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Russia unable to forget Stalin
Published: 02 December, 2009, 20:32
Edited: 30 September, 2010, 10:01
TAGS: Anniversary, Scandal, Russia, Prime Time Russia
The Communist Party has been allowed to re-erect the posters with the image Joseph Stalin on the streets of the city of Voronezh in Central Russia. The campaign was earlier banned by city’s administration.
The local Duma MP for the Communists, Andrey Rogatnev, told Interfax news agency that the Voronezh Region Prosecutor’s Office who examined the case saw no harm in the banners dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of the former Soviet leader.
The posters feature Stalin’s image in front of a red flag and the slogan: “Victory Will Be Ours” first appeared in the streets in June, but were soon removed after a decision by the Voronezh administration.
The communists hope that the new banners will stay in the streets till at least December 21, when Stalin’s birthday is celebrated.
Their say that their campaign is aimed at “reminding every citizen of a great man and his merits before the country.”
And it is not the only case of Stalin’s name sparking uproar in Russia, as there were passionate debates over the restoration of an inscription from the 1950s, praising him, in the Moscow Metro in September.
Stalin remains a controversial figure for many Russians. It was under him that the Soviet Union won the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany in 1945.
But he was also responsible for the mass famine of the 1930s and the creation of the GULAG system that, according to different estimates, between 14 and 40 million Soviet citizens went through, and where millions died.
Newsweek magazine’s Moscow bureau chief, Owen Matthews, believes the glorification of Stalin is incredibly dangerous.
“The latest generations of schoolbooks are the most obvious and perhaps the most dangerous of all attempts to rehabilitate the memory of Stalin,” he said. “It’s deliberately misinforming a generation of schoolchildren and making them imagine that Stalin was a great man.”
02.12.2009, 20:18
4 comments
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To say his "bad" can be forgiven, because he did so much "good" for his country - is like saying the priest who molests the alter boys is not a bad man because hae has a soup kitchen for poor people. It's madness! Stalin was a MAD MAN! His images should be burned, not honored!
Some of us can point to Stalin's badness, but if it were not for Stalin and his government people, there would be no Russia or Western Europe (at least as we know them) today. I doubt that USA would have had the will or would have been able to defeat Hitler without using nuclear weapons as they did in Japan which actually saved lives in the longrun..
How typical of RT to insert a quote about Stalin from non other than Owen Matthews, the Newsweek magazine’s Moscow bureau chief. Newsweek? Give me a break and please show some respect toward your readers. Most Russians have nothing but the highest esteem for the man who lead them to victory over Nazi Germany in WWII. He was definitely one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century notwithstanding the corroded anti-communism and anti-Stalinism of those who have never identified with Russia anyway. Keep bringing these people on, RT.