Russians pay tribute to Joseph Stalin in Moscow

class=”sc-97fd9fa8-0 jNFKxv”>

The 70th anniversary of the death of former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin (1878-1953) on Sunday drew mixed reactions in Russia. More than a thousand people gathered on Red Square in the capital Moscow in the morning to lay flowers at the nearby grave of Stalin in honor of the former Soviet dictator, according to AFP news agency. Some waved the red flags of the Soviet Union, others had portraits of the Soviet head of state, who died in 1953.

Stalin came to power in the late 1920s and transformed the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state in which a cult of personality revolved around him. He ordered the execution of hundreds of thousands of people and sent millions more to Gulag camps. Some Russians still defend him, arguing that he turned the Soviet Union into a superpower and single-handedly defeated Hitler in 1945, although many historians dispute this.

Pensioners want Stalin back

Meanwhile, Russian leaders are increasingly calling for the prosecution of “traitors” or “foreign agents” who oppose the conflict in Ukraine, using rhetoric reminiscent of the Stalin era.

“People have different views on Stalin,” said retired history teacher Pyotr Solokov, who was interviewed by AFP in Moscow on Saturday. «It is mainly the older people who view him positively, as if they have forgotten the oppression. Young people don’t know him well and middle-aged people are divided.”

Worshipers of the dictator want a figure like Stalin to return to power. “Without Stalin’s return to Russia, we Russians and the other ethnic peoples of Russia will not survive,” 74-year-old pensioner Vladimir Kvachkov told AFP. The former GRU colonel came to central Moscow on Sunday to pay his respects to Stalin – as did retired Yuri, who said: “We would be so happy if such a leader came back.”

More and more Stalin statues

The memory of the dictator is especially relevant because of the conflict in Ukraine. In the Ukraine and in Western countries, the offensive of Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) is seen as a link to Stalin’s imperialism. The increased repression of Kremlin critics is also reminiscent of previous Soviet methods.

Until now, the Russian authorities have not started to restore Stalin’s monuments – they were dismantled after his death in a policy of “de-Stalinization”.

But authorities have not cracked down on activists – often with ties to the Communist Party – who have dedicated several statues in honor of Stalin in recent years. For example, a new bust of Stalin was unveiled in Volgograd in early February to mark the 80th anniversary of the World War I battle in the city formerly known as Stalingrad.

But the oppression is not forgotten. “My great-grandmother did not escape the repression of 1945. She was imprisoned until Stalin’s death,” said 25-year-old Moscow scientist Tatyana Kuznetsova. On the anniversary of his death, «we don’t celebrate anything, we commemorate the repression. And of course it’s horrifying to see what’s happening today.” (AFP/baby)

Source: Blick