Posted on 09/06/2018 8:19:09 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The memory of Stalin’s Terror is now receiving more attention in Russia than at any time since the 1980s.
The Stalin epoch’s influence on Russia is undeniable. Present-day Russians mainly live in a country inherited from the Stalin-era Soviet Union, not least in terms of infrastructure, architecture and social institutions. However, scholars, intellectuals and journalists agree that Russian society has yet to thoroughly work through the totalitarian legacy of Stalin’s era.
According to a recent Levada-Center poll, Stalin’s popularity is actually rising. Around 40 percent of respondents expressed positive attitudes towards Stalin, while around one third agreed that Russia now needs a leader like Stalin.
In Yagodnoye lives one of the most famous people of the Magadan region, Ivan Panikarov. He is an activist campaigning for the victims of Stalin’s repression to be remembered and the owner of one of the most impressive collections of Gulag artefacts and documents, most of which he stores in his apartment (which also houses his museum) and his garage.
Recently, journalists have been fascinated by a turn in Panikarov’s views. While Panikarov is still committed to the commemoration of Gulag victims, he seems to be struggling to find the right words to describe the repressions. On the one hand, he knows enough to be compassionate when speaking about the victims. On the other, he has suggested that he is not sure there was any other way to colonize Kolyma and colonizing Kolyma was essential for victory in the Second World War.
The longing to describe the Gulag as connected to victory in the Second World War is probably reinforced by the Second World War fever that has taken the country by storm during the past decade. However, this may only be part of the story.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurozine.com ...
Stalin was the modern-era “Ivan the Terrible”. He bore very little resemblance to Lenin, or any of the Soviet leaders that followed him.
Stalin was a great role model for BHO in the weaponization of all resources to try to control / eliminate opposition and have his totalitarian state.
Thanks,
Ms.McCain.
it reminds me of John McCain, the Ayatollah of Russophobe nuts, who purged tea party in Arizona, and pushed IRS to target conservatives.
1/3 of Russians want a leader like Stalin? What total BS. Yeah there are some old Russians that long for communism and the empire. And there are a few young Russians that are equally as stupid.
But it’s a tiny fringe. Like white supremacists in the US. This is yellow journalism trying to drum up war. Leftists have gone from nutty to demented insanity.
Stalin keeps Jimmy Carter from being the worst Georgian of the 20th century.
Russians don’t think of Stalin as a Communist, in the vein of say, Khrushchev or Brezhnev. Stalin is above ideology to them, he just simply was a dictator. Stalin joined the Bolsheviks, not because he believed in the ideology, he just saw them as the perfect vehicle for his personal ambitions.
A reviewer for The Atlantic naturally tries to say that Trump is a lot like Stalin, but admits that the director made the movie before anyone knew that Trump would be elected.
There’s nothing to dispute, Salinas was a murderous butcher directly responsible for the death of tens of millions of his own people, and millions of others.
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