"Monuments are not the only manifestation of Stalin’s return to the Russian public sphere. Souvenirs with the dictator’s image – T-shirts, matryoshkas and postcards – can be bought in markets and fairs. It is possible to take a photograph with a person dressed up as Stalin in popular tourist spots (e.g. at Red Square in Moscow). Thus the USSR leader has become a trade mark which can bring profits. This trend is part of a larger phenomenon of Soviet goods and culture being back in fashion which can be illustrated by the return of food products with the symbolism of the Stalin era to stores, e.g. Soviet Standard, Soviet or USSR ice cream and the huge popularity of Soviet films and songs."
"A considerable section of Russian society considers Stalin to be the greatest figure in Russian history. For years he has topped the ranking prepared by the public opinion research organisation Levada-Center (in the opinion of 38% of those surveyed). Vladimir Putin comes in second (with 34%, level with Alexander Pushkin). On the other hand, there is a growing number of Russians who admit they know nothing about the Stalinist repression – in 2012 only 6% of the respondents declared this, whereas in May 2017 the number rose to 13%. Every fourth respondent believes the repression was ‘justified by political necessity’ and 36% of those surveyed think that the successes of the Stalinist era achieved in such a short time justify the sacrifices made. The opinions of Russians regarding the nature of the Stalinist repression are also changing dynamically. The number of those who treat it as a political crime has decreased from 67% in 2012 to 39% in 2017..."
I guess they forget how many of their own countrymen he slaughtered.
None of this is new. In the late 1980s I took a college class on Soviet society. This was in the era right before the USSR collapsed, the era of “perestroika” and “glastnost”. At that time the teacher (a businessman who was involved in setting up joint ventures with Russians and who spent about 50% of his time in Moscow) said that the Russians were really disillusioned with Gorbachev because they thought he was weak. They all said they needed a strong leader, a man like Stalin.
...in February 1989, two years before the fall of the Soviet Union, a research paper by Georgian historian Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev published in the weekly tabloid Argumenti i Fakti estimated that the death toll directly attributable to Stalin’s rule amounted to some 20 million lives (on top of the estimated 20 million Soviet troops and civilians who perished in the Second World War), for a total tally of 40 million.
https://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kill-1111789
Bump
Kind of like the DemocRat party.
The movie “The Death of Stalin” ought to be required viewing for anyone who wants to know the fearful terror every day Russians faced at the hands of Stalin and his henchmen.
War winners always get the credit, the losing side’s leaders get the blame.
Had the Axis won, Hitler would be a lot more popular in Germany today. Had the Confederacy won the Civil War, Davis and Lee would be national heroes in the Confederate States of America today.
“A considerable section of Russian society considers Stalin to be the greatest figure in Russian history”
Just like George Washington is considered to be the greatest figure in the United States history.
His mother was deeeeply religious, his dad was an ill-tempered drunk who beat him.
He went into the seminary to become a Priest, his mother was delighted.
He read Das Kapital and inspired, he quit the seminary.
He became a bank-robber to finance “The Russian Revolution” (which in fact wasn’t really a revolution and whether it was really Russian, meh, I’m not so sure).
He wasn’t even charismatic, just a real manipulator, and pretty patient when he had to be (and not patient at all when he didn’t).
One time he and Trotsky were really expediting some paperwork, signing a blizzard of documents. By hurrying they seemed to be making time for some task they preferred. A nearby aide was curious, but dared not to ask, as even then Stalin had cemented a pretty good reputation for blood and wrath.
Trotsky and Stalin finished their paperwork to go do the really pressing thing —that turned out to be going to a movie.
The aide picked up the paperwork they’d been hurrying though:
Orders to kill 17,000 people.
This makes sense since Marxism is so addictive and the youth so gullible.
Washington's officers offered to make George their King. He turned it down. The King of England upon hearing that said Washington must be the greatest man in the world. Even Napoleon said 'They wanted me to be another Washington'. I'd say Washington was quite different from the bloodthirsty tyrant Stalin was.
The Paulista followers of old hippies admire Stalin, too, as they interrupt their dope smoking to spew more eastern conspiracy theories.