Ominous Survey Results

Stalin Making Russian Comeback

Justifications Given For Mass Slaughters


Unlike Japan's World War II historical rewrite, to exclude horrendous atrocities occurring in mainland China, Russian nationalists have a different strategy for Stalin's reincarnation: "explaining" his savage murders of millions of innocent citizens.

Why not? Stalin serves a new, nostalgic purpose in Russia, with memories of an era featuring Soviet strength and power.

With 50% of Russians now expressing admiration for a man who likely killed more people than Hitler, while according to the Los Angeles Times, it appears the plan is working.

Putin's playing this game well, leaving it to others to pump up Stalin's reputation, while he makes plans for reasserting power over the former Soviet sphere.

Especially alarming is holding up Stalin as a man who delivered generous social benefits and using that to glorify his record.

Any real regional power grab may be in the future, with some former republics asserting more independence from the Kremlin, but I have to wonder whether sustained high oil prices could fund a future military capable of imperialistic action.

Or will corruption continue to be a higher priority, stifling any grandiose schemes for the future?


(Los Angeles Times- David Holley- 1 May 2005)


A recent poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center found that half of the respondents looked favorably on Stalin, with 20% describing his role in the life of the country as "very positive" and 30% calling it "somewhat positive." Only 12% described it as "very negative."

In Russia today, Stalin is a kind of poster boy for those who favor a stronger state and are angered by the post-Soviet erosion of job security and government-paid social benefits.

Alexander Prokhanov, a self-described Stalinist and editor of the left-wing nationalist newspaper Zavtra, said the "neo-Stalinist renaissance" was above all a rejection of liberalization policies launched since in the late 1980s, especially their effect of throwing many segments of society into poverty.

Igor Dolutsky, author of a high school textbook banned for being too critical of both Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and Stalin, said that popular memories of the dictator amounted to a myth that could do great harm in the future.

Estimates of the number of Stalin's victims vary widely, but most historians say that 10 million to 20 million people died in purges, famines, deportations and labor camps as a result of his policies from the time he rose to power in the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. In addition, the Soviet Union suffered at least 20 million deaths of soldiers and civilians in World War II.

Few Russians are ignorant of the fact that Stalin killed enormous numbers of people. But for each category of his crimes there exists some sort of explanation, which those who respect him often take as at least partial justification for his deeds.