to put these intricacies in an infobox At the same time I agree that the formal details about party leadership must be addressed more carefully in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union article   Its just that I assumed with such specific info there dealing with de facto leadership is tricky Perhaps if the infobox said it was only leader that would help But thats not the common convention For George Washington to use an example of a first officeholder we dont say preceded by George III or whomever just because that is the leader Well on second thought thats not the best example because its a different country But what Im trying to say theres got to be a better way to do it without implying that Stalin and his predecessor and his successor all held the same title     Modern opinion   What about peoples opinion of Stalin in modern Russia It could be quite interesting   Certain segments of the population  removed   and by providing certain segments of the population benefits so as to win their support or coopt them into the regime What the heck these certain segments are If bureaucracy is in mind then this is of no special note at all times in every state a bureaucrat lives better than a peasant Apart of these with a special subclass of apparatchiks there were no benefitted segments    Moscow  Minor quibble but shouldnt the article at least mention and possibly elaborate on Stalins decision to stay in Moscow as German forces approached in December of  As I understand it practically every government official evacuated but Stalin was adamant in his decision to remain Seems a significant enough event to include here     Deportation of Romanians  I removed the following addition by an anon about deportations of nationalities  Romanians from Moldova   I have a very vague memories on the issue If this took place then it must be covered in  Population transfer in the Soviet Union in the first place There certainly were deportations during the annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina but these  were of class character rather th