Russia’s love for Stalin
On last Monday, hundreds of admirers of the former Soviet leader lined up in Moscow’s Red Square to lay wreaths at his grave, in honor of the 130th anniversary of his birth.
Ivan Melnikov of Russia’s Communist Party, the deputy parliament speaker, wrote on his party’s website, “We would very much like for any discussion of the mistakes of the Stalin epoch to be silenced today, so that people can reflect on Stalin’s personality as a creator, a thinker and a patriot.”
Not to mention a genocidal maniac. The “mistakes” Melnikov would prefer not to discuss include a treacherous pact to divide Europe with Adolf Hitler, as well as bloody purges and engineered famines that killed tens of millions of Russians and rank high among the worst atrocities of the 20th century.
Stalin’s cult of personality has been strengthening for nearly a decade, with open support from the Kremlin. So popular is the Gardener of Human Happiness (one of Stalin’s many self-imposed titles) that almost a third of Russians in a recent poll said the country needs a leader like him today. Last year, when state-controlled broadcaster Rossiya TV asked online voters to choose history’s greatest Russian, Stalin was reported to be leading in the polling.
It’s widely believed that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who recently said Stalin’s legacy is too complex for any black-and-white assessment, is encouraging nostalgia for the dictator in order to build support for his own authoritarian rule.
From The Los Angeles Times
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