Had Hitler not come to power in Germany, it’s very likely the Communists would have....which ultimately would have set up a rivalry between the Germans and the Soviets as to who would control the worldwide Communist movement, much like what happened between the Soviets and Chinese in the 1950s...In fact, Stalin pretty much hoped Hitler would kill off the members of the German Communist Party, in which Hitler happily obliged. The worst case scenario for the Soviets was for the Germans to bring about Communism on their own without “help” from their betters in Moscow.
Right on. I agree. The history of the Communist movement is the history of the Kremlin maneuvering to control it and killing off those it could not control.