Modern day Russians pay respect to Stalin

[Krakowiak]

check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2822029.stm

"About 3,000 Russians have been gathering near the grave of Josef Stalin on the 50th anniversary of his death, as a poll suggests more than half the population view him positively.
Supporters of the Russian Communist Party followed their leader Gennady Zyuganov in a solemn procession to Stalin's grave, next to the Kremlin Wall in Red Square.

Carrying the flag of the old Soviet Union, they laid flowers beneath a bust of the fomer leader.


Many of them were veterans of World War II, when Stalin is credited with rallying the Red Army in the ferocious and decisive battle of Stalingrad in 1942-43, and stopping the advance of German Nazi forces into the Soviet Union.

Stalin was a great statesman, who had a strong fighting character and a strong will," Mr Zyuganov said, adding that he "was the founder of the biggest superpower and created a country where the working man felt confident".

'Pride of empire'

A survey by the All-Russian Centre for the Study of Public Opinion released this week showed that 53% of 1,600 people polled said Stalin had played a "mainly positive role" in the country's history.

A total of 33% thought his role negative, and 14% didn't know.

Some of those questioned held a very negative view - 27% thought him a cruel tyrant, responsible for millions of death.

But 20% thought him a wise leader who brought about the blossoming of the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Russian human rights group Memorial marked the anniversary by releasing lists which it said for the first time named thousands of people killed in the Stalinist purges of the 1930s.

'Stalin myth'

The lists - naming about 40,000 people - were posted on the group's website, after Memorial consulted the official presidential archives.

Memorial said the documents of the 1937-38 purges were original, and that Stalin's signature clearly appeared on all the lists of people that were ordered to be killed.

Stalin died on 5 March 1953, but it was not until his famous denunciation by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 that the process of rehabilitation of his victims slowly began.

Archive material deflating the cult of Stalin began trickling out when the then Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, launched his programme of greater openness, glasnost, in the late 1980s.

Historians estimate that up to 20 million people perished in Stalin's purges which began with the Soviet peasantry and continued to include intellectuals and military leaders."

Another article:

"AFP: Russians have fond memories of Stalin
AFP. 27 February 2003. Russians have fond memories of Stalin ahead of 50th anniversary.

MOSCOW -- More Russians believe Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin did more good than bad for their country, according to a poll published Thursday ahead of the 50th anniversary of the leader's death.

Russia's Public Opinion Foundation found that 36 percent of those polled thought Stalin "did more good than bad for the country," while just 29 percent disagreed with the statement.

The role of Stalin has recently been the subject of heated debate in Russia as the country gears up to mark the 50th anniversary of his death on March 5.

When asked what words jumped into their heads at the sound of Stalin's name, 32 percent cited positive images: victory over Nazi Germany, order, low prices, industrialization, empire, pride.

Another 15 percent of the 1,500 people polled said "neutral" images came to them when they thought of Stalin, including "Soviet leader" and "mustache and pipe."

Szef Mafi Slaskiej
http://polityka.onet.pl/_i/2000/30/kraj/kcic.jpg

[zhuk]

As the people of russia were tired and exosted fron the revolution and civil war struggle.
there was no slight demand for any kind of democracy, the state of mind of people in the 1920th demanded "a strong hand to take the control of everything".
It was not stalin who invented and implemented a tyrany in russia.
The russian people made tyran of him, while leaving all the power into his hands. He had thousands of devoted followers, ready to kill the others, while receiving unlimited local power.
I consider it wrong to attribute all the evil to one person. They were thousands criminals those time, and those all remained unpunished.

[Halina]

Hello Zhuk,

I think this is a very important point that you've touched on. Stalin was undeniably a tyrant and signed hundreds of thousands of orders to exterminate the whole populations. Yet, there were many Soviet followers..., probably those ones who now mourn his death and delude themselves by his 'greatness'. Those - unlike the Nazi leaders in Norumberg - have never been put on trial. Why ?

[Halina]

Dobry wieczСr Krakowiak,

I suppose you are from Krakow. So am I!
I've listened to the BBC and Euronews in Britain on 05/03. They've confirmed the same positive views of the majority of the Russian people regarding the image of Joseph Stalin. Many of them see 'Uncle Joe' as a strong, good leader who managed to secure the label of 'empire' for the post-war Russia. Those Russians seem to wave aside the stories of genocide, brutal torture and murders, the ethnic cleansing and the re-settlement - all arranged by Stalin.

There are also different Russians (in the minority)who do not say a lot, but just exchange glances when asked about Stalin. Those are usually survivors of Siberia, or Lublianka.

I agree with Zhuk, though, that one person could not do all this on their own. He/Stalin did have followers. Where are they now and why have they never been punished - is a mystery to me. If Stalinism is often comapred to Hitlerism (biographies of both tyrants can be found side by side, in the same book i.e 'Hitler and Stalin' by Allan Bullock'), then why isn't Stalinism considered to be a crime against mankind, just like Hitlerism is?

After all millions were killed by Stalin's order.

Or, to put it differently, any Neo-Nazi movements are taboo, something evil and unaccaptable. Why then can neo-Stalinists freely march in the streets of Moscow as if nothing has ever happened?

I do not mean those followers should be severely punished. I simply mean open, decent, and fair trials. That's all.
Otherwise, how are the relatives of the victims supposed to feel?
And there are millions of them alive today. Like it was all an illusion, or someone 'made a mistake'? Well, then we run the risk that such 'mistakes' - if left unconfronted - will re-emerge again at some point and we'll all face a very real 'deja vu' Phantom sneering at our own naivete and ignorance.

[mishaaverko]

Of course it wasn't pointed out that in Georgia and in some other non-Russian areas of the former Soviet Union there's sympathy for Stalin's legacy.

The schmuck title of this forum conveniently omits the fact that places formerly named after Stalin haven't been renamed in his memory. It's for this reason that the cited polls aren't true views of the Russian public at large. There's no craving in Russia to see a return of Stalin and the number of people who paid tribute to his memory was small. Anti-Russian extremists magnify otherwise for their own perverted agenda. These are some of the same people who deny the fact that Russians participated in the battle of Grunwald. They prefer having Russia as an enemy.

[vorosilov]

Dear Ukrain.com members,


I have debated the issue on Russia.com for year and a half . Stalin was the best country leader ever what Russia had.

For the record plese read R.com Political board and the History board.

Best Regards: Vorosilov

[Irinka]

Stalin was the best leader Russia had? He murdered half of my family.